In Kuala Lumpur today, people do not just look at dark clouds. They calculate damage.
They think of water rising and houses getting flooded. They worry about cars becoming submarines, roads disappearing, light rail transit delays, buses getting stuck and motorcycles being stranded.
Parents worry about how to fetch their children while workers wonder if they can even get home.
And then comes one simple question: what happened to town planning?
More concrete, same old drains
Everywhere we see new buildings: new condominiums, new homes, new malls, new offices.
But are the roads bigger? Are the drains upgraded and rivers widened? Are the retention ponds protected?
Or are we still pushing all the water into the same old drains built for a smaller KL?
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That is the madness: more concrete, less soil; more cars, same roads; and more buildings, same drainage.
Land once reserved for water flow suddenly becomes development land. Hills are cut, green lungs disappear – and water has nowhere to go.
Then when floods happen, we call it “heavy rain”.
No, heavy rain is nature. Flooding is often the result of poor planning.
Urban sprawl has replaced natural floodplains with impermeable surfaces, making floods more frequent and severe. When those floodplains disappear, the water has nowhere to go.
You cannot keep approving projects, increasing population density, adding vehicles and redirecting pipes into old drains – and then act shocked when parts of KL sink after a storm.
Who approved this?
This is not just about rain but also about accountability.
Who approved and checked the plans? Who studied the impact? Who signed off on the drainage plan? Who allowed reserved land to become another condominium complex?
The developer makes the profit. The buyer takes out the loan. The council collects assessment.
And the people pay the price: when the water rises, ordinary people in KL lose their cars, their furniture, their documents, their peace of mind.
A city must get you home safely
So don’t ask why people in KL fear dark clouds.
Ask why planning became blind. Ask why development became faster than infrastructure. Ask why common sense drowned before the city did.
A world-class city cannot be measured only by tall buildings. It must also be measured by whether its people can reach home safely when it rains.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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