CORRECTION!  IT’S DEVELOPER NOT DEVELOPERS.

Friday February 20, 2009

Retract statement, developers tell exco member

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor state executive council member Iskandar Abdul Samad should retract his recent statement claiming that Elizabeth Wong may have been sabotaged by someone who was at the receiving end of her environmental crusade.

Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association patron Datuk Eddie Chen said Iskandar should make the retraction to “safeguard his reputation and good working relationship with developers.”

Iskandar’s statement on Wednesday had claimed the sabotage on Wong could be owing to her no-nonsense approach to environmental and other issues, leading to someone “framing” her by circulating her scandalous pictures.

Iskandar, among other things, said Wong might have stepped on someone’s toes as she played a prominent role in ensuring that the state government issued a blanket ban on hillside development in the state following the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide on Dec 6.

Chen said Iskandar’s statement implicating developers was simplistic and offensive.

“We will never use dirty tactics to get what we want. Rehda is not a political party. We seek to change government policies through technical and professional arguments and by lobbying.

“We may have disagreements with YB Elizabeth, but we are willing to wait until we can convince the Government of safe slope development.

“We have numerous outstanding issues with Government, some 20 to 30 years old but we persevere through well-defined arguments, never through dirty tactics,” said Chen.

Thursday February 19, 2009

Iskandar: Wong may have been framed

SHAH ALAM: It could be her no-nonsense approach to environmental and other issues that led to someone “framing” her by circulating her scandalous pictures, executive councillor Iskandar Abdul Samad said of his colleague Elizabeth Wong.

Iskandar, who is in charge of housing, building management and squatters, said Wong could have stepped on toes since she took office 11 months ago.

“She has been very firm when dealing with environmental issues and the culprit could have been anyone at the receiving end of her crusade,” he said.

He noted that Wong played a prominent role in ensuring that the state government issued a blanket ban on hillside development in the state following the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide on Dec 6.

Iskandar said Wong had also been uncompromising with polluters, whom she called bio-terrorists.

He said it was frightening that such a crime could befall other exco members.

“If the culprit or culprits succeed in removing an ‘unfriendly’ exco member, this can be repeated again and again,” he said.