KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Have you seen that video of Taman Desa residents voting at a pasar malam on whether they want yet another condominium in their neighbourhood?
The video is part of an ongoing campaign by the Protect Taman Desa group, which is trying to save two plots of land — one designated for a public playground and another for a police station — from being turned into high-rise developments.
Inspired by the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents’ court victory to save the Taman Rimba Kiara public park, the group has raised RM75,000 for legal fees to mount a similar challenge.
‘Pasar malam’ poll goes viral
Protect Taman Desa volunteer Dishen Keseva Kumar, 37, said he came up with the pasar malam video idea as a creative way for residents to express their views on overdevelopment.
“Pasar malam — number one is the Malaysian feel, definitely.
“And number two, the voting thing was just to give people a choice, ‘you want or don’t want’. So we always give people a choice, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And we had a 100 per cent ‘no’,” he told Malay Mail when met recently.
Another volunteer, Lok Shi Shuen, 32, said the pasar malam campaign was meant to spark conversations on whether or not more condominiums were good for the area.
Since the Friday night market spot is just minutes away from the disputed plots, the team found it was the best spot to reach residents who would be most affected and visited it several times before making the video.
“So we walked around, we said ‘Protect Taman Desa, have you heard what’s happening?’ So actually when we started, a lot of people actually didn’t know what’s happening to these two lands, so that’s when we let people know,” she said.
Initially, she recalled, people were hesitant to take the group’s flyers.
“When we first started, people were really scared, they thought we were selling houses. I don’t know why, there’s a big word there: ‘Protect Taman Desa’,” Lok said.
As their videos and town hall sessions gained traction, more residents began approaching them at the pasar malam.
“People know about us already. So they are more curious and they want to talk, and we notice that when people come over to talk to us, then other people would be interested,” Lok said.
She estimated more than 100 residents attended their three town hall sessions.
Meet the volunteers behind Protect Taman Desa
Lok said the group now has fewer than 10 core members — all Taman Desa residents with full-time jobs who dedicate their free time to protecting the neighbourhood.
Their ages range from college students to those in their 70s.
Dishen, who has lived in Taman Desa for more than nine years and works in a creative agency, offered his video production skills to the cause.
“It affects me definitely, I live here, my kids are here, I want them to go to school here, I want them to grow up here. I want to kind of protect the place that I live.
“And I see all the overdevelopment that has been happening, and I realise that if I don’t do something about it, who’s going to do it?” he said.
“I think a lot of people — especially people who live in Taman Desa — they need to kind of understand that taking care of your taman is your own responsibility. And you can’t just wait for your representative or your government or somebody to do something about it,” he added.
Lok, who works in advocacy, said she wanted to apply her professional experience to her own neighbourhood.
“Maybe because we are the type — we don’t like to complain and do nothing. If we don’t like something, then we will go do something about it. So our team is this kind of people lah,” she said.
‘The biggest threat is thinking someone else will save it’
Another resident, James, who has lived in Taman Desa for 37 years, was the first to discover that the playground land had been rezoned for residential use.
Together with other volunteers, he gathered more than 1,000 objections from residents to submit to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). But the rezoning stood. They later found the police station land was also reclassified for residential use.
“We must do the right thing, we must make a stand for it. The worst thing that can happen is when people don’t care, when good men walk away,” said the 46-year-old.
James said the real danger lies in apathy.
“The biggest problem we have now is not the city council or the government. I think the biggest problem we have as a society is people — either they are indifferent, or they have given up.
“That’s the bigger problem we face, people who say things like ‘Aiyah, why you raise money to fight this? We lost so many already, might as well lose a few more’,” he said.
He said many had given up after previous failed protests, but this time, there is renewed hope — with the Taman Rimba Kiara ruling as precedent and new volunteers stepping up.
“There are people who go like, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about, but ok lah I give you a chance lah. Nah, take my money’,” he said.
‘Worth fighting for’
In just three months, Protect Taman Desa hit its RM75,000 fundraising target from 317 donors, with contributions ranging from RM5 to RM3,000.
That sum covers the first phase of legal costs for the High Court case.
The group is now crowdfunding another RM97,000 by 2026 in preparation for a possible appeal.
Through the courts, they hope to reverse the rezoning and restore the playground and police station land to their original community purposes.
James called it “a long journey ahead”.
Lok said residents believe Taman Desa is “worth fighting” for in court and don’t want to lose the chance to save it.
“They are always saying ‘I live in Taman Desa for so long, I love it so much’, and for us it’s worth protecting, worth having the effort,” she said.
Recommended reading:
- The Taman Rimba Kiara story: Why it matters to all Malaysians… and not just those staying in TTDI
- The Taman Rimba Kiara story: How TTDI residents saved a public park and why DBKL was found acting unlawfully
Malay Mail – Malaysia
