Properties from a Feng Shui perspective: Part 152
By David Koh and Joe Choo | Aug 6, 2010
Feng Shui: Field of squatters
This week, we conclude our tour of the Old Klang Road before heading into Petaling Jaya. Thus far, we have completed our journey to Petaling Utama, a relatively new redevelopment in the area.
Petaling Utama is located beside a collection of small villages that have been there for decades. Despite their close proximity to urban centres such as Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya, these kampungs did not enjoy the same level of success as their neighbours. (For Google map reference, please log on to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and search for “Kuala Lumpur”.)
Welcome to Taman Medan, Taman Dato Harun, Kampung Medan, Kampung Gandhi and Kampung Lindungan. Until about a decade ago, these were Selangor’s equivalent of the slums. Nestled amidst the more affluent Petaling Jaya and Bandar Sunway, it was an oft-neglected area.
Wooden squatter houses with rusty corrugated zinc roofs covered the landscape. They were home to more than 160,000 people living in squalor. They were marginally better than the homeless. The narrow streets were poorly lit and littered with garbage. The residents had to endure clogged drains and a lack of proper electricity supply.
This part of town grew in the early 1970s when the late Selangor chief minister, Harun Idris, started a mass exodus into the Klang Valley by promoting the setting of squatter settlements around Kuala Lumpur. This is how Kampung Dato Harun (now called Taman Dato Harun), got its name.
Frustrated lot
Under such conditions, it was not surprising that the residents were a greatly frustrated lot. The area was notorious for gangsterism, drug addicts, juvenile delinquency, and fights. It was a tinderbox waiting to be ignited.
That spark came in year 2001, in a four-day clash that took on a racial tone and resulted in six deaths and more than 40 people hospitalised. According to reports, an Indian security guard was upset that his path home was blocked by some tents erected for a Malay wedding. He kicked some tables and chairs, which invited the ire of the household involved. They gave chase and he ran off, only to return moments later with some friends and parangs.
This attack was repelled and the blokes ran into a nearby house for shelter. The gates were open because there was a funeral ceremony in progress. The angry Malays mistook that house to be the guard’s home and burnt several vehicles there in retaliation.
A few days later, some Indian children accidentally broke a van’s windscreen with their catapults. The Indian owner and his Malay driver, went to complain and get compensation. Others saw the incident and thought a Malay was “attacking” Indians. Rumours spread and one thing led to another.
Imported fighters
Fighting was commonplace in this area but the Kg Medan clash of 2001 was considered “unique” because outsiders were apparently “imported” to join in the fray and the unrest spread to nearby Petaling Jaya.
The incident caused a lot of embarrassment to the political leaders and apparently prompted the Selangor government to launch its state-wide Zero Squatter campaign. It was hoped that by eradicating squatter settlements, the root cause of such unrest would be removed. Apparently most of the residents here were given low-cost housing, and the area was upgraded. A drive through this area shows that much has improved. There are proper houses and flats. The roads are improved and numbered. There is a government health clinic and several schools.
To make life sweeter, even the Kuala Lumpur-bound toll plaza at the New Pantai Expressway was removed in year 2009, saving the locals RM1.60 in toll for each trip. This move benefits residents but not travellers from Bandar Sunway (there is another toll plaza in effect!).
Taman Dato Harun made headlines again in January 2008, when five-year-old Sharlinie Nashar went missing here. She was believed to be abducted while playing just 200m from her home. Her whereabouts and fate remain unknown today.
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| In Kampung Medan, the concentration of earth energy is so strong that it created extremely cramped living conditions. - Filepic |
Environology factors
Could there be a link between environology and the socio-economic problems of this area? Let us see.
In an environology survey, the first thing we must look for is the landform – where are the mountains and rivers? The mountains – or hills – can be found in the northeast sector where Gasing Hill stands. Therefore earth energy flows from the northeast in a southwest direction, relative to this location. The Klang River flows east-west to the south of the area, forming its southern border. The western boundary is formed by the Penchala River that joins the Klang River from the north.
There is a confluence of rivers in the south-west corner of the land. In environology, a confluence is considered very, very good as this landform naturally traps and collects pools of gentle, homogenous energy. Such pools are conducive for success because they attract life.
So what on earth happened here? Did some anomaly occur here that suspends the forces of environology? Are we faced with evidence that refutes the accuracy of environology? Perhaps not.
We have observed elsewhere in our tour that confluences are actually very conducive in attracting life. Here, it is no different. In fact, it followed the pattern seen elsewhere with squatter houses located near rivers. In Kampung Medan, the concentration of earth energy is so strong that it created extremely cramped living conditions. Many people moved here and there were no high-rises to absorb the density.
We also repeatedly pointed out that areas that attract life also attract unsavoury and vice activities. The rampant gangsterism, drug addiction, delinquency and violence are testimony to this.
River confluence
To truly benefit from a confluence, properties need to be oriented to face it. That means the houses need to face southwest. Other alternatives are south (towards the Klang River) and west (towards the Penchala River). Both these directions also parallel the rivers’ flow.
It is likely that squatter houses here are not oriented southwest. Judging by today’s road layout, which presumably follows a similar pattern to its pre-development days, houses here face north, south, east or west. Therefore, half of them face a reasonably good direction and the other half have poor ones.
The completion of the New Pantai Expressway in year 2003 created an artificial mountain along the northern boundary of the area, altering the flow of earth energy. This means today, properties facing south and southwest are considered very conducive while north and east are the least.
Finally, the unusually flat terrain of the area suggests that like neighbouring Petaling Utama and Bandar Sunway, this was also a former mining land. Such land has been stripped of minerals and made more porous. This lack of compactness also affects the transfer of earth energy, much like how a sponge dampens energy.
So, it must have taken a long while for earth energy to accumulate at the river confluence, which would explain why the area gradually built up its socio-economic problems, culminating in the tragedy of year 2001, and why the residents here seem mired in the lower social strata.
It is also likely that those who lived in well-oriented properties actually did well enough to move out to more upmarket locations, leaving the less fortunate behind.
Next, we explore the “Old Town”.
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You can e-mail questions on Feng Shui and properties to Prof David Koh at davidkoh618@yahoo.com. This series on Feng Shui and real estate appears courtesy of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS). Koh is the founder of MINGS and has been a Feng Shui master and teacher for the past 36 years.
Related Feng Shui articles by Master David Koh and Joe Choo:
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