Save Open Spaces hereby appeals to the new government to immediately look into the Tanjung Aru Beach development project. The previous government had initiated the so-called eco-project arbitrarily and pushed it through without proper public views. The project would have resulted in the burying forever of Sabah’s iconic Tg. Aru Beach. The true prime purpose of the project was not stated but all kinds of jargons were used to try to blind or subdue the people. The project was all about real estate – about 840 acres of prime seafront property. The whole process was wrong. They over-developed Tg. Lipat to ‘force’ beach-goers to abandon Tg. Aru Beach and frequent Tg. Lipat. But no beach can equal Tg. Aru’s – the long beach among the world’s most beautiful view of sunsets among the tourist. We urge the government to immediately put an end of the TAED project and freeze its accounts lest it be abused. Of more urgent matter is to investigate the truth of the 3.6 billion approved guarantee letter from the former State Government. Had it true, this project may have resulted in Sabah’s version of 1MDB with its own Jho Low. We also urge the government to look into the conversion of land reserved for recreational purposes for commercial use, such as the gazetted Sutera public park and such others. The question to ask is not, “Can it be done?” but “Should it be done?” City Hall on its part should protect the city dwellers from destructive development. City Hall must ensure the rights of the city dwellers are not trampled upon and development is balanced and sustainable. City Hall must play its part to ensure that there are ample open spaces spread throughout the City. Lack of open spaces, parks and gardens and recreational facilities will result in a congested City and may even drive citizens under stress to jump off buildings. The government needs to come out with a small immediate budget to clear, clean and make safe the beach front, so as to be people-friendly. We suggest that the area between Jalan Selangor and the beach be bequeathed to the citizens, with health activities and family-day facilities. Beyond Jalan Selangor the area could be developed for government rest-houses and other facilities for the young and aged. The rest of the land area could also be turned into a large park in recognition of Tg. Aru Beach as a heritage and icon of Sabah. ‘Heritage Park’ would be an apt name or ‘Taman Warisan’ in Bahasa. Sabah has great architects and planners who can come out with excellent designs. We call upon NGOs and citizen groups to come forward to voice their support to the new government in wanting to Save Tanjung Aru Beach, as it was one of their election promises. *** Borneo Post - Group urges new govt to look into Tanjung Aru project http://www.theborneopost.com/2018/05/20/group-urges-new-govt-to-look-into-tanjung-aru-project/