MBKS mayor leads hawkers to visit KL

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BROTHER CITIES: Mohd Roslan presents a T-shirt with ‘I love Petaling Jaya’ to Chan.

PETALING JAYA: Mayor of Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Dato James Chan led 201 hawkers to visit Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) yesterday, and the size of the delegation surprised Chan’s counterpart Dato Mohd Roslan Sakiman.

He said the sheer number of hawkers present was a record of sorts for MBPJ, and added that he was impressed because it was not easy to round up 201 hawkers for such a visit.

“We share the same population combination, and there are two local councils within the municipal, where the majority of the people are Chinese. We also receive the same complaints and demands from the people and the hawkers,” said Mohd Roslan.

Another similarity is that Chan and Mohd Roslan are from non-political backgrounds. They were appointed for their capabilities in running local councils with efficiency.

THANK YOU TOUR: Chan (fifth right) and his delegation posing for a photo call with Mohd Roslan (fourth left) at MBPJ.

“We look at things from the point of view of the people. We look at serving than receiving. Simply put ‘we care’,” said Chan, whose stance was echoed by Mohd Roslan at a press conference which was held after MBPJ’s welcoming ceremony for the visitors from Kuching.

The primary aim of the three-day visit to Kuala Lumpur is to personally thank Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for fulfilling his promise to allocate some funds to upgrade hawker trading centres in Kuching.

The meeting with Najib is scheduled to take place today.

Both mayors said race had never been an issue for them as they were bent on treating everyone as equals.

Describing MBPJ and MBKS as ‘brother cities’, Mohd Roslan added that he was also impressed with the cleanliness of Kuching city, and hoped that he could learn from MBKS on how to keep MBPJ clean.