Ipoh’s Polo Ground No Longer A Perak Icon We Can Be Proud Of
I take the opportunity to congratulate Sandra Rajoo, first prize winner (Senior category) of the recent Ipoh Echo writing competition. Her article, titled ‘Ipoh’s iconoic Polo Ground’, which was published in issue 88 of Ipoh Echo (22 December 2009 – 15 January, 2010), was not only well written but also evoked sweet memories and fond recollections of an idyllic Polo Ground of days gone by.
Indeed, a public community park should be a haven for rest, relaxation and recreation for the whole family. Alas, the Polo Ground of today is a far cry from Ms Rajoo’s lovely descriptions.
I’m not sure when Ms Rajoo last paid a visit to the park, but if she did so today she would find to her dismay and alarm that the Polo Ground has since degenerated to such a degree that it is no longer the sanctuary that it used to be in the 1980’s and before. And the situation is gradually and surely getting from bad to worse unless the authorities take immediate measures to arrest the problems.
Originally designated a ‘No hawkers’ zone, the park vicinity today is nevertheless infested with hawkers who sell their wares with blatant disregard for park rules nor basic decent respect for the environment. They operate out of vans, setting up stall around the clock, complete with tables, chairs, and umbrellas, all along Persiaran Brash, the street that flanks Polo Ground, and once a upon a time, a quiet and pleasant residential boulevard. Loud music, noise, traffic congestion and litter compound the problem for park users and residents alike.
Not only does the unsavoury sight of these hawker stalls ruin the beautiful landscape of the park, they also cause massive traffic congestion when motorists stop by the road to patronize the stalls. By setting up their stalls on the car park spaces along Persiaran Brash (parking that is designated and allocated for park users), these hawker stalls comprising vans, tables and chairs deprive motorists of precious parking space. The scene during the park’s ‘peak hours’ (6-8 a.m. And 5-7.30 p.m.) is one of total anarchy, with motorists parking their cars anywhere they care (even at the front gates of houses along the road), traffic choking the entire street, and a devil-may-care attitude by hawkers and motorists.
Left unchecked by the authorities, the hawkers seem to have grown in strength and confidence as the stalls there increase in size and number with time. Obviously, business is thriving at the Polo Ground. But surely good business is not a good reason for Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh to allow illegal hawking activities to be carried out at the Polo Ground. Rules should be adhered to, not compromised.
Indeed, hawkers there have turned the entire once peaceful residential suburb into a ‘glutton street pasar malam‘ of sorts, with stalls offering everything from laksa to rojak. Several stalls even operate through the night, encouraging unsavoury nocturnal activities in the park. Don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of hawker food and pasar malam. But there should be a proper place and an appropriate time for these, and a community park is NOT one of the places, at any time.
And no self-respecting local council should allow it. If the local council is wary of being unpopular with the hawker community, the council must be prepared to risk losing the respect and support of the rest of the community.
I have heard that even royalty, including HRH Sultan Azlan Shah, who walks at the Polo Ground every morning, has been so disgusted by the state of affairs at the park (filled with litter, trash etc.) that he ordered the hawkers to be relocated. But in no time at all, the pack of them returned with a vengeance, defying even the Sultan’s orders, and being allowed to get away with it somehow.
In fact, I was a frequent user of the park for many years, jogging there every evening until the situation at the park went from barely tolerable (about ten years ago) to totally unbearable (about five years ago). In 2005, I stopped going to Polo Ground altogether.
How I long for those golden days of yore when Polo Ground was really as Ms Rajoo describes it!
Please, Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh, it is a gross injustice and disservice to the community of Ipoh to sweep the problem under the carpet and let these hawkers have their way. Do something about the pathetic situation before it is too late and our beautiful Polo Gruond goes to waste.. literally!
Friend of the Community
Ipoh
Category: Letters
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I went to Padang Polo yesterday afternoon/evening, about six o’clock. Couldn’t get parking spot. Hawkers occupying parking spots near the padang. All of them occupying more than one spot. There were more than half a dozen hawkers there.
I don’t undertand. The padang is mainly for exercising, not eating/drinking. If you have picnic, OK fine. But hawker stalls? Not enough with fried mee at pasar malam, pasar tani, pasar pagi, food courts, mamak, kopitiam etc etc?
I’m going to complain to MBI. http://aduan.mbi.gov.my/index.php?page=post
I have been following the comments on this article with increasing interest and agree 100% with Nigel, Friend of the Community and other like-minded readers on the Polo Ground situation. I deliberately drove by the park at 5.30pm one day and found that the entire Pesiaran Brash is filled with hawkers who set up their stalls on car park bays reserved for park users. They even provide tables, chairs, canopies and music for their customers. And their patrons are not at the park to jog or exercise, but simply to park their cars anywhere they can find space along the road and lepak over teh tarik and laksa. So, instead of being a recreational park, the taman rekreasi has become a hawker centre. This is definitely not the gith image for a community park; plus the traffic is terrible.
I’m surprised that the residents around the area hv not complained about the aituation so far; and if they have, then why isn’t MBI doing something about it?
I hope very much that Mat Rempit’s opinion is not true i.e. that MBI is turning a blind eye to the situation jsut because the hawkers are Malay. What is all this talk abuot 1Malaysia if such double standards exist?
As a bona fide Malay with very good Chinese friends, I hope Mat Rempit is wrong. And MBI must do something about the situation to prove that Mat Rempit is wrong!! Zam has my full support here.
If it is not about bangsa, then what is it about? Corruption?? Here, MBI must also prove that they are not being paid off by the hawkers.
The whole situation has made me very uneasy. I smell a rat, a very big rat. And the sooner MBI comes out to respond to all the complaints, the better.
We strive to be a developed country but the uncivilised sight that greets visitors to some of our parks speaks volumes that we have a long way to go before this can happen. For one thing, if the authorities continue to hold on to their “third world mentality” of allowing hawkers free rein anywhere and everywhere they please, we will forever be nothing more than a backward “kampung” nation.
No amount of investment into facilities and landscaping by the authorities can compensate for the ugly sight of hawkers flogging their wares, while flies abound and rodents run rampant around the park.
Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh, it is time to stop this “kampung” mentality! Stern action must be taken immediately to relocate these illegal hawkers to a designated hawker zone away from the residential area surrounding the park.
When there is law and order at Taman Rekreasi Sultan Abdul Aziz, only then can we turn the park one that tourists will want to visit, and all Perakeans can be proud of.
Where do you live, Tamna? Why not we get hawkers to turn your street into another hawker street so that all the housing estates in Ipoh will soon be full of penjaja? Syoknya! Then no problem kan klau nak makan mee goreng bila bila saje.
All right!
MAYBE SALBIAH IS RIGHT.not everywhere and anywhere.
still,memang saya suka kalau “hawkers”surrounding my house.senag order mee goreng.lol
Whenever I pass by the stalls, I will have the same thoughts as Pushpa. But then, as when I observe more, those who eat at the stalls are not joggers but just individuals looking for somewhere with a nice view to eat. Sometimes I feel they are also there to observe the joggers and having the stalls there gave them a reason to sit at the side to ‘watch’.
Speaking of irresponsible/ignorant vendors, do the stalls along Jalan Sri Chempaka legal?
I still remember about two decades ago, whenever the elections are on, the candidate would promise a road widening for the Taman Chempaka entrance. Now, after all the sweat, tears and joy, we finally have a considerably wide road. But the vendors seem to mushroom at the side since then and worse, they have also make full use of the space to put tables and chairs. Will these vendors cause traffic congestion when cars stop by to buy from them? Will they cause the drain to clog too?
I love hawkers stalls too and i agree with tamna they must be clean, clean, clean! but not just anywhere and ehverywhere.. then our city would look like a rojak town.. haha!! definitely not in a housing area. tak kan tamna likes the idea of living in a house surrounded by hawkers? kekekeke..
Hahahahaha!! Good one, Pushpa S. I salute you!
I don’t think it’s just MBI that needs to do something, it’s also the people who go there to eat at the stalls and give business to the hawkers. Afterall, if business is not good, there will not be anymore hawkers, right?
So people of Ipoh, stop patronising these illegal hawkers! If the people stop buying, the hawkers will stop selling, it’s as simple as that. These hawkers can sell their food somewhere else, not in front of the park and people’s houses.
And people of ipoh, when you go to polo ground, it is for exercise, not to eat and put on more weight lah! You will be wasting your efforts!
Well said, Friend of the Community. I couldn’t have written a better article myself and I share your sentiments entirely. Being a retired school teacher who used to love sitting under the shade of the lovely trees at polo ground reading and contemplating, I find the environment at polo ground nowadays totally unconducive, with the hawkers spoiling the landscape, and the noise most distracting.
What a shame.
I sympathise with Liz entirely. Weekends are meant for rest, peace and quiet. But instead of providing a tranquil sanctuary for city dwellers in search of a bit of relaxation with their families, polo ground is at its fever-pitch noisiest, most crowded, most traffic- congested, filthiest and ugliest over the weekends and on public holidays. It has become a “free for all” with very little, if any, regulation and control by the authorities, namely MBI.
MBI, you have much to answer for. Where is the sense in allowing noisy jamboree-like gatherings, aerobics sessions, and what not in a park that was never designed nor intended for large scale gatherings of every nature and description? Is MBI so poor in planning that it does not realise that sizeable events and gatherings (anything more than 50 people) should not be allowed in a small community park located in a residential area, with limited parking, and are better designated to bigger parks such as Taman DR Seenivasagam, Dataran Ipoh and Ipoh Padang? (Or anywhere that is not a residential area?) The traffic and chaos along Persiaran Brash (not built to handle the crowd and thoroughfare) is a serious issue that needs to be looked at, and dealt with quickly.
It is high time MBI puts an end to the relentless and inappropriate antics that go on at polo ground – the noisy Sunday morning aerobic sessions, the hawkers and ensuing nose and pollution that go on by day and the nocturnal shenanigans throughout the night. There is no end. Even orders from up high – HRH Sultan Azlan Shah himself – seem to have fallen on deaf ears. I am surprised that the Sultan’s office has not forcibly evicted the hawkers nor done more to preserve the park that is so well loved by the community.
Ipohite, I will be the first to join you in our united fight to free our park from the stranglehold of the hawkers and other pests that is choking the park to death day by day. I am sure Liz will also be in full support.
MBI, why do you steadfastly refuse to wake up and listen?? Perhaps the hawkers have really got MBI “by the balls”, to borrow a crude but apt phrase. As Jessica L. says, perhaps polo gound is at the centre of some political issue. Whatever it is, I urge MBI to have the guts to stand up to the hawkers and not pander to their threats. We the community will be behind you, MBI!
Ipoh City Watch, we desperately need you to help us reclaim our beloved Taman Rekreasi Sultan Aziz for the community!!
WE WANT BACK THE POLO GROUND OF YESTERYEAR, FREE FROM HAWKERS, VANDALS, VERMINS, NOISE, POLLUTION AND TRAFFIC!!!
I agree with Friend of the Community about the litter and indiscriminate parking at the old Polo Ground.
I too have stopped going there and my reason, apart from the litter and hawkers, is NOISE
Every weekend, an ‘official’ group of people sanctioned by MBI to lead the people in aerobics set up their loudspeakers to play their exercise music. They play the music so loudly that it can wake up the dead! If you are exercising there, it actually hurts your ears. I can hear the music and I live one mile away.
On weekend mornings, I have to shut our house windows as the noise is deafening. My elderly parents live with me and we also have a baby in the house. They are awakened by this noise. My older children can’t even study quietly without thumping disco music being carried on the wind from this polo ground. And no, we do not have airconditioning that can drown the noise out.
Most people complain about the noise from nightclubs or discos if they live near to such places. But MBI is responsible for noise during the day. I tried to ask the aerobics leader to lower the volume but she was very rude and said the ‘people’ wanted it.
I disagree. The people were never given a say. I live nearby, a few roads away, and no one asked me. I checked with my neighbours. No one asked them either.
There are others who use the park for quiet exercise and a place to destress, and they dislike the noise too. Even the small groups of people doing tai-chi, with their own portable CDs have difficulty listening to their own music. They increase the volume of their music. SO we have normal park users being drowned out by these ‘competing’ noises.
Anyway, the aggressive woman leading the aerobics even dared me to complain “Kalau berani, complain lah”. What a disgraceful attitude. MBI and the people they engage like to ride roughshod over some members of the community.
Just like Friend of the Community says, hawkers, even newspaper vendors and fruits sellers set up stalls etc. Many people seem to have forgotten what a park is truly for. This polo ground has lost its original aim of providing quiet contemplation, a place of refuge and relaxation and a green lung for Ipohites.
I have also stopped using this park. It seems that MBI are simultaneously closing one eye to avoid addressing the problems of traffic, litter, vermin and noise, but is also only interested in making money (from hawker permits).
Very Disappointed
Zamby should something about, otherwise its as usual only lip service from the ruling state party.
Emotional outbursts will not do any good, Park lover. I too care for the park as much as you do. It now looks that the authorities are powerless to stop the pesky traders from marring the facade of the park. They have stamped their mark much to the chagrin of the residents living in the vicinity.
Attempts by MBI to stem the flow have been minimal at best and lacklustre at worse. May be it’s time for us Ipohites to show our disgust by haranguing the council, especially the councillors and the mayor, to do the impossible – get rid of the hawkers for good.
Let’s be united in our stand. Anyone prepared to make the first move? What have come of ICW – Ipoh City Watch? Where art thou ICW?
I read the article by “Friend of the Community” with great interest. I too was an avid jogger every evening at polo ground until several years ago when the chaotic situation and “flea market” environment turned me off the place. I now jog at Taman D.R. Seenivasagam which I find so much more peaceful and “park-like” than polo ground which has unfortunately turned into a hawker centre. No problems with car park at DR Park either.
But I am curious to know why the hawkers are being allowed to operate at polo ground so freely and without any regard for the authorities. Or is it because the authorities actually allow them to operate there? (Bad idea.)
There are some rumours going on that it is a “political” situation, and MPI is actually afraid to antagonise the hawkers. In order to keep peace with the hawkers, the authorities turn two blind eyes to the situation. But I feel this is not fair to the park users and residents around the area.
The hawkers should be relocated to another suitable site that is not in a residential area, preferably to a specially designated hawker zone. They should not fear no business because, if their laksa or whatever food is tasty, people will definitely go to look for them wherever they are operating.
And, with due respect, MPI should not be afraid to DO THE RIGHT THING for the good of the community.
Of course, where there’s demand there will always be supply. But does this mean that the authorities sit back, fold their arms an do nothing about it? What happened to rules and laws to protect the environment and the community?
Ultimately, this draws the question: JUST WHAT IS MPI GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS SICKENING SITUATION? Should the park, its surrounding environment, and the peace of a residential neighbourhood be allowed to go to ruin because of the stubbornness of a handful of renegade illegal traders???
You can keep complaining till kingdom come but it’s business as usual for these “pests”. Remember, where there’s demand there’s supply. Simple economics, mah.