Interest Groups

During an informal discussion with a group of residents, we spoke about interest groups. We wonder who are they. Many of them do not happy with the participatory consultation process over development projects. MBPj has by virtue of the law provision, inviting people aggravate by a particular project to submit their objections, if any. Most of the time, this has limited the prospects to a small portion of people. Many residents who have resided in the same neighbourhood might not have the chance or so call "local standi" to object to a particular development. In order to hear people out, MBPJ welcomes others to submit their opinion and to hold open forum for hearing. However, this has also raised displeasure from the development project proponents accusing the whole process is getting out of hand. While getting views from as many people as possible is encouraged for a good participatory planning, the question is what is the magic number?

We are talking about interest group or stakeholder whom people have a stake over some project, be it direct or indirect. People who felt that their daily encountering and quality of life might be affected or even their flow of traffic might met with some blockage are considered interested parties. If i am sharing an access road with the proposed development, then it is logical to invite me for my opinion. Even though due to apathy some might not response, but still it is the responsibility of the authority to engage and consult.

Having said this, there are interest groups with vested interest or personal agenda. We have to distinguished these groups from the genuine one. In this respect, engaging them with more scientific discourse and reasoning out the objections is required. For example, to engage them from the beginning until the end will actually provide us some indication on sincerity of groups that come forwards. Those come in with self interest will normally pull out after some time.

To draw a clear line on genuine interest groups is not easy, and perhaps is impossible. We can only engage wider spectrum of people and to get information from multiple aspects and corners for us to make a right decision, ethically and politically. If this is done, perhaps defining an interest group can be ignored.