DAP lawmakers today paid a visit to the official residence of Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin at Jalan Tunku, Kuala Lumpur to inspect the RM1.4 million alternative road which led to the house.

DAP's Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming and Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng knocked on the gate of Pandikar's house and a man who claimed to be a family member of the speaker, answered.

The man, who stood at the security post at the main entrance, claimed that Pandikar was not at home.

During a short chat with both MPs, the man claimed that the 100-metre road used by Pandikar all along was a private road.

"That was a private road, not a public road. There was a hump built before," he said.

He, however admitted that Pandikar was never stopped from using the road and the hump only slowed down his car.

Based on the short chat, Ong and Lim concluded that Pandikar personally felt the road wasn't suitable for him to use.

"Pandikar had said this has nothing to do with him and it was the government's prerogative to build the road. But that made no sense to me," said Ong.

"The government was short of fund and they cut the budget allocated to the education and health ministries," he added.

Ong said if the request to upgrade the infrastructure did not come from Pandikar, the government would not have proposed to build the new alternative road out of the blue.

"But he is a two-term speaker, he should know whether the road should be built when the government is cutting public funds."

The allocation, he added, could have been used to build ten affordable houses in Pandikar's state, Sabah, and support 100 Sabahans in their tertiary education.

Ong said Pandikar should answer if he requested for the road to be built.

It was not necessary for the speaker to build the alternative road since he still can use the other road, he added.

The alternative new road had a partially cemented pavement and partially tarred road that connected from Jalan Tunku and cut across into the compound of his house until the back door, which was originally used as the main gate of the residence.

'Project too expensive'

A written parliamentary reply stated that the RM1.4 million project included drainage work, a security post, electronic fencing, security system, street lights as well as related works.

A new main entrance, which was originally a back wall, has been built together with a signboard.

Despite not having done a research on the market price, Lim claimed that the project was too expensive.

"Give me RM1.4 million and I can build a bungalow in Kuala Lumpur. I can even build a new residence for Pandikar," he said.

Lim urged the people who are qualified in this matter to look at the photographs taken by the media and give their comments.

Both lawmakers also visited the existing "private road", parallel to the new road, and they found four bungalows and TNB lamp posts located along the two-way road.

Ong then claimed that it may not be a private road.

The seasoned jogger said he first noted the construction early last year when he was running around Bukit Tunku and passed by Pandikar's house.

The Star quoted Pandikar as saying that the new alternative road construction had nothing to do with him.

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