BY Lee Yan Li

Millions have been talking about the public transport system in Malaysia, front-page coverage is devoted to the update of the MRT and the rail system, but few have taken up the task to make sense of the system and what the development could bring.

Ho Chin Soon’s fifth book, published in 2011, which explored the then impending and possible MRT lines in Kuala Lumpur and High Speed Rail to Singapore, proved to be an insightful take on the development of inner city and inter-city transportation on real estate. Besides that, Ho has also discussed the trends of property developments and house prices in Malaysian major cities as well as Singapore, though much emphasis remained on the Greater KL, which was still the locus of Malaysian real estate industry.

It is worth noting that the book is written some time ago and with the benefit of hindsight, one should note that the MRT lines mentioned in the book were not up-to-date. In fact, the author has repeatedly mentioned that the information provided on the MRT 2 and MRT 3 was subjected to changes, and he clearly did his best to include the latest information available before the deadline of his publication. Hence, the readers should take due diligence and verified the updated information.
This is by no means an indication that the book has no readable value, Ho’s book was as usual informational, but the reasoning and the structure of analysis that constituted Ho’s argument was the biggest wisdom Ho can impart with the readers through his books. Ho’s years of map making experience shined the brightest when he demonstrated his way of collecting sources as well as his train of thoughts on processing them, and this should be the most valuable lesson that the readers can take away from the book. In the age of abundant information, the skill of analysing information is by no means any less valuable that the information itself.

This is not the first book that Ho has done on the MRT lines, and it may have impacted the way he structured his arguments in this book. This book focused on updated maps and graphs to present a more up-to-date review on the rail system, but for the first time readers who are not familiar with the KL transport system, the maps and graphs can feel a bit bewildering. However, the maps, graphics and raw data were painstakingly collected, and ultimately, with a bit of patience and effort, the readers would stand to gain much from a book that provided useful insights in the property industry in relation to the development of public transport infrastructure.

Greater KL: Circle and Putrajaya MRT by Ho Chin Soon,
Graphic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd, Selangor,
First Edition, 2011, 286 pp,
ISBN: 978-967-5718-05-2.