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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The high price of living in a low-cost flat

The zinc roof of the balconies at the Loke Yew flats sometimes get blown away by strong winds. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.The zinc roof of the balconies at the Loke Yew flats sometimes get blown away by strong winds. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.
The deplorable conditions of the public low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are a perennial problem that have been blamed on both the local authorities and the tenants; the first for poor maintenance and the second,for their lack of civic-mindedness. Safety and hygience have long been the issues affecting such housing schemes.
On January 28, 4-year-old Mohammad Zulhazriq Danish Alden, while playing with his brother, fell to his death from the 6th floor of Block B of the People’s Housing Project (PPR) flats in Section 8 of Kota Damansara.
He was not the first. On June 21, 2013, Thinasraj Manickadass, 6, died after falling from the 14th floor of Block D of the same flats.
More recently, more than 100 rat holes were reported in the vicinity of the Sri Sabah flats in Cheras. The cause of the infestation was the badly managed waste disposal system.
Residents of low-cost flats have shared how they are often forced by non-working lifts to walk up dozens of floors and the horror, when the lifts do work, of entering one which has faeces smeared on the buttons and urine on the floor.
Yet despite all this, many continue to live at the flats, and not always because they are cheap, too.
Rani Cinniah, 74, lives at the Jalan Loke Yew flats, and she will not have it any other way. 
She said her family was among the squatters who were relocated to the flats in the 1970s.
“I live here with my son and grandchildren,” said the widow, who was comfortably seated on an old chair by the Rukun Tetangga office.
She said it had never occurred to her to move as the place was familiar to her and had all the necessary conveniences nearby. The buttons to press for the lifts are missing on several floors while graffiti and ill-smelling rubbish assault the senses along the corridors of the Putra Ria low-cost apartment blocks. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.The buttons to press for the lifts are missing on several floors while graffiti and ill-smelling rubbish assault the senses along the corridors of the Putra Ria low-cost apartment blocks. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.
“It used to be very dirty and unkempt, but in recent years, there have been some improvements,” she said.
A Loke Yew flat resident of 20 years, Rohani Atan, 62, was having an early afternoon chit-chat with a neighbour, P. Nesaratnam, 80, and Seri Utama, 49, from the nearby Sri Sarawak flats
Seated under a shady tree in the square between the flats, they had their conversation interrupted by playful teenagers flipping firecrackers behind the square.
The boys were instantly told off – and to good effect, too.
“Over here, we keep an eye on the kids as we all know one another. If we see them up to no good, they will get a good telling-off and their parents will hear about it,” said Rohani.
There were some bad apples that loitered around at night, got intoxicated and became a nuisance, but we usually managed to ignore these, she said.
They said, apart from some issues with maintenance, the flats were a pleasant place to live as the neighbours were friendly and the location in the middle of the city was convenient.
“Among the main problems we have now is the zinc-covered balconies, which sometimes get blown away during storms. These were installed to give the façade uniformity and screen out unsightly laundry hung out to dry,” said Seri.
And cleanliness has improved, she said, adding that the lifts did break down occasionally but the maintenance crew were quick to fix the problem.
“There are cleaners on duty every day and they make sure that the area is clean, including the lifts that some individuals use as their personal toilet,” Rohani said.
As the trio were walking down the block, water streamed down from one of the units.
“That’s a neighbour cleaning the flat,” quipped Rohani, as she dodged the splashes.
Inside the building, the corridors were dark and had bags of rotting rubbish, presumably left there to be thrown out later by the residents had left their rotting rubbish along it, presumably to be thrown out later. The lifts, though clean in appearance, reeked of urine and there were rats scuttling in the drains along the corridor.
Conditions were worse at the Putra Ria low-cost apartments in Bangsar. There was rubbish everywhere, even on the cars that were parked below the units.
A resident who only wanted to be known as Abang said things had deteriorated over the years.
“It has gotten from bad to worse with the influx of foreigners moving in. Some of them have poor cleanliness and hygiene habits.
“Worse than that, however, is the rivalry between groups of residents belonging to opposing political parties,” he said.
One of the three lifts at Abang’s 22-floor building was not working while the working lifts had several floor buttons that did not function. There were graffiti on the wall and rubbish in the lobby and the corridors.
“For years, rarking has been another problem,” he said, pointing to the cars double parked around the housing scheme.
“It has a lot to do with the attitude of the people here,” said the retired government servant who has lived there for 20 years.
A rat lurks in the drain at the Jalan Loke Yew flats. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.A rat lurks in the drain at the Jalan Loke Yew flats. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Maria J. Dass, July 21, 2015.
When contacted, Lembah Permai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said she had previously organised a meeting between the residents, the then Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Phesal Talib and the Commissioner of Buildings Soliha Ahmad Nasarudin to resolve the issues at the Putra Ria apartments.
“The problem with Putra Ria is that it does not have a strata title and the residents owe a large amount in maintenance fees,” she said.
She said City Hall had said that the lift repairs should be paid for by the maintenance fees and that the matter was still being negotiated.
Nurul agreed that it was sometimes difficult for her to enter the blocks of flats that were “controlled by members of other political parties”.
“We go there to to deliver aid or check up on residents’ complaints but there have been instances when we were chased away with machetes or booed and insulted,” she said, adding she had lodged police reports after these incidents.
She said it was illegal for the units to be rented out for profit, especially to foreigners, and that rule needed to be enforced by the authorities.
Housing and Local Government secretary-general Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, who is former KL mayor, said cleanliness  had always been an issue at the low-cost housing schemes.
“One must remember that many who live there now were once living in squatter colonies,” he said.
Many were allotted units at low prices to moved out of the colonies under the government’s “0" squatter programme, he said.
“They have moved to into high-rise apartments but they have kept their squatter colony attitudes,” said Fuad.
“The government has done its part to provide the necessary facilities, but there have been no continued and consistent efforts to educate the people living there.
“Every five years or so, funds are allocated for a certain purpose to improve the flats – maybe a new paint job, new railings and safety features, playground or gym.
“But the attitude of the residents has to improve too.
“You are bringing up children here and you should make an effort to make it conducive for them.”
The small size of the units or the cramped and squalid living conditions are no excuse for their lack of civic-mindedness, he added.
“In countries like Korea, people live in even smaller units but the residents make an effort to make their environment livable.”
Fuad said complaints that units were being rented out to foreigners should be investigated because the people’s housing projects were meant for Malaysians.
“This is where the local authorities come in,” he said, adding that the government and residents must cooperate if things are to improve at the housing schemes.
- TMI

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