JKP Zone 3 Aspirations

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

JKP Zone 3 Aspirations

SJ Echo also asked the newly-appointed JKP Zone 3 members of what they planned to do in the grouping. We share them with you.

Arvin Chia, USJ9
I am the founding chairman of the now defunct USJ 9 NW and was a committee member of the previous JKP before the 2008 General Elections. Sadly, nothing much happened & most of us were quite disillusioned. However, post general elections, I have been liaising with Hannah and definitely see a refreshing change. When Rajiv invited me to join the JKP again, I had no hesitancy in accepting.

What I would like to see is that instead of just being a grouping of residents who are given a yearly allocation of RM80,000-RM100,000 to make minor improvements here and there, the JKP should actually evolve into a more action oriented grouping who can represent the voice of the residents in dealing with the MPSJ. There has been too much politicking and corruption all these years and I personally feel that town councils in Malaysia in general need to go back to their roots i.e. serving the needs of the residents. Collecting as much assessment as they do, MPSJ should really buck up and improve on their levels of service, maintenance, enforcement etc.

I believe that the shortcomings in our individual areas are the same as they are all over Subang Jaya i.e. rubbish collection, traffic congestion, maintenance of parks, inadequate green lungs, enforcement in terms of "ah long" stickers everywhere & restaurant/coffee shop hygiene standards. Thus, to me, as I said earlier, we need to look at the big picture as if not, all we are doing is to report on individual clogged drains, rubbish left by the roadside in certain areas etc. which I feel should not be the realm of the JKP as we are all volunteers with busy schedules, doing this purely out of a desire to see improvements in the area we live in.

Yee Siew Meng, USJ3ABCD
The JKP helps to highlight to the Municipal Council the needs and issues facing the community. The issues which we face on a day-to-day basis and which we can help to maintain are infrastructure maintenance and improvement, crime in our neighbourhoods and racial integration and Youth development.
We will have programs and activities over the next 12 months to address each of these issues.
However, having the best plans and programs and the best Municipality in the country is not going to move us forward unless we, as urban Subang Jayans learn to live with our neighbour in mind. We don’t throw mattresses and old furniture by the side of the padang so that our home front is clean and clear of debris. We learn to sacrifice some level of comfort and convenience and spend some time serving the community for the good of the community. We need to shift our mindset as urban dwellers to be caring and neighbourly. Then maybe we can begin to see more changes in our community.
Lastly I want to make one more point. Middleclass Subang Jayans are not an easy lot to service. Our demands and expectations are high. We complain a whole lot. As a result, we have one of the most efficient Municipal Council in the country. I believe MPSJ has won quality service awards from the Federal government. Let me state that while there is still much space for improvement in the area of efficiency and transparency; MPSJ has done a good job overall in serving the many communities it oversees. I believe while we complain we must also give credit where it is due.

Ramlah Onizukawaki, USJ2
Having been raised in Singapore, worked in KL, lived in Japan and now making Malaysia my home, guess I see the people here from an outsider point of view.

Volunteering to raise the standard of living here especially the cleanliness & friendliness, creating harmony & neighbourliness are just part & parcel of life. Since I've been involved in Rukun Tetangga for about 6 years doing extra volunteer work won't hurt, I guess. Residents here like anywhere else know how to complain and make suggestions but when we nicely ask if they would consider volunteering, they have all kinds of excuses. Is it possible to want something but not work for it?

Being in the JKP, and from the briefings from Rajiv, I gather the whole concept is just for us to give ideas & suggestions as to what's required or what's best for our community. This is because whatever we say or try to do, MPSJ has the last word. But then again, with the support of quite a number of vocal JKPs, I hope our councilor can deliver our messages across the board.

Guess with rather a big population here in Subang Jaya itself, and the unbalanced ratio of police personnel, especially with all the foreign workers doing all the tedious work of rubbish collection, grass cutting, drain cleaning, etc. safety is a big must. Having Gated & Guarded community is good but it has its negative side. Frustrations from other communities as their short cuts turned to long drives, visitations from friends from other communities dwindle because it's troublesome. So it'll be just you and your community only.

We will need better lit parks and roads for safety and security purposes. Maybe money spent on beautifying (planting & replanting along the dividers and curbs & islands) can be used for maintenance of the lights and maybe have CCTVs at identified spots in each and every USJ area.

Last but not least, whatever we will try to do can only be effective if the people here can change their mindset. It all boils down to each and every household - how they raise their child to be a good citizen with moral values and good etiquette and conscience.

Here's hoping whatever contributions the Councilor and JKPs of Zone 3 give, will make Subang Jaya a better place to live in.