Setting Achievable Targets

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Setting Achievable Targets

IT’S coming to that time of the year again when people start reminiscing the year that has whisked by so fast. With just less than two months away to bid 2009 farewell, it is probably the best time to gauge what we have done to meet the targets set early in the year and gather our thoughts of where we went right and where we may have strayed from our targets.
In less than 3 weeks away to the year-end school holidays, many families are making plans for their long-awaited and deserving quality time with the family. It’s also the time for planning a Christmas party and New Year’s Eve get-together to welcome 2010.
What has 2009 unraveled for us?
Subang Jaya residents will have many things to share obviously.
Over the past year, we have seen many housing areas within the municipality of Subang Jaya (which starts from the corners of Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya, USJ, Putra Heights, Puchong and Seri Kembangan) being gated up for security purposes. The Gated and Guarded concept has spread like wildfire with residents taking extra measures to have some sense of security for their homes. G&Gs have mushroomed and still growing all over. Crime has obviously dropped in these areas while other non-gated and unguarded areas remain exposed to perpetrators who never seem to cease in their endeavor to make a fast buck.
This is also the year when many scrutinize plans by the Transport Ministry to build the Light Rail Transport (LRT) into Subang Jaya. While many welcome this infrastructure, others also have a sense of suspicion as to whether it can really solve the traffic woes as well as provide a better alternative for public transportation.
Subang Jaya’s prized lake and green lung – Taman Subang Ria – has come up again on our radar screens. New proposals have been shared with us by the property owner, Sime Darby Properties, a proposal considered by some quarters of the community as a good win-win while to some it means the demise of what they deem as a real park.
What comes out of the issues raised above is yet to be seen but we will definitely be seeing more as we herald the New Year.
In recent months, Subang Jaya has been overtaken by a different population – rats and cockroaches. We started highlighting the ever-growing population of these pests and the health problems it could bring along with it. Initially, we were met with a shrug and authorities brushed it off by saying that it wasn’t such a big problem.
The past month however, this sentiment has taken an about turn. Councilors with Subang Jaya Municipal Council health officials have ‘turun padang’ numerous times to see the problem that has manifested itself in SS15 due to the lackadaisical attitude of food operators who indiscriminately dispose their food waste as well as the lack of supervision on the so-called pest control companies who are supposed to be doing their job keeping these pests away.
Councilor Keshminder Singh and Theresa Ratnam Thong have set themselves a target – 50% of rats and cockroaches to be wiped out in 6 months time. This appears on the surface to be a good and strong message to all and sundry. They jointly announced this during a night inspection with MPSJ officers who conducted their first ever fumigation of manholes and drains in the business district.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is 50% Mr Councilor? Do we really know how many rats and cockroaches we have living in the gutter and dark slimy alleys of SS15? Rats are as big as kittens and cockroaches are swarming every nook and corner of SS15 but do we really know how many of them there are? If you have only seen 2 rats, is killing one of them enough?
I raised this point during the night inspection and also the fact that 6 months is a little too long to set since the rats and cockroaches are literally breeding by the day. Councilors and reporters alike were tip-toeing and even squirming away whenever a cockroach flew onto them throughout the press conference after the inspection.
While we support MPSJ on its strong stand, we must also ask if this target it has set itself is achievable. It is impossible for MPSJ to achieve this target alone whether it’s just 2 rats or 200 rats living in SS15, if food operators continue to ignore advise and if diners continue to frequent dirty eateries. How much can we tolerate before we find a rat in our soup or favourite nasi lemak?
Setting a target for ourselves is a good step in the right direction. But setting unachievable targets is merely playing lip service.
We are at the tail end of 2009. What targets have you set yourself for 2010?