No more Green Green Grass of Home.....

How sad....and bare






Bye Bye green foliage of ss22A/6 and ss22A/8......

Clearing of the Belukar annexed to Road 8

I am posting some photos i took of the belukar that has been stripped!! oh gone are the nice foliage. Some of the neighbours at road 8 say it is quite breezy now and some say "wah! kinda feel naked!!" They can see across to the other side of the ravine. From the back of my house, i can see the roof of Patrick Teoh's Steamboat restaurant!

Whatever the remarks, more of this foliage will be going. The developers started clearing on last thursday and by Saturday, they have cleared quite a considerable portion between the houses and the ravine (that joins to Sg Kayu Ara).

The Developer did hold a taklimat with the residents last Friday 4/9/09, but only a few number of residents turned up. I believe these are the residents who will be more directly affected. The situation presently is less tense as in the morning on the same day, a group of us residents had paid a visit to MBPJ demanding to get confirmation from MBPJ that the conditions which were asked by the residents from the developer on this development are to be met. The most notable condition is the green lung portion which ensures that no traffic will come into and through Road 8 from SS22/43. The Ingress and Egress for the new residential area has been planned by the developer to be from SS22/43. We neighbours wanted to make sure of this and therefore insisted on a small green lung portion just after the end of Road 8. This green lung has yet to be gazetted and hence the anxiety when the developer started to clear the land.

At the MBPJ meeting, we were giving the assurance that this green lung will be gazetted and that they have decided some time back that the application of this gazette will be made to the State Land Office. They will also confirm this in writing. On this assurance, some of the residents felt less anxious.

On the whole, this project will probably created some nuisance for the next 2 years or so. The plot of land annex to the development land ie the land closer to the sewerage system has been rented out to the developers to house their Kongsi, site office, and to house their equipment. Road 6 people will be affected too. We did say to the developer that their kongsi for their workers have to be facing ss22/43 not towards our houses. The noise pollution will also come about.

On top of this, we will also have to consider insisting from the developer to ensure that their workers to do not prowl into our area. They have said they will build a permanent wall structure which delineates their land. Nonetheless for the land that they rented, they will only hoard. This is where we must try to insist that they have their security guards too and to ensure that their workers themselves do not come into our area.

All this, will be considered by the Security Committee of SS22A and they will come out with plans to counter any possible breaches of security.

Images from the Backyard of Road 8 houses

I thought i'd show you how the backyard of the neighbours of Road 8. The greenery creates a real green lung of fresh air. My neighbour would know all species of birds that congregate here. I have even seen eagles and stocks here. Sadly, most of them are going.....

Letter by Developers pertaining to Development at the Belukar of SS22A/6 and /8

Tarikh: 20hb Ogos 2009.


Tuan/Puan,

MESYUARAT PERJUMPAAN BERSAMA PENDUDUK-PENDUDUK
SEKITAR TAPAK PROJEK (TAKLlMAT), MENGENAI PEMBINAAN
YANG DICADANGKAN.
CADANGAN PEMBANGUNAN 3 UNIT RUMAH 8ESEBUAH & 14 UNIT
RUMAH BERKEMBAR 3 TINGKAT DI ATAS LOT 13515 & 13516, JALAN
8822/43, PJU 6A, KG. KAYU ARA, MUKIM SG. BULUH, SELANGOR
UNTUK TETUAN RELIANCE SITE SDN. BHD.



Dengan segala hormatnya, kami ingin menjemput tuanlpuan untuk menghadiri majlis
taklimat berkenaan projek di atas pada tarikh dan tempat yang berikut :-
Tarikh: 04hb September 2009.
Masa : 2.00 petang.
Tapak: Di tepi (belok kiri) Restoran Pantai Seafood.
Jalan Cempaka, Kg. Sg. Kayu Ara,
47400 Petaling Jaya. .
Kehadiran tuan/puan adalah sangat di hargai.
Sekian dan terima kasih. _


Yang benar,

RELIANCE SITE SDN. BHD.
s.k. Jabatan Kawalan Bangunan, MBPJ.
u.p. Puan Hamidah.




This is the letter given by the Developer to only a few residents in SS22A/8. This may be the forum to inform us that the development will start soon. The funny thing is that there is a pending suit brought by the neighbours of Road 8 against MBPJ and the developer on grounds that the decision to approve the plan for development did not accord the Section 17 of the Town and County Planning Act 1972. This provision allows for the residents of the affected areas - normally 200m from the place of development to put up their objection to the plans.

When the plan was first brought up, it was a development for 48 townhouses. The neighbours at Road 8 objected and thereafter, the developers came back with another plan for 2 1/2 stories semi-d 16 units and 3 units of bungalow. However, there was no "majlis bantahan" held by MBPJ which they ought to, as it did for the submission of the first plan.

For the submission of the second plan, MBPJ approved it without offering it to the residents of Road 8 to object to the details or to put forward their conditions. And after many failed attempt to reconcile, MBPJ still has not taken any step to put in writing the conditions put forward by the residents, the action was taken to court.

That was almost 2 years ago. Today, some of us residents saw clearing of the land being done and we now know, this development is really going to be carried out regardless of the court case and whatever decision the court will make. Again, where is MBPJ on this matter. WE are lodging a complaint to a particular person in MBPJ whom i hope is the right person for the job and will do it with integrity.

All the residents here want, amongst other smaller conditions, is that no addition traffic burden is caused by the Developers breaking through a road from SS22/43.

wish us luck!.

Vote for 1Malaysia Song

Sending all the ss22A residents a link to select 1Malaysia song. Best do it, or the most horrible grunchy music gets selected. My recommendation for you to listen:

(i) Siti Nurhaliza/Aubrey Suwito's - Satu Malaysia
(ii) Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir - Malaysia Satu
(Siti Nurhaliza must have diva-ed her way to get that title before the rest did!!)
(iii) Ashroff Shariff's - Kami Anak Malaysia (not Sudirman's version)

Enjoy some of the others. Do select one.happy merdeka day.

http://www.1malaysia.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3334&Itemid=122

Beware of Bag Snatchers Even while You are driving.

Just the other night, one of our neighbour's daughter came home about 10.30pm. She hadn't realised that she was being followed by a motorist with a pillion rider. She passed our guardhouse and the barrier opened for her because she had the residents' car sticker but the motorcyclist rode quickly through the barrier by the side of her car. Within a few minutes, they managed to steal her handbag.

How? When she got home, she did see the motorbike coming towards so she didnt alight from her car but when they rode pass her, she thought the coast was clear and she got down from her car. Little did she know, that these thugs would ride back to her and break her car window (passenger side) and grab her handbag. By the time, the guards were alerted, the motorbike had zoomed out the barrier gate.

We ought to realise that when we see a motorcyclist, and as alert as we can be, we must anticipate them coming a second round. I was followed once(before the barrier gates were up) and when i got home, i realised a motorbike behind me. I drove on and believe it or not, he actually followed me for 3 rounds in the neighbourhood before they gave up on me.

Now, our security guards did take down the registration number of the motorbike but what they could not do in time was to locate where the motorbike had gone to. To this, i would suggest that they must buff up their response time. So it be told to the security company. However, we the residents ESPECIALLY ladies if we are coming home and driving alone, must also be alert for motorbikes, wherever we are and make sure that if they are tailing us within our neighborhood:

(i) drive to the guardhouse and wait there. tell the guards what is happening
(ii) or ask the patrolling guard to accompany you back to your house.
(iii)if he is still there, get the security guard to chase him off or get the security guard to call the police. or you may call the police yourself.
03-7726 2222 (the damansara utama police station)- they are quite prompt.

Take care.

Is this your Neighbour (Part 3)

The belukar of Roads 6 and 8 maybe a welcoming sight to its residents before the trees were cleared. The trees did prevent undergrowth and creepers which now poses as security treat because they cover view and creates a good hiding place for thugs to come into our residential area from the main road (ss22/43).

There is a dilapitated house by the side of the last house on Road 8 as seen in the photo. This house is a drug addict haunt as it has been left vacated for too long. Most of the part of the house are in ruins.

Now, this is definitely neighbours that we dont want. The land however, has been sold to a developer, who is in process of making this property and the adjacent property they bought into a 16 semid-d unit and 2 bungalow residential area. Just behind Road 8 and next to it.

What becomes more a headache for the people in Road 8 or even Road 6 is the traffic flow that will come when this new residential area opens. We, the residents of Road 6 and Road 8 do not want an access from the main road through to Road 6 or Road 8 to accommodate for ingress and egress into this residential area.

Should this happen the residents from this new area will come in and out via Roads 6 and 8. The width of our road cannot possibly accommodate for this influx of traffic flow. Each households have at least 2 cars parked outside of their house and this narrows the road.

In addition, allowing traffic to come through from the main road (ss22/43) will definitely pose a security problem for our residential area. We will have to increase our security measures and system throughout to accommodate for this change of traffic too.

We are also concerned if all the roads in SS22A can accommodate for the new development. Firstly, Road 1 is often congested with the school traffic plus the trucks coming in and out of the TOLs (temporary occupation with license). Then Road 4 is also a main thoroughfare for transporting picking up school kids. Road 2 is also congested with people parking their cars while waiting for school dismissal. If the residents of the new development are allowed to use our roads as entry point into their new development, we may have a mini traffic jam at the end of road 1.

Presently, the residents on Roads 6 and 8 have gathered to object this development and only agreeing to the developmental plans if there will be a small section of green lung as a barricade to a through road to Road 8 from ss22/43 (slip road therefrom).

It is with greatest hope that this matter which has gone to court will succeed and that the green lung we so hope for will be gazetted by the state authority. The developer has to apply for this gazette but before it is done, the developer must get its plans approved by MBPJ where it is utmostly hoped that money has not been used to buy favour.

All the best to us!! anyhow, we neighbours other than neighbours of Road 6 & 8 ought to stand together and be firm that we do not want more traffic into our area.

Is this your Neighbour? (Part 2)

After the TOLs area, comes a more shocking sight. To demarcate the land in SS22A, there is a big monsoon drain that runs tributary to the Sungai Kayu Ara on the West side of SS22A (ie behind Road 1).

Across the monsoon drain, there is an illegal settlement of squatters!. This squatters are situated inner side of Jalan Jenjarum which if you are coming in from SS23 you will see the Damansara Village Steamboat Restaurant supposedly to be owned by Patrick Teoh, the famous radio dj in the 70s -80s.

More shocking if you look into the monsoon drain. There are bushes, so it was difficult for me to capture a photo to show the rubbish strewn along the drain which comes from these squatters.

When the neighbourhood group met with the ADUN for this area, Elizabeth Wong, she said she will look into this matter. Apparently, squatters issue is a delicate issue amongst PKR's policies. For whatever reasons, we submitted that we feel these squatters have to be gotten rid off as they pose security threat to our area. These squatters house the very thieves that come into our area. All they have to do is jump over that measly monsoon drain which stinks but is not imposing enough nor wide or deep enough for these thieves to come across. Thereafter all they have to do is climb over a flimsy fence and there they are, at the end of Road 1 (on the TOLs section).

We have spoken to the TOLs to get their cooperation for barbed wires to put up on the fences as well. Hitherto, we are still waiting for their response.

Is this your Neighbour? (Part 1)

SS22A is an enclave community if you want to see it that way. Nice little high end kampung with close to 300 houses. Demographically, it is nestled in between Kampung Kayu Ara on the West and South West, SS23 on the South and SS22 of Damansara Jaya on the North and East.

Unfortunately, some of us(ss22A residents) have the misfortune to have nestled closer to somewhat a neighbour we dont particularly fancy.

At the end of Road 1, we have some TOLs (Temporary Operating Licence) holders where their residence plus place of business is situated. It creates quite an uncomfortable feel for the residents nearing the end of the road. Road 8 residents are also exposed to their operation by virtue of their backyard.

As neighbours, they may have left us alone and not really socialising with us. They do however, have vehicles carrying our their operation and they have 5tonne and above vehicles which are not a happy sight in our roads. On top of this, their suppliers or buyers vehicles come in to get their wares.

I have asked the TOLs operators about the number of vehicles that come in daily into the TOLs, they have told me that under normal circumstances, there are 70 vehicles (including motorbikes and vehicles of employees).

That is quite a lot of traffic flow when coupled up with the school vehicles ie vehicles of parents taking their children home from school.

The owner for the lots next to No.97 Road 1 ie the semi-d house on the road said that they have the title to their property and is known as No. 99 of Road 1.

In this caption, i wanted to show that although they may create heavy traffic flow, they do actually carry out some responsibility as good neighbours. Here, they are seen to carry out fogging, which they do quite periodically to ensure that mosquitoes level is kept at bay. In fact, they have even given me the registration numbers of all the vehicles that come and go into the TOLs area. Well, i havent done anything to do this. Perhaps i will propose something for the security committee.

Get to Know your Security Guard (Part VII)

This is the 6th guard. His name is Shambu, another nepalese. This guy sits in the guardhouse most of the time to monitor the entry of cars into our area. He will write down the registration number of cars that do not have our ss22A stickers and those which has not come into our area before. (i hope he checks if these cars leave our area).

This is done during the daytime. Only during nighttime, cars are stopped and queried.

The 7th guard is a supervisor and probably camera shy. He is Zaibidin. A Malaysian. This is the guard in dark sunglasses most of the time (hhmm not sure why he is hiding behind those shades). With after5 shadow mostly too.

But careful about this one, i have caught him snoozing even though being a supervisor. Again, tell me if this one is spotted snoozing by you. In the meantime, we have recommended for him to be removed. Let us hope we get a replacement soonest.

The Infamous Belukar of Roads 6 and Road 8

1 not so friendly neighbour said that our infamous belukar looks like Guantanamo Bay with all the barb wires fringing the area. Was it such a horrible sight? Have a look at the video i recorded.

Was it necessary since there is a fence? We thought it was else we had sleepless nite. You see before this belukar was not just overgrown scrubs. It had trees, i think most of it, the same rosewood trees that line Road 1. But it was chopped off by this person supposedly the owner of the land. (another blog topic).

The overgrown shrubs are easy hiding place for thieves and they had made a path into the area. The fence was of no use. They either crawled under or climbed over. They were pretty good in identifying the patrol time of the guards so they knew when to come in or exit undetected.

After the spate of buglary, 6 in 2 months - the last 4 houses of road 6 and even the 1st house of road 4....yes that giant looking like impenetrable house, the neighbours agreed that the barbed wires will deter the thieves from coming in.

But almost as soon as we had the barbed wires up, we had the 4th night guard as well. It has since then been more secure. At least we got to contain certain area for security sake.

This video is specifically for a buddy of SS22A who is away in Germany and is probably missing the scenery in our neighbourhood.

Get to Know your Security Guard (Part V) and their Shifts.

This is the 5th Guard. Finally i got a hold of his photo. His name is Prem and , a nepalese. Speaks little BM but can comprehend what we tell him. Newest guard. Tall though, surprisingly :-).

There are 7 guards altogether. 3 in the daytime shift and 4 at night.

9am-12pm, 2pm - 5pm described as non- peak hours in the daytime. The automatic barrier at Guardhouse A on Road 1 will be closed and entrance will be monitored by the guard. The barrier gate at Guardhouse B at Road 4 is partially closed and entrance is monitored by the second guard. The third guard on shift will patrol our area.

The other hours of the daytime will be considered peak hours ie school dismissal time. During Peak hours the barrier gates are not closed. But entrance into our area is still monitored by the guards at the guardhouses checkpoint.

At night, the both barriers close at 745pm. There will be 2 guards at the Guardhouse A and 1 guard at Guardhouse B. One of the guard from Guardhouse A will assist the 4th guard in the patrolling of the area after 12am. And at 2am-6pm, the 4th guard will concentrate his duty only at Road 6 and Road 8 plus end of Road 1 area.

Just yesterday night, a house alarm rang at about 3.30am. This 4th guard sprung to action immediately getting on his bike and riding to survey.

At 7am, the barriers open but guardhouses are to be manned by 1 guard. If you do not see a guard at the guardhouses, please let me know. My email address is karenlohkh@yahoo.com

Get to Know your Security Guard (Part IV)

This is Liwon. He is one of the 2 supervisors for the guards. A familiar face and always very attentive. One of the longer standing guards and i think(let me confirm this later) has been around as our guard for close to 2 years. Takes his work very seriously. He was the one guard who would alight from his bike and walk around the fringes of the belukar during his night shift. Now with the extra guard, the 2 of them make a good team ensuring the road 6 and road 8 are safer.

Get To Know the Security Guard (Part III)

This is Anandurai, another local guard who is the night shift guard only. He is responsible for the patrolling along Road 6 and Road 8 from 2am to 6am in the morning. This is the time frame that many attempted break-ins or break-ins happened prior to the extra guard shift. Thank goodness for him!

Get to Know the Security Guard (Part II)

This is Zainal Abidin, (no not the famous malaysia footballer but our guard). This one of the local guards during the morning shift.

Get to Know The Security Guard (Part I)

This is my first part of posting photo of our security guards for easier identification of our guards. Sure, we can identify them from the uniform they wear ie the Blue shirt with a yellow vest and the company logo- Wahad Securities, but if you have yet to see how they look up close, this postings will help.

This is the morning shift security guard and his name is Mohan Ole. He is a Nepalese. My apologies for not being able to supply bio-datas. When i get it, i will edit this post. All i kind say now, is he is not very tall huh? (nasty me).

For those who do not know the schedule of the guards shift. The morning shift starts from 745am to 745pm. The night shift guards take the next 12 hours.

Updates on Break-ins

Firstly, i must say, i never expected to hear from readers that i havent been blogging. Mere rantings of mine but at least it keeps some residents who are away from our neighbourhood in touch with what is going on around. Thanks to those reminding me to do my rantings more frequently. :-)

As we recall, the spate of break-ins at Road 6 and Road 8 houses, brought about plenty of worries. I for one, took to waking up at 4am every morning. I would switched on the lights in my house to make known that the people in the house are awake....ie DONT COME STEAL MY STUFF AGAIN!! Other neighbours also observed some night duties from inside their homes. We stayed vigilant! 6 break-ins in 2 1/2 months (from March to June). We were furious!

There were police dialogues to which Community Policing was brought up and the police sent patrolling cars which pretty much did not create an impact by coming in during daytime when the thugs were coming in at night.

But one incident lead me to call the police and they reacted very ....i say it again very promptly (within 5minutes). Our own security guards saw 2 men going into the belukar that flanks road 6 and road 8 about 130am and i got up upon hearing the rev of the guards motorbike approaching the belukar. My house is the 2nd houses away from the belukar. So i went out to ask the guard who was pacing up and down making sure, no one would have come through. But i decided to call the police and asked for police patrol to show their presence thus warding off those 2 men if they were still hiding in the belukar.

To my surprise, not only did the police come promptly, 2 patrol cars came. I didnt know whether that was efficient use of their patrolling schedules but their presence, surely would have been intimidating. There they were, 5 police officers, tall and well- build making their presence known. Unfortunately, i wouldnt have said it was any heroic attempt because they didnt go into the belukar to hunt down those 2 thugs (who are probably drug addicts too).

Also by then, the residents along Road 6 and Road 8 had collected funds to put up barbed wires at the fringe of the belukar along the fence.

Even then, there were still some attempted break in along Road 8 and the thugs were coming in from the squatters area. All they have to do is just jump across the Monsoon drain. One of the neighbour woke up when his alarm went off and when he came downstairs, he could hear people talking at the back of his house. Together with our guard and his immediate neighbour(my vote as the most helpful neighbour), they surveyed the back of his house the early hours of the morning. Of course by then, the thugs would have left.

Alarms would ring nitghtly and strayed dogs were barked constantly towards the belukar. So the residents discussed and decided that a 4th guard patrolling along Road 6 and Road 8 was a necessity. Else no one would sleep!

Now, there there is a 4th guard for the night shift. He patrols only along road 6 and road 8 from 2am to 6am everyday.

With this, there is less worry and more sleep.........

Parents' Day Celebration

DJROA has organised a Parents' Day celebration (supposedly Mothers' and Fathers' Day celebration altogether) on 20th June 2009 730pm at the DJROA Community Center, 1A Jalan ss 22/26, Damansara Jaya.

It is a potluck do, so you may bring food suitable for all. Programs for the nite include Karaoke, Line Dancing, Carom, Mahjong and games.

For further information you may call the Community Center @ 03-77299098 or Joyce Wong @ 016 3553111.

Thanks.

Multiracial neighbours

Today, as i read Anas Zubedy's uniquely conscientious efforts to recolour May 13th (as he calls it),  I somehow, thought about the forms to fill in for setting up Rukun Tetangga(which is now under purview of the Unity Department).  One of the requirements was to list out the percentage of the different races that resides in our area.  

Hence, this photo caption.  Here is a Malay (Indian Muslim i believe) and a Chinese-run coffee shop as its neighbour.  This is good, i said to myself. There is multiracial integration.

Nonetheless, within our residential, it is not so. In SS22A,  we only have a handful of Malay families and Indian families.  We are predominantly Chinese.  It is funny how residential areas progressed to set a disparity in the racial distribution of the community.  And it will become a pattern for intended house buyers for this area too.  One Malay family may say that there too many Chinese living in this area and hence may not consider this most welcoming.

I fear this is some form of polarisation.  When i was growing up, my parents  had a Singhalese neighbour who married a chinese wife. He had 16 children who in turn married other races as well.  There was fun in that family, big and like a melting pot of everything, they were still Malaysians. It was nice to have different race neighbours.  We can learn much about their cultures, beliefs and practices. It is always good to be able to learn their good values and adopt it in our lives.  

But why then, is our area predominantly a chinese area?  Did See Hoy Chan(/Paramount garden) group only targetted at Chinese buyers when they were developing this area? Was this development more appealing to Chinese? if so, why? 

As Anas Zubedy, launches his book "Have a Meaningful Malaysia" to unite Malaysians,  I cant help thinking that we should also find a way to make more races of Malaysia to stay or live together in a community. 

Here's  hoping for unity of community without disparity.

DJROA Activities for the Month of May 2009

A short note to inform that DJROA will be organising the following:

•  17 May, Sunday 7pm @ HEALTH TALK ON LIVER at DJROA Centre

FOC for DJROA Members. Non-Members = RM5

-----------------------------------------------------------

• 22-24 May @ 3D/2N PANGKOR ISLAND TRIP

DJROA Member=RM270 per pax (3-4 paxs to a room) or RM320 per pax (Twin Sharing)

*Non-DJROA Member Add RM20 per pax

Package includes:

- Air-conditioned bus ride to and from Lumut

- Ferry to and from Pangkor

- 2 Nights stay at Sea View Hotel

- 2 Breakfasts, 2 Lunches and 2 Dinners at hotel (inclusive of 1 BBQ dinner)

- 1 Lunch at Sitiawan

Full payment must be made upon booking and non-refundable to cancel. Priority to       

         DJROA members and on a first come first served basis.

 

For Registration, pls call Joyce Wong at 016-655311 or DJROA Centre 03-77299098

        (9am-12noon) 

 

What on Earth were they Thinking Of?!

I happen to drive out and found the site of this RORO bin for the renovation works ridiculously positioned on the road.  What was the contractor thinking about.  Look at how much space they took up on the road. Imagine the width of the road when the opposite house owner decides to park their car outside as well.  In the end, the passerby has to squeeze through.

Also the contractor's workers often post a concern for neighbours around. Do they stay in the house during renovation and if they do, do they walk around our residence night time when they are not working. Are they scouts for potential thieves? or can they potentially  break in your house?  Can they observe your schedule and know details of you. 

Hard to say and unfair to blame. But that thought does cross my mind.  So for now,  the Security Committee is looking into getting the contractors for renovation to record the details of their workers coming into our residence.  This would include records of their subcontractors as well and any other and their profiles as well. A temporary pass will then be issued to them.

Let us hope when this is done,  we are able to identify those people who are working at the renovation and hope we can monitor their movements instead of the vice versa.

Just when you let your guard down

  And i thought i was vigilant. After the break-into my neighbour's house about 1 month earlier, i would stay awake till about 4am and go to bed,though i would take a nap between 9pm-12am.  This routine was daily, until last night when i was feeling really tired and went off to bed earlier.  LO AND BEHOLD! my laptop got stolen when i woke up in the morning.  And the crime took place without the criminal even (literally) breaking into my house.  

 No doors nor locks were broken. No damage done except the one broken window pane.  Difficult to imagine how he could have stolen my laptop right. Incidentally he managed to get hold of my camera too, so i could not post any images.

My house has an outside patio after the dining hall and a sliding door (grilled and perspect/glass door) separate the outside patio. The glass door can be pushed out of the groove and slide open to the end.  Once the thug did that, he pushed a long rod thru the grillwork and shoved my laptop off the console table in dining hall. The laptop fell to the floor where he kept shoving it to the grill door.  There is a gap between the grill door and the wall at the end of the sliding doors. The thug moved inch by inch the laptop to that gap. And there it is, that's how my laptop exited my house without a break in (in the literal sense).

Though only from the compound, the damage was done.  With my laptop, the precious photographs of my little boys went along.  I can only guess the thug(s) must have come in from the belukar flanking roads 6 and 8. So be on the alert my neighbours. 

Also i did the mistake last nite by forgetting to take my laptop upstairs. So dont leave any thing (especially the portable ones) visible for them to pry.

Here's hoping everyone will be safe from these hopeless creature of earth who steal and make life miserable for people.

A More Efficient Guard

On Thursday, April 30, I showed a photo of a guardhouse with door left open and no one in the guardhouse.
If you drive pass Road 4 today, you will see a different and a more efficient guard in Pondok B. Much to our benefit, at least this guard looks up at the traffic that passes by Road 4.
The other guard who had exercise a poor discretion to leave his post with door left opened has since resigned. There are members in our security committee who will take turns to ensure that we some form of monitoring is done on the guards.

Are you a Resident? (Part II)

I am referring to my post on Sunday 3 May 2009 particularly on the rules and regulations of public roads. When i highlighted these rules and regulations, i wanted to show that there are also guidelines to allow limited barriers too as everyone would know that obstructing traffic is not legal.

The one guideline indicates that it is important for the majority of the residents agree to have the barrier down. In fact, it is the opinion a certain lawyer who has written articles on gated communities, that there should be an overwhelming support from the residents for the barrier to be down. Well, I have been informed that this Selangor guidelines now allows 75% instead of 85% support from residents.

So, my posting is actually to encourage us, residents, to garner more support among ourselves to close the barrier gates even during daytime off peak hours. And we should especially encourage They are the ones that may be stopped by our guards to query.
No dissent = no or less problems reports to the authorities. .

My thought is that It would be a good way to screen whoever is coming into our area. I hope all of you share my thoughts too. Thanks.

Are You a Resident?

Ever wonder what the security guards do when the barrier gate comes down at night? Have a look at this video clip. Here we see the guard on duty stopping a car that is entering. The vehicle is not from our residence. This, the guard can recognise when he does not see the car sticker each resident in ss22A who subscribe to the security services in ss22A, put on their cars.

The guard stops and questions the driver as to the destination and he lets the vehicle in. Of course we say it is good to screen the entry of vehicles. On the other hand, are we holding up traffic? Does this violate any rules and regulation? Here are some regulations that you can look into :

(i) Section 46 (1) of Street Drainage and Building Act 1974

(ii) Section 80 of the Road Transport Act 1987

(iii) Sections 62 and 136 of the National Land Code 1965

(iv) Town and Country Planning Act 1976

Basically all of these regulation states that any attempt privately doen to restrict or regulate public spaces without the approval of the relevant authority is illegal. Any attempt to close, barricade or restrict the access of a public road, drain or space, there may be a contravention of Sections 46(1) of Street Drainage and Building Act 1974, Section 80 of the Road Transport Act 1987 and Section(s) 62 and 136 of the National Land Code 1965.

In addition, provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 may also be violated where guard houses are built in the public land or road shoulders.

IN Selangor, the Housing and Property Board and the local authorities allow guard houses to be built based on certain guidelines amongst which include:-

· Applications made through the Resident Association (RA) only;

· Consent by 85% of the residents;

· Agreement must be made between RA and local authority;

· Guard house without a barrier are allowed and the location should not obstruct traffic (situated at road shoulder only);

· A written consent from Local Authority and Land Administrator (LA) for the construction of guard house on reserved road/vacant land must first be obtained;

· Appointed security guards must be registered with Ministry of Home Affairs or with other relevant agencies;

The authorities do sometimes “turn a blind eye” to allow some form of limited barriers so long as it is backed by an overwhelming support of the local residents and it does not deny access nor unduly obstruct traffic.

ULTIMATELY, I FEEL THAT IT IS ENTIRELY UP TO THE RESIDENTS IN THE COMMUNITY TO COME TOGETHER AND DECIDE IF WE BACK THE IDEA OF SOME FORM OF LIMITED BARRIER. SOME FORM OF PREVENTION THAT MAY FURTHER REDUCE CRIME RATES IN THE RESIDENCE. WE CAN THEN WORK WITH THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES ON THIS.

Our barrier gates both at Road 1 and Road 4 are only put down at night. Do we want to consider that for daytime as well? Obviously we do need to consider the traffic stalling behind when we stop to ask vehicles as to their intended entry and their destination in our residence.

For Road 1, we have the school admission and dismissal times to consider as the traffic flow during these times becomes terribly hectic with cars triple parking along Road 1 in itself. These are the times that we could not possibly close the barrier gates because there will UNDULY OBSTRUCT TRAFFIC.

Other than these "peak hours" we can actually consider closing the barrier gates. Should we take a poll on this?

Being Good Neighbours

Last night i went out for a makan with 2 neighbours and i wondered what makes good neighbours. I remember growing up in Damansara Utama and the kids in the neighbourhood would gather every 5pm to play in the park. We were play pals for a long time. Sure, we had our arguments, plenty of which we would end up saying " i dont want to friend you." (good grammar aside). But eventually we would get back and play together. So i guess, there was an objective in our bonding together.....PLAY.

And setting aside our differences was much easier because the urgency to play was more important than our pride lest if staying at home and being bored out of our pants was more exciting.

Funnily, the balance of scale tips to holding on to our pride as we get older. Our pride becomes more precious. " So what " we would say, "it is just another friend. We can make more new friends...."

Now that we are adults, we would rationalise things and say lets work it out. So in the context of being neighbours, would this make you a good neighbour when you try to work things out after a disagreement or a dissatisfaction. Or are we not so good neighbour for the mere fact that we do not agree on doing things a certain way or another?

Are we good neighbours when we give unsolicited advice to other neighours on how to run their household better or we are the good neighbours for not rebuffing the neighbour giving the unsolicited advice?

Are we the good neighbour when we proceed to do physical things for our neighbour when they call for our help or are we not such a good neighbour if we were the ones calling on the neighbours for help ever so often.

Are we better if we were to help our neighbour scoop the dog poop from his frontyard. Are we good neighbour when we dont throw our cigarette butt in our neighbours side of the fence/house (no offence to dog owners or smokers intended). Are we good neighbours if were were to pick up the garbage left by our contractor on our neighbours side?

Does your neighbour's gift of souvenirs from holidays to you mean you are a good neighbour? Does cooking for your neighbour mean you are a good neighbour?

What makes us good neighbours? i guess its the perennial principle of life " Mutual respect and understanding". These are things that cannot be seen or touched. These are things that are felt by the heart. Some will take a longer time to feel it, others will take almost immediately to warm up to you and like you as a neighbour.

I personally think getting to know the neighbours' character and personality is finding how you can treat your neighbour. Mutual respect and understanding towards them eases you into liking them. So liking your neighbour makes you a good neighbour eventually. If you dont like your neighbour, no matter what they do, it will always seem wrong. It starts when you start finding fault or getting angry with your neighbour and it will consume you and finally you just dont like your neighbour. AND that is the start of you definitely not being a good neighbour.

I had the opportunity to start with not liking my neighbour whose house is like a "belukar" in its garden. And i hated the mosquitoes that bred from there and there was even a cobra that came into my backyard from his house to which he denied vehemently. Sometimes in the middle of the night, he would pound away scraps in his backyard. He avoided everyone and never gave even a glance to any neighbours.

But over the years, and through some communication, knowing his personality made me see how to treat him. Today, if he drives by in this car and if he sees me, he would wave to me.

and today, to all those neighbours around SS22A, who take their morning walks route passing by my house and smilling to me, and for all the neighbours who would greet me and talk to me, i say thank you.


I like my neighbours and hopefully, they like me too. And just as when i was a little girl, i have neighbours that band together for a common objective, to make the community a better place.

Playing Sherlock Holmes to find the Guard

Just before 4pm today, I was on my way back to my house when i noticed that the guard who was supposed to be sitting in the guardhouse, swatting furiously away, mosquitoes. I thought to myself, poor thing.

I was wrong. I went out again within minutes later but to my aghast, the guard was gone from the guardhouse. And here is how he left it. Door Wide Open (as oppose to Stanley Kubrick's Eye Wide Shut LOL).

And he left it that way for quite some time. The fan was on and he went to Pondok A (guardhouse at road1) to eat. I found him there and told him to go back to the Pondok B immediately. Whatever his breaktime is, i think that guardhouse should not be left unattended with door unlocked for at least 15mins.

This guard was on guard (sorry pun not intended) of me monitoring him bcos at about 11am, i got down from my car to remove the signboard he placed at the window of the guardhouse to block any view of him inside the guardhouse sleeping. The cheek of him!. I moved the signboard and he sat up straight.

Wakaf @ the Park

Dear folks of SS22A Damansara Jaya, MBPJ's contractors are building a Wakaf at our playground/ park area at Road 2/5. They have started laying the foundation today and i believe the dimensions for our Wakaf is the standard MBPJ's dimensions.

Thanks to MBPJ with some suggestions given by one of our residents (am not sure if he wants me to mention his name), the fund allocated to our area is used to build this Wakaf.

Though it is built for our use, let us be careful on vandalism if any that can arise. There will be school kids lounging it in. There will be passerbys, there will contract workers or labourers sleeping in it. Hopefully all will exercise their discretion with civic mindness.

Guardhouse at Road 4

With the nice burmese rosewood trees (i hope my classification of the trees is correct), this guardhouse look cosy. Guardhouse 2 is where the guards are suppose to sit during peakhours at daytime to monitor the traffic that comes in. At nite the boomgate at this Road is closed to minimise entrance into SS22A.

Guardhouse at Road 1

Our very own guardhouse at Road 1. This was completed before Christmas 2008. Thanks to all the residents who contributed to the construction of this guardhouse. At least our guards did not have to be sitting out in the rain and thunderstorms!!

Security Committee for SS22A

The Security Committee for SS22A was set up as sub-committee of DJROA to monitor the security services within SS22A.

A group of ss22A residents came together early 2008 and decided to make some changes to the the security services in the area and to reduce snatch thieves events, break-ins and other criminal incidents in ss22A.

A brief introduction of the Security Committee for ss22A members :

Mdm Yap Oi Fah
Mdm Low Ai Yun
Karen Loh
Jean Tan
Mdm Agnes Lee
Mdm Tan Chye Gay
Mdm Cheah Yoke Ling
Mr James Chen
Mr Ronald Ng
Mr Benny Ang
Mr Lew Yew Tang
Mr B Wong
Mr Ong See Lian

The Committee has had 17 meetings to iron out problems that occur within SS22A area that potential breach of security may occur. Since then the Committee has made efforts to change the methodology of the security guards patrolling schedules.

The Committee is appreciative of the support by the residents who donated generously to the construction of the guardhouses on Road 1 and Road 4. The fund donated was also sufficient to install an automatic barrier at Road 1 entrance into ss22A and a boomgate at Road 4 entrance. As there were more than 80% residents in support of the closure of the automatic barrier and boomgate from 745pm onwards to 730pm in the morning, the sense of security into our area is buffed up.

However, the Committee will remain vigilant and continues to look for methods that will ensure higher security in our area.