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Sunday October 31, 2010
Jittery over UFOs
By CHRISTINA CHIN
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High-rise dwellers have been on the alert for ‘unidentified flying objects’ after a man standing in the compound of a block of flats in Penang was killed by a falling stone last week.
MARKETING manager Daniel Chong thought he had found his dream home on Penang island when he bought a luxury apartment with a garden overlooking the North Channel five years ago. He paid nearly half a million ringgit for the fifth floor unit, which included extra land for a garden. “I planted turf grass and even got a landscape artist to help with the design. The garden was meant to be a place to relax with my family,” says Chong.
One Sunday, while playing with his little daughter in the garden, he heard a thud. A plastic bag of rubbish landed on the grass, just a few feet away from him. That was the first of a series of incidents. “Obviously, someone from above decided to take a short cut and treated my garden as a garbage dump,” relates Chong who has since sold the apartment and moved to a landed property.
Unidentified flying objects (UFO) of the non-extraterrestrial kind have been raining on apartment dwellers and visitors for years but it was only after 61-year-old Koay Chin Chai was killed by a falling stone at the Sungai Pinang low-cost flats in Penang that the issue received serious attention.
Sightings since then have included everything from used sanitary pads, condoms and dirty diapers to killer litter like screwdrivers, steel bars, flower pots and aquariums. And contrary to popular belief, the litter problem is not confined to low-cost housing projects; high-end properties in cities like Kuala Lumpur, and in Selangor, Penang and Malacca are also affected.
Blowing in the breeze: Penang’s Macallum Street Ghaut Residents Association secretary Lim Poh Aun inspecting flower pots hanging precariously off the corridor ledge on the 14th floor of one of the blocks. Pots such as these may fall and harm passers-by below. — GOH GAIK LEE/The Star
Malaysian Association for Shopping and High-rise Complex Management member Richard Chan says littering and vandalism in high-rises are “a perpetual problem nationwide”. “It’s probably more rampant in low-cost flats because of the lack of public awareness but this is also a problem in high-end condominiums. I was part of a condominium’s Joint Management Body (JMB) in Kuala Lumpur where the residents were mainly expatriates.
You’d be surprised at how naughty the kids can be,” he shares. “There was one resident attached to a foreign embassy whose child was throwing water balloons and stones from their unit. When a car was damaged, we approached the father who claimed diplomatic immunity. Can you believe that? We immediately contacted the embassy and he was sent packing.”
He adds that it was up to the JMB and management corporation (MC) to act.
Chan, who is the association’s former president, believes that all the necessary laws are in place to take action against the culprits; what is lacking is enforcement. The Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2006 and Strata Tiles Act 1985, he stresses, are just as stringent as Singapore’s laws. The problem is that the JMB and MC are not invoking these regulations. “Throwing a piece of paper is just as bad as throwing a fridge or television set, which you see even in Kuala Lumpur.
The JMB and MC must take immediate action by lodging reports with the relevant authorities including the local council, police and Commissioner of Building (COB),” he opines. Urban planning expert Datuk Dr Goh Ban Lee says high-rise littering is a result of the “ugly Malaysian syndrome”. Dr Goh, who is also a Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri) senior research fellow, says the issue affects the whole country.
»You may think the rubbish you throw is harmless but gravity and velocity can turn that item into a murder weapon« DATUK DR GOH BAN LEE
“The cost of the apartment is irrelevant – low, medium or high-cost dwellers are not spared. It doesn’t matter how much you paid for your unit if the JMB does not do its job in enforcing the house rules. If the residents and JMB want to take the nice guy approach, then everyone will have to live with the litter. “Take matters into your own hands: residents who do not adhere to the house rules should be taken to task for non-compliance.
Throw them out if you have to. It’s not the job of the COB to enforce such rules,” he says, adding that the COB’s duty is to ensure that the JMB, MC and property management companies hired by the residents perform their duties in accordance with the law. He notes that litter has claimed many victims. “You may think the rubbish you throw is harmless but gravity and velocity can turn that item into a murder weapon.
“Koay’s death was dramatic but many others have died because of litter. Think of the road accidents where motorcycles crash because of rubbish on the road.” Senior legal executive W.K. Yuen relates an incident where he felt a drizzle while watering his plants. Looking up, he saw a child on the balcony above him taking a pee! “My aunt who lives in another flat recently evaded a flying sanitary pad.
We have also heard so many poo-and-pee-in-plastic bag stories,” he says, adding that residents are not keen on instituting legal action against the perpetrators because of the legal costs involved. Another high-rise dweller, Hughie Lee, lives in fear of a fire. The awning in front of the retiree’s apartment is littered with cigarette butts. “It’s a tragedy waiting to happen,” he laments.
“The country’s laws and apartment management guidelines are more than sufficient but enforcement is sorely lacking. The residents themselves need to be made aware of the dangers and their responsibilities.” Lawyer Lee Kim Noor, who specialises in property management cases, says rubbish is a problem everywhere. She believes littering can only be overcome by the residents’ own watch group.
“The problem is that the COB is not given the necessary powers and it is very costly for the JMB to initiate legal action against those who do not abide by the apartment’s by-laws and regulations.” Kim Noor says it is “crucial” for the federal government to establish a Strata Title Board while empowering the COB with the power to prosecute. “The Strata Title Board will give aggrieved residents access to justice minus the hefty legal fees because it eliminates the need for legal representation.
The person presiding over the board must be given magistrate-like powers so that he or she can issue warrants of arrest to enforce the by-laws.” Kim Noor believes this board will be a reality by March next year once the relevant legislation is amended, and is advising the JMB or MC to have comprehensive by-laws in place. “You must take the initiative to do this.
The existing laws provide a general guideline that all strata title holders need to adhere to but the JMB or MC must come up with its own house regulations which are enforceable either in the court or eventually the Strata Title Board. Otherwise, litter will be a never ending problem,” she notes. National House Buyers Association (HBA) honorary secretary-general Chang Kim Loong agrees.
“The HBA is pushing very hard for the Strata Title Board to be set up in all states. We have advocated the need for the board – a speedy, quasi-court, to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,” he says. “Hopefully, the first one will be set up in the Federal Territory before the end of the year.” Stressing on the importance of providing the board with “bite”, he says it must be presided over by a knowledgable and qualified judicial officer.
“The board needs to have the power to impose deterrent fines against those who ignore the JMB house rules,” he says, adding that the most important thing is for high-rise dwellers to understand and respect the concept of “communal living”. Until this takes place, high-rise dwellers have to look out for their own safety. Apartment owner Janet Ling, 64, is extra cautious these days after narrowly cheating death when a rock dropped down from the upper floors. “I was in shock. If that rock had hit me, I would not be talking to you today.”
