Social experiment bonds whole neighbourhood
Student’s research in human kindness yields new library and a closer community
The whole experience has been so amazing. It shows that even today, it is possible to have neighbours who love each other.
Kulsanofer Syed Thajudeen
PETALING JAYA: A social experiment on collective action has turned into an eye-opening experience for a PhD candidate.
Sometime in July this year, Kulsanofer Syed Thajudeen – a mother-of-four living in Taman Subang here – was interested to see whether the Islamic concept of using waqaf (community endowment) to pay for infrastructure would work in her urban neighbourhood, mainly inhabited by professionals and retirees.
“I wrote a letter to the residents’ association suggesting that a community library, a community garden and a business portal be set up.
“I wondered if it would even work. It was a social experiment for me,” said Kulsanofer, who moved to the neighbourhood eight years ago.
The 43-year-old – a PhD student of the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance – was surprised when her suggestions saw residents rallying together in no time to donate resources for the library.
In just one-and-a-half months, her idea materialised into a proper library with over 1,000 books, Internet connection, CCTVs, air-conditioners and an activity corner.
The story about the neighbourhood coming together to set up a community library was first mentioned in a letter to The Star on Aug 11 titled Be positive agents of change, which was submitted by Kulsanofer.
In it, she shared how she wanted to test philosopher Adam Smith’s notion that no matter how selfish man is, it is in his nature to do good onto others and derive pleasure from it.
“The whole experience has been so amazing,” she said in an interview later.
“It shows that even today, it is possible to have neighbours who love each other.”
The library will be launched tomorrow. Manned entirely by volunteers, it will be open four days a week to residents.
The proposed community garden and business portal are in the pipeline.
Kulsanofer said the association treasurer H.B. Khoo, a retiree, spent days renovating the library space and putting the system in place.
“I learnt a valuable lesson here; I now truly believe in the power of a community,” she said.
Khoo said they started becoming a closeknit community two years ago by using social networks such as Telegram to bond with each other.
Since then, their collective action gained much traction, including pooling their funds to hire security services for the neighbourhood.
Residents now enjoy a safe neighbourhood that is secure enough even for 4am jogs, said Khoo.
“We want to inspire more neighbourhoods on how much we can achieve by collective action,” he added proudly.
Association chairman Rashid Azad Khan said the neighbourhood feels more like a kampung to many of the residents.
“Some of us don’t have family back in our kampung anymore so the neighbourhood becomes that for us. Our neighbours are our family,” he said.
The association agreed to have the library to encourage some 300 of its members and their families to read and provide a comfortable place for students to revise.
“We will also conduct seminars and talks at this library, which also functions as a community centre,” said Rashid.