FOR THE SAKE OF MUTUAL SAFETY
Many still selfishly refuse to pay for guarded neighbourhood schemes
IT is always not easy to maintain a guarded neighbourhood scheme in any residential area when there is not enough funding to manage it.
It will be even harder when the residents themselves refuse to participate, which requires them to fork out maintenance fees to pay hired security services on a monthly or yearly basis.
For some condominiums or gated communities, maintenance fees are a must. Unlike a gated community, a guarded neighbourhood scheme is usually initiated by residents’ associations and the majority of residents have to pay the maintenance fees.
We have read and seen many schemes such as these receiving the cold treatment and even causing violent disputes among residents. Worst of all, the scheme ceases to operate due to insufficient funds and it becomes cumbersome for residents’ associations to continuously appeal for funds.
Some quarters in the residential areas do not even see the need for a guarded neighbourhood scheme, although they are aware of spates of burglary, daylight robbery and attempted break-ins in their area over the years.
After four years, the guarded neighbourhood scheme for 740 homes in my residential area at Section 7, Shah Alam, suffered a blow when the residents’ association announced last week that it did not have enough funds to run it any longer — mainly because it did not get regular contributions from the residents.
Just a day after its stoppage, reports of suspected prowlers were abuzz on our residents’ social media platform.
It is a crying shame for the scheme to suffer just because of a few “parasites” that selfishly reap the goodness of others without having to live in fear since the guarded neighbourhood scheme was introduced four years ago.
How shameful it is to have lived on the expense of other responsible neighbours, who earnestly paid their dues for the mutual wellbeing and safety of the entire neighbourhood.
Many factors contribute to the failure of guarded neighbourhood schemes, apart from insufficient funds. One obvious thing is the efficiency and efficacy in approaching the delinquents or defaulters. It is not enough to put up bunting all over the housing estate, hoping the residents would pay.
One approach that’s close to my heart is for the residents’ association to launch a ziarah (visitation) programme from door to door.
In my experience, this is the best public relations exercise. It is easier for residents’ association representatives to convince homeowners or tenants to participate in the scheme. It is somewhat a better way for them to pitch the programme benefits.
One thing for sure, most of us live in a dormitory enclave. In a dormitory land, we treat our homes like dorms, where we come home after a hard day’s work to rest, eat, procreate and sleep, before driving back to work every morning.
We hardly socialise with the neighbours, even during weekends.
Worse still, we treat neighbours who live a few blocks down the road like strangers. Sometimes, we are not bothered to get to know each other unless the residents’ association or the surau organises a kenduri of sorts to bring snobbish neighbours together.
There’s little to no rahmatan lil
alamiin (mercy to all creations) concept embedded in our society today, but high-browed snobbery instead.
Snobbery is the worst enemy to communal living. In the noblest practice of good Muslims, a person must exhibit compassion for his neighbours, 40 on the right and 40 on the left of him.
Snobbish neighbours are the ones who paste a single wedding invitation card on the surau notice board.
They make no attempt to retrieve the full list of their neighbours’ addresses and contact numbers from the residents’ association or the surau committee. Pun intended, but they expect everyone to turn up at their child’s wedding reception.
Bad neighbours are the ones who don’t care when there are deaths in the community. Even worse, they don’t really know the identity of the deceased. But they will turn up when there are festive celebratory events, pretentiously being friendly and all.
This doesn’t happen in my residential area alone.
In this God-blessed country, we have plenty of middle class dormitory enclaves where residents do not socially interact with each other.
And they don’t care about or need their neighbours until tragedy strikes them or when burglars break into their homes.
In dormitory enclaves such as these, there are plenty of houses up for rent for families and students, especially where there are universities and colleges in the vicinity.
It is incumbent on the tenants to fork out maintenance fees to the residents’ association simply because they live there. It is, after all, for common good.
Unfortunately, many of them disregard this as they do not feel there is a need for them to do so.
In terms of safety and security, guarded neighbourhood schemes are admittedly not a fail-safe solution, but it does help when hired guards patrol and man the boom gates, monitoring the entry of uninvited guests.
These guards, many of whom are foreigners, will be useful to contact the authorities or the residents’ association committee members if untoward incidents occur, not just crime.
Safety and security are important for urban living. People want to be assured that they are living in a safe and secure neighbourhood.
We can no longer expect to be dependent on the police all the time. The police are either stretched beyond their capacities or the force has not expanded in tandem with the growing population.
Then I thought about Rukun Tetangga, a governmental mechanism for neighbourhood watch, and I wonder if it is any good for my area.
C’est la vie.