Dear Residents,
Of late, you would have read many opinions and/or reports in the local dailies on the G&G issue. Some were against the idea of implementing the G&G while some were for these types of schemes.
Why G&G?
Why the hassle of us doing more work and yet NOT getting paid for it?
Why? Is it that we are looking for 'glamour' as some politicians have put it?
I cannot speak for the other areas but for USJ 11/3, the security situation before we started had gotten worse without any signs of improvement in sight. As such, it was out of this dire need that we decided that enough is enough. And with whatever limited resources we could muster then and with sheer determination, our RA successfully launched our own G&G and security system way back in late 2008.
It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices, with many hours spent on a voluntary basis before we achieved this success. We were also fortunate as we had a lot of support from our residents although it took a lot of effort to get the people to understand and support it in the beginning.
Of course, we could not have done it without the support of the local authority and the local 'resource-scarced' police force as well. Since we established our G&G, the crime rate in our area has dropped significantly and had stayed that way since.
Then there was the government's initiative to reduce crime rate by 20%. It was only a few months ago when the government launched the National Key Results Area (NKRA) in a highly publicised public relations campaign at the Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel. They had invited some of the RAs to attend and we were one of them.
Some of us from our RA attended the launch and we were impressed with the initiatives announced. We also believed that some of these initiatives, if successful, would help solve some of these security issues and to help reduce the escalating crime rate in our country.
And in recent reports in the newspapers, the government have boldly claimed in their report card that they have managed to bring the crime rate down. But have they really? If so, can they really claim all the credit to these achievements?
Months have passed since that big public relations campaign in Sunway. But what results have we gotten in this area - security? The way I see it - not much!
And why do I say that?
Just take a look around you and see for yourselves. More and more G&G initiatives have been started by impatient residents especially in Subang Jaya/USJ areas in recent months. It seem to give me the impression that nothing has changed and that the residents really have no choice but to do something to fend for themselves.
While such G&G schemes have brought the crime rate down and hence it would also have most certainly help in the government's KPI that is related to crime, the very same government also announced that there will be new guidelines for residents to establish their G&G so as to bring some control over such initiatives which is understandable.
The irony is, the proposed new guidelines, if implemented, would make most, if not all, of such initiatives fall apart and that will include ours!
The most glaring and ridiculous requirement is the one that requires 100% agreement from the ALL the residents before they can start such schemes. This will obviously set the stage for complete failure as it will be impossible to get that kind of support. I mean, 100%!!? Come on!
The point I am making here is that, the government must realise by now that they are not able to resolve the security issue effectively alone. Hence, creating smart partnerships with RAs should be the next best thing. Rather than making it difficult for the RAs, perhaps they should start thinking what they can do to help the RAs improve the security issues with more practical guidelines so as to legalise such schemes.
Perhaps they should also make such expenditure tax exempted to encourage all the residents to pay for such services. The government can also help by subsidising infrastructure costs or at least allocate some funds for such schemes to take off easily. Ultimately, it will be a win-win situation for all.
I am not sure if the folks at Datuk Seri Jala's or Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon's ministry will be reading this. It does not really matter anyway as our RA will continue to work with the same dedication and determination to ensure we are safe even if it only means providing that just within our residential area.
Hence, we hope that you folks in USJ 11/3 will not take this service for granted. Please understand that we, the Committee members, are doing this to help ourselves. The time for collecting your subscription starts again soon so please do help us by paying up your subscriptions as early as possible.
Your Committee members have worked tirelessly for this scheme to to be set up and have continued to make improvements to our security system since we started. Please do not disappoint them as without your support, all the hardwork for the past couple of years will go down the drain.
This will happen as once our financial resources runs out, we will have no choice but to abandon the scheme and we will then have to go back to square one!
It is really your choice.
Thank you.
Jeffrey Khoo
Advisor
11 Trees @ USJ
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