squeak. speak. roar!

Today I am going to blog about my drain :)

I live in PJ and I love it! It is the only place I call home. Hence I often take notice of things going on in the area especially construction and public amenities. I am also extremely critical of MBPJ as I have heard numerous complaints concerning corruption and abuse of power.

My parents discovered that the torrential downpours in the past few months caused my drain walls to break, leaving mud and earth exposed. With the current monsoon going on, they got worried that it might cause the entire wall to crack and the road to cave in. It’s a bit far fetched but stranger things have happened so we’re not taking our chances :)

Being a fan of documentation and monitoring, I bring you the adventures of a blogger getting her drain fixed! It all began with surfing MBPJ’s website to get some contact information. I found my way to the Development and Maintenance Department. After a couple of searches, I typed out an email and sent it to the aformentioned department’s head (Mohd Amir Tukiman), the mayor (Mohamad Roslan Sakiman), the secretary (Puasa Md. Taib) and the general complaints line together with two pictures of my broken drain on March 16.

to: mat@mbpj.gov.my,
cc: mroslan@mbpj.gov.my, puasa@mbpj.gov.my, aduan@mbpj.gov.my,

Dear Tn. Haji Mohd Amir bin Tukiman,

cc: Mayor, Secretary and aduan team

My name is Miss Soon and I live at xxxx PJ. I am writing about the broken drain outside my house. I have attached the pictures of its present condition and I hope MBPJ would do something about it as soon as possible.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Miss Soon
012 xxxxxxx

It was fairly straightforward and I got an acknowledgment email the very next day. Impressive.

Kepada,

Puan Soon Li Tsin,

Aduan puan telah kami terima dan akan diselaraskan oleh Jabatan Pembangunan dan Penyelenggaraan untuk tindakan seterusnya. Jika terdapat sebarang pertanyaan berhubung perkara tersebut pihak puan bolehlah menghubungi En. Amir Tukiman di talian 03-79584221 untuk maklumat lanjut. Kami di pihak Majlis akan mengambil tindakan segara berhubung perkara tersebut.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Saya yang menurut perintah,

BAHAGIAN ADUAN,
JABATAN KHIDMAT PENGURUSAN,
MAJLIS BANDARAYA PETALING JAYA.
aduan@mbpj.gov.my

I’ve written enough emails to random ministries and local authorities, who don’t reply for days on end, to appreciate ANY form of acknowledgment. So yes, I was easily impressed.

On March 23, some MBPJ officers came looking for me and rang my doorbell. They informed me that they have taken a look at the drain and will be nominating a contractor to fix the drain soon. The officer whose name I can’t recall said the contractors will get started on the drain in about two weeks.

About three weeks later on April 13, I spotted some strangers chilling outside my house and they were cleaning up the drains on my road by picking up the clogged trash, clearing the weeds and most importantly, lifting up the broken cement slabs found in the drain front of my house. You can see the new replacement grey cement slabs piled up behind the phone pole in the top right of the picture below:

The actual construction commenced on April 17 and they finished it in a day. I wasn’t around to see it but I gather it was a fairly quick process which includes breaking the concrete walls and cementing it back. My mom said it rained that day and was worried that the cement would be washed away. However, the job looks fine to me and it’s not shoddy enough to warrant a complaint so I’ll wait and see how the drain holds. Here’s a shot of it all done up!

The remnants of of the construction was messy and remained outside my house for several days. I believed a lot of the mud was washed into the drain but I guess the new drain was free from rubbish so it all flowed quietly into the monsoon drain at the end of my cul-de-sac.

Eventually, the contractors picked up all the leftover construction materials on April 20. A big truck came in and blocked up the whole road but the driver was kind to move his truck when we needed to leave and enter the house. So this is how my drain looks now! How quickly the algae grows!

As I finished this blog post off, I just sent an email thanking MBPJ for their efficiency.

to: mat@mbpj.gov.my,
cc: mroslan@mbpj.gov.my, puasa@mbpj.gov.my, aduan@mbpj.gov.my,

Kepada semua pihak yang berkenaan,

Longkang depan rumah saya sudah di perbaiki dengan cukup cepat sekali. Saya amat gembira dan berterima kasih dengan Jabatan Pembangunan dan Penyelenggaraan serta kontraktor yang dilantik untuk membaiki longkang ini. Syabas dengan perkhidmatan yang cekap oleh MBPJ!

Daripada,
Cik Soon
012 xxxxxx

Wah, dah lama saya tak menaip dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Saya memang patut mempertingkatkan mutu Bahasa saya terutama dari segi penulisan. Percakapan saya pun perlu lebih latihan :) Insyallah saya akan dapat peluang untuk blog dalam Bahasa yang cukup pro sekali seperti Khir Toyo dan Ali Rustam itu :)

Anyway, the best part is that my neighbours’ drains got cleared and fixed as well. How is that for community service and activism? We don’t always have to run to our ADUNS and MPs for trivial matters such as these. The power is with us, the rakyat, at all times. And remember, all I did was send ONE email. Just like what I did when I raised hell with RapidKL over their awful station signs. ONE email!

lol.

If I can, so can you :) Send a complaint or a request email to your local council today! :)