Night panorama from my window - 0411hrs.

It is common to hear the wailing of sirens here. The apartments are close to the main road of Jalan Bukit Gambir. After six years, I have gotten used to it. It does not bother me much. But this morning, one after another came blaring. The first thing that crossed my mind was something big must be happening.

Still groggy from sleep, I listened, my eyes closed. That sounded more like the sirens of a fire engine than an ambulance. It was getting too close for comfort. With the ineffective security guards here, I thought I better get up to see what the situation was. I did not want to be caught dead with only a sarong and nothing else should I need to evacuate. I groped in the darkness and finally got onto my wheelchair.

Looking out the window, I saw the flashing blue and red of a fire engine racing into the Taman Pekaka housing estate. It then made a left turn and stopped at the five storey flats. It was quite a distance from where I was and I could not see very clearly in the darkness. I looked at the clock. It was already 0400. Since I was already up, I thought it was a good idea to snap a few shots of the night panorama. The fire engines left a while later. It must have been a minor fire only. I went back to bed and woke up at 1100 this morning.

Mack Zulkifli of Brand New Malaysian has taken up the issue of the building manager’s refusal to draw up a contingency plan for the 4 blocks of apartment where I stay in his entry titled Malaysia Service Desk -Lost and Found announcement. Blocks 31A, B, C & D of Taman Pekaka consists of 544 units of which 504 units are contained in three 22-storey blocks and another forty units in a 5-storey block.

Several fires have broken out in some of the apartments. Fortunately they were extinguished quickly with only minor damages within the respective units concerned. After the last fire at the apartment one floor below mine, I wrote a letter to the building manager and blogged about it here. I am pasting it here again for context.

BLOCK 31A, B, C & D CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR FIRE AND EMERGENCIES

If you do not already know, a fire broke out at 31B-19-4 today at approximately 2:25pm. The guardhouse was promptly notified. I am extremely disappointed that the guards arrived at the scene of the incident only after the fire was extinguished. At the first instance when a fire is reported, the security guard posted at the respective Blocks should take control of the situation. If your security guards were not trained in fire fighting, then they should have been instructed to notify residents staying in the immediate vicinity and if the situation warrants, evacuate them in an orderly manner. None of these were done. Lives were at stake and your security guards were acting in a lackadaisical attitude which is truly appalling.

As the Manager of the four blocks of apartment here, it is your responsibility to ensure the security and safety of all residents at all times. I would like to know what contingency plans you have in the event of a major fire or emergencies. Surely, for the amount of management fees and security guard fees that are being charged to the management fund every month, you must have already drawn up a strategy to ensure the safety of residents here.

In addition, despite protests from parcel owners, you have been grossly irresponsible in continuing to allow cars to be parked at the driveway in such a manner that they will obstruct the movement of fire engines and ambulances. This will seriously impede rescue and fire fighting attempts. Are you going to wait until lives are lost because of these obstructions before you are ready to consider the safety of residents?

I trust you will furnish all parcel owners and residents here with a copy of the Contingency Plan for Fire and Emergencies within fourteen days to see if any amendment is needed. This will allow us to reside here with a peace of mind knowing that our safety and security is being looked after. However, if there is no such plan, I urge you to immediately initiate a dialogue with parcel owners and put together one for the safety of all residents here.

This letter was copied to the Pengarah Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat, the State Assemblyman YB Goh Kheng Sneah and the Chairman of the Residents Association here. The State Assemblyman followed up this issue with the relevant authorities. However the building manager did not respond to my letter until the Residents Association pursued the matter with them. Below is a scan of the reply to the Residents Association from the building manager regarding that issue.

Click for bigger image.

We have experienced two earthquakes and several minor fires here but the building manager has yet to draw up a contingency plan nor hold a dialogue with the unit proprietors here to get feedback and suggestion on what steps to take in the event of a major emergency. In between that period the nozzles and couplings for the fire hoses on many floors were stolen due to the lack of security. The missing items were recently replaced and the costs charged into the management fund.

There are other major issues and disputes with the building manager who is also the developer that is being looked into by the Residents Association. I understand that those issues have been escalated to the Pengarah Jabatan Tanah dan Galian and the Secretary of the MPPP and they are looking into our grouses and problems. We are currently waiting for the issuance of the strata titles for our respective units. Hopefully when we get the title and form the management corporation, the unit proprietors and residents here can see better days because we will then have the right to determine the management of this place that we have come to call home.

I sincerely thank Mack for taking a personal interest in this issue. His concern has really touched me. We have not met in real life apart from chatting online a few times. I have met a lot of people who took a cursory interest in my plight but Mack is one of those few who is making it a crusade to see that my concerns and problems will be properly addressed. Thank you again Mack. The underprivileged and the underdogs need more people like you.

Related entries:
Fire! Fire! - The Sequel
Fire! Fire! The Saga Continues
What Fire Safety?

Where in the world are the fire hoses?

This photo of the wet riser at Level 20 of my apartment block was taken at 3:26pm just now. Previously, the discovery of missing nozzles and couplings of many fire hoses was blogged here. Now the fire hoses are missing as well. I want the Developer/Management Corporation of Block 31A, B, C & D of Taman Pekaka to enlighten me on what the firemen are supposed to use to extinguish a fire should a major one occur in one of the apartments on my floor right now.

Receipt for service charges issued by Nai Seng Sdn. Bhd.

This receipt for the monthly service charges was issued by the Developer who is also acting as the Management Corporation. Each of the 544 units here pays RM90 monthly. This is used to pay utility bills, security and cleaning services, and other general maintenance services.

Follow this and this for previous entries on the same issue of fire safety at the apartment blocks where I am staying.

Taman Pekaka apartments viewed from Jalan Bukit Gambir.
This is an update to the issue of fire safety I brought up to the managers of my apartment. There was no reply to the letter I wrote to them regarding my concern. The Residents’ Association (RA) followed up the case with the management who were the developers also. They replied to the RA vaguely stating that they are not responsible for the safety of residents here and that the buildings were built according to plans approved by the authorities and the that fire protection systems are being maintained monthly by contractors appointed by them. They have built everything to specification and that was it. They were not willing to act on my concern. Instead they have asked the RA to organise fire drills together with the Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat to form fire-fighting teams for each apartment block.

To add insult to injury, the management had boldly stated in another letter that the RA does not represent all the parcel owners and the developer alone “is the sole member of the Management Corporation as registered proprietor of all the parcels and possesses specific powers and is responsible for managing the buildings and also the common Property until the First Annual General Meeting of the Management Corporation has been convened to hand over the management of the buildings to the Council Members of the Management Corporation.”

The fire hoses with the couplings intact.
In short, the developer cum building manager is saying that they own our apartments until the Strata Titles are issued. In the meantime, they can do whatever they want without the need to ask for our consent. That is exactly what they have been doing. Rightfully, parcel owners should be consulted when major expenditure has to be incurred. Can you believe that the developer withdrew more than RM200,000 from our sinking fund to purchase unit trusts without our knowledge or consent last year? Only when the RA filed police reports and complained to the Director of Land and Mines that the money was deposited into the fund again.

The developer charges RM4,000 monthly for their “management” services and another RM12,000 for employing security guards. It was understood that we are paying RM1,000 for each guard, six working the day shift and the other six working nights. Very often, there are three guards at the entrance and none at the individual blocks. This is worse during night time when less than six are found to be working.

The fire hoses with the couplings missing.
That is not all. Residents have been complaining of missing shoes, cars being vandalised and tyres punctured. Just a few days ago, nozzles and couplings attached to the fire hoses for the wet riser were stolen from many floors of two blocks. This lax of security and missing crucial components of the fire-fighting equipment has truly put the safety of residents at risk. I dare not think what will happen should a fire break out and the fire hoses cannot be used

The management must realise that they should be working for us and not against us. Our complaints should be investigated and problems rectified. We complain not because we want to make trouble. Why should we cause trouble in the very place that we have called home? Arrogance and lack of forethought is not only working to the detriment of parcel owners and residents. It openly displays the lack of management skills and the irresponsibility on the part of the managers in looking after the interests of the very people that they are working for.

With land getting scarcer by the day in the island, there is no other way to build affordable housing in Penang but up. Residential development has been going vertical for a while now with many projects rising more than twenty storeys. What used to be suburbs are now thriving townships peppered with a mix of high and low-rise apartments.

High-rise living takes a lot of getting used to, especially when many families live in close proximity to one another in such confined spaces and amenities have to be shared among those living in the same building. Additionally, each apartment has to contribute to a monthly service and maintenance fund to keep the common property in good habitable conditions. The amount collected goes towards paying for the water and electricity supplies to the common property, maintaining the elevators, employing security guards and cleaners, among others.

Where I live, we have not been issued with Strata Titles yet. The developer controls the management of the premises. Apartment owners like us have little say in the running of this place which we call home and which rightfully belongs to us now. We are left to the mercy of their whims and fancies. We were never consulted over major expenses and construction of additional structures which have now been deemed illegal by the authorities.

The monthly collection amounts to nearly RM49,000. The management takes RM4,000 for their services, the guards RM12,000 and cleaners RM9,000. For the amount that the management charges us for their services and employing of guards, I would expect a certain degree of professionalism on their part. Complaints, verbally or through letters, to the management went unheeded. This is truly appalling.

I wrote a letter to the management more than one month ago. It was regarding a fire that broke out at the apartment one floor below mine. That letter was copied to the State Assemblyman of my area YB Goh Kheng Sneah and the Pengarah of Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat for Penang. A few days ago, I received the copy of a letter from the YB Goh regarding this matter. It is good to know that he has taken a concern in this matter and is acting on it. However, I am disappointed that the management have neither bothered to reply nor acknowledge my letter to them.

The arrogance on the part of the management is a major cause for concern where safety issues are related. I came to live in this apartment knowing full well the risks of staying in a high-rise apartment for a disabled using a wheelchair. I would have no cause to complain if the premises is properly maintained. However cars are allowed to be parked indiscriminately in the driveway that prevented access to fire engines on two occasions when fires broke out. The emergency generator which should be maintained was not.

When a blackout occurred in my area in April, the emergency generator could not start because the battery was flat. The generator provides essential supply to power elevators, corridor lightings and the pump to provide water pressure to the rising mains. It is crucial that water pressure be maintained in the rising mains at all times, especially more so when there is no power supply. Some people will resort to lighting candles to illuminate their apartments when there is a blackout. Should a fire occur, I would want to see how the firemen extinguish the flames at the higher floors without water.

There are many other issues which also need to be addressed. The management should listen to the grouses of residents and try to get to the bottom of it accordingly. This is really a nice place to live in. The management should be genuine and honest in helping us resolve our concerns and problems. If only both parties can sit down and discuss in-depth the issues at stake without one trying to stamp their clout over another, many problems would already be settled by now. For now, I will just have to wait and see how the local authorities will act on these complaints.