Collective creativity in Desa Mentari

A painting of the Tunku and Jalur Gemilang portray the patriotism theme chosen by Desa Mentari’s third floor residents. — Photos: AZMAN GHANI/The Star

“Our art has to be better than the ones on the other floors”.

Whispers like this could be heard in the air in Block 5 of Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya.

Residents both young and old were busy painting murals on each of the block’s 11 floors.

Their competitiveness was evident as every floor leader focused on beautifying the common area near the lifts with murals.

The Desa Mentari low-cost flats have become infamous for crime and poor hygiene, but over the past two weeks, with guidance from local community leaders, the residents have been working on a commendable initiative to beautify their flats.

On the fifth floor, Mariamah (right) puts the finishing touches to a peacock-inspired kolam.

When time permits, S. Anthony, 49, and his two sons would gather their paint brushes and head towards the lift lobby of their fourth floor flat.

“We collected money from those living on our floor to buy paint and other necessary items.

“Some contributed RM5 and others gave RM10, and we eventually collected about RM400 to buy these items.

“We were among the last ones to start painting because we wanted to survey what the rest of the floors were doing first.

“We decided to pick nature as our theme and we painted a forest,” he said.

Hanushini (front) and her siblings paint the walls during their free time.

Anthony and his sons were not the only ones making the effort on the fourth floor.

“All my neighbours are involved and it has been a very good experience for us.

“My sons and I discovered that we all have something in common now,” said Anthony, who was beaming with pride as he showed StarMetro his murals.

On the same floor, there was a doodling wall for residents to continue working on each other’s art.

“We left one of the walls free for those who were interested to continue the lines that we started.

“Residents are free to draw whatever they like but it must only be done in black paint on the white wall,” he said.

On the seventh floor, the residents decided to adopt the theme of neighbourhood values.

Floor leader Shamsul Othman, 49, said proverbs were painted on their murals.

“We painted both English and Malay proverbs on unity on the walls,” said Shamsul.

Housewife Rokiah Addinga, 50, said when she was done with her housework, she would head to the common area to paint the murals.

“Now the children and the adults have something positive and pleasant to look at while they wait for the lift,” she said.

Anthony (left) with his son Sahsi painting a forest-theme mural.

On the fifth floor, the residents painted a permanent peacock-inspired kolam.

M. Mariamah, 60, said it was her daughter P. Punivathy’s idea to paint on the floor instead of the walls.

On the ninth floor, schoolchildren joined the adults to beautify the walls.

Residents also placed mats at the floor’s common area, where they could gather and chat with their neighbours.

K. Hanushini, 11, said when time permitted she headed to the common space on her floor to draw with her siblings.

“We have a lot of fun doing this together. No one disturbs us and we mind our own drawings,” she said.

The patriotism theme was picked by the third floor residents.

Murals here included images of the country’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the Jalur Gemilang as well as flags of all the states.

MyPJ, a coalition comprising 30 residents groups, non-governmental organisations and ex-councillors, was involved in engaging with the Desa Mentari community.

MyPJ spokesman Jeffrey Phang said he was informed by the Kelana Jaya Rukun Tetangga that Desa Mentari was plagued by social problems.

However, he heard that the Block 5 residents were a united group and were willing to work together for the betterment of the community.

In August, Phang, who had experience working with the marginalised community in Kota Damansara, roped in the corporate sector such as Deloitte Malaysia to help clean and paint some parts of the flats.

“There were several buckets of white paint left over, which we passed to the residents.

“First, they painted all the common areas near the lift of each floor with this paint.

“What they did next totally took us all by surprise.

“The residents showcased their artistic talents and painted murals on the walls,” said Phang, who was impressed by the efforts of the residents.

He said through MyPJ and with help from the Petaling Jaya City Council, he wished to help the community with urban farming and other community-related activities.

“It is encouraging to see residents coming together.

“In fact, residents from places such as PPR Kota Damansara dropped by to see this remarkable team effort,” he said.

Desa Mentari Block 5 Joint Management Body (JMB) chairman Mohd Zaini Salleh, 50, said a clean and serene living space was paramount for those living in high-density dwellings.

“We need a clean space because our homes are the basis of our positive minds.

“When a place looks nice, people will not be attracted to do negative things,” he said.

Mohd Zaini said Block 5 had 655 units.

“Almost every household here has children and they should have a positive environment to grow up in,” he said.

Mohd Zaini hoped that in the future, the government would select their flats to carry out a pilot project for small-scale businesses.

“We have many urban poor here. In the long run, we want them to be self-sustaining instead of waiting for donations.

“We hope for some funds for the residents to start group projects as they seem to be able to work well together.

“They can make cookies and snacks in groups and sell them for a profit. When they do well economically, they will not be driven towards the negative,” he said.

Desa Mentari Block 5 Rukun Tetangga (RT) chairman G. Manie said the mural painting project brought out the best in the residents.

“Through this project, we have appointed floor leaders.

“From now onwards, these leaders will take charge of the minor issues on their floors such as faulty lights.

“If they have bigger problems, they can come to us and the JMB,” he said.

RT committee member Abdul Rahman Dewa said there were plans to give out an award to the best painted floor.

“We want to give recognition to the residents for their hard work and motivate them to continue beautifying their living space.

“We hope to further clean our neighbourhood using high pressure water jets and eradicate vermin such as rats,” said Abdul Rahman.

The Desa Mentari, Phase 2, in PJS comprises eight blocks of low-cost flats. It is estimated that these flats have a total occupancy of more than 30,000 residents.

The residents are mainly former occupants of squatter areas such as Sunway Way Jaya, Datuk Hormat, Kampung Lindungan and Taman Medan.