Making PJ cemetery tidy and bright

Residents cleaning up the Petaling Jaya Hindu graveyard.

IT WAS a Saturday unlike any other as a group of more than 50 residents gathered at the Petaling Jaya Hindu graveyard in Jalan 229 to carry out a noble deed.

The graveyard is about 60 years old and has reached full capacity. Now, it is regularly used by groups of youths as a drinking spot at night.

Vandalism resulting in broken tombstones and illegal dumping, with burnt rubbish and alcohol bottles littered everywhere have also left the site an eyesore.

Residents and fellow stakeholders in the surrounding area have had enough of seeing the graveyard left in such a bad state, and decided to rectify the matter.

Representatives from about 11 residents associations and other organisations banded together to clean up the Hindu cemetery.

They felt it was even more imperative in view of Deepavali just around the corner, so that families of those buried at this graveyard would not be shocked by its condition.

“We saw the need for cleaning up this place as we believe it has not been cleaned for some time. It is a final resting place for people and it should be respected,” said Section 14 (Jalan 14/1-14/15) RA chairman Selve Sugumaran Perumal.

MBPJ cleaning contractors cutting the long grass at the Hindu cemetery in Jalan 229.

Selve, who mobilised the volunteers for the clean-up, said this was the first of its kind gotong-royong for residents here and hoped that it would be an annual event.

Helping Selve to organise this massive exercise was Friends of Taman Aman Club chairman G. Rajendran.

Apart from collecting rubbish and cutting grass, the community also gave the cemetery’s moss-covered walls a fresh coat of bright, yellow paint.

Rajendran hopes that the situation at this graveyard will improve.

“There have been a lot of vandalism and undesirable activities here over the years; this has to stop,” he said.

StarMetro has reported numerous times about the terrible state of this graveyard littered with rubbish and broken alcohol bottles.

One of MBPJ’s contractors giving the worn-out gate a fresh coat of paint. — Photos: RICKY LAI/The Star

Sadly, this has been going on for quite some time despite being manned by a caretaker who shuts the gate at 7pm and reopens it at 7am daily.

“Even the caretaker is afraid of the thugs who go there to drink at night, some even force him to open the gates for them,” said Selve, adding that most would just climb over the wall to break into the cemetery.

Rajendran said the residents’ cleaning effort would not be enough to keep the place neat and serene unless Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) came up with regulations for this graveyard.

“Enforcement must play its part in implementing these rules and this area should be monitored closely for any unhealthy activity,” he added.

Also present at the gotong-royong session was MBPJ councillor Gandhimathi Suppiah, who used RM10,000 from her allocation to supply cleaning tools, paint and a roll-on roll-off (RoRo) bin for rubbish. Bukit Gasing assemblyman R. Rajiv supplied food for all who participated in the clean-up.

Gandhimathi said she would organise regular clean-ups for this cemetery and scheduled grass-cutting.

MBPJ will place rubbish bins for the convenience of visitors paying respect to their departed loved ones over the Deepavali festival.

“The local council does have rules for this graveyard, but we will review and ensure stricter enforcement,” added Gandhimathi.