Tenants’ poor attitude the cause of many PPR problems

PETALING JAYA: Drug use, illicit trysts and a lack of civic-mindedness among tenants – these were just some of the reasons a committee of a People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Kuala Lumpur demolished “rubbish disposal rooms” in their flats.

Jane (not her real name), a resident and committee member of the 17-storey flat, said while older PPRs had rubbish chutes for tenants, hers used to have individual rubbish rooms on each floor.

The idea was for tenants of each floor to place their rubbish at the allocated room and dispose of them at the main rubbish area at the flat.

However, that did not last as the rooms were repeatedly misused.

“We had complaints of people doing drugs in the rooms and cases of couples having sex.

“We locked the rooms to prevent this from happening but then they started breaking the locks to gain entry.

“Then, we decided to just demolish these rooms to make room for something else,” said Jane.

After the rooms were broken down, the PPR implemented cleaning services for the tenants where users pay a flat rate per month.

“It’s only RM12 and the cleaner would get rid of the rubbish for you after you put them in bags outside your unit,” she said.

Still, Jane noted that many refused to cooperate.

“It’s just the attitude of some people. I would say that in my flat, around 40% just don’t care.

“There had been times where they would throw their rubbish in the lifts,” she said.

Referring to the tragic incident on Monday where 15-year-old S. Sathiswaran died after being struck by an office chair, believed to have been hurled from the upper floor of his family’s flat in Pantai Dalam, Jane said that her own flats had similar incidences.

“Someone once threw furniture down my flat. Luckily, nobody was hurt,” she added.

On improving conditions in general, Jane recommended implementing what her flat started two years ago.

“We set up a WhatsApp group among tenants, and elected representatives on each floor. So now whenever we see something that isn’t right, we quickly send pictures to those in charge to take action.

“It has helped improve the living conditions considerably,” she said.