'Dear Dato’ Seri Sir, ' ..Letter to PM

0052 9th Jan 2013

LETTER TO PM 

Dear Dato’ Seri Sir, my Salam to you, I love your style of governance, and my article is about SYABAS, I do not know where to address my broken heart & tears, I am directly affected by it, because I am staying near the PPR PUDU ULU Flats, they have 4 buildings, with about 8-9K people, and it’s 17 stories high! This situation has been on-going for more than 10 days! 

Mind you people have been lining up from dusk to dawn, even at 3 am to wait for water trucks to come. The floors are wet, so are the lifts, staircases and corridors. Minor arguments broke out because ‘others’ came from different areas to collect water and were told off! The lifts are soaked with water causing it to break down because of short circuit. The poor folks have to walk up-down carrying buckets, pails and recycled water bottles. 

Old ladies and grandmas also lined up to collect water with buckets and by the time they get home half is spilled! The worst thing was SYABAS did not send any water tanks from the very onset of the water crisis, DBKL could only managed to supply 1 water tank per block! The saddest part is, just today an incident whereby an elderly women slipped and fell while trying to pace herself on the slippery floors, luckily she escaped unhurt. Do we need a tragedy to happen before things are sorted out?

Only today (9th Jan 2013) SYABAS sent 25 officers/engineers on to the ground to monitor the situation, I spoke to them very openly and asked what is the real situation! The answer was FRANK: "The gajah bergaduh the kanchil tersepit" The pump house in Wangsa Maju cannot cope up with the demand, its aged and about time to be replaced, but no action was taken, ‘neither was there any plans to build a new one!’ So they say we are trying to repair it, without having any clear indication as to when the situation will be back to normal!The agony is, just across the road hardly 50 feet away, the water never stops flowing, there is a row of shop lots, high rise apartments, condos and private homes! I asked, why is that happening, are we prejudiced because we are a low cost homes? No answer was forthcoming, so I may conclude that the folks in PPR & low cost housing are 3rd class citizens. AS YOU RIGHTLY SAID WE ARE TO BE A DEVELOPED NATION BY 2020, at this rate we ‘ain't gonna make IT!’

The SYABAS people said that they do not have enough assets to dispatch to the affected areas - no water trucks, no water tanks and no vehicles. They even had to rent a UTUSAN Malaysia Lorry to put up near the location with 4 water tanks. Last week, Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) sent its’ water trucks to the affected areas and my location. Only once and that was only 1 truck! As a responsible PM who swears by “RAKYAT DIDAHULUKAN”! I say we need affirmative action ASAP, not walking-walking and talking-talking!