Cops and residents in gotong royong clean-up

A gotong royong project has got the SEA Park police and Rukun Tetangga SEA Park joining hands to help clean up an open public parking area about one acre in size in Jalan 21/19 SEA Park, Petaling Jaya  recently.

Off-duty police officers from Balai Polis SEA Park in SS2, Petaling Jaya got their hands dirty when they joined residents to undertake a clean-up operation.

The gotong royong started about 9.00 am and involved over 30 volunteers from Rukun Tetangga SEA Park and Balai Polis SEA Park. They were also joined in the operation by SEA Park Residents Association, PJU MCA Community Task Force, Voice of Women, contract workers from Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) which provided garbage trucks, tools and disposable gloves.

“I am happy to see five of our men out here today taking part in this gotong royong project. This is a healthy activity for us to work together with RT Section 21 SEA Park that enhance the spirit of goodwill based on mutual understanding and cooperation,” said SEA Park police station OCS Inspector Gunam Resul who was present at the event.

He thanked the five off-duty police officers who volunteered in the gotong royong activity.

“The police do not only fight crimes but we also get close to the public through community policing in which the public understands us better and we get closer to them. This close contact between police officers and residents foster trust which help us to share information in tackling crimes.

“This is our second time we are involved with RT Section 21 SEA Park in community projects, the first being last year’s gotong royong at SEA Park market. We hope this relationship between residents and police will result in a cleaner, friendlier, and safer place for everyone,” added Gunam.

The gotong royong project was jointly organised by Rukun Tetangga Section 21 SEA Park and Petaling Jaya Utara MCA Community Task Force.

By noon when the clean up operation was over, a whopping five tons of garbage in total was collected and this included, among others discarded glass and plastic bottles, old tyres, broken flower pots, soils, wooden pieces, household items, dried leaves and broken tree branches. There was even an old abandoned car left there.

RT Section 21 SEA Park deputy chairman Cliff Yin commented: “The gotong royong was held to clean up the SEA Park neighbourhood and for a start, the public car park area was picked because it was unsightly and an eye-sore for a forthcoming ‘Love our Parents and Dumpling Festival” event to be held there.

“We are committed to keeping SEA Park clean, green and safe. The response from residents in our gotong royong has been positive and more areas in SEA Park will be covered in the near future.”

“This place has been abandoned and in a state of neglect for quite some time. At the moment the public car park is used by anybody for functions so the state of cleanliness is very important because we do not want to have dengue mosquito breeding in the sites,” said Dato’ Dr Wong Sai Hou who led the PJU MCA Community Task Force team.

Dr Wong said that the gotong royong project was funded by KPKT as part of their cleaning operations.

He said that the area was littered with empty glass bottles and plastics which should be recycled and urged the public not to treat the place as a dumping ground. Old tyres and broken pots were also thrown here.

“I think this message to the community is very important. Fortunately, the abandoned Ruby cinema is fenced up and under lock so no unwanted elements like drug addicts can enter the place.”

“With this clean up we hope the SEA Park community do not have to worry this whole area being a source of dengue transmission.”

Dr Wong said he understood the land area was up for sale and hope the new owner should consider doing a community hall or a field for SEA Park residents because this was the aspiration of the residents here.

“When SEA Park was set up 45 years ago, there was no field. Whoever buys up this place should consider giving one small part for the community. Meanwhile this spirit of gotong royong will go on, not just on yearly affair but on a per need basis.”