How can residents play their part in sharing responsibilities?

In today’s challenging living environment many housing estates today have their own Resident Associations. No matter whether a housing estate is big or small, it comprises a community who share the same common areas, roads, parks and recreational facilities. What more if majority of the residents are aspiring to live in a gated and guarded community which needs to collect security/maintenance fees and putting up a 24 hour operated guard house.

With these shared facilities they also share the same interest and responsibility of taking care of them by coming together and forming a Resident Association, to make sure their interests are protected.

More often than not, ordinary owners are only interested in their own purchase and most do not even consider their part in the community. This must change, as the spirit of caring for others in the community can only improve one’s life and not make it worse.

To begin:

1. Get a few owners from your development area to volunteer.
2. Get support from your surrounding residents to join the Resident’s Association.
3. Request the developer’s assistance for contacts, or advertise through any media if necessary, or even conduct a house to house visit for your neighbours.
4. Distribute details of owners keen to form an association to other owners.
5. After receiving support from your neighbours, set a date to form the association.
6. Elect the committee members. A good sized committee has between 10-12 members depending on the size of your housing area. Do take note: A committee with less people tends to be unrepresentative and too many people will make it difficult to operate. Each committee member has an important role to play. The 3 key roles in any committee are the chairperson, secretary and treasurer.

Once the resident association is formed and the committee is elected, write to the developer and relevant authorities to inform them of the existence of such an association and the key people to communicate with.

What is the advantage of a Resident’s Association?

1. Work together to fight neighbourhood crimes such as snatch thieves, burglaries and break-ins.
2. Have an advantage in working closely with the developer and authorities (MPSepang), to look after neighbourhood interests.
3. Act as a watchdog for the community.
4. Have a cohesive voice in the interest of the community.
5. To share the workload should there be a need for sharing task.
6. A contact point to serve as a communication centre among the neighbours. (like setting up a forum in blog)
7. Share resources and ideas to maintain or improve the community, cleanliness and security.
8. Increase the value of the property by developing a safe and friendly neighbourhood.
9. Volunteer for a good cause towards an enjoyable life in the community.
10. Budget 2013–RM40 million for 4,025 resident associations registered under the Registrar of Societies, with each association receiving RM10,000.

Quite often some major and controversial local issue is the stimulus to form an association, so do not wait until you have problems in the neighbourhood before setting up your Resident Association. Share the happy times together too. The pleasure of your new home is enhanced when you know your neighbours. Good dialogue sessions and careful advance planning among owners, developers and relevant authorities go a long way toward creating a successful community.

(This message is intended to share with our neighbouring phases in Taman Putra Prima who wish to form an RA and subsequently join us for the coalition or Gabungan Persatuan Penduduk / KRT Taman Putra Prima)