MANY Ipoh folk, especially the elderly and less educated, have no way of getting through to the Ipoh City Council when faced with problems such as overgrown grass, potholes, clogged drains and illegal dumpsites.
While a handful are unaware that they can relate their problems via the council’s hotline at 05-255 1515 or in person at customer service counters located at the lobby of the council headquarters, most are apprehensive about doing so for various reasons.
Retired machinery supervisor Choong See Kheong, 65, said he would rather resolve a problem on his own rather than lodge a complaint with the council.
“I would rather do the job myself than risk getting a tongue-lashing from the council staff or have them belittle me because I do not speak Bahasa Malaysia,” said the Taman Wah Keong resident.
Choong said he would wait patiently for the council’s workers or contractors to show up on their own, even if it meant waiting for months.
“If I can’t tolerate the problem, then I do it myself.
“For example, the contractor tasked with cutting grass at my residential area does a real shoddy job.
“Its workers would leave parts of the grass uncut and do not bother to clean up before they leave.
“And so, I clean up the mess myself,” he said.
According to Choong, many of his neighbours or friends would seek help from their state assemblymen to get a problem resolved.
“They get the assemblymen to speak on their behalf or highlight the problem in the media so as to pressure the council to act,” he added.
College student Maira Hani, 21, said complaints to the council mostly fell on deaf ears.
“I think most complainants have to keep calling or to write letters but even when they do, their problems don’t get resolved.
“It could be that the council is inundated with too many complaints. If so, then it should come up with a better procedure to get things done.
“Perhaps, the council should also let people know that their complaints are being looked into.
“If you give people the reassurance that their problems or opinion are important and that it is being addressed, then they will not mind waiting a bit longer,” she suggested.
Having listened to the constant woes of not just his constituents but those from other areas about them not being able to contact council officers or councillors, Bercham assemblyman Cheong Chee Khing developed a mobile phone application to enable his constituents to file their complaints whereby a posting would automatically be uploaded onto his Facebook page.
At the same time, the Better Bercham App, made available to Android phone users on Jan 14 and subsequently to iPhone users this month, would also send an email of the complaint to the council almost immediately.
“The app also allows complainants to send the global positioning of the particular spot or place they wish something to be done.
“This way, there is no way for the council not to act on any complaints because everything is done in a transparent manner,” he said.
To date, a total of 201 complaints and feedback has been forwarded to the council via the mobile application.
“Problems in Bercham are being solved at a faster rate with the app,” added Cheong, whose constituency is made up of over 80 housing areas and counting.
And then, there are complaints about the working attitude of council workers and staff.
Businesswoman L.Y. Kok said she once called the council about some overgrown trees along the road in front of her house in Tambun.
“There was no response for about a month and I called again, only to be told by the person who took my complaint that the relevant department had been informed about the matter.
“About a week later, I saw the tree in front of my house already cut.
“They did not cut down the other overgrown trees in the vicinity.
“They had only cut down the one in front of my house because I had lodged the complaint,” she said.
Kok added that council workers and other government authorities should have the initiative and good work ethics.
“They are acting more like robots and machinery than humans with the capacity to think.
“There was another occasion at a relative’s house in Bercham when several neighbours became concerned about a tree, which caught fire.
“Also of concern were the overgrown trees at the playground which could also catch fire if lightning struck. They called the council to have the trees pruned.
“The reply we got from the council was that it could only be done if we got all the residents to sign a petition and then hand it in,” she added.
Such regulations, Kok added, were illogical, especially when ratepayers paid an annual assessment while it was the council’s job to upkeep the city.
Housewife Ong Bee Lian said it was quite annoying to see an entire group of council workers assigned to clean up a particular area but only one or two actually doing work.
“The others would be sitting around doing nothing or chatting. How do they ever expect to get things done with such an attitude?
“And it is not like they would put in extra hours to get the job done. They just disappear as soon as their transport comes to pick them up or when their working hours are up, leaving their job undone.
“We have to wait a few weeks or months for them to come by again to ‘work’,” she said.
Ong added that it had also come to a point where council workers would only carry out a certain task such as cut grass but not throw away the grass because it is not their duty to get rid of garden refuse.
“They simply leave bags of grass in black plastic bags by the roadside, which eventually becomes an illegal dumpsite.
“And then, we have to complain to the council to clear the rubbish.
“There are also road sweepers who conveniently dump rubbish from the roads into drains, clogging them up.
“This kind of work culture is simply illogical,” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment