Q & A on Suria BK3 RA and the security systems

Some of the common questions the residents have asked the RA so far:

Question: What is a Residents Association (RA)?
Answer:  RA is an organization set up by a residents within the same community to address issues and provide voices for that community.

Question: How do you set up a RA?
Answer: A RA has to be officially registered with The Registry of Societies Malaysia. The ROS web page is here. Our RA covers only Jalan BK3/3A, 3/3B, 3/4, 3/5 and 3/6 only, not the entire BK3.

Question: Is our RA officially registered with ROS?

Answer: Yes.

Question:  What is the name of our RA?
Answer:  The official name is Persatuan Penduduk Jalan B/K 3, Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, Selangor. The name of a RA has to be approved by ROS. Our RA has proposed a few names to them and this is the one they chose.

Question: It is a rather long name, is there a short name for the RA?
Answer: Yes, our RA has a shorter unofficial name of Suria BK3. However, for anything official like cheque payment, the long name has to be used.

Question: What is the main issue facing our BK3 community?
Answer: Over the past three few years alone, our own statistic shows about 22% of the houses in our area were broken into. In other words, for every 5 houses, 1 was broken into. Security is the number one issue we face in our community.

Question: Why is BK3 so unsafe?
Answer: There are just too many open area and roads that intruders can use to get into our area.

Question: Is there any solution to that problem?
Answer: The best way is to provide perimeter fencing, temporary barriers at secondary roads and have reliable guards to patrol our area.

Question: Can we do the perimeter fencing and barriers to make the area more secure?
Answer: Yes, we need minimum 75% of the residents' consent to do that. Besides that, it also requires some fund. That's why our RA has started to collect a life time membership fee for all members. The amount collected is used mainly for that purpose.

Question: How about security guards?
Answer: The RA has decided to look into hiring some reliable guards to patrol our area twenty four hours a day.

Question: Who provides the fund to hire security guards?
Answer: In order for it to work, all the household must come together and contribute a monthly fee for the security guard fees. The RA has started a drive to get as many household as possible to contribute in order to have enough fund to hire the guards.

Question: What is the monthly contribution fee for each household?
Answer: It depends on the number of households contributing. The more residents contribute, the cheaper it will get.

Question: How many houses are there in our community?
Answer: 216.

Question: Is it mandatory for all household to contribute?
Answer: No, it is all voluntary basis. However, since it is for the good of the community, close to 80% of the households have decided to participate. We encourage everyone to participate to make this possible.

Question: If I decide not to contribute now, but want to at a later time, can I do it?
Answer: Yes. There is no time frame when one must decide. As mentioned before, the more residents contribute, the cheaper the rate is.

Question: Who keeps and decides how we use the money?
Answer: The RA has a committee chosen by the residents that decides on the activities organized by the RA. The treasurer is responsible to keep a proper account on the funds collected and spent. Everything is recorded and transparent. You can find the current committee member list here. The term for committee members is two years. After that, a new committee will be chosen by the residents.

Question: How do the RA keep the residents informed of what is going on?
Answer: There are regular briefing sessions,  news letters, as well as a Facebook page providing all the information about the RA.

Question: What happen when there is not enough fund to hire security guards?
Answer: Well, if for example, most residents decided not to contribute the monthly fee, and the RA run out of fund, it may have to stop hiring security guards all together. That's why it is important for all the resident members to work together to make it happen.

Question: Is the RA for security purpose only?
Answer: No, anyone has ideas about activities for the whole community can make suggestions. The RA can do many other things for the community such as organizing a family day, and so on.

Question: Can I volunteer to help out the RA?
Answer: Yes, the more people participate, the better. The RA is always looking for helpers. Please contact one of the committee members if you wish to help. All the committee members are working also on voluntary basis at this moment.

Suria BK3 Residents Association briefing on 30th April, 2013

For residents who were not able to attend the briefing, below are the slides on the matters discussed during that briefing session:

Suria BK3 has a Facebook page

In case you are not aware, the Residents Association (RA) of BK3/3A to BK3/6 has a name - Suria BK3, and a logo.

Logo designed by Hilson Yeap

The RA committee likes the design of the logo with the sun, smiling face and the colours. It is friendly, green and ecstatically pleasing. The committee also like the sunny word "Suria", which happens to fit really well with the logo, and was unanimously chosen by the committee members as the name of the RA.

On top of that, the RA also has a Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bandarkinrara3/

Some of you may have stumbled upon this blog via the Facebook page. If that is not the case, you can join the page by clicking here. Since it is the Facebook page for the RA of BK3/3A to BK3/6 residents, it is kept private, limited to the residents who stay in this area only.

The RA committee always find reaching out to all the residents as the biggest challenge. Residents always complain somehow the information never reached them, or they were not well informed.

Previously the RA committee has tried using SMS to communicate with the residents, but it is very costly. The RA committee also tried using WhatsApp, which is free, but not everyone uses it.

Finally the RA committee decided on setting up an RA Facebook page. Not only the whole community can share information, but also create events, post photos, links and videos, to reach out to the whole community.

However, what good is a Facebook page if no one is joining? Therefore please do your part, spread the news, and ask all your friends and neighbors from BK3/3A to BK3/6 area to sign up to the page in order to get the latest information about what is happening in our community.

Everyone should sign up to the Facebook page

This Facebook page will be used by the RA committee as a two-way communication platform to share information with the residents, as well as getting feedback from the residents.


(Note: As the setting up of RA is still at its infancy stage, most of the committee members are still feeling their ways to serve the community better. Please work with the committee members, and support them to get through this initial learning stage. Hopefully by working together, the community can become better and stronger in the future)

A community that works together stays together

The increasing crime rate in BK3 has driven the residents to take matters into their own hands.

With that in mind, the way to go for the residents is to form a Residents Association (RA), and get support from the community to have their own hired security patrols. A few residents took the initiatives, starting to share the thoughts with the community.

As a result, the idea started to gain momentum. A few meetings later, majority of the residents from BK3/3 to BK3/6  have agreed to form an RA, with the purpose of having more controls over the hiring of security guards to patrol the area, at the same time put up some perimeter fencing, boom gates and guard posts at strategic locations, to make the area safer.

Besides that, the RA also hope to organize more community events to get the residents to know each other better in the future.

 

Residents gathered for a briefing

Soon ideas started to become reality. The first order of business is to get the perimeter fencing up, follow by setting up guard posts and boom gates. The residents chose one weekend to come out in droves, to clear the perimeter area of the housing area, and take measurements for the necessary work. It was hard work for the residents over a weekend, but the "gotong royong" effort seemed to bring the community closer, no one was complaining.

Residents "gotong royong" to clean up the area for fencing

George chopping down plants for perimeter fencing

Thumbs up by residents after a hard day of "gotong royong"

 
Sometimes it is hard to imagine how quickly things can move when everyone put their brains together and work as a team. The support from the residents have been overwhelming. Some "rukun tetangga" patrolling by residents, some fund collection; before you know it, the fencing is up, and boom gates were installed. For a safer community, most residents just accept the little inconvenience it caused.

"Rukun tetangga" gang at night

Fencing work in progress

Workers working on boom gates

There is no doubt there are still a lot of details that need to be ironed out. It is far from perfect. However, with the support of the whole community, the RA committee is determined to come up with solutions best suited for all.

It is time to make our home safe, BK3 is our home.