The new and improved BK3

Thanks to the support of the residents, BK3 has been transformed.

From Jalan BK3/3A to BK3/6, our community has been secured with chain-link fence to provide a safer living environment for the residents.

Just to keep everyone up to date, these are the things done by Suria BK3 RA to safe guard our community since middle of March this year.

Security guard, guard house and boom gate at Jalan BK 3/3A

Chain-link fence along Jalan BK3/3A

A small gate at Jalan BK3/3B for access to BK2
(Note: the stairs, railings and small bridge funded by others)

Chain-link fence along Jalan BK3/3B joining to LRT construction hoarding

Security guard, guard house and boom gate at Jalan BK3/3B

Main gate at Jalan BK3/6 with small access gate at the side

Main gate at Jalan BK3/5 with small access gate at the side

Main gate at Jalan BK3/4 with small access gate at the side

Car stickers for residents

 

 

 

Additional street lights (RA provides contact, installation cost by house owners)

A big "Thank you" for everyone who has supported the RA so far. None of these can be accomplished without the support from all the residents. However, the RA still needs continuing support and cooperation from every resident to ensure the success of the system in the long run.

The RA committee will continue to improve on the security system to make our community as safe as it can be. There are still a lot of details to work out at this initial stage.

Let's work together to make BK3 crime free, a better place to stay, and put a smile back on every resident's face.

 

 

In cyberspace, a daughter remembers ‘mother, hero’

The daughter remembers her mother who was stabbed to death while jogging near Bukit Gasing a few days ago. This appears in Malaysian Insider today.

The original news click here.

Malaysia

In cyberspace, a daughter remembers ‘mother, hero’

April 22, 2013

People trek on a hiking trail at Bukit Gasing, in Petaling Jaya February 22, 2011.—File pic  KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — On Saturday, Ong Ai Sam, 52, fended off two robbers in a desperate bid to buy her daughter time to escape. She succeeded, but paid for it with her life. 

This is the message her daughter wishes she could hear.
My mother, my hero

I remember. I remember everything.

A few months ago in English class, my teacher asked us to write about the person who we admire. I wrote about my mum. A month ago for my English March Test paper, the topic I wrote about was “My Hero”. I wrote about my mum. During my test, I had writer’s block so I simply wrote out everything i knew about my mum: her childhood, achievements, etc. My mum is my hero. She always has been, she always will be.

20th April 2013.

Mama left early in the morning for some event her Kiwanis Club’s K-Kids had planned. She came back home with lunch for me and Milo ais. I remember grumbling to her because I didn’t want to follow my parents jungle trekking. I did anyway. We had to set up a trail for my father’s running group so mama was carrying a bag with just plain paper in it. I remember grumbling to my mum as we went up and down the hills of Gasing. She told me we’d be out soon. After two hours of trekking in the jungle, we finally hit the road. It was the road in Gasing leading up to the temple. We decided to walk back down to the car.

As we walked down the steep road, there was nobody there. No people, no cars. Just the two of us. As we nearly reached the first house, we heard a motorbike sound from behind. We turned around and saw two men on a motorbike. Mama said walk further in onto the pavement so we did. As the motorbike drove past us, they stopped. The man from behind jumped off. My mum pushed me to the back and told me to go. The man attacked my mum straight away, without saying any words. The knife he used was just a normal kitchen knife, the blade was about 10cm long. As my mum tried to protect herself, she turned to her left, only to be stabbed twice on the back of her right shoulder. She was struggling to escape. The attacker then proceeded to stab the back of her left shoulder. Mama tried so hard to escape. She fell on the ground and the attacker pulled her on the road and stabbed her thigh. I tried to help but the attacker thrust the knife my way so I ran back further. I couldn’t do anything but scream at the top of my lungs. I screamed and screamed. The attacker hopped on the bike and rode off.

I remember.

I remember watching my mum’s body lying on the road, all the blood oozing out. The attacker did not manage to get any of my mum’s belongings. She told me to call my dad. I ran down the hill looking for help. The first house I went to, the maid (who saw everything that happened) ran in and did not even try to help me. I ran further down and saw a car. They saw me and stopped. And I told them what happened. The driver, Mr Lai, told me to get in and we drive up to my mum. Mr Lai called the ambulance and the police while I tried to keep my mum conscious. There was blood everywhere. My mum just kept saying “save me”. Her voice was so week. My dad reached the site 10 minutes later, after running all the way. Mama kept telling us that she couldn’t breathe. I prayed and prayed. She was slowly losing herself. We tried our best to keep her awake and conscious. The police arrived. We put her in the police car since the ambulance hadn’t arrived. As we reached down the road, the ambulance was there so they transferred mum into the ambulance.

I remember.

I remember sitting in the ambulance, holding my mum’s hand and trying to talk to her but she didn’t respond. I remember crying. The paramedics were doing all they could do at that point. I remember calling Eu Lim, who was at church to pray for my mum. We reached the hospital in three minutes. They rushed my mum to the emergency was. I wasn’t allowed to enter and I was so, so scared. My dad had followed Mr Lai’s car and they hadn’t reached yet. I had to settle my mum’s registration and then I had to talk to the police. My dad arrived. Then my friends arrived. I sat at the doorway of the hospital, praying and praying. 10 minutes later, my dad came out and told me my mum didn’t make it. I dropped in the middle of the hospital floor, screaming. Everyone was looking at me, but I didn’t care. A bunch of doctors came out to get me; they took me to a special room. They questioned me and they told me about how my mum was already gone when we were in the ambulance. They tried their best to revive her.

I remember.

I remember coming home. My friends just sat in silence. I just sat in silence. I was covered in blood, mama’s blood. I had to get myself together. I had to bathe. We broke the news to my sister through Face Time and that was really hard to do. Slowly, people started coming. It was hard seeing my aunts and uncles cry, my parent’s close friends, my close friends and to know I had to keep it all together. It was really hard, telling my story to everyone. It’s really hard to even close my eyes for awhile because i see it replaying in my head over and over again. Watching my mum lying in her pool of blood and not being able to do anything. Not being able to save her.

People come, then people leave. All I hear is “I’m so sorry for your loss” or “my condolences”. All I hear is people questioning me about what happened, since I was the sole witness. But I am so tired of telling this story over and over again. I am so tired of hearing other people tell this story. This is my story. This is the truth. Newspapers and reporters may twist it around and exaggerate to the whole world, but this story will remain the truth forever.

I am truly grateful and appreciative to everyone who came, whether it was for a short period, or a long time. Thank you to those who’ve brought a little bit more of hope and joy to me, even though you guys didn’t try. Thank you to those who’ve brought food and drinks, and flowers. Thank you to everyone who called, texted, Whatsapped, Facebook-ed and tweeted me. I don’t know how i became a trending topic overnight (#prayforhuiwei). I was mad at first, but then I realised how much my family had all of your love and support. Whether i know you or not, whether you knew my mum or not, all your kind words really helped. My mother was such an amazing and beautiful person.

I remember.

My mum’s last words to me were “I love you so much” dying there, on the road. I watched it all. I watched it all slip out of my hands. Now my life feels so empty. I keep thinking to myself that this is all a dream. Maybe I’d wake up and be able to avoid this from happening. Maybe if someone pinched me I’d wake up from this nightmare. But this is reality, and I have to face the facts. I have to face the fact that I’m alone now. I have to face the sounds of crying and wailing from the other room. I have to face the facts that I’m going to grow up motherless, clueless and confused. It won’t be easy, but I will get through this.

Ma,

I love you so much. And I am so sorry I had to watch you die. I am so sorry I couldn’t save you. But you’re with God now. Ma you’re such a great person. Beautiful inside and out. And I thank you for teaching me your ways. Thank you for always teaching (scolding) me to be a better person. Even though we’ve had our moments, and times we didn’t see eye to eye, you’ll always be my best friend. Who’s going to pick me up from school now? Who am I going to say “HEY MA” to and tell them about my day? Who’s going to cuddle up with me on the couch and be lazy for awhile?

Ma,

Remember how you used to come into my room while I was studying, and hug me then tickle me. Remember how you used to sing me to sleep when I was young. Or how you used sing when you’re happy. You had a beautiful voice. Remember how we sat on the couch, looking for coloured beads to do arts and crafts. Remember every single day we spent together.

Ma,

I just saw your body, lying in the coffin. You look so beautiful, peaceful, just like you’re sleeping. And I have the biggest urge to scream “wake up”. Thank you, Ma. For giving me life, for giving me love. You taught me everything good in my life. You were always selfless, God-fearing. You were my strong pillar of hope and love. And even though you’re no longer here with us, you’re with God. And you’re happy, just like how you appeared in Lissa’s dream. And I do hope justice will be served. They’re working on finding the criminals, ma. They will be caught.

We all miss you, ma, we miss you so much. Goh Ee and Sar Ee has already appointed themselves as my “mama” and I see you so much of you in them. And it’s not going to be the same anymore. Nothing will be the same anymore. You’re not going to watch me graduate, you’re not going to watch me get married. You’re not going to be there to take care of my children. But I know you are with us in spirit, and you’re always watching over us. Please give me the strength and courage to move forward with my life. Please give me the motivation to be better. To be more like you. To spread the love and joy. Papa, Tache and I will always be grateful for you are the biggest blessing God has given. And maybe you’ve done too much good so The Lord called you home. And you are safe now, safe with God. He will watch over you (and us) and protect you. You are safe from all the evil now.
I will make you proud, mama. I will make everyone proud. I love you so much. I’ll love you every single day of my life, and I’ll never forget whatever you’ve done for me. Thank you so much. Rest in peace, mama, I love you.

* This is a post written by Hui Wei on the blog, “the ugly truth”.

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.

No worries, you said...

With the impending construction of LRT station no. 5 in BK 3 very soon, what is going to happen to our neighborhood in the future?

The residents must understand once the structure is built, it will be permanent. There will be no going back telling SPNB we don't want it anymore, it will be there forever.

Let's start by looking at some of the issues that may arise, starting with security.

No one can deny that there is a crime problem in our area. There were never ending break-ins after break-ins. Every time you talk to someone from our area you hear new stories. Many cases even happened during day time, with residents inside their houses.

 

My own house was broken into a couple of years ago. A brand new laptop that just arrived a few days before was taken, together with some other valuables. 

Luckily none of us was at home during that time. So we came away with some losses but no one got hurt.

Others were not so lucky. Recent news reported an old man was set on fire and burnt to death by burglars in Perak. Another piece of news reported a housewife was gang raped by eight intruders in Johor. 

These are just a few of the daily occurrences we find reported in the newspaper. In actual fact there are many more. Although some of these crimes happened not in our area, it can actually happen here.

Just the other day one of my neighbors went out briefly to get "nasi lemak" early in the morning. When she came back she saw a motorbike parked in front of her house.

One moment later an intruder walked out from her house carrying laptops, handphones and some other valuables, hopped on the bike and rode off.

All these happened right before her eyes. She yelled and horned but the intruder was just ignoring her. Believe it or not, all these happened while her husband and kids were still sleeping inside her house.

Another neighbor also told me there was this one time after she parked her car in front of her house, got out, a guy riding a motorbike approached her right away with a "parang". Thank god she was not hurt but her purse and handphone were taken. Her family had since moved away.

There are many similar stories.  

Why do you think there are suddenly so many residents having dogs in their houses? Yes, there are many dog lovers out there, but the main reason is to scare off intruders.

BK 3 residents in general has been the target of burglars for the fact that there are just too many entrances to our area where outside intruders can come and go as they please. 

So what has that got to do with the new LRT station?

  

Basically it is very simple, security will get worse once the new station no. 5 is constructed here in BK 3. 

With a LRT station here, BK 3 will become a public area. Anyone can come in and out as they wish. We no longer can question why that motorbike is circling our area all the time, or why a stranger is driving a car through BK 3 so frequently. They will say they are going to the station and there is nothing we can do about it.

We can no longer control who goes in and out of BK 3 area.

We can also forget about hiring security guard service for our area anymore. It is not going to work with so many outsiders in our area. No security guard will be able to do the job.

While all these may sound scary, it is something that we must really think about if we want a LRT station here in BK 3. It is already a proven fact that with a LRT station so close to the residential area, crime rate increases.

Still no worries?