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Wednesday September 24, 2003

Malaysians must learn to maintain facilities, says Abdullah

BY MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR AND NICK LEONG

PUTRAJAYA: The country is facing a serious problem of slipshod maintenance of property and assets and Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants Malaysians to admit it.

“If it is true, let us say it. How many times have we heard people complain about shoddy maintenance?

“From public toilets to government offices to museums and airports, slipshod maintenance has embarrassingly become a hallmark of Malaysian society.

“Foreign visitors arrive at KL International Airport and wonder in amazement at the sight of one of the world’s premier airports until they go to the lavatory and are reminded that they are still in the Third World,” the Deputy Prime Minister said when opening the national conference on Developing A Maintenance Culture at Renaissance Palm Garden here yesterday.

Abdullah said the country needed to improve its efficiency in maintaining assets and make it a culture to benefit the people.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi being introduced to participants on his arrival at the opening of the national conference on Developing A Maintenance Culture at Renaissance Palm Garden in Putrajaya.Also present is Housing and Local government minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and his Deputy Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui (right).
He noted that great pomp and ceremony were conducted to launch Malaysia’s many architectural achievements only to see a few months later things beginning to fall apart.

“It prompts me to ask the question: Are we a nation of great launching ceremonies but appalling maintenance?

“Do we only take pride in something when it is new and leave it to dilapidate when there is something else to launch and celebrate?”

As a society, Abdullah said, Malaysians needed to evolve in sophistication and become more concerned with keeping the quality of the country’s landscape and structures.

“We have been building bigger and better infrastructure but many of our nation’s assets seem to perform and are kept well only when they are new.

“We see many signs of degradation which severely compromise the service these assets are meant to provide. Public amenities such as community halls, playgrounds and toilets are allowed to become dirty and malfunction.

”Why do we allow such a situation to arise? Why is there a tendency to abandon old assets and simply build anew? We need to overturn this tide of apathy and learn to care about details, to care for property,” he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that a measure of a nation was not merely its buildings, infrastructure or façade but civic virtue.

“If we are unable and unwilling to keep things in good shape, then we cannot even begin to talk about becoming a developed nation.

“We need to monitor and undertake continuous proactive measures to preserve them according to a well-defined programme, which includes ensuring simple civic virtues like refraining from littering and vandalism,” he added.

Later, after the closing of the conference, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said that local authorities had been told to ensure that their “area officer system” was in place.

“If people have been complaining about a certain matter for some time and no action has been taken, then the municipal council president or the mayor himself should investigate and find out who is responsible or has been negligent,” he said.

Ong said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad adopted the “area officer system” idea during his frequent visits outside the capital.

“If he sees something not working, he would jot it down in his notebook. He would tell us during the Cabinet meeting the things that need to be rectified,” he added.

‘If the Prime Minister can do this, then the area officers should also be able to do the job properly,” he said.

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