Yeoh (right) and Abdul Halim showing a new set of mailboxes at Kampung Bukit Lanjan in Kuala Lumpur. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
With Kampung Bukit Lanjan houses in Kuala Lumpur mostly scattered in clusters on hilly roads, postmen often find it a challenge to determine the exact location of an address for mail and parcel delivery.
To address the constant problem of lost mail, residents came up with the idea of installing community mailboxes at different zones around the village.
Kampung Bukit Lanjan Residents Association (KBLRA) chairman Abdul Halim Halid, 55, recalled the time back in the 1970s when he had to check with the area’s sundry shop to see if his offer letter from Institut Teknologi Mara had arrived.
The shop has since been demolished to make way for new development.
“Back then, the sundry store had a plastic basket.
“The postman would place residents’ letters in the basket and people would collect their mail afterwards.
“Some zones used recycled plastic containers with cut-out slots to collect mail,” said Abdul Halim.
As the number of houses increased, residents needed a more systematic approach for the delivered mail.
There were 50 houses in the 1970s but the number grew to 100 in the 1980s. Currently, there are some 170 houses here.
“Instead of one single container to hold everyone’s mail, we decided that individual letterboxes would be more ideal for privacy as well as security,” said,” said Abdul Halim.
He had the idea of a proper mailbox system in the 1990s when he was the Kampung Bukit Lanjan Umno secretary.
“I saw how high-rise residences had mailboxes at their ground floors and I thought it would be a good idea to implement this in our village.
“So, we went to Pos Malaysia’s headquarters for advice on how to reorganise residents’ addresses so that letters would be delivered to these mailboxes instead of individual homes,” he said.
The process required visits to the Federal Territory Department of Director General of Land and Mines Office to acquire a plan of the lot numbers in the village.
As the mailboxes would be built on private land, permission had to be sought from landowners before building work could commence.
To build these mailboxes, the villagers organised a gotong-royong to instal shelters using recycled wood over a set of new mailboxes, which was made possible with a grant from then Segambut MP Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong in 2008.
In all, six zones were identified, each located no further than 200m from the furthest house in a residential cluster.
In 2019, the villagers received an additional grant of RM20,000 for the upgrades of mailboxes at four zones for roof repairs and tile replacement.
In August last year, current Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, who is also Youth and Sports Minister, received a request from KBLRA for additional grants to build more mailboxes to cater to the growing population.
“RM20,000 has been granted to KBLRA,” said Yeoh during a press conference held at the site.
“Construction costs and fabrication of the mailboxes totalled RM12,500.
“Twenty-five units were built in Zone A and 36 units for Zone B.
“The remaining sum will be used for community activities and welfare aid,” she added.
