Open House The Malaysian Way

1 1For All, All For 1: Residents of all 6 taman posing with D.O and wife. They are TSM,Pangsapuri Intan,Taman Permata, Taman Orkid,Pangsauri Permata & Taman Permai

The Open House concept

In a multi-racial Malaysia, we take pride of our Open House (Rumah Terbuka) concept during festive seasons such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

It is a time for everybody, young and old regardless of race and religion to come under one roof to celebrate and socialise together with plenty of great food.




D.O with Senior management of IPD Muar and Mr.Chew Ah Keng of Taman Orkid.

Everything is Opened-
the house, the door, the heart and the mind

During "Open house", everybody is always in a good mood. The host is happy, so does his many visitors.

Everything is opened in an "Open House"-the house, the door, the heart and the mind.





If you offended somebody intentionally or unintentionally, this is a time to seek for forgiveness-maaf zahir dan batin.

• This is the best time for the rakyat to ask the leaders for assistance & advice
• This is the best time for you to have the best family photo(konica time) taken with your beloved leaders
• This is the best time (lobby time)for housing developers to lobby for more contracts
• This is the best time for people to seek endorsement for their children's higher education

I say "the best time" because:

1. You do not require an appointment at all
2. The date,time and venue is always fixed. No postponement, no cancellation
3. Your target-the host is sure to be in a joyous mood to lend you his ears
4. The partner of the host is always there for you, to join in and listen to your story
5. You will be treated extra-special, feeded with plenty of food and drinks
6. Your children will be given first- class treatment too- with Duit Raya
7. If you are lucky, you will be leaving with a door gift and reminded to return next year
   

For all the valid reasons listed above, we, 30 residents from 6 taman visited the open house of Muar No.1 couple, the District Officer(D.O) and his wife at their Open House.









AOC leads the way
Our Muar Assistant OCPD, Supt.Lee Choon Guan,who happened to be a resident within the KRT Jalan Bakri area, led a high-powered delegation of residents to the D.O 's house.

The word "high-powered" was chosen because among of the 30 people, they were:

1. 1)AOC and wife
2. 2)CID chief & his senior officer
3. 3)Special Branch chief and family
4. 4)KRT Jalan Bakri Chairman
5. 5) KRT Jalan Bakri exco members
6. 6)Residents of Pangsapuri Intan,Taman Orkid, Pangsapuri Permata, TSM, Taman Permai and Taman Permata.
7. 7)The children, Wanita , Pemuda and senior citizens from all 6 taman.

If you don't believe it, look at the photos shown below:

















Muar No.1 couple - D.O & wife
Supt.Lee's high-powered delegation, is a good combination of many orang awam and his police officers.

All were greeted with a warm hospitality by Tuan Hj.Abdul Rahman and his lovely wife.

Pointing at the rows of high coconut trees surrounding his official residence, D.O says:

" Wow! So many of you here today to wish me Selamat Hari Raya! If I knew earlier, I would have asked my men to pluck down all the coconuts for all of you!"

" Enjoy the food, help yourselves and I will invite all of you to take a group photo after that".


D.O official residence
It was a brand new experience to visit D.O's official residence. The location?

If you are a frequent golfer, it is the big blue-colored villa on the same row with the Kelab Golf Tanjung.

If you are a daily jogger along the Tanjong beach , then it is that big house on your right from the car parking lot.

Yes, the official residence is a double- story building, with a classic British look, located at a very strategic and expensive location.

It has a breath- taking and scenic view of the beautiful Sungai Muar, not too far from the river mouth and Straits of Malacca.



D.O posing with Pemuda TSM ,Ms.Foo Jei Rong & Ms.Kelly Gan. Both are active young Muarians who holds CP very close to their hearts.





Seize The Day
Melbourne's famous newspaper, The Age has a beautiful tagline- seize the day. I love the tagline!

Our mission for our visit to D.O house is also to seize the day by:

1. 1)Celebrate Raya Aidilfitri with D.O & family
2. 2)Treat it as a meaningful community activity for our residents & neighbors
3. 3)Take it as a regular CP activity uniting residents with our men in blue
4. 4)To reinforce to D.O the importance of CP in long term for the entire district of Muar

For reason No.4, we shared with D.O a piece of our mind: One of Muar latest famous products, apart from:
1)Mee Bandung,
2)Satay,
3)Asam Pedas
4)Kopi 434

Would be 5) CP



*Friendly CP cops in action at Taman Sri Maharani Muar

1. 1)We are proud warga Muar and we had a burning passion for a peaceful, vibrant & prosperous Muar
2. 2)We should adopt CP to realise the goal of a safer town
3. 3)We should engage more peace-loving Muarians to step forward and play a part in CP
4. 4) CP is a simple and yet effective strategy
5. 5) CP can be copied & paste, by anyone, anytime and anywhere

To suceed CP, we require 4 things:

• 1) A dedicated team of forward- looking local police force
• 2) A visionary leader who is committed in pushing ahead with all strategic plans
• 3) A group of the "think-out-of-the-box"members of the local community
• 4) A people-oriented mass media that care about the local issues

CCTV s

Our D.O fell in love with the espression- "CCTVs", when we said to him everyone has a pair of free CCTVs,the human eyes.

He told us that he started to promote the term "CCTVs" everywhere he visited in his governing territory.

He wanted every Muarian to start activate their own CCTVs!

Preview

Nothing could beat our human eyes.

In CP, we emphasis on prevention measures. Make use of your CCTVs and be the eyes and ears to the police.

For example, in KRT Jalan Bakri(Jln Hj.Jaib,Jln Dato Hj.Hasan & Jln Bakri) we have about 2000+ residents.

Now, Imagine if every resident use their CCTVs the smart way to monitor the local situation in their area, it means we have 2000 pairs of CCTVs operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year non-stop.





What can 200 taman do for Muar ?

Martin Luther King once said "I had a dream" for America.

We "Orang Awam" also had a dream for Muar,that is for all 200 taman in Muar to start CP as soon as possible.

Every taman should form a Residence Committee(RC) or Persatuan penduduk.

Next, they should link up with the police and hopefully join the nearest KRT centre.

Every RC in a taman is a platform. According to D.O, it could be for 3 major purposes:
1) A clever platform for CP
2) Promoting semangat kejiranan
3) Kebersihan (rubbish & recyling issues)




Potential D.O Award for A Taman Cemerlang

One of our residents even suggested to D.O for introducing a D.O Award every year for the best managed taman or kampung that fulfill the following criterias:

1. 1)A taman that has an active RC,youth and wanita wings
2. 2)A taman that adopts CP with a low crime rate
3. 3)A taman that promotes racial unity & neighborliness
4. 4)A taman that is free from diseases, net and clean
5. 5)A taman that supports & partcipates in goverment's policies and blueprints
6. 6)A taman that has the least rubbish and supports recycling

The same resident says: "Tuan D.O, if I am allowed to suggest,try make it as a healthy competition among all the tamans."

"The winner of your D.O award will be enjoying many monetary benefits such:

1. 1)Getting new tarred roads for whole taman
2. 2)Extra TNB lamp posts for whole taman
3. 3) Free- of- charge landscaping design for whole taman
4. 4)An upgrade of a drainage system for whole taman"

If the above rewards worth RM 500,000 or more, it is definitely worth spending.

Just look at the spilled-Over effects after that. If 1 lucky taman won the Taman Cemerlang award,others will emulate.

The local government can then promote the successful model to other 199+ taman and kampungs in the entire district.

The award winning taman will definitely try harder to maintain its standards.

The rest of the taman will start to initiate,to adopt,improve, to comply and try to win over the award in the following year.




More D.O Awards......for Murians

If I were given a chance by D.O to suggest a thing for Muar, I would suggest D.O to create more awards to motiviate fellow Murians to be more creative, hardworking,passionate and patriotic to the town.

I would propose a D.O award each for 3 categories:

1. 1) Outstanding Muarian of the year
2. 2) Young Muarian of the year
3. 3) Woman of the year

It is a win-win situation for all.

After all, we must think- out- of -the- box.

Racial Harmony Begin From Young

Racial harmony has to begin with the young


(Datuk Johan Jaafar,known as J.J, is definitely proud of his Muarian identity. Grown up in Sungai Balang Besar, Muar, he always relates his happy childhood in his many writings over the years. He is a former editor-in-chief for Utusan Malaysia, and currently holding the chairmanship of Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka(DBP). This piece of writing, is a "Must-Read" for every Muarian & Malaysian. Touched by his story? E-mail him at :zulujj@tm.net.my)

Race relations are about people, not punitive measures, sanctions or court rulings. It is all about how we accept, tolerate and live with each other.

Perhaps too much emphasis has been given to the role of politics and politicians in ensuring harmony among the races.

Perhaps we are expecting too much from them. We are disappointed with them for playing the race card. We criticise the race-based politics that has redefined our existence as a nation.

We all know how racial issues are being played up unashamedly by some, sometimes without even realising the consequences of those actions.

We ought to look at ourselves: we the people. We have to find a people's solution to the problem. We matter. We can decide the destiny of this beloved nation of ours. We can make the difference.

Where politicians failed, we must take the initiative. Let's call it People's Initiative. We have to look beyond politics and politicians. We have to admit that our people are drifting apart. We have been talking about it quite a lot of late.

We even mooted the idea of a Race Relations Act. Again we are resorting to acts, laws and regulations. We must not fall into the trap of using laws and regulations to manage everything, more so race relations in this country.

Perhaps we should be asking ourselves why we drifted apart in the first place? Why were we more successful before? We pride ourselves as the poster boy in managing race relations among developing nations.

We have done remarkably well actually. Our track record is commendable. It's just that we need to do more. Things have taken a turn for the worse. Sensitive issues are being raised to fever pitch.

The 2008 general election saw the rearing of the ugly head of racial politics. We must heal the divided nation. We need everyone's contribution to make this place a harmonious one -- I don't mean the political definition of it, but the people's.

Let us look at the big picture. For one, we are segregated. Our children do not go to the same schools. That is one critical element to begin with.

We can argue about diversity and uniqueness, but in the end we miss the opportunity for our people to integrate from a very young age.

They live in their own enclaves, with very little or no contact with others. Interactions are kept at a bare minimum. The role of Bahasa Malaysia, the language that is supposed to bind us, is often taken for granted.

I have my own story to tell. I went to an English school in the 1960s. There were 24 of us in the class -- 16 Chinese, seven Malays and one Indian. It was the only English school within 40km of the nearest town.

We were pioneers. The village itself was a portrait of harmony. A row of Chinese shophouses had existed for as long as one can remember.

The Chinese boys and girls went to Chinese schools while all my friends went to Malay schools. But outside school, we were friends. Childhood in Sungai Balang Besar transcended race. Malay, Javanese and Chinese boys played together.

When the Chinese and Malay orchard owners found that their durians and rambutans were stolen, they knew the culprits were Chinese and Malay boys.

There was in fact the legend of Wak Samad, the gravedigger who saved Chinese families in my village when a parang-wielding mob rampaged through the area in the 1948 race riot in Parit Jawa.

Led by one Pawang Salleh, they came from Batu Pahat. When they reached my village, the remaining Chinese families were at the mercy of the mob. Wak Samad stood in front of the shops warning them that those people were his anak buah (wards). The gravedigger's words carried a lot of weight. There was no untoward incident in the village.

The story of Wak Samad is part of the local folklore remembered fondly by Chinese elders. My father was a barber in the afternoon, a rubber tapper in the morning. He rented a small shop in the village. His neighbours were all Chinese shopkeepers who called him Jakpo Gunting (Jakpo the Barber).

I spent lots of time with the shopkeepers' sons and daughters. I remember my father told me the Chinese even bought pork discreetly by special delivery so as not to offend the Malays.

One of my best friends at school was one bubbly Chinese boy, Wong Chin Hock. The other boy, Jumadi was the son of a movie theatre owner in Semerah.

We were so close that we called ourselves Panglima Tiga Serangkai (Three Warriors). We parted ways after Form Three.

But we made a promise -- every 10 years we were supposed to meet at a specific place, just for old times sake, regardless of what we do and who we are.

In 1978, 10 years after we made the promise, I went to the place that meant so much to us. I waited but they didn't turn up. I was there again in 1988 and 1998, and I was alone.

Early this year I did the same, and they were nowhere to be seen. I met them a couple of times over the years. But I never reminded them of the childhood promise we made. Perhaps they have forgotten all about it.

Perhaps I am being too nostalgic. But I wanted to keep my promise.

When I wrote a children's book entitled Tangan-tangan Kaku (published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1974), I immortalised Chin Hock as one of the three major characters in the novel.

My encounters with the various races since my childhood days have helped me tremendously in understanding others. Malaysians need that. We must begin from a young age.

Harmony is not just about going to Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali open house. It is not just about superficial encounters. It is a socialisation process that takes time, patience and lots of understanding.

by Johan Jaaffar, NST 5 Oct 2008