Volume 1 Issue 3

Section 17, A Hotbed For Crime?

Hi Tiarans,

In the March 28^th, 2006 issue of the Star, there was an article headlined: A Hotbed for Crime. This hotbed seems to be too close for comfort – it is in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. The article stated:

"In Section 17, Petaling Jaya, snatch thefts and break-ins are so common that some houses have been targetted by thieves twice. In my area, snatch thieves even prey on the people on the same road month after month! In the past six months there have been 8 incidents of snatch thefts near the main road between 5am and 7pm. I hope the Police will monitor this area for the safety of the thousands of residents, as it has been a hotbed for crime for the past 8 years."

Indeed, Section 17 is prone to crime and since we Tiarans live here, we have to be extra cautious especially when out of the grounds.

A concerned Tiaran, Mr. Bian Chuan Cheah, sent an email to the Tiara Times, relating an incident which took place in Penang, but he stated, and rightly so, that this incident could happen elsewhere.

Mr. Bian related how a young lady was filling up at a petrol station in Penang when she heard her car number being hailed on the loudspeaker, stating she had not paid the full amount. So she went furiously back into the petrol station counter since she knew she had paid correctly. The attendant calmed her down and explained that he had seen a man climb into the back seat of her car and wanted to warn her. As they spoke, the young lady saw a man dart out of her car. Perhaps the culprit sensed something amiss and left. She was horrified.

Mr. Bian thought he would warn us to be very careful, since how many would suspect such a thing happening? Thank you very much, Mr. Bian, for your advice.

Section 17 is indeed, a hotbed for crime. In less than 2 weeks in March 2006, three incidents took place, resulting in a friend of mine, a resident along Jalan 17/13A having a dialogue with the Police at her home on April 2nd, 2006. She related that only recently a resident along her road had her handbag snatched.

In another incident, along Jalan 17/35, a friend who was in her bedroom resting after an operation, heard frantic shouts for help on the road outside. She ran to her window and saw a young woman sitting in the middle of the road. She had been slashed across her face, and her handbag grabbed as she alighted from her car.

In a third incident, another friend had just reached her friend's home. She dialled her friend from inside her car, to open the gate. As her friend stood at the gate to let her in, a motorcycle with 2 persons stopped close by. At that moment the neighbour arrived home. One of the motorcyclists opened the neighbour's car door, yanked her handbag and then scooted off . Unfortunately for the neighbour, her timely appearance at that moment saved the lady waiting to enter her friend's home from having her handbag grabbed.

Such tales are becoming more common.

So, do take extra care, Tiarans, when outside the safe premises of Tiara.

Tiara Parking Woes

rom the beginning, parking within Tiara Damansara has always been a problem. The main reason was that the developer had only allocated 1 parking lot per unit while most units have more than 1 car, some with more than 2 cars. Needless to say, there is a shortage of parking.

Tiara Damansara has 417 covered lots. Of these, 351 are the original lots for each unit, 23 are bought lots, 3 reserved for management and the remaining 40 covered lots are rented out to residents. Additionally, there are 42 uncovered lots which are also rented out to residents. And recently the Management created 15 more uncovered lots in the triangle area near Queen’s Gate. These lots have been reserved for visitors and a minimal parking charge is levied.

Originally, when Tiara was managed by the developers, the 40 covered lots were supposed to be for visitor parking. However, as the Management then did not monitor these lots, most of these bays were taken up by residents (for their second cars) on a first-come, first-served basis.

As residents leave for work, most of the visitor lots were empty during the day. But in the evening as residents came home, the visitor lots would start filling again. If you came back too late, all the visitor lots would have been taken up and you had to park your vehicle outside the grounds.

Since most of the visitor lots were taken up by residents at night and on weekends, it was difficult for actual visitors to find parking. A visitor would be considered lucky if he/she actually got a parking bay.

In a way, this system worked as it was quite fair (first-come, first-served). Visitors (if lucky) could sometimes get to park in these visitor lots too.

However, as always, there were abusers. Some residents would park a vehicle almost permanently in a visitor lot. Then there were those residents who own 3 or 4 cars and having only one lot, parked the remaining cars in visitor lots. When they needed to use one of the vehicles parked in the visitor lots, they would take it out and put another of their cars to occupy that lot. In cases like these, the residents practically “owned” the visitor lot.

When the Tiara Management Corporation took over Tiara Damansara from the developers in 2001, the 40 covered visitor lots were converted into rental lots and 42 uncovered lots were created, initially, some for rental and some for visitors.

However, there was still abuse of the visitor lots. Some residents would pretend to be visitors and parked (sometimes permanently) their vehicles in the visitor lots. In the end there were still no lots available for actual visitors. It was difficult to monitor the situation and the security guards were not hired to be parking attendants.

Thus, due to the abuse of the visitor lots and with the great demand for rental lots, the Management Council then decided to give residents priority before visitors and all visitor parking lots were hence converted to rental lots. It was not that the Management Council did not want to allocate visitor lots but the fact that it was difficult to enforce residents from abusing them.

Since there were no lots available for visitors, naturally there were complaints. The Management Council tried their best to find ways to allocate some lots for visitors that would be easy to manage and not easy to abuse.

Thus, in December 2005, the Tiara Management Corporation created a visitor parking lot with 15 bays in the triangle area at the Queen’s Gate strictly for visitor parking. This was a closed lot opposite the guardhouse, thus making it convenient for the guard to manage and enforce. In addition, the Management Council also had to decide whether to charge, and how much. If the parking were free, potential abusers would find ways to park their vehicles there. Thus the Management Council decided to charge a minimal fee.

However, another complaint, other than having to pay for parking, was that this location was too far away from King’s Gate and only visitors for units near Queen’s Gate would use it.

Statistics have shown that this parking area is underused. Of the 15 lots, the average daily usage is 3 lots, with a maximum of 5 at any one time. Thus the Tiara Management Corporation decided to rent out some of these lots on a trial basis.

The Management Council continues to look for ways to make more parking available to residents and visitors. With limited space, the Council is looking at outside alternatives, perhaps leasing the piece of land outside Tiara along Jalan 17/1.

If residents would like to help, or have any suggestions please give your suggestions in writing to the Management Office, or email tmc33@streamyx.com, with your name and contact number.

From The Editor

Dear Readers,

We have received quite a few letters for Tiara Times, but only one via email. Tiara Times thanks Mr Bian Chuan Cheah for being the very first (and only, so far), to submit a letter to TT using the new TT email address, tiaradamansara@yahoo.com.

As a token of appreciation, a small gift awaits Mr Bian at the Tiara Management Office. Could Mr Bian please collect it from the staff.

We would also like to remind readers that the TT email address is for letters to Tiara Times only. These letters should be more about Tiara community living in general. If you would like to send email to the Tiara Management regarding specific issues or complaints, please send your email to tmc@streamyx.com.

Thank you.

Editor

Letter Of Appreciation

Dear Editor,

May I express my sincere thanks to you and all Tiara Council members , past and present, for doing so much for us Tiarans, volunteering your services and giving of your time for our good, and upgrading continuously the image of Tiara Damansara so that today it is a much sought-after property. Thank you.

With gratitude,

A Proud Tiaran.

Letter - Tiara Condominium Prices

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the March 6 edition of Tiara Times.

I find it well written, very informative and truly a blessing to us Tiarans.

I was very pleasantly surprised to know from TT that recently 2 sales of 2+1 units were transacted at certain prices, making it RM310 p.s.f. / RM298 p.s.f. Please do keep us informed of transactions so that we will be able to keep track of the market value of our properties. Thank you.

An Economic Minded Tiaran

Letter - Tiara Landscaping

Dear Editor,

I would like to highlight that, coming from King's Gate Entrance, the landscape - shrubs, coloured plants, those with flowers - are lovely.

However, along Queen’s Promenade, from Q22 onwards, there are "plants which are tall with long green leaves". Although not all the plants are like that, these stretches do not look pretty. There are also many gaps, some wide, between the plants and shrubs in certain sections, which make the area look bare.

In certain areas, there are plants with coloured leaves and shrubs, and these look pretty and pleasing to the eye. It would be nice if the same landscaping can be done along the bare stretches, so that the whole scenario looks uniform and lovely to look at.

I look forward to seeing a nicer garden in Tiara.

Thank you

No Garden Of Eden As Yet

Yoga Lessons

Yoga lessons are now available right here in Tiara Damansara.

The lessons are being conducted by a Tiara resident, Ms. Bhavani. She has a Teachers' Training Certificate to conduct yoga classes. She also conducts Self Awareness, Mastery and Meditation classes in Kota Damansara, but for Tiara residents, she will conduct basic yoga classes for health and to flatten abs first, before raising the level (there are many levels in yoga). Because she enjoys doing yoga, she would like to share her experience with residents here.

Currently the lessons are being held once a week on Thursday evenings (6-7 p.m) at the squash courts.

Fees are RM80 per month for a weekly session, and RM140 a month for a twice-weekly course (if there is sufficient response), with a maximum class size of about 15 people.

For more information, please contact Ms. Bhavani at 012-3816141.

Tiara’s Nepal Connection

As mentioned in our last issue, Tiara Times (TT) will highlight a resident or two in every issue. If you would like TT to write about you, or a friend, do drop us a note, with the relevant contact numbers, and we will get in touch with you.

In this issue, we highlight Mr. Bharat P.Parthak, from Nepal, who has been staying in Tiara for the last 10 months.

A man of many hats, he is the Chairman of Highlander Employment Consultancy Pte. Ltd. and a Director of Active Eye Nepal Tours Pte. Ltd. He also represents Malaysia in the Non-Resident Nepalese Association (an international co-ordination Council with over 50 membership countries worldwide) and a Council Member in the Malaysia-Nepal Commerce and Industry Council, which was set up three months ago to better trade relations between the two countries.

Bharat's Highlander provides guards and general workers for the manufacturing and construction sectors, as well as Nepalese workers for factories and the cleaning services.

Active Eye arranges tours to Nepal. Active Eye can arrange tours to fit tourists’ requests and specifications depending on what tourists wish to see or do. There is Kathmandu and the exotic city of Pokhara, "a beautiful and clean city with breathtaking mountains and a serene lake,"recommended Bharat.

For nature lovers, there is also a wild life resort, white water rafting, bungee jumping, trekking, hiking and, naturally, mountaineering. After all, this is the home of the world's highest mountain, the mighty Everest, towering more than 29,000 feet into the sky.

There is also fabulous shopping in Nepal. With over 70 different local dialects in the country, each with its own traditional handicraft and artwork ,shopping can be an exciting outing. The currency used is the rupee, though not the same as the Indian rupee, with about 20 Nepalese rupees equivalent to one Malaysian ringgit.

Bharat said his people had a reputation as great soldiers. During the Insurgency, the Gurkhas faithfully fought the Communists in Malaysia as part of the British Army.

Recently the Internal Security Department Minister, Datuk Nor Omar stated that the Malaysian Government only approved former British Army Gurkha soldiers to serve as security guards in Malaysia. No other immigrant worker would be allowed to work in this sector, Datuk Nor Omar said. He added that his ministry would handle the approval and registration of foreign security guards and "only security guards can be recruited from Nepal as the former British Army soldiers are noted for their ability to work well as such guards".

Today there are 250,000 Nepalese working in Malaysia, the second highest foreign worker segment after Indonesia. Bharat said he was grateful to Malaysia for providing job opportunities for his people.

Malaysia is already home to some Nepalese families. In l947, under British rule, 700 Nepalese were given citizenship.

For those who would like Bharat to arrange tours to his country, he can be contacted at: 012-373-1121 or his email addresses: highlandereco@enet.com.np or

activetours@ntc.net.np or activetravels@hotmail.com

Bharat also brought along his wife Meena to meet TT’s Editor. They have 2 sons, Bishesh, 19, who is studying in the U.S. and Pranesh, 14, a student in Nepal. Meena said she was enjoying the various cuisines here, to which Bharat confided that his wife was an excellent chef.

Thank you very much, Bharat and Meena, for sparing some time for Tiara Times. We also wish you a very pleasant and happy stay here.

Letter - Profiles On Tiarans

Dear Editor,

I was interested to find out, from the March 6 issue of Tiara Times, that there is a couple here who does foot reflexology and body massage, and have their own shop not too far away, in Jaya Supermarket. Thank you for giving us, residents of Tiara who may want their services, their contact number and site.

It would also be nice too if we knew Tiarans in other professions (like lawyers, doctors, nurses, tuition teachers, IT experts, etc.) so that we can make use of their services and give them business should we require them. As such, if their contact numbers and office locations are provided, we can call them should the need arise.

After all, does charity not begin at home, and Tiara Damansara Condominium is home to us Tiarans.

Thank you.

A Tiaran

Editor's Note: So, to all lawyers, doctors and people in various other professions, should you need a write up, TT would be most happy to do a short article on what services you can provide. Please drop an email to tiaradamansara@yahoo.com or a letter to the Tiara Times Editor, at the Management Office, with your name and contact numbers, and we will get in touch with you.