We have come a long way...

yeak's picture

Recently I have been trying to catch up with what happen to our community by involving myself deeper into the recent development. It has been a fruitful experience and I hope this experience can be useful to you if you are first comer like me.

I joined the Puchong Hartamas Residents Association (PHRA) as Assistant Secretary this year hopefully to use this opportunity to get something to update the web site. It is a volunteer work.

But the job scope become busy because our Secretary was down with knee surgery. I have to back him the secretary work. There I start to learn more.

Where were we when we first started?

I refer to old post and found that we have been told by FiveStar Development Sdn Bhd (FDSB) that our Taman Puchong Hartamas is not a Gated Community. Hence there was no issue about legality of the guard house. It was unbelievable at first.

I thought that was an excuse given by FDSB for not going to do something more for us. They seemed to just want to push all responsibilities to residents by asking us to take over Security Management.

Sound unfair isn't it? You bet. That was the main reason we started the journey to unveil the mystery, trying to nail them down and defend our rights.

After months of searching and learning, we found that FDSB was right.

All house buyers already signed the S&P Agreement and the Supplement Agreement attached, and it is written that we as PHRA should take over the Security Management after 18 months.

We have been delaying this process because we think FDSB was not giving us their promises. Remember we bought a Gated Community? Also intercom system? And so on and so forth.

Hence initial PHRA's stand was to demand FDSB to deliver those promises before we can actually agree to take over. We also came out all sort of reasons: the guard house is illegal; we cannot be liable for any risk guard house created; we want compensation on PABX; and many more. In fact, all these are just shadows we are chasing after because we are not well equipped with the right information.

A lot had been done, yet we didn't do one very important thing: understand where FDSB come from and the resources they have.

The writting is on the wall. It is a legal binding that we cannot escape. We have to take over the Security Management or FDSB can simply dump the thing and walk off. What can we do? It is obviously we can sue them. But on what ground? In term of legal agreement we definitely have no case against them. May be in term of Consumer Rights. But we must think carefully before we retaliate. What is the chances of winning the case? What do we get back if we win? How long will this battle going on? Who is sponsoring this? Does it benefit all residents?

After much thought, we feel that we should work closely with FDSB. It is sort of like playing taichi. When they send a big punch to us, we redirect their energy to other place and neutralize it. If we want to receive fist to fist, we must be as strong as them! Are we that strong? I would rather spend my time to learn CSS and do some web site development...

Where FDSB come from?

We did our homework by studying the agreement, talked to MPSJ, talked to HBA, negotiate with developer, and all sorts. We are now learned. We know that FDSB is basically riding on the current legal framework to defend themselves. And it is very obvious that they are on the winning side. Even if they lose, their loses is minimal. But we as residents will lost our retirement peace. Some may not even have chance to celebrate the winning. The court may probably say okay lah, FDSB cover all cost of building new guard house, make sure we are legal gated community, and rebuild the fencing wall to meet the legal requirement.

Is that all we asking?

We should focus our energy on building up Taman Puchong Hartamas and the residents welfare. Think about having a hightech security system for our Taman. Think about ability to see your house even when you are traveling. As an owner, you might want to know your tenant who you rented out to. You could also manage the house rental online.

Your house could have more value if we work together as a team to focus our energy into the Taman rather than rejecting handover.

Where do we go from here?

One very important thing we have done so far is finally meeting up with FDSB boss Raymond Tan. We have neutralized the punch.

We now can talk face-to-face and in fact we are all in the same boat, sinking; except that they have escape route via helicopter ready to fly off. So if we can talk nicely, we will get everyone rescued by the mess we created; for good or for worst.

We believed we are now in the right direction. We can talk like gentlemen.

We could propose to get FDSB to cover or share the cost of relocating the guard house to safer location. We will apply for legal guard house status (if there is such thing as legal guard house, who is responsible for its liability for this new guard house?) We will take over the Security Management and the money that is rightfully ours.

So much we can do. We can't wait for all good things to come.

Stay with us and stay on the right course. Please bring up if you have any questions that is not clarified. We will seek answers. Do not mix your emotion with it.

If you think FDSB cheated you a Gated Community, then ask them to pay for the guard house cost when we relocate it. All this can be done if we work with them properly. Do note that we have much to do to repair this relationship. There is legal case between FDSB and ex-Chairman Mr. Charles and we want to solve it too.

We are confident that all this can be easily resolved when all parties able to speak at the same frequency.

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tigermania's picture

The Residents of Puchong Hartamas must not be marginalized merely because a FDSB/Charles case exists. The PHRA must try to do the right thing for the majority of residents.

Personally I hope Charles can win if he counter-sues FDSB but I also hope he does not lose his pants (and health) in the process. I shudder to think if he loses.

Therefore, I think Yeak is noble in wanting to try solve it between the two parties. Perhaps Yeak can get FDSB to drop its case against Charles; I do not know.

Please try to look at facts and leave emotions out when you view the current scenario before us as a community.

KS