A New Horizon

Sometimes change is necessary and a bit painful. But you get over it sooner than you expect.

A new management company is in effect here after our gutsy Chairman of the Joint Management Body forced the old company to resign their services. Boy, she was really on their case for so many outstanding issues (defects, mismanagement, etc). I guess in the end, they just couldn't take it.

I don't want to air dirty laundry but the old management team were really bad. Incompetent is too understated to describe it. But this is where we find opportunities. We're like the Israelites being led out of Egypt by our version of Moses. Hopefully, unlike the Israelites there'll be no wandering for 40 years - just a straight road to the Promised Land of Casa Desa.

Someone uttered to me recently: "There's light at the end of the tunnel but it could be another train". I laughed. After spending one day in the management office today I think we're on the right track. Better processes and a better system. Might be time for another recycling day again to get the residents together. Hmmm...

Times Are Changing. Are We?

Not long ago I did something I've been wanting to do since 8 March, 2008. I signed up for DAP membership at the newly-opened Taman Desa branch.

Oh gosh, you're probably thinking, he's getting political now. Not the case really. But I'm going to at least be bi-partisan.

Life was all about work and play until my brother-in-law Anan lent me a fantastic book around late 2004/early 2005. Entitled Natural Capitalism, it sort of awakened me to the world around my family and friends and drew my attention to sustainable living. Since that fateful month of March, I've also felt an urge to donate more time to political causes.

No, I'm not going through a mid-life crisis either. I guess it was just time to act like a concerned citizen.


Something I just had to do: Visit the DAP Community Centre and fill out membership.



First was getting elected to the Casa Desa JMB committee. Then it was the Recycling Fair at Casa Desa which was a great learning and motivating experience for me. Then there was my rally to the DAP cause. And after that, my decision to train Under-18s Australian Football at St John's voluntarily.

Lately, for some reason, I felt compelled to take part in the series of 1Black Malaysia gatherings at Old Town White Coffee - a passive protest where everyone wears black and discusses community issues openly. 1Black Malaysia is also a direct answer to the PM's 1Malaysia vision. Okay, I won't get into details here. Let Raja Petra write about that...

Truth is, the people and old friends I've been catching up with lately in line with these activities have taught me a lot. Just through exchange of information (through discussions) I see flashes of insight, sparks of inspiration and seeds for future ideas and action. I'm not sure yet but I know I need to get involved more with my community.

There's one thing that I still need to do and that is to register as a voter. That's far more important. You can be a member of a political party but you still need to vote to influence any outcome, right? So, I'm going to do that this month.

But I hope that, in this day and age, we can also make a stand about the way we live and how we can improve things. So please register to vote if you already haven't. Then, if you want to be political about it, you can make a stand.

For me, I'm Taman Desa's number 1 supporter and I think I need to improve things in Casa Desa first, and then hopefully in the suburb too. There are still a lot of issues that need to be resolved before this charming, popular suburb becomes a renowned one.

Just the thought of what's achievable is already making me feel better.

Food, Food, Food in Taman Desa

A while back I wrote about Cafe Libre in Taman Danau Desa (part of the Greater Taman Desa area many lucky people call home). Well, it wouldn't be fair to leave out all the great restaurants in this area. I'm not an expert in all the food outlets here so I've decided to make it easier by compiling reviews from various bloggers. Then, my dear friends you can make up your minds better.

As for me, you can simply find me at Cafe Libre still! The reviews are:

Restaurant Hao Wei Dao - Hong Kong-style dishes

Fat Rock Cafe - Cheap and tasty Chinese cooking

Ben Sang Ipoh Ho Fun - Ipoh broth noodles

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle - one of my favourites

Woo Pin again - a second opinion

Boon Boon Cafe - good value dishes

Tiang Seng Pulau Ketam Steambot - unique steamboat

Tiang Seng again - a second opinion

H.L. Huat Restaurant - value Chinese and tasty dishes

Sri Neela's - good but pricey banana leaf

Paradiso - cosy Italian place

Mai Thai - one of my favourites

Seoul Korea - great value barbecue

Kajitsu Nihon Ryori - one out of many here

Okay, so there's a whole lot here. I've tried them all and love some a lot, love some a little. I'll let you make up your mind but one thing's for sure. Taman Desa has the best food in KL!

In The Name Of A Good Cause

Some highlights of the day... participants and winners of the colouring contest...


Indah Water's En Ahmad Budaya taking a mundane subject...


...and having us in stitches several times as he entertained.












Finally, Bernard getting the money from Alam Flora for our recycled goods. I'm sure the next one will yield a lot more.


Gosh, this may sound sheepish but I felt proud having co-organized the first big community event in Casa Desa. Being a proud environmentalists I always believe actions speak louder than words. Thus, when fellow committee member Bernard proposed the Recycling Day I jumped on the chance to work with him.

Trust me, it was a hell of a lot of work. Organizing, learning, communicating and even putting in the hard work like carrying chairs and speakers from our cars to the condo.

We learnt a lot and that's the best thing about it: the next ones will be better and better. We had a few nervous moments though.

The morning started really well and we had most of the furniture set up in our vacant restaurant/common area by 9.45am. Then the weather threatened to intervene. The clouds got dark and started coming our way. After a few minutes it finally gate-crashed the party by introducing gale-force winds. The buntings and exhibition panels that Indah Water put up were inadvertent sail boards for a wind force right out of Wolfgang Petersen's A Perfect Storm.

Running for our lives, we grabbed everything and turned our outdoor fair into an indoor one. Within half an hour it was settled.

The colouring contest (organized by Bernard's wife Celine) next door was a hit with families but everyone seemed diverted from the Indah Water talk that was scheduled to go on so I ushered the parents and got as many people as I could to sit in. Some might have been moaning internally about a perceived 'lecture' heading their way. But Indah Water's rep En Ahmad Budaya gave a remarkable and funny explanation on the state of the nation's wastewater and the role Indah Water plays. The man himself is a hilarious character, part-comedian, part-educator.

Alam Flora, Hong Leong bank (who were our main sponsors), Streamyx and a few others played their part in the event. Committee president Lai Fong was there, as were other members Alifah, Ramlan, Jonathan and my beloved Nim too.

Of course, we wanted people to come down with their recycled goods; or we'd even go to them if they needed help. Which is what Bernard and a few committee members did, going from block to block. My good friend Charles helped me out too, although he found our second-hand book sale too good to ignore at times.

Due to some technical problems our planned movie screening didn't get underway but we managed to get people involved, meet some new friends and collect over RM200 dollars worth of goods to raise for our residents' leisure needs.

Malaysians can be a shy lot but it was great to meet a few people concerned about their neigbourhood. It's a start for us. And a good one at that.

Getting Down To The Nitty Gritty

Above: A pretty good bunch of people. I look petrified for some unknown reason. Below: It's all work at 10am in the morning on a Saturday!





It’s a scary thing, being voted into the Joint Management Body of a condominium. This is where you’re representing 2000 plus residents and their hard earned money that is being poured into making Casa Desa a safe and ideal home. Now I’m sure some of you who are lucky enough to own landed properties probably don’t give a hoot. And those renting out probably couldn’t care less except paying the rent each month. That’s perfectly fine.I wanted the responsibility out of curiousity and out of a need to make things better.

But its scary to have the responsibility. It really is.

Thank God the people elected alongside me are a wonderful, varied bunch of respectable citizens. And it starts with Wong Lai Fong, who was the secretary of the group when it first began (informally) but worked so hard and tirelessly that we HAD to give her the position. I mean, she worked 24/7 to make every building and maintenance fault known to us and to Faber Union, putting them on the backfoot from day one. From potholes to dangling wires, she had an eagle eye for spotting them that would make snipers in Swat Valley green with envy. I’m sure every time she comes around, the staff at the developer office go scrambling for cover. Or take a long toilet break.

Then there’s Jonathan, a la Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, with the toothy smile of an innocent boy and the wisdom of a sage. Can be as fiery as ol’ LKY himself too. Being the owner of another unit in nearby Danau Permai and involved in it’s body corporation he also had Faber Union staff wishing they never had their jobs.

But then again, while the staff at Faber Union have exactly been giving us 5-star service (not even 2, come to think of it) it’s not their fault.

Today, at our first Joint Management Body meeting with the developer representatives, much of it seems to be the fault of sub-contractors who can’t be traced or have problems responding to rectification work. And the problem with middle class condominiums like ours is that there are a lot of these to contend with.

I’m just happy to have the right people by my side. I’ll be content with looking after the residents/owners website which I believe is a great communication tool and can save all the unnecessary costs that go with printing newsletters and flyers, etc. I’ll be ably aided by fellow residents Kok Weng and Kenneth. As they say, things can only get better from here.

Recycling Day - 20th June

It might sound silly but this is something I've always wanted to do. Okay, considering my track record it's obvious that this is what I would do. Bernard, my fellow Casa Desa committee member is a like-minded person too, with his environmental engineering background to boot. Plus, it was actually his idea in the first place. Proceeds actually go towards eventually buying a ping pong table.

So if you're keen and willing, do come down and help recycle unwanted plastics, glass, aluminium and newspapers/magazines.

In fact, we're hoping to make Casa Desa a model residential project for people to look up to. Where waste is regularly recycled, or better still reduced and reused (that's the result of Bernard constantly remind me about the 3Rs; now I had to repeat it myself).

We discussed putting recycled bins around for people to do so at their own initiative, rather than to wait for specific days. I'm all for it. However, there was talk at the planning stages of our event that people would misuse the bins and throw solid waste in there too. Uuggh. Some councils go the the trouble of building fortifications to put the bins in - these look like immobile tanks or bunkers that could withstand a few drone attacks. I'm still wondering if some Malaysians are that bad. Or are we really just imagining all this stuff?

When we visited the management office last week, we were given their blessings too. The irony of it was that the lady at the office even told us we could print multiple flyers and distribute to cars and people that came in to visit! Maybe she missed the point. Probably, it was Saturday and she needed to be at home getting some rest. We just quietly pointed out that a posted sign at the guardhouse and at each block's noticeboard would be good enough.

We're also going to make sure that the soon-to-be-operating restaurant in CD, and other tenants, will have a grease trap installed in sinks and readily prepare recycle bins for customers in the premises.

I don't know. But I hope our recycling day effort pays off. That it becomes a waste effort rather than a wasted effort. Stay tuned for updates and the eventual pictures.

A New Hope

It may sound a little melodramatic, and sorry to steal that title from Star Wars, but I think a new glimmer of hope has indeed shone on Casa Desa.

Okay, it's not that we were living in a slum or that we were conned out of our life savings, but most of us felt a little helpless without a formal body to lodge queries or complaints to Faber Union.

All that changed around 4.30pm yesterday when 12 council members were duly elected in a jam-packed multipurpose hall (air-cond anyone?) with plenty of voices adding to the agenda and overall discussions.

Congrats to Lai Fong, our hard-working secretary who is now promoted to Chairman. Ramlan is now Vice Chairman and the affable Willie is Treasurer.

What's great is that the 60 or so owners who were there seem to be Taman Desans, many of whom have been living there quite a while. I struck up a conversation with Leonard who previously lived in Danau Impian where I did too. He's been living here his entire life and added to the oft-quoted remark that Taman Desa is still a 'strategic location within Kuala Lumpur.'

Another big step is to have our first meeting today at 5pm and tackle the issue of illegal air-cond piping and the rectification that must be done before the condo's warranty period ends in November.

We started the day uncertain. We ended it knowing there's lots to do. At least, we're now heading in the right direction.