PARENTS who fail to discipline their children are making it hard to stop the trend of littering from the upper floors, said residents of the people’s housing project (PPR) in Gombak Setia, where a youth was nearly killed by a falling bicycle wheel.

These parents need to be taught civic and community-mindedness towards other residents, but meetings on the topic by the residents’ association (RA) seem to have had little effect, said chairman of the Gombak Setia PPR RA, Sazali Atar, 56.

Sazali said littering had been more rampant recently, and RA members had noticed that the main culprits were young adults between the ages of 19 and 22.

Several efforts have been made to curb the habit, such as meetings between the RA and parents in the PPR, but the effect did not last long.

“We should educate the parents first. We did it before, but it only lasted for three to four months before the habit slowly came back,” he said.

The Malaysian Insight spoke to Sazali following Sunday’s incident where a falling bicycle wheel struck 19-year-old Muhammad Ikmal Abdul Razak. He survived with 15 stitches on his head.

A similar incident in January killed 15-year-old S. Satiswaran, who was hit by a chair thrown from one of the upper floors at PPR Seri Pantai, Pantai Dalam.

Sazali said the littering habit was a problem faced by other projects, according to their RA chairmen.

“Most projects are haunted by residents with this kind of low mentality. They can be adults, teenagers, and even kids.

“We were shocked when our RA heard of Satiswaran’s case. We really prayed for no such thing to happen in our PPR and warned the residents not to litter,” said Sazali.

He said any efforts by the RA or Kuala Lumpur City Hall would not be effective unless parents were willing to change and discipline their children.

“Placing a net won’t work because people will still litter and the net would eventually come off. They need to be educated if there is to be change,” he said.

A resident, Salmah Mohd Yasah, 57, said it was impossible to approach and criticise parents because they would always side with their children, even if they knew their children had thrown litter over their balconies.

“I tried once, because the children were making noise at one area, but I was scolded,” said the PPR Gombak Setia resident of nearly 20 years.

Salmah said she had also told a few of the residents not to litter but they ignored her.

Another resident, Azizah Aman, 63, said it was common for residents to throw food and even sharp objects from the upper floors of the 21-storey flats.

Knives, a mirror, and drinks were among the things she had seen being thrown out.

“We see something new every day. Someone even threw a mirror once. I was shocked because the sound was really loud but thankfully no one was near.

“It is near impossible to advise these people. We can tell them what they do is dangerous to others but they never listen,” said Azizah, who has lived there for close to 15 years.

The Malaysian Insight also talked to the cleaners at the PPR.

They said they feared for their lives whenever they made their rounds around the flats.

“I feel like I should wear a helmet. Sometimes we get food on us, like fried noodles and even curry,” said a cleaner who only wanted to be known as Eli.

They clean the compound three times a day, between 7am and 3pm.

Eli said new rubbish would appear even after an area had just been cleaned.

“It’s the worst in the morning. A lot of rubbish on the ground. It’s as if we did not clean the day before.” – November 6, 2018.