THE Seri Pantai people’s housing project (PPR) flats in Pantai Dalam where a teenager was killed by a falling chair consists mainly of households earning less than RM3,000 a month.

It’s not unusual for residents living in the 21-storey building to throw things out of their balconies, among them plastic bags with faeces, pieces of wood and bricks. People have been injured and cars parked below damaged.

It’s also not unusual to smell urine on the stairs and see rubbish along the corridors.

Some residents met after Monday night’s tragedy when an office chair hit 14-year-old Satishwaran Sathiasilan’s head, killing him instantly, despair at their neighbours’ attitudes and wonder if the boy’s death will now change things.

A resident, who wanted to be known as Edi, said he felt saddened and helpless at the state of the flats, whose residents are formerly squatters.

“The mentality here is third-class. Many people here have no education and were squatters before.”

Edi said there is little that will stop people from throwing things out of their balconies.

“If you put a grille, what if there’s a fire? Or people will remove it to sell as scrap metal. Whatever the solution, it won’t change things unless the authorities come down hard or motivate the people,” he told The Malaysian Insight at the flats yesterday.

Edi said no single party could take the blame for living conditions at the flats and both Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and residents had to play their roles.

DBKL announced plans to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) but Edi fears the cameras may be stolen.

Edi said a resident was reprimanded for dumping waste from the upper floors but no action was taken as the person suffers from a mental problem.

Hard to change

Another resident said she had a narrow miss herself from a falling object.

Housewife P. Vasanthi said her back was grazed by some wooden furniture parts that someone threw from the upper floors a few years ago and she required medical treatment.

“You cannot anticipate when things will start flying. It can be a liquor bottle, bricks, rubbish and all sorts of things.”

But the 49-year-old resident said not all occupants of low-cost flats were like this. She used to live at the Pekeliling Flats and never had such problems there.

Maintenance fees per unit at the Seri Pantai flats is RM45 a month, but Vasanthi said its upkeep is still lacking.

“I think people who have a civic-attitude problem can be helped to stop doing this, but it will require the effort of everyone here,” said Vasanthi, whose son was a schoolmate of Satishwaran’s at SMK La Salle. Brickfields.

The Malaysian Insight found damaged facilities, such as lifts, and foul smell, when walking up the stairs at the Seri Pantai flats which are under DBKL’s supervision.

Edi said some residents are drug users who would defecate on the stairs. A few residents also have mental health issues.

The slow, creaky lifts which often break down also did not help matters, discouraging those who wanted to dispose of rubbish from taking their waste downstairs to discard it responsibly.

Yusliza Mohammad, who has lived at Seri Pantai since 2012, said some residents are too lazy to walk downstairs or take the lift and take short cuts by throwing their rubbish down from their floors.

“Enforcement is lacking and now a death has occurred. The other day, people were throwing bricks and they damaged some cars. That’s considered a normal day.

“But now a boy is dead. I want to say that this will make people stop throwing stuff, but I don’t know,” said the 36-year-old food stall owner.

Library security guard Abu Kassim was a witness to Satishwaran’s death. He said the teen’s mother, S. Kathuribai, was stand close to the boy and was lucky to escape with minor injuries.

“I heard the sound of something fall and hit the ground. When I came to the scene, the boy was on the ground. His mother was just a bit behind him.

“Irresponsible people living here are throwing their waste out on purpose. It’s not an accident. They are deliberately throwing items.”

DBKL in a bind

DBKL’s Department of Housing and Community Development director Wan Muhammad Ghazali Nor said city hall was shocked and saddened by Satishwaran’s death but admitted that such habits are not unusual at the flats.

“We know that many are throwing rubbish and other objects from their floors.

“We have issued notices to such residents before. Under the housing law, they cannot do such things,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He promised that DBKL would come down harder on culprits, including evicting them from their units.

“DBKL will take action against those who throw rubbish, not just by issuing compounds but by evicting them.”

As an immediate step, DBKL plans to install roofs or coverings to prevent falling objects from hitting people.

Wan Ghazali admitted this was not a final solution to the problem and said more civic awareness programmes would be held for flat residents.

Around Kuala Lumpur, city hall has identified 72 PPR flats as hot spots for vandalism and other violations of city by-laws.

They have asked police for assistance to monitor 10 of these hot spots and the Seri Pantai flats will be added as the 11th location.

Wan Ghazali said DBKL would proceed with installing CCTV at the lobbies of all PPR flats under its jurisdiction and those who damaged the equipment would be made to replace it.

DBKL is also repairing or upgrading lifts in PPR flats.

“If it is more than 10 years old we’ll give it an upgrade. If it is more than 15 years old we’ll change to a new one.”

DBKL spends about RM145 million a year maintaining PPR flats throughout the capital city, and this excludes cleaning costs. – January 17, 2018.