We Have An Utmost Responsibility To Our Own City

Rubbish Clearing And Drain Maintenance Services Must Be Improved

I live in Ipoh City, located in the state of Perak, in Malaysia. My neighbourhood has a long history of flooding.

Old, Outdated Infrastructure

One of the main contributing factors to this is that our drains are too small and narrow, thus are not able to carry bigger volumes of water during heavy rain.

Apart from that, our drains aren’t at a slope and instead are constructed such that they’re on the same ground level. This naturally prevents the flow of water downstream, thus resulting in stagnation.

And so, during heavy downpours, this lack of a slope for our drainage system prevents the flow and clearance of higher volumes of water during heavy downpours and ultimately results in flash floods.

Also, in a country like Malaysia which has a tropical climate, such water stagnation is dangerous, as it leads to the breeding of Aedes mosquitos and subsequently, Dengue infections within the community.

This issue has been brought up by the residents’ association to the authorities, but so far no action has been taken to redesign and rebuild the decades-old drainage system.

Poor, Inefficient Government Services

Also, for several years now, the drain cleaning services by MBI (the local government) have been less frequent compared to before (currently it’s only once every 3 months).

Due to actions by irresponsible people throwing rubbish into the drains, some of them eventually get a bit clogged, which also contributes to and worsens the stagnation of water.

Apart from my area, there are many other examples in Ipoh of drains being too small, and getting clogged with thrown rubbish, thus increasing the risk of flooding, especially in residential areas.

MBI needs to redesign and increase the capacity of drains to match the volume of water from heavier rainfall, in addition to increasing the frequency of cleaning the drains.

MBI also needs to pay attention to the persistent problem of indiscriminate rubbish dumping and littering. There are many illegal rubbish dump sites in the city which are not routinely monitored and cleared by the MBI.

Apart from being unsightly, this can over time lead to diseases borne out of a foul and dirty environment, including Dengue. Unfortunately, these cases are usually acted upon only when members of the public raise complaints to the MBI.

Prioritize Funds Towards Essential Services

Over the years, Ipoh ratepayers have experienced a cutback on council services which could be due to a smaller budget. As a result, there has been a deterioration in the condition of drains and the environment of residential areas.

Can expenditure on such important, basic services be compromised? Shouldn’t such services be prioritized in terms of funding and efforts?

A clean, well-maintained, disease-free environment is fundamental to the preservation of good health in the community. Funds can’t be averted away from such services until a more environmentally-conscious population has been developed.

Apart from the suggested efforts above, MBI also needs to conduct widespread and consistent public awareness/education campaigns on keeping the environment clean.

The local government needs to clear the existing illegal dump sites, carry out routine spot-checks, and install CCTV cameras at the locations of those illegal dump sites to catch and impose strict fines towards those who are responsible.

These actions would also help solve the issue of partially clogged drains due to thrown rubbish.

The MPK (another local government, located in the city of Klang), seems to have achieved success via its operation of fining people caught throwing rubbish at the North Klang bus station by its’ enforcement officers dressed in plain clothes.

Does The Government Truly Care About The People’s Wellbeing?

While MBI’s actions to place new rubbish bins throughout Ipoh city are a positive step, ultimately however, the residents’ mindset towards environmental cleanliness needs to be changed in order to encourage them to throw their rubbish into those bins in the first place.

If MBI truly intends to make as well as maintain Ipoh as one of the cleanest cities in Malaysia, then they should look into these issues seriously.

This is not only for the sake of achieving a good image for the whole city, but to also cultivate residents that are environmentally conscious, and to prevent diseases and floods from frequently occurring.

If the local government continues as they are, without taking on a more proactive, responsible role, then sooner or later, such serious issues as flooding, rubbish dumping, and littering will most definitely worsen.

This will ultimately cause Ipoh City’s image to become tarnished, and we must not let that happen.

Copyright Raveen Jeyakumar, 2024. All rights reserved.

Originally published at http://reformthesystem0.wordpress.com on August 4, 2023.

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