Rekindling the spirit of neighbourliness
12/03/2007 The Star By Hamdan Raja Abdullah

TANGKAK: Residents in villages and housing schemes have been urged to care for those living in their vicinity to uphold the culture of neighbourliness as practiced by the older generations.

Muar district officer Abdul Rahman Jaafar said such caring should also be extended to any foreign workers who happened to live in their neighbourhoods.

Speaking to residents of several housing schemes in Bukit Kangkar near here he said in the old days, everyone, regardless of race and religion, cared for one another.

“The people, including the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians, would share responsibility in looking after their villages and would also care for one another’s children.

“They lived in a village where everyone knew everyone and looked after one another,” he said when launching a neighbourhood cleaning campaign in Bukit Kangkar recently.

Abdul Rahman said the rapid development and progress enjoyed by the country today had brought foreigners into the villages and towns and many lived among the local residents.

He said in some areas the foreign workers even lived next door and when this happened, the residents should regard them as neighbours and not as unwanted members of their society.

He said being caring neighbours would also help to curb criminal activities in the society when everyone looked after each other’s property and also the children’s safety.

He said when one fell sick and needed to go to the hospital fast, one could not wait for some family members, who lived in other areas, to come and help them.

“If we have good and caring neighbours we can always ask them to help send us to the hospital.

“However, today some residents are not neighbourly despite living in the same scheme and many even built tall walls to distant themselves from their neighbours.

“If their houses catch fire when they are away, their neighbours cannot go in to help put out the fire,” he added.