Merdeka Celebrations at Taman Harmoni, Buntong, Ipoh

Residents of Taman Harmoni in Buntong, Ipoh celebrated Merdeka day on Sunday Sept 8, 2013 with a special children’s colouring contest and jigsaw puzzle competition.

About 200 children and adults gathered at the flats to undertake this program to instil patriotism for the nation.

The uniqueness of the program was the multi ethnic nature where Malay and Indian children living in the neighbourhood participated together.

The newly established RT in the public flats area headed by Ms K. Helen  and Mr P. Mathew serving as secretary mobilised the total community for active involvement.

The Department of National Unity and the Department of Information provided support. The team from Kuala Lumpur comprised of Prof KS Nathan, Dato Siva Subramanium and Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria. Ms Hajar Ahamed, the Deputy State National Unity Director was also present to grace the event.

This is a very good example of families in this neighbourhood coming together to organise and run this program. It provides a fresh sense of appreciation of Independence history and to recognise the progress we have made together as communities in this land. The program ended with price giving for three best coloured Merdeka drawings and the three fastest assembled jigsaw.

Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria has made two previous visits to Taman Harmoni in conjunction with the community needs survey and focus group discussions with local residents. One major issue which haunts this area is crime and the presence of gang groups. Many of the drawings and symbols which were visible before have been removed.

While this can be regarded as a very successful community based program, however one glaring absence at the program were young people. A majority were children and adults. There is a need to reach out to young people especially in locations like these where they are at risk to social problems and issues in society.

The KL team also visited the Buntong Community Centre established by Helen and Mathew nearby the flats which provides regular tuition classes, daily service centre on meeting needs and also micro business training. This is a neighbourhood centre in the Buntong area where there are many community needs and concerns.