A special place to live
Chuah Bee Kim
SOMEONE once asked me, “what is so special about Taman Istimewa?”
I had replied that there was nothing special about the housing estate except that it had a lot of old bungalows. I regret having said that.
Now the more I think about it, the more I realise how lucky I am to be living here.
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| PLUS POINTS: Taman Istimewa is one of the few housing estates which is near a rubber estate. |
Due to its strategic location, it is convenient for me to drive from Taman Istimewa to the heart of the city or to Senai and Ulu Tiram. Recently, I did some renovation work on my house. The contractor who removed the clay roof tiles showed me what was engraved there — “Made in Malaya” — I was so excited. The house is still in good condition, despite it being built in the 1950s. According to my mother-in-law, the British army built the houses for its personnel. When they left, the locals who worked in Singapore bought over the houses, which were built on leasehold land. The most interesting feature of Taman Istimewa is the rubber estate. I don’t think anyone living in a housing estate in town can say they live near a rubber estate, but we can. The neighbours are friendly and there are hardly any break-ins or snatch thefts in this part of the neighbourhood. And police cars regularly patrol the area. Of late, we have seen many foreigners in the neighbourhood, especially those from Myanmar and Vietnam. It has become a worrisome feature because some of them are “quarrelsome”. Thankfully, they do not bother the locals. But some of the locals are uncomfortable with their mannerisms and behaviour, For example, the Vietnamese women come out of their homes clad in shorts and some of the Myanmar youths litter wherever they like. Some even urinate in drains or by the roadside. My only fear is the flash floods which happen quite often in Taman Istimewa. If it rains for more than two hours, the drains outside our houses will clog up and the roads will be flooded. Most of the residents, me included, have raised the height of the floor to prevent rain water from coming into our houses. In the 1970s, there was a massive flood in the area. Two years ago, when floods hit Johor, we were badly affected. Abdul Rahim Sidek, 43, is a businessman who hails from Malacca but has been living in Taman Istimewa for the past 15 years with his family.
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