Four of the 26 blocks of flats at Taman Tun Sardon in George Town which were recently repainted clearly reflected the colours and symbol of a political party.

The blocks AH, AG, AJ and AK are the four four-storey blocks of flats that were in the process of being repainted with green and white colours with a white circle on the wall at the top of each block.

The Buletin Mutiara , the official newspaper of the Penang government, reported in June that the state chairperson of the urban and rural planning and housing committee, Jagdeep Singh Deo, had announced an allocation of RM1 million for repainting the 26 blocks of flats at Taman Tun Sardon.

A resident, Zainab Bee Mohd Yusof, 68, when approached today said she did not agree with the choice of the colours and the design which looked like the logo on the flag of a political party.

She claimed that the choice of colours for the buildings would cause some dissatisfaction to the residents.

"The colours are certainly nice but when they place a logo which looks like a party symbol, I feel uncomfortable.

"No party symbol should be painted on the wall of flats. The community can be divided because of politics," said Zainab Bee, a resident of the flats since 1983.

Meanwhile, residents of the flats also expressed concern on the repainting of the flats which did not seem to place much emphasis on the aspects of safety.

A representative of the residents, Mohamed Ismail Osman, 47, said the multi-level steel frames were installed one week before Hari Raya Aidilfitri but the actual process of repainting phase two of the housing scheme only started on Saturday.

"The steel frames were tied together using thin cables, the support is not strong. On several occasions, steel bars as long as a handspan had fallen... fortunately no one had been injured. There are many children playing at the playground nearby.

"The residents were also not given advance notice, they only gave verbal notice on the commencement of repainting work. There was no time for us to remove our cars," he told reporters here.

Mohamed Ismail said he had informed the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) on the matter and regretted that the state government which had appointed the contractor concerned had not given a satisfactory response when the complaint was lodged.

Meanwhile, Penang Dosh director Mohd Anuar Embi, when contacted, confirmed that he had received a complaint from the resident concerned last Friday and said that his officers would inspect the flats today.

- Bernama

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