Post office headache for Segambut residents

Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro (By Priya Menon, 3/8/2010)

A simple service due to every Malaysian seems to be lacking in Segambut as residents are forced to travel more than 20 minutes for a post office. Some 40,000 residents of Segambut are forced to travel to Jaya Jusco in Kepong to carry out their postal transactions and bill payments. People from seven different residential areas including Taman Sri Bintang, Taman Sri Sinar, Taman Prima Impian, Kampung Segmabut Dalam and Taman Bukit Maluri only have two post-boxes to drop their letters into. There are several mini post offices run by private companies that sell stamps and charge a nominal fee for postal services.

“It takes us close to half an hour to travel through the traffic congestion, find a parking spot and head in to the post office. Then it takes another hour to queue and get our business done in the busy office,” said resident Lee Thiam Chaw, 53. Lee said he had been living in the neighbourhood for 20 years and there had not been any proper post office.

Mohd Aizat, 25, said public transportation in the area was also in a terrible state, making it difficult for residents without their own transportation to get to the post offices in Kepong and elsewhere. “The people here have been suffering from this problem for many years now. My father travels to Chow Kit to carry out his transactions because the branch there is large so he does not have to wait too long,” he said. Aizat added that the matter was brought up to the Government in 2008 but it has not been solved to-date.

Chua Chong Yin, 49, pointed out that although bills could be paid online, members of the older generation were still not well versed with the Internet. “Teenagers are more adept at using the Internet to pay bills but we still need a post office to help other members of the community,” he said. Chua said for registered posts he sometimes had to travel to the post office in Sentul or Brickfields to pick up his packages.

Residents highlighted their plight to Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng who held a press conference regarding the issue last Saturday. Lim said in the past, postmen were paid a paltry wage but now that the government announced a raise worth 11% to over 9,000 workers, the time has come to raise the issue. “I understood the predicament in the past but now that the allocation has increased, it is time for them to set up a branch here,” he said.