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Bridging Private and Public Estates

03 July 2010 2 comments

Bukit Gombak division has come a long way in reaching out and bridging residents from both the private and the public estates where the Adviser and grassroots leaders from Bukit Gombak grassroots organisations have worked tirelessly together to strategise ways to achieve the outcome of ‘All Estates As One’.

The profile of the Bukit Gombak division has transformed drastically over the years, from a predominantly public housing estate in 1988 to one where more than two-thirds of its areas were occupied by private estates in 2001.  Also, less than 10% of the grassroots leaders were from private estates.  Facing these two challenges, the Adviser and grassroots leaders focused on recruiting private estate residents as grassroots leaders and tried to invite the management committees of the private estates for meetings, in the hope of involving them in community events.  However, most of them did not attend the meetings.  We faced other challenges such as difficulty in gaining access to condominiums to distribute flyers.  Private estate residents also responded poorly to community events.

Undaunted by the initial setback, the Adviser and grassroots leaders returned to the drawing board and came up with four key strategies: (1) organising relevant talks, seminars and workshops, (2) resolving local issues, (3) leveraging on crisis management and (4) encouraging social and recreational activities.  The Adviser and grassroots leaders struck the right note when they decided to organise a seminar on estate management, covering areas such as swimming pool, lift and garden maintenance.  The seminar was so popular among management committees and private estate residents that they expanded it into a yearly “interaction day” for condominium residents.  Subsequently, other events such as parenting talks and golf workshops also attracted many new residents.

The strategy of resolving local issues was another success as many residents appreciated the support given by the grassroots leaders.  Many even volunteered to join the grassroots organisations.  Another breakthrough was during the SARs episode and the dengue fever outbreak in 2006, where grassroots leaders played a key role in crisis management and truly displayed the value of the grassroots organisations’ work.  The pool of residents and volunteers started to grow.  By 2009, many private estate residents had joined public estate residents in various social and recreational activities, widening their social network in the process.

The Bukit Gombak division now has five Neighbourhood Committees and four Residents’ Committees (RCs), compared to only three RCs in 2001.  Going forward, the Bukit Gombak division aims to reinforce the Vision for the Community to inspire every individual and stakeholder to take ownership of their estates and to contribute towards building a strong, united and caring community.

The story of how Bukit Gombak grassroots leaders bring residents of private and public estates together kicks off a series of six stories on our grassroots leaders’ journey towards realising the Vision for the Community.

Read the other stories here:

• Integrating New Citizens and Permanent Residents
• Residents’ Committee Youth Chapters
• Using New Media to Enhance Outreach Efforts
• The Ties That Bind
• The Tampines West Experience

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