Sunday, August 22, 2010

New building, Great facilities, Clean environment..but NO Surau??? WHY???

Today 22 Aug 2010,we went to Penang Times Square, a new shopping mall develop by Ivory Properties near KOMTAR, to INVESTIGATE the  facilities there, Is it suitable for all sorts of people? Is it Disabled people friendly? Does the management care about their customers? Here as you can see, we have taken a few picture:



Accessible ATM machines





Directions







Its also Disabled person friendly, they provide a lots of ramps inside and outside of the building.





Wide open space toilet with fully equip for disable person.







Clean and comfortable baby diaper changing room, they have it on every floor.




Super clean toilets with a touch of elegance.




They are fully secured with CCTV in every store and every floor, makes customer and shop owners feel safe in the building.



Nice indoor stage for special events.





Great outdoor stage, its superb for major events such as Gigs, Concerts or Carnivals.



Beautiful fountain makes a family's day out even happier.




Wide open outdoor space, suitable for organizing a big events.


BUT...
above all of the facilities they have provided to comfort the customers and visitors, 
ONE major question still remains...
WHERE IS THE PRAYING ROOM FOR MUSLIMS?
Is it near?
Does it have proper location?
How clean is it?
Is it Disabled person friendly?

So we took the initiative to ask the nice polite Indian lady at the information counter.


Here are the conversation (conversation was translated in English) 

*S4C : Student4Change
  Lady : Indian Lady

S4C : Excuse me, do you know where is the Surau?
Lady : Sorry, we dont have any Surau in the building but you can go to the Mosque outside of the building near the BSN bank.
S4C : How far is it from here (the information counter)?
Lady : Its not far actually, just about 10 minutes walk from here.
S4C : Do you know anyone who is in charge of this building?
Lady : Sorry I dont really know, but I can give you the management office number. You probably can ask them  about the Surau.
S4C : Thank you so much for your help.
Lady : I'm glad I can help. You're most welcome.

So, after the conversation has ended, we went and search the Mosque she was talking about...and here it is...


Is it far?


Here is the mosque..quite small, no cross over bridge, not even a zebra crossing and its outside of the building!

How do they aspect Muslims to pray there? For a normal person it'll probably be fine, but what about the disabled Muslims? Can they commute that far? Can they even cross over safely? Is there any blind trail for the blind? These are the question we should asked at the management and let them know we do care about it. If they can provide enough and sufficient facilities for the sake of their customers and visitors, WHY can't they provide a proper, clean, medium-spaced, fully equipped praying room which located inside the building? Is it highly cost? Is it much more expensive than an outdoor stage? This is what we're trying to highlight over here, corporate social responsibility! Just because there is a musollla not far away, a corporate can simply neglect their responsibility towards the community or even their employees welfare!  We hope that the  management will take this matter seriously. We will try to address this matter to the management. 

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