KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL: THE GREATEST JOKE ON EARTH

                                                  Yarl restaurant's noisy kitchen hood

This morning at 6.20 a.m., yarl restaurant's selfish and irresponsible boss once again turned on his loud and deafening kitchen hood to disturb the peace and serenity of the entire neighbourhood. Have you ever imagined how quiet and peaceful it is at 6.20 a.m. in the morning? At this hour in the morning, everywhere is so quiet that you can even hear the sound of a pin dropping. Anyone in their right senses would not want to talk loudly or even turn on the music loudly at this hour of the day because we know that it is just not right to make noise at such an early hour in the morning. As for yarl restaurant's selfish and irresponsible boss, it seems that he enjoys disturbing the neighbourhood with his loud and deafening kitchen hood noise at this hour of the day. Chasing everyone out of their bedrooms at such an early hour in the morning is nothing new to him. As yarl restaurant's air and noise pollution victims, we have been suffering continuously from his noise pollution program since January last year without the right to say or do anything about it. What is even worse is that he may even turn it on as early as 5.20 a.m. in the morning chasing everyone out of their bedrooms when they are still in their deep sleep! The question I am discussing here is whether turning on some kind of loud and deafening motor sound between 5.30 a.m. - 7.00 a.m. in the morning when the entire neighbourhood is so quiet that you can even hear a pin drop can be regarded as noise pollution. But first of all, let us see why the Kuala Lumpur City Hall is so redundant when it comes to doing their job.

Why is the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) so ineffective in dealing with noise pollution? Here, I would like to share with you one of the greatest jokes of the century entitled "The Day the kitchen hood turned into the speaker". One day, after repeated complaints from the residents, the DBKL officers finally went to check on yarl restaurant. However, instead of looking for the real kitchen hood, they simply assumed that the kitchen hood was the speaker inside the restaurant. So, instead of dealing with the kitchen hood, they went on to deal with the speaker and said that there was no noise pollution. Is this stupidity on their part or just a mistake?  Please read the email from DBKL below:

Siasatan / Tindakan :
1.Tarikh siasatan pada 29/10/2013@10.00mlm.
2.Premis yang diadukan merupakan restoran menjual makanan/hidangan SriLanka(Tamil).
3.Terdapat sebuah speaker didalam premis digunakan untuk menarik pelanggan semperna Pesta Deepavali.
4.Pesta akan tamat pada 3/11/2013.
Tarikh Tindakan Diambil : 01-11-2013 08:38

Kenalpasti Punca :
1.Tiada kacauganggu bunyi bising semasa siasatan.
2.Pemantauan akan diteruskan.
Tarikh : 01-11-2013 08:38



Tindakan Pencegahan Yang Diambil :
1.Amaran dan teguran kpd pengusaha restoran.
2.Notis kacauganggu akan dikeluarkan.

Nama Pegawai : Thilagenthiran A/L S.Somasundram
Jawatan : Penolong Pegawai Kesihatan Persekitaran
Tarikh : 01-11-2013 08:38

In this email, I was told that the speaker was only temporary since according to yarl restaurant's boss, it was intended to attract customers during Deepavali. Sounds ridiculous, isn't it? We are complaining about the kitchen hood but they are dealing with the speaker. Yarl restaurant's boss must have shut the gate at the back of the restaurant so that the DBKL officers couldn't see the kitchen hood. However, these DBKL officers should have gone to the back of the restaurant to check if they have some intelligence but they did not. (Though I do wonder how this mistake could be made when the photo of the kitchen hood is so clear in my blog article and I have provided a link to this blog article in my email to DBKL). What happened to the kitchen hood that I was talking about? It is very obvious that yarl restaurant's boss turns it off whenever someone comes to check. But the question is why on earth did these DBKL fellows focus on the speaker and did not try to look for the kitchen hood at all? Don't tell me that they don't know that the kitchen hood is at the back of the restaurant. After reading the articles in this blog, even a stupid child could tell you where yarl restaurant's noisy kitchen hood is. Why is it that the DBKL refuse to take any action at all despite repeated complaints? Even as I am typing out this article now, yarl restaurant's kitchen hood noise is so loud and deafening that I feel like fleeing from my bedroom. Does yarl restaurant's boss have the right to disturb the entire neighbourhood with his noisy kitchen hood and prevent sleep? I have sent many complaint emails to them but so far they have done nothing except for their "magic show" i.e. turned the kitchen hood into the speaker. There is a saying "With money even the kitchen hood can turn into the speaker". Just how true is it? Well, it is for the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to answer this question. Since Malaysia is known as one of the most corrupt nations, anything can happen here. Let the public be the judge! Oh yes, the Kuala Lumpur City Council did something very grand recently i.e. raising our property taxes. Why is it so? According to them, the value of our property has increased. Increased in what way? Yarl restaurant's noise pollution program has rendered our flats totally uninhabitable and we are living in extremely degrading conditions. So do we have to pay for our degrading living conditions brought about by the DBKL's inaction? The DBKL is really funny!

Is turning on some kind of loud and deafening motor sound between 5.20 a.m. - 7.00 a.m. when the entire neighbourhood is so quiet that you can even hear a pin drop noise pollution? Is turning on some kind of loud and deafening motor sound the whole day and even sometimes into midnight noise pollution? Well, let us see what the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has to say?

Ceropong asap terletak dibahagian belakang bangunan dan muncungnya
menghala kebawah kedalam longkang awam manakala motornya terdapat didalam premis.
Tarikh Tindakan Diambil : 03-01-2014 11:27

Kenalpasti Punca :
1.Tiada kacau ganggu bunyi bising.
2.Pemantauan akan diteruskan.
Tarikh : 03-01-2014 11:27

Tindakan Pencegahan Yang Diambil :
1.Amaran dan teguran kepada pengusaha restoran.

Nama Pegawai : Thilagenthiran A/L S.Somasundram
Jawatan : Penolong Pegawai Kesihatan Persekitaran
Tarikh : 03-01-2014 11:27

According to this email, yarl restaurant's motor is inside the restaurant and the kitchen hood is facing downwards into the drain (if you look carefully at the picture above there is no drain below the kitchen hood where the ground is cemented) . Therefore the DBKL is of the opinion that there is no noise pollution even though yarl restaurant's loud and deafening kitchen hood noise can be heard on the 4th floor! Don't you think that this is the most stupid answer  that anyone could give? Does this mean that I can turn on my CD player loudly at 5.30 a.m. - 6.30 a.m. in the morning to disturb my neighbours as long as the CD player is in my house? When the neighbours complain, can I tell them that there is no noise pollution because the CD player is in my house? So, my dear readers, it is alright for you to turn on your CD player, TV, and computer speakers loudly as early as 5.20 a.m. and even at midnight to disturb your neighbours because this is not noise pollution according to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Why is it so? Because the CD player, TV, and computer speaker are in your house! Don't you think that this is indeed one of the greatest jokes of the century? Please take note that no matter how loudly we turn on our CD player or television, it can never be as loud as yarl restaurant's kitchen hood noise!

Spanish pianist faces jail over noise pollution claims (Does it mean that there is no noise pollution as long as she played piano in her room? NO. She may have to go to jail for disturbing her neighbor with noise from her piano. The pianist did try to soundproof her room but yarl restaurant's boss has done nothing to reduce the kitchen hood noise. If the pianist could be jailed for 7 years, then yarl restaurant's boss should be jailed much longer than that because his kitchen hood noise is certainly much, much, much louder than the piano!)

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a 20-month prison sentence for a professional pianist whose former neighbour is suing over alleged noise pollution.

Musician Laia Martin is on trial in Girona after her family's downstairs neighbour, Sonia Bosom, accused her of causing psychological harm.

Prosecutors are also demanding that the 27-year-old be banned from professional piano playing for six months.

A verdict is expected within two weeks.

Ms Martin's parents are also being sued and face a fine if found guilty.

Ms Bosom alleges that the pianist - a conservatoire student at the time - practised her piano for eight hours, five days a week from 2003-2007.
'Piano horror'
The alleged victim said she now has such a horror of pianos, she cannot stand even seeing them in films, reports say.

Ms Bosom's lawyer said she had endured "four years of suffering," the Associated Press news agency reports.

In their defence, the Martin family said they had tried to soundproof the room, and that the practice had not been as constant as claimed.

The public prosecutor had initially sought a jail term of over seven years for Ms Martin.