It’s time to clear away the unsightly, abandoned phone booths

There are likely hundreds—if not thousands—of abandoned public phone booths scattered across the country, remnants of an era before mobile phones became ubiquitous.  

        These neglected structures are more than just eyesores; they occupy valuable space that could be repurposed for more practical use.  

        According to Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), these phone booths do not belong to them. A Public Complaints Bureau investigation found that they are assets of a company that has long ceased operations.  

        In true Malaysian fashion, no one has taken responsibility for clearing up the mess—the company vanished, leaving the booths behind. What’s more perplexing is that local councils, despite having the authority to order their removal, have never exercised it. 

    

        Therefore, it is a farce for anyone to depend on the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) to carry out the job at just one suggestion from a member of the public. The complaint would not have been raised to the Public Complaints Bureau if the council president, Shahman Jalaluddin had responded positively to the suggestion to start removing all the phone booths. 

        The actual failure lies across all three tiers of government. Over the years, despite multiple changes in administration—Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional and now Kerajaan Madani —none have addressed the issue by clearing these derelict structures from public spaces.

        Now that the problem has been spotlighted, will the state government and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government finally take action and instruct local councils to deal with it? 

        Or, is it this the case of the poem of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

      Perhaps, since no government in the past ever bothered about this, the Kerajaan Madani deserves our standing ovation for resolving this problem. We shall see! 

   

        
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Pihak Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) memaklumkan bahawa pondok-pondok telefon yang terbiar itu bukan di bawah pemilikan TM. Hasil semakan lanjut mendapati pondok telefon awam tersebut dimiliki oleh syarikat yang sudah tidak lagi beroperasi. Sehubungan dengan itu, tindakan bagi melupuskan pondok telefon awam tersebut adalah tertakluk kepada pertimbangan pihak Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) selaku pemilik premis/tanah yang mengawal selia lokasi tersebut. Untuk sebarang pertanyaan lanjut, pihak pelanggan disarankan untuk berhubung secara terus dengan pihak Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) di talian 03-6126 6064 atau melalui emel aduanmps@mps.gov.my agar tindakan pelupusan/pengalihan halangan di kawasan awam dapat dilaksanakan selaras dengan Seksyen 46, Akta Jalan, Parit dan Bangunan 1974 (Akta 133).

Manakala bagi isu Distribution Port Box (DP Box) yang terbiar pula pihak Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) memaklumkan bahawa tindakan segera akan diambil oleh Bahagian Teknikal (NFF), Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) untuk memperbaiki dan menutup semula pintu Distribution Power Box (DP Box) berkenaan. Pelanggan telah dihubungi oleh pihak Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) pada 9/05/2025 bagi memaklumkan perkara ini.

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