SINGAPORE – Residents living in Geylang Serai can now turn to a new channel for communication if they run into a dispute with their neighbours.
A new 15-member mediation task force of trained grassroots volunteers has been formed to help residents understand each other and prevent small misunderstandings from escalating, said Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC MP Diana Pang, who oversees the area.
Addressing residents at a community event on Sept 27, she said the task force was set up by grassroots volunteers after gathering feedback from residents during house visits, market walks and daily interactions.
“The issue might be a very small issue – it can just be noise or things littered along the corridor. But if people find it awkward to talk (to their neighbours), there’s always us,” Pang later told the media.
Before the task force’s launch on Sept 27, grassroots volunteers had already been conducting informal mediation sessions with residents involved in disputes.
Pang noted that the task force will allow these mediation sessions to be carried out in a more structured manner.
The initiative comes as the Government expanded its Community Relations Unit (CRU) nationwide from Sept 1 to deal with severe noise and hoarding issues. Officers from the Housing Board can also require disputing parties to attend mandatory mediation sessions.
Asked what sets the Geylang Serai mediation task force apart from the CRU, Pang said cases brought to the Community Mediation Centres – which parties are referred to by the CRU for mediation – are often more serious.
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