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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Our Beloved YBs, we request for a Swimming pool in Petra Jaya area

written on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 6:43pm

Every morning I send my son off to the train station at 6.30am. This morning, after dropping him off, my daughter and I proceeded to the community swimming pool, and we reached there just before 7am. The pool's swimming lanes were already full, and at the diving pool, which is 3.4m deep, I saw three elderly ladies already in there, doing their aqua jog.I have a really bad phobia of the water but I like to exercise in it, as the bouyancy of the water helps with my hurting feet. I refuse to go in at first as it is really deep, and I was looking for shallow waters, which left me with the kids pool. There was this kind lady, who encouraged me to go in the diving pool, BUT i need to put on a float belt first. I did just that, and joined her in the water but I was not ready to let my hands off the edge. She then told me that she has a phobia too, as her sister and brother always pulled her down into the water when they were younger. After much confidence boosting from her, I managed to get on with my aqua jog for about 45 minutes! I wouldn't exert myself yet as that is the first time in 2 solid years I took out my swimming suit. What I noticed at this pool in Johnsonville, is that it is part of the Local authority initiatives. You do have to pay, but there are discounts for school going children, students like me and the golden age groups of people.Complete with shower facilities and locker rooms, it also has a sauna and spa facilities. Equipment like floats, dumbbell floats, and all that are needed for swimmers and non-swimmers are available. They also have lifeguards on duty too, young college age kids looking after the facility.

It is high time Kuching, especially Petra jaya area to have a public swimming pool of its own, where the ladies,for example, after their subuh prayers, can go and exercise in the water befoer they go to work.Children from nearby school can come for swimming lessons, as part of their curricula. Elderly men can go for exercise in there as well, and others can swim for their exercise too. As it is, swimming, to an extend, is accessible to the affluent and advantaged groups, ie, those who have subscribed membership to the golf clubs, or those who attend the international school.My children were introduced to swimming when they attended Tadika Sri Keria, which offers swimming as part of their lessons. Sarawak is a powerhouse for swimming or water sports events, surely we can have one for our community there. For a population that is reaching almost 600,000, we need more public pools, and there is only one PUBLIC pool in a city like Kuching! Former YB Puan Dona Babel did request for one in the 1990s when she served as an ADUN member, but it never saw the light of day. I hope this is a reality soon, not having to wait the next Malaysia Plan.

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