FCVAC building is safe to use for now.

It has been two months since the whole Faculty of Communications, Visual Art and Computing (FCVAC) moved to Bestari Jaya. For communication students, being here is different in terms of the environment.

Just when the communication students were starting to adapt with everything here, one more issue came out where the building of Faculty of Communications, Visual Art and Computing is currently damaged with cracks. One of the lecturers from the Communication Department, Shahid Laghari said that the building was built on an active land moving area and it has caused that cracks and land sinking around the building. “The cracks are so visible until it started to damage some of the beams,” he added. The damaged building used to be the home for Faculty of Education and Social Science. A Former Unisel students’ representative committee, Hajar Aisha Bee Mohamed Riza highlighted that the building is not a new building as Unisel promised to the communication students last year.

(Shahid is showing some of the damages from FCVAC building  that can be visibly spotted)

Meanwhile, an administrator for Development and Maintenance Department of Unisel, Rozita Jamaludin confirmed that the whole department which consists of 24 staff in Bestari Jaya while 10 people in Shah Alam never receive any complaint about this matter. “We don’t have monthly or yearly checking on buildings here but we work according to complaints made to them,” she added. The Development and Maintenance Department will only do the maintenance themselves if the cost is not more than RM 5 000. After seeing all the damages on the building, Rozita said this issue could take a long time to settle because it involves high cost. That will take two to three days because she will contact the contractors and they will come to do the inspections on that building before the contractors can present the full quotation form to Unisel.

This is not the first time Unisel deals with something like this. In 2013, the hostel apartments in Unisel also faced the same problem where Unisel had to rent some houses in Kota Puteri in order to place the students as their temporary hostel rooms as the management fixed the issue. During that time, the state government allocated RM 20 million to Unisel to fix that issue. The real question is, what about the safety of the students, lecturers and the staff in in the building this time? Why forced the moved on them when the building itself is damaged and probably unsafe for the people to use in a long time? Shockingly, Rozita confirmed that years after Faculty of Communication, Visual Art and Computing building was granted the certificate of fitness (CF), Unisel management still haven’t done any checking on that building.

 

(The Development and Maintenance Department’s Standard Operating Procedure)

The Students, Lecturers, Staff and Top Management.

But truth to be told, I’ve talked to some lecturers in faculty and one of them, Azira Azlin Shaharuddin said the Department of Communication has been complaining since last year but nothing happened. The Head of Department of Communication, Suzie Yanti Muhamad Lagis confirmed that the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Unisel, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohammad Redzuan Othman is already aware of this matter. In fact, VC came twice to visit the building to have a look into this matter. VC came with the Director of Development and Maintenance Department, Prof Madya Dr. Dzulkarnain Ahmad to do the inspection on the building. Suzie added, Dzulkarnain has told her that the damages on the building are not that serious because the cracks only affected the plaster on the surface of the building and it is not that deep. Suzie said that the management promised to get it done as soon as possible while because according to them it’s fixable.

This problem has caused some on-going tension between communication students and Unisel management. Siti Nurshafiqah Shukor, 21, who’s not really fond of the idea of moving from  Shah Alam to Bestari Jaya stated that she was disappointed with the way the management treats the FCVAC students and staff. “This petty issue somehow made us (students) feel unwelcomed here. The condition of the building is saddening due to land movement and it was so different that what was promised before the move because we were promised a new building,” she added.

Suzie confirmed that Unisel will not send Faculty of Communication, Visual Art and Computing students to Shah Alam while they fix the building because the they are planning  to do the renovation during the semester break so it won’t affect the students. Suzie also added that the Communication Department has requested to have their own fully equipped mini auditorium that can be used as a speech lab to the management. “We now have a studio in Faculty of Education and Social Science and it’s fully equipped with broadcast stuff. Before this we asked for a studio, now that we got it, we’re pushing forward for another one big classroom beside the mini auditorium and another computer lab. We already presented the proposal to the management and hopefully it will be sorted out before next semester starts.” She said whole Communication Department is doing the best they can to ensure that they can provide the best learning experience to the students. As for now, she said everything is under control and the building is safe to use for now.

In conclusion, the Faculty of Communication, Visual Art and Computing should not worry about the building’s condition because they can safely use the building for now as Unisel promised to get it settled as soon as possible. It won’t affect the students because the renovation will be done during semester break and not only that, the Communication Department also confirmed that they have requested a mini auditorium that can be used as speech lab, one computer lab and another one big classroom to provide the best learning experience to the students.