Category Archives: Guest Articles

Healthy Living Through The Ages

Healthy Living Through the Ages

A dollar (ringgit?) spent in preventive health care could potentially save you hundreds of thousands in reactive care and lower your overall health cost. Malaysians with our makan (eat) now, worry later attitude could afford to be more health conscious and invest in preventive healthcare to reduce the onslaught of chronic illnesses as they grow older. The Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation for Malaysia shows our top causes of death include heart diseases, respiratory and lung problems, stroke and diabetes.


Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, ...

The Late 20’s – 40s

You’ve plunged into the depths of your career and possibly juggling a family as well; hopefully whilst enjoying good health and happiness – relatively unscathed by the effects of aging waiting around the next corner. Sure, you probably found a few gray hairs and sport an expanding belly now, maybe even some occasional aches and squinting to read that tiny print……but these years are still the prime of your life! You may have a hectic schedule but it’s important you make good lifestyle choices now to reduce your risk of chronic illnesses. Take care of your sexual health. It’s important to discuss contraception, STD prevention & HIV screening with a healthcare provider if you’re sexually active. Take care of your mental health. Reduce stress and talk to a health care provider if you experience prolonged feelings of sadness, anxiousness, feeling hopeless or worthless and losing interest in things you usually enjoy.

The 50s

It’s like puberty all over again! Your body is changing and you can’t deny it anymore; age is starting to take a toll on your body. Your metabolism is slowing down and there is a tendency your body will start replacing lean body mass (ie muscle) with fat. Since fat burns less calories than muscle, the weight gain cycle may be difficult to break. Ladies, a heads up, Aunt Flo will probably stop paying you her monthly visits! The risk for many chronic health problems also increases naturally with age. Don’t fret, the golden rule still rings true for you!

The Golden Rule? Sleep. Eat. Exercise. Repeat.

Sufficient Sleep

Most days, 24 hours is just not enough. The first thing people cut down on in their hectic lives is a good night’s sleep. However, most people require 6-8 hours of sleep nightly to function optimally. Sleep deprivation affects cognitive processes and impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving ability; making you accident-prone. It can also lead to heart diseases, heart attacks, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, strokes, and diabetes. Sufficient Sleep

Healthy Diet

Healthy Diet Include plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein and low- or nonfat dairy products in your daily meals. A busy schedule may mean you have been relying heavily on processed foods and fast foods. Time to limit that quick lunch at KFC or midnight run to McD as it contains ridiculous amounts of  sodium, unhealthy fat, sugar and empty carbs. Consult a healthcare provider and follow their advice on vitamins and supplements intake.

Exercise Regularly

Exercise Regularly
You will look and feel better! In the short term, you get to improve your mood immediately and work off some stress (slows down aging!) and in the long term, you will lower your risk of heart disease (Aerobic weight bearing exercises) and certain types of cancer (including breast cancer) and osteoporosis (Strength training). You should aim to do 30-60 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. Take up a sport you enjoy or find a partner to push you through that workout!



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What is Good Property Management? – Part 1

What is Good Property Management? Written by Ken Lo. Edited by iResidenz.

What is the definition of “good”?

More often than not, what is considered “good” for some, is “not good” for others.

I had a friend living in the same condominium, where I served as a Chairman, and every time she saw me she would complain that the cleanliness of the common area was not good while a majority of the other residents had no such complaints. I later discovered that she was a perfectionist.

If you were to ask ten condominium residents what they consider good property management, in every ten responses, you may get something like:

“Good property management is when…

…you have nothing to complain about; only praise.”

…there is no corruption.”

…there is no in-fighting with the Management Corporation council.”

…the manager is not hopeless!”

In the Strata Titles Act 1985 (Act 318), Section 43 (1) (a) spells out the duties & powers of the Management (either the Joint Management Body, Management Corporation Council, the Developer or the Developer’s appointed Property Manager) as:

“to manage and properly maintain the common property and keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair

The definition of “a state of good” is very subjective, unless there is a minimum standard established and agreed by the majority, e.g. how clean is clean.

What is “property management”?

I spoke to an expert who has been a Property Manager for over thirty years and he told me that property management is, essentially, about people management. Things do not cry, but people cry if common property is not kept in a state of good and serviceable repair, since it lowers their standard of living.

Expectations of good service have to be managed. When a complaint is lodged and there is no response from the Management for weeks, is that considered good management? How many condominiums have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to respond to complaints?

A resident once lamented that his complaints had not been dealt with. I asked him if he had filled in the complaint form and he said yes. Then I asked him if he had a copy of the form acknowledged receipt by the management office. He said no. So I checked with the management office where his complaint form was and they told me that they didn’t receive it.

There are two possibilities:

  1. He did not lodge a written complaint.
  2. The form was lost for whatever reason.

Since he did not keep an acknowledged copy and the office has no record, he has to go through the complaint process again and is not a happy soul.

Good property management requires an SOP to be made known to all the residents and have a fail-safe system in place to capture residents’ complaints.

Since every condominium is unique, each management should establish their own SOP, especially for Security & Safety. If residents are not aware of the SOP, how will they know whether the security guards are doing their jobs? If you are a resident, ask your management for a copy of their SOP.


Ken Lo, B.Eng (Hon) UK, CFP, is the Chairman of the first Subsidiary Title Owners & Purchasers Association of Sabah (STOPS). He has been involved with property management in various capacities in Kuala Lumpur & Kota Kinabalu for more than 15 years.


If you’d like to learn how iResidenz can help you capture your residents’ complaints, call us for a presentation at +603 6201 6400.