I just moved into a new place, another apartment unit, at the end of May. This is the 27th place I have lived in to date. I am a bit of a nomad by this reckoning.
Hmmmmmmm......., maybe by my life's end I would have lived in as many locations as (or maybe more than) the Israelites in their forty years in the wilderness.
Hmmmmmmm......., maybe by my life's end I would have lived in as many locations as (or maybe more than) the Israelites in their forty years in the wilderness.
This new place is smaller with only one small bedroom and one tiny bath room. The entrance opens directly into the kitchen and pantry area. Not exactly the best of layout. This is a common problem for in-the-sky housing dwellers especially in the lower cost category. The entrance either opens into the dinning or the pantry.
Despite the smaller size I like this new apartment better than the earlier unit where I had stayed for almost three years. I was under the impression that this was a low cost unit but not by Syabas reckoning, they have just increased the water tariff claiming that the place is a condominium. This obviously is by reason of bad faith which is the subject of this blog. More on this later, but now back to the subject on why I like my 'new' place.
Sunset viewed from my balcony.
For one thing, I am able to see the sun rise and the sun set from this new place. That is very important (seeing the sunrise and sunset), for a nature loving person like myself. For a second thing, I have been able to arrange my bed so that it is next to the window albeit with a bit of "logical" rearrangement to the unit layout. Now when I go to bed to sleep at night I can see the night sky with the stars and the moon on a cloudless night (with the curtains withdrawn). That is also very important.
The city skyline viewed from my window.
Here is an extra. I can see the city skyline from my window. I heard that condominium dwellers in Mont Kiara (a high end residential housing area) had been willing to pay tens of thousand (MYR) extra for a unit with the city view, some of these only to have that prized view blocked out by another highrise building next to it, a few years later. So getting an unobstructed city skyline view in this "cheap" place is a definite plus.
Sunrise over the Kuala Lumpur skyline as viewed from my window.
Ahhhh........, the frivolities of life.
The Rearrangement.
I have 'converted' the unit into a sort of studio apartment. The bedroom with the attached bathroom is now a storage and miscellany area. My bedroom is the living room and closet cum utility area. The small dining area is now a small living space completely filled up by a sofa set (came with the apartment).
I am still trying to sort out the tiny laundry "closet" beside the kitchen. Hope that will work out as I had envisioned.
Now back to the subject title of this article, bad faith.
Bad Faith.
Faith and bad faith have very different conceptual meanings. Faith is about trust. Bad faith is about dishonesty and a lack of integrity in a personal or business transaction. Its only connection with the word faith is that the consequent of one acting out of such will generate distrust or result in the destruction of trust.
Adding an adjective to a word can really change the total meaning of the word. That is language, in this case the English language.
And that was the reason (bad faith) I decided to move out from my previous accommodation.
In August 2007 I entered into an agreement with the owner of my previous accommodation. I to rent, and he to rent out his apartment at an agreed monthly amount. In the agreement (another word for this will be covenant, the word the Christian Bible uses), I will pay on top of the usual deposits (which is standard practice for most residential rental agreement), a monthly rental within a stipulated time each month. The owner (here in referred to as Landlord) agrees to let and pay all fixed fees and duties including any structural repairs if they should become faulty or be damage through the normal wear and tear or causes outside of that cause by the rentee.
As agreed, I paid the rental monthly but the landlord acting out of bad faith repeatedly failed to promptly settle all the other fees and duties despite many reminders from both the apartment management board, the utility supplier, the city council and me.
So in the end I sent him notice that I would move out and asked for a full refund of the deposits. He never responded. So I did not pay the rental for that last month. Accordingly as I had stipulated, I moved out at the end of the same month. Then on the first day of the month after I have moved out, he called implying that I have not made arrangement to return him the keys which he never bother to contact me to collect, And when I asked about the refund he claimed he doesn't have the money and offered to pay me in installment. I duly returned the keys through his nominated agent the very next day accordingly as I had agreed, but until today I have not heard from him just as I didn't during all the times I reminded him of the payment due on his part to the various parties.
He had been acting out of bad faith all this while and he had the gall to turn the table on me as if I was the one acting in bad faith in that one instance because he reasoned that I never called him to arrange the keys collection. When all the while and in those few years he had never responded including to my message to him on the termination of the agreement and the refund of the deposit.
He had been acting out of bad faith all this while and he had the gall to turn the table on me as if I was the one acting in bad faith in that one instance because he reasoned that I never called him to arrange the keys collection. When all the while and in those few years he had never responded including to my message to him on the termination of the agreement and the refund of the deposit.
Back a few years prior to that, I signed a sale and purchase agreement with another party but a month or so after that, the other party in the agreement wanted to add more terms in their favor which was not in the agreement. To them that is fair and right.
And those are just the very "tip of the iceberg". Almost everyone to a certain extend does something like this. Acting out of bad faith that is. The reason I said 'almost' is because I can't be sure if perhaps in this whole wide world there might be a few or maybe even just one person who had never done so. Any chance of that? Probably not.
And those are just the very "tip of the iceberg". Almost everyone to a certain extend does something like this. Acting out of bad faith that is. The reason I said 'almost' is because I can't be sure if perhaps in this whole wide world there might be a few or maybe even just one person who had never done so. Any chance of that? Probably not.
Our current world of "civilized" society operates on this basis. To gain an advantage for themselves. All this started some six thousand years ago. Right in the very Garden of Eden.
You can follow the continuation of this subject at:
IN BAD FAITH 1 2 3 4
< Previous Next >
Last Updated: 2013 08 24
First Posted: 2010 06 08
© Quah 2010 – 2013. All rights reserved.
