Barriers must go

RAs told to comply until City Hall approval obtained

Faizal Nor Izham

Thursday, August 4th, 2011 12:34:00

CITY HALL has ordered 15 residents' associations (RAs) in Kuala Lumpur to dismantle all obstructions blocking entrances into their neighbourhoods pending council approval.

The order was issued yesterday during a meeting between City Hall officials and representatives from the 15 RAs at the council headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut.

During the meeting, the council's Urban Transport Department deputy director, Abdul Hamid Surip, said City Hall is expected to take up to four weeks to approve applications on security measures submitted by the guarded communities.

The communities whose applications are successful will then be allowed to reinstate the barriers.

Abdul Hamid advised the RAs to abide by the order to avoid further conflict with residents who oppose the obstructions.

All the barriers are to be removed immediately and City Hall will dismantle any found to be remaining.

Abdul Hamid said that under Section 46 (1) (d) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, obstructions are forbidden to be set up in public areas without proper authorisation.

"City Hall is fully supportive of what the RAs are trying to do. However, we want to ensure it is done properly under our new set of guidelines."

To achieve this, each RA was requested to fill in City Hall's official application form to implement new neighbourhood security schemes.

An 80 per cent vote of approval from residents is necessary for each request to be processed.
"The guidelines will offer a consistent set of criteria for the implementation of guardhouses, boom gates and security guards," Abdul Hamid said.

In addition to representatives from the 15 RAs, those present at the meeting included police and Fire and Rescue Department representatives, who voiced their support of the proposed security measures.

City Hall will organise similar meetings for the second and third batches of RAs after Hari Raya, Abdul Hamid said.

"This process will have to be done in stages since there are so many (applicants).

"We will inspect their neighbourhoods and discuss the guidelines with each RA individually. The sooner the applications are done, the sooner they will be processed."

Yesterday, Hotline reported 97 guarded communities have been identified in Kuala Lumpur.

On July 19, Hotline highlighted the concerns of a Taman Desa Phase One resident who was unhappy that four of the six entrances into the residential area were blocked.

The resident said this not only posed inconvenience to the residents but may possibly be a hindrance in case of emergencies.

This was refuted by the Phase One RA committee, who said the security measures were put up to curb crime.

City Hall responded by saying it only accorded the RA approval for guardhouses for three access roads.

RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATIONS TAKE CASE TO CITY HALL

"EACH RA is requested to fill in City Hall's official application form to implement new neighbourhood security schemes. An 80 per cent vote of approval from residents is also necessary for each request to be processed. Our guidelines will offer a consistent set of criteria for the implementation of guardhouses, boomgates and security guards. We advise RAs to abide by the order to avoid further conflict with residents who oppose the obstructions." — ABDUL HAMID SURIP, City Hall Urban Transport Department deputy director

"WE want City Hall to observe the situation in each neighbourhood individually and not just purely abide by the rules and regulations. According to recent newspaper reports, six cases of crime were reported to have occurred in the Taman Desa area within the past three weeks. Prior to this, Phase One RA's security measures have been strict and efficientlyorganised, resulting in zero instances of crime in the past six months. We also hope City Hall will take the necessary steps to ensure the guidelines will be localised to each individual neighbourhood." — M. GUNASEKAR, Taman Desa Phase One RA committee member

"THE government must recognise local initiatives to ensure neighbourhood safety and should play a role themselves. It would be ideal if City Hall allows our security measures to continue and monitor our activities so they can see this for themselves. We wish to highlight that the new set of City Hall guidelines were created without any prior dialogue with the RAs. Furthermore, how can we be sure if the complaints against these measures are even from residents? They could be from anyone." — PHILIP PHANG, Taman Desa Rukun Tetangga secretary

RAs AT THE MEETING WITH CITY HALL

IN all, 67 guarded communities in KL are expected to hold meetings with City Hall. Among those present yesterday were representatives from the RAs of:

• Taman Desa Phase One
• Taman Sri Petaling
• Taman Bangsar
• Taman Batu Permai
• Taman Kepong Baru
• Taman Sejahtera
• Lake Fields, Sungai Besi
• Taman Tun Dr Ismail
• Bukit Bandaraya
• Taman Bukit Indah