Illegal to block public roads
Posted by LeeYK
Source: Star Dec 15
I NOTICE that more and more public roads in many neighbourhoods throughout the Klang Valley are being barricaded to prevent the public from using them.
This is ostensibly to prevent burglars or snatch thieves from moving freely in a given neighbourhood. I understand the need for citizens to protect themselves from this sometimes real – and sometimes imagined – threat. But vigilantism – the taking of the law into your own hands – is not the answer.
If residents have no faith in the capability of the police to ensure their safety, then this is an issue that must be worked out through political channels, not by hijacking public roads. Public roads are there for everyone to use. That’s why they are public roads.
Barricading or “privatising” these roads is illegal. I wonder if the irony escapes most residents’ committees that by illegally blocking public roads to stop law-breakers, they themselves become law-breakers! So either work through the proper channels to make the random barricading of our roads legal or stop doing it. It would be like me taking over a public bus and forcing everyone off except the few people I felt comfortable with, just because it made me feel safer, regardless of the public’s right to use the bus. Legal? Obviously not. So why should commandeering our roads and denying the public access to them be seen any differently?
The police seem unsure of what the law is regarding this matter Otherwise they would not allow it. But their attitude seems to be: “If it makes people feel safer, block all the roads you want. I’m sure the public will understand. It’s for the greater good, after all.”
The greater good is actually that we Malaysians follow the law and do not take the law into our own hands. Because once you start ignoring some laws, it becomes a slippery slope to ignoring others. If you want private roads, move to a private housing development. Otherwise, respect the right of the rakyat to use the public roads we pay for with our taxes.
If neighbourhood crime is the problem, barricading thousands of public roads throughout the Klang Valley is not the answer.
ERIK FEARN, Petaling Jaya.
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Every action will always invite another re-action.
There is no denying that crime is getting out of hand….
Those days, we can keep our gates open, try doing it nowadays!
The police cannot help much, the most they do is “take your report”.
So forming RA & a fortress is the natural process to protect against crime.
It is not like crime will happen to everyone, so those who object
are usually those who are fortunate enough that crime had not come
to them or their loved ones yet.
Those who oppose & complain trully misses the point altogether!
It is not like as though every RA likes it so much to privatise every public roads.
A lot of time, teamwork & commitment are poured into getting a majority voice for a common good.
For this I truly salute the RA of “Alissia & Atilia” for such a fine example for others to emulate.
Try make Msia a safer place to call home & I guarantee those opposing force will never
have to bark up the wrong tree ever & I assure them, no roads will ever be “privatised”.
As our Dr.Chua Soi Lek said, we can never get 100%, as long as the majority agree,
then a consensus is reached. The will always be a minority who will always be unhappy.
Yes, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
I suppose all it needs is a fire to break out in one of the gated communities that ends up in an avoidable death. Perhaps then, the aggrieved party might think again whether his/her action to agree to the majority’s wish to gate the community.
Think about it.
As I have said, we cannot please everyone as everyone have their own minds. That’s the reason the authourities support the formation of RA for us to voice out.
I suppose we are not a pro-active society bcoz as I have said, we always wait for action before we react becoz here is where the justification to react lies.
I suppose it is also very difficult for people to accept change once they have decided or used to the old ways. Time have changed & so must we.
Last time there is no crime, now there is crime everywhere, not by our own asking but force unto us.
I am not sure if those official gated communities nearby to us like Tropicana, Saujana, Idaman will start to dismantle their gated communities if there is a fire or death in their gated communities (one way in one way out) but I guess it all depends again on what is the majority justification to change.
If dismantling the gated communities are so desired, the only way is to convince the majority NOT to pay the monthly security fees.
My comment on a fire in a gated community has been misintepreted. For areas which have been designed as a gated community from the ground up, there is no need for any changes because the roads have all been drawn up and marked, with proper indication as to which is the entry point.
For gated communities created by erecting boom gates across public roads and fencing surrounding it, it is extremely difficult to ascertain which is the entry point and which roads have been closed. Some roads are open at certain times and closed at other times. This creates a problem for quick access in times of emergency.
Hard to get in for the criminals, hard to get in for the firemen.
If we are talking about gated communities that were not properly done up or that were not designed from the ground up, then lets put in the effort and talk about how to improve the efficiency of raising such a guarded & gated community! All is affect if our homes are not safe, when we are away at work!
I believe some negative comments are more than meets the eye, as I have said, those oppose already made up their mind, unless their houses are broken into or their families or loved ones are affected. Come join and make your voice heard to make Ara Damansara & overall M’sia a safer place or is it the unwillingness to pay the monthly fee that is the nagging problem? Remember, it is easy to find a million reasons to object and those who object are those who are unwilling to pay in the first place!
There is a simple way to allow for fire engines to get to the right entry point quickly.
Put a map at each closed entry point with clear directions showing the way from that particular closed entry point to the designated entry point.
So far, I have yet to see an RA pro-active enough to do it. The best I have seen is “Entry D – Please proceed to Entry A (whereever that is!) for entry”.