Are You a Resident?

Ever wonder what the security guards do when the barrier gate comes down at night? Have a look at this video clip. Here we see the guard on duty stopping a car that is entering. The vehicle is not from our residence. This, the guard can recognise when he does not see the car sticker each resident in ss22A who subscribe to the security services in ss22A, put on their cars.

The guard stops and questions the driver as to the destination and he lets the vehicle in. Of course we say it is good to screen the entry of vehicles. On the other hand, are we holding up traffic? Does this violate any rules and regulation? Here are some regulations that you can look into :

(i) Section 46 (1) of Street Drainage and Building Act 1974

(ii) Section 80 of the Road Transport Act 1987

(iii) Sections 62 and 136 of the National Land Code 1965

(iv) Town and Country Planning Act 1976

Basically all of these regulation states that any attempt privately doen to restrict or regulate public spaces without the approval of the relevant authority is illegal. Any attempt to close, barricade or restrict the access of a public road, drain or space, there may be a contravention of Sections 46(1) of Street Drainage and Building Act 1974, Section 80 of the Road Transport Act 1987 and Section(s) 62 and 136 of the National Land Code 1965.

In addition, provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 may also be violated where guard houses are built in the public land or road shoulders.

IN Selangor, the Housing and Property Board and the local authorities allow guard houses to be built based on certain guidelines amongst which include:-

· Applications made through the Resident Association (RA) only;

· Consent by 85% of the residents;

· Agreement must be made between RA and local authority;

· Guard house without a barrier are allowed and the location should not obstruct traffic (situated at road shoulder only);

· A written consent from Local Authority and Land Administrator (LA) for the construction of guard house on reserved road/vacant land must first be obtained;

· Appointed security guards must be registered with Ministry of Home Affairs or with other relevant agencies;

The authorities do sometimes “turn a blind eye” to allow some form of limited barriers so long as it is backed by an overwhelming support of the local residents and it does not deny access nor unduly obstruct traffic.

ULTIMATELY, I FEEL THAT IT IS ENTIRELY UP TO THE RESIDENTS IN THE COMMUNITY TO COME TOGETHER AND DECIDE IF WE BACK THE IDEA OF SOME FORM OF LIMITED BARRIER. SOME FORM OF PREVENTION THAT MAY FURTHER REDUCE CRIME RATES IN THE RESIDENCE. WE CAN THEN WORK WITH THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES ON THIS.

Our barrier gates both at Road 1 and Road 4 are only put down at night. Do we want to consider that for daytime as well? Obviously we do need to consider the traffic stalling behind when we stop to ask vehicles as to their intended entry and their destination in our residence.

For Road 1, we have the school admission and dismissal times to consider as the traffic flow during these times becomes terribly hectic with cars triple parking along Road 1 in itself. These are the times that we could not possibly close the barrier gates because there will UNDULY OBSTRUCT TRAFFIC.

Other than these "peak hours" we can actually consider closing the barrier gates. Should we take a poll on this?