Residents cry foul over MBPJ's decision to withdraw approval for security posts

PETALING JAYA: Residents of Jalan 16/7 here are crying foul over Petaling Jaya City Council's (MBPJ) decision to withdraw approval for their security posts, over four years after they were approved and installed.
Describing the withdrawal as unreasonable, residential committee adviser Datuk Nuraina Samad said the residents received the withdrawal notice on Oct 3, and have been given 14 days to remove the two posts, one at each end of the road.
"Before installing the security posts, the residents' committee met the relevant authorities including the police and the land office to make sure it was done properly and lawfully.
"In fact, the gates at the two checkpoints are only closed from midnight until 6am so that the road is open through the day and night to allow public access," she posted on Facebook.
Nuraina said the initiative by the residents to install the security posts was to prevent crime there, following a spate of armed robberies in the area which has 39 units.
When contacted by theSun, she said the reasons given by MBPJ for the withdrawal of approval were because the security posts were a "micro guarded security" that was not serving the larger community and because they were placed on a reserved drainage.
"Has MBPJ even been to Section 16? If they are against this micro guarded security, how do they expect to make the whole area a single gated area?
"And they were the ones who suggested the location of the posts in the first place. So what's the problem now? We are talking about public safety and security here," she said, adding that more than 80% of residents there supported the plan.
Nuraina said there have not been any robberies in the area - which are home to mostly senior citizens and retired civil servants - since the posts were installed.
A representative of the residents association (RA), who requested anonymity, said they were not engaged or contacted by MBPJ previously and were surprised to receive the notice on Tuesday.
She said they held a meeting immediately and has appealed to MBPJ on Wednesday to reverse the withdrawal.
On why the sudden withdrawal of approval for the security posts by MBPJ, she said it was most likely due to a complaint made by a new owner there, who had described the posts as an "eyesore".
Attempts to contact Mohd Azizi and MBPJ's representatives for comment were futile at press time.
Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran Said said he viewed the matter seriously and would take the matter up to the local authorities.