MP says laws need to be amended

Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro (12/3/2010)

THE fiasco surrounding the gated and guarded neighbourhood issue will not be resolved even if the Housing and Local Governmnet Ministry were to release its own set of guidelines.

In fact, any guidelines being drawn up by both the Federal and Selangor governments will be ultra vires, said planning lawyer Derek Fernandez. Fernandez said two acts of Parliament — the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 (Act 133) and the Road Transport Act 1987 — directly prohibit any restriction of access to any public road by a private individual or residents association.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who is also a lawyer, agreed that the situation was getting out of hand and said that the laws would have to be amended before any guidelines could be enforced. Lim said that as an MP, he would push for the amendments at the next sitting of Parliament.

“Currently, every guarded scheme in the city is illegal and the only way to legalise it is to amend both the Acts; otherwise all the barricades, boom gates and steel drums obstructing public roads are an offence and can be challenged by anyone,” Fernandez said. “People should not lull themselves into a false sense of security by thinking that the guidelines will protect them from legal action against the person who is determined to remove the barricades or who uses reasonable force in exercising his right to use the road,” he added. The only solution Fernandez said is to amend Section 46 of the 1974 Act and Section 80 of the Road Transport Act by adding the words — “unless approved by the local authority” to the required sections. He said this would legalise the guidelines and make them effective.