Residents Told To Comply With Guidelines

Guarded & Gated Community, Please take note on the regulation

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 -- Residents associations have to comply with the Peninsular Malaysia Department of Town and Country Planning (JPBD) guidelines as approved by the cabinet in July 2010 before setting up any guarded neighbourhood and gated community in their housing estates.

JPBD director-general Datin Paduka Dr Dahlia Rosly said most of the guarded communities were created based on residents' consensus and not based on the provisions of the law formulated by the department.

"The community needs to understand that guarded neighbourhoods and gated communities are set up in areas with a high crime rate, according to police records, to protect residents from the risk of crime," she said at a colloquium on 'Guarded and Gated Community Development in Malaysia', here recently.

Dahlia said residents were now keen to form guarded neighbourhoods and gated communities as they were paranoid about safety in their neighbourhood.

"Their feeling of insecurity has driven them to choose guarded neighbourhood and gated community although burglary cases may be rare in their housing estate.

"Residents need to understand that the JPBD has a system of monitoring known as the Safe Town Monitoring System (SPBS) to curb crime and identify crime-prone areas," she said.

JPBD is also urging resident associations to reactivate the Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Watch) system to look after their safety and property if they are afraid of crime recurring.

"The proliferation of guarded neighbourhoods and gated communities is not the solution as there are other ways of reducing crime in a neigbourhood," said Dahlia.

-- BERNAMA