Gated and Guarded Community

Stop Bickering Until the Cows Come Home

I am a resident of Taman Mayang Jaya in Petaling Jaya, and I love my neighbourhood and am very proud of it. Recently, there has been a lot of hype concerning gated and guarded communities (G&GC). What I can simply say here is that I am incensed and upset with all the arguments put forth by well-meaning readers (an example: Concerned Citizens of Subang Jaya in “Lawless in the name of security,” The Star: 25 Feb 2010). FYI, there is a fair share of such “well-meaning residents” in my neighbourhood.

While I empathize with Concerned Citizens and other readers who have yet to join such G&GC programmes, I feel that security is something that cannot be compromised for the simple sake of following strictly to particular guidelines. Please do not misunderstand my statement. I am not condoning a state of lawlessness, and in fact I do wish to abide by all the necessary by-laws that are enforced by our local city/town councils. What I strongly disagree with many readers who have objected to the G&GC programmes is that all of them have a million and one excuses, which when they are finally resolved will take another 10 years plus a multitude of police reports of burglaries, robberies, and snatch theft cases.

Nothing is completely perfect in this world today. We have to make do with what we have and can do. Do take a moment to ponder this: Would residents agree to do their own patrolling in the wee hours of the morning, 365 nights, come rain or no rain? Would female residents or even the elderly agree to do such patrolling as well? I seriously doubt so. There is no point in arguing and talking about rules and regulations until the cows come home. I am of the opinion that many Residents Association (RAs) have done their best in seeking the best solution to the current security situation in their respective neighbourhoods. None of them have any malicious intention to bulldoze their decisions on the residents. Obviously, what has not been clearly reported in the media is that in many cases, RAs have conducted numerous meetings but with very little being achieved due to many disagreements among residents. I will not go into detail what these disagreements were, but suffice to say there are bound to be disagreements in any meetings. As a result, sometimes any action taken is better than none.

Nobody, including myself, likes the idea of having the feeling of being caged up or guarded. I do agree with FA (“Simply too cheap to pay for security,” The Star: 27 Feb 2010) that it should be the responsibility of all residents to ensure the safety of their own neighbourhoods. But, how many residents would want to ensure that everyone is responsible? Some may say that they are only renting the residence, others may say they are of the fairer gender or just too elderly. Like I said before, there are bound to be a million and one excuses. It is fair time that we should just do something rather than do nothing at all. And just for good measure, let me reiterate that I am NOT condoning violence or lawlessness, just a sense of neighbourhood responsibility and appropriate action.

我是八打灵再也美阳再也花园之居民，我热爱我的邻居，也对此感到骄傲。近来有许多关于围篱保安社区的评论。对于这些本着善意而评论的读者（如2010年2月25日在星报发表“以保安之名之无视法律 LAWLESS IN THE NAME OF SECURITY”的梳邦再也关心居民），我仅能表示我的失望和愤怒。众所周知，在我们的邻居中有许多这样“本着善意”的居民。

在了解关心居民和未加入围篱保安社区计读者时，我认为保安是不能因为仅仅为了要严密地符合特定的条例而妥协。请不要误解我的原意，我并不能要无法治的国度，反之，我希望能遵循所有地方政府所制定与推行的法律条款。然而，我完全不能苟同那些以各种理由反对围篱保安社区的读者，而最终他们要再等10年以及无数的抢劫、爆窃以及攫夺等警方投报后才能解决这些问题。

今天的世界并非完美的，我们应尽己所能做应做之事。试问居民们会同意在每天早上或365个夜晚，无论晴天或雨天都进行巡逻吗？试问妇嬬或老年人也会同意执行巡逻任务吗？我不认为会。针对法律和条例的无尽争议是毫无意义的。我认为大多协会已竭尽所能为社区寻求最佳的保安方案，没有人有意的强行推展将他们的决策。居协曾召开多次的会议，但因许多居民的意见相左，无法取得共识。可是这些都没有在媒体上报导。我无须详谈这些分歧是什么，但我只想说，在任何会议都有意见分歧，因此，采取任何形式的行动，有时聊胜于无。

没有人包括我自己喜欢被监视或被囚禁的感觉，但我认同FA的观点（2010年2月27日星报发表“保安太便宜了SIMPLY TO CHEAP TO PAY FOR SECURITY”），居民必须对个自的周遭保安负起责任，但有多少居民能确保所有人都负起责任？一些说他们仅是租户，一些则说他们是妇嬬或太老了，正如我如前所述，总是有诸多藉口。平心而论，我们应该做些事情，而不是什么也不做。在此，让我重申我不是纵容暴力或无法无天，只是尽一个做为社区居民的责任和采取适当行动。

Adrian, Petaling Jaya