Reports on Bandar Mahkota Cheras in The Star (29 May 2008)

There are 6 reports on Bandar Mahkota Cheras today on The Star Online. The barrier has been removed yet again. Don't play play with BMC residents.

Cheers as residents pull down controversial barricade
KUALA LUMPUR: Residents of Bandar Mahkota Cheras have torn down a barricade rebuilt by Grand Saga Sdn Bhd that prevented access into the housing area of some 38,000 residents.

Using mallets, car jacks and steel bars, the residents broke down the foundations of the barricade made of large boulders and forced the stones to the ground.

The boulders were then chained to lorries and dragged away to the side of the underpass of the Cheras-Kajang Highway, which leads into the neighbourhood.

By 7.15pm, the first vehicle had managed to inch its way through the two-lane access road, amidst the cheers and loud blaring of vehicle horns from onlookers and residents alike.

Police and Light Strike Force personnel monitored the crowds, which swelled to a few hundred.
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/nation/21392629&sec=nation

Police action on those creating chaos
KAJANG: Police action will be taken against those involved in creating chaos in Bandar Mahkota Cheras, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Ismail Omar warned.
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/nation/21391153&sec=nation

MB: We’ll have an EGM soon
SHAH ALAM: The state government will exercise its right as a stakeholder in Grand Saga Sdn Bhd to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) soon to discuss the Bandar Mahkota Cheras access road issue.
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/nation/21391616&sec=nation

Contempt of court
THE Selangor government may take legal action against the concessionaire for the Cheras-Kajang Highway for violating an undertaking not to obstruct the access road in Bandar Mahkota Cheras without state approval.
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http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/central/21385477&sec=central

Bandar Mahkota Cheras residents urge Federal Govt to intervene
RESIDENTS of Bandar Mahkota Cheras are calling on the Federal Government to intervene to end the access road crisis that has been brewing in their housing estate over the last three months.
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Taking matters into his hand: One of the residents trying to break the boulders.

Pooling resources: The residents collecting money to hire a truck.

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/central/21387733&sec=central

Developers must also have social responsibility
RATNA DEVI NADARAJAN
Director
Malaysian Association of Standards Users
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According to The Star on May 8, Grand Saga business development and corporate affairs executive director Zainal Abidin Ali said that while he sympathised with the residents for being forced to use a longer route, Grand Saga had to close the access road due to safety concerns.

We urge Grand Saga not to manipulate the word safety as a ticket out of this situation. The developers, as part of their social obligation to road users, must have humanised their design rather than focusing on maximum profit generation.

If safety is of concern, the developers should work together with the residents and other independent parties to study the extent of unsafe factors of the blocked access road and rectify it together with the local government and the Works Ministry.
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http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/central/21196447&sec=central
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