PUAY CHAI 2 Should Close Gate B at Jalan BU 6/6, Bandar Utama

1.0 Issue
On 11 November 2018, Puay Chai 2 had decided to open Gate B (school back gate along Jalan BU 6/6). The school's PIBG Chairman and the Headmistress had unilaterally proceeded to open the school Gate B without any consultation with our PPPBU6 Residents' Association.

2.0 School’s Position
Gate B was opened for the benefit of the school children living in BU 6 and BU 7. The school will issue the students with special tags to provide ingress and egress at controlled time. The school has not provided PPPBU6 (our Residents' Association) with any statistics nor any analysis of students or parents in BU 6 requesting the Gate B access. The school has also NOT indicated to us how they can control/prevent vehicles entering our Guarded Community for picking and dropping school children and how they will be managing the traffic along our narrow street.

3.0 BU 6 Residents’ Position
1. For the residents of BU 6 (also accessible by residents of BU 7) there is already a small gate next to the BMX Track which is open at controlled time for the BU6 students to access to the school and back. The school could have discussed the access issues with us and we would be happy to show them the access without the need to open Gate B. Some of our residents with school going children are happy to provide their testimonials that they have no issues in using this access and do not wish to have the security and safety of our Guarded Community to be compromised by the unilateral decision of the school.
2. Gate B must remain closed. If opened, van transporters and many parents from outside BU will come into our Guarded Community. We also need to note that the school population has expanded drastically, and we strongly believe that there are more students outside of BU who are studying in Puay Chai 2.
3. By opening Gate B, the school is expecting us to control the entry and exit of the vehicular traffic to and from our Guarded Community. As it is, during evening, our own residents do not have enough parking space along the side roads. Transporters vehicles and parent cars will take up parking space along the vicinity roads. Residents will have difficulty finding a place to park their cars. This will cause further traffic, parking, security, noise and pollution issues - all undesirable effects to our basic rights for a conducive living environment.
4. Some parents will resort to parking in front of the residents' gates and leave their cars there and to pick up the children. Try to imagine coming home and unable to enter your own car porch! Some inconsiderate parents will come an hour or so earlier and leave their car engines running while waiting. Try to imagine car exhaust fumes entering and polluting your home.
5. It will also encourage outsiders to enter our Guarded Community on the pretext of sending or picking their children. The would-be robbers would also take advantage of this potential lapse of security from the increased traffic and will use this opportunity to scrutinise the houses to rob. These incidents had happened in the past, based on the traumatic testimonies from residents who were robbed at knife point. In the long run affected residents will refuse to pay security fees and may undermine our security scheme.
6. Sometime in 2010/2011, due to the concerns from the residents of the increasing traffic congestion, ingress and egress issues and the ever-increasing number of students, some residents had successfully sought a court injunction to stop the development of Dewan Serbaguna (School Hall). The injunction was subsequently lifted after the Board of Governors and MBPJ agreed on additional conditions for the development.
7. A meeting was organised by the Legal Counsel of MBPJ, Latheefa Koya and the meeting was held in Puay Chai 2 school in the presence of the Board of Governors (represented by Tan Sri Dato’ Teo Chiang Kok), MBPJ (represented by Encik Zain Azly bin Abul Rahman, Timbalan Pengarah Bhg Perancangan Pembangunan) and representatives from the Residents' Association to resolve the injunction. During the meeting, we understand that there was an agreement reached on a few conditions, one of which is the closure of Gate B, which was only meant to be used as an emergency gate. A drawing was prepared and was presented which shows the additional conditions of the development which formed part of the agreement.
8. For the school to open Gate B without the agreement with our Residents' Association is a breach of the agreement between MBPJ, Board of Governors of Puay Chai 2 and our Residents Association. The PIBG Chairman and the Headmistress may not have been aware of the history to decide on this unilateral decision.
9. Our volunteer residents have done some head counts over the last few days on students using Gate B soon after the opening and it has become obvious that Gate B is opened mainly for the benefit of the students from the unlicensed tuition and day-care centres and outsiders. The day care and tuition centres are unlicensed and illegal centres. These are commercial premises operating in our residential zone.
10. Safety, security and traffic issues are of paramount importance to our Guarded Community and the school should not make any unilateral decision to jeopardise the safety and the security of the residents without any consultation with the stakeholders that will be impacted from this unilateral decision.
11. The issue on the opening of Gate B has been a burning issue with the residents of BU 6 over many years. To jot your memory, we have attached the article from The Star “The gate issue stays open” dated 26 April 2007 (please click on the Website link above). It was clearly stated that the school had agreed to close Gate B. To open this Gate B again unilaterally is going to attract the burning issue and open old grievances again, especially when it was done in such a unilateral way without any consultation.
12. BU6 is a Guarded Community and the rationale of a Guarded Community is to safeguard the residents’ security and safety and we should be allowed to manage our own safety and security scheme and not subject to interference by others.
13. There is also a sprouting of illegal tuitions and day care centres within our BU6 Community. We have checked with MBPJ and these centres (which are easily accessible to Gate B) are all operating without licences and are deemed illegal. The opening of Gate B by the school will only help to facilitate the sprouting of illegal commercial establishments in our residential area.

4.0 Our Stand
The school should not unilaterally open Gate B without any consultation with our PPPBU6 Residents' Association and BU6 residents. This will jeopardise our security and safety of our Guarded Community and will further create more issues with our traffic, parking and noise and air pollution. It will help to facilitate the sprouting of illegal commercial establishments like day care and tuition centres which have been a long-standing issue with the residents. As a registered resident association, the safety, security, traffic and parking issues within our guarded community should be decided by our PPPBU6 and not by the school.

5.0 Our Solution
We want the school to close Gate B immediately. Puay Chai is probably a school that has the most number of Gates for ingress and egress, about 5 with the opening of Gate B. We will show the school and the residents the alternative gate at the BMX Track which is open at controlled time as many BU6 (including BU7 and BU 10) parents and schoolchildren have been using this gate without any issues nor complaints. The walk from Gate B to the Gate at the BMX Track is a casual 1-2 mins walk across the park with good walking path. We should not sacrifice the safety and security of the whole Guarded Committee just to please a few parents who are after their own convenience. We can provide testimonies from BU 6 parents with school-going children attending Puay Chai 2 that prefer their Guarded Community to remain secure and safe without the need to open Gate B.