Taman Sri Sinar Residents’ Association chairman Budihardi Sabei said he received complaints from residents that they were prohibited from using the community hall and its facilities because of certain “trespassers” taking over its management.
“Even when residents hold a programme in the vicinity, we are stopped from using the restrooms in the community hall.
“This community hall must be given back to the community,” he told a press conference today.
Budihardi also said the community hall and its adjacent structures were being used for business purposes and a fee is imposed for the public to use the facilities.
“When they do that, it loses its community purpose,” he said, adding that residents have had to hold their community programmes by the roadside.
He said residents do not seek to tear down the whole building, only that the community hall be restored to its original plan without the additional structures.
He also stressed that the issue is not a racial matter as residents backing the authorities’ action come from all ethnicities.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh previously said DBKL and PTGWP had attempted to demolish the illegal structure adjacent to the Taman Sri Sinar community hall, which she said had been occupied by an unauthorised operator without approval.
She said DBKL had been trying to reclaim management of the hall for nearly a year and that this was part of a broader initiative across Kuala Lumpur to ensure that community halls were accessible to all residents and not monopolised by any single party.
Yeoh, who is also the youth and sports minister, said numerous notices issued by both DBKL and PTGWP for the operator to vacate the premises were ignored. She also said the operator had even commenced work to expand the illegal structure.
She was responding to a video posted on Facebook, in which a crowd was seen protesting the attempted demolition of the illegal structure, with some claiming that it was used as a karate training ground.
It was reported that the training was conducted by a family, which had excelled in karate and had produced athletes who had won medals in the sport at the international and regional levels.
A resident, who wanted to be known as VT Wong, lamented that senior citizens who use the nearby playground for exercise have not been able to use the community hall for shelter when it rains.
“Sometimes we need to use the restrooms but they are locked. We have no access to the community hall and its facilities,” he said, adding that this has been going on for about 20 years.
C Perumal, who is the chairman of the Taman Cuepacs Residents’ Association and a member of the Federal Territories Residents Representative Council, said the collection of any fee to use the community hall and its facilities should be handled by a registered organisation.
“For instance, in Taman Cuepacs, it’s the residents association and only a nominal sum is imposed. Currently, there is no local management (for the Taman Sri Sinar community hall),” he said.
He also expressed hope that the issue can be resolved amicably. “We don’t want any controversy or to pick fights with anyone.”