BBRAeNews No.149 - Are we to suffer the same fate?

Dear Residents, please spare a thought for our Botanic garden. Let us be an example and a community to show that we care for our parks and environment. We must start now to preserve and work together with authorities to prevent our park from ending like what has happened in the report. Do we want our park to suffer the same fate? Park by day, menace by night New Straits Times, 2009/06/24, by Noel Achariam

Adrian Lim says the number of snatch thefts has increased in recent months

KUALA LUMPUR: In the daytime, it is an idyllic park frequented by families and health buffs out for a stroll or a jog.

Anglers bring their motorcycles into the park although the rules prohibit it. — Pictures by P.C. Lim, Ahmad Irham, Saifullizan Tamadi and Supian Ahmad

Faulty lights at the park leave visitors worried for their safety.

When the sun goes down, however, the Taman Tasik Permaisuri lake garden in Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, turns into a sinister place with increasing incidences of snatch thefts and muggings.

Frequent visitors to the park claimed that it had also become a haunt for drug peddlars and rebel rousers.

Evidence of a wild night out can be seen in the garbage and empty bottles of cheap liquor littering the park the next day.

Rules prohibiting motorcycles from entering the park are blatantly ignored by anglers and there have also been claims of illegal racing.

To make matters worse, parts of the park are shrouded in darkness due to faulty street lights and many have taken advantage of the situation.

Concerned for their safety, many residents of Cheras are beginning to shun the once-popular park. Many claimed that they no longer feel safe walking around the park, especially at night.

Jogger Adrian Lim, 55, who frequents the park with his family, claimed that snatch thefts at the lake had been rampant in recent months.

"Last month, when we were taking a walk there around 8pm, two guys on a motorcycle came out of nowhere, pushed my daughter to the ground and snatched her necklace.

"We couldn't do anything because they sped off on their motorcycle.

"My daughter was traumatised by the incident and vowed never to come back to the park again at night," he said.

Lim said the park's rules prohibited motorcycles from entering its compound.

"I have no idea why no one is monitoring who is coming into the park. Shouldn't City Hall officers who are manning the park prohibit the motorcycles from entering?" said Lim.

Abdul Zubir Ahmad, 45, who visits the park twice a week, said he was cautioned by other joggers against walking around the park after 8pm.

He was also told to look out for suspicious characters after several snatch thefts in the park in recent months.

"I stopped walking around the park months ago. The joggers have told me to avoid the areas where there are no lights," he said.

Another visitor Badrul Hisham Baharuddin, 24, said the park is sometimes turned into an illegal race track.

"The place is packed with motorcyclists who ride around the park and make a lot of noise," he said.

Nurse Nurasyrani Mohd Yunus, 28, who goes to the park with her husband, urged City Hall to take stern action against those who break the park's rules.

"The council must conduct more enforcement here. This is a park for the public and not for thugs," she said.