You’ve undoubtedly seen it enough times – driving up to what you think is an empty public parking lot only to find a huge tong, plastic chair, flower pot or some other item smack in the middle of the space, placed there to “chup” the space. Illegal? Sure, but is there anything you can do about it?
Well, according to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) enforcement folk, you can, by taking proactive action to remove the obstructive item to gain the spot, as The Star reports. Easier said than done, because most – if not all – wouldn’t want to risk an altercation with the party who put the item there, and so, the situation remains.
If you’re thinking that authorities should be the one taking action, well, they say they can’t do anything beyond removing the items. Unlike clear-cut traffic offences like double parking, obstruction or hogging, officers are unable to make the culprits pay for their action.
“We don’t know who put the items there, so we cannot issue a summons. During enforcement ops, those using old motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, flower pots, rubbish bins and chairs to reserve space won’t show their face or admit the objects belong to them. So we can only take the items away,” said a DBKL officer who did not want to be named.
However, if a member of the public sees such items being used to reserve a bay, the individual can remove them, he said. According to a DBKL spokesperson, the public can remove these items as public parking lots were not personal property, unless they were reserved or rented out by DBKL’s finance department to shop owners, and only then from 7.30am to 6pm on Monday to Saturday.
As you’d expect, DBKL’s suggestion for the public to remove the obstacles has not received positive response. Aside from the usual fear of repercussions, some questioned why DBKL was attempting to get the public to become vigilantes, with one person asking who would take responsibility should someone get hurt in the process.
Most said that regular enforcement is the way forward. “Enforcement is key. If authorities show their presence regularly, people will stop booking bays in such a manner,” said Salak South Garden Residents Association (SSGRA) chairman Paramasivam Govindasamy.
Those interviewed by the publication also suggested that city hall install intelligent closed-circuit television cameras in hotspots to nab culprits in the act, so that summonses can be issued. What do you think? How should authorities go about curbing such illegal activity, and should the public get involved?
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This statement should be paired with “not a offence to fight”.
Does this include cones that just chup all the parking spots for the pegawais at JPJ branches?
3 jpj pegawais dislike this
u remove then u park ur car there.. later when u come back u see ur car scratched then how?
Terutama di hospital Selayang Dan hospital2 yg lain2…staf dia senang2 je letak kerusi Padahal Tak de no khas Kat situ..
Padahal itu bukan bapak dia punya parking…so lepas ni kita campak kerusi tu Kat tepi…padan muka diaorg!!!!!!ambik siap2 dulu no plat kereta dia Dan ambik gambar kete dia
In the west, if DBKL were to say this and someone were to get hurt, DBKL will be sued till its pants drop.
Are you referring to Murica? That country love to sue each other for whatever silly reason also like chronic disease
…and later on, you see your car got vandalised…how?
if putting objects at empty parking spaces for booking purpose is against the law, dbkl should find a way to nab the culprits instead of pushing responsibility to members of public to act alone.catching the culprits via hidden cctv is 1 good idea. another way is to have dbkl officers in plainclothes to remove the unauthorised objects, in order to bait the culprits to show themselves, and when they do, the uniformed dbkl officers can move in to back up.
If it is against the law, then the next bit of that law describes the penalty. These lazy DBKL officers tak mau buat kerja to enforce it. What a surprise. And expect us to swallow their BS excuse. Janganlah tunjuk bodoh sangat DBKL.
Do nothing also got salary why work so hard
if you visited other countries, chances are you’d have seen officers on patrol. walking in pairs. at train stations, at streets, even mall corridors. Here, we dont see them unless roadblocks, or only when they have special operations. Come on, you are getting paid from taxpayers money. Please do your job instead of asking the public to be vigilantes. If someone get into a fight and get hurt, then how?
Bersiap sedia lah kereta kene calar lepas alih penanda2 tu. Haha
later my car kena scratch how?
No one in their right mind will want to risk altercation with the person who has “chup” the space. No one wants to come back to a scratched car or worse. Bottom line, it is up to the authorities to enforce. Logically, the space is booked by the shop owner fronting that space. It’s up to the shop owner to prove otherwise to the enforcement agencies. Don’t push it back to the public.
but kereta kena calar at your own risk… lol
I’ll be more concern on the potential vandalism to my car by that @sshole after parking.
Dangerous as the person who placed 5he things will damage the car. It usually happens .
DBKL asking us to do their job is it? What if my car gets damaged?
Do your job first before asking rakyat to do it.
it show the authority “clever” if they answer like that.
Can they issue them saman and we share the money if we able to proof them chup the parking?!
I believe a lot of us able to catch them!
Simple. Enforce penalty of RM30,000 (double each time for repeating offender) for trying this and award RM500 for people who provide evidence.
Not that simple. Instead of getting fined RM30k, the perpetrator would bribe the officer with RM100. I suggest 1 stroke of rotan for first time offender, with increment of 1 stroke for every offense.
I can remove them?
Can I remove your paycheck also?
Is your job. You have the law on your side, so do your work and enforce the law, DBKL.
Tell the ministers what you need, 100 people? 60 cctv? Tougher law? Suggest. But don’t tell me I should remove the chair.
They will damage the car when I m not there.
If someone put the items on public parking lot, then the DBKL should summon the shops or premises infront that blocked parking lot. Kiranya kalau ada lot TLK yang terhalang disebabkan barang diletak disitu, pihak berkuasa sepatutnya saman kedai/premis yang paling dekat dengan TLK yang terhalang tu. Itu pun tak reti buat tindakan ke pihak DBKL nih…kerja saman org saja tapi x reti buat undang2
Most notorious are car workshops.i once removed a dustbin cos this selfish workshop booked 2 lots in front of his shop. Wahhh,the workshop guy charged out like a bull and shouted at us. We stood our grounds ,he than blamed mbpj saying he paid for the lots but they haven’t come to mark reserved on the ground.
I took a picture of his workshop and filed a complaint to mbpj. Yes,mbpj called me to clarify matter. Any way afew weeks later,we pass by and noticed the spot marked as reserved.
Story here is 1) owner tryio bluff his way without paying and threatening anyone who dares park or
2) mbpj did not do their work to surmon him for reserving w dustbins.
Luckily we survived,our car was not damaged.
Get the enforcement to do more patrols instead of asking the public. The mere presence of enforcement officials will deter this.
What is DBKL/MBPJ/MBSA (to name a few ) their Lagal Adviser doing , should give a direction to the enforcement officers legal knowlegde of this situation and not passing the buck to the motorists . Act of vigilante here is not prudent . Summoned the shopowners where the parking lots are directly situated , it is prima facie that the shopowners ” chup” the parking ( eg . the hardwares , accesories shop , tyre shop etc .) altho they subscibe to rent a lot , but more open than not the extra ” being chup ” . The representative of the WP and local goverment minister must look this ” disease ” urgently !
wallop, who will seek justice for me ? DBKL is very smart. It want the public to do the dirty work for them. It wants the public to fight against each other.
Remove the “chup” space object, yeah, right. Try it and come back to your car full of scratches. Done it, kena already, make police report, nothing can be done as no witness to the crime. Confront the allege people, definitely will get into a shouting match or fist fight. Both will end up in lock up. Too much hassle & unknowns to be bothered about it. This is the job and duty of enforcers. By the way, I’m out 1.5K to repaint my car.
Removed them, then park. But later when u come back to your car, you probably see scratches on your car…
Why not DBKL get 2 to 3 lorries go round collecting those chop obstacles. It be safer for the Rakyat
Set a portal to report such ‘chupping’. People can report to this portal and DBKL should then take action.
Authorities talk like politician, lepas tangan, when we ask them to solve, they said cannot do anything, ask us to take action ourselves, but later when we take action ourselves and problem occurs, then they will change statement to don’t take matter yourselves and report to authorities, got salary every month but don’t even use brain to solve problem, just want to lepak2?
Terutama di hospital Selayang Dan hospital2 yg lain2…staf dia senang2 je letak kerusi Padahal Tak de no khas Kat situ..
Padahal itu bukan bapak dia punya parking…so lepas ni kita campak kerusi tu Kat tepi…padan muka diaorg!!!!!!
Shout started when I took away the chair to park my lorry for unloading. Remove or get assaulted. Give up to avoid trouble.
“DBKL officer who did not want to be named” Why are the authorities afraid to state their name or position? Are they doubtful about the advice they are giving or they are not supposed to give such comments? No wonder they don’t want to go down to the street to do their job. Want to be paid but not do their job? Typical Malaysian Civil Servant attitude!!