Sg Buloh residents to crowdfund for legal battle to save park

SG BULOH residents will soon be initiating a crowdfunding programme to save their park for the elderly and their children.

The residents have taken legal action against the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) for allowing the expansion of a service road, which will encroach on their community public park.

BRP representative Lam Kin Tong said the residents would soon start the crowdfunding initiative to help them in their pursuit of getting a court order to stop work on their park.

“We had approached this issue with MPS since 2019 but to no avail. We have exhausted all avenues and that is why we are taking legal action.

“The residents have been contributing voluntarily. We don’t know how long this legal suit is going to last and what it will cost us.

“That’s the reason we will soon start a crowdfunding initiative,” he told The Vibes.

The residents have engaged the services of lawyer Datuk Joy Appukuttan to represent them in their legal bid.

Appukuttan said on January 29 this year, they had a case management where MPS lawyers had put in an application to strike out the residents’ judicial review.

“We filed our own affidavits in reply. That’s pending at the moment for a hearing on the judicial review. We must wait and see the outcome of this first before the hearing of the judicial review application,” he said.

Appukutan said the Shah Alam High Court will hear the submissions by MPS to strike out their judicial review on June 24.

Appukutan said he had filed a certificate of urgency at the Shah Alam High Court on November 15 last year for a hearing of the ex-parte application for leave for a judicial review against MPS.

“I also applied for a stay of MPS’ decision inter alia in respect of the decision to fell the trees and to construct a road.

“The court allowed the application for leave and granted an interim stay pending the hearing of the stay application.”

Last year, MPS president Yazid Sairi said the project must proceed as it mitigates traffic congestion in the area.

“We are aware of the residents’ objections, but MPS must also take into account those who want the project to go ahead because of the current traffic situation,” he said after the council’s monthly board meeting in August.

The residents have been strongly opposing plans by a developer to widen Jalan BRP7/2 in their neighbourhood, which runs next to the field, as it will eat into the green lung.

The road widening is aimed at enabling access to a new development site in the area.

The residents claimed that about 59 trees on the field have been marked to be cut down.

Yazid, however, said that 48 trees will be cut and at least 96 trees of different species will be planted there.

The park is used for many exercise and recreational purposes. It even has a basketball court. – May 14, 2024.