Issue on parking space is a potential point of contention in our community so we’d like to clear some things up for everyone’s benefit. For the well-informed - this issue may be trivial but in the interest of uniformity and formality, let’s set the record straight once and for all.

The areas outside of your private property were designated public areas meant to be used and shared by all (including non-residents). As such, everyone is entitled to utilise them as parking spots. The only exception here is when the parked vehicle may cause danger or difficulties to others. Here’s what Section 48(1) RTA 1987 says about that:

“If any driver of a motor vehicle causes or permits such motor vehicle to remain at rest on any road in such a position or in such a condition or in such circumstances as to be likely to cause danger, obstruction or undue inconvenience to other users of the road or to traffic, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of not less than one thousand ringgit and not more than five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to both.”

Some of the areas where the rule above may apply includes:

• Driveway of another person’s house.
• Designated pathways for emergency services e.g. fire-engines and ambulances.
• Areas simply not designated for vehicles including parks, walking tracks, and grass lands.
• Fully or any part of the road that may obstruct other road users.

As a community we’d like to encourage everyone to be courteous and responsible when utilising the public spaces. For example, notifying your neighbour when you need to utilise parking spaces next to their house would be a very admirable act of courtesy. In the same spirit, noble and generous house owners with extra parking spaces to spare will be the gems of our community.

If you run into any issues related to the use of public spaces in our neighbourhood, please do not hesitate to contact one of our RA members and we’d be glad to assist.

To wrap this up, we’ll leave you with this pantun to be pondered upon:

Harum sungguh bunga melati,
Hiasan sanggul amat memikat,
Bertolak ansur hormat menghormati,
Mengukuhkan perpaduan ikatan muafakat.

Stay safe and stay classy! 😎