Frequently Asked Questions

Gating and Guarding our Neighborhood
Frequently Asked Questions (Updated 18 July 2008)


Q. Where will the security check points be set up?

A. Two security check points with boomgates will be set up, one at junction of SS22/35 & SS22/48 and SS22/31 & SS22/41. The small lane at junction SS22/33 & SS22/48, we will try to close up permanently. We will also put up grills along the back lane of Jalan SS22/29 and the walk path of Jalan SS22/32.

Q. How do you propose to manage the traffic going in and out without causing too much inconvenience and traffic jams?

A. There will definitely be inconveniences and every resident has to be prepared to accept that. Whilst there are inconveniences to the residents, there will also be inconveniences to the criminals targeting you and me.
The plans are still being discussed and to be drawn up. The basic concept is that we will issue “Resident” car stickers to the residents at nominal charge. Residents who do not join will not be given any stickers. With the stickers, the cars will be allowed free access into and out of the security check points.
All other vehicles upon entry will be given a “Guest”A4 size card to be placed on the vehicle’s dashboard, and to be returned upon exit. Motorcyclist will be given a tag to wear around their neck at all times. Their vehicle’s registration number and number of people in the vehicle will be noted down. Between 10pm and 6am, all non resident vehicles will be stopped and particulars of the driver, vehicle, and house they are visiting will be noted down before they are allowed to enter.
Pedestrians will be allowed to enter and exit freely except between the times of 10pm to 6am.

Q. How many guards will there be and what are their roles?

A. Our current proposal is to hire 12 guards, i.e. 6 guards each on a 12 hours shift. There will be 3 guards at each checkpoint. Every 30 mins, two of the guards will take turn to patrol the neighborhood on their motorcycles. So at any one time, there will always be 2 guards at each check point.
This will be further discussed in our committee meeting and will most likely change. We will endeavor to find the best possible solution at the best possible cost. Stay tuned for more updates on this in the near future.

Q. What about the newspaper men, gas delivery, mailmen, contractors, direct mailers, etc? Will they all be allowed to enter freely?

A. For the people who come in to our neighborhood daily during the day time to deliver goods or services (e.g. newspapermen, mailmen, gas delivery, pizza delivery, trash disposal collectors, MPPJ, meter readers from TNB and Syabas, mobile market, etc), so long as they are in uniform, here on daily basis or regularly enough to be recognized by the guards, they will be allowed access in and out. But the date and time of entry will be noted.
As for contractors and their workers, they will have to register each of them and will be given a daily pass. No workers will be allowed to stay overnight at the construction site. They will all have to leave by sun down, returning the daily pass.
We plan to deny access to the people hired to drop direct mailers into our mailboxes.

Q. Are we looking into a total security or just only to deter the car robbery?

A. We are looking into security for our neighborhood to reduce the most common neighborhood crimes such as car jacking, burglaries, robberies, snatch thieves and other petty crimes.

Q. How good and honest are the security guards?

A. We cannot guarantee that the security guards themselves will not the ones to commit the crime. Even banks and jewelry shops have experienced inside jobs. But they still need security guard services. What we will do is to scrutinize the guards and conduct police background check on each of them before we take them on.
We will constantly monitor them and engage with them. Like all human beings and employees, they will need supervision, monitoring, counseling and of course motivation to perform. If we show concern for them, hopefully they will reciprocate and do a better job for us.

Q. How certain are you that we will be protected against criminals?

A. No one or company will ever dare guarantee that a crime will never occur in any gated or guarded community. We need to be realistic with our expectations of what a security system can do for us. Crime will always happen, even in banks, museums, and other very high security buildings and areas.
However, what we aim to achieve with a gated and guarded community is that we will make it more inconvenient for criminals and this will certainly deter and reduce criminal incidences. Of course common sense has to prevail. We still have to be vigilant and pay attention to the security of our immediate property, family and self.
There is no such thing as a fool proof security system. So let’s all be realistic. We will improve the system as we go along. Certainly there will be loopholes when we start. We will improve on it as we learn. None of us committee are security experts. We are doing this voluntarily. But we all share the same concern about safety for our family and our self. And we’re sure you are too.
What we need is the understanding and willingness of the residents to support this idea, support us as we implement it, and support us as we find the right way to maintain it. It is for the benefit of everyone.
This will be run as a non profit organization. We do request that everyone participates on a voluntary, cordial, respectful and constructive manner.

Q. How do we communicate with the guards monitoring at the boom gates in times of emergencies?

A. When you spot a crime or suspicious behaviour, immediately call the DJROA’s hotline and report it. The telephone number will be provided to all members who have signed up.
The guards are equipped with walkie talkies will immediately be informed to watch out. Guards will also be immediately dispatched to the location to check on the report and provide assistance. Details of event will be noted down and reported back to the person in charge of security from the committee.
Also, you should always have the police’s phone number ready and programmed into your phone’s speed dial (Damansara Police station – 03 7956 2222 or ASP Ranjit – 019 550 5033).

Q. You said we need to get 85% consent of the residents to kick start the project but why 85% and not less?

A. The Selangor housing & property board and the local authorities allow guard houses to be built according to specified guidelines if there are 85% or more consent from the residents. Read more about it at http://www.rehda.com/bulletin/08/bulletin-0802.pdf. In there you will also find some information on do’s and don’t as stipulated by the authorities.
At the moment as of 14 July 2008, we already have 63% supporting us. So each of you can help us achieve our target sooner by talking to your neighbours who have not signed up to join us in this crusade.

Q. If we cannot secure 85% consents from the neighborhood, can we put up guard houses at the road / roads that have 85% consents?

A. We would like to get the project started as soon as possible, maybe when we have reached a critical mass of say 70% where it becomes affordable for participating residents. Once we get the project running, hopefully the residents who had not signed up will see the value in it and can be coaxed into signing up.

Q. Is what you plan to implement legal?

A. Many other housing neighborhoods have set up similar security check points, e.g. Bandar Utama, Subang Jaya, USJ, Ara Damansara, Bandar Sri Damansara, etc. The truth of the matter is they are actually breaking the law. Under the Street, Drainage and Building Act they are not allowed to obstruct public roads. However, for the moment, the authorities are allowing the gates to remain while councils and state government discuss whether or not to legalize the gated community system.
The Selangor housing and property board have also setup guidelines for a gated and guarded neighborhoods which we are mindful off. We will write to them to inform them of our plans. Read more about it at
http://www.rehda.com/bulletin/08/bulletin-0802.pdf.
Quoted from the NST article that appeared on 27 June 2008:
“PJ mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman said the council is looking at the feasibility of setting up a gated community system in non-gated neighborhoods. The council needs to discuss the technicalities with the newly appointed councilors, he said. He and Subang Jaya council president Datuk Adnan Md Ikhsan said the issue of gated communities had been discussed at the state level, and the councils were awaiting further instructions. "For the time being we will allow the gates to remain," Mohd Roslan said.”
(http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/Streets/Friday/Stories/2277614/Article/index_html)
We will certainly not let that be a hindrance to our plans for a gated and guarded neighborhood. Who knows how long the state government will take to come up with a decision. Meanwhile our lives are at stake.
We will proceed with our plans once we have the necessary support from the residents. We have the support of a few influential resident VIPs; among them is Dato’ Seri Eric Lim. He has been actively advising and supporting this initiative and will certainly help us should we run into problems.
Also for your information, we will be engaging the support of our newly elected MPs, Tony Pua and Dr Cheah once we have a more concrete execution plan.
Most important is that we need every one of the residents to come out in support of this plan should there be a need to tell the authorities who tries to block our plans.

Q. Are you using the existing DJROA’s security company or guards to manage the boomgates?

A. We are currently evaluating a few options and will make a decision in due time. With more supporters, we will be able to afford to hire a better quality security company. It all depends on how many supporters we are able to get. Of course it is in our best interest to keep this project going for the long term and constant checks on the performance of the guards will be done by the committee. Constructive feedback from the residents will also be useful.

Q. Is this going to be managed by DJROA?

A. Partially yes. Mr Yew Cheng Hoe, Chairman of DJROA says they can assist us by managing the disbursement of the funds. A separate account will be setup from the rest of the DJROA members. A check and balance system will be setup so that everything will be transparent and above board. 
The security guards maybe hired from the same security company that DJROA is using as there could be economies of scale and the guards will watch out and help each other should an emergency arise.
Our working committee is looking into the cost vs benefit and will come up with a proposal that may recommend other security firms too.
The actual management of this whole security project will be by our committee. A society or organization will eventually be registered and committee members to manage it will be elected by the residents.

Q. What's going to happen to the money I had already paid to DJROA for the current security scheme?

A. DJROA will refund the outstanding amount back to us. They will then start a new and separate account just for our section of the neighbourhood. They will help with the disbursement of funds; however it will be the responsibility of the committee to see to the collection. The account books will be open to any resident at any time to scrutinize. We will also send out an annual account statement to all the residents. Remember this is a non-profit project.

Q. How much do I have to pay and when do I pay?

A. We are targeting to bring the cost down to a reasonable level. At the moment we are looking at around RM60-70 per month per household. The cost will depend on how elaborate a security system we will eventually implement. It will be implemented and upgraded in stages, e.g. CCTV could be implemented in the next stage as it would be an expensive proposition. As our plans progress and see a need to make further improvements to the system, we may need to go back to you the residents to make further contributions.
Also the collection may be done on annual basis. All payments will be made to DJROA. Each road will have a nominated representative who will be in charge of collecting the fees from the residents who have signed up but not paid up.

Q. My house is a small terrace house, do I pay less?

A. No, it will be by per house irregardless of the type of house. If you own or live in 2 houses, then you will have to pay for 2 houses. We will not discriminate by size of house, size of land, number of occupants, number of cars, renting or owner occupied, etc. That would make it too difficult for us to manage. We seek your understanding in this matter.

Q. When will your project kick off?

A. We would like to kick off this project as soon as we reach a critical mass of 70%. We believe we will reach that soon and hope to have this up and running before Q4 of this year. There are still many obstacles that we need to overcome, including recruiting more members to reach our 85% target and managing detractors who not only won’t support this project but may even resort to sabotage it.

Q. Why should I subscribe to your security scheme?

A. You will enjoy greater peace of mind knowing that there are 24 hours security guards monitoring all the movements in and out of this neighbourhood for suspicious characters. Should you experience a break-in, security assistance will arrive much sooner than the police. The value of your house will certainly appreciate. You will have peace of mind when you sleep at night when you are away and your love ones are left at home. Based on feedback from other areas with similar security systems and arrangements (boomgates), security within such areas has improved considerably.

Q. What about those who refuse to contribute?

A. There will of course be some residents who will oppose our security idea. Some may not oppose but also may not contribute. Some tells us they are only renting the house and staying here temporally. Some houses are shared by groups of students or workers. We will try to engage with them to convince them that it is certainly worth paying for that safety and extra peace of mind.
For those houses that join, they will be given a DJROA badge that will be fixed to their gate. Houses without the badge are those who are not contributing. So hopefully when they see so many houses contributing, they too will see it in them to join in this good cause which will benefit all residents of our wonderful neighbourhood.
It is our objective to make it as affordable as possible so that the cost of joining will not be used as the excuse for not joining.

Q. Where can I get more information about what you are doing?

A. Go to our blog (http://djboomgate.blogspot.com/) where you’ll find all the past email circulars and information. 

Q. Who should I contact if I want to sign up?

A. To sign up we need the following information from you: Name, Address, Mobile and Email. Send it to Safeguarddj@gmail.com or just call Mrs Chen at +6017 641 9101 and she will take down your particulars. If you have any questions or comments, please send it to the said email address. 
You can also contact any of the committee members who will be happy to take your particulars.

Q. Who are your committee members?

A. The following people have volunteered their time and energy to help toward this worthy cause. We are all doing it out of necessity as we care for the safety of our family and for the protection of our properties. A number of the committee members are victims. The rest of us are not waiting to become victims. This is a non-profit project so there’s no monetary benefit to any one of us.

Lim Ann Liang - Jalan SS22/27
John Chen - Jalan SS22/27
Sharon Poh - Jalan SS22/27
Carolyn Peh - Jalan SS22/27
Jenny Leong - Jalan SS22/27
Chan Kien Fatt - Jalan SS22/27
Josephine Yeong - Jalan SS22/27
Freddie So - Jalan SS22/27
Francis Rasiah - Jalan SS22/27
Teresa Choon - Jalan SS22/29
Tan Seng Kiat - Jalan SS22/29
Stephanie Shim - Jalan SS22/29
Taranjeet Singh - Jalan SS22/29
Yow Lop Siaw - Jalan SS22/29

As you can see the bulk of the people who started this campaign lives along 2 roads. We need to expand this and get in committees from the other roads too. More residents will be roped in as committee members as our project progresses. We also hope for more volunteers to come forward and assist us in any way possible.

If you are being approached by anyone to signup, please be nice to them. If you see them walking around the neighborhood soliciting for more members, you can ask them for latest updates. Don’t forget to give them words of encouragement and thank them for what they are trying to do for you.

This is truly a thankless job so be happy that these people are willing to sacrifice their time and energy for this cause that will benefit the whole neighborhood.