About 50 residents protested against new parking meters installed in Taman Sri Sentosa off Old Klang Road this morning, claiming that their residential area has been devalued by Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) latest move.

taman sri sentosa protest parking metre dbkl 151108 posters According to the residents, the parking meters were installed by DBKL last Monday, even though after almost two decades, there have been no parking issues in the area.

Although the meters have been installed, they have yet to be activated.

Speaking to reporters during the protest, president of the residents’ association, Adzman Abbas ( right ), said the parking meters would only thwart efforts to attract customers to the many businesses in the area.

taman sri sentosa protest parking metre dbkl 151108 adzman abbas "There are a lot of people from other neighbourhoods who come to this area to shop. Just imagine, if the parking meters are enforced, would they still come here to do their daily shopping?

"The shop-houses and the wet markets will become white elephants if people stop coming here," said the 53-year-old, who added that parking meters should not be installed in residential areas.

Meanwhile, according to the association’s treasurer Joe Singh, Taman Sri Sentosa is not only a commercial area, but home to some 2,000 residents, many of whom live in shop-houses.

"It would be ridiculous for the residents to pay every time they want to park their cars here. There have been no parking meters for the past 19 years, why are they only doing this now?" he asked.

Another resident said the new parking meters would only burden the low-income earners in the area, in the wake of soaring prices of goods and services in the country.

"I have been living here for the past 19 years and DBKL is being unfair to us. We barely have enough parking space and now they want to collect money from us," said pensioner, Ho Sau Lin, 67.

Meeting with federal territory minister

The residents’ grievances also attracted the attention of their MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar, who came to the area this morning to lend her support.

taman sri sentosa protest parking metre dbkl 151108 nurul izzah According to the 28-year-old Lembah Pantai MP, Federal Territory Minister Zulhasnan Rafique has called all 10 Pakatan MPs for a meeting.

"We will make sure on that day, the federal territory minister gives Pakatan MPs a chance to bring up issues and this one will be highlighted too," said Nurul Izzah.

She also expressed her disappointment over a letter Pakatan MPs submitted to DBKL last July regarding parking meter issues in Kuala Lumpur, of which they have yet to receive any feedback.

"It is not like we haven’t brought this (matter) up, we have. It is just that we lack recognition, feedback and response, which have disappointed us," she said.

When asked to comment on ‘illegal jockeys’ especially in Bangsar and Hartamas, Nurul Izzah urged people to lodge police reports if they encountered them.

"It would be much easier for us to take action when the report is documented," she said.