Cancel traffic summonses issued to badminton fans, Chong appeals to CP
KUCHING: State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen is appealing to the state police commissioner to cancel all traffic summonses issued against owners of vehicles at the packed Stadium Perpaduan in Petra Jaya for the finals of Malaysian Badminton Open on Sunday.
Chong said this after one of the offenders, Lim Tze Wei, who was issued a summons for obstructing traffic, approached him for help.
“It is inappropriate and unreasonable for the police to issue summonses against motorists who were forced to park illegally due to insufficient parking spaces at the sold- out finals of the international tournament,” he told a press conference at DAP headquarters here yesterday.
Chong believed many others also suffered from the same fate as Lim during the duration of the tournament which ran from April 4 to 9.
A letter to demand for the cancellation of Notifications and/or Traffic Summons issued near the stadium during the tournament has been submitted to the police commissioner at police headquarters here.
Meanwhile, Lim, who parked his vehicle on the road shoulder near the stadium on April 7, said he did not obstruct the traffic flow.
Carparks around the stadium, he added, were all taken up while the few vacant spaces were booked for VIPs.
“It is not his fault to park at that spot. There were simply too many people and parking lots were insufficient. The (tournament) organisers could have prepared well, for instance, by making special parking arrangement at other areas further away or by providing a shuttle service,” Chong said.
“For such an international event that sells tickets, the organisers should have a rough estimate of the crowd versus parking lots available in the area.”
Chong thus appealed to the police to cancel the summonses and not to penalise the offenders as ‘ these people were there as patriots supporting the national team in an international event’.
“The government should be proud of the many members of the public being there to support the national team competing at international tournament. It is a show of patriotism and as such they should not be ‘ rewarded’ with traffic summonses.
“Furthermore, it is not every year that we have such international event held in Kuching, especially for badminton, which is a sport loved by many of us,” he added.