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| An Automated Enforcement System camera along the PLUS highway near the exit to the Kajang toll has been sprayed with red paint. Pic by Mohd Fadli Hamzah |
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Company handling the system has lodged police report
PUTRAJAYA: THE two Automatic Enforcement System (AES) cameras in Selangor have been vandalised, with what seemed to be red paint sprayed on their sensors and flashes.
The camera at Km301.7 of the North-South Expressway (NSE) still seemed to be functioning despite the paint.
However, the one at Km6.6 of the South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE) did not go off when the New Straits Times team checked.
Road Transport Department director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan confirmed that the cameras had been vandalised, and that a police report had been lodged.
He said the act propagates the culture of vandalism that is already rampant in Malaysian society.
"It is an act of vandalism.
"Numerous examples can be found at bus stops, public phone booths and other public areas.
"RTD will increase its advocacy programmes so that the public can understand that the AES is there to save their lives."
A Sepang police spokesman confirmed the report was made by the company handling the AES cameras, adding that the matter was under investigation.
A company spokesman, meanwhile, said it was believed that the cameras were vandalised early yesterday.
The flash for the camera on the SKVE was covered on Friday for scheduled maintenance, said the spokesman.
There appeared to be no signs of damage to it until the red paint was discovered yesterday, he added.
The cameras, both of which are in areas under the jurisdiction of the Sepang Municipal Council, have been the subject of news reports lately as the Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led Selangor government continues to protest the AES project.
Selangor executive councillor in charge of local councils Ronnie Liu and Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had announced that the municipal council would cover the cameras as the RTD had not applied for a development order to set them up.
That was supposed to have taken place at 2.30pm on Friday, but almost at the very last minute, the municipal council released a statement saying it would instead send a letter to the RTD and the company which installed the cameras to cover up the cameras within 30 days.
There are 14 AES cameras installed at various locations in the Klang Valley and Perak, with 817 more planned for installation nationwide as the government tries to bring down the number of road crashes and deaths.
However, the system has come under heavy resistance from Pakatan Rakyat administered states despite statistics to show that it has already proved a success since being activated on Sept 23.
Source From : New Straits Times
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