Abang Ahmad Abang Julai
KUCHING: Police will not be annulling traffic summonses issued to offending motorists during the recently-concluded Malaysian Open badminton tournament at Stadium Perpaduan in Petra Jaya.
District police chief ACP Abang Ahmad Abang Julai said a total of 429 traffic summonses were issued to motorists over the duration of the tournament from April 4 to 9 for various traffic offences after much verbal warnings.
“The offenders were mostly spectators of the said tournament which attracted a large crowd using an estimated 2,500 vehicles daily.
“Besides the Malaysian Open, there was also an auto show held next to Stadium Perpaduan on April 8, which added to the already overwhelming turnout and resulted in motorists having a difficult time parking,” he said in a statement yesterday.
However, he stressed that traffic police had no choice but to issue summonses following verbal warnings in order to regulate traffic flow.
“These actions were agreed to and endorsed by the tournament’s organising committee several weeks prior to the start of the competition,” he said, adding annulling the summonses would be a gross injustice to the men in blue who had discharged their duties in good faith and without fear or favour.
Abang Ahmad was responding to an appeal by Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen to cancel all traffic summonses issued during the finals of the tournament last Sunday.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Chong said it was inappropriate and unreasonable for police to issue summonses against motorists who were ‘forced to park illegally’ due to insufficient parking spaces.
The state DAP chairman also said he had sent a letter of demand for the cancellation of Notifications and/or Traffic Summonses to the State Police Commissioner.
Meanwhile, Abang Ahmad said the only consolation for ticketed motorists is the possibility of settling their summonses at a discounted rate.
“It is, however, solely at the discretion of State Police Commissioner Datuk Mazlan Mansor.”