Tuesday May 14, 2013

Over 200 runners take part in campaign to make parks safe

By CHRISTINA LOW
christinalow@thestar.com.my
Photo by FAIHAN GHANI

Count me in: Participants signing the memorandum which was later presented to Safer Malaysia.

STAYING indoors is certainly not the way to go for women runners who fear for their safety each time they head out to a park.

“Women runners need a safer place to run where they can also bring their kids,” said Karen Loh, who helped organise an awareness campaign in the Bukit Gasing park recently.

The event was organised in the wake of Irene Ong’s death last month after she was robbed and stabbed during a visit to the park in Section 5, Petaling Jaya.

Loh, who is also the founder of Malaysia Women Marathon, said the group intends to use sport as an avenue to reach out to Malaysians in hopes of keeping parks free of crime.

More than 200 participants joined in the effort. They also signed a memorandum that was later passed to Safer Malaysia chairman Richard Wee, who told the crowd not to put the blame for the incident on the police but instead, urged them to do better in serving the community in the future.

“We all want to go back to the age where we can get out and cycle without fear,” he said, adding that the people should also learn to change the mindset of blaming the victim when a crime takes place.

Safer Malaysia, he said, was not a non-governmental organisation but a committee adopted by the Malaysian Bar Council with the aim to offer a ‘vaccine’ for crime.

“The public should start to tell others not to rob instead of reminding people not to get robbed,” he said, adding that CCTV alone were not enough to prevent crime.

Among those present were Section 5 Residents Association president Mohamed Rafiq Fazaldin who hoped the Petaling Jaya City Council would add additional allocations to boost the safety of park-goers.

“Nowadays, fewer joggers visit the park as they fear for their safety,

“This place use to be packed with families and joggers on weekends but now it is quieter,” said Rafiq, who has been living in the neighbourhood for the past 20 years.

The neighbourhood, he said, was shaken by Ong’s death as they did not expect such a tragic incident would take place in the park they love.

“Small break-ins and petty thefts are quite common here. Nothing serious took place until the incident involving Ong, ” he said.

At present, the police have set up two beat-bases around the park with officers on patrol during the park’s peak hours.

Loh added that Malaysia Women Marathon (www.facebook.com/MalaysiaWomenMarathon) will be organising similar activities with Safer Malaysia around the country to further promote the campaign.

Source:

News

Tuesday May 14, 2013

Over 200 runners take part in campaign to make parks safe

By CHRISTINA LOW christinalow@thestar.com.my Photo by FAIHAN GHANI

Source:

By CHRISTINA LOW
christinalow@thestar.com.my
Photo by FAIHAN GHANI