A 44-year-old woman from Alor Gajah, Melaka has been fined RM5,000 for crossing district lines during the FMCO period on her way to a supermarket within the same district, as the main access road to the supermarket skirts the borders of the Melaka Tengah and Alor Gajah districts along some parts.
Even though the start and end points were within the same district, the lady had to use the road which was under the jurisdiction of the Melaka Tengah district in order to get to the hypermarket.
The incident was highlighted by Kota Melaka MP, Khoo Poay Tiong, after the lady was stopped along Jalan Taman Merdeka last Friday. He said that the self-employed woman was now traumatised and could not afford to pay the RM5,000 compound.
“I visited the site to see for myself the proximity of the border to the road, and felt it was unjust to issue the compound when motorists have no choice but to go through the only access road,” said Khoo, adding that some parts of the road was only 70 metres from the district border.
Here’s all you need to know about travelling during the FMCO period.
The lady was fined despite explaining to the police that she needed to buy certain items from a hypermarket for her online food delivery business, added Melaka Chief Minister’s Secretary for Community Affairs, Yong Fun Juan.
Yong also said that this is not an isolated incident, as he has received notice of several similar complaints from residents. Another woman from Taman Rembia Utama was issued a similar compound at a roadblock in Paya Rumput just last Monday.
Melaka police chief, Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Majid Mohd Ali said that he would look into the cases, especially the first one, where the driver was stopped for driving less than 100 metres from the border to get to a hypermarket.
“For me, the welfare of the people comes first, especially during this challenging period. I will find out why my men had not used their discretion before issuing the compound, especially when the border is only separated by a row of trees,” he said when contacted on Friday.
[source: The Star]
