PETALING JAYA–There may be a serious breach of human rights if those affected by the building of the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) are not consulted about it.
PETALING JAYA–There may be a serious breach of human rights if those affected by the building of the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) are not consulted about it.
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia commissioner James Nayagam said it was the duty of authorities involved to inform and consult all residents affected by Kidex.
“Residents must be given the right to access all the documents and the failure to allow them to do so goes against human rights.”
He said there was no reason for the Kidex documents to be placed under the Official Secrets Act.
James said gone were the days when the people woke up and suddenly found a highway next to their doorstep.
He said it was the duty of the state to protect the rights of the people and developers must recognise this right.
He added the government could not simply take away people’s land to build a highway, it must explain the benefits of the project.
“The peoples’ rights come first, then the project. The failure to protect or recognise this right can result in those involved having to face the Commission.”
On what Suhakam could do, James said the first step would be to invite those involved to attend a roundtable meeting with the Commission.
He said the Commission would then meet all those affected by Kidex before coming out with a report.
James said Suhakam would meet to discuss the report before deciding whether to hold a public or private inquiry.
“We will invite all those involved to attend the inquiry. If anyone refuses then they will be presented with a subpoena.”
Asked what would happen if those invited refused to acknowledge the subpoena, James said the full force of the law would be brought down on them.
He said the Commission’s subpoena bore the same weight as a court’s subpoena.
He added if the Kidex issue was taken to court then Suhakam would apply to the court to either hold a watching brief or be a friend of the court.
James said whatever the Commission did was not something that could be done easily, but it was the Commission’s duty to protect the rights of the people.
He acknowledged that the Kidex issue had caused a lot of grief, pain and suffering to those directly affected by the proposed highway.
Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran said the land acquisition involving over 3,000 people was based on a preliminary Environment Impact Assessment.
He said to top it off there had been no official drawing from Kidex to show which houses would be directly affected by the project.
Rajiv said the most important thing was that the benefit of the highway must far outweigh the suffering of the people.
He said the preliminary traffic impact assessment that showed that it would only ease congestion by 3% to 5% was not good enough a reason to build Kidex.