Oct 18 2007
Tamil school in Kapar waiting 40-years for land
| Tamil school's 40-year wait for 'promised' land | |
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| by Renu on Thursday, 18 October 2007 | |
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Kampung Perepat villagers in Kapar have waited nine years to get six acres (2.45 hectares) of land promised to them some 40 years ago - only to find out that it has been given to three strangers.
The land was pledged as part of a package deal for 99 settler-families in the 1960s. Then MIC president V Manickavasagam (photo) had arranged for each family to receive three acres to build their own house on the site at 8th mile Jalan Kapar, Selangor.
A six-acre site located in the midst of the housing area was allocated for a temple, Tamil school and kindergarten. The Sri Maha Mariamman temple was duly built in 1987 and expanded in 1996, to accommodate the growing number of villagers. When they attempted to obtain the land title in 1998, they were shocked when told that the site had been classified as 'vacant land' and that the villagers would only get two acres. said the Klang Land Office told him that the remaining four acres would have to be returned to the Selangor government. "They (land office officials) didn't even know that there was vacant land there until we applied for the title. When they knew, they refused to give us the six acres of land," he said. "After going through our state assemblyperson (Abdul Rahman Palil, for Sementa), they agreed to give us two acres for the temple and school, and four acres on which the state government would build low-cost houses." He also said Abdul Rahman had tried to obtain a temporary title for the site, but this has not materialised to date. Subramaniam said the villagers were not willing to give up their claim to the land. They approached former Ijok state assemblyperson and Selangor exco member K Sivalingam, Kapar MIC Kampung Perepat president A Palanisamy and MIC president S Samy Vellu (photo). "In 2003, we met Dato Seri (Samy Vellu) twice when he came to a Tamil school in Kapar, and he ordered Sivalingam to get the land back for us. We believed that we would get the land after the intervention by the MIC president himself."
Strangers given land
However, the villagers were in for another shock. They found that the four acres on which the state government had agreed to build houses had now been given to three private individuals in April this year. Documents made available to Malaysiakini revealed that the land has been sub-divided into four parts - three of which had been assigned to N Sithara Devi, Haron Ahmad and Khoo Seng, without any of their particulars being recorded. The remaining plot was labelled as 'vacant land'. "We're disappointed. All these years of writing letters and waiting has brought us nowhere," Subramaniam said. "It would have been more comforting if the plots had been given to villagers. At least, we would know that one of us has received the land. Now it has gone to strangers. "What if the remaining part is given to someone else and we are asked to relocate our temple? That's our main worry now." Asked about his next course of action, Subramaniam said the villagers will take up the matter with Samy Vellu again. "We plan more drastic action. We want to fence up the whole plot and erect a banner announcing the construction of a Tamil school. We hope that will bring the three individuals face to face with us," he added. |
from: http://www.malaysianindians.net/v1/latest/tamil-schools-40-year-wait-for-promised-land-2.html
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