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Its not easy to stand up to giant developers. Today The Star published this:
The excerpt above says (a) the developer agrees to identify a plot of empty land which is suitable for building temporary houses for the residents while waiting for low cost houses to be built and allocated for the residents. (b) The developer agrees to inform about the empty land after Hari Raya Aidilftri.
This is not any developer, but YTL. So, what is going to be their response? This is a damage to the reputation of YTL if indeed they reneged on the agreement.
Years ago, Indian were thrown out of estates and left to fend for themselves. Now, the second cycle is happening. Housing areas are being developed with houses in the range of hundreds or thousands or even millions of ringgit. What happens to the folks with low-income? They become non-existent or sent to some corner of the city, away from the “rich” areas. Are we happy just watching the history repeat again? Do you think the people would just disappear from the face of the earth? Or are we sowing the seeds of crime by pushing these people into an abyss of hopelessness and poverty?
Those of us earning thousands of ringgit would find it difficult when petrol price increases or when we incur extra costs due to distance. What more of people who earn less than RM2000 with 2 or 3 kids to feed?
Being less educated (or even uneducated), these folks can be easily conned into signing agreements without them understanding the contents. Let’s face it, some of us educated people also get confused with all the legal and technical terms, what more of them?
IT WAS a day of anxiety for residents of Sentul as a major part of the squatter homes in the area were under siege by both the local council and the developers.
Just moments after the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers had retreated from Kampung Tanah Lapang yesterday, political party representatives received a call from three distressed women in Lorong 15, Jalan Sentul Pasar.
The women were being evicted from their houses pending a court order from developer YTL Land and Development, the owner of the land they live on.
The eldest, a widow with 10 children, said she had unknowingly signed an agreement form to shift to the DBKL flats in Kampung Muhibbah, Puchong.
“I have no problem shifting, but I did not want a home in Puchong. I live off the RM400 welfare money I receive each month and the donations from organisations in Sentul,” said Thanaletchumy Marimuthu, 41.
She and her married daughter R. Jayanthy, 24, live in one house and each has been offered a unit in Puchong but they refuse to shift there as the move would affect their livelihood and their children’s education.
Another resident, K. Letchumi, 39, works in Batu Caves and has an ailing mother, a disabled sibling and her children, as well as her own child to care for.
She has to manage this with a monthly salary of RM1,000 and if she shifts to Puchong, a huge chunk of the money would be spent on travelling alone.
Their one question remains unanswered: What happened to the low-cost flats that were promised to them by the previous developer, Taiping Consolidated?
The new developer, YTL, denies the promise but residents have proof to claim otherwise.
Documents agreeing to the requests bearing the Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd letter head and several other documents from Taiping Consolidated have been unearthed.
This new turn of events has raised the morale of the people, as they have finally found grounds to fight their case.
The entire Sentul area is slowly being transformed, with high-end condominiums cropping up everywhere. However, this would mean that the original residents of the famed area will have to leave their homes.
“The developer should build low-cost and medium-cost flats, and practise their corporate social responsibility here in Sentul,” Batu MIC division chairman Ramanathan Chinnu said.
For now, Ramanathan and the Batu MIC Youth chairman D. Pala Kumaran will seek the assistance of Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Well Being Minister Datuk M. Saravanan to find three units in the Batu Muda flats near by for the three women and their families.
The women are scheduled to shift out today.
Even in my housing area, the developer (Plenitude Permai) changed the plan many times now, and residents are the ones who are short-changed. No community hall, no club house, no proper signages. I’m not sure if they know what is CSR. I wonder how the local council (Majlis Perbandaran Sepang) can approve new phases without taking all this into consideration.
