Seven people, including one activist, have been arrested today for trying to stop the demolition of houses in Kampung Jinjang Selatan Tambahan in Kuala Lumpur.
Six of those arrested were residents whose houses were being demolished by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). The sole activist – Julie Wong – was from urban poor people’s organisation Permas.
They have been taken to the Sentul district police headquarters for questioning.
Human rights movement Suaram said that it received reports that several people were injured caused by DBKL officers during the incident.
“We call on the police to release the seven individuals immediately. We remind the police that their duty is to ensure safety of all Malaysians and to curb violence from being used against residents and activists instead of arresting them,” said Suaram in a statement.
The movement also condemned DBKL for taking a heavy-handed approach in the demolition.
“We also call on DBKL to respect the rights of the residents of Kampung Jinjang Selatan Tambahan, to halt demolition works immediately and to take the concerns of the residents of Kampung Jinjang Selatan Tambahan into consideration,” it added.
The demolition exercise by DBKL today involved 17 houses to make way for a new road connecting Jalan Kepong to Jalan Segambut.
The new road project is now stalled as a result of these houses which lie on the way.
Deadline expired yesterday
Although DBKL has issued these residences a notice to relocate, the residents claimed that the notice was served to residents of Kampung Benteng.
Kampung Benteng no longer exists as they have been evicted by DBKL for the same roadwork.
Its dreadful to read stories like this. Our community seem to end up as losers whenever development takes place. why? uneducated? illiteracy? wrong advice? ignorance? crooked politicians and administrators? profit-oriented developers/land owners? lop-sided law? We have many such cases – bukit raja, putrajaya, jinjang, kampung pandan, bukit pala, sungai buloh, bukit jalil, etc. in most (if not all cases), the settlement were established before independence, so what are the remedy for these situations? Who were the people involved in the “talks/negotiations”?
AFTER months of anguish and sleepless nights, one of the families in the 17 homes in Jinjang Selatan Tambahan (JST) that are to be demolished, called it quits.
M. Ramasamy, who had been living in the area for 45 years, decided to take up the offer of a unit in the Batu flats offered by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) yesterday as he had no other choice.
Too much to bear: Ramasamy being consoled by his family members and neighbours after he broke down.While the DBKL officials were helping him shift out, the other affected residents were holding a press conference down the road to seek justice for their case.
When the other residents caught wind of Ramasamy’s move, they all went to stop Ramasamy and his family from shifting out.
The residents were upset to see Ramasamy’s family in tears and demanded that the officers put back the furniture they had loaded onto the lorry.
As they persuaded Ramasamy, the tension and anguish got the better of him and he broke down in tears.
“I never wanted to shift; from the first day, we have wanted to remain here. We have lived here for more than 40 years,” he said.
He added that one of the main reasons for his decision to shift out was the mental torture of not knowing when the DBKL would demolish his home.
“At night, unknown people would roam our streets on motorbikes and cars. We felt really unsafe, and all this prompted us to move out,” Ramasamy added.
Ramasamy had not gone to work for a week, which added to his stress.
“I am worried that during my absence from work, they might fire me, but at the same time, I have this problem at home,” he added.
After 15 minutes of shouting, negotiation and tears, the DBKL officers finally put the family’s belongings back into their house.
The JST residents, who held Temporary Occupancy Licences until 1997, had been given a final extension until yesterday to shift out.
Thus far, the DBKL has been branding the TOL residents as squatters of Kampung Benteng and have addressed them as such in letters sent to them.
The residents held the press conference yesterday in a final bid to lobby for a halt to the demolition exercise.
The houses are being demolished to make way for a new road connecting Jalan Kepong to Jalan Segambut (near the KTM Segambut).
JST Residents Association secretary Sin Ah Seng said the road was a not a necessity as it would only create a bottleneck.
“The road will end at Metro Prima Kepong; this route will only flood the place with more cars,” he added.
The road was initially supposed to be built about 20 metres from the affected houses but the route was changed due to the presence of high tension electricity cables.
On June 8, DBKL officers had spray-painted the homes with the words “T/R 10/06/09”, meaning that the houses were to be demolished on June 10.
The residents immediately met DBKL deputy director-general of services Datuk Amin Nordin to seek justice.
“He instead forced us to accept the letter and the keys to the flats if we wanted to stay until June 14,” said another resident, S. Susil Raj.
Raj said they reluctantly opted to accept the keys to buy more time to stop the demolition.
Another issue that is bothering the residents is the DBKL’s offer to them to shift out.
According to resident M. Selvamani, they were offered a flat and RM1,000, but the money would not even be enough for the extra fittings needed in the new flats.
“Amin said the flats are ready for occupation but our survey of the place revealed that most units do not have electricity and water supply,” Selvamani added.
The units also lack light bulbs and fans as well as doors and grills, which would cost RM1,200 to fix.
Moreover, the DBKL would deduct RM402 as deposit and the balance would be given to the residents later, but it was not stipulated when.
For some houses, like Ramasamy’s, which house three or more families, the residents would have to bear extra costs as they would all need to shift into separate units.
Their current furniture will not fit into the flats, which are smaller than their current homes which are more than 1,200 sq ft.
“We will have to buy new mattresses, kitchen cabinets, sofas and a host of other new things,” Ramasamy said.
He added that in the current economic situation, it was a burden to come up with such a large amount of cash.
Selvamani said these problems would only prompt the residents to turn to illegal moneylenders like Ah Long.
Ramasamy said while the land belonged to the government, the homes were theirs and they needed to be compensated accordingly.
“We built our homes slowly over the last 30 to 40 years; the authorities should give us the right compensation,” he added.
The residents will be facing the DBKL officers again today as the extension expired yesterday.
In another case which was highlighted recently, its the SIME UEP company which did not build houses for ex-plantation workers in Bukit Raja housing project in Klang.
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