Posts Tagged ‘Protest’

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YTL clarifies

December 29th, 2009
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Following the protests by the residents in Sentul over the missing low-cost houses, YTL provides some clarification:

According to a representative of YTL Land & Development Berhad, the only agreement made was with Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) for the development of Kampung Railway.

The representative said the company had been wrongly vindicated in this matter as Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd in 1994 was under another parent company and that YTL only took over later in 1997.

“It has nothing to do with YTL as our joint venture agreement is only with KTMB, whereby Kampung Railway will comprise a series of medium-cost apartments to be constructed on Sentul Lot PT16 for the purpose of housing KTMB employees and their immediate families.

“The identified site for this project, unfortunately, has been occupied by squatters and their reluctance to move has delayed the commencement of construction for a considerable time,” said the representative, adding that this meant the memorandum handing-over was also directed to a wrong party.

In a press statement issued, it is said some 41 families have already moved out of their squatter homes; with 22 of the 41 relocated to PPR Kg Muhibbah Puchong while the other 19 found homes of their own.

As for this current group of 18 families, a court case was ongoing and no date has been fixed for the next mention.

“We have taken numerous measures to look into the welfare and interest of the affected families, like dialogues and briefings, extending moving-out deadline, assisting the families with new low-cost homes via liaising with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“We will still offer relocation compensation and assist with the new accommodation, although it is in the hands of the DBKL to decide on the location,” said the representative.

Some residents say they did not know what they signed, while others saying moving to Puchong is too far and incur very high costs.

Meanwhile, this is the predicament of the Kampung Railway residents:

RESIDENTS of Kampung Railway in Sentul suspect that the low-cost flats promised them were scrapped due to the possibility of a hypermarket taking shape in the area.

The residents recently won a year-long legal battle against the developers and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB).

The original residents of the village were former employees of KTMB and many of the current residents are their descendants. According to them, they had been promised low-cost flats but, till today, had heard nothing further.

Last year, they were served with eviction notices, citing plans for a railway village for KTMB employees.

They began their legal battle in December, 2008, when Batu MP Tian Chua helped them file the suit. On April 29, this year the court had ruled in their favour.

“The court acknowledged that the 20 residents should receive low-cost units as promised because they had documentation proving their cause,” Chua said.

KTMB filed an appeal a month after the decision was handed down.

Since then, three more residents have opted to join in the lawsuit.

Chua said they would have to provide the proper documentation, including family history and assessment bills paid during their stay at Kampung Railway.

However, the two families highlighted in StarMetro’s article on Dec 16, M. Thanaletchumy and her son-in-law, R. Parthiban, cannot be included in the list as they have already signed agreements to move out.

K. Letchumi, 39, whose house was demolished together with Thanaletchumy’s is also seeking help to fight her case. She has not signed any agreement to move out but her house was still demolished.

Chua said they had only relocated residents who had lived in the area for less than 10 years to Kampung Muhibbah, Puchong.

According to him, brochures sent out by the developers showed that a hypermarket would be built on the land.

“Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) cannot issue a development order for the construction as it was initially planned for low-cost flats,” he said.

Chua said he would bring up the issue with KL mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail and Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin.

So, YTL is saying those people staying in Kampung Railways are squatters whereas they are descendents of the KTMB employees, and some of them have won their court case against KTM and developer?

Yesterday, residents together with MIC  held a protest:

OVER 50 people, comprising Batu MIC division members and squatters residents from Kampung Railway in Sentul, staged a protest yesterday over claims that low- and medium-cost flats are not being built as promised.

The protest was held at the YTL building in Jalan Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur where the group demanded for the promise based on an agreement in 1994 be fulfilled.

They held placards and marched for a short stretch along the street before crowding in front of the YTL building entrance waiting to hand over the memorandum to a management representative.

In the memorandum, it is claimed that Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd (under YTL) was to build 3,000 units of low- and medium-cost flats and two multi-purpose halls and a football field.

However, the group said not a single low-cost unit has been built 15 yearson.

Batu MIC division chairman C. Ramanathan, who is the group’s spokesperson, said the area was now developed with many high-end apartments.

“What we want is for the developer to honour its promise made 15 years back, that is to build the low and medium-cost units,” said Ramanathan.

“They have been asked to relocate to Puchong but it’s so far away. These are poor people earning like RM400 a month and many are uneducated folks who would not know what is happening once they move there.”

Resident Yogalingam Muthukrishnan, 41, said his father first made the home there 50 years back, and is unhappy now that he is asked to move to Puchong.

“I have children who are still schooling so it’s not convenient for me. Also, they have taken away our football field there,” he said.

YTL Land & Development Berhad customer relations manager Karen Tan later came out to receive the memorandum.

Police officers had gathered around to supervise and man the crowd.

So, is this another case of badly management development with scant regards for the residents? Some of the villages in Sentul exists for more than 100 years, so what happened in last 10 years? Where did all the folks go to?

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Sentul developer not fulfilling promise

December 18th, 2009
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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.

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Good news for Batu Estate residents

December 17th, 2009
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This would be music to their ears. Deputy FT Minister Saravanan managed to get something right this time, so congrats to him.

These residents were promised houses when the area was supposed to be developed but end up labeled as squatters. And, as usual, its ex-estate land. No wonder nowadays, similar cases see lot of skepticism among the victims and demand for proper agreements.

AFTER three years of endless debate, the residents of Batu Estate in Jalan Segambut will finally receive due compensation and a low-cost flat unit each.

Developer Mayland Properties Sdn Bhd has offered RM2mil to the residents while the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has agreed to give them flat units nearby.

The agreement was reached during a meeting with Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan at the DBKL headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut on Dec 16.

Saravanan said 48 families would receive the compensation while another 12 were still being investigated.

“Each of them will receive between RM20,000 and RM30,000 and a home from the DBKL either in Kepong or Jinjang as there are no vacancies at the Batu Muda flats,” he said.

The developer has also agreed to give a three-acre plot of land to the DBKL as compensation for the flat units DBKL has had to give out.

“DBKL does not usually give out flats to squatters on private land but because we have stepped in to help, the developer is giving us the land as compensation,” Saravanan added.

The squatters have been the subject of discussion for many months as a majority are former workers at the estate and had been promised houses in the area after the estate was developed.

Mayland is planning to build a fourth phase of apartments on the land after the residents have moved out.

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Coalfield Estate problem

December 8th, 2009
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Another test for Selangor government. People not interested to listen to reasons and excuses, which was dished out in generous quantities by previous governments. Now, keyword is proactive and solve problems. If these people not eligible for loans from banks, then work some way out for them. The children can be transfered to schools in Tuan Mee area, for example. Look for solution, not excuse!

And who cares who sees you. I’m not interested in meeting MB or PM or Donald Duck. I just want my problems solved easily, not waste time chasing for appointment and listening to sweet words, but still end up in square one. The protesters also must think of solutions and suggest it.

The residents have to realise, when Tuan Mee estate closes down, the same thing will happen again.

A group of workers from the Coalfield oil palm plantation in Sungai Buloh are decrying the management’s tactics to ‘force’ them to vacate their houses.

Spokesperson Lobat Rajoo said water and electricity supply have been cut to the quarters occupied by 25 families even though negotiations are pending over the eviction order.

“We have had to resort to bathing in the river,” he told reporters, after he and other affected workers held a meeting with leaders of the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) in Petaling Jaya.

He claimed that a further source of frustration was that utility supplies remain connected to some of the vacated houses.

The group had been told to move out by Dec 1, as the site has been earmarked for commercial development.

The families have been offered low-cost housing units near the estate, but are unable to purchase these for various reasons.

Following this, the management reassigned them to the Tuan Mee Estate, some 7km away, where they will be given houses.

Lobat said many in the group are third-generation estate workers and resisting relocation because of the costs that will be incurred. For example, their children will have to travel a longer distance to attend school.

Malaysiakini made several phone calls to the Coalfield estate manager’s office to seek comments, but these went unanswered.

‘State did try to help’

Selangor exco member Dr Xavier Jayakumar, who oversees estate workers’ affairs, said the state has tried to intervene, even though the matter involves an industrial dispute.

However, some of the workers, including Lobat’s group, do not qualify for bank loans to buy the low-cost houses.

He denied allegations that Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, the state representative for the area, has ignored the plight of the affected workers.

“Khalid has met them twice – once at his office and once on the ground,” said Jayakumar (right), when contacted.

Hindraf activists and Malaysia Consumer Advisory Association president Varatharajoo Murugan, who accompanied the workers to the NUPW office, had earlier alleged that the state government has not been helpful to the group.

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Cabinet backtracks on SPM subject limit

December 5th, 2009
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After Samy’s not-so-subtle reminder that support for BN will erode, the government today revised its own decision. I’m still not clear on the details (and that is worrying too) – but more on that later. On one side, MIC is being praised for able to convince the government to allow students to take up to 12 subject for SPM, while on the hand, some consider this as fixing a problem which self-created in the first place. And shockingly, it needs intervention of PM to solve the problem.

For last 6 months since the implementation was announced, nothing moved. Education Department was strong on its stance, saying limit is 10 subjects as it was cabinet policy. The DG even mentioned about school-level certification,which made the Tamil groups’ blood boil because it looked as if downgrading the language.

Today, news came via FB that cabinet had listened to the points by Dr S.Subra and decided to revise (some already labelled it as flip-flop!) its own decision.

So, no protest next week. Who should we thank? I say Samy Vellu because he knew what words to say that will push the button in the right places. All this while, nothing much happened (Dr Subra said that MIC doing many things but cannot announce, and that’s why people may consider it not being proactive – me included). Well, if don’t announce what you doing, its like digging own grave. Same as like not updating websites. Not easy to have blogs and websites, you know.

The NGO’s also deserve a big thanks, because they decided to push the ante. If not, MIC may have not moved in to solve the problem and save itself more ridicule from the community.

Putera MIC started a petition, which is still in the hundreds of signatures. Should have done that earlier, much earlier. But hey, better late than never!

Who should not be thanked – Those late-comers from certain opposition political parties who issued statements recently. No news for last few month but now want to protest and “save” the Tamil language. No brownie points  for you guys.

OK, let’s move to the solution. I listened to radio and read two papers. Excerpts from Malaysiakini report as below while from  Star report is after that.

The cabinet has decided to allow students sitting for the SPM examination to take 12, instead of 10 subjects to let some students to take vernacular language papers.

The decision comes following strong protests from various groups, including MIC and MCA, who argued that the 10-subject cap would not bode well for the future of vernacular languages.

Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said students can include Chinese or Tamil and Chinese or Tamil literature subjects among the 10, but they will not be counted as “officially recognised” subjects.

“The cabinet has decided that the 10-subject cap will remain but we are giving some leeway for students to have options,” said Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister, after chairing the 65th National Land Council meeting in Putrajaya.

He said Education director-general Alimuddin Mohd Dom would provide a more detailed explanation on the matter soon.

According to Muhyiddin, students can still enrol for more than 10 subjects in SPM examinations if they find it useful, but only 10 would be officially recognised.

“They can take (more than 10 subjects) but it would not counted for purposes of scholarships and other matters. (Additional subjects) might be useful for example if someone wants to be a Tamil teacher and wants to show qualifications,” he said.

“They can take 12 or 11 subjects but it will not be considered in the 10 core and elective subjects,” stressed Muhyiddin.

The cabinet’s decision to limit 10-subject cap has caused outcry because vernacular languages would lose its official recognition at the SPM level.

… In an immediate reaction, MIC president S Samy Vellu lauded the cabinet for making the changes.

“I thank the prime minister and the deputy prime minister for agreeing to our (MIC’s) request,” he said.

Yesterday, Samy Vellu had appealed to Najib Abdul Razak to step in and resolve the issue.

“The prime minister has heard and acted on our request,” said the MIC president, adding that the cabinet’s decision reflected the true spirit of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept.

“The prime minister has understood the feelings of the Indian community. He is a true leader for all Malaysians,” he said, adding that Najib should be congratulated for making a bold move.

Samy Vellu said he hoped the issue will be put to rest, and all concerned parties will accept the decision.

“Tamil language and Tamil literature will continue to flourish in this country with the cabinet’s decision,” he said.

He said that the cabinet’s decision proved that all issues can be resolved through negotiations with the government and not through other means.

“We (the MIC) will continue with this (negotiations) on other issues and I am confident that the government under Najib’s leadership will strive to do the best for the people of all races,” he said.

Samy Vellu also congratulated MIC vice-president Dr S Subramaniam, who is also the human resources minister for securing a solution to the long-standing issue in today’s cabinet meeting.

The Star:

Students sitting for the SPM examination can take two additional subjects but exam results will only be based on 10 subjects, said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the matter was decided by the Cabinet request by certain quarters that the ministry allowed students to sign up for 12 subjects.

Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister said the matter was also raised in the Cabinet meeting by Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

“The Cabinet has decided to give students the flexibility to take two additional subjects for their SPM exams. However, the results of the two additional subjects will not be counted as part of the SPM results. Their SPM results will be based on the 10 main subjects.

“Education director-general (Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom) will announce the details soon,” he told reporters after chairing the National Land Council meeting Friday.

Muhyiddin said if a student took 12 subjects for SPM, results that would be considered for scholarships, for instance, would be based on the 10 main subjects.

“However, if a student aspired to become a Tamil language teacher, the results of the additional subjects may be used to determine if they qualify to sign up for such courses,” he said.

Recently, youth wings from MIC, Gerakan, MCA and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had asked the Education Ministry to review its decision to cap the number of subjects in the SPM examination at 10.

They wanted students be allowed to sit for 12 subjects to cater to those keen on Literature or Tamil or Chinese languages.

So, what does it mean? We have two category of subjects: core and elective (which have own sub-branches). For Science stream there are 5 core subjects, and 6 for Arts stream students. Science stream students would take 4 subjects from pure science group, so total nine subjects have been taken, leaving room for one more subject that will be counted for 10 official subjects. That means the Science stream student can choose to take any one from the following: Geography, Accounts, Economy, Tamil, Mandarin, Tamil Literature, Chinese Literature, Malay Literature, English Literature, Arts etc. After that, he/she can choose another two subjects from any group as per his interest. For Arts stream, its similar except that the core subjects are 6, thus leaving only 4 place for elective subjects for the compulsory 10 places. OK, fair enough.

Question is, can the student choose language/literature subjects as part of the compulsory 10, or is it limited to the “extra two ” category?  We have to wait for the details later.

Anyway, its a simple solution, yet effective on the face of it. In fact I think I have read similar suggestion in one of the forums (lowyat or recom). Why wasn’t this done earlier? – could have saved lots of time and hassle. Makes me wonder if the public is smarter than leaders (obviously yes since more heads are better than one!) or even if the leaders are capable and competent in the first place.

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