KUALA LUMPUR, 10 MARCH, 2011: Farmers of Bukit Jalil estate handed a memo to government representatives of Government and Opposition today at Parliament regarding a notice from DBKL asking them to move out from their homes.According to the farmers, they were issued an eviction notice by DBKL on March 1 ordering them to move out in 14 days, or else their houses would be demolished on March 15.
The 14 representatives who represented 41 families and farmers of Bukit Jalil estate were accompanied by PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah and Tian Chua, PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar and Shah Alam PAS MP Khalid Samad.All the 14 representatives along with the MPs gathered outside the parliament gate before marching their way into Parliament.
In the memorandum which was addressed to the Prime Minister, the farmers demanded the PM to get involved to settle this problem.According to them, the estate is considered as one of the oldest estates in Klang Valley and that they have lived there since 1940, and now they are in their fourth generation.The farmers demanded for the government to leave out four acres of the land which they were born on, out of the 26 acres that is left, for them to build their houses on.
“The notice they gave us was just a piece of paper… they never stated under what Act or all these things. You can’t simply file instructions on a piece of paper that says ‘Notis Pemberitahuan’,” said a representative from Bukit Jalil estate, S Thiakakarjan.According to Thiakakarjan, so far DBKL has never made any response on that matter.“They just couldn’t bother… they’re just neglecting us and closing their eyes,” he said.
In a Malaysian Digest interview with another representative, Nalimi from Suaram, she basically said the farmers are here to demand the PM to stop the eviction in Bukit Jalil. “We want them to take back the notice because the notice didn’t mention any law that they’re going to use against us… and it’s a very illegal notice. Secondly, we demand for the four acres of land,” said Nalimi E who is a coordinator from Jerit.Nalimi said the DBKL is misusing their power and they are going to do an illegal eviction because the notice that they had issued is illegal as the notice did not mention any laws they were to act under.
“Basically the letter is nothing… it is illegal… it just says that ‘we are coming and going to evict you’,” she said.She also said they have already appointed lawyers to send a notice to DBKL to ask them under what they were evicting the farmers.“If it’s illegal you should stop now and also we are demanding the prime minister to stop the illegal demolition and call us for a proper negotiation because all this while they just called us… They didn’t really want to negotiate with us. They’re just saying we’re going to offer you this, this and this… and they’re not asking our opinion on this offer, and until today they haven’t called us for any negotiation,” said Nalimi.
According to her, they just asked the farmers to hear their offer and that is not a negotiation at all.“We hope that the prime minister with his slogan, “Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan’, put it into action and not simply talk the slogan. If he’s committed to resolve this problem then we’ll salute them (the government), but if he fails, that shows his hypocrisy… or the government’s hypocrisy,” she added.Meanwhile, in a press conference by Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar, he said the farmers were offered RM22,000 and some were given a meager RM11 as compensation which they cannot even buy a house with.
Jeyakumar said he will present this issue to be debated in parliament hopefully by Monday as this issue does not involve only one estate but this effects all estates in Malaysia that are being developed. He said there is a gap in the law that does not compensate houses and we have to look into it and hopefully it can be discussed on Monday.The Bukit Jalil estate used to be a 1,800 hectare land but after the development of Bukit Jalil Stadium, the LRT Station and remand center, only 26 hectares are left.
In 1973, then prime minster Tun Abdul Razak introduced the Own Housing Scheme in which employers of estates were to build homes for their workers who in general are poor people. However, this never happened despite the workers demanding the homes in 1976.
Source : http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/18656-bukit-jalil-estate-farmers-hand-memo-at-parliament-over-eviction-notice.html
The 14 representatives who represented 41 families and farmers of Bukit Jalil estate were accompanied by PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah and Tian Chua, PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar and Shah Alam PAS MP Khalid Samad.All the 14 representatives along with the MPs gathered outside the parliament gate before marching their way into Parliament.
In the memorandum which was addressed to the Prime Minister, the farmers demanded the PM to get involved to settle this problem.According to them, the estate is considered as one of the oldest estates in Klang Valley and that they have lived there since 1940, and now they are in their fourth generation.The farmers demanded for the government to leave out four acres of the land which they were born on, out of the 26 acres that is left, for them to build their houses on.
“The notice they gave us was just a piece of paper… they never stated under what Act or all these things. You can’t simply file instructions on a piece of paper that says ‘Notis Pemberitahuan’,” said a representative from Bukit Jalil estate, S Thiakakarjan.According to Thiakakarjan, so far DBKL has never made any response on that matter.“They just couldn’t bother… they’re just neglecting us and closing their eyes,” he said.
In a Malaysian Digest interview with another representative, Nalimi from Suaram, she basically said the farmers are here to demand the PM to stop the eviction in Bukit Jalil. “We want them to take back the notice because the notice didn’t mention any law that they’re going to use against us… and it’s a very illegal notice. Secondly, we demand for the four acres of land,” said Nalimi E who is a coordinator from Jerit.Nalimi said the DBKL is misusing their power and they are going to do an illegal eviction because the notice that they had issued is illegal as the notice did not mention any laws they were to act under.
“Basically the letter is nothing… it is illegal… it just says that ‘we are coming and going to evict you’,” she said.She also said they have already appointed lawyers to send a notice to DBKL to ask them under what they were evicting the farmers.“If it’s illegal you should stop now and also we are demanding the prime minister to stop the illegal demolition and call us for a proper negotiation because all this while they just called us… They didn’t really want to negotiate with us. They’re just saying we’re going to offer you this, this and this… and they’re not asking our opinion on this offer, and until today they haven’t called us for any negotiation,” said Nalimi.
According to her, they just asked the farmers to hear their offer and that is not a negotiation at all.“We hope that the prime minister with his slogan, “Rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan’, put it into action and not simply talk the slogan. If he’s committed to resolve this problem then we’ll salute them (the government), but if he fails, that shows his hypocrisy… or the government’s hypocrisy,” she added.Meanwhile, in a press conference by Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar, he said the farmers were offered RM22,000 and some were given a meager RM11 as compensation which they cannot even buy a house with.
Jeyakumar said he will present this issue to be debated in parliament hopefully by Monday as this issue does not involve only one estate but this effects all estates in Malaysia that are being developed. He said there is a gap in the law that does not compensate houses and we have to look into it and hopefully it can be discussed on Monday.The Bukit Jalil estate used to be a 1,800 hectare land but after the development of Bukit Jalil Stadium, the LRT Station and remand center, only 26 hectares are left.
In 1973, then prime minster Tun Abdul Razak introduced the Own Housing Scheme in which employers of estates were to build homes for their workers who in general are poor people. However, this never happened despite the workers demanding the homes in 1976.
Source : http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/18656-bukit-jalil-estate-farmers-hand-memo-at-parliament-over-eviction-notice.html
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