Villagers get no help from ‘missing’ Negeri MB

Last updated on 04/11/2013 - 09:11

Posted on 02/11/2013 - 20:00

Alyaa Alhadjri

PETALING JAYA: Where was the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan when six families from Kampung Hakka in Mantin were “forcefully evicted” from their ancestral homes on Oct 31?

Presumably, he was busy campaigning for Barisan Nasional in the Sungai Limau state by-election in Kedah.

When contacted by theantdaily on Nov 1, Mohamad said he "just came back from Kedah" and abruptly cut off the telephone call at the mention of Kampung Hakka.

Subsequent calls to Mohamad went unanswered. 

Mohamad's glaring absence did not escape the notice of the affected villagers who lamented that their previous attempts to seek help from the state government were also “ignored”.

"The state government has washed its hands off the matter. We are just fighting for our rights to [fair] compensation," said Mohd Kamarul Mohd Ali, who is an affected resident from the Chinese-majority new village which dated back to the British colonial times. 

The area, which spans some 33 acres, is also home to the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Chi Chi alumni hall which was also demolished on Oct 31.

Kamarul said while the villagers can concede losing the case against private developer Mega 9 Housing Sdn Bhd and being declared as "squatters" on their “own” land, they should at least be offered adequate compensation and a new place to call home.

Kampung Hakka was originally built on Negeri Sembilan state land for tin miners from Hui Zhou, China, but it subsequently changed hands several times without the villagers' knowledge and ended up with the private developer.

"We went [and tried] to see the menteri besar but were ignored. And until today we have been trying to negotiate with the developer but they refused to meet," he claimed.

It was reported that 50 Kampung Hakka villagers led by its chief Chong Tza Yaw had on Oct 1 submitted a memorandum to Mohamad requesting for the state's intervention to resolve their plight.

"We realise that our case is now being fought in court. The menteri besar can, however, put pressure on or negotiate with the developer to compensate us with land so we can rebuild our homes," Chong reportedly said.

Reena Sir Muhammad, whose mother's house was among those demolished, has also said the villagers were told that a meeting was supposed to take place between the Negeri Sembilan state secretary Datuk Mat Ali Hassan and the developer on Oct 31 – giving them hope that their plight will be heard.

Theantdaily learnt that a “meeting” did take place a few hours after the incident, but it was not to specifically discuss demands made by the villagers.

Seremban MP Anthony Loke, meanwhile, said the state government has powers to "arm-twist" the developer into providing fair compensation through denying them approval to kick-start development projects on the acquired land.

This, he said, is similar to the move undertaken by the DAP-led Penang state government in handling the Kampung Buah Pala case. 

(The 200-year-old Kampung Buah Pala in George Town, Penang, was demolished in 2009 to make way for development.)

Kampung Hakka has the same storyline: the developer went ahead with the demolition allegedly in cahoots with the state government. 

The demolition proceeded although the developer was made aware of an ongoing application for a stay of execution (which was subsequently granted) and this has left the villagers angry and frustrated. 

"Ini polis 'banyak baik'. Untuk satu towkay punya pasal ada berapa banyak polis?" a villager snidely remarked, moments after police had arrested Loke and five other DAP elected representatives for holding a sit-in at the Chi Chi School alumni hall.

(Police are “too kind”. Look at how many came on duty for one developer.) 

A total of 19 people were arrested at the scene for allegedly obstructing the police and were detained at the Nilai district police headquarters. Some 50 villagers braved the heat and rain to stand in solidarity outside the police station gate which was chained shut.

When met at the police station, Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar also told the gathered villagers that the law which recognises the party with a land title as rightful “owner” of the land is "morally wrong" in cases such as theirs. 

All they wanted was a decent place to call home and unless the developer comes through with an acceptable offer for the villagers, the Kampung Hakka demolition will just be another case of the poor being made “victims” in the name of commercial development.