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| Kg Simpang Batu - DBKL agrees to postpone demolition to Monday |
KUALA LUMPUR, August 8 (ES) - At 9am they came, a motorcade of lorries, vans and motorcycles full of uniformed personnel. Their mission, to forcibly relocate the remaining five families in Kampung Simpang Batu.
They came without warning or advance notice, but the plucky villagers had other sources of information, and were not unprepared.
Assembled in the village to meet rampaging goliath was a ragtag team of fifteen, consisting of mostly girls and elderly women with the exception of a few.
Their weapon? Telling the truth. They spoke and pleaded to whoever they were facing at the moment, pleading their case. Not many of the members of the uniformed personnel however, were in attentive mood. They've seen it all before.
They came Monday but didn't say a thing
According to villager Normalawati,35, a Dewan Bandaray Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) reconnaisance team went to survey the area on Monday but did not the inform the villagers of any pending action.
"Luckily there were others aware of our plight and notified us."
"If not, there would almost be no one around as everyone would have gone to work, and they would come back with no roof over their heads," she continued.
"We went to Suhakam some time back and they said our application (to delay the eviction) is being considered," said Syeikh Mohamad, the unofficial head of the remaining Kampung Simpang Batu.
"Suhakam seems to be a toothless tiger. It has absolutely no power and can give only empty promises," he continued.
He said they were more than willing to move and relocate to the allocated housing, but they wanted the move to be delayed til November as they have school-going children, with several having their major exams e.g. SPM, PMR, this year.
"We are more than willing to die for our cause," he said.
Hisham, son of one of the original settlers said their families opened the land.
"For years our families made their living making tempe," he said, and wondered how they were going to make their ends meet living in flats and having to pay monthly rent.
PAS extremely dissapointed
"I am very dissapointed with the behaviour of the authorities," said PAS Workers and Urban Settlers Bureau head Anuar Tahir.
"These people are the original settlers here and have been living here even before the independence," he continued.
Anuar was of the opinion that there should be sufficient compensation for the villagers, and eviction notices should have been given before the government comes to flatten the village.
"I tried appealing several times on behalf of the villagers to the officers in charge of today's operation but was ignored," he added.
"This is definitely not in the spirit of the 50th Independence," he continued.
He said PAS will doing everything it can in the form of moral and material support to help the villagers in their plight.
In the middle of all the confusion, Anuar, who is also a PAS Central Working Committee managed to contact Suhakam Commissioner Dato' Subramaniam at 10.15 am who promised to come over immediately.
It was at this time that a house located at the fringe of the village started being torn down. This however was happening without any commotion as its occupants has agreed to move out.
Rethink miniscule compensation
Noraziah,33, a full-time housewife said the promised compensation of one thousand ringgit per household will not last them long.
"Three months rent amounting to almost RM400 will automatically be deducted from that amount," she said.
There will only be slightly more than RM600 remaining for us to start our lives over, she continued.
"Our village is located near to almost everything. We only need to walk to go to Chow Kit to buy fresh produce," she said.
Authorities move in
Completed demolishing the first house, the authorities started surrounding the three houses located at the centre of the villagers.
Several of the villagers, spotting the move, quickly barred themselves in their respective houses.
The remaining several others screamed and cried their hearts out to the authorities, pleading their houses be spared.
The scene was heart-breaking and several police and DBKL personnel was seen wiping the tears from their eyes.
This impasse last for nearly half an hour, and it is at this time the electricity supply to the houses were cut.
Seeing no peaceful solution to the stand-off, the DBKL chose another house located at the edge of the village to demolish.
As the officers descended upon the house, the owner's a middle aged woman and an elderly man, seeing it a lopsided battle, gave into the DBKL's wishes and allowed them to pack their things.
Rude officer a disgrace
After the second house was demolished, all attention was distracted from the issue at hand and everyone watched the DBKL's efforts to relocate a number of goats.
From the start of the demolitions, there were multiple attempts made by Anuar Tahir, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) strongman Tian Chua, and representatives of the villagers to delay the relocation.
The breakthrough came at one o'clock in the afternoon when a confirmation was made by the DBKL that the relocation has been halted, and villagers were given until Monday to move out.
Almost all the officers and staff of the authorities tasked with the relocation was apologetic and sympathetic with the villagers plight except for one, and they told the villagers they were just following orders from their higher-ups.
The single woman officer wearing a name-tag but her name withheld, shouted at a female journalist when she approached her to know what was really happening.
The officer rudely asked who was she asking all these questions, and when told she was a reporter, she screamed "Reporters are not wanted here," and turned her back. - ES
The full story will appear in the next edition of English Section print edition.
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