Prince of YTL and the Paupers of Kg Chubadak

Don't tell me about modern rules on land ownership, titles, land grant, and the various legalities. This is all man-made laws and regulation that can be adjusted should there be interest to seek social justice.

Even though, this is just a matter of the heart and probably there had been a settlement offered, a Kuala Lumpur High Court Order in 1998 to give the people of Kg Chubadak that started the village. Mostly the subsequent legal process did not favour them

The point is there is rationale to give the land to them. But to whom will the land to be given to?

The land supposedly belonging to the Kg. Chubadak squatters made "paupers" will be given to the YTL monopoly prince living in a new avant garde palatial home on a hill.

The Malay Mail has the story:

Malaysia

Counting down the days, Chubadak villagers keep their vigil

By Zurairi AR
June 16, 2014

Wahidah showing where her house used to stand before it was demolished by DBKL. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — Wahidah Md Salleh, 73, had the worst day of her life a week ago.

Officers from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) forcibly packed her things in a truck and told her to leave. Then they demolished the house she had lived in for nearly 50 years in Kg Chubadak Tambahan, Sentul.

When DBKL returned on Thursday, Wahidah was ready.

She faced her tormentors in angry defiance, a picture of her taken that day immortalising her uphill struggle.

With her right fist upraised, her other hand on the wheel of a yellow backhoe loader with the letters “DBKL” on it, the photo has been making rounds online, including in a poster emblazoned with the words “Capitalist Bastards.”

The photo of Wahidah that has been making rounds online.

“Oh dear, I looked like a crazy woman,” said the chatty religious teacher, laughing when The Malay Mail Online met her in the village over the weekend and showed her the photo for the first time.

When asked what drove her to confront the DBKL, she replied: “I was angry. I was angry of constantly being manipulated all these years.”

In 1998, the Kuala Lumpur High Court decided that the land belonged to the people who like Wahidah had started the village. The court added that if the area was to be developed the people must be compensated with an amount equal to the value of their settlement.

However by 2008, DBKL had listed down Kg Chubadak Tambahan as squatters’ settlement under the 2020 Kuala Lumpur City Plan, together with five other villages.

On Monday last week, three houses were demolished by DBKL as part of a clearing process that had started in 2013 in order to make way for future development.

Originally from Lenggong in Perak, Wahidah moved into Kg Chubadak in 1968 when she married her bus driver husband, Halim Hamid, who had already been staying there for four years.

(from left) Wahidah Md Salleh,73 Halim Hamid, 75 and Abdul Hamid Mohd Saad,60 sit and chat amidst the demolished house at Kg Chubadak in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Halim, now a frail man of 75 with bad hearing and eyesight, denied that the villagers were squatters as labelled by DBKL, and explained that they were pioneers who had settled there for decades.

“It was Datuk Harun who brought us here,” Halim said, referring to Datuk Harun Idris, the Selangor mentri besar who served between 1964 and 1968.

“He asked us to open up the land, so that more Malays could stay. Starting from there, one by one all of us arrived.”

He pointed out that originally there were only three families — two Malay and one Pakistani — in the former mining plot, while the surrounding area was mostly occupied by Indian labourers.

The village was allegedly named Chubadak after a place with the same name in Sumatera, Indonesia, where some of the original settlers came from.

A child plays among the debris in Kg Chubadak, Sentul. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

At its peak, Halim said there were over 200 families who migrated to the kampung from all over the country, but they have mostly left after developers took over most of the lands, paying out RM7,000 for each family and a house in the Batu Muda People’s Housing Programme (PPR).

According to Halim, the developer had bought over the land from the Land and Mines Office, which had neglected to take note of the villagers’ status as urban explorers.

The demolition was, however, temporarily halted on Thursday after NGOs and PAS representatives managed to obtain a High Court injunction, staying the demolition until the case is heard on June 26.

With less than two weeks left, Wahidah and Halim have vowed to live out the remaining days in their garage which was left untouched. They are keeping guard against any move by DBKL to stealthily knock down the few remaining houses in the village.

“I will defend this village to the death. We have been here even when this was a horrible place. Now they easily want to take our lands away from us,” said Halim.

“We are the only ones who are still strong-willed,” Wahidah said, pointing out that she had made a pact with her neighbour and best friend, Mahwiah Daud, 58, to see out their remaining days in the village.

“People advise us to just move out, but they do not know the pain of fighting for our rights,” said Mahwiah, also a religious teacher.

Mahwiah’s house was also torn down on Monday, but her family of ten cannot move into the tiny flat provided for them because it still lacks electricity.

The flat is just 650 square feet in size.

A man rummages among the debris for things that can be salvaged in Kg Chubadak after DBKL demolished some houses there. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Mahwiah’s husband, quantity surveyor Abdul Hamid Mohd Saad, 60, has since pitched a tent in front of their demolished house and filled it with several sofas, where the four spend most of their time enjoying the cool breeze during the afternoon.

“After this, we might not see each other again like this. We were neighbours here, but we would not be anymore in the flats. This is what I am most sad about,” said Wahidah.

The two women also said that they would miss tree-filled patch of land behind their houses where Wahidah reared chickens.

“Even if the government could give us a little bit of land, that would be great. We could at least plant chillies,” said Mahwiah, who said that they were previously promised landed houses in Tanjung Karang, Selangor.

With the Muslim fasting month set to start at the end of June, the families also lamented that they would be celebrating Aidilfitri elsewhere, not in the houses they have lived in for so long.

“Every time I am saddened with my fate, I try to console myself: I am a Muslim, I can fast anywhere,” Wahidah added.

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Usual, the prequel to any eviction of squatters will be the burning of homes by arsonist by developers and usually in collusion with the developers. Read of the incident of 7 homes in 2009 in Berita Harian here.

As as DBKL is concern, they are merely doing their job and carrying instruction. By right, UMNO Seceretary General and Minister for Federal Territory, Dato Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor could something.

Unfortunately, as former corporate businessman and knowing what he is behind the politician/businessman facade, he usually would agree with the viewpoint and interest of Chinese capitalist 'bastards'.

Mostly unlikely he could stand up to any corporate businessmen with the ability to torch another human's home.

The Malay Mail report further:

Malaysia

In final plea, KL mayor tells Chubadak folk to move out, not squat

By Zurairi AR
June 17, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib urged villagers recently evicted from their homes in Kg Chubadak Tambahan in Sentul to move out to the flats awarded by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) instead of illegally occupying the land.

According to the Kuala Lumpur mayor last night, the villagers’ decades-old houses were demolished because the land no longer belongs to them, as it has been sold to developers who now have the right to develop the area.

“You have to understand, the land belongs to somebody else. But we still try to solve the issue, even when they have settled on private land,” Ahmad Phesal told The Malay Mail Online last night.

“They have to move out. We have let them to stay in a better condition. It is better than living in that area. Until when do they want to occupy other people’s land?”

The evicted villagers were awarded RM7,000 for each family by the developer, and a house in the Batu Muda People’s Housing Programme (PPR).

However, some have complained that they cannot move in yet as there was still no electricity supply.

Ahmad Phesal was attending a meeting last night with residents of five heritage villages in the Gombak area, but a resident had pointed out that Kg Chubadak was absent from the list.

The mayor told The Malay Mail Online that residents from Kg Chubadak were not invited as they were not involved with the road upgrade exercise DBKL was proposing last night.

The proposal was however met with resistance from most residents from the five villages, who do not wish to give up their land.

Despite that, he insisted that Kg Chubadak, Kg Chubadak Tambahan, and others in the vicinity also count as heritage villages.

In 1998, the Kuala Lumpur High Court decided that the land in Kg Chubadak belonged to the people who had started the village. The court added that if the area was to be developed the people must be compensated with an amount equal to the value of their settlement.

However by 2008, DBKL had listed down Kg Chubadak Tambahan as squatters’ settlement under the 2020 Kuala Lumpur City Plan, together with five other villages.

On Monday last week, three houses were demolished by DBKL as part of a clearing process that had started in 2013 in order to make way for future development.

The demolition was, however, temporarily halted on Thursday after NGOs and PAS representatives managed to obtain a High Court injunction, staying the demolition until the case is heard on June 26.

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