Villagers give UDA pointers on eviction woes
Susan LoonePublished: Jan 26, 2011 11:31 PM | Updated: Jan 27, 2011 3:37 AM
Be friendly. Treat the people as a community, not as individuals, and do your social duty to the nation.
This sums up the message the people of Kampung Tanjong Tokong, affected by a massive redevelopment project in their area, have given developer UDA Holdings Bhd.
Be friendly. Treat the people as a community, not as individuals, and do your social duty to the nation.
This sums up the message the people of Kampung Tanjong Tokong, affected by a massive redevelopment project in their area, have given developer UDA Holdings Bhd.
Kg Tanjong Tokong Residents Association chairperson Mohd Salleh Yahaya said the community did not oppose the development. In fact, they had asked for it.
However, they want it carried out with their interests considered. The association was set up to address their eviction woes.
UDA, Salleh said, was set up to help the Malays, not to steal their land, drive them away or make commercial gains for itself from Malay land.
"Please carry out a proper survey that includes everyone in the village. Do not just consider those who agree with your terms and conditions," he said.
"By saying the majority has agreed to their offer is to look down at the community on the whole. UDA, as a government concern, has failed the Malays."
Salleh was responding to UDA chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed's statement that "only a handful" in the village were making unreasonable demands on the developer.
Nur Jazlan (left) told Malaysiakini yesterday that the "tyranny of the minority" should not be allowed to prevail over the wishes of the majority, which in this case, has agreed to UDA's offer to give them 800sq-ft flats worth RM150,000.
Nur Jazlan, who is also the MP for Pulai, was in Penang to propose to the state exco that an independent committee be set up to resolve the complaints of the 268 households in the village.
He has courted anger over his media statements on Jan 17 and 18 that the villagers, who have been living there close to 200 years, are "squatters".
At least two police reports have been filed against Nur Jazlan, and the villagers have also demanded that he retracts his statement and makes a public apology to them - which he has flatly refused.
On Tuesday, 30 villagers went to the UDA office in Bertam to submit a memorandum on this matter, but the UDA chief's representative there refused to meet them.
This group, which calls itself the "Voice of the Kg Tanjong Tokong Residents", is a loose network of various groups, including the Umno-linked Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS).
'We may take our case to Tenang'
Salleh said the villagers were also considering going to Tenang to explain to the Felda folk there about how government-linked developers such as UDA were making profits out of the Malay people's miseries.
They could well be running out of time to do this, for the people of Tenang go to the polls on Sunday.
"UDA's proposals always seem wonderful... however, after it gets the land to develop its projects, it declares the local people there as squatters," Salleh said.
"I am sure that if we explain the real situation to the rakyat, our testimony will have a big impact on BN, especially in the coming general election," he added.
This sums up the message the people of Kampung Tanjong Tokong, affected by a massive redevelopment project in their area, have given developer UDA Holdings Bhd.
Kg Tanjong Tokong Residents Association chairperson Mohd Salleh Yahaya said the community did not oppose the development. In fact, they had asked for it.
However, they want it carried out with their interests considered. The association was set up to address their eviction woes.
UDA, Salleh said, was set up to help the Malays, not to steal their land, drive them away or make commercial gains for itself from Malay land.
"Please carry out a proper survey that includes everyone in the village. Do not just consider those who agree with your terms and conditions," he said.
"By saying the majority has agreed to their offer is to look down at the community on the whole. UDA, as a government concern, has failed the Malays."
Salleh was responding to UDA chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamed's statement that "only a handful" in the village were making unreasonable demands on the developer.Nur Jazlan (left) told Malaysiakini yesterday that the "tyranny of the minority" should not be allowed to prevail over the wishes of the majority, which in this case, has agreed to UDA's offer to give them 800sq-ft flats worth RM150,000.
Nur Jazlan, who is also the MP for Pulai, was in Penang to propose to the state exco that an independent committee be set up to resolve the complaints of the 268 households in the village.
He has courted anger over his media statements on Jan 17 and 18 that the villagers, who have been living there close to 200 years, are "squatters".
At least two police reports have been filed against Nur Jazlan, and the villagers have also demanded that he retracts his statement and makes a public apology to them - which he has flatly refused.
On Tuesday, 30 villagers went to the UDA office in Bertam to submit a memorandum on this matter, but the UDA chief's representative there refused to meet them.
This group, which calls itself the "Voice of the Kg Tanjong Tokong Residents", is a loose network of various groups, including the Umno-linked Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS).'We may take our case to Tenang'
Salleh said the villagers were also considering going to Tenang to explain to the Felda folk there about how government-linked developers such as UDA were making profits out of the Malay people's miseries.
They could well be running out of time to do this, for the people of Tenang go to the polls on Sunday.
"UDA's proposals always seem wonderful... however, after it gets the land to develop its projects, it declares the local people there as squatters," Salleh said.
"I am sure that if we explain the real situation to the rakyat, our testimony will have a big impact on BN, especially in the coming general election," he added.
View Comments0