When Najib Razak announced that residents of Chinese new villages will be given assistance under the 10th Malaysia Plan, many thought it would be in the form of infrastructure development.

Instead, the prime minister revealed that the government would provide soft loans with an initial fund of RM100 million to assist villagers to pay their land premiums and renewals of leasehold.

For those who have been living in these villages for at least three decades, it was a good gesture by the government.

yap pian hon interview 190705 explaining "This is the first time such assistance is being given to Chinese new villages," MCA veteran Yap Pian Hon told Bernama .

Yap, a former Selangor executive councillor in charge of new villages, said there were about 452 new villages throughout the peninsula with 280,000 households.

"In terms of population, there are about 1.2 million people staying in these villages. The largest is in Seri Kembangan which has 2,200 households," he said.

Seri Kembangan, formerly known as the Serdang New Village, had since mid-1990s turned into a vibrant business hub with prominent developments sprouting up nearby which include among others, the Taman Equine township and the Pasar Borong Selangor.

Unfair to the poor

However, Yap, who was born and still residing in the new village, called for more attention to be given to these villages, saying no proper development plans had been put in place for them.

"It is important for the government to follow up on the New Village Master Plan that was prepared by the Housing and Local Government Ministry in 2002 which remains only on paper until today," he said, adding that the main issue for the villagers was land titles as most of them were given a lot of between 3,000 and 6,000 sq ft each either on a 30, 60 or 99 years leasehold.

"The government should consider converting the title to a freehold status or amend the National Land Code to create a single policy on new village land, which the premium should not be based on market price because this would be unfair to the poor," he said.

chinese new village 220408 04 Though welcoming the RM100 million fund, villagers also hoped that the government would seriously look into finding a permanent solution to their land issues.

As pointed out by Yap Wee Leong, 46, a businessman, residents had been working hard to pay the premium especially when the rates were raised in recent years.

He explained that many villagers had no intention of moving out and wanted to stay there for as long as possible.

"Why can't there be a standard premium based on flat rate for the renewal of land lease in all new villages instead of based on market value?" he asked.

Development fund not enough

Self-employed Ching Toong Kang, 44, said he was informed that the government allocated between RM30 and RM60 million annually for 452 new villages throughout the country for infrastructure development such as road and drainage.

chinese new village 220408 03 However, Chin, who is a former village development and security committee chairman for Seri Kembangan New Village, said the amount was insufficient to improve the infrastructure of the 452 new villages.

There are 135 new villages in Perak, Johor (83), Pahang (56), Negeri Sembilan (44) and Selangor (42). Others are in Kedah (33), Kelantan (24), Melaka (19), Penang (9), Federal Territory (3), Terengganu (3) and Perlis (1).

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Thursday launched the RM100 million fund to help 1.2 million new villagers to own property and improve their social status while upgrading their residential areas.

A sum of RM15 million has been set aside for 2011, RM35 million for 2012, and RM50 million for 2013 to 2015.

- Bernama