Some members of the 17 squatter families whose wooden houses in Petanak near Sungai Sarawak in Kuching City were demolished on government's order yesterday are still hanging around the squatter site to wait for government help in finding alternative accommodation.

They are putting up temporarily behind some shophouses near the squatter site in make-shift tents until the authorities come forward and resettle them elsewhere.
One of them told malaysiakini that if conditions in the make-shift tents become unbearable because of the weather, they would seek shelter in the Petanak Market across the road.

On the eve of the demolition operation yesterday, the squatters comprising men, women and children camped inside the compound and on the road pavement at the Divisional Land Office in Badruddin Road.

For the last two years, the main entrance to the land office opposite the state police contingent headquarters was pad-locked, ostensibly to try and keep unwanted visitors out.

Yesterday, more than 50 enforcement personnel from the Land and Survey Department, equipped with the necessary tools, started demolishing the wooden houses from 9 am to 12 noon.

Some 100 police personnel, led by Kuching City deputy police chief Supt Tan Soon Tiong, stood by. The squatters watched helplessly and offered no resistance.

Land not for squatters

Meanwhile, Kuching social activist Dominique Ng who is also a lawyer representing the squatters, met with the Land and Survey Department senior legal officer Abdul Halim Sebli and his officers after the demolition was over.

''Although it is a fait accompli, we nevertheless handed the letter of appeal (against the demolition order) for the record over to the officers,'' Ng said.

He said Halim made it clear right that he had no power whatsoever over the matter.

Ng said one of the land officers even had the knack to say that there is no more land to offer squatters.

''I told them there is still plenty of land, except that the land is reserved for something else, and not for the present lot of squatters,'' Ng said.

According to officials, the government has stopped giving out small plots of land for re-settlement, preferring to encourage squatters and others to buy low-cost houses being built by government agencies.

''But this group of squatters are the hardcore poor. If you offer them low cost houses they can't afford to pay at all. What they want is small plots of land to build their own houses,'' Ng explained.

Ng said under Sarawak land laws, the Land and Survey Department can issue notice for demolition to take down illegally built houses in squatter areas.

''By the same token, the department has the authority to withdraw the notice (for the demolition order), although the act is now a fait accompli in view of yesterday's development at the site,'' he added.

Abdul Halim, when contacted, confirmed that he met Ng and other squatters' representatives but said he was not authorised to make any press statement without the state secretary's approval.