While massive development has enveloped the areas surrounding the Bukit Jalil estate in Kuala Lumpur, some 80 families are stuck in time - and a life in dilapidated surroundings.

All that these families of ex-estate workers have are the remnants of the past - vacant houses, collapsed rubber collection centres, and not a rubber tree in sight.

The Bukit Jalil estate, believed to be the last of the plantations in Kuala Lumpur, was acquired by the government in July 1980 for the purposes of development.

The rubber trees have long made way for the ultra-modern Bukit Jalil Sports Complex - built to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games - and the equally impressive Bukit Jalil Golf Club.

However the wave of modernisation eluded the residents, who have been forced to remain on the estate for lack of affordable housing.

To add to their frustration, workers from the neighbouring Kinrara estate were given alternative houses on the same site by a private property developer who developed the area into housing estates.

The ex-Bukit Jalil workers have one question: "Can't the government build us houses in this place for us?"

Their refusal to move out of the estate houses has led to their being labelled squatters by Kuala Lumpur City Hall, the owner of the land.

There are plans to convert the site into a crematorium-cum-cemetery, which only adds to the residents' distress.

"Politicians who visited us said they would help and promised that we would have all the basic amenities a housing estate should have. But until today, none of their promises has been kept," said long-time resident T Palanisamy, 68.

K Sadhasivam, 82, said he has lived in the estate all his life and does not want to leave the place.

The estate, locate about 20km south of Kuala Lumpur, lies close of Puchong, which is growing rapidly as a suburb.

Double standards?

In its heyday, Bukit Jalil estate provided residents with all the amenities they needed for shelter and health care. Now the nearest clinic is a distance away at the Jalan Klang Lama-Jalan Puchong junction.

The estate and its houses have not been maintained. Sanitation is poor and the garbage disposal system practically non-existent, while there is no proper water and electricity supply.

Independent researcher and activist S Nagarajan said the residents are angry over the apparent double standards of the authorities.

"Both this and the Kinrara estate were owned by the same plantation company. When Bukit Jalil estate was given to the government, the Kinrara estate was sold to a property developer," he said.

"However the outcome is so different for the residents. While these people are still struggling to obtain proper housing, those from Kinrara estate have settled as a community there.

"These former estate workers should not be considered squatters simply because KL City Hall bought the land on which they have been staying for decades."

Although the authority has offered the families units in low-cost flats in the vicinity, the majority have not taken up the offer.

Three families, however, have accepted the inevitable - tomorrow they will move out to the flats, with memories of the past packed with their belongings.

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