In its rush to strengthen its coffers and qualify for city status, the Seremban Municipal Council has been ruthlessly levying a very high assessment rate on property-owners especially in the Seremban 2 area over the last couple of years. Appeals for a reduction, because of the difficult times, fell on deaf ears.

At 13 percent, residents of Seremban 2 must be paying one of the highest, if not the highest, rates in the country, in comparison to residents of prime areas like UEP Subang Jaya, who are paying only 5 percent. Out of desperation, a group of Seremban 2 residents, with the full support of the whole Seremban 2 community, filed and won a High Court suit against the high rate in August last year.

However, this year the Seremban 2 residents received another rude shock when they are once again slapped with the same 13 percent assessment rate. News among the grapevine is that only the small group which had filed and won the suit are being given a reprieve from the high assessment rate. This has given rise to a highly unfair and inequitable situation of two different rates in the same area - a lower rate for those who could afford a legal suit against the council and a higher rate for the silent, suffering majority.

The Seremban 2 residents hope that the Local Government Ministry will intervene and redress this inequitable treatment meted out on them despite the solid support they had given the government in the last general election.