SEVEN Taman Manggis public housing tenants in Penang have engaged a lawyer to challenged their eviction.

Counsel Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz said the eviction was illegal because there was no court order.

This was against Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act 1950 and Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, he said, adding that state secretary Farizan Darus has been informed of the matter via a notice today.

“The state government has trespassed and committed an act of crime by threatening the people.

“They had threatened to lock them in their homes if they refused to cooperate during the eviction on Wednesday.

“If this is true, they can be sued,” he told reporters at Komtar, where six of the seven families are camping out to protest against their eviction

Khairul Azam, who had a discussion with the government earlier, said the tenants had been told they have the right to sue, but any decision on the matter will be known only next week.

He said discussions with the state authorities would now be done through lawyers.

Earlier today, the state decided to allow the tenants to return home for three days, until Monday, to pack.

The state Housing Department had locked the homes on Wednesday.

“They must understand that they are ineligible to stay there any more. We are going to give the units to those who need them,” state housing exco Jagdeep Singh Deo told The Malaysian Insight.

But defiant tenants have declined the offer because it does not solve their housing problem.

Nazrimah Jamal Abidin, 44, said she was called up to the Housing Department’s office in Komtar this afternoon and told to sign some papers to unlock her house.

“But they would not let me read the papers, saying that it was just formality in case anything had gone missing from my house since they locked it. 

“I called the lawyer and ask what I should do. He told me to take a photo of the document, but the department officer said no because it was confidential.

“How could I sign it? What happens after the three days? I will still not have a home on Monday.

“So, the three-day offer is off,” she said.

Nazrimah’s husband, Mohd Kadim Kutnan, 51, said he had no idea, except that they have no choice but to fight and hope for a solution to their housing woes.

“Now we have the lawyer helping us. We have to see how things go,” said the Indonesian.

Kadim’s citizenship made the family ineligible to stay at the PPR. 

The couple has eight children, with seven living with them. Their Form 2 daughter has an exam on Monday.

“The CM and Jagdeep should come and see us to talk this out,” Kadim said, referring to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

Another tenant Teoh Koon Beng, 65, said there was no way he could find another home to rent in three days.

Renting another place could cost him RM500 to RM600 a month, which he said was too much when he no longer has an income.

“It is not that I am unwilling to accept the eviction. I just need more time to sort things out and find a place to move to.

“How do you pack up in three days? Even a week is not enough,” said the retired hawker who lived in the flat with his wife.

Teoh said he never owed rent throughout the 12 years he lived at Taman Manggis, but the way he was locked out on Wednesday made it seemed like he owed a lot of rent.

“They said I can’t stay there any more because I have a house, but that place is gone now.” – March 8, 2019.