THE residents of Kampung Baru, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, have turned to their local MP Rina Mohd Harun and Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim to help them get a better offer for giving up their homes for development.

After years of haggling with authorities, the residents want Rina, who is also women, family and community development minister and Shahidan to get down to the ground, meet the affected residents, and explain the situation to them.

Malay Agricultural Settlement Association (MAS) secretary Shamsuri Suradi, who is the mediator between the residents and authorities, said the two ministers have to meet the people and explain the situation to them.

He told The Malaysian Insight that if they do not do this, more than 200 residents will lose hope in them.

Shamsuri said there are now 98 units of terrace houses and flats involved in the matter, of which 27 units have agreed with the compensation, 37 units are holding back, while the rest have not been given any offer letter.

The majority of the residents are not happy with the offer of RM400 per sq ft that was made.

“When they wanted to build the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line, the offer was RM1,300 per sq ft but now they are only offering RM400,” Shamsuri said.

“The residents are also not sure that is going to be developed on their land.

“This is why Rina and Shahidan should also meet with the developer and get a black and white copy of the project, as the residents deserve to know what their land will be used for.”

The residents were given notice last week to prepare for eviction, which saw many of them taking their protest to the streets.

Compensation must be fair

Several residents told The Malaysian Insight if they must move, the compensation offered must be more than enough.

Retiree Ahmad Ibrahim, 59, said the RM400 per sq ft was daylight robbery.

“Our prime minister talks about the Keluarga Malaysia concept. Is this part of the concept,” he asked.

Ahmad said it was not right to evict residents who had been living here for decades just to build commercial housing projects for the rich.

The government had used the Land Acquisition Act to secure the land for development with a compensation of only RM400 per sq ft.

Mohd Yusop Suli ,72, who has been living there for over five decades, said that he is at the end of life and so would rather stay there until his last breath.

The retiree said he was shocked to receive a notice to vacate his residence after his mother’s estate was sold by his brother to a developer without his knowledge.

He said that he was told to vacate within 14 days from the date of the notice.

“My wife and I could not be bothered to leave this place even if they come here to evict us,” said the retiree.

He also questioned where all the ministers and MPs were, when they had come to the area during the election campaigns.

“They always promised us we would be in safe hands when they campaigned, but now they are nowhere to be seen,” he said.

Zalaha Yusof, 63, said most of the residents here who chose not to move were senior citizens and that this was the only place they had to call home.

She said those who accepted the offer had other houses to live in but that wasn’t the case for the rest.

“Even if I have to evacuate, the RM200,000 compensation is nowhere near enough,” Zalaha said

“I heard in the new development that is coming, each unit would cost about RM900,000, so they should at least pay us about RM500,000.

“Our houses are located literally in the middle of the city, so it’s almost insane to just pay us off with RM200,000,” said Zalaha, who is a retiree and lives with her three sisters.

Zalaha also said it would be impossible for her to find a new house in the city with RM200,000

During the Pakatan Harapan administration, then Federal Territories minister Khalid Samad had made an offer of RM850 plus RM150 per sq ft to the residents of Kampung Baru to buy their land.

He managed to get the consent of up to 63% of the population to the proposed purchase by the government.

At the time, the opposition, including then opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said the government could not use the Land Acquisition Act to develop Kampung Baru except to build public facilities such as hospitals. – December 8, 2021.