FOLLOWING a major victory in the Federal Court, settlers at the Taman Rimba Kiara (TRK) longhouse in Kuala Lumpur now look forward to receiving permanent housing. 

The residents, who have lived in their wooden homes for 42 years, are hoping that 200 houses will be built on the 1.6ha site they currently occupy. 

They agreed townhouses should be built for the 98 families there. 

TRK longhouse residents’ association chairman M. Sivakumar said it was time to move on and plan for better housing.  

“On April 30, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh came for a dialogue session where 90% of the residents turned up. 

“She clearly explained that landed property will be built for the residents. 

“Yeoh said some residents were asking for townhouses, terrace houses, and flats. Everyone had their own views. 

“But now all of them have agreed for townhouses to be built,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

It was earlier reported that Yeoh had urged residents to decide with one voice whether they would move into the new houses. 

“The original plan for housing was to give one unit for current families and one for the next generation,” she had said. 

“I will be meeting our prime minister soon and I want all of you to come in as one voice, say the same thing. 

“If four to five or even 10 people say different things, it’s extremely hard for me to do my work,” she added. 

Sivakumar said some houses had more than one family living in them.

“We have about six to seven people living in one home. I have two brothers and one sister; they are currently renting in other areas. 

“They (authorities) said they will give one home and the second home we have to purchase for RM175,000. 

“Our issue is we don’t think the residents here can afford to get bank loans (for a second house). So, we are asking for an additional unit so all the siblings can stay together,” he said. 

He added that to resolve the issue they would set up a committee to work with Yeoh and the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents’ association.   

“Based on our understanding, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has to look into the housing issue. We believe the federal government will fund the project. 

“So, we leave it to Yeoh to look into this.” 

Hoping to resettle in 2026 

Sivakumar said the longhouse settlers expected a resolution of all administrative issues relating to land titles by the year-end.  

“If we can settle all the administrative issues by year-end, we expect it will take about two years to build the homes. 

“We hope to be resettled back here in 2026.” 

On April 18, DBKL failed in its appeal to the Federal Court to reinstate the proposed TRK project in TTDI.

The apex court upheld the ruling by the Court of Appeal, which quashed the development order on April 27, 2021. 

DBKL, Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, and developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd had previously sought for the development order to be reinstated. 

TTDI residents had said then the project would destroy 10ha of the remaining green lungs in Kuala Lumpur. 

The residents had wanted newly minted Kuala Lumpur mayor Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to look into the matter. 

This, they said, included permanent housing for the longhouse families. – May 6, 2023.