PETALING JAYA: Residents of PJS 1 here gave Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim’s aide the cold shoulder when he turned up at their protest.When Kevin Chong arrived around 10.30am, the residents told him off, saying they do not welcome the representatives of leaders who wanted to seek publicity from their suffering.
“When we highlighted the problem to Lim earlier, he told us to deal with the Pakatan Rakyat state government. Why are you here now?
“If you want to help, then bring the developer (Peter Brickwords Sdn Bhd) here,” said the residents.
Earlier, some 50 residents staged a peaceful protest urging Peter Brickworks to fulfil their demands before trying to evict them.
The developer had issued eviction notices to two families residing in the area early this month, which expired today.
However, Block E residents action committee chairman M Sugumaran had obtained an interim injunction against the developer and the court had fixed April 27 for the hearing.
“We held a meeting with the Petaling Jaya City Hall and the developer’s lawyers last Friday. The developer agreed to retract the eviction notices pending discussion,” said Sugumaran.
Calling on the developer to build their low-cost houses as promised seven years ago, he reminded the state government of its pledge that there would be no forced eviction in the state.“We want a written guarantee that our demands will be met,” he said.
The residents, who were formerly from Kampung Pinang, Kampung Petaling Tin and Kampung Muniandy, moved to the current place after being promised a low-cost flat in 2003.
However, the developer failed to build the flats citing an injuction obtained by the residents on the proposed site for the project.
Hindraf Makkal Sakthi pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar, who was present, criticised the state government for ignoring the plight of the residents for three years.
“Where is the change you promised? Pakatan claims that Selangor is a welfare state but I do not see any changes in the way it does things.
“If the developer fails to fulfil its promise, then the state government should intervne and build the houses for the residents,” he said.
