Residents of the Taman Permata Dengkil Flats have given the federal government until Sept 18 to come up with a solution to their housing dilemma, or they will shift their tents to Putrajaya.

"If they do not give us a satisfactory response, we will take other actions, such as moving to Putrajaya. But we don't know where - either the Prime Minister's Office or his home," the resident's association secretary N Kumaran said today.

NONE Kumaran was speaking to reporters after handing a memorandum, addressed to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, demanding that the government delivers its promise to build terrace houses for the group and state the date when the project would be executed.

The memorandum, which was received by an aide to the prime minister, also calls for a guarantee on the safety of the residents while their houses are being completed.

Kumaran was speaking on behalf of 400 families who were forced out of their flats after serious cracks appeared on their government-built units.

The people have been living in the tents since June 11 and the deadline of Sept 18 will mark their 100th day of doing so.

They are primarily former plantation workers from several oil palm estates, who were relocated to the flats to make way for the construction of the federal administrative capital of Putrajaya.

200 protest in front of PM's Office

This is their second memorandum to the PMO, aft her an earlier one was sent on June 13.

Since then, Minister of Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Abdul Rahman Dahlan had said the ministry was waiting for the Selangor government to alienate suitable land for the new houses, having previously rejected a former mining land that was deemed unsuitable.

However, Selangor state executive councillor V Ganabatirao had said that the state secretariat has written back to the Housing Department on July 4, saying that it is prepared to provide any land deemed suitable – approximately 30 acres – at no cost, provided that the federal government gives an undertaking to build the houses. 

Today, 200 of the residents gathered outside the PMO to demand action from the federal government.

The spent about an hour, from 10.45am, holding banners and chanting slogans such as “Long Live the People”, “Don’t cheat the poor”, and “We want terrace houses”.

“Prime minister, please don’t wait until we die,” one banner read. Also present were members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and the NGO Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit), which have been championing the issue.

Two of the residents passed out during the protest, while another had what appeared to be an epileptic seizure and was rushed off in an ambulance.