After putting up a stern and sustained fight to defend their homes for almost four months, Kampung Berembang villagers in Ampang today finally succumbed to the combined might of the local authorities and a private developer.

Today was the day the private developer succeeded in tearing down all the houses in the village to bring this 30-year-old settlement to rubbles.

At the end, the developers, with the assistance of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), managed to evict some 470 long time residents from the village - situated less than 10km from the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The operations started at 8am and was carried out by a private developer with instructions from Acmar International, a company which has entered into joint ventures with Permodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad (PNSB), the land owners.

The private demolition squad was aided by the police force and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU).

Villagers, together with activists from grassroots support group Jerit and student movement Dema, gathered inside remaining houses to prevent demolition.

A team of about 90 police personnel and 69 FRU personnel removed the squatters and gave way for the developers to tear down the houses which were left from the previous demolition exercise on Monday .

Then operation was temporarily halted after Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) intervened on behalf of the residents.

Yesterday, a negotiation between the developers and the villagers was called off with instructions from the Selangor state government.

This village has been a scene of chaos and destruction when MPAJ, backed by Rela, the police and the FRU, had failed to complete their demolition exercise on four occasions - Nov 17, 20 and 30, and last Monday.

Disobeying court order

Socialist Party of Malaysia's pro-tem secretary general, S Arutchelvan said the demolition exercise proves the authorities' abuse of power.

"We have two separate injunctions filed at the Shah Alam High Court to decide on the future of the land. The ex parte injunction will be heard on March 14, whereas the interim injunction will be heard on May 27. Until then, nobody has the right to demolish the village," he said.

"And here, we see brutal abuse of power by police who help the private developers to throw the villagers out of their homes with no respect to the injunctions," he added.

DAP state assemblyman for Sungai Pinang, Teng Chang Khim, who is also the lawyer representing the squatters, said that the injunctions only gave the developers the power to prevent squatters from building new houses in the area, and not to demolish the standing buildings.

Six arrested

According to Ampang Jaya police chief Amer Awal, the police were present to maintain the peace at the village after receiving a report from PNSB.

Also present at the site was Acmar International chairman and former state assemblyman for Morib, Samad Maharuddin. He declined to comment on the demolition works and said that he was there just to monitor the situation.

A total of six arrests were made today and two people were injured during the commotion between the squatters and authorities.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat Information chief Tian Chua and other five others, including three villagers, were arrested while trying to stop the demolition this morning.

They have been taken to the Ulu Klang police station at Taman Sri Keramat and the Ampang police station at Taman Dagang.

A PKR press statement said that they were likely to be held overnight and brought to court tomorrow morning.

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