Bukit Jalil estate residents are at wit's end over Kuala Lumpur City Hall's (DBKL) insistence on relocating them to a public housing project in Taman Muhibbah - and have just a week to avoid impending action.

Eviction notices served on June 14 and July 16 gave the 30 families - some of whom have lived there for over 30 years - until yesterday to vacate their houses. The units are to have be pulled down today.

A harrowing two weeks of calls and hastily-convened meetings resulted in a reprieve by way of a letter from the federal territories ministry ordering the suspension of the demolition exercise.

"At 10.30pm yesterday, we received the letter addressed to our (Bandar Tun Razak) member of Parliament Tan Chai Ho, stating that the demolition exercise was put off for a week," said spokesperson T Thilagan, 54, when contacted today.

The Bukit Jalil estate, believed to be the last of the plantations in Kuala Lumpur, was acquired by the government in July 1980 for the purposes of development.

Until 1994, DBKL had even hired the residents - through private contractors - to tap rubber. Many of them are members of the National Union of Plantation Workers.

Since then, however, rubber trees have made way for the ultra-modern Bukit Jalil sports complex - built to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games - and the equally impressive Bukit Jalil Golf Club.

'Treat us fairly'

In June, about 30 other families of the estate accepted DBKL's offer and moved to the Taman Muhibbah low-cost flats.

Thilagan said the remaining families refused to agree to the "legal extortion" of the authorities.

Citing DBKL's application of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 (Clearance of Squatters Regulations) in its eviction notices, he said the residents are demanding to be treated fairly and accorded their rights.

"We are not squatters who built a settlement over somebody's land or who are staying here illegally. We are residents and former workers of what used to be a rubber estate," said Thilagan, who claims to have been living there for 40 years.

"We deserve proper compensation. If others can be treated properly and given their rights, why not us?"

The residents had earlier stated their preference for terrace houses rather than units in low-cost flats.

A meeting on July 2 between several residents and the deputy head of DBKL's economic planning and development co-ordination department, had eventually led to the eviction and demolition exercise being suspended.

Since then, however, none of the officials will agree to meet with residents, to discuss their demands for a fairer deal, said Thiagalan.

When contacted, an aide to Mayor Abdul Hakim Borhan ( photo ) said DBKL will issue a statement on the issue by tomorrow.

In June, DBKL had said part of the site is slated for a temporary detention centre, to relieve over-crowding at the KL Remand centre (formerly Pudu Jail).