Senior residents of Bukit Jalil estate - due to be evicted by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in four days - have refused to budge.

They said that the houses were given to them more than 50 years ago when they were brought in to work as rubber tappers.

"They want to break down my house, let them break it. I will stay right here," said feisty 73-year-old Nyanameh Arsevathan ( left ) when met outside her house this morning.

Nyanameh arrived at Bukit Jalil 40 years ago with her husband as young labourers soon after Merdeka,.

"For years, I have worked on this estate tapping rubber. My children grew up here. Now they can just easily tell us to leave. Where can we go?.

"I've been staying here up to now, (this house) is mine. Are they going to give me a house?" she asked.

The question was raised throughout malaysiakini's interviews with other Bukit Jalil residents, who also adamantly refused to take up the authorities' offer for them to relocate to the neighboring Taman Muhibbah low cost flats.

"When I die, I'll die here. If they break my house (down next week), I'll build it again once they leave," Nyanameh said with determination.

Wednesday deadline

The former rubber plantation, believed to be the last of the plantation settlements in Kuala Lumpur, was served with eviction notices on June 14 and July 16.

DBKL, citing the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 (Clearance of Squatters Regulations), have given the residents till next Wednesday to vacate their houses.

The residents, however, have militated against being categorised and treated as squatters and are demanding to be treated fairly and accorded their rights as rightful owners of the houses still standing.

From the 19th century onwards, they said, Bukit Jalil was one of many areas in Selangor with large thriving communities sustaining on rubber-extraction and tin mining activities.

In its heyday, the estate had all the amenities they needed for shelter and health care.

The present SRK Ladang Bukit Jalil, a stone's throw from Nyanameh's front door, is the same primary school that her daughter, V Loudesmary, attended when she arrived with her parents 34 years ago.

"I feel very sad. When they come to seek our votes, they recognise us (as estate residents)," said Loudesmary.

"Now, they say this is not an estate. These are squatters. How they came up with this label 'squatters' (for us) I don't know," she added.

'We are yet to be free'

In July 1980, the estate was acquired by the government for the purposes of development. DBKL had even hired the residents - through private contractors - to tap rubber.

Since 1994, however, the rubber trees have made way for such development projects as the ultra-modern Bukit Jalil sports complex and the equally impressive Bukit Jalil Golf Club.

While not against development, the only thing the residents have asked for is reasonable compensation for abandoning the houses that have been their homes for over four decades.

"I want my own house. I've been living here a long time, almost 60 years. I just want my own house," said K Sadhasivam, 82, the oldest remaining estate resident.

Another resident, retired army corporal Balakrishnan Kunjoo said the impending eviction and demolition exercise of Bukit Jalil estate is but a poor reflection of the 'progress' achieved elsewhere in the country.

"The country has been independent for 50 years, but residents of Bukit Jalil estate are yet to be free."

DBKL has yet to answer requests by malaysiakini for a response to the residents' concerns.

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