Last Sunday, there was a victory celebration at Ladang Midlands. The victory of the last batch of workers 25 families - finally agreeing to accept a settlement for moving out form the estate owners, concluding a bitter struggle which has stretched for 15 years. The last batch to leave the estate was the batch aligned with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).

They were the bravest, the last to settle and of course, the ones who got the best deal. According to history, Ladang Midlands was the first estate to be planted with rubber in Selangor in 1889 by a British company Highlands and Lowlands. Its early history is full of stories of suffering. At one time, the estate was called 'Ladang Air Kuning' (Yellow Water Plantation) because the water supplied was yellow in colour. This resulted in many deaths from malaria and cholera.

There were also heroic struggles and one such hero was Arikirishan, who led the plantation workers union in the 1950s. He is also remembered for organising a three-day strike in 1959 which ended victoriously. It was one of those fights put up by unions then which we hardly hear of today.

The story and struggle of Midlands Estate is full of twist and turns. There were many people involved and lots of betrayals to the working class.

After independence, Midlands was fragmented into smaller pieces of land. In 1963, a portion was sold off, where the CCM factory is now located at Padang Jawa. In 1970, Institut Teknologi Mara was built by the state government in another part of this vast plantation. In 1980, the State Economic Development Corporation (PKNS) bought over a portion of the estate from Guthrie (previously Highland & Lowlands). This was the lower part of the estate while the upper part remained with Guthrie.

Therefore the estate was divided into two main owners- PKNS at one end and Guthrie at the other. In 2001, those staying on PKNS land was offered house for RM25,000 without any compensation. This batch left the estate. Those who stayed in the upper land belonging to Guthrie had their services terminated in 1991 as Guthrie was planning to sell this land.

Three lawyers, three groups

While the estate was divided into two, the people themselves were divided into four groups. There were those from the dominant MIC branch who controlled about 35 families and then there was those from the IPF faction, which was the strongest group then with around 50 families. The third force was those from the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) which was influential with around 20 families. There were three lawyers handling three groups of people. It was total chaos.

During this time, there was yet another group brought into the estate. They were called SWP (Suara Warga Pertiwi). This group was led by people like PSM's Dr Nasir Hashim, V Selvam and Manivennan who later helped form PSM. SWP at that time was famous after their great victory at the Sg Rasah Estate where all the workers got a free terrace house.

SWP initially helped and worked with the workers' committees. But SWP's support eroded after MIC went on a campaign to tarnish SWP's name using a Tamil daily and poison pen letters. MIC was leading until another crisis took place - when the workers lost a case after one of their lawyers did not attend court and a judgement was given in default.

After this court defeat, Guthrie came in to demolish four houses but this demolition was stopped by the workers' Peoples Committee aligned to SWP. Manivennan and Ramah, SWP members played a key role in stopping the demolition. This incident immediately restored the workers' confidence in SWP as well as its Peoples' Committee led by Kumaravel.

But this created once again another round of splits and regrouping. The lawyer handling the case managed to reverse the default judgement but he then left, leaving another vacuum. At this point, SWP comrades introduced the workers to Teng Chang Khim, who is well known in Klang for his fighting spirit.

In 1996, Guthrie sold this last piece of land to Sumurwang who wanted to build a gigantic township a futuristic township with no future for the remaining Midland Estate workers.

The developers Sumurwang - who also had a land just at the outskirts of Midlands at Kampung Rambutan, went on rampage. FRU and police was used to demolish the houses at Kampung Rambutan. This resulted in 39 people being arrested and houses demolished. Among those arrested was Nasir, Selvam and myself and a number of people from Midlands estate which came to help.

Golden opportunity missed

In 1996 due to the critical resistance put up, the developers resorted to the negotiation table. Selvam, Nasir and Teng, who were part of the negotiation team, negotiated one of the best deals. The deal amounted to RM28,000 per family and an option to buy a low-cost house to be built nearby at a price of RM25,000 with an additional balance of RM3,000. It was, at that time, the best deal available. Going by the compensation, these workers could have bought a low-cost house anywhere for that money. On record, this offer was even better than that offered to the Sg Rasah Estate settlement where each worker was given RM27,500.

But this golden opportunity was missed. Fourteen families out of 70 didn't agree. This small minority was with the MIC who said that they wanted houses now and at the same location. This small group just couldn't accept that SWP, their arch-rival, had finally managed to clinch the deal. Because of the 14, the entire deal collapsed.

Sumurwang then took 113 families to court. The next eight years were just court battles. But besides internal disputes between the people, there were no major offensives from the developer. The cases in the court helped stop further encroachment by the developer. The negative impact was that because there was a court case pending, the workers became complacent and relaxed.

In 2004, the scenario changed with the Selangor state government saying it was going for a squatter free status by 2005. Sumurwang took this opportunity to work with the government, especially Majlis Bandaran Shah Alam, (MBSA) to evict the people.

At this stage of the struggle, there were only two remaining forces in the estate. One was those aligned to the MIC while the second group was those with the Peoples Committee aligned to PSM. This was perhaps the last stage of the struggle with the state government barking its "squatter free 2005" slogan and the MIC working within the system.

Feeling threatened, the MIC brought in the MBSA to conduct a survey. A survey was then conducted and workers were offered houses at Seksyen 7, Shah Alam for RM42,000 with a RM7,000 discount. The irony was that more than the actual number of people residing there got the offer. The MIC was up to its old tricks. They had inserted the names of people who were not entitled for the RM7,000 discount. Those who did not take up this offer - which was hardly close to the offer they received in 1996 - were threatened with eviction. Anti-corruption reports were lodged by the Peoples' Committee but making such deals has been a long time business for some local MIC leaders.

Law manipulated

Nevertheless, those aligned to the Peoples Committee refused to accept the offer. A meeting was called last year by MBSA attended by the mayor. Here, the mayor said something shocking. When the workers told him the council could not intervene in the matter as it was before the courts, the mayor said the developer was going to withdraw the case and that they (the MBSA) would use the Emergency Ordinance to evict the workers. Finally, it is clear how capitalists and the state work hand-in-hand, to manipulate and misinterpret laws. The workers then filed several police reports.

As planned, Sumurwang withdrew their case and MBSA came in to wreck the houses. By this time, and soon after this, all the workers aligned to the MIC left their homes and took up the RM7,000 discount offer. Most MIC members were given homes on the fourth and fifth floor of their low-cost apartments.

The only people left to face the developer's bulldozers were the workers who refused to move - those aligned to PSM. In one of the confrontations that followed, two members from the Peoples' committee were again arrested Kumarvel and Marimuthu in October last year. MBSA, as promised, gave Emergency Ordinance notices. It claimed that this was the instruction from Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. At this critical moment, Teng obtained an injunction to stop the seven-day notice. The demolition was stopped and the court case was pushed to the following month.

Meanwhile, intense negotiations once again took place. After several days the people got a better deal. Most of them were also given homes on the first and second floor. They also won other benefits which were much better than that offered to those who left earlier. The MIC was furious. They shouted at their and Umno's state assemblypersons, "Those who follow the government's line don't get a good deal when compared to those who go against it". What they didn't realise was that only the workers who dared to stay on got the best deal.

The event on Sunday at Ladang Midlands was a victory celebration to this final group who dared to stay on. A trip was organised to the top of Midlands Estate and along the way, one could see many houses already demolished while some still stood. These were symbols between those who fought and those who took the easy way out.

That day, the oldest estate in Selangor closed down for good. The workers' estate homes would soon be all demolished. A gigantic township will be built here. If at all the Midlands story means something, it is that it reinforces the notion that only those who dare to fight to the end will gain the best deal. Only the bravest survive. And it is only these people who can make a difference between victory and defeat. The MIC with all its machinery and connections had only one thing less. They didn't have the spirit to fight and in the final analysis, that was their downfall.

The writer is secretary-general of Parti Sosialis Malaysia.