MCA deputy president Lim Ah Lek today urged a Selangor state executive councillor from the party to clarify if he had a hand in the proposed eviction of some 500 families from a Chinese new village in Ampang.

Lim said he was told by the residents that state exco member Chng Toh Eng had written a letter informing Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo that the land was unoccupied and had some squatters in the vicinity.

The area affected is made up of three parcels of land totalling 25.7 acres. The plots were said to have been awarded to a developer late last year for construction of apartments and bungalows. The first notice of evacuation was issued to the residents last October.

The state exco member is duty-bound to explain to the residents whether he has labelled their houses as illegal, Lim told reporters after a two-hour house-to-house visit at the village this morning.

The residents believe the state government has been misled. It is up to Chng to explain if this is true, he added.

Not personal attack

Joining Lim for the visit were MCA Team B leaders including vice-president Chua Jui Meng, Youth chief Ong Tee Keat, central committee members Dr Tan Yee Kew and Tang See Hang, and party new village affairs bureau chief Yap Pian Hon.

Lim said he was confident that MCA representatives in the government such as Chua and Ong will deal with the relevant authorities to resolve the problem of the villagers proposed eviction.

Asked why it could be not resolved by MCA, he replied, This was discussed at the party central committee meeting last year and you can see for yourself what has happened.

Lim denied that this mornings function was a personal attack on Chng who is MCA Selangor Youth chief and aligned to the partys Team A led by president Dr Ling Liong Sik.

Theres no politics involved. We only came to understand their (residents) problems after being informed by their action committee.

Chng is widely rumoured to be eyeing the national youth chief post in the forthcoming party elections.

Chinese New Year deadline

According to Lim, the residents have been ordered to move out by next week with the developer allegedly saying that if they failed to do so, their houses would be bulldozed after the Chinese New Year.

He added that the front doors of many the houses have already been marked by the developer with red paint to indicate that they are to be demolished.

Throughout my 15 years in the Pahang state government and 10 years with the federal government, I have never come across anything like this.

This is very, very unfair. Some of these people have stayed here for more than 50 years. They are not squatters. These are deserving cases and they should be given the land, said Lim.

He said the villagers have been granted temporary occupancy licences (TOL) by the district office during the time of former Menteri Besar Ahmad Razali Ali and this should not be ignored.

Lim, however, declined to divulge details of the developer involved. A source close to the party said the developer was closely linked to certain MCA branch leaders.

Chng could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts.

Should be grateful

On another matter, Lim refused to comment on a news report today which quoted party chief Ling as saying that he will not hesitate to drop several MCA leaders if that was what it took to uphold party unity.

A front-page report in the MCA-owned Nanyang Siang Pau quoted Ling as saying, MCA has over one million members ... For someone to be appointed as a minister or a deputy minister, the probability is very low.

Those who are chosen to serve the party and Chinese Malaysian should therefore be grateful. They should thank all the party members even when it is time for them to leave.

MCA elections are expected to start at branch-level in March, followed by divisional-level in April and state-level in May. Elections for the partys national leadership are expected to be contested in June.

This years contest for the party presidency is expected to be a straight fight between Team A chief Ling and a candidate from the opposing Team B.