Angry buyers who purchased plots of land from Bandar Golden Valley (BGV) Golf Resort in Jasin, Melaka, protested outside the property developer's office at Jalan Ampang Putra this morning.

bandar golden valley 220709 christopher john About 50 protestors, led by Bandar Golden Valley Action Group (BGVAG) chairman Christopher John (extreme left) , gathered outside the Yeng Chong Realty Sdn Bhd office at 10am, demanding to pass a memorandum to the board of directors.

The buyers were fuming over Yeng Chong's and Malaysian Building Society Berhad (MBSB) Development Sdn Bhd's empty promise of delivering purchased land to the buyers.

Land not delivered after 10 years

In early 1999, land owners Yeng Chong entered a joint-venture agreement with MBSB to develop BGV resort, where the land is still being used as an oil palm tree plantation.

This project was the first ever multi-level land marketing scheme introduced to Malaysians.

Yeng Chong and MBSB were contracted to deliver the purchased bungalow lots to buyers in 2002 after signing a Sales and Purchases (S&P) Agreement in 1999.

bandar golden valley 220709 posters There were about 800 buyers for the 1,000 bungalow lots sold.

Christopher, who started the BGVAG to unite all the buyers, explained that Yeng Chong's lawyer agreed to disclose the complete list of land buyers to him at a meeting last month, but he has yet to receive it.

"Yeng Chong said they weren't allowed to release the list of buyers as a legal suit between them and MBSB is still underway," he said.

Buyers told reporters at the gathering that the suit was brought as a result of MBSB's denial that they part of a joint venture with Yeng Chong.

Short march with banners

Despite the presence of a few police men, the protestors marched up to the Yeng Chong office building, complete with banners and signs.

"Either give us the land or pay our money back to us. We want to know what Yeng Chong is doing instead of them passing the blame around." said one of the protestors.

Also present was Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, who said that he was going to raise this issue in parliament.

"I will suggest new legislations as there are no laws safeguarding the interests of land buyers. They are not categorised as house buyers, so they are not protected under the House Protection Act 1966," Tan explained.

He also said that the government should make sure that such schemes do not turn out to be scams.

What attracted most buyers to this land deal was the ‘no down payment scheme' with an interest free loan to be repaid in monthly installments over a period of 10 years.

Handwriting on the wall not delivered

Upon entering the office, the buyers were told by the office staff they could not accept the memorandum as their bosses were not in.

The memorandum stated that the legal tussle between Yeng Chong and MBSB should not affect the buyers, and urged the company to act responsibly by either giving the buyers their land or refunding their money at the land's market value and interest.

bandar golden valley 220709 protest Christopher and Tan (extreme right) then stuck the memorandum on the office wall, and encouraged the buyers to do the same with their banners.

"This for all the 1,000 BVG Resort purchasers," they declared.

The buyers had raised the issue to the Public Complaints Bureau on 22 May this year and today lodged a police report at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters.

Some buyers are said to be still paying off the installments while others have already completed their loans.

One of the buyers present this morning was a former editor of The Star and BGVAG secretary Ho Sai Kong, who also vented his frustrations.

"They (the companies) cannot run away from their responsibility. What else can we do but take the matter to the streets with more protests and demonstrations?