A group of 80 angry residents marched to the Tabung Projek Perumahan Terbengkalai (TPPT) office to hand over a memorandum to protest eviction from their homes.

NONE The residents of Kampung Jalan Papan and Kampung Bukit Kerayong in Pandamaran, Klang claimed that TPPT has taken land meant for new homes for them, and sold it to construction company Melati Ehsan Holdings Bhd for a profit of RM18 million.

Now they are being evicted from their homes because Melati Ehsan is planning to build houses and shoplots on the site.

The villagers carried banners proclaiming that they had been ‘cheated’, as well as calling on Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhbar Aziz to look into TPPT.

NONE Village committee chairman Ang Mah Chye (left) said that TPPT, a subsidiary of Bank Negara, is responsible for developing low-cost houses for the poor.

It is stipulated that TPPT is not allowed to make any profit, sell or mortgage the land to third parties without the permission from Klang Municipal Council (MPK), he said.

Klang parliamentarian Charles Santiago led the villagers into the TPPT office. They were met by security guards and police who told the group to disperse.

After negotiations, a few representatives were allowed to enter the managing director’s office to hand over their memorandum.

NONE Santiago (extreme left in photo) said it was disappointing that the memorandum was handed to a lower-ranking officer instead of TPPT managing director Hidzir Yahya.

TPPT, he said, is a government agency and should therefore be answerable to the people.

“How can the Barisan Nasional government say that people are their priority when (officials) refuse to meet us even when they are in their office?” asked the Klang MP.

Santiago added that the memorandum is to remind the agency of its responsibilities to the people and to assist the marginalised villagers.

Ang told reporters that if TPPT does not either reply or take action in two weeks, the villagers will take their grouses to Bank Negara.

Allegations of corruption

Prior to the protest, the villagers had sent a memorandum to Minister of the Prime Minister’s department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), calling on them to look into possible corruption.

This prompted Nazri to urge the MACC to investigate the dispute.

NONE The villagers claimed that their land was taken over by the TPPT in 1997 with the promise that low-cost houses would be built for them.

However, about six years ago MPK used the Emergency Ordinance to vacate the land.

The two village committees have since sought injunctions to stop demolition work on the disputed site.

The villagers claimed that they are not squatters but ‘pioneers’, as the 9,000 villagers had originally settled in Jalan Papan and Bukit Kerayong 70 years ago.