The police arrested 10 people, including a pregnant woman and a journalist, when they attempted to prevent Shah Alam Municipal Council (MPSA) enforcement officers from demolishing houses in Ladang Bukit Jelutong today.

They were detained when the residents and their supporters clashed with enforcement officers and policemen, who were overseeing the destruction of more than 20 squatter homes in the estate.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) pro tem treasurer A Sivarajan said two women o­ne of whom was three months pregnant were detained together with PSM leader T Saravanan, Tamil weekly Sembaruthi journalist K Arumugam and six others.

The 10 were released from the Shah Alam district police headquarters this evening o­n police bail and were told to report back o­n March 17.

"There were clashes and the police were very rough with the people. They were pushing the people including the women.

"They wanted to arrest me but later they picked up the other people," said Sivarajan when contacted later.

This is the second time that demolition of the former estate workers' homes have taken place o­n the estate-turned-township development site owned by Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd.

Last June, 48 families living o­n the estate were evicted but having nowhere to go, 24 families later returned to rebuild their houses.

Illegal eviction

Questioned further about the incident, Sivarajan said the residents were not given any prior notice by their former employers or the enforcement authorities.

"This is a private land and the council should not have acted o­n (the developers') behalf. They have no authority to do this," he said, adding that all the houses were completely bulldozed within three hours.

He said while residents tried to resist the eviction, enforcement authorities removed the residents' belongings from their houses.

"The enforcement officers removed the belongings and placed them next to the houses. But some things could still be missing," he said when asked if residents were given time to pack.

Court case

Meanwhile, the lawyer representing those detained issued a statement to Shah Alam district police chief Mohd Shukri Dahlan saying the action by the police and enforcement officers was illegal due to o­ngoing legal proceedings.

"We have been informed by the residents that there is an o­ngoing civil case with the developer currently pending before the Shah Alam High Court.

"This is a misunderstanding between the developer and the residents in the area and the police should not interfere especially since there has been no court order authorising the police/developer/municipal council action today," said P Uthayakumar.

"We call for all demolition works o­n the houses to be stopped with immediate effect," he added in the statement that was also copied to Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai, Home Ministry, Prime Minister's Department and human rights organisations Suaram.

Last November, a group of former Guthrie estate workers together with workers facing similar eviction orders o­n other estates, filed a civil suit against the Selangor government for allegedly failing to help them get housing and land despite promising to do so.

Injunction sought

The residents claimed that the state government had failed to adhere to its policy introduced in August 1991 to help estate workers by using its powers to seize the land of estate managements which fail to provide adequate housing for their workers.

The residents also sought an injunction from the court to stop projects currently carried out at their respective estates until the conclusion of the court case.

Earlier, the former Guthrie workers also filed a lawsuit against the company claiming damages for their eviction and the destruction of their homes.

Both cases have yet to be heard by the court.

Contacted later, MPSA public relations bureau said it did not have any information about the incident at Bukit Jelutong. The council's enforcement officers were also unavailable for comment.

Attempts to obtain clarification from Guthrie as to the basis for the eviction were also unsuccessful.