The first suit filed by a landlord after the repeal of Rent Control Act came into effect this year was postponed today by the Penang sessions court to April 28.

The plaintiff, Chan Heng Weng, had filed to seek a court order to evict the respondent Loo Siew Kee, from his rented premises at Kedah Street, Penang, in 14 days from the court's order date. Further, the suit also seeks compensation from Jan 1, 2000 to the date of vacating the premises by the plaintiff plus costs.

According to a Sin Chew Jit Poh report, Loo, 81 years old, had received the first summons on Jan 24 but did not understand its content. On Feb 23, she received another summons from the court asking her to attend a hearing on March 24.

With help of SOS (Save Ourselves), a group set up to protest the repeal of the Rent Control Act, Loo obtained the service of a lawyer from the Legal Aid Centre.

Before the repeal of the Rent Control Act, Loo and another tenant had been paying a montly rental of RM102 for the prewar premises at Kedah Street owned by Chan, and later this was increased to RM172. However, the landlord raised the rental to RM1,500 on Jan 1 this year.

Loo had lived with her husband at the prewar building for some 60 years now, and her husband died 30 years ago. She earns a meagre sum collecting used paper bags for sale.

SOS founder and secretary Ong Boon Keong told malaysiakini today that at least 10 tenants will be brought to court this month alone, facing eviction suits similar to Loo's.

"At the end of March, another 175 households face termination of eviction notices as well, and I believe that they will be brought to court as well," Ong said, adding that another 520 tenants will receive eviction notices at the end of this month.

According to the data collected by SOS, the repeal of Rent Control Act will affect over 1,000 households or about 5,000 people who would have difficulty paying the high rentals, with new rates going up as high as 15 times.

"From the current Loo case, we know that the state government has not helped the affected tenants much," said Ong, who was one of three SOS members who were recently arrested for alleged rioting when they tried to meet with Penang chief minister Koh Tsu Koon on the issue.