Thousands of Penang residents today staged demonstrations at 10 locations in the state to seek for clarification from the government on the issue concerning low-cost and affordable homes.

The demonstrations, organised by the 'Sekretariat Rakyat Bersatu Pulau Pinang', began simultaneously at 9am in Jelutong, Nibong Tebal, Batu Kawan, Bukit Mertajam, Bayan Baru, Permatang Pauh, Bagan, Kepala Batas, Tasek Gelugor and Balik Pulau.

The spokesperson for the secretariat who is also chair of the 'Persatuan Kebajikan Insan Mulia' (PKIM), Aminah Abdullah said the facts and figures frequently announced by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on the construction of the low-cost and affordable homes were merely to pull the wool over the people's eyes.

She said the association hoped the state government would stop deceiving the people on the issue of low-cost and affordable homes in the state and instead provide actual clarification on the matter.

"So far, the status of the RM500 million which the chief minister had talked about and the location of the project had yet to be explained because he only dared to talk about the figures without showing proof.

"The DAP had taken over the state government for five years, but so far, it had failed to prove that it had built low-cost and affordable homes for the people," she said when approached after staging a peaceful demonstration near the Jelutong Market.

Exorbitant prices

Meanwhile, V Rajendran, 40, a member of the secretariat, said he was worried because no houses were built for the poor while house prices had risen significantly, making it impossible for the younger generation earning low income to afford buying houses.

"During the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, the state government had made it compulsory for housing developers to set aside 30 percent of the housing project for low-cost homes so that the poor could still own houses," he said after the demonstration in Kepala Batas.

Rajendran's friend, Shamsudin Ismail, 56, said the action of the state government in constructing expensive homes not only affected the poor but also the young people who had just started working.

Meanwhile Rohaya Abu Ismail, 40, who lives on the mainland, said it was not only the people on the island who could not afford to buy houses, the people living in Seberang Perai too faced similar problems because of the exorbitant prices for houses.

"As an example, houses in the Seberang Perai area are sold at between RM300,000 and RM400,000 and we cannot afford to buy such homes because of the exorbitant prices. Five years ago, similar houses cost about RM100,000 only," she said.

Protest in KL too

Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, more than 1,000 senior citizens, single mothers and housewives from Ampang and Pandan staged a peaceful gathering at Taman Muda, Ampang to protest against the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor government's failure to fulfill its promises made in the 2008 election manifesto.

Pandan Perdana Residents Association chairman Lim Ah Chai said they had been waiting for five years for Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to fulfill the promises.

The promises, he said, included free water supply, allowance for single mothers, insurance scheme for senior citizens and aid for children attending kindergartens.

On Nov 22 last year, chairman of the Selangor Single Mothers Association, Murtini Kasman, representing 2,020 single members in Selangor, had filed a claim to demand RM10.9 million in allowance for single mothers from the Selangor government, as promised by the Pakatan in its 2008 election manifesto.

- Bernama