Ten representatives from SOS (Save Ourselves) will meet Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting next Monday to present a 10-page memorandum seeking redress to their housing problems following the repeal of the Ren Control Act beginning this year.

According to SOS secretary Ong Boon Keong, they will ask the minister to help pre-war building tenants, especially those with incomes under the poverty line, to get houses in Penang.

He reported that Penang Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon last week had promised them an allocation of 500 low-cost houses on a five-year tenancy.

"But it is not enough, more people out there need housing," he lamented, adding that over 5,000 affected tenants are under the poverty line.

Also, many who had paid for houses had faced delay in the projects in Penang.

"And we want Ong to help the shopkeepers who have no place to go," Ong said.

SOS had invited the participation of Penang state assemblymen in the meeting with the minister, said Ong. So far, however, only four MCA assemblymen have promised to attend the meeting.

He told malaysiakini that SOS had also requested the presence of Koh, but he had declined to attend.

Meanwhile, KeADILan president Dr.Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will meet the affected tenants on Sunday morning in Penang to discuss their problems. Suaram has also organised a forum with two SOS representatives on Saturday night.