After having toiled on the land for generations, residents of Ladang Segambut village now face the prospect of having to pack up and leave.

The residents have been slapped with an eviction order by two developers, New York Empire Sdn Bhd and Triple-H Auto Parts Sdn Bhd.

Malaysiakini has attempted to contact New York Empire and Triple-H Auto Parts as well as their legal representives, but they have not responded as yet.

According to village chairperson M Yellaya, 64, the families have been there since the 1940s.

"My father worked here. I was born and bred here," Yellaya said.

"All those here are either workers or families of workers who were once employed by Semantan Estate," he added.

Yellaya said a court order was issued on Sept 8 instructing them to vacate the land in 90 days. The period expired yesterday.

“We have waited 34 years to be given a proper house by the landowners but now we are being chased out of our homes. This is not fair.

"We had an agreement with the previous landowner, Sri Hartamas Development Sdn Bhd, to allow us to continue living here and to provide us with low-cost houses," Yellaya added.

However, Sri Hartamas Development Sdn Bhd was declared bankrupt in 1991.

The villagers added that they have been trying to contact the current landowners to hold negotiations with them, but no avail.

“The new landowner is supposed to hold negotiations with us first. How can they issue a court order without talking with us at all?

“We have tried to contact them, but there has been no answer from their side or from their lawyers,” Yellaya added.

During the press conference today, the villagers gathered to protest against the eviction, holding up banners and placards.

Some of their placards read, ‘Don’t demolish our houses’ and ‘No driving school’.  There was also a banner demanding that justice be served.

'MP has not returned my call'

The residents are also livid with Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, whom they claimed had not looked into their plight.

"He called me two days ago to ask me about the problem. He asked me to call him if there was any problem but he has not returned my call," Yellaya said.

Gerakan Wanita secretary-general B Jayanthi lambasted the DAP lawmaker, saying he should take care of those in his constituency.

Jayanthi ( centre in picture on left ) said the developers were evicting the residents to build a proposed driving school.

“The landowners actually own a driving school in another area but plan to move it here as the current place is going to be taken over to build the new Duke Highway extension.

“The Duke Highway management, however, has been kind enough to allow an extension to the developers to resolve this issue first,” Jayanthi added.

She also urged the developers to look at building an affordable housing project for the villagers, which she said would solve the housing problem, instead of a driving school.

“Making this land into a driving school is not the best use of the land.

“The land developers should help solve the housing problem instead of seeking another business opportunity,” Jayanthi said.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said that he has not heard about this issue previously.

“I am only hearing about this issue today, but I will offer all the help I can. That I promise”.

Lim added that he would propose to the developers to hold negotiations with the villagers to come to an amicable settlement.

“I will try to get the developers to sit down and negotiate with the villagers to reach a win-win situation for both sides,” he added.