In four days, eight squatter families living in Kampung Kolam Air along Jalan Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur may well be be left out on the streets – homeless.

These families have been living on the land for close to 50 years, but now the private developer who bought the land from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is demanding they leave, without offering them any compensation.

The squatters have gone to court seeking compensation and the matter was fixed to be heard on Sept 21, but has been postponed twice – first to Nov 17 and then again to Nov 24.

"They (the squatters) know and agree that this land belongs to the developer and that he has the right to ask them to leave for his own development.

"They have no objections to leaving, but that are only seeking some compensation," Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau ( photo ) said outside the squatter area in Kuala Lumpur today.

Lau said the court had actually asked both parties to settle this matter out of court, but the developer has refused to do so.

The developer should meet with the squatters to discuss this matter, he said.

"If he continues to refuse, don't expect to touch this land. We will do whatever we can to stop the eviction of the residents," he said.

On Sept 15, a few months after eviction notices were posted on the front doors of the squatter houses, DBKL staff came to demolish the 14 houses in the area, of which only eight are currently occupied.

Before they were stopped by Lau, DBKL managed to demolish half the house of Jimmy Tan, 50, who said he has lived there his entire life.

Living in a half-demolished house

"I was born and bred here. I am already 50 years old, my son is already 23," Tan said.

Even with his house half-standing, he is still staying there with his brother and family, he said.

"This place is really 1Malaysia. Chinese, Malays and Indians live here. We even had a Bangladeshi family living here, but they have already moved out," he added.

Tan revealed that two Malay families, two Chinese families and four Indian families are living there now.

Lau said the squatter families are seeking either a house or RM30,000 per family as compensation.

"A house would be better... RM30,000 would not do much for us," said another squatter, who only wanted to be known as Mani.

Mani also revealed that the squatters have all chipped in with their own money to hire lawyers to handle their court case against the developer.

However, Lau said he would try his best to discuss with DBKL about stopping the demolition of the houses and to the developer about the compensation.

The developer bought the land from DBKL in February last year and intends to build shoplots on the site. Till now the developer has rejected all attempts to discuss the matter outside court.

As such, the developer is not aware of what the squatters want as compensation, Lau said.

He also said the developer has insisted that the land lawfully belongs to the company and as such, it does not need to provide any compensation to squatters.

Asked about the chances of the squatter families winning their case in court if the developer continues to refuse to settle the matter out of court, Lau said the judge should consider the plight of the squatters as well.

"If you're talking about the law, then they (the squatters) cannot ask for compensation.

"But this is a matter of humanity. You cannot simply ask people living on a plot of land to leave as you like, without any compensation.

"The court needs to consider the perspective of the squatters as well," Lau added.