In a last-ditch effort to stop her shop from being demolished, Jaye Sury Rajoo today sent a memorandum to Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Azmin Ali, pleading for his intervention.

“As a business that has been there for a long time and has been licensed by the Kuala Selangor District Council (MDKS), all I ask for is an offer for a council shoplot as an alternative.

“Until then, I ask that the demolition is postponed,” she said in her memorandum.

The deadline for her to vacate her shophouse-cum-food stall in Jalan Sungai Buloh - Kuala Selangor expires today.

The memorandum was handed to Azmin’s private secretary Sharizal Salleh at the Selangor state secretariat office this morning.

Also present were her family and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members assisting her with her case.

PSM secretary-general A Sivarajan (photo) said Jaye Sury had been operating the business since 1999, and she also holds a trade license from MDKS as well as a permit for the building she occupies.

However, she received a notice from MDKS two months ago stating that she is encroaching on a drainage reserve land and has to vacate it, or face eviction.

Appeals to MDKS as well as the district land office proved futile, he said, while claiming that the deadline given is inappropriate as there is no urgency in evicting Jaye Sury and her family.

He said there is no development in the vicinity, save for a housing project further down the road that would necessitate the construction of a drain past Jaye Sury’s shophouse.

“We are not demanding that the project stops permanently. We know that we have to move. We are just demanding for the menteri besar to intervene.

“On the whole road, there is nothing there. Only 500 metres away, the developer wants to do the development project. Even if they come tomorrow to demolish the property, there will not be any work done,” Sivarajan said.

Sole breadwinner

He added that the state government had misunderstood Jaye Sury’s plight, which took a turn for the worse when her 40-year old husband (photo) suffered a stroke on June 25.

The stroke left the former crane operator wheelchair-bound and paralysed on the left side of his body, and Jaye Sury and her shop have become the family’s sole source of income.

Sivarajan said that in previous appeals to local authorities, one of the reasons cited for denying them assistance was that they had already been granted a house in Kampung Sri Aman.

However, Jaye Sury said it is a residential building and not suitable for running a business as it is isolated.

“That area is too deep in the jungle. How am I going to take care of my two daughters and my husband?” she asked.

Wrong impression

Meanwhile, when asked about the meeting with Azmin’s aide, Sivarajan said Sharizal appeared to believe that a road widening project was going to take place there soon.

“He was under the impression that a widening project was currently being done along the whole stretch of the road. You can go and see now. There is no widening of the road.

“We believe that the urgency of this whole notice is only in the interest of the (developers),” he adds.

Nevertheless, Sivarajan said Sharizal promised to communicate the matter to the menteri besar.

In the meantime, he said the family would send a copy of the memorandum to MDKS and the district land office, as well as the police, to notify them that an appeal had been made to the menteri besar.