Another Malay Reserve will 'disappear' unless the Duta-Ulu Kelang (Duke) Highway - set to run through Kampung Chubadak Hilir in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur - is redirected, say the villagers.

According to the Kampung Chubadak Hilir Action Committee, 348 families will affected be by the project, including 25-30 who will be forced to relocate after the authorities demolish their houses.

Kampung Chubadak Hilir, covering about 20 hectares, will lessen by about 0.7 hectares when the highway is built through the area - formerly a Malay reserve, said committee secretary Hatijah Ibrahim.

"Perhaps 0.7 hectares, which involves 25-30 families, is small to the developers. But it's a large number to residents and landowners of Kampung Chubadak," she told malaysiakini when met yesterday.

"This Duke project signals yet another Malay Reserve will disappear as other Malay Reserves have disappeared elsewhere," she said.

"In view of the fact that Kampung Chubadak is not in the list of 12 traditional villages in the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2002, it seems that signal will soon become a reality," she added.

Rapid development

Kampung Chubadak, settled by Malay pioneers in the late 1880s, is roughly three kilometers from the city centre. Despite the rapid development that has sprawled around the area, the village itself retains many features of the Malay kampung.

Hatijah ( left ) asserted that the villagers are not against the project. On the contrary, two alternative routes have been suggested to the developers in order to obviate the need to construct the highway through Kampung Chubadak.

Until today, however, the developers have not provided a satisfactory response, she said.

"The developer claims that the alternative routes that we have proposed will incur higher costs. But won't a toll collection of 30 years be sufficient to cover the costs of building an alternative route?" she asked.

The committee had on April 16 this year submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, copies of which were sent to his deputy Najib Abdul Razak and other leaders.

Hatijah also claimed that Kampung Chubadak landowners and residents have not received complete information regarding to seizure of the land and the implementation of the project.

"We only knew about the seizure plans when notices announcing the date of a hearing on the matter were posted on trees and placed on the walls in the area last September," she said.

Grant holders

Hatijah said only during the hearing which was held in October, were residents and landowners informed that Kampjng Chubadak had been de-gazetted of its Malay Reserve status by the state authorities in August.

"How could this have been done without our knowledge?" asked Mohd Syawal, who also sits on the action committee.

According to Syawal, Kampung Chubadak villagers are tax-paying grant-holders whom the government should not be treated as squatters.

The Duke Highway, said to cost RM400 million, is projected to be completed in two years.