The evicted villagers in Kampung Gersik, Labuan, spurned efforts to find them new homes because they did not wish to pay any rent, said Labuan MP Suhaili Abdul Rahman.

He said that while he sympathised with their plight and had intervened to delay the eviction, the villagers did not respond to other alternative accommodations that involved payment.

"They were given six months in May and when the eviction started...