The Selangor government’s agreement in principle to grant land titles to long-time urban settlers on state land has been lauded by Selangor and Federal Territory community-based organisation Permas.

In a statement, president Tan Jo Hann said Permas welcomes the policy change announced by Gombak MP and PKR vice-president Mohd Azmin Ali.

azmin ali 02 Azmin had also said that developers of private land should offer reasonable compensation to those affected by eviction.

khalid ibrahim Permas has drawn up proposals for action for Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim on how civil society organisations can co-operate with the state government in tackling housing and land issues for the urban poor.

“We believe that civil society groups should adopt a hands-on approach rather than be bystanders in the process of transforming Selangor into a better state for all.” he said.

Permas is waiting for an appointment to be set by Khalid’s office, as promised by his political secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad two weeks ago.

tan jo han permas Based on Permas’ experience of 20 years in working with housing issues of the urban poor, Tan (photo) said developers and the local councils have often been unjust to settlers.

“Permas would like to highlight some of the gross violations of human rights and injustice by profit-hungry developers, often working hand-in-hand with local government officials and even MPs and (state assemblypersons),” he said.

Cases in point

One case cited was that of 200 families in Kampung Berembang who were offered RM400 by a developer and moved to the Taman Wahyu hardcore-poor housing scheme, where they had to pay rental of RM124 a month while waiting for low-cost units to be built and sold to them.

However, 30 families remained on the site - located behind the Risda head office - and continued to negotiate for better compensation because they felt cheated by the developer.

Permas claimed that the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council and the former parliamentarian for the area managed to pressure the people to accept the deal and move out, after payment of RM3,700 in compensation.

Another case involved 229 families in Sungai Buloh, who had been evicted in early 1992 and relocated to temporary longhouses in Rawang. They too were promised land.

Instead, the Selangor development corporation (PKNS) built medium- and low-cost houses on their land and tried to sell the units to them.

After a series of actions to claim the land, the people took the case to court in 2003. However, it has been postponed for six years for various reasons - on three occasions, the case files were said to be missing.

Tan further urged PKNS to honour its commitment to long-time tenants of low-cost flats who had entered into rent-to-buy agreements with the corporation. However, the tenants are still paying rent.