Was it a 'politically motivated' move by DBKL?
Fifty hawkers from Taman Desa Setapak demonstrated in front of Kuala Lumpur City Hall today demanding an explanation as to why their stalls were demolished two days ago.
Fifty hawkers from Taman Desa Setapak demonstrated in front of Kuala Lumpur City Hall today demanding an explanation as to why their stalls were demolished two days ago.
Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong who led the hawkers and several other opposition MPs nonetheless believed the demolition was ‘politically motivated’.
“It has been claimed that one of the officers (who was in charge of the demolition) told the hawkers that the reason why their stalls were demolished was because they had voted for PKR”, claimed Wee.
According to Deputy Federal Territories Minister M. Saravanan who had just arrived at DBKL when the demonstration was going on, explained that two notices were given to the hawkers in 2001 and 2003, but no action was taken over that period.
However, DBKL gave a week’s notice to the hawkers on May 13 to remove the structures of their stalls by May 21.
Four days after they received the notice, they sought help from Wee who immediately contacted DBKL to ask for a two-week extension for him to find a solution to the problem.
But DBKL went ahead and carried out the demolition on May 21 - the expiry date of the notice.
Wee claimed that this was against the agreement he had with a DBKL director (whom he did not name) who had agreed with the two-week extension requested for.
Saravanan further explained that the demolition plan was supposed to have taken place seven years ago, so they could not ask for another extension.
Invited for a meeting
However, Wee said seven years ago, the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur was still controlled by the Barisan Nasional, hence no action was taken against the hawkers.
“I believe this is a politically motivated move. When BN was in charge, the stalls were not demolished. Now they demolish the stalls because the hawkers voted for us,” he claimed.
N Gobalakrishnan, MP of Padang Serai, then told the minister that he had “not done his job well.”
“We want a concrete answer (from you),” he retorted.
Saravan (
right
) rebutted that he deserved to have some respect as he is a deputy minister but Gobalakrishnan barked that “this is not about respect, but the national interest (of the rakyat)”.
“It’s also about you not doing your job well,” he added.
The deputy minister responded, “Don’t insult me. I’m prepared to listen to all of you and I am ever ready to work with you.”
This led to an hour’s meeting in City Hall between Saravanan, the opposition MPs, hawkers and DBKL officers. Journalists were also allowed to observe the meeting.
In the more sober atmosphere of the meeting, Saravanan explained that DBKL had received many complaints about the stalls as they blocked and polluted the area.
The stalls have to be taken down for the purpose of building a police station, a neighbourhood watch centre and to provide some green space in the crowded area, he said.
At the end of the meeting, the deputy minister agreed to find a solution by looking for an alternative site for the hawkers to revive their business.
All the parties present agreed to meet again to search for a final solution.
The legislators present at the meeting were Tan Kok Wai (DAP-Cheras), Loh Gwo-Burne (PKR-Kelana Jaya), Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong), Fong Kui Lin (DAP-Bukit Bintang), Zuraida Kamaruddin (PKR-Ampang) and Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut).
