Klang MP Charles Charles Santiago and Pandamaran assemblyman Leong Tuck Chee, both from DAP, pleaded with Melati Ehsan Holdings Bhd not to file an appeal.
At a virtual press conference today, Santiago said the villagers were urban pioneers who had the right to stay on the land and not squatters as claimed by Melati Ehsan, which filed a suit to evict them.
“The two-week eviction notice issued by Melati Ehsan in September last year during the height of the pandemic was cruel as these are poor people.
“We have 200 families still living in this village,” he said.
Leong said the company should not appeal the court ruling as the Selangor government was still negotiating with it to come up with an amicable solution by next month.
John Fam, one of the two lawyers who represented the villagers, said Melati Ehsan had labelled them as squatters so they could be evicted.
He said this was wrong as the villagers were urban pioneers who had the right to live on their land as they had been staying there for two to three generations.
“The application (filed by Melati Ehsan) was a summary application under Order 89 of the Rules of Court that states that if the villagers are squatters on your land, you can make an application to evict them,” he said.
Fam said one of three menteris besar involved in the 20-year-old case, the late Abu Hassan Omar, had recognised these urban pioneers’ rights and mentioned that they could stay as long as they wanted, with basic amenities provided by the Klang Municipal Council as well as a temporary occupation licence (TOL) to occupy the land.
Melati Ehsan wants to build a huge housing project at the site. The village land was sold by TPPT Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia, to Melati Ehsan for RM32 million in 2007. The company issued a two-week notice to the villagers in September last year despite agreeing to build replacement homes for them.
Shah Alam High Court judge Faizah Jamaludin, who issued the ruling yesterday, said she was convinced that the residents were not squatters and had an interest in the land, according to Freda Santhiago, one of the lawyers for the villagers.
FMT has reached out to Melati Ehsan for comment.