Santiago, of DAP, urged the Pakatan Harapan-led state government to “take ownership and protect the rights of the people and the agreement” ahead of the planned demolition on Monday.
He said that according to an agreement reached between the Barisan Nasional state government and TPPT Sdn Bhd, a property developer established to rehabilitate abandoned housing projects, these families were to be provided with a home each if it were to take over the land.
The Selangor government had in 1995 transferred parts of the land to TPPT, a subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia.
In 2007, TPPT sold the land to developer, Melati Ehsan Consolidated Sdn Bhd, to develop the area.
Three decades later, the families have yet to receive the promised two-storey terrace houses, which were to be sold to them at RM99,000 each.
A list of residents who qualified for the homes had been provided by Santiago to then menteri besar Azmin Ali.
Melati Ehsan Consolidated had in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, obtained a court order to evict the residents at Kampung Papan.
On Oct 23, the Selangor government said any demolition carried out there would only involve vacant houses and business premises.
But on Oct 27, the residents received a fresh notice to vacate their homes.
“What happened? Why are they facing eviction? PH is supposed to be a government that champions reform, but look at what they are doing,” Santiago said at a press conference today.
Present was PSM’s S Arutchelvan and a a few Kampung Jalan Papan residents.
Santiago lamented that the issue had dragged on for far too long, noting that the dilemma faced by the residents was a story of “two governments and three menteris besar”.
“This has been going on for 30 years. It can smear PH’s image. The Selangor government must step up and protect the people who voted for them,” he said.
He said it had been almost a year since the court ruled in favour of the developer, but a written judgment had yet to be produced. This had made it difficult for the residents to appeal their case.
“The state government must also explain why it did not stop the developer from going to court,” he said.
Arutchelvan expressed concern that the eviction of the residents would go ahead, noting that a Facebook post by Klang Selatan police highlighted a meeting between the authorities and representatives from the Shah Alam court and Melati Ehsan Consolidated on Nov 6 to “coordinate an operation”.
He said that because of the way the houses were built, if the authorities were to demolish a single vacant house, it would still affect the other homes.
Teoh Ah Guat, who has lived in Kampung Jalan Papan for more than 30 years, asked the state government to first settle the issue of where they will live next.
“If they settle this, we will agree to move out,” the mother of two said.