He called it a token gesture prioritising business interests over residents’ welfare.
He said many of the homes had already been demolished and that the developer had failed to give clear or meaningful assurances about permanent housing.
Claiming this was the second time the community had been pressured to drop their legal action, Arutchelvan said a court order was protecting another 44 houses in the area from being demolished.
“In the letter, they said they want to demolish all the houses. They want us to withdraw the court order.
“It’s like they’re throwing us a bone (with the seven acres),” he said at a press conference today.
Arutchelvan said during the five-day operation last week, 29 occupied houses and two Chinese temples were demolished.
A total of 23 people, including 12 activists and 11 villagers, were also arrested during the demolition to make way for a redevelopment project.
Teoh Ah Guat, a resident whose house was demolished last week, criticised the state government for failing to negotiate with them despite repeated requests.
Teoh said the village community had previously attempted to arrange meetings with the state government, but these were cancelled at the last minute.
“We had also reached out to menteri besar (Amirudin Shari) before, but there was no concrete action.
“Now they are talking about temporary and affordable housing, but there is no black-and-white agreement.
“We had earlier urged them not to demolish our houses as there was no agreement in place, yet the demolition took place,” she said.
On Nov 8, PSM and former Klang MP Charles Santiago had urged the state government to halt the demolition of vacant houses at the village as some 100 families would be displaced.
The state government had stated on Oct 23 that only vacant houses and business premises would be demolished. However, on Oct 27, the residents received a fresh notice to vacate their homes.
After the demolition, Selangor executive councillor Borhan Aman Shah said the state government was ready to offer the residents temporary resettlement through its Smart Sewa scheme at reasonable rental rates.