KUALA LUMPUR – The spectre of eviction continues to haunt Kg Sg Baru residents, who have called this landmark enclave their home for generations. Their fear of families and elderly citizens being left homeless is growing more acute by the day.
Their ordeal began in 2016 when Ritzy Gloss Sdn Bhd, a private property developer, unveiled plans for a massive multi-billion ringgit redevelopment project. The price of progress, however, would be the displacement of long-standing residents from their homes.
After nearly a decade of fruitless negotiations between residents and the developers, the latter resorted to submitting an application under the Land Acquisition Act 1960, urging the government to formally acquire the land in this Malay enclave.
The application was approved in 2021, as the nation battled the Covid-19 pandemic, by then-federal territories minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa under the Perikatan Nasional government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Residents are now appealing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who also oversees matters involving the federal territories, for a solution to their plight.
On September 5, landowners were served with an eviction notice from the Kuala Lumpur land administrator ordering them to vacate their homes by October 4, as they were found to be illegally residing on government land.
Anwar’s political secretary Azman Abidin then told Scoop that the eviction is delayed to October 31. However, on Thursday, October 5, residents received another eviction notice informing them that they have until October 19 to pack their belongings and move out of their houses.
The supposed postponement brings little to no relief as residents claim that the compensation offered by developers to landowners is inadequate and “zalim” (cruel), to the point where they could be rendered homeless if forced to leave their homes.
Follow Scoop.my as we speak with residents, whose light at the end of the tunnel appears to be dimming with every eviction notice received. – October 8, 2023