SHAH ALAM, 25 June: The housing developer for the Kampung Chubadak site has special ‘protection’ from the government to avoid paying compensation to the remaining six families in the village.
This is because the residential sites of the six urban settler families are located on government-owned land.
The Member of Parliament for Batu, Tian Chua, said that this allows the developer, which does not own the land, from being free of the responsibility of paying compensation to the families.
“While this is the same project, the land was submitted to the Land Office and this agency carries out the demolition, while the developer is protected.
“This land does not belong to the developer. So, when we negotiate to obtain compensation, the Land Office rejected it with a reason that they are enforcing the law to carry out demolition and that they are not involved in the compensation issue.
“The residents have no channels to negotiate with the relevant parties, thus oppressing them,” he said when contacted by Selangor Kini yesterday.
Tian Chua said that the government should be responsible to assist the residents receive proper justice.
“It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that the settlers in Kampung Chubadak receive justice and they cannot use the excuse of not having provisions to escape (payment),” he said.
He said that the situation defers from the residential status of the other residents of Kampung Chubadak, as their land is located on land that has been handed over to the developer.
Tian Chua said that the land status owned by the developer allows him to help residents negotiate before the land is developed into low and medium cost housing projects.
The result of negotiations between Tian Chua, villagers and the developer was fruitful when the developer, at the time, agreed to pay compensation, offered to buy low-cost housing in the same area and provide temporary homes at the People’s Housing Project (PPR) while waiting for the project to be completed.
He stressed that previously, the residents of Kampung Chubadak Tambahan were recognised as urban settlers and not squatters, as claimed by the government.
“Kampung Chubadak was originally a vacant land that was developed and exploration was encouraged by Umno leaders like Datuk Senu and Datuk Harun because they campaigned to encourage exploration on vacant land.
“The court decided that they were urban settlers, but now, there is no sign of Umno when the developer wants to build,” he said.
NS
