KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The land where Kg Chubadak Tambahan sits will be used as a graveyard, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.

Tengku Adnan said that the villagers who had been living on the land for decades have to leave, adding that talks on their resettlement was still ongoing.

“They have to move because firstly it’s not their land. It’s not DBKL’s (Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s) land as well.

“The land is owned by the Land and Mines Office and is supposed to be given to the religious department to build a graveyard,” he told reporters.

On Tuesday, Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib was reported as saying that the Kuala Lumpur City Hall will tear down remaining homes in Kg Chubadak Tambahan despite a High Court injunction prohibiting such action until June 26.

“This is what they have filed, (but) we will continue demolition work,” the mayor was quoted saying by news portal Malaysiakini, referring to the villagers’ injunction obtained on June 12.

Tengku Adnan said today the authorities will not tear down the houses until the injunction expires.

“We will hold it until the time comes. We won’t do anything, we will follow whatever the court ordered,” he said.

Tengku Adnan also said that some of the villagers have been placed in temporary accommodation.

“It’s impossible for us to give them the same space, we can only offer apartments or flats, so we are negotiating that,” he said.

On June 16, the mayor said the some houses were demolished as the land did not belong to them as it had been sold to property developers.

The status of the land in Kg Chubadak Tambahan depends on a High Court case due to be heard on June 27.

The villagers insist they own the land as urban pioneers.

A Court of Appeal decision in 2000 had previously said the villagers were squatters and trespassers, insisting that they occupied the land as licensees with the consent of the state authority.

However, DBKL demolished three houses on Monday last week as part of a clearing process that had started in 2013 in order to make way for future development.

The demolition was temporarily halted on last Thursday after activists and PAS representatives obtained a High Court injunction, staying the demolition until the case is heard.

Several villagers have since vowed to occupy the land to keep vigil against any surprise intrusion by DBKL before the end of the injunction.