KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 ― A small group of placard-wielding student activists took to the streets of Sentul here yesterday, calling attention to a cause not usually associated with the intellectual battles fought from amid their lofty ivory towers.
Instead of pressing for greater academic freedom or university autonomy, a group of students from Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Malaysia walked alongside some residents of Kg Chubadak Tambahan, one of the earliest Malay settlements in this part of the city, to the office of developer Arus Embun Sdn Bhd, to demand more compensation after their homes were reduced to rubble to make way for a new high-rise residential project.
Student Khairol Najib told Malay Mail Online he was moved to act after reading the news about 72-year-old Wahidah Md Salleh, who saw the shed in the urban village she and her family of 12 called home, demolished by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Monday.
“When we found out, we couldn't help but feel the need to help her. How would you feel if your own grandmother or family received treatment like this?” said Khairol Najib.
The Universiti Malaya undergraduate and some students joined a few other residents rushed to help build a new shelter for Wahidah on the rubble of her old home, and from there, to join in the fight against the developer to uphold what he saw as the Malay settlers' intrinsic right to own land.
“I don't know how we would survive if it were not for the kindness of these people. I am so grateful they came and helped me,” Wahidah said yesterday when met inside the tent.
She and her large family had been living in the cramped shed since July, when DBKL razed their house.
“They already came once and destroyed my home. Now they come again and forced us to move into the flats,” she said.
According to Wahidah, the authorities had told her to move into a two-room, 650-square foot flat unit in Batu Muda, which was the compensation given to them.
“They told us to pack and move in but we didn’t. We moved half our stuff, but how can you fit a family of twelve into a house that small?” she asked.
“My old house was big, comfortable. Now we're all crammed in here. That flat is small, there’s not much room for all of us. At least here my grandchildren can run outside and play,” she added.
Wahidah now lives without any proper supply of electricity or water.
“Look at me now. I don't have electricity, it's hard to cook and I don't even have a proper toilet," she said, adding that she keeps some of stuff the family uses daily near her and storing the remainder at the government flat.
Originally from Leggong, Perak, Wahidah moved to Kg Chubadak Tambahan in 1968 when she married Halim Hamid who had been living there for four years previously.
The tough granny's defiance in the face of the demolition has turned her into a sort of poster woman for the village.
Residents of Kg Chubadak Tambahan have challenged authorities over the ownership of the land parcel in Sentul, from which they were evicted earlier this year.
In July, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the villagers have no right to claim ownership of the land as they are “squatters” on state-owned land, citing a Federal Court ruling in 1982, which declared the latter no right either in law or equity.
The villagers, now into its third generation, however claimed they have the rights as they were the original settlers of Kg Chubadak Tambahan.
In 2000, the Court of Appeal refuted claims that they were squatters and trespassers, insisting that they occupied the land as licensees and with consent from state authorities.However in 2008, DBKL listed Kg Chubadak Tambahan as a squatter settlement under the 2020 Kuala Lumpur City Plan, together with five other villages.
In June, DBKL moved in to demolish homes on the contested piece of land before the court’s decision.
DBKL’s move to evict the villages and destroy their homes has drawn flak from both sides of the political divide.
