Hindraf reps fail to hand over memo at Parliament

Hindraf representatives who arrived in Parliament this afternoon to hand over a memorandum on the planned demolition of seven houses two days before Deepavali could not do so as no one was available to receive it.

According to Hindraf Youth chief S Thiagarajan, this was despite notice being given via fax yesterday and there was a confirmation of receipt.

“We spoke to Puan Jainisah, who is said to be the Parliament coordinator, via telephone when we arrived at Parliament House and she said she would arrange for someone to accept the memorandum.

“We waited for an hour but no one turned up so we decided to leave and send the memorandum by hand to the Federal Territories Ministry, Kuala Lumpur mayor's office and Prime Minister's Office instead,” Thiagarajan said.

Thiagarajan (centre, in photo) said that they had planned to send the memorandum to a representative of the ministry as well as to the prime minister in Parliament so that the issue would get the parliamentarians attention because of the urgency of the matter.

The incident comes a day after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz extended an invitation on behalf of the government to Hindraf and other Indian groups for a discussion on their grievances. 

Mohd Nazri, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs, is currently abroad. 

According to the memorandum, seven houses of urban settlers in the Jalan Chan Sow Lin area of Kuala Lumpur are to be demolished on Sunday, two days before Deepavali, to make way for development.

The land now belongs to Kha Seng Development Sdn Bhd. 

TOL licence fee paid from 1930s to 2011

The houses are inhabited by five Indian families and two Chinese families, of whom three hold temporary occupation licences (TOL). 

“These TOL holders have been paying yearly TOL licences since the 1930s,” Hindraf secretary-general P Uthayakumar says in the memorandum. 

Uthayakumar (left) said the latest assesment bill from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall was issued in July 2011. 

He noted that the residents had applied for grants in 1993 but were rejected. 

“We hereby make an urgent SOS to your goodselves that the said demolition exercise scheduled for Nov 11, 2012, and thereafter is called off and that this matter be amicably resolved,” he said. 

Uthayakumar also sought the mayor, minister and prime minister to consider that the residents are in the 60s and 70s, and are not eligible for housing loans from commercial banks. 

According to Thiagarajan, some of the residents have lived in the houses all their lives. 

They received a court order saying they should vacate the land three months ago, and have approached their MP for assistance, but to no avail. 

“They have approached (DAP Cheras MP) Tan Kok Wai, (DAP Puchong MP) Gobind Singh Deo and other opposition MPs but were informed there was nothing that the MPs could do,” Thiagarajan added. 

A copy of the memorandum was also sent to Kha Seng Development and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission as the residents are suspicious that some form of corruption is also possibly involved.