It was a gloomy Year of the Snake for a couple in their 80s in Jalan Kolam Air, Kuala Lumpur, and the Year of the Horse does not look promising either.
Once the Lunar New Year holidays are over, the couple could lose their 60-year-old home and be rendered homeless due to a surveying discrepancy regarding their land.
Speaking on behalf of the family, one of the couple’s daughters, who wished to be known only as Lai, said her parents were issued an eviction notice nine months ago by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to make way for a road expansion project in the area.
The couple, who asked to be identified only as Mr and Mrs Low, was told that three-quarters of their home, as well as an adjoining structure housing another daughter, would be torn down for the project.
Only a quarter of the existing house would be left, while the kitchen, toilet and a bedroom belonging to their deceased son would be gone.
“If they dismantle it like that, the whole house will collapse. That means my late brother’s room will be gone,” Lai told Malaysiakini.
“The kitchen will be gone. The toilet will be gone. How can they still stay in the house?” Lai asked.
The couple was initially given a reprieve for Chinese New Year, but the thought of the contractors coming back after the holidays is causing them anguish.
“My parents have been crying constantly, and they can’t sleep. They are already very old, yet every morning, rain or shine, they still have to go out to sell rice,” Lai said.
She added that the family’s limited financial means leave them unable to secure a new home, so her parents would likely be homeless if their house is ultimately demolished.
A 70-year-old problem
Persatuan Kebajikan Biro Bantuan Sentul, an NGO that is helping the couple, claimed that the problem originated more than 70 years ago, back when the Jalan Kolam Air settlement was first established.
The settlement predates DBKL, which was established in 1972, said the group’s adviser M Saravanan.
“Residents originally built homes in the area based on informal understandings of their lot boundaries.
“At that time, they (the residents) did not have proper titles with accurate measurements. After DBKL was formed, they were given titles with the measurements.
“However, the houses had already been built and occupied prior to that (process),” he said.
Based on a Qualified Title document sighted by Malaysiakini, a 185-square-metre parcel of land was registered under Mr Low’s name in 1998.
The document, which included a land survey plan showing the parcel’s boundaries, stated that the lot’s borders were “not yet determined by survey” and were therefore provisional.
Under Section 5 of the National Land Code (NLC) 1965, a “qualified title” refers to a title issued in advance of a land survey, indicating that an area is provisional and not yet final.
Saravanan said matters became complicated when it was recently discovered that the land the family has been living on all this time was not the lot Low originally purchased.
The actual land parcel that Low acquired decades ago is allegedly occupied by illegal squatters, Saravanan said.
“If DBKL or contractors demolish the house, they would ultimately become homeless. He also cannot simply chase out the squatters currently on his actual lot,” Saravanan added.
The eviction notice was first served to the residents, including the Low family, nine months ago, Saravanan said.
While other houses around the couple’s home have been demolished, their residence was temporarily spared in view of the Chinese New Year period, Saravanan said.
‘Resolve the discrepancy first’
Malaysiakini has contacted DBKL and the Segambut parliamentary service office for comments.
Saravanan’s group and the family claimed they have made repeated attempts to seek assistance from Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh’s office, but so far, these efforts have yielded little progress.
According to Lai, both the family and the NGO have appealed for support, including assistance from Yeoh’s office to secure a people’s housing project (PPR) unit as temporary housing.
Lai said an officer from the MP’s office has come to visit her parents and promised to look into their plight, including the possibility of them being given a PPR unit to rent.
However, the MP’s office has yet to get back to them with a concrete solution.
‘Give them time’
Meanwhile, Saravanan urged the authorities to halt the demolition and give adequate time to resolve the couple’s land ownership problems.
“Firstly, we want to halt the demolition. It must be stopped immediately because once you demolish their house, they will automatically become homeless.
“They have nowhere else to go, and the couple would immediately be left without a home. That is the first thing that needs addressing.
“Authorities should properly survey the site and review the plans. The lot that he originally purchased should be returned to him before any demolition takes place,” he said. - Mkini
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