Firm blames Kg Hakka row on 'professional squatters'

The property developer who sought the demolition of Kampung Hakka Mantin, Negeri Sembilan last week has finally broken its silence and blamed outsiders for stoking tensions in order to politicise the matter. 
 
Mega 9 Development Sdn Bhd board chairperson Ng Kek Kiong said "professional squatters" and disabled persons were purposely hired to stay in the houses that were slated for demolition, thus causing a scene. 
 
"Some people brought in a group of professional squatters and handicapped persons to our Kampung Hakka. They can get RM500 if they cry in front of the press,” he alleged in a press conference today. 
 
As an example, Ng said one person had deliberately set up at tent at the site of one of the demolished houses despite the fact that the person owns a house at a residential area adjacent to Kampung Hakka Mantin. 
 
Ng, a local who was born and raised in the village, is also the former president of Federation of Fui Chiu Association Malaysia, an umbrella body for Hakka clans in Peninsular Malaysia. 
 
He also claimed that there were no occupants, other than some drug addicts, in the houses demolished at Phase 1 of the village. 
 
"No kids, no women and no men had been stranded because of the demolition. We only saw some snakes and drug addicts inside,” he said. 
 
Won't provide houses 
 
On residents' claim that they were only offered between RM3,000 and RM7,000 as compensation, Ng said that it was not true. He described the three compensation schemes offered to the residents as follows:  

• RM10,000 for those who had moved out;

• RM12,000 for those who are still staying in the village and offered them 10 percent discount to buy 100 units of low cost houses priced at RM41,000 each.

• Ten units of low cost houses will be allocated for the dispossessed and disabled residents, rent-free for life.

Asked whether he agreed to the residents' demand that each household should be compensated with one house, he said he would not consider it at the moment. 
 
"What is one for one? They need to be specify," he said, while urging the residents to meet him and discuss the matter further. 
 
Low cost houses 
 
According to Ng, his company will redevelop Kampung Hakka to a business park but will build a number of low cost houses in the same area. 
 
"We will spend some RM15million to build the low cost houses, in which 100 units will be reserved for the residents to buy at discounted price. 
 
"I think we are the first developer to build low cost houses on a commercial land," he said. 
 
Last Thursday, about twenty houses at Kampung Hakka Mantin Phase 1 had been demolished by the developer with the help of police. 
 
Nineteen people including residents, six DAP elected representatives and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan were arrested for resisting against the demolition. 
 
Majority of the residents reside in Phase 2, which is safe from demolition for now as a result of a stay order granted by the court at the eleventh hour.