Build houses for estate workers, PSM urges tycoon Vincent Tan

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member S Arutchelvan has demanded that a group of former estate workers be allowed to claim housing rights that were allegedly promised almost two decades ago from tycoon Vincent Tan and conglomerate Berjaya Corporation Berhad (Berjaya).

Today, a group of about 20 people representing the estate workers of Berjayacity in Bestari Jaya, Selangor (formerly known as Batang Berjuntai) went to Berjaya Times Square to hand over a letter of demand to Tan's representative.

The group included members of the Berjayacity Workers Housing Committee.

After close to a two-hour discussion with the representative which Arutchelvan described as pleasant and harmonious, Arutchelvan said that PSM had asked Tan to provide 20 acres of land to build terrace houses for 245 families.

"There are four generations of estate worker families in Batang Berjuntai - (in) Ladang Mary, Nigel Garder, Bukit Tagar, Sungai Tinggi, and Minyak," he told the media at the mall.

Arutchelvan said that the demand is a follow-up to the letter which his side had submitted to Tan as well as the former urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister Noh Omar last year.

"Last year, we were informed that Berjaya had identified 12.75 acres of land and that apartments were to be developed for these families but they have to purchase a unit at a discounted price and under the rental-to-own concept.

"We don't agree. We request that they add an extra eight acres and provide low-cost terrace houses instead for these families," he said, adding that apartments are not suitable for these estate families.

Tan's representative, Berjaya Corporation Berhad assistant general manager Mohamed Syairoz Mohd Odman confirmed that he had received the letter from PSM and will hand it over to Tan. 

According to a timeline provided by PSM, the estates had been sold by French company Socfin to Berjaya in 1998. 

The timeline also claimed that in January 1999, Berjaya had promised to build houses for workers if their estates were sold, and that they would be able to own their own houses.

Furthermore, Selangor exco K Sivalingam had allegedly said in a letter to the Berjaya/Socfin Workers' Welfare Committee chair in Jul 1999 that Berjaya had agreed in a meeting to build low-cost houses, with a priority for former estate workers. 

It further alleged that in 2008, Berjaya had written a letter to the Selangor menteri besar stating that it had agreed to allocate 4,000 square feet for estate workers to build their own houses on, with conditions. 

However, in March 2016, 57 former estate workers from the five estates had received eviction notices.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Arutchelvan had previously said that the former estate workers had received the eviction notices after the estates were sold to Prosper Group in 2015, with the reason being given that they were no longer working in the estates.  - Mkini