We did try to help Kedah villagers, says state exco

Villagers seen outside a house at Kampung Sungai Getah 2 in Kedah. They say the authorities have ignored their plight for many years.

GEORGE TOWN: A Kedah state executive councillor has dismissed complaints that the authorities turned a blind eye to the plight of villagers at a rubber estate near Bedong who claimed they had been without access to clean water and electricity for the past 40 years.

Summugam Rengasamy, the chairman of the state Indian community affairs committee, said the residents of Kampung Sungai Getah 2 were in fact squatting on the land.

“I have worked hard to bring them clean water, but I was prevented from doing so by the landowners,” he told FMT. “What can I do?

“We also brought this up to the state executive council and the consensus was simple: we have to follow the law on this matter.

“Any claims that the Pakatan Harapan government did nothing are wrong because we have tried our level best to help them.”

Last Friday, the villagers told FMT that they had been denied clean water and electricity since their grandparents first started living there.

But Summugam, who is the assemblyman for Bukit Selambau, said they had likely exaggerated their hardships as most of them were living in rented houses at Sungai Lalang and Bandar Baharu.

He said the villagers who were renting outside the village made money by rearing livestock and had previously refused to pay rent to the landowners.

Summugam Rengasamy.

In reality, he said, there were only “about three to five” residents who were genuinely poor and who did odd jobs to make ends meet. He added that he had personally met them and given them cash and other necessities from time to time.

Concerning the availability of clean water, he said the landowner had not allowed the authorities to ensure the supply of treated water to villagers.

He said the landowner even sent a legal notice to him and the Kedah government after hearing of plans to supply water directly to the village in June last year.

He claimed the landowner had threatened legal action against him and the state if they supplied water and electricity to the village without consent.

In the early 2000s, he said the villagers had received water through a single pipe connection supplied by Syarikat Air Darul Aman.

The supply was cut in 2010 after the villagers raked up a whopping RM22,000 in water bills, he added. The villagers themselves had said the water rates were too high as they were calculated under an industrial tariff.

As for electricity, Summugam said, Tenaga Nasional’s policy was to only supply power upon receiving the owner’s consent.

He said the Kedah government offered to move the villagers to government housing in 2009, but its offer was rejected.

“At that time, the Pakatan Rakyat government offered them the Taman Tok Pawang, Bedong government housing scheme, which they refused.

“They continued to stay on because they wanted to rear their livestock.”

FMT has contacted the village spokesman Gunasegaran Subramaniam and is awaiting his reply.

Last Friday, the landowner told FMT the villagers had been allowed to stay on despite their status as squatters.

“This is a 40-year-old problem. A few menteris besar have been involved, authorities and assemblymen have told the villagers to cooperate on matters, but they refused.

“I bought the land in 1963 and have never disturbed the residents there, despite them squatting on my land. I was also staying together with them, at one point,” the owner had said. -FMT