Defiant squatters refuse to budge
Sim Bak Heng
SQUATTERS are people who occupy other people’s land illegally. The duration of their stay largely depends on how long the land remains undeveloped.
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| AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE: Kampung Skudai Kiri is one of the biggest squatter settlements in the state. - Pictures by Sim Bak Heng |
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| EYESORE: The settlements often lack basic amenities. |
In most cases, they only dare occupy government land because private land owners would not hesitate to issue them with a legal letter should they discover trespassers on their property.
The state government usually adopts a “wait-and-see” attitude towards squatters and will only issue them an eviction notice if they have plans to develop the land.
More often than not, the squatters reciprocate by adopting the same attitude with the notice. After all, time is on their side.
Because the state government is “too kind”, squatters are becoming more daring. One hut becomes two and within years, it becomes a “colony”. Some “colonies” are as old as the country.
Some squatters have grown rich but still refuse to move out. In fact, they collect rent by leasing their homes to foreigners, whether illegal or not.
As the population of the squatters increases, so does their voice.
Take, for example, the Kempas Squatters Action Committee in Johor Baru, which represents 5,000 families in 18 squatter areas in the Kempas constituency.
Most of the land they occupy belongs to the Permai Hospital, under the Health Ministry, which has plans to upgrade the mental hospital and build a nursing college.
The squatters refused to move into the seven blocks of flats provided by the Johor government under the People’s Housing Project scheme.
Among their complaints were that the flats were uncomfortable and not safe for living in, did not have a certificate of fitness for occupancy, lacked lifts and car parks and did not have a proper garbage disposal system. They also said there was a “lack of clarity on flat ownership”.
But were these the “real” reasons they refused to move out? These are “technical” problems which could easily be sorted out by the state government.
Their intention seems to be to get the state government to award them the land they are occupying.
Instead of vacating the land, they now want the Permai Hospital to move out. Their reason is that it is no longer suitable for the hospital to occupy that piece of land.
Let’s get down to the crux of the matter. Who is the rightful landowner?
If you listen to the committee, you would think that the hospital authorities have been squatting on their land and that their livelihood has been affected by hospital operations.
The committee has even embarked on a roadshow to get signatures from 2,000 households and submit them, together with a memorandum, to Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.
So far, Ghani is standing firm. Despite the signatures, he wants the squatters out by end of the year.
He has sent a loud and clear message: there is no room for squatters in the state.
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