Kg Manggis residents sweat over their fate

By Rajeswary Raman

Around 378 residents of Kg. Manggis in Jalan Klang Lama are facing the possibility of being homeless as the deadline to vacate their houses looms closer.

The village has existed for more than 45 years but now the residents are asked to vacate to make way for development projects by Sentrilands Sdn Bhd.

“We did not know that the land was sold off to a developer until we received this notice,” claimed the residents’ representative Chong Kim Lien.

This village was under the ownership of four people, namely Kwa Pak Weng, Saiful Bahri bin Abdul Hadi, Mohd Arif bin Mohd Shah and Hor Kout Hon, all of whom sold the land to the private developer.

According to the residents’ chairman Low Kim Heng, they have attempted to meet Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Raja Nong Chik bin Datuk Raja Zainal Abidin three times so far, but to no avail.

Yew Foong, 47, a committee member in the residents’ organization alleges that during a trip to the Bangsar UMNO office regarding this issue, an officer advised that this is a political matter and the residents should not say anything.

The village consists of residents from the low income group, with many of them could barely make ends meet as it is.

Yee Ah Soon, 86, who has lived in this village for 31 years states that she will have to ‘sleep under a bridge’ if she was asked to vacate her current home.

The deadline for vacating for Fasa B is August 23 and for Fasa A is August 28. Demolition work was already done on several vacant houses.