Johari urged to meet with PM on Kampung Sungai Baru evictions

Titiwangsa MP Johari Abdul Ghani has been urged to meet with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the fate of Kampung Sungai Baru residents, who were issued an eviction notice on Dec 19. 

Samsuri Suradi, vice-president of the Malay Agricultural Settlement (MAS) board, said the land acquisition was made without the consent of all of the residents involved. 

"Why are the authorities using the law on behalf of the developers?" he added. "Are they colluding?"

Speaking to MalaysiaNow, he said the residents had no voice of their own and needed their representatives to speak to the government and developers on their behalf.  

Kampung Sungai Baru is part of the iconic Kampung Baru enclave, located in the heart of the capital city. 

Some 90 residents there were told by the land and mines department to vacate their homes within 30 days.

Johari, in a statement to a news portal, had said that residents should be given six months. 

MalaysiaNow previously reported that the Kampung Sungai Baru residents were unsatisfied with the offer made by the government, which they said differed from the price given by a private appraiser. 

Samsuri said while developers might think it easy to take land in Kampung Sungai Baru, land under MAS cannot easily change over to non-Malays. 

"They might think, why not take over land in Sungai Baru first and then Kampung Baru later on," he added. 

The Kampong Bharu Development Corporation said in June that a total of 219 unit owners covering 27 terrace lots and 192 flat units had agreed to sign a joint venture agreement. 

The land acquisition status for 37 terrace lots, meanwhile, is still pending.

The development of Kampung Baru was an issue of dispute in the Titiwangsa constituency at the Nov 19 election between rival candidates Johari and Khalid Samad.

MAS meanwhile said that a meeting with the prime minister was important to prevent a situation in which the people become the victims. 

"Khalid wants to take the opportunity to be seen as a hero as he is no longer a star," Samsuri said. 

"But in the past, he was the one who forced the residents to accept the offer of RM850 per square foot," he added, referring to a press statement issued by Khalid, a former federal territories minister, regarding the eviction notice.