Postpone demolition exercise, cry car operators

THE remaining car workshop operators at the Kg Bugis squatter settlement, Kuala Lumpur are appealing to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) for more time to relocate.
The village, located behind Pudu Plaza, is the last area for more than 2,000 squatters in the last 10 years under the Bukit Bintang constituency to be declared ‘completely cleaned’, once demolition works are carried out this year.
Along with the car workshops are the wooden homes of owners who have stayed there for many years.
While the majority of the workshop operators have moved out from the area, the remaining six or so will be the last batch to do so.
Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who met the operators, said he had received a letter from the DBKL safety and enforcement department deputy director (operations) Ab Salim Mansor dated Sept 8 that the DBKL has agreed to postpone the demolition of the homes and workshops to Oct 15.
Workshop operator George Wong, 62, however, still hoped that the City Hall could extend the deadline to Dec 31 on humanitarian grounds.
“We are appealing for our MP Fong Kui Lun’s assistance to help extend the deadline,” said Wong.
“This is because the space that I’m having here would probably cost me RM10,000 rental fees outside, which I cannot afford under the current economic situation.
“So I hope DBKL can consider our plight,” said Wong, adding that he had been operating in the area for over 40 years.
Fong said he will appeal to the Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail on behalf of the operators as they still have pending works to complete for the car owners, some which would only be ready by November.
“Kg Bugis has a 50-year history. The residents are the second or third generations of the original occupants.
“This squatter happens to sit on government land that forms with the Imbi side, measuring 42.49ha in total, so the government is wanting to achieve the zero squatter status and make way for development concerning arts and culture,” he said.
He added that he is also requesting for the government to retain a small portion of the land for green lung.
Fong also announced that the 36 bachelors (either unmarried or widowed) who were previously not offered any DBKL flat units, will now be relocated to the Sri Johor flats in Cheras after his appeal to City Hall.
“I’m glad that after speaking to the DBKL, it has agreed to allocate them with the flats (two persons to one unit) and it’s somewhere nearby too,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is also learnt that some of the squatter residents had demolished their own homes before the City Hall could do so, so that they could fetch some money selling the materials like the wooden planks and zinc.
A resident at the Pudu Plaza apartments Tan Chik Poh said he hoped the City Hall could quickly clear the heap of garbage and mess at the vacant land next to his apartment building, which were left behind by the torn down homes.
“It has been more than two months but the pile of waste is still there.
“It actually caught fire a few times already in the wee hours of the morning, but fortunately it was small and we could put it out.
One of the remaining squatter home occupants who wanted to be known as Low, claimed the rubble has become a haven for drug addicts. She said there have been a spate of crime incidences, and hoped to authorities could urgently do something about the condition there.

The Star

再获宽限搬迁期限至下月中旬 居民盼延至年底

（吉隆坡15日讯）吉隆坡甘榜武吉斯非法木屋区内剩余的十多户住家及工厂再度获吉隆坡市政厅展延搬迁期限，惟当地厂家希望市政厅能再给予宽限期，把拆除行动展延至年杪。

武吉免登区国会议员方贵伦星期二上午向甘榜武吉斯区非法木屋居民汇报时宣布，市政厅已允许将原定在今天（15日）的拆除行动展延至10月15日。

工作已排至年杪由于当地还未搬迁的6间工厂所接下的工程及工作已排至年杪，因此厂家皆希望市政厅能将拆除日期展延至12月31日。这些工厂主要是修车厂、广告厂及煤炭储藏室。

修车厂业者王绥国说，本身的生意在该区扎根已久，一旦要搬迁，霎时间感到茫然，不知何去何从。“我目前已接下几单生意，预料截至年杪才能完成，希望当局至少让我们完成订单及手头上的工作才进行拆除行动。”他说，他们还需要时间安排搬迁事宜，何况迁移费用过高，本身恐无法负担，因此做好结业的心理准备。

针对厂家上述意愿，方贵伦说，本身将向市长反映上述问题，希望后者能网开一面。他说，据了解，有关地段将保留给文化部设立展览馆，预料将于11月份移交地段给当局，因此市政厅要在10月15日前清除上述地区。

富都木屋區展延拆‧行動黨助百戶遷三水村組屋

（吉隆坡）富都汶萊村與甘榜布吉斯木屋拆除行動獲吉隆坡市長拿督阿末弗亞首肯展延，行動黨武吉免登國會議員方貴倫將協助近100戶居民申請入住三水村人民組屋。

方貴倫週六（3月7日）向居民匯報時表示，他於3月4日致電市長，要求市長暫緩拆除上述兩個木屋區的行動，這項要求獲得市長的同意。

“此次也是有關當局第6次暫緩拆除行動。上述兩個木屋區居民在2月26日接獲市政局通知，指示他們在3月9日之前搬遷。這兩個木屋區已有四五十年的歷史。”

遷三水村方便學生

他指出，上述兩個木屋區的部份居民已經遷走，目前只留下約100戶居民。有關當局安排上述居民遷往新街場拉也柏邁人民組屋，但居民希望能夠前往附近三水村人民組屋。這主要是因為富都一帶共有4間華小，而且部份居民的孩子也在附近念書，若前往他處，將對居民造成不便。

他同時提到，仍在上學的學生需面對考試，因此，有關當局應該暫緩拆除行動，直至考試結束為止。另外，每一戶搬遷的居民都將獲得1000令吉的搬遷費。有關當局也已拆除丟空的木屋單位。
多遷往蕉賴或士布爹

他說，三水村人民組屋只有900個單位，但許多木屋居民都希望遷往此處，仍需爭取。他已在國會上提出此項要求，而聯邦直轄區部長拿督斯里朱哈斯南也已經同意。武吉免登選區並無建造人民組屋，因此，此區木屋居民多遷往蕉賴或士布爹區。

他表示，若上述兩個木屋區居民遷走，武吉免登將成為吉隆坡區內，首個達致零度木屋的選區。
另一方面，方貴倫也促請政府就中華辟智華小重建一事，撥款給予協助。

星洲日報／大都會‧2009.03.08