Last-ditch effort to save home

THE Sidhu Brar family is making a final attempt to save a 97-year-old bungalow in Rawang they had been living in since 1960.

They will hold a press conference tomorrow to appeal to the Selangor state government to save the Sino-Malay-Palladin heritage building from being demolished after losing in a 10-year court battle.

Maljindar S. Sidhu Brar said they lost the case against Associated Pan Malaysia Cement Sdn Bhd (APMC) and Lafarge Malayan Cement Bhd, which held the mining lease to the bungalow land.

The bungalow, and several other houses, were originally built in 1920 by Berjuntai Tin Dredging Bhd (BTD), which had been given the mining lease for the area.

In 1959, the company sold the property to Pologa Nathan, an employee, who subsequently sold it to Maljindar’s great-grandmother Gurtha Kaur.

According to Maljindar, the family first applied to alienate the land with the Kuala Kubu Baru Land Office in 1967 but did not receive any reply.

The Sidhu Brar family bungalow was built in the 1920s and is believed to be one of the first residential homes to have electricity in the country. — Photos: RICKY LAI/The Star

 

In 1989, through a Deed of Assignment, Gurtha transferred her interests in the property to Maljindar’s father, the late Mahindar Singh.

However, the mining lease for the land had already been granted to APMC and LaFarge.

In 2007, Mahindar and 14 others filed a suit against the two companies after they were asked to vacate the premises.

Last year, the Shah Alam High Court held that the family was only licensees when they settled on the land, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Unhappy with the ruling, Maljindar wrote to Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali on March 30, appealing for the state government to consider the case as the land still belonged to the state.

“Azmin replied on April 7, saying that he had instructed Gombak District Officer Datuk Amirul Azizan Abd Rahim to look into the matter.

“However, we still have not received a reply, in spite of sending another letter to Azmin as well as the land office at the district and state levels on July 21,” he said.

(From left) Maljindar, Ranjit, Maljindar's wife Avdesh Kaur and Maljindar's mother Harbans at their family home in Rawang.

 

“We believe this house should be preserved by the state government on the basis of national heritage, as it was one of the first residential properties in the country to be supplied with electricity.

“If the state allows this to happen, many other houses in the area could also be affected and mining would be carried out closer and closer to the residential area.

“This press conference is our last attempt and if the state does not intervene, a historical building would be lost forever,” he said.

Maljindar’s mother, Harbans Kaur Sidhu, 72, who lives in the bungalow, has fond memories of the property.

Ranjit Singh Sidhu, 53, who also lived there, added that the wooden structures inside the bungalow, had been well preserved as the family had been maintaining it.