Bukit Kiara longhouse folk fear longer wait for homes

Bukit Kiara longhouse residents still waiting for resettlement as promised but still left unfulfilled. - Filepic

Federal Government will now have to start anew in delivering promised houses for Bukit Kiara longhouse residents, following the Federal Court’s ruling quashing the development order for Taman Awam Bukit Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI).

While some longhouse residents are excited about the verdict, others are concerned about the longer wait for their promised houses.

The residents are calling for affordable, low-density, permanent housing within the existing 1.62ha longhouse footprint in the form of townhouses or landed properties.

Gothai Vengidesalam was only three months old when she and her family were relocated from the Bukit Kiara Estate to the longhouses.

Now 42 years old, and with a 16-day-old son, she is hopeful that residents will get proper housing.

“My parents and I have lived here for more than 40 years and we made do with the wooden longhouses.

“We do not want our children to live in the same conditions, or in cramped flats as initially proposed,” she told StarMetro, adding that she was glad that Taman Awam Bukit Kiara (formerly known as Taman Rimba Kiara) would not be disturbed.

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Rajendran Muniandy, 60, prefers to wait for better housing than settle on the previous proposal.

“After all this time, we do not even own this wooden house or land as we pay rent to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“We are asking for a better standard of living and not to be relocated to a similar environment elsewhere,” he said.

Nagarajan Paramasivam, 48, urged the authorities to expedite delivering the promised houses as the longhouses were not conducive to live in.

“The wooden houses are a fire hazard. There are snakes and rodents entering our homes.

“Every unit has only a small kitchen and one bathroom. There are no bedrooms,” the father-of-one said.

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Arumugam Thangaveloo, 67, feels the families have been left in a limbo for the past 40 years as the longhouses were never meant to last more than five years.

“We are worried over recent developments as this means an even longer delay on the promised houses.

“We do not know what will happen next or who will be responsible for building houses as the land belongs to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP).”

Arumugam, who is also Sri Mahamariamman Bukit Kiara Temple chairman, remains firm that residents are not to be relocated.

Bukit Kiara Rumah Panjang Residents Association secretary Sivakumar Muniandy said a meeting would be called soon to brief residents on latest updates.

“We are waiting for the grounds of judgment. We need to go through it to fully understand the decision and what will happen next.

“We have also appealed to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, who has been helping us in this matter, to raise the issue to the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) at the Cabinet meeting,” he said.

On April 18, in a unanimous decision, a three-member panel led by Federal Court judge Justice Nallini Pathmanathan affirmed the Jan 27, 2021 decision of the Court of Appeal in quashing the development order issued by DBKL.

DBKL, YWP and the developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd had appealed to the Federal Court for the development order to be reinstated so they could proceed to develop Taman Rimba Kiara.

TTDI residents have been fighting the proposed development since it came to light in 2016.

In 2017, TTDI residents filed for a judicial review against DBKL and the mayor, seeking to quash the development order.

The High Court subsequently denied the request in 2018, after concluding that no elements of illegality were found in the order’s issuance.

The proposed project involves building a 29-storey apartment block with 350 units of affordable housing, as well as eight blocks of serviced apartments and an eight-storey parking facility.