By Sivarajan A
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: PSM reminds DS Anwar that he should rather ensure that his state government policies really address and solve the long-pending woes of the community and ‘not stab us instead’ by ignoring our issues.
One such issue is the house ownership scheme for estate workers. DS Anwar should specifically look at how his PKR-led Selangor state has resolved long-standing housing woes for estate workers.
PSM and workers movements have long called for an enactment to ensure that a house ownership scheme is implemented for workers who have toiled the estate for over 3 generations.
The unresolved housing issue among Bukit Beruntung Estate workers stands out, particularly because their project was abandoned due to blunders in the land office under the previous BN-UMNO Selangor State administration.
Bukit Beruntung is adjacent to the Kuala Kubu Bahru constituency in Hulu Selangor.
Even though the estate owner clearly violated the law under the National Land Code, 1965, the current state government still refuses to enforce the law and assist the Bukit Beruntung Estate workers.
The Selangor State Government under the previous administration has failed to endorse land conversion from agriculture to development, thus causing the project to be illegal.
The state has also lost millions of ringgit in revenue as quit rent because of this blunder.
Furthermore, the workers have been duped into signing a sales and purchase agreement as the status of the land remained agriculture! Until today, our abandoned houses have been built and are sitting on land still classified as agriculture.
With such clear-cut violations, the current Pakatan-led Selangor State Government is reluctant to forfeit the land and resolve the housing woes of the estate workers. “Don’t stab us instead, Pakatan!”.
If Pakatan and DS Anwar really want to win the confidence of the rakyat in view of the upcoming elections in Kuala Kubu Bahru, then they should enforce the law for the benefit of the workers.
*Sivarajan A is the Secretary General of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).*
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