E Contrario

Kampong Chubadak is one of the oldest Malay village in Kuala Lumpur. It was established by Minangkabau migrant from Sumatra, and was named after the name where the pioneers came from.
The new Duta-Ulu Kelang (DUKE) Highway will run through the kampong and the entire population will be uprooted. The residents have been for years fighting against eviction and their land rights.

This morning, DBKL appeared at Kampong Chubadak at 9.30am. They started demolishing the shops at the junction along Karak Highway and Jalan Bandar Dalam. 6 shop lots had been earmarked to be destroyed. The land owner of the shops is En. Roslan, or rather it belonged to his mother, a 70 year-old grand matriarch.

Roslan land numbered Lot3168. The government claimed that the Lot has been acquired 29 years ago when Karak was built. The puzzle was that the authorities continued to collect land tax from the owners. In other words, the Land Office continued to recognize the landownership.

Then a year ago, when DUKE was about to be implemented, the family took the case to court to apply for an injunction. The authorities suddenly declared that Rosland and his family in fact had lost their ownership to the Lot in 1974 for the usage of Karak Highway. However, the Land Office admitted mistake because the officers at the time had overlooked some paper work in order to officially endorse and gazette the acquisition. Thus the Land Office continued to collect rate.

When I arrived at the scene, DBKL officers led by an officer called Khalid already started destroying the first shop. I protested, but was told by Khalid that he had no power to stop the operation (a typical answer from all enforcers).

When challenged, he called his superior. Finally, the Deputy Chief of Enforcement Division (Timbalan Pengarah Bahagian Penguatkuasa) En. Samad arrived. He appeared to be quite an arrogant man. Maybe that is part of the job training. He insisted to proceed with demolition.

The shop owners had no choice but to move their equipment and stock out of their buildings. They felt so powerless in the face of such intimidation. They complained that the government has disregarded honest people who are trying to earn a living.

As the operation proceeded, villagers started to come out. They all watched helplessly with this inhumane act. My intervention only managed to secure some extra time for the shop owners to evacuate their stuff.

At the end, the enforcers agreed to stop work at 15:00hours afternoon. They managed to pull down two shop lots. At 15:30hours, rain began to pouring heavily. I guess that eventually ended their demolition exercise.

At night, we gathered the kampong people to a discussion. We decided to mobilize the whole kampong to resist further intrusions the next morning. All villagers unanimously supported a suggestion to have a peaceful assembly in front of the shops at 9:00hours tomorrow.