Sandakan squatters forced to endure ticking time bombs

SANDAKAN – Poor families in Sabah are forced illegally to build houses in random lands that do not belong to them as they cannot afford to own or rent a house.

Squatter houses have been an issue in Sabah for many years, especially on the east coast of Sabah, where the district here has the highest proportion of squatter houses in Sabah with 6,516 units out of 23,778 statewide, followed by Semporna (4,297 units), Lahad Datu (3,711 units), and Tawau (3,600 units), according to Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican during recent Parliament sittings.

With the government’s effort to eradicate illegal immigrants and squatter housing in Sabah, it also comes with the responsibility to relocate the Malaysian citizens who are living in these illegal settlements.

For instance, DAP’s Sandakan MP Vivian Wong Shir Yee recently urged the government to build more People’s Housing Project (PPR) units for the locals to eradicate squatter houses in the district.

In Sandakan, squatter settlements in various sizes are scattered around at almost every couple of miles in the district.

There are generally two types of squatter settlements that one can see in the district.

A long-term issue

The older settlements are concentrated in Batu Sapi near here. These settlements are larger, with bigger and more organised houses, and equipped with basic facilities such as mosques and small community halls.

These villages have been in the area for almost 40 years and outsiders may find it surprising that these settlements are not gazetted as an official village (thus labelled as illegal settlement), as they were constructed on lands belonging to the government or private companies many years ago due to lack of awareness from their older generation.

A local community activist, Azlani Rayqiezan, personally estimates that about 85% of these villagers are locals, while the rest are foreigners, and are only thriving because the owners of the houses have moved and leased the houses to migrants.

Most of these villages have a clean water supply from the district Water Department, while half of them receive their electricity supply from Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, with another half getting power supply from independent power distributors.

The locals here have been crying for the government to gazette their land as official villages. Five villages in Batu Sapi have successfully acquired the ‘village (perkampungan)’ status in recent years, and there are still nine villages that are still labelled as illegal settlements.

“It is a far cry for some of the villages here, as their land is owned by private companies.

“They have been asked to move many times, but the local political leaders have always stood up for them, delaying the demolition process.

“However, we don’t know how long their help would work,” he said.

‘Real’ squatter houses

The smaller squatter settlements are generally built in recent years. The houses are built with plywood, looking like temporary huts in poor condition, and are often built on waterfronts – along the Sandakan bay or rivers, and do not have access to clean water or electricity supply.

Here, its residents are mostly migrants, and it is these settlements that the government has been urged, and wants to get rid of.

There are no official figures as to how many families living in these houses are locals, but these structures were constructed illegally in recent times and should, legally, be demolished.

However, while the illegal immigrants living here should rightfully be repatriated (according to the law), the government would need to take into account the fate of Malaysians who are living in these squatter houses.

The Vibes spoke with Mawar Inding (not her real name), a local 50-year-old hawker here whose family is one of many that are just waiting to go homeless any day.

I am not building houses illegally because I want to challenge the law. I am doing it because I have no other choice.

“As a mere chicken seller at the market, it is impossible for me to buy a house. With the income that I have now, my children would go hungry if I rented a house,” she said.

Mawar said that she had missed submitting her details to the Statistics Department when they conducted a census in the area near her house six years ago as she was out working.

“My neighbours have been arranged to live in PPR units, but I missed that chance. After that, no matter how hard I tried to apply, I was passed around from one department to another like a ball but failed to get an application form for a PPR unit.

“After a couple of months, we heard that the PPR units have been fully occupied,” she said.

Mawar said a couple of years ago, she had received a warning letter from the local authority instructing her to relocate and informing her that her house will be demolished soon.

But she is still staying at the house, waiting for the day her house would be destroyed.

“I have to stay here. Where else can I go? If the day (of demolition) really comes, I will stay temporarily in my relatives’ house,” she added.

Meanwhile, another local, Harun Ahmad (not his real name), 36, said he lived in a squatter house here until it was demolished by the authority 20 years ago when almost all squatter settlements in the area – Kg Forest, Kg Grandview and Kg BDC – were destroyed to make way for a new main road, Jalan Lintas Utara.

He said at the time, the villagers who were mostly locals were only given three days prior notice, leaving a lot of people homeless and had stayed in a temporary camp near the area.

“I have been in their (squatter residents) shoes once, so I know how it felt.

“I was lucky that my father had only purchased a piece of land in Mile 7, and we built our house immediately after that. The rest were not as lucky,” he said.

Harun said he agrees that there are many issues with squatter houses, including social problems (crime and drugs), electricity supply problems (people cutting and connecting cables to steal electricity), and safety problems (fire hazards).

“While I think that the squatter settlement problem should be solved, I also think the government must first help the locals to find a new place to live.

“These people are living in squatter houses because they are mostly fishermen and construction workers who earn minimum wage. They should be provided with PPR units or other alternatives.

“Make it easier for them. We all know PPR units are very hard to get,” he added. – The Vibes, November 20, 2021