KUALA LUMPUR – The bleak prospect of eviction has become a reality for close to 30 residents of Kg Sg Baru here after they received the dreaded Form K, a notice indicating that the government has taken formal possession of their land through the Land Acquisition Act (LAA) 1960.
On December 19, 2022, the Director-General of Lands and Mines Department (Land Office) had sent a letter instructing residents of the historic Malay enclave to vacate the acquired land within 30 days.
Appended to the letter was Form K as well as Form L, which orders the land title to be surrendered to the land administrator.
A lifelong Kg Sg Baru resident, who wished to be known as Diana, said it is completely unreasonable to give them such a short notice period, especially as it is near the year-end holiday season.
“There’s so much to do! How are we going to find movers, a new place to live, and sort out the necessary renovations in only 30 days?” she lamented, adding that the process was further complicated by her ageing parents who have mobility issues.
Besides that, Diana claimed it is unfair that she and her family had to wait more than three months to receive compensation from the developers, yet were given just one month to pack up and move out.
“They made us wait so long to give us a tiny amount (of compensation), and now they’re chasing us away so quickly?” she told The Vibes.
Diana was referring to the monetary compensation awarded by the land administrator when her family’s property was acquired, an amount that she says is “kurang ajar” (insulting).
Earlier, The Vibes revealed that some Kg Sg Baru residents were awarded compensation more than 300% lower than estimated market value.
In one case, a resident’s flat was valued at RM470 per sq ft by the Finance Ministry’s Valuation and Property Management Department, despite an independent assessor saying the flat ought to be worth RM1,480 per sq ft.
Some residents still empty-handed?
While Diana is one of 28 landowners who were handed the eviction notice, another nine Kg Sg Baru residents have not received their compensation.
Karim, 71, said the land administrator had issued Forms G and H to him at the end of September, but he has yet to receive a single sen.
Under the LAA, Forms G and H relate to the amount of compensation awarded to someone whose land is being acquired.
A resident of Kg Sg Baru since the 1980s, Karim said he was perturbed when he discovered that some of his neighbours had received the money in November.
He also claimed that numerous phone calls and letters to the Land Office went unanswered, and when he went to the department’s office in person, he was given the cold shoulder, with officers allegedly saying, “I’m not sure, you have to ask someone else”.
This experience was shared by 60-year-old single mother Kak Nina, who has also been waiting close to three months for her compensation.
She told The Vibes that when she contacted the Land Office earlier this month, she was told that “the developer hasn’t paid it yet”.
The predicament faced by Kg Sg Baru residents has been a long and arduous one beginning in 2016, when private developer Ritzy Gloss Sdn Bhd sought to develop the area into a massive multi-billion-ringgit mixed development project on the area.
In return for their property, Ritzy Gloss promised owners – depending on the size of their land – a number of brand new units in the new development.
After almost five years of negotiations during which Ritzy Gloss had failed to convince more than 100 landowners, the company applied for the LAA, which was subsequently approved by then federal territories minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa. – The Vibes, December 20, 2022
