Residents' unity and perseverance wins the day in battle of endurance with developer

by Veerasenan

In November 2000, the AMZ Company finally acquiesced to the Klebang residents� demands and agreed in writing to:

• Provide housing lots measuring 50 by 90 feet to each of the 17 families still staying on the estate;
• Level the land and provide roads, drains, electricity and water supply to all these housing lots free of charge;
• Provide one acre of land for relocation of the two temples on the estate, as well as RM50,000 for the reconstruction of the temples;
• Give monetary compensation equivalent to thrice the amount that was first offered to the workers when they were retrenched in 1989.

This is certainly a sweet victory for the residents of Klebang Estate who have been fighting for better terms of compensation for the past 11 years. It is also very welcome news for the plantation community as a whole which, throughout the country, is facing retrenchment and eviction because of crop conversion and development schemes. This is the first time in Malaysia that an estate community has been granted housing lots as compensation for loss of housing caused by the retrenchment exercise.

However success did not come easily! The Klebang estate people�s problem began in 1989 when the AMZ company retrenched them and offered to pay them only between RM1,000 and RM5,000 per worker. Many workers accepted this offer and moved out especially after AMZ stopped water and electricity supply to the workers� quarters. Also, the State NUPW had told them that this was all they could expect under the law. However, 21 families had nowhere else to go to and, therefore, they had to stay on despite the withdrawal of basic amenities.

Silence was deafening

They endured for five years and, in 1994, linked up with Alaigal (an NGO working with estate and urban pioneer communities). Letters were then sent to AMZ, the elected representatives as well as to relevant government officials. The silence was deafening. Finally on 11 September 1994, the Klebang Estate residents decided to hold a picket in front of their estate to draw the attention of the press to their plight. This peaceful picket resulted in the arrest of 21 people including several members of Alaigal. [See Aliran Monthly 14(8) and 14(10) for more details]

The arrests, however, only served to unite the community and give them self-confidence. They managed to get Lembaga Air Perak water supply, bought and operated a second-hand generator, engaged a lawyer to stave off an AMZ attempt to obtain an eviction order for the temples, started tuition classes for school-going children and organised monthly gotong-royongs to keep the estate clean. They also tried to engage the AMZ in a discussion to resolve their claims for proper compensation.

The AMZ refused to negotiate. But when the AMZ finally decided to proceed with their plans to develop the land as a mixed housing project at the end of 1999 they found that the residents of Klebang estate refused to allow them to start any work as AMZ had not yet settled the workers� problems. After failing in several attempts to force their way into the land, and after wasting several months, the AMZ decided to accept the offer of Sivalingam, a senior lawyer from KL to attempt a negotiated settlement. The terms mentioned above are the result of these negotiations brokered by Sivalingam, who was quite sympathetic to the plight of the residents.

Bullied out of their homes

Sadly, in Malaysia today, there are many, many communities like Klebang estate, and other estates, urban pioneer settlements, Orang Asli communities and Kayan and Kenyah communities who are being evicted to make way for development projects, dams and the like. The vast majority of them are bullied out of their homes without fair compensation.

If it was possible to share with them the news of the peoples� victory at Klebang, we would highlight three points:

• There is tremendous strength in unity.
• The struggle for justice is a serious matter - for the past six years, the Klebang residents have been meeting every week to discuss their problems and to plan their follow-up actions.
• The Klebang residents were tenacious. They persevered although at times it seemed that their struggle was getting nowhere.

Veerasenan belongs to Alaigal.