Marginalised groups face eviction woes

Ipoh, 1 April 2003

April fools day was no joke at the Perak State Assembly in Ipoh this morning. About a thousand people demonstrated in front of the Perak Menteri Besar�s office today, holding placards and banners, the most striking of which was a blazing red banner calling for legislation on land for farmers, estate workers and urban pioneers in the state.

JERIT

The demonstration was organized by the Perak Marginalised People�s Network, which is a member of the national-level Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Marginalised People�s Network) or JERIT. Even as people began arriving, a hefty police presence began to build up. But this as well as the road blocks that had been mounted at various entry points did nothing to deter the busloads of people who poured in from various parts of the state including Falim, Buntong and Jelapang in the city, as well as Chemor, Sg Siput, Batu Gajah and Sitiawan.

The entire police force seemed to have turned up, with a rather fidgety OCPD resorting to the megaphone a couple of times demanding that people disperse. The OCPD, ACP Ismail Abdullah, who seems to be newly transferred from Perlis, was a rather difficult person to handle. There was only one thing that came out from his mouth: �5 minutes to disperse�. He kept repeating the same thing for about an hour, so much so that some people started calling him the �5 minutes OCPD�.

In fact the entire Ipoh District police line-up was on the ground, some policemen dangling handcuffs while others took photographs. Besides that, the light strike force, equipped with teargas guns, was in attendance, facing the peaceful assembly

But if the intention was to intimidate, the police did not succeed. The people stood unflinchingly while the police employed a host of tactics: lining up along the divider, taking endless photos, jotting down slogans, etc.

MB Absent

PSM Secretary General S. Arutchelvan succinctly told the OCPD, �We will only leave if the MB asks us to go away. The job of the police is just to maintain order.�

Some tough negotiation took place with the entire PSM top leadership present including chairperson Dr. Nasir Hashim, deputy chair M.Saraswathy, treasurer A.Sivarajan and other Central Committee members including PSM Sg. Siput chairperson Dr. Jeyakumar Devaraj.

Clearly absent from the scene was the man whose doors it seems are open to the people every Tuesday. Dato Seri Tajol Rosli, the so-called concerned and friendly Menteri Besar, failed to appear. For the thousand-odd people at the assembly, Tajol Rosli had unmasked himself. Uncaring, unfriendly, uninterested in meeting his people.

It was not hard to relate this attitude to the actual policies of the state with regards to urban pioneers, estate workers and farmers. For was it not under this Menteri Besar that farmers of three generations were dispossessed of their farming land? Is he not the one who is building flats to stuff the urban pioneers into, upon selling off their land? And has not his silence on the eviction of Heawood and Changkat Salak Estate workers been deafening?

Land policies and implementation under Tajol Rosli are apparently intended to dispossess the poor and enrich a few rich capitalists and politicians. Not a single peneroka (pioneer) village has been offered lots since he assumed his tenure as Menteri Besar in 1999. Former workers of Ladang Strathisla had to fight a long, bitter battle to get housing lots even though the company that had bought the estate was the SEDC of Perak, of which the Menteri Besar is the chairman. A host of farming communities, including those at Tanah Hitam, Gunung Pari and Sg Buloh were served eviction notices without any alternative site to farm.

Back in Two Weeks

Countless letters by individual communities had failed to elicit a response from the MB, thus prompting about 15 communities to unite to press for legislation for the poor. And when Segar of Alaigal together with four key leaders met the MB�s officers earlier, they were informed that the MB would only meet them in two months� time. The crowd shouted loudly in protest at this delay. Finally, the MB�s officer argeed to an appointment in two weeks.

As people were about to disperse, after having become wiser about the real face of the state and its agents, two riot police trucks and a water cannon rolled in, sirens blaring. For the nonchalant crowd, it was a mere mockery of might. It seems the �5 minutes OCPD� wanted to have the last say but it was the people who had the last laugh.

Their mere presence during the state assembly sitting unnerved the politicians and the police. The entire police machinery at the district and state levels was mobilised. It was the might of the state challenging the might of the people. In the end, the Menteri Besar�s office agreed to call a meeting within two weeks and the people left. They would be back again in two weeks.

Source: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

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