Kampung Tai Lee is one of the earliest Indian settlements in Ipoh.
FMT
IPOH: Residents of Kampung Tai Lee here are urging Putrajaya and the Perak government to declare the village as a national heritage because it was one of the earliest settlements for the Indian community in Ipoh.
DAP vice-chairman M Kula Segaran, who had a meeting with some of the residents today, said they had decided to seek the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s assistance in acquiring the land.
“It is not going to be easy as the federal and state governments may disagree with this proposal since a large fund could be required to acquire this land and to maintain it,” he said in a press statement.
DAP would nevertheless “go all out” to assist the residents, he added. “If need be, we are ready to take this matter to be adjudicated in court.”
Kula said he would seek the help of the Heritage Society of Malaysia, other NGOs and political parties in procuring heritage status for the land.
Located in Buntong, said to be the area with the largest Indian population in the country, Kampung Tai Lee was alienated on Oct 23, 1914. The majority of its early Indian settlers were labourers employed in and around Ipoh.
Fifty-five poor Indian families currently live there in wooden houses they erected themselves.
In 1997, the owners of pieces of land that make up the village sent out eviction notices to the residents. They also filed legal suits against the residents, branding them as squatters.
After a protracted legal battle, the Ipoh High Court last December ordered the land owners to pay RM10,000 per resident but ordered the residents to move out by April this year.
Kula fired a broadside at the Perak government for failing to fulfill its three-decade-old pledge to relocate the villagers to better homes.
He noted that the state government had promised to build low-cost flats on a four-acre state-owned land next to the village for the residents.
Kula said his legal team had filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal for a higher compensation while asserting that the residents had a right to stay on the land.
IPOH: Residents of Kampung Tai Lee here are urging Putrajaya and the Perak government to declare the village as a national heritage because it was one of the earliest settlements for the Indian community in Ipoh.
DAP vice-chairman M Kula Segaran, who had a meeting with some of the residents today, said they had decided to seek the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s assistance in acquiring the land.
“It is not going to be easy as the federal and state governments may disagree with this proposal since a large fund could be required to acquire this land and to maintain it,” he said in a press statement.
DAP would nevertheless “go all out” to assist the residents, he added. “If need be, we are ready to take this matter to be adjudicated in court.”
Kula said he would seek the help of the Heritage Society of Malaysia, other NGOs and political parties in procuring heritage status for the land.
Located in Buntong, said to be the area with the largest Indian population in the country, Kampung Tai Lee was alienated on Oct 23, 1914. The majority of its early Indian settlers were labourers employed in and around Ipoh.
Fifty-five poor Indian families currently live there in wooden houses they erected themselves.
In 1997, the owners of pieces of land that make up the village sent out eviction notices to the residents. They also filed legal suits against the residents, branding them as squatters.
After a protracted legal battle, the Ipoh High Court last December ordered the land owners to pay RM10,000 per resident but ordered the residents to move out by April this year.
Kula fired a broadside at the Perak government for failing to fulfill its three-decade-old pledge to relocate the villagers to better homes.
He noted that the state government had promised to build low-cost flats on a four-acre state-owned land next to the village for the residents.
Kula said his legal team had filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal for a higher compensation while asserting that the residents had a right to stay on the land.
No comments:
Post a Comment