Thursday, January 14, 2010

Illegal kongsi poser at Batu Estate

NEARBY residents are wondering how an illegal kongsi could exist at Batu Estate in Segambut and Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng recently visited the site to highlight the issue.

There are about 150 households in the kongsi which has been around for more than eight years now. The living conditions are deplorable, with children growing up amidst rubbish and chicken droppings. The rooms were shabby and the planks holding the walls together were beginning to fall apart but the residents did not seem to mind.

According to Lim, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the police and the immigration department were aware of the situation but a solution had yet to be found. “Every time I bring up the question in parliament, nobody provides a straight answer and the departments push the responsibility to the other parties,” he said. According to him, the police and the immigration have conducted raids separately instead of having a joint operation.

The kongsi was first set up by workers in charge of the Royal Domain Condominium at Jalan Putramas. However the workers failed to move out after the works were completed. Resident Supatmo, 37, said they were still bound by a contract to the developer, saying they would be involved in the third and fourth phase of development at the Batu Estate. “My wife is still working as a cleaner in the condominium and we are still bound by the contract,” he added. Supatmo, who is from Surabaya, Jawa, only had a colour photostat of his multi-entry visa and passport. He also did not have a work permit on him. “All my original documents are with the agent. The immigration department and RELA raided the kongsi in October 2009 and picked up eight of the residents,” he added.

Lim, however, said that Supatmo did not have the proper documentation to stay at the kongsi. Lim also said illegal immigrants in Malaysia were a serious issue as highlighted by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro (By PRIYA MENON, 14/1/2010)

Related news: http://streets.nst.com.my/Current_News/Streets/Thursday
and http://www.mmail.com.my/content

2 comments:

AP ALLAN said...

Dear Mp, thanks for highlighting this issue. we din't even know there is a indonesian quaters..from where they get the water and power supply. I hope is not from Putramas 1 or 2, if is from here then is not fair to us. No wonder our power supply coming in to putramas is not stable. Everytime we need to change our light bulb. Even many break in and car when missing at Putramas. untill now there is no solution..i hope is not from there.

Anonymous said...

Dear YB Lim,

The real culprits are actually their employers who did not want to provide proper dwellings so that they could make a few more bucks to add to their bottomline.

May I propose that whenever you tour these illegal settlements, record the details of their employers. I notice the main group is the construction industry.

I'm confident that your efforts in Parliament to tackle these illegal worker/settlement issue would be more effective if you target their employers.