By: JERIT
Kuala Lumpur, 4th October 2006Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting, the Housing Minister met with JERIT’s Urban Pioneers Coalition at 5pm.today with strict orders not to inform the media about the meeting. The Minister set several conditions to make the meeting possible including the number of delegates, no media and no politician.The meeting was arranged after the Urban Pioneers coalition under JERIT held a sit-in protest at the Ministry’s lobby for three hours on World Habitat Day. The settlers around two hundred of them only went back after the Housing Director, Datuk Saluddin agreed to arrange a meeting with the Minister himself.Today, that wish was granted when the Minister himself, Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting met with the delegation representing 9 urban settlers’ villagers. Though in spirit, the Minister agrees that their houses should not be demolished until negotiation are being held but the Minister fell short in giving them a letter of assurance. He in fact said that he has no power to stop the demolition nor has he got any power on the squatter-zero policy.
The Urban settlers housing issues seems to have caught fire with several protest taking place in various areas as the resistance against eviction gaining some momentum in the last one month. The meeting with the Minister today did pave a way to a meeting with the Selangor Chief Minister one of the main culprits and the champion of demolishing settlers homes. The settlers seem to understand that by begging to politician is not going to solve their issues but rather a concerted effort to demand, struggle and protest.
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