bangkit.net

May 1, 2008

Introduction

More than 100 years ago, the exploited workers in America called for 8-hour work days and more humane working & living conditions. This was the beginning of a long struggle for workers of the world to defend their basic human rights. But today in Malaysia workers (both local and migrant) are still fighting for decent wages, better working conditions and especially a decent adequate house to live in!

The former Selangor Barisan Nasional Government in enforcing the very anti-people policy of “squatter-free’ status by 2005 has caused many urban poor working class families to lose their homes to powerful and profit hungry business developers.

The previous Selangor state government’s crusade to rid the state of “squatters and longhouses” by the year 2005 was executed with the unleashing of relentless, arbitrary and sometimes violent means to evict the urban poor working class and demolish their homes.

In the past 40 years urban poor working class families have been constantly denied basic human rights to adequate housing. Today many of them continue to live in dilapidated squatter settlements, longhouse communities and low cost flats in the Selangor state & Kuala Lumpur city.

The recent general elections in Malaysia brought a refreshing wind of change into the Malaysian political scenario as well as bringing hopes to the millions of urban poor working class members in the country. It seems like finally there are some answers to the long standing problems of land and housing issues faced by the urban poor working class.

We call upon the state governments of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in the states of Selangor, Perak, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan to honor the urban poor working class by upholding their basic rights to just and fair wages, decent working conditions and especially adequate housing.

PERMAS also calls upon the Barisan Nasional government in the other states and especially the Federal Territories likewise to listen to the voices of the urban poor working class and uphold their right to adequate housing!

PERMAS has been engaged intensely with housing and land issues of the urban poor in Selangor and the Federal Territories for the past 20 years. We recently tabled the “People’s Demands” and “Suggested Action Plans” to the Selangor State government and it was well received.

These points are part of the memorandum entitled “Housing for the Poor, People’s Demands & Plan of Action” submitted to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on April 15th 2008, and to YB Iskandar Abdul Samad, Selangor State Exco in charge of Squatters, Housing and Building Maintenance on April 30th 2008.

People’s Demands

1. Stop all forced evictions and the use of emergency ordinances and acts to evict urban settlers, longhouse settlements & low cost flat dwellers, and enact just and fair legislation to ensure the rights of the urban poor to ownership to house and land, and protection against forced evictions.

2. The State Government should conduct and facilitate meaningful dialogues & consultations with the urban poor and to ensure a transparent, fair and manipulation-free process in the allocation of low cost house.

3. The price of low cost house should be RM35,000 with the size and quality to be set in close consultation with the residents and low cost houses/flats should be complete with Certificate of Fitness (CF) and Strata titles.

4. The government should immediately convert the PPR housing schemes into “Rent-to-buy” (sewa-beli) system and also help those who cannot afford to buy low cost houses, to secure bank loans at special low interest rates.

5. The low cost housing schemes should be fully equipped with basic infrastructure and facilities including places of worship for different Faiths and close to schools and work places of the residents.

Suggested Action Plan:

1. Formation of special task force and working group - The State government should form a “task force” comprising of grassroots organizations, civil society organizations, professionals and other relevant bodies to investigate all pending evictions, relocations and housing issues of the urban poor. In the process of the investigations, all eviction orders and relocations should be cancelled.

2. Access to technical assistance and information from government agencies and departments - The State government, District and Municipal councils and all their agencies and departments should be accessible to provide support, information and also to participate in the implementation of the plan of actions together with the “task force”.

3. Sharing information - All information and development of the housing and land cases of the urban poor must be shared with the general public through specially designated websites and other available forms of mass media or specially created media for this specific purpose.

4. Training and orientation for government officials and party members - All state government officers, district and municipal councils and supporting staff and especially enforcement officers dealing with housing and land issues for the urban poor must be trained, orientated and equipped with skills for handling these cases. This can be done by appropriately identified civil society organizations and professional groups.

The United Nations have long recognized the right of housing as a human right under as least 2 separate UN documents namely the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1966.

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under Article 25, paragraph 1, it states that:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care & necessary social services…”

Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1966 Article 11.1 of the Covenant states that: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, closing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions…”

Long live the urban poor working class of Malaysia!