bangkit.net

2 May 2008

PERMAS lauds the Selangor State government’s initiative in setting up a TASK FORCE which will play consultative, think tank and advisory role on land and housing issues, particularly pertaining to urban poor communities. This was agreed upon after an almost 2-hour dialogue session organized by PERMAS with the YB Iskandar Abdul Samad, Exco for Squatters, Housing & Building Development.

Present at the meeting were the executive committee of PERMAS, representatives of JERIT (Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas), and community representatives from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur namely Rumah Panjang Rawang, Taman Kuala Garing, Sungai Sedu housing settlement, Ampang Mewah low cost flats, Kajang hawkers, Puchong Kinrara, Papan, Jinjang Utara rumah panjang, and Taman Wahyu PPR flats.

During the dialogue, PERMAS and JERIT also presented YB Iskandar with their joint memorandum which was submitted to Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim during the dialogue with NGO’s on April 15^th 2008. The community representatives from Ampang Mewah , Kg Sedu, Kajang, Rawang and Taman Kuala Garing also presented their individual cases and submitted their respective memorandums to YB Iskandar.

The dialogue was actually to highlight sample cases to the Selangor State Government and also to seek an effective action plan for civil society organizations such as PERMAS and JERIT to play active roles and work together with the Selangor Government to address urban poor housing and land issues.

PERMAS President Tan Jo Hann read the part on “People’s Demands” and “Plan of Action” during the meeting in order to explore concrete pro-active measures to address different cases with YB Islandar who was very receptive to all the issues presented. The broad range of issues included unfulfilled land promises by the District Office; health hazard of flooding and high tension installations; and abandoned flat projects.

As a comprehensive measure to respond to these situations, Tan Jo Hann speaking on behalf of the delegation suggested a plan of action (already included in the joint memorandum) which consisted of the following:

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. The “task force” will make recommendations for plans of action for all these cases. In the process of the investigations, all eviction orders and relocations should be canceled.

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 support, provide 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.

Jo Hann also stated that the initiative to form a “task force” for urban poor issue of land and housing was already discussed and endorsed by the collective body of civil society organizations together with the Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim in the meeting of April 15th 2008. It was then agreed upon that the ground work to form these task forces should be done within the next 3 months as of the April 15th meeting.

Further to this, YB Iskandar felt that civil society organizations such as PERMAS and JERIT could act as bridges between the state authorities and the communities. They can also contribute valuable input to facilitate amicable solutions to the different cases. He felt that grassroots communities are often more open to the involvement of NGOs who work closely with them and would know how to approach them appropriately.

YB Iskandar agreed to the setting up of this task force and a first meeting has been set for June 9th 2008 at 9:30am in his office to explore the details about the establishment of this body. It was then also agreed upon that the task force will comprise of NGOs such as PERMAS, JERIT, House Buyers Association, Consumer Groups and members of respective communities and representatives from the Selangor State Government.

Jo Hann said that PERMAS will initiate a process of identifying the necessary components of this task force from the side of the civil society organizations.