BY G.C. TAN
EIGHTEEN families, whose houses and shops were demolished to make way for a mosque in Kuala Nerang, Kedah, are asking for a reasonable compensation from the state so that they could start a new life elsewhere.
Ong Keen Tong, a representative of the families, said there were a few discussions with a Padang Terap District and Land officer a few years ago but nothing came out of it.
“The issue dragged on until the villagers’ homes in Jalan Kampung Masjid were demolished.
“They were willing to move if given a reasonable compensation or an alternate location to build their homes.
“We had received a notice to vacate our premises by Nov 9 last year,” he told reporters while waiting for his hardware shop to be demolished on Monday.
Charop Amin, 58, said she and her family had been staying there over the past 30 years.
“The house belonged to my husband’s late father. My husband passed away two years ago, my five children and I had been staying at the house until it was torn down.
“I hope the state government can allocate us a piece of land to build our new house,” she said.
The families were staying in houses and shops built on state-owned land with Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) status.
They were demolished to make way for the construction of the Mu’azam Shah Mosque.
Phapa Guan, 59, said the villa-gers did not oppose the building of the new mosque and they were all ready to move but they had hoped that the state government would compensate them to start afresh.
State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Badrol Hisham Hashim said the villagers were given notices to vacate their homes a few years back.
“However, they failed to take the notices seriously due to the state’s lenient approach which had allowed them to stay at the site for a few more years.
“Now, it’s time to let the state develop the site as the present mosque is unable to accommodate the increasing numbers of Muslims,” he said.
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