by zazali musa, yee xiang yun, kathleen ann kili
A birthday gift for all: Sultan Ibrahim waving to the crowd below during the pre-launch of the Bangsa Johor Dream House project at Galleria Kotaraya in Johor Baru. — Bernama
JOHOR BARU: The massive crowd that turned up at Galleria@Kotaraya Mall near here during the pre-launch of the Bangsa Johor Dream House is a testimony to how desperate many people are for affordable homes.
Many started queuing up as early as 4am yesterday, and they came with children and partners in tow to increase their chance of securing registration forms.
By 10am, the crowd had swelled to thousands, turning the situation chaotic as people pushed and jostled to get their hands on the forms.
The crowd was so huge that the auxiliary policemen and mall staff involved in crowd management lost control, and people started pushing through the chain barricade.
There were children who became separated from their parents, and there were also cases where people needed to be given emergency medical treatment after suffering breathing difficulties and dizziness.
The areas around the mall were also congested due the vehicles parked on road shoulders. Many walked several kilometres as they could not find parking space near the mall.
Later in the evening, it was announced that application could also be made online via www.yayasansultanibrahim.org.my.
Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar on Monday announced that the project, to be undertaken by the Sultan Ibrahim Foundation, would be his gift to the people of Johor.
Among the crowd was wheelchair-bound Nora Salleh, 50, who arrived at about 10am, but left disappointed as the crowd was too large for her to be able to even move her wheelchair to get closer to the counters.
“Looks like I will have to register online,” she said while expressing her worry that she might miss the opportunity as she was not able to register yesterday.
Nora, who has been living in a squatter area in Jalan Padu in Larkin here with her husband and six children for the past 30 years, said she had applied for the 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) scheme and the Johor Affordable Homes two years ago, but has so far not had any success.
“We have not been able to afford a house as my husband only works as a lorry driver and four of our children are still schooling,” she added.
Dolly Lee, 28, an accounting clerk who got married three years ago and is still staying at her parents’ house in Johor Baru, said she hoped to obtain a unit for herself so that she can start a family soon.
Lee and her husband Wong Jun Jin, 28, took the day off to queue up for a chance to apply and were caught off guard by the turnout.
“I expected that there would be a lot of people but did not think that it would be this massive,” she said, adding that the situation showed that the people were in desperate need of affordable housing units.
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