Some tenants have been evicted for defaulting. It’s not known whether action has been taken against those who misused their ‘eligibility’ by renting out their low-cost flats. Others are seriously contemplating moving out because they find the living conditions appalling. The situation calls for immediate action to sort out the problems in this housing area.

THE Sepakat Jaya residential area at the Demak Laut Industrial zone not far from Kuching City is facing a triple whammy — lack of maintenance, rental defaults and tenants misusing ‘their eligibility’ by renting out their flats.

The situation has led to eviction orders being served on some tenants by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) amid claims that a number of the vandalised vacant low-cost flats have become the dens of drug and alcohol junkies. Repeated requests for repairs and action (against the addicts) are said to have fallen on deaf ears.

It is learnt that in 2003, about 2,765 people registered as tenants in this housing area with 20 blocks — some sold since 2000 and some rented since 2001.

Fifty per cent of the residents are said to be tenants while roughly 70 per cent are homeowners.

While some of the tenants have been ejected for defaulting on their rents, it is not known whether those who misused their ‘eligibility’ by renting out their units have been similarly penalised. Other residents are seriously thinking of packing up because they are disgusted with the social ills festering near their homes.

One tenant who decides enough is enough is Dewi Den. This 42-year-old single mother and grandmother will move out of her rented flat as soon as she can find another place.

She has been hoping someone would do something about the vacant unit on the first floor facing hers in Block E but so far, nothing has been done.

This particular unit was vacated three years ago and has since reportedly become a favourite haunt of drug addicts and drunkards aside from serving as a ‘refuse dump’.

During a recent visit to the area, thesundaypost found the unit in question in a sorry state — no door and windows, a stinking toilet and mosquitoes everywhere.

A musky burnt smell and a strong stench of rotting food and alcohol with a hint of urine filled the air.

The place was also littered with heaps of rubbish, a broken table, several burnt cheap bootleg bottles — probably part of the addict’s paraphernalia — pieces of wooden furniture and even a motorcycle seat … with black paint sprayed on the walls.

Electrical wirings and power points were missing as well — maybe stolen and sold by junkies to feed their expensive habit.

It’s hard to believe Dewi and her family have been putting up with such appalling conditions for seven years.

“I pay about RM100 monthly rent and have five children with me, some already married. This is not where I want them to live, especially my grandchildren.”

She claimed the authorities knew about the problem but had done nothing to solve it other than inspecting the unit concerned.

Dewi declined to say whether she had seen drug addicts and drunkards, said to frequent the unit, apparently for fear of reprisals.

But she appears set on moving out when another place becomes available.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, remembered Sepakat Jaya used to be well-maintained.

“The place was really nice before 2003. After that, it was not looked after properly. That’s why we have these problems now.”

He said it was not unusual to see children as young as 10 ‘lepak’ (loiter) in groups in the area from ‘early evening till almost dawn’.

He also alleged having seen young glue sniffers and drug traffickers around the place.

According to him, a security group, comprising six guards from the HDC and 10 from Rela (vigilante corps) has been set up and works in shifts to keep the place peaceful.

However, he pointed out, bona fide tenants and owners had applied for overall restoration of the housing area in terms of maintenance and curbing social ills but had not received any reply or seen any concrete follow-up action.

It is claimed the authorities would first review whether the tenants had been paying their monthly rents regularly — if not, they would not take any remedial action.

“This is understandable but it’s very disappointing the authorities don’t even bother coming down to see for themselves what is actually happening here.”

The resident also revealed that eight years ago, the tenants had requested the Kuching City North Commission (DBKU) to put up a guardhouse at the main entrance to Sepakat Jaya but were told to wait for approval.

Till now, he claimed, there had been no news whatsoever.

He believed with the guardhouse, they could’ve reduced and eventually got rid of the anti-social activities going on there among the youngsters for years.

He also believed half of the population had already moved out because they could no longer stand the living conditions.

I visited Sepakat Jaya a second time to get the views of more residents and found most not very happy with the way the place was being managed.

As I entered block E, a resident immediately gathered his neighbours to relate problems they were facing. This group comprised former servicemen, Telekom officers and prison guards.

“There’s vandalism going on but we do want to point out it isn’t to the extent of disturbing the occupied units,” the Block E unit head said.

“We are mere onlookers and cannot simply take action. These kids are smart — they send text messages to warn the others hanging out in vacant buildings.”

He felt sure that if the empty units were repaired and occupied, the prevailing social ills would be reduced.

Another resident in the group, pointing to a nearby empty unit, said it had been repaired twice already but the problem was that the vandals kept coming back.

He had also applied to stay in this unit but was told it had been rented out. He is not convinced though as he has yet to see the occupants.

“It has been months since I was told this unit had been taken up but how come still nobody around?” he queried.

The cost of repairing a vandalised unit is said to be between RM5,000 and RM6,000 and the residents do acknowledge it’s quite expensive for the HDC to repair just one such unit, let alone several.

Recently, HDC public relations officer Ahadiah Zamhari said most of the damage to the units at Sepakat Jaya was due to vandalism.

“We don’t charge maintenance fees at all. Maintenance at Sepakat Jaya is at our own expense and it’s very costly to fix one unit, let alone all the eight blocks under our wing,” she explained.

Some of the residents said they had applied for the unoccupied units (including maintenance) but claimed they were always told ‘no more vacancy’.

Actually, the group I spoke to had another reason — the real reason they said — for coming together to talk to thesundaypost.

They wanted to highlight the incident where one of them was allegedly locked out of his home by the HDC.

They claimed sometime before the fasting month, this particular resident who had been living at Sepakat Jaya for eight years, received a letter, telling him to move out for defaulting on his rents.

According to the group, the resident was asked to pay up…or he could appeal in writing to the HDC within a given time to avoid eviction.

The group claimed the resident was unable to pay because the financial aid he had been receiving from DBKU was discontinued after his contract with the HDC had lapsed.

And the only way for him to get such aid reinstated was to produce a rental renewal agreement with the HDC but, according to the group, he never received any agreement since the contract expired.

The group also claimed the resident had, in fact, complied with the terms spelt out in the letter but could not be given a rental renewal agreement because his account with the HDC had already been closed.

The resident himself said after being told to move out, he asked to see the person in-charge if anything could be done but was instead given the run-around, claiming “nobody wanted to take responsibility.”

Subsequently, about 30 people reportedly showed up at his unit, “smashing my door handle with a hammer and kicking the door open.”

The resident claimed although there was a baby in the house, they just came in, screaming.

He regretted the authorities did not even consider about the infant in the house when they were evicting his family.

The resident claimed after the family was pushed out, the door grill was locked with a steel chain and two padlocks.

“We begged them not to lock up the house — even pleaded with them to consider the children.”

The evicted family never left as they had nowhere to go. They were originally squatting at Bintawa before being relocated to Sepakat Jaya — a resettlement area for squatters all over Kuching. The resettled residents moved in 2001.

The group said the authorities should take a look at the living conditions of the residents and try to sort out the problems with them.

“We want to cooperate with the HDC but it seems they never even call for a dialogue,” the group claimed.

It is learnt that residents who moved out also contributed to the destruction of the place.

According to Ahadiah, they would dismantle everything — the windows, the wires and the doors and to get them fixed is costly.

Assistant Minister of Environment and Demak Laut assemblyman Dr Abang Abdul Rauf Abang Zen said he had gone numerous times to the area and had already informed HDC to take remedial action. “It has been a while since our discussion, but I have yet to see any progress in the area. The actual problem is maintenance and some of the residents misusing their eligibility by renting out the place they are renting.”

A senior HDC officer, when asked to comment on the problems at Sepakat Jaya, said they would carry out an investigation.