Tiong was speaking to the members of local press here this afternoon after
visiting to the houses of the four owners  who claimed  that their houses 
were demolished without any document of acknoledgement by the authorities
concerned yesterday.

One of the house owner Johnese anak Rasi (23) told Tiong that he was shocked
upon being given a short notice of 24 hours to vacate the land. 

As a lorry driver of a contractor firm of a fertilizer company, Johnese said
he could not afford to rent a house for tempory accomodation due to his merger
income, saying that other affected squatters also facing similar problems. 

On the humanitarian ground, he said enforcement personnel should at least
giving them an advance notification prior to any harsh action.

Also present during the visit of Tiong were Bari anak Tang (31) and Bading
anak Balai (29) who echoed similar woes of Johnese after the incident.

After listening to the complaints of the house owners, Tiong said he would
only reply them after the further investigation of the incident, but ensuring
them that their complaints would be forwarded respectively to the authorities
concerned.

Meanwhile, after learning that majority of the squatters concerned were the
labour workers partially contribute to the well being and prosperity of local
industries, he also urged the employer to look after the welfare and basic
amenities of their employees, especially those from the poor income group.

Nevertheless, he stressed that people should be in mind that government would
never concess to the practice of illegal dwelling of people on somebody's or
government lands.

Beside, he said, the unhealthy and unhygienic living environment of most of
the squatter, lacking of proper basic infrastruce and amenities were also the
government's concern of the outbreak of epidemic diseases.

During the visit, most affected people told Tiong that the allocation of
resettlement scheme at Kidurong were mostly given to those who were better
off, instead of to those who were really in need of such premises. 
Some of the sucessful applicant, according to the complainants sold or rent
out their lots to the third parties for extra income, thereby deprived others
of the  opportunities available.

In his capacity as the member of parliament for Bintulu, Tiong ensured them
that he would bring the matter to the attention of the appropriate
authorities, so that only genuine applicant would be allocated the housing lots.

During the visit, several of the affected people also showed Tiong the
application forms to prove that they really applied for the lots as
claimed...END.