Hannah Yeoh & PM praised by former MIC Bukit Kiara Chairman Masilamani for solving housing issue!

Kuala Lumpur: Former MIC Bukit Kiara Branch chairman R. Masilamani has praised the Federal Territories Minister, Hannah Yeoh, and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, for finally resolving the long-standing Bukit Kiara housing issue faced by the Indians.

“I was the Chairman of the Bukit Kiara MIC branch and the Secretary of MIC Wilayah Persekutuan state congress when the Bt Kiara long house Resettlement Project was announced and moved. I left the MIC Bt. Kiara Branch in May 1983. The Resettlement Project started in June 82. The former employees of Bukit Kiara Estate were relocated to a dedicated longhouse settlement near TTDI in 1976. When the Government announced the resettlement project, jubilation and joy engulfed the long houses. My Committee and those branch leaders who succeeded me worked under the leadership of the late Tan Sri S Subramaniam (former Deputy President of MIC and former Chairman of the MIC Wilayah Persekutuan State Congress) and with the respective authorities and the Taman Tun Dr Ismail residents’ team to help establish the scheme smoothly,” – Masilamani said on his social media posting.

He added: “But the journey was rife with disputes, legal disagreements, and disappointments like plan redrafts, all the way up to now, where Hannah Yeoh managed to resolve it for everyone with care and concern that are invaluable and deserve acknowledgement. All other parties, including MIC, that collaborated fully must be acknowledged as well”.

Masilamani said that PM Anwar should also be praised for approving the project and, in particular, for approving an additional RM1 million in funding for the resettlement of residents.  “There is no doubt that the allocation would greatly help the residents who have suffered staying in the same long-houses for 44 years”, he further noted.

“Kuala Lumpur’s expansion policies and programs, TTDI residents’ interests, the political interests of the leaders, and the low social status of the 98 affected families were the substantial forces working against the Government’s wish to help the resettlers own their homes and live a new, enhanced livelihood in KL. The project, which finally started on 15 June 2026, provides two 3-room semi-value units with the full facilities of a semi-luxurious apartment. The new offer is completely free, with maintenance included for the first three months. Thus, the long wait and agony experienced by the poor 98 Indian families came to an end. Many of the families have grown manifold since then. The beneficiaries of this offer are mostly the second generation of the original Bt Kiara estate folks. The greater joy is that each family shall now own, not ONE but TWO, units each in the vicinity of the lush Taman Rimba Bukit Kiara and the affluent TTDI” Masilamani stated.

“Hands up for all those who made this work. But they must deliver on the promise by 2029. I believe this is genuinely not a political gimmick but a soulful fulfilment of a promise made 45 years ago. While on this, I wish to request the DBKL authorities, the Federal Territories Ministry, the Government, and Minister Hannah Yeoh to fulfil similar expectations of Indian families who have been waiting for years in other parts of Kuala Lumpur,” Masilamani urged in his posting.

(Pic: PM Anwar Ibrahim, his wife Wan Azizah and Hannah Yeoh with the residents of Bukit Kiara at the launch of the project)