The housing scenario at an informal settlement.
AT 29 and living in one of the squatter settlements in Kuching city, Jay (not his real name) seems unable to shed the ‘illegal tenant’ stigma.
It is something he is not proud of but being the sole breadwinner with the income of an odd-job worker, a small slum hut is his home sweet home for him and his young family.
Without electricity, the vegetated squatting community is pitch dark at night, and sleeping becomes uneasy because of fears of the unknown.
According to Jay, crime suspects had, a few times, run to the settlement to hide from the police. He feared that the settlers could end up being held to ransom.
The kerosene lamps or battery-powered bulbs provide the only source of lighting for his and some of his neighbours’ homes and these are often not bright enough to act as deterrents.
“I don’t feel safe when night approaches. When I wake up at midnight or 1am, sometimes I can’t go back to sleep again because of safety worries.
“You know, living in a (squatter) area like this, the feeling of insecurity always haunts us especially when we have little kids with us,” he said.
As head of the family, Jay always has to be vigilant, especially at night. During the day, it is a bit safe as there are many people around.
“Although they are mostly women and maybe two or three men at home, it’s a bit secure during the day.
“Also, surrounding us are factories with many workers who can be alerted in time of distress,” he added.
A sorry state
The slum area, where Jay’s family and several others live, is a settlement of plywood, corrugated metal, plastic sheets and wooden planks.
Like most other informal settlements, his area lacks proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets and other basic necessities.
Working as bricklayers, wall plasterers, general manual workers, lorry attendants and painters seems to be the only means of livelihood for most the settlers.
Jay, who migrated from the Sungai Apong squatter settlement after the land there was used for commercial development, works as a daily-paid painter.
“It’s raining today and I can’t go work,” the father-of-two told political secretary to the Chief Minister Datuk Paul Igai during a visit to the former’s shelter.
According to Jay’s wife, they had applied to the Sarawak Housing Commission for a permanent flat but were instead offered a flat for rent at Batu Gong along Kuching-Serian Road.
“It’s too far from town and my husband does not have his own transport to go to work. At the settlement here in the city, he can ride pillion with a colleague,” she said.
She pointed out though that if the flat was affordable, it would be worth considering.
Jay, who only studied up to Primary 6, said it was his wish to bring his family out of an area lacking in almost everything.
“I’m most concerned about the safety of my family,” said the young father originally from Simunjan.
Paul browsing through the certificates of an unemployed school-leaver as her mother (left) looks on.
A hard life
A housewife from the same settlement said living without basic necessities, including a proper toilet, was hard and being poor left them with little choice but to carry on the best they could.
“It’s tough when it comes to these things because we can’t afford them. Worse still, we can’t invest even half our money on these basic necessities because anytime, we can be evicted,” she lamented.
The woman said she followed her husband to the settlement more than 20 years ago, adding that her second child was born there.
She used to work in a canteen to help the family out.
The housewife said they too had been offered to move to a flat at Batu Gong but decided not to as it was too far from her husband’s workplace.
She also felt insecure and concerned about their health and safety.
“Thank God, no bad incidents had happened in our area — no outbreak of diseases as well,” she said with relief.
Jay and the housewife have every reason to worry about their well-being as the dreadful conditions in the slums could cause deadly diseases to flare up.
As poor sanitation and drainage are common in most slums, the settlers are exposed to severe health risks such as diarrhoea, cholera and malaria.
In close living quarters, infections can spread quickly and prove serious, especially for the young and the weak.
Serious safety concerns
Since slum-dwellers come from different backgrounds, safety among women can be a great concern. Using the toilet at night or early morning may put the women at risk of sexual harassment.
Happily though, the settlement we visited recently have their own toilets. But given the overall dire lack of basic necessities, most slum dwellers have still to resort to open defecation, leaving them with little or no privacy at all.
This is particularly problematic for the women, adolescent girls, young couples and large families.
As we left the settlement before noon, we followed a few mothers walking the along narrow dirt paths with their children trudging behind them.
Minutes later, the school bus arrived to pick the children to the nearby school. Then we proceeded to another slum with similar abject conditions.
Truth be told, the stark reality squatters such as Jay and the housewife have to face is the long arms of the law.
The squatters will be forced to move out if and when the land is needed for development as they are occupying either private or government land illegally.
In fact, the areas where the squatters have now settled, are already under the watchful eyes of the authorities.
During our visit to one of the squatter colonies, we met an officer from the Land and Survey Department who went there to inform one families they had been offered a flat (for rent) at Matang.
According to the officer, once the occupants moved out, the house would be demolished.
One of the factories operating near the informal settlement.
Empathy for squatters
Meanwhile, there are people who empathise with the plight of the squatters, considering the often harsh conditions the latter live under.
After visiting one of city slums, I share the same feeling, especially over the safety of the school children. Yes, they have put up ramshackle shelters – permanent or semi-permanent – they call home on land they do not own but they do not deserve to be humiliated and shamed. They should not be degraded as purely illegal settlers of their own will.
True, most – if not all – who live in slums self-perpetuate their poverty. And there are some lazy ones who are content to live off their relatives or dole-outs from their political patrons.
However, this may not be the case for those who have to squat illegally on land that do not belong to them. We should endeavour to empower them in order to help them overcome the shortcomings that restrict them.
While some of the squatters we met had fervently wished to own an affordable home, banks and other finance institutions often shun them because they are poor. As a result, they have to put up with slum life for long as they can because they have no way out.
They also claim without permanent homes, it is difficult for them to find employment because to apply for jobs, permanent addresses are needed.
“Moreover, without reliable income, it’s impossible to invest in a new home, making it very difficult to move out of the slums,” they lamented.
While many squatters have sent their children to school, social and cultural barriers are denying some slum students the opportunity to complete their basic education.
It is learnt some of these children quit their early or tertiary education because of their poverty-compounded social status.
Nevertheless, based on our findings, some children of the slum dwellers have beaten the odds by putting poverty and social status on the backburner to strive for academic excellence.
A few of the children, raised in squatter settlements, are now pursuing tertiary education in local public universities and private colleges.
Like those living in ‘legal’ homes, squatters should not be ignored and excluded from government development plans, voting and protection from the law.
Denying them their rights and voice that other citizens have will not help solve the squatter problem in the city but can lead to social exclusion.
There must be a solution — and political will is vital if the problem is to be resolved once and for all.