THE STUDENT MOVEMENT IN MALAYSIA,
1967-74 Hassan Karim

September 1974 Tasik Utara

The Tasik Utara incident occured in September 1974. It involved poor, predominantly Malay squatters who openly opposed the government.

As in the case of Teluk Gong, the Tasik Utara incident virtually invited student involvement. Tasik Utara is situated about three miles from the centre of Johor Baru where housing is a serious problem.

The houses in the town are expensive to rent, which workers cannot afford. As the government had not taken any steps to provide low-cost housing for the urban poor, many of them were forced to become squatters.

Not long before the General Elections of 1974, several poor families set up squatter houses in Tasik Utara. They were not stopped, not even by Land Office officials.

News of this spread and not long afterwards, more poor families, including factory workers,
"we want justice,we want land"Tasik Utara demonstration,1974

government labourers, hawkers, taxi and lorry drivers, moved in.

Barisan Nasional leaders canvassing votes at Tasik Utara assured the squatters that their homes would be protected. The 134 families who set up their homes in Tasik Utara called their village, Kampung Barisan Nasional.

However after the Barisan Nasional emerged victorious in the General Elections, the leaders appeared to forget the promises they had made to the squatters.

The residents of Kampung Barisan Nasional got a rude shock when they received eviction notices from the land office warning them that their homes were to be demolished.

The residents appealed to the government against the demolition. They called upon the government to provide them with an hering of the parliamentary OPPO alternative site on which they could build their homes.

Their appeals fell on deaf ears. In despair, the squatters got in touch with UMSU hoping that UMSU would come to their aid. The hopes of the squatters were not in vain.

As soon as UMSU received the telegram from the squatters, several students, including UMSU leaders, made their way to Johore Bahru.

On the morning of September 15th, several police trucks arrived at Tasik Utara. The squatters homes were demolished.Students of the University of Malaya led by Hishamuddin Rais pleaded with the authorities to call off the demolition, but their protests were in vain.

Nine people, including Syed Hamid Ali, the Secretary General of the People's Socialist Party of Malaya (PSRM), were arrested. They were released the following day however after interrogation.