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THE
STUDENT MOVEMENT IN MALAYSIA, |
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After the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) personnel and the demolition teams had departed, the squatters rebuilt their homes. However, on l6th September, the FRU and the demolition squad descended once again on the kampung and demolished the rebuilt homes. They carried out their work with brutal efficiency. Planks and posts were split so that they could not be used again as building materials. They destroyed the atap (roofing material) and were rude to the squatters, who included women and children. The students personally witnessed these brutal actions with their own eyes. On the l6th of September, after their homes had been demolished for the second time, the squatters - 60 families and about 300 people consisting of men, women, children and a baby camped outside the Johore State Secretariat Building, where they picketed day and night. They put up banners, one of which read "We demand justice. We want land." At 3.15 a.m. on the l9th of September, the police and the FRU quietly entered the camp site and arrested 5 people. Those who were detained included: Kaliman Jaya, a squatter leader, Hishamuddin Rais, Secretary-General of the PMUM, Yunus Ali, an exco member of the PMUM, Syed Hamid Ali, Secretary General of the PSRM, and Mohammed Amin Ahmad, Secretary of the PSRM, Johore. The just struggle of the squatters was supported by student organisations in all the campuses. UMSU, PMUKM, KSITM, PMUSM, PMUPM, the Socialist Club and the CLS of the University of Malaya all released press statements in support of the squatters. The University of Singapore Students Union(USSU) also came out in their support. Students in Malaysia and Singapore collected funds to aid the unfortunate squatters of Tasik Utara. The detention of several student leaders on l9th September provoked and deepened the students' struggle, particularly in the University of Malaya. On the 20th of September, more than 2,500 students from the University of Malaya demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's Department.
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