Misunderstanding sparks scuffle with cops for PSM leader outside Parliament
KUALA LUMPUR : A peaceful march to demand housing for plantation workers turned briefly chaotic today when Parti Sosialis Malaysia deputy chairman S Arutchelvan got into a scuffle with police outside Parliament.
Arutchelvan, who fell during the incident, was leading more than 100 workers from Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah and Johor to submit a draft bill making it compulsory for estates to provide homes for local workers.
Police blocked the group from gathering at the Parliament gates but later allowed the workers to hand over the draft to deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran and opposition chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan.
Speaking to reporters later, Arutchelvan said the incident was due to a misunderstanding with the police.
'We already informed all MPs that we would be coming to the Parliament gates,' he said.
'But we saw the police trying to separate the plantation workers from Parliament and telling us not to gather near the gates. We were not going to enter the compound, but they wanted us to stand further away. There was actually no issue,' he said.
Arutchelvan said the 200-page draft bill also traced the problem back to the time of former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, who introduced an estate workers housing scheme in 1973 but never enshrined it in law.
He said many workers had served for up to 60 years but still had no homes due to their low wages.
'We are only asking for this for 20% of local plantation workers,' he said.
'Without a law, people do not follow. We are asking the government to make it a law (to build houses for local plantation workers).'
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