This was after the mostly elderly residents felt that they had been stabbed in the back for the second time over plans to acquire their property and land without prior consultation.
The houses and shoplots were also located next to the Sultan Iskandar Building housing the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine checkpoint. But these perennial issues pale in comparison with the possibility of residents having to move out due to land acquisition. They sought the help of their elected representatives, including the then Johor Baru member of parliament Tan Sri Shahrir Samad. Five months later, the residents received a notification from the Johor Baru land administrator, stating that the project had been cancelled.
Retired civil servants Ng Gek Eng, 69, and her husband, Liew Guan Peng, 69, have been having sleepless nights about the prospect of being homeless. Another resident, Valiamma Tambusamy, 87, was unhappy at the possibility of having to shift house for the second time. The mother of two had been living in the neighbourhood since her father moved her and her five siblings to the housing estate in 1972.
Though they received responses from almost all of them, the issue is unresolved and continues to haunt them.