PETALING JAYA: Maljindar Singh Sidhu Brar, known as Jimmy, is still struggling to save his historically noteworthy family home from being demolished and replaced by a cement factory.
The property they are fighting over is a Sino-Malay-Palladian house in Rawang. It was built for offices in 1920 by British tin mining company, Rawang Tin Fields, now known as Berjuntai Tin Dredging Bhd. In another attempt to break the deadlock, the mining company has now applied for a writ of possession.“In order to demolish the house, the mining company needs to get the writ granted. If they get that, we will have to leave,” Jimmy told FMT.Jimmy’s fight began in 2007 when Associated Pan Malaysia Cement Sdn Bhd and Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, who now own the mining lease to the land, asked the family to move out to enable quarrying and construction of a cement factory to begin.
“I am constantly in touch with the land office and Selangor Menteri Besar’s office and they tell me they are working on getting all the necessary documentation,” Jimmy said. “They asked us to stay put.”In 2017, Jimmy hoped the National Heritage Department would gazette the house as a heritage site but that hope was dashed.