Promises were meant to be broken

I have often heard tenants promising my dad that at any time he wants them to vacate, they will do so. How naïve we had been as events turned out.

My dad died in 1982 and by 1985 we decided to issue eviction notices to all the tenants. One or two had been with us for more than 25 years. Perhaps their rationale was that the promise was given to the old man and not to his children.

My dad had been very kind by charging his ‘lou kawan’ or old friends, below market rates, some even less than a third that charged by a neighbouring landowner. For eg. for a lot size of 18’x30’, we were charging only Rm150 when the neighbour was charging about Rm500. Our reliance on the tenants’ verbal promise costed us dearly in terms of trouble and delay, in addition to reduced earnings over the years.

With the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that our kindness in charging a low rental worked to our disadvantage. The tenants were better off not acceding to our demand to vacate because at a later date, if and when the judgement was in our favour, the double rental payable by them would still be lower than if they were to leave and find an alternate place at 3 times what they were paying then.

On the other hand, had we been more calculative, we could have increased the rentals every year until they could not take it and leave on their own accord.

Out of 14 tenants, only 3 were gentlemen enough to keep to their words. One of them happened to be a ‘taiko’ in Kepong which made us more appreciative of his gesture. Another, from Jinjang, had my admiration when he rushed to the mining pond upon hearing about our neighbour’s drowning and jumped into it without hesitation to look for the body. The third one happened to be Ha Tham’s son-in-law, also in the tractor repair business.

Among the 11 tenants who decided to contest our Notice to vacate, was a son of one of dad’s best friends, the electrician. His action was considered by those who knew the history of our relationship, to be most ungrateful.

Years after his dad refused to accept my dad’s tenancy offer of a house and workshop, he accepted a part of our own workshop to operate as a motor electrician. A place to keep his tools and charge some batteries. Initially, his dad was furious as he lost a capable assistant. Only after a few years was he appreciative of his son’s move when the latter could afford to buy a car and a house.

A tenant who was in the electro-plating business actually tried to smear our reputation. I can still remember it was a Hari Raya Haji holiday and I was in Batu Gajah (my wife and children live with my in-laws then). By the time I reached the office, I was shocked to read the Star with a headline “The long legal tussle between landlord and tenants took a turn for the worse when one of the workshops was set on fire.” It carried a photo of one of Ha Tham’s sons looking at a window and a motor oil can was below it, on the ground. The gist of the report mentioned how the tenant was about to close shop for the day when he noticed the window burning and found an empty tin and some matches. To refute the misleading report, I immediately wrote a letter to the Star which in effect said that if we had the intention to burn the place down, we would have chosen a time when there was nobody around and not even before they closed for the day! The Star published my letter but it was nothing in terms of size compared with the report and photo.

Another tenant, who was in coachbuilding business really took us for fools. On the one hand, he joined the others in the legal battle because his own premises was not ready. After having lost the final appeal at the Supreme Court, he asked if he could just pay the normal rental for the period! For some reasons, even though he was already a millionaire, he chose to be declared a bankrupt as a result of his judgment debt amounting to some Rm76,000. It was only after a few years that he regretted it, when at the airport, he was disallowed departure on an overseas trip!

An ex-classmate of mine took a special interest in his case. It was only later that I found out that he used to be their employee and since he became our tenant, was their competitor and had actually ‘potong jalan’ or took over one of their major customers. Years later, my friend had the last laugh when they secretly took over the company (Kee Hup) and terminated his services.

By the time we issued the notice to vacate, Ha Tham Engineering was under the control of his son who was a bad paymaster. Once he was taken to court when his employees complained about non-payment of EPF contributions. He was our biggest tenant in terms of rental. After the final appeal, his judgment debt totaled more than Rm160,000. Again, he rather be declared a bankrupt.

One spraypainter even commented, “I rather fight and be a bankrupt than to give in”
At the time, DAP’s Low Sek Moah was helping them. In fact, their first lawyer was Henry Lee, a DAP lawyer. Their last was Low Hop Bing who was a Federal counsel before he started his practice and now a Judge.

At the time, I was upset with the involvement of DAP. I asked Dr.Tan Chee Khoon for advice and he suggested that I see Dr Tan Seng Giaw. The latter actually told me that his party always support those who carry more votes, like in our case, the tenants. One of the things I found out about him was that he did his course in Leeds and lived near the hostel where I used to be.

Out of the 11 who contested our notice, 3 paid their judgement debts while the rest were declared bankrupts. We had to write off almost Rm500,000. The case took 5 years from Magistrate Court, High Court to Supreme Court. The action to recover judgment debts took another 3 years. Besides the time wasted, it affected me greatly in terms of my great disappointment over human relationships – so-called old friends, ingratitude, promises which meant nothing and so on. At the end, I even fell out with our lawyer, James, because of the delays, which was not his fault. But the pressure on me took its toll.

During the period when there was controversy over eviction of tenants in rent-controlled premises in Penang, I wrote to Aliran and the letter was published, highlighting our circumstances and asked whether we, as decent landlords (always perceived to be bullying), or the tenants, were the actual victims.