The High Court held in Abdul Aziz Mohamed Ginan v Datuk Bandar Kuala Lumpur that if there are squatters on a land, the local authorities have no power to remove them unless these squatters are on State land. Coupled with the notion that the remedy of self-help is not available in Malaysia, this means that if there are squatters on your land, the only authority capable to remove the squatters would be the Court.
Frankly, this decision may not be the most friendly decision for land-owners in Malaysia. The Court process takes time and costs. At the end of the day, there is no one for land-owners to go against for damages, since the squatters would in most likelihood be without sufficient means. That means the land-owners would be prejudiced for matters which are basically not of their own doing.
A possibility that remains is for the police to take action against the squatters on the basis that they have committed criminal trespass. This legal possibility remains, although whether the police would actually take any action pursuant to a police report of this nature or otherwise seems sometimes to be arbitrarily decided.
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