This is the case of making a promise you can’t keep. Now, I wonder how Penang CM and his two highly qualified deputies going to answer the villagers. People don’t want to hear excuses and red tape story. If you can’t do it, ship out. Simple as that.
One can argue that this is a problem of the old state government who seemed to have lots of shoddy land issues plaguing it. But what are the steps being taken so far since 12 months ago to solve the problem?
As for 1Malaysia proponents, this is a good chance to walk the talk. So, who is going for a walkabout in Kampung Buah Pala soon? A plus point is that the developer is related to ruling goverment political party. So, with few phone calls, the higher-ups have chance to win over the families living in Penang. Will MIC jump in and take this opportunity?
Some 300 Indian Malaysians living in Kampung Buah Pala in Bukit Gelugor, a quiet Tamil settlement located in heart of rapidly developing eastern part of Georgetown, face eviction this Thursday following an appellate court order last month.
MCPX
The affected residents have called on Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to stop the developer from demolishing their homes.
“Since he claims that his administration is a people’s government, the chief minister should now prove his words,” said a resident, C Tharmaraj, who also the state PKR Youth treasurer.
As the village is only five minutes’ drive from the Penang Bridge and 10 minutes from both Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone and Komtar, the 2.6ha plot it occupied is considered prime land.
That status has become a curse to the village in recent years. Developers have long coveted the area for high-rise development.
The settlement originally came under a housing trust gazetted under the Housing Trust Act 1950 and residents paid temporary occupation licence (TOL) rents to the Land Office from the days of British colonial adminstration to 2005.
In 2005, the Land Office refused to accept their TOL payments to pave way for land alienation to the state government.
Villagers: Prime land sold below market price
The land was subsequently sold for RM3.21 million to the Koperasi Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang and this led to a lucrative development project undertaken by Umno-linked Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd.
According to the villagers, the sale price – estimated at RM11.33 per sq ft – was far below market value.
The land title was subsequently transferred to the cooperative on March 27, 2008, soon after Pakatan Rakyat coalition stormed to power in Penang at last year’s general election.
Disgruntled residents took the issue to the High Court seeking legal redress to their plight and obtained a favourable court ruling last October.
However, the Court of Appeal backed the cooperative following an appeal.
The appellate court also ruled that the landowner and developer need not pay any compensation to the affected villagers.
It ordered all residents to move out by June 11 from the land, which they have occupied for more than a century.
The village residents association has since appealed to the Federal Court to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.
However, although demolition work cannot be legally carried out pending their appeal, fear has gripped the villagers that they could be forced to evict their homes next week.
They are urging the state government to intervene to stop 33 houses involving 50 families from being demolished.
Kampung Buah Pala Action Committee chairman M Sugumaran, 52, blamed the previous state government under Dr Koh Tsu Koon for their plight.
Much to chargin of the villagers and despite numerous appeals and mass protests, Nusmetro is converting the land to a mix-development township involving four blocks of medium and low-medium cost apartments of 740 units and eight units of shoplots.
The cooperative will earn a whopping RM12 million from the project.
British gave land to villagers’ forefathers
The villagers, led by Sugumaran, have written to the authorities to stop the development and preserve the village as a traditional Tamil Hindu settlement, which local historians claim had existed for more than 150 years.
According to Sugumaran, the original owner of the once coconut plantation area, David Brown, had given the land to the villagers’ forefathers nearly 200 years ago.
Shortly after the British left, the state government took over the village in the capacity of ‘trustee’ and began collecting annual TOL rents.
In 1999, the villagers requested the federal government to gazette the area as a traditional Tamil Hindu settlement in accordance to its policies to preserve traditional villages as symbol of national pride.
However, the villagers’ attempt proved futile.
The villagers are now preparing themselves to stop the possible demolition by the developer on Thursday.
“We will prepare ourselves to face the developer. Do or die, we will fight to keep our traditional village,” vowed Tharmaraj.
Senior resident, Draviam Arul Pillay (left), 84, said that Pakatan leaders had promised the villagers that they would preserve Kampung Buah Pala as a traditional Tamil Hindu village.
“They vowed to defend our rights and interests,” said the senior citizen.
‘Village should be preserved’
Kampung Buah Pala, popularly known as ‘Tamil High Chaparral’ to Penangites due to its traditional population of cowherds, has many features of a model Tamil Hindu settlement.
At a dialogue session with the villagers this afternoon, Jarigan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) Penang coordinator Muammar Kris Khaira called on the state government to act in protecting the villagers.
Penang Heritage Trusts manager Magdeline Ng (left) said a tourist would mistake Kampung Buah Pala for a village in India if one were to witness religious festivities celebrated so passionately and joyously by the villagers.
“The festive mood and colourful atmosphere of this area is hardly visible in other areas of the island. The state government should preserve this traditional natural heritage in Georgetown,” she told Malaysiakini, referring to the city’s world heritage status.
M Nyanasegaran, who represented PKR state chief Zahrain Mohd Hashim, said the state government can stop the development if it is found that the land transfer was not done properly.
“The state government should investigate and find out whether there were some shoddy deals made,” he said.
“If the probe can proved this, the state government should intervene to stop the project and review the land transfer deal.”
With time running out against an eviction order, residents of Kampung Buah Pala, better known as Penang’s High Chapparal, have now turned their anger toward the state Pakatan Rakyat government.
At a press conference at the village in Gelugor yesterday, the residents accused the state administration of breaking its promise.
“Before the March 8 elections last year, PKR and DAP members came here to campaign.
Unhappy lot: Kampung Buah Pala residents appealing to the Pakatanled state government for help during the press conference in Gelugor Saturday.“(PKR leader) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself promised that if Pakatan came into power, our village would be saved,” said Kampung Buah Pala resident A. Draviam, 84.
A large group of residents attended the press conference to oppose a notice instructing them to vacate the 23 houses in the village by June 11.
On May 11, the Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of a cooperative and the developer of an apartment project seeking vacant possession of the 2.6ha land occupied by the cattle farmers at Lorong Buah Pala.
Kampung Buah Pala Association chairman M. Sugumaran said the residents had filed for a stay of execution and an appeal to the Federal Court last week.
“We expect to get a hearing date for the stay on Monday or Tuesday,” Sugumaran, 54, said.
The latest development follows a long standing dispute over the land between Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang Bhd and Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd and the village residents who claim that Indian immigrants working in estates under the British colonial rule established the village over 100 years ago.
The villagers also claim there was foul play in the transfer of the land from the state to the co-operative in late March 2008.
Batu Uban assemblyman S. Raveentharan, along with members of non-governmental organisations Suaram, Jerit and the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT), were also at the press conference.
“This is one of the oldest traditional Indian villages in Penang’s urban area.
“There are hardly any traditional settlements left in the state and we appeal to the state government to re-zone this area as an official Hindu cultural village,” said PHT manager Magdalene Ng.
Residents of Kampung Buah Pala in Gelugor attending a press conference to voice their concerns over the impending eviction. |
GEORGE TOWN: Residents of Kampung Lorong Buah Pala in Bukit Gelugor, who are facing the possibility of losing their homes on Thursday, want the Pakatan Rakyat leaders to make good their promise to save the village.
They claimed this promise was made during last year’s general election.
The village’s residents association chairman, M. Sugumaran, said its members were promised that as long as Pakatan Rakyat ruled the state, their village would be spared.
“Such were the promises made to us during the general election last year.
“What is the state government’s stand on this now?” he said, suggesting that the state government pay off the landowner to save the village.
There are over 300 residents belonging to 65 families who have been living in 23 houses in the village for generations.
They will have to vacate their homes in the traditional cattle-raising village dubbed, Penang’s High Chaparral, if their appeal for a stay of execution is not granted by the Federal Court.
Sugumaran said the appeal was filed last Thursday and hopefully a hearing date would be given tomorrow.
“If our appeal is unsuccessful, we will have to be ready to face the bulldozers.
“We are very disappointed that the situation has come to this,” he said.
The residents have been fighting in recent years to save their village from being demolished to make way for development projects.
In November last year, the High Court dismissed an appeal by the landowner, Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang Bhd and development company Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd to vacate the land where the village stands.
However, on May 11, the Appeals Court ruled in favour of the landowner and developer, leaving the villagers with only a month to leave the land without compensation.
Penang Heritage Trust manager Magdeline Ng, who was present, said the village was the sole surviving Indian village on urban land.
“It is still very vibrant with traditional customs and festivals like Ponggal,” she said, appealing to the state to save the village and zone it as a model Indian cultural village.
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