It was a sad, sad day for Kampung Buah Pala as a demolition team smashed the homes of villagers who had struggled to protect and preserve their 200-year-old settlement.
Photos by an eye-witness
1930: “My heart is completely broken today. Where were all the NGOs and political parties?” lamented a volunteer who had stood by the villagers. “Nobody was there … to see for themselves the pain the people went through. (I was) standing there and watching the demolition helplessly.”
“Even trees were not spared. A goat took refuge under a tractor. Dogs and cats were helpless with nowhere to go.”
1249: Kampung Buah Pala is rapidly disintegrating as the developer’s wrecking crew carries out symbolic demolition of nearly all houses. A porch is smashed here, a room there, a wall torn down over there, bringing down the roof…
No resistance is offered amidst emotional scenes as the villagers appear utterly demoralised during the developer’s fourth demolition effort backed by police. In the end, after all the promises to defend the village made by various politicians, the villagers are left to mourn alone as the developer tears down their precious homes.
A slice of history is being wiped out to make way for a luxury condominium project, ironically named “Oasis”. The real oasis was Kampung Buah Pala – an alternative way of life, more in harmony with nature, now lost as the concrete jungle encroaches relentlessly. All in the name of ‘development’.
Once again, a developer triumphs over ordinary residents – and a village that means so much to its inhabitants disappears.
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The Tg. Tokong tussle between residents and developer is coming up and I hope Anil will give them as much space as he has given the Kg. Buah Pala villagers.
When compensation is compared between Tg. Tokong and Kg. Buah Pala I believe it will put KBP into a new perspective. The Tg. Tokong people are only getting a RM45,000 low cost apartment.
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Taskforce101,
Please do not hope and pray for such things because if the project fails to go on, the villages who agreed for the compensation will be the real losers.Putting aside our religious belief, we as human being must hope n pray that the project will carry on and completes ASAP so that the villages can move in to their respective houses and move on to a new chapter in their live.
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Yellowpower, you must be joking, a d/storey house in that area for 125,000.00.If that is true I bet u, Penang people will line up a week in advance at the sale office before the opening of the sale.Obviously you are not from Penang n have not been to that area.Hayoo yoo!!!!
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Please guys, spare a thought for these villagers while you sleep soundly tonight.
After all that is said and done; these people are still victims.
Yes, blame LGE by all means for not giving them more as it’ll set precedent.
Blame MIC for signing away their houses to the developers.
But most of all, blame yourself for voting BN for the past 20 years!!!
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Now all the human rights wallahs here, there, everywhere plus the pro-developers affociandos and the pro-DAP and PR fan club rah-rah randling the Change mantra, enlighten me on the heritage value of the illegal ex-smuggler’s and opium den called the Clan Jetty occupying the Jelutong seafront like a sore thumb of rusty corrugated roofs, rickety walkways and putrid sewage? Or am I being racial here? wink…wink…LOL.
It is a story waiting to be told and told it will be in all its naked glory in due course…..
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if i not mistaken DAP leaders promised kampung buah pala residents during the 308 election if they won penang state DUN…kampung buah pala residents no need to shift forever!!…….the problem is not how much compensation the new state government lead by lim guan eng can give to residents in kg buah pala!…it is how far u can keep your promises!….do u understand my dear lim guan eng!
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My previous house where I grew up and stayed for more than forty years was given back to the landowner without a single sen of compensation when rent control act was repelled. The same thing happens to many people in Penang. What is so special in KG buah pala? What heritage Kg buah pala can boast about? It is a chapter closed, please move on.
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Bro K , what you expect , pay RM 1 Mil to each ?
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DARI AWAL LAGI KITA SUDAH KATA, JANGAN PERCAYA DENGAN SENDIWARA MIC-BN YANG ADA AGENDA UNTUK MENJATUHKAN KERAJAAN PR DI P.PINANG. SEKARANG SIAPA RUGI, RAKYAT KG. BUAH PALA YANG KENA TIPU. PR TELAH BERUSAHA MENOLONG RAKYAT.MIC JADIKAN RAKYAT KG BUAH PALA SEBAGAI KAMBING HITAM DALAM POLITIK KOTOR MEREKA. HIDUP PR.
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DARI AWAL LAGI KITA SUDAH KATA, JANGAN PERCAYA DENGAN SENDIWARA MIC-BN YANG ADA AGENDA UNTUK MENJATUHKAN KERAJAAN PR DI P.PINANG. SEKARANG SIAPA RUGI, RAKYAT KG. BUAH PALA YANG KENA TIPU. PR TELAH BERUSAHA MENOLONG RAKYAT.MIC JADIKAN RAKYAT KG BUAH PALA SEBAGAI KAMBING HITAM DALAM POLITIK KOTOR MEREKA. HIDUP PR.
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Majority of the Penangites (including the Indians there) have to look at other examples of land acquisition in Malaysia. Look back at Kampung LBJ (Seremban District). This was once smallholders rubber plantation. Each villager owned a 5+ acres of rubber plantation. In the early 90′s their land was worth about RM5,000/acre and rubber price at that time was at rock-bottom. They couldn’t sell their land. If they did what were they going to do with about RM25,000? It’s too little for them. Then came the BN Govt with its Agencies to buy over these poor villagers plantation land. Eventhough the market value then was about RM5,000/acre, the Agencies paid big value for their land. This made the villagers over-night millionaires. This incident was once a big news in the newspapers & TV. Fortunate enough the villagers houses were not destroyed; they retained their houses. Once, zinc-roof houses were transformed to beautiful single-story and double-story bungalows. This is one extreme case to compensation with a good heart. The Govt could have forced the villagers to accept the prevailing market price at that time. However the Agencies know they are going to make big profits in the township-project they are going to develop. So they compensated the villager generously.
But Kg Buah Pala land is already prime land. It’s within city limits. The developer is going to build Condominium complex. So the developer Nusmetro had to select a prime location for its construction. If they choose a prime-piece of land, shouldn’t they pay a good price for it? Now you see how Nusmetro master-minded this whole (dubious) acquisition? Its a few years process. 1st … the BN+Gerakan govt to convert the land to TOL status. Legally it’s wrong to acquire a person’s land if his family had stayed there long before independence. The right thing for the Land-Office to do is to give them a full land-title. … the State & Federal Govt using the Malaysian legal system to convert the land to TOL status. Few years later … the state Land-Office to terminate the TOL status of the land owners. In this (dubious) legal process the rightful land-owner becomes a ‘rightful squatter’. Then the … the land transferred to the Korparasi. There is a premium to be paid to the Land-Office. Generally this process comes with a price value and time period. The Korporasi couldn’t pay the full amount within the stipulated time. By right LGE can cancel the transaction at this point and return the part-payment the korporasi had made earlier (during the Gerakan govt). But he didn’t do this for some obvious … reasons.
There is a rumour that the said Condo project may not take-off because eventually the buyers of the Condos call the shot. Who wants to but property with so much of legal problems and curses in it? The cry & curses of these poor people will always haunt to new heartless owners. If the project doesn’t take-off, will these poor people get their ‘double-story’ house? That is why some of them asked for cash money because they fear they will loose their houses and get nothing in return.
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Don`t worry, condo are in demand in Penang. They will be sold off within a short period especially in prime area like gelugor. Anyway most of the units have been sold.
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LGE and his staff are not saints. They are sinners, commoners and easily make mistakes. But who do not make mistakes? Malaysia has enough leaders who have very bad grounds.
I think we should continue to criticize LGE and his staff for the next 3.5 years for the betterment of Penang. But we can not condemn them as we have to respect them as leaders. BN or PR, they are all elected representatives.
If we are better than the politicians (PR or BN), we should be the candidate for next election.
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A lot of people have been writing with emotion, not their head.
LGE is a CM, not an activist. He has to look at the overall situation.
1) If he spend RM30 million or whatever to buy the land so that the residents can continue to do what they have been doing for past 100 years or whatever, then other Penangites are deprived of amenities; and the elitist will be laughing all the way to the banj
2) a bad contract is still a contract. a contract is void if there is an element of duress or breach of terms. neither element is present so the developer actually has legal standing to develop the land as they have been paid, too little non-withstanding, for the land. If LGE adopted the stance of a street activist and went on a frolic to defeat the contract, what and how would the local and international business community view this? how would this impact the FDI and business confidence & integrity in Penang? and why LGE has to sacrifice so much time when there are much more issues for other Penangites?
3) the residents are victims, not doubt. But if they are focused, specific and able to think the whole picture, they could have emerged injured but in better shape. Get the terrace house and some $$$ then sell the damn property (in Penang island) and move to Seberang Prai where for that amount of money, they can get some rural land and restore their cows there (hell, they can haggle the developer and state goverment into helping them get some land and aubsidise a bit to transport the livestock there)
You gain something by giving up something else.
Please appreciate LGE is not free to do whatever he feels as he is in a position of authority and responsibility
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