Uninhabited land next to Kampung Buah Pala which could be turned into an eco-village – Photos by Anil
The worried Buah Pala village folk are at a loss over what to do. Few outside the village seem to understand them. They have been labelled as greedy and demanding after being offered 24 two-storey terrace houses – which they feel is not enough as there are about 40 families in the village.
One lanky village youth keeping watch, a walkie-talkie attached to his waist, told me his household has 12 members. “How are we to fit into a terrace house?”
Villagers say a strip of uninhabited state land lies adjacent to the village. A villager pointed out to me where the land stood. I ambled down the slope, past the enclosure of grazing cows on the right and found an open space, filled with undergrowth along a fairly long monsoon drain. I ventured in cautiously – the strip seemed to extend deep inside, and it appeared wide enough for houses to be built. This was probably the 2.4 acres of state reserve land a few had been talking about.
As I trekked inside, I thought this could be turned into a model eco-village where residents could be encouraged to pursue projects that promote sustainable development and self-sufficiency.
If, for whatever reason, the state is unwilling to pursue the land scam angle to try and nullify the deal or reacquire the land (despite several MACC reports), why is it baulking at pressing the developer to provide more houses or using the state reserve land or the nearest available space? It is not as if there is not enough land around to relocate the village in the vicinity as an eco-friendly ‘kampung tersusun‘ or to provide additional housing if the developer is unwilling to provide more than 24 houses.
The Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang was voted in to do things differently from the BN. This would be as good an occasion as any to show that they are really different and more committed to marginalised communities.
Shouldn’t all relevant information (temporary accommodation, completion date, what happens if the company is unable to proceed with the project) be given before – not after – they are asked to sign? If we were them, would we sign without such information? – Anil
If the land was legally mine, or I’m buying a house, no. Who would sign?
If I was squatting on the land, and I’m going to be legally owning a double story terrace house and in future my net worth is going to increase by RM500,000, and in future future when Penang runs out of land, my future net worth is going to baloon. yahoo!!
Come on. In the LGE’s words
Do you think we will disapprove or revoke the building plan of the 24 houses while we’re the one who found the formula to resolve the issue?”
He’s worked out a good solution, can’t the residents have a bit more faith and work with him further on the fine prints? It’s more like working against him.
Who wants to help when the pitchfork is pointing at your direction all the time.
That RM500,000 x 24 is perhaps better of building 300 low cost houses @ RM40K. That’s 300 grateful families blessed (and they still have to pay) vs 24 greedy ones. Can we call this more social justice?
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Peter, at least the land is vacant. why waste it by letting it idle when you can help the villagers.
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DAP and LGE claim that they are multi-racial and so proud of their Malaysian Malaysia agenda. This episode has torn this facade to pieces….
It is a sad and shameful day for Penang when the Chief Minister himself is resorting to… the colonist “Divide & Rule” strategy.
You see the DAP supporters here have adopted the Neo-Con principle of “Either With Us or Against Us”. Just because I speak out against the handling of the issue of KBP by LGE I have being branded as BN supporter. What’s next ?
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//Anil, it seemed you are losing in your attempt to educate and inform your readers of what is really going on in kbp. So many irrelevant issues, comparisons and accusations were thrown into the pot.// — MorningDew
You can educate ppl who are ignorant but you can’t educate ppl who are bent on a mission and pretend to be ignorant.
Penang DAP is on a massive campaign to dehumanize the KBP villagers. These commentors are cybertroopers whose only objective appears to be to spin LGE as the Angel and the villagers as the Demons – greedy and arrogant. No amount of facts, reason or clarifications will register with them. They do what they have to do i.e spin. That is why you find their comments totally devoid of reason, humanity or compassion. Some are even sadistic, gleefully wanting the buldozers to come in and drive the villagers out.
It is not just in this blog but in many other blogs as well as in the vernacular press and some MSM.
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LGE is on the side of the developer.
Since March2008 the state govt didnt bother to investigate the alleged fraud/scam even though they were informed before as well as immediately after the election. The state govt did not extend any help to the villagers and they were fighting their own batle in Court. It was only after Hindraf came in and forced the hand of the state govt that LGE got involved. You guys can spin LGE as the Saviour, but the fact is, if not for Hindraf KBP would have been rubble last month.
The question is why did LGE wait till the last minute? Even then he made no effort to get the land back but he was blaming the previous BN govt, conveniently concealing the fact that it was his govt that transfered the land and issued the Title to the koperasi.
His effort was to pressure and intimidate the villagers to accept some compensation and go away. He banned their lawyer and a few other outspoken ppl on the grounds that they are outsiders. These are ordinary ppl and they dont have the technical knowledge or language skills to negotiate with the CM and his advisors. They can only listen to what LGE tells them.
Had the lawyer been present, they would have had the benefit of proper advice during the negotiation. But LGE did not want that.
That is why after each meeting when they go back and consult their lawyers and find the ‘fantastic’ deal unacceptable, they reject. LGE immediately goes to town claiming they are unreasonable and demanding and the ppl of Penang immediately conclude that they are greedy. This is the game LGE has been playing.
After a few incidents like this he succeeded in portraying the villagers as greedy in the minds of Penangites. In this he was aided by his dedicated cybertroopers.
Now that he has successfully demonized the villagers he has conveniently washed his hands.
Why is LGE afraid to investigate the (alleged) fraud and nail the parties involved in the ‘landgrab’?
To all those who are harping that this mess was created by BN, yes it was created by BN state govt, but please get this into your thick skull – the sitting govt is the PR govt and only the sitting govt has to the power (and duty)to solve the mess.
Many complain that the state govt is spending too much time on this issue. True, but what does that tell you?
LGE is simply INCOMPETENT! If LGE is not up to mark then he should ship out and let DCM Mansor or Rama takeover as CM. LGE is not fit to be a CM, he is only fit to be an opposition politician.
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//I wish LGE and the Penang state government washed its hand off this issue all together. Let MIC or Hindraf negotiate with the developers … There’s MIC and Hindraf to take care of them.// — sam
Dear sam,
You have unwittingly exposed your racist nature. Guys like you are the ones who claim to be non racial, colour blind anak bangsa malaysia. Hypocrites. Shame on you.
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//To me, the offer of a double storey terrace house is already over generous// — Ken Wong
Yeah, “rob” them of 6.5 acres and then give them 0.7 acres with 2 st hse and you call it overgenerous and magnanimous.
Some sense of justice!
//It sets a dangerous precedence// — Ken Wong
These ppl are not squatters. They are settlers. So what precedent are you talking about.
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Shouldn’t all relevant information (temporary accommodation, completion date, what happens if the company is unable to proceed with the project) be given before – not after – they are asked to sign? If we were them, would we sign without such information? – Anil
I think completion date, what happens if the company is unable to proceed with the project should be write in to the contract. If the citizen bare the cost, they need to know how long they need to bare such a cost.
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Rajan, are you one of the villager who take compensation earlier?
In Chinese Press, the developer claim that they will give a double story house to those villager who take compensation earlier too. Hope this is true.
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I truly feel sorry for the residents of Kg Buah Pala.Looking at the sequence of events happening, there are indeed certain parties trying to create issues for political gains at the expense of the poor residents. With the latest turn of events where the developer is prepared to offer the residents houses at absolutely no charges, the residents should be happy to accept it. Now the residents are asking for monetary compensation. This itself is too much, they become greedy. One has to bear in mind that they have been squatting on other peoples’land and not theirs, They have no right absolutely to make demands. The law is very clear. I am not a lawyer by profession but I studied law during my uni days. Sad to say there are still a few stupid lawyers in town.
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TOL means exactly what it is: temporary occupation. There are many others in the country who are occupying land under TOL. It is up to them to get permanent residency status. If they have not bothered to or are unable to change the TOL into something more permanent, what is there to say ? Bear in mind that whatever is given as compensation to the Kampung Pala folks should also be given to all other TOL holders in future. Should taxpayers’ or developers’money be used for such purposes ? Or should the the Kampung Pala residents be treated on a special basis and whatever is given to them will be understood as not applicable to all other TOL holders?
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