The old well at Kampung Buah Pala where clear fresh water reaches ground level - Photo by Anil Netto
For those of you still unfamiliar with the background to the High Chaparral issue, here’s an excellent write-up by Himanshu Bhatt in today’s Sun:
Kampung Buah Pala holds its breath
THERE is an old well said to have been dug some 100 years ago in Penang’s Kampung Buah Pala, a charming settlement of cowherds and planters, which still provides fresh groundwater for many villagers. So remarkable is this well that during the national water crisis of the late 1990s, it became the lifeline for thousands of Penangites who made a bee-line to collect its water when all other supplies failed.
Which way now… Will Kampung Buah Pala be declared a historic communal settlement or be demolished to make way for apartments?
About five years ago, the inhabitants of this settlement – who trace their ancestry to at least five generations – were shocked when told that the land on which the well and the village stood was earmarked for a development project. The venture, which included four blocks of apartments, was called “Oasis”. Full article here.
Anil,
What’s your best solution then? Buy back the land for the villagers. If you think you can, raise the fund now & deal with the developer.
People,
I have to agree with Khoo Peng to set a commitee to look at the transaction. Should this be successful? Proceeds should go to Penang state fund. If wanna purchase the land, can go ahead but public housing shall be built in these areas while certain areas such as the one Anil shown to be preserved
State fund is scarce. It shall be spent on the benefits on more people. As for the Buah Pala villagers, if the land is dead cheap in Kepala Batas, they could settle there for free. Else, with adequate compensation secured plus free public housing….I guess that’s as far as LGE state government
Anil,
There are plenty of “High Chaparals” was demolished for national development in Singapore. Public Housings. 87% stayed there…..Good quality public housing……Even such “High Chaparals” being preserved, it would be like Kampung Glam Malay royalhouse, where tourism revenues can be generated
Anil,
It’s not that I am heartless…..Priorities need to be set……Fund for the masses….Optimise……..Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
It’s the Economy, stupid! Bill Clinton say that…..
Dear Looes, I guess we have different priorities. One thing I believe, and not just in this case, is that the economy should serve the people/communities and not the other way round. – Anil
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Now it is becoming a racial issue since the days Hindraf came in. Guess what – why not for once -get the Hindraf boys out and let the lawyers and residents speak. In fact, keep the racialistic Athi out of the discussion also. He is everywhere. I think he should leave Malaysiakini and join Hindraf. Maybe a councillor? hahah
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dear looes74,
u know what ?? bill clinton is damn wrong !!
its all about people idiot !!
will u just keep quite & pack off if one day, one joker come up to you and asks u to vacate your house bcos the house is actually his ???
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Anil.
ur comment is as valuable as the article. C’mon, show us what u think of it.
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We should trace back this issue to sale of the land to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.
On what ground Penang Exco headed by Koh Tsu Koon approved the sale?
On what ground the Penang Exco halved the premium subsequently?
Apparently, Penang Exco members were also members of this Koperasi. It wasn’t an arms length transaction.
Subsequently, this piece of land, if I am not wrong, sold to Numestro or to be jointly developed with Numestro. Any hard cash being paid to this Koperasi?
Ultimately, when the land is fully developed and sold the properties built, who will make profits out of this?
Who is the real party or parties behind this project?
Even if Penang Exco under Lim Guan Eng decided to buy back the land, compensation paid will still goes to this real party or parties.
Both ways, they are the one to gain. That is the reason why, up to now, Koh Tsu Koon does not want to bother. He and his kakis have the answers to the questions above, yet, who get the blame? PR govt under LGE.
Is it fair, Anil and residences of High Chapperal?
Let’s say, if LGE cannot solve this problem, and the residences decided to support BN in future elections, and people will still face same kind of tricks of BN. You like to see this happens?
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What heritage village are they talking about? It’s just a cluster of villages in a sad and terrible state. I feel sorry for the villagers but this issue shouldn’t be exploited the way it is.
It is reported in the media as a popular heritage village called High Chaparrel. Ask any Penangite and see how many Penangites can tell you where this Kampung Buah Pala aka High Chaparrel is or even heard of it!!!!
I live in Penang all my life and this so called ‘popular heritage village’ is barely 10 minutes from my house but I had no idea of its existence until recently. If you ask me I say that kampung should make way for development though IMO the villagers should be properly compensated.
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Anil, I too believe on the notion that the economy’d serve the people. Just look at early singapore’s history when singapore’s expelled from Malaysia, plenty of lands including high chaparals like’ve been gazatted for national development. Industrial, housing or even commercial. Spur up economy. Good economy, more jobs for the people. Like Singapore, that shall be LGE top prioriy. Anil, no money on the table, forget about welfare of people. Anil, I’m a damned pragmatist & realist like LKY. Anil, it’s bad that one prominient foreign leader said things not changed his last visit. In Singapore, it’s with lotsa money, enter projects such as cleaning up of clogged rivers & subsequent building of fresh water dam at Marine Bay.
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Anil, my dad first school’s first posting was SM Clifford, opposite of MCKK. The Ship’s More than A Crew. Sink the ship, all the crews shall perish.
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I’ve never been to high chapparal. God knows I didn’t even know it existed up to recently. But from what I can see, this is a test for the present state government whether it truly wants to be different from the past governments. In my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter if it’s an Indian village, a Chinese village or a Malay village. This is not a racially motivated issue despite Hindraf’s involvement. Development should not be pursued for developments sake alone. Development should not displace people or existing privelages that people enjoy just to help developers make a quick buck. This happens every single place in this country, and it’s sad. Look at the recent Sarawak issue. Governments should understand that. We’re NOT Singapore.
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Why should Penang Gov spend millions to buy over the lands which was sold dirt cheap by previous state gov for less that 40 families.
Should this be done then this will set as a precedent for other community to follow. Next we will have to preserve malay village, chinese village and so on. Can the Penang gov afford this ?
Agree with Jess..have seen many Athi comments. He is … racist writer. Malaysiakini should keep this guy out.
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Hindraf???? They are only thinking for themselve… Go and join BN if they want you.
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Hi! Anil,
I think it is time for the truth to be told. Who are those responsible for the sale and transfer of the land at Buah Pala? Did those people who sold the land to this eventual land owners have the right to do so? If the answer is, Yes, what is the issue then. If not, what can and should be done?
Is the present government of Penang answerable to the residents of Buah Pala for their loss of rights to this land? What are the powers and rights available to the Penang Government to help the residents of Kampung Buah Pala? Do they have the legal avenue to do so?
The residents of Kampung Buah Pala has to be told their rights, if they have any. They have to be told the truth so that they will know who is really responsible for thier loss. It has to be explained to them so that they will be able to go after the real culprit, be it the previous government or the present.
Anil, I think you will be able to help here. It is not about race. It is about rights and truths.
Couldn’t agree with you more, hlsaw. Let’s see what we can come up with. – Anil
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Lets be sensible and pragmatic. We need to be fair to the people who have been staying there for generations. On the other hand, the present state govt. is caught in a bind, not of their making…and they have to go by the decision of the courts. Unless there is proof that the villages were cheated of their land, the only thing the state govt. can do to help is perhaps to twist the arms of the developers and make life difficult for them. Politically make the developers and the last KSK govt. the villians. In the end, what may settle the issue will be just compensation being paid by the developers to the villagers. Let them negotiate, with the state govt. seeing to the interests of the villagers….. others, esp. those with political agenda, must not be allowed to interfere.
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Hindraf, please do the villagers a great favour. Go and demand an answer from Koh Tsu Koon, demonstrate all you want..; in fact, camping outside his house would be nice. Just see if the police and FRUs will not come against you all. Surely you are not as clueless to the fact that he was the CM responsible for all this. Remember KTK was the CM for many many donkey years, so he wasn’t a stupid fella. He is not poor either, at least he can give greater compensation to the villagers, or get the Federal government to come up with the money… instead of putting ALL the blame of LGE.
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LGE keeps telling whitewash lie to we rakyats that buying back land with RM 150 milliion is not a good option. No idiot is asking state government to buy back the land except DAP themselves.
What we want is to investigate the land deal from the beginning stage to see any legal discourse against action done by the former state government.
The villagers lost the legal suit to developer and koperasi does not mean that state government cannot issue a decree that the deal transaction to koperasi is unlawful and then null the land sale deal. This is a separate case with lawsuit between villagers and developer and koperasi.
LGE (appears) not interested to do this for afraid of offiending pro-BN senior government servants in the state. He is also kowtowing to BN federal government hoping for more funds.
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Corredtion The villagers lost the legal suit to developer and koperasi does not mean that state government cannot issue a decree that the LAND transaction to koperasi is unlawful and then null the land sale deal. This is a separate case with lawsuit between villagers and developer and koperasi.
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“One thing I believe, and not just in this case, is that the economy should serve the people/communities and not the other way round. – Anil”
Anil, such rhetoric will serve you well if you wish to launch your own political career, but it does nothing to help the situation.
By all means, engage in as much “out of the box” thinking as you can, and if you can come up with a superior solution then disclose it and I am confident your solution will be adopted and you will get the kudos (though I’m sure you don’t really care about the latter). You are certainly more than capable of working with numbers.
But otherwise, just let the state government do what is best for the state, and let’s do what we can to ensure something like this never happens ever again, and that’s partly an issue of governance and partly an issue of community education… and finally let’s be fair about allocating blame in a productive way.
As I’ve said many times before, let’s whack LGE’s government when it should be whacked (e.g. still no municipal elections), but whacking for one reason is not interchangeable for some other reason. Whacking LGE for the handling of this problem does not seem sensible to me, especially since this particular problem is symptomatic of the broad land abuse legacy of the previous government (I think you can do a PhD thesis on it)… it’s just that this particular one has a strong emotional element to it.
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penangites on July 4th, 2009 at 10.18pm
Why should Penang Gov spend millions to buy over the lands which was sold dirt cheap by previous state gov for less that 40 families.
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150 million buy back is a lame excuse used by LGE to cover his back for his inaction in last 15 months on this land fraud investigation.
His DCM said state government did not conduct investigation because the villagers have sued the koperasi and developer.
(Alleged) land fraud investigation is nothing to do with the lawsuits. These are two separate issues and no comtempt of court for conducting investigation on any dubious land transactions.
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Hindraf challenged LGE to produce court order awarded to state government for cancalling TOL.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/107838 (In mandarin)
Be fair to LGE. I understand the actual land transfer by Jabatan Tanah was done two weeks after 318 GE. I believe PR excecutives and LGE unawared about this land transfer.
But IF now he got executive power and legal basis to bulldoze this unlawful land deal, but he is not willing to act. He should resign from CM post. There are many capable DAP ADUNs in the list to replace him.
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‘Nil
If nothing else we see now that most (not all) Chinese including LGE (who I used to respect and defend to the hilt):
1. don’t really care about poor Indians
2. despise Hindraf
3. believe that money/business/economics decides what’s right
We really need to work hard to fix that.
As for the case at hand; isn’t it obvious that some serious dodginess occured in the purchase of the land by the developer. So shouldn’t this issue be tied up in the courts for a long long time would would buy time for the kampung folk.
I for one am a 100% certain that the developer has skeleteons waiting to fly out of their closet. Let’s pry that door open.
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Come to think of it the (old) method to solve the problem and than the public will forgot about it after that. This is the best method.
1) hire Thugs
2) All councils standing by with Police FRU
3) Bring in bulldozers
4) Start Demolishing the area as quickly as they can , 1 day.
5) Everything gone , demolish the houses .
6) Use ISA to lock up those who starts the protest
7) Arrest them all.
Lain cerita after that.
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This is one fine example of how the a govt’s corrupt practice can linger on for years after the govt’ has been voted out. Unfortunately it can also be used against a newly elected govt as is happening in the 4 pkr controlled states. Malaysians “muda lupa”. And voters have less “political stamina” than a 100 year old grandfather running a full marathon. Incidently this mentally is also found on our football and other sports fans. We expect instant results. When our team lost, we should be support them more, but instead we start to criticise and even abandon them. Politicians from both sides are fully aware of this and are taking advantage of it.
Already ppl are taken a swipes at the the pkr govt, just 18 months after they took over.
We must know that any changes in policies takes time to take effect. The same goes to what looks like Najib’s sweeping market liberisation. Don’t count on it yet.
I reckon we need a least two terms or around 8-10 years for bn’s bad practices to wear out and also for pkr to get their act together.
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Kg Buah Pala is just a storm in a teacup.
This will boil over in a few weeks time.
However, if LGE uses the State’s money to buy the land, then it will be a permanent issue. One that will definately come back to bite him.
LGE has to choose wisely.
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Keep a cattle ranch running in the middle of Penang City??? Is this a joke??
If you leave it to Hindraf, Penang will end up a Tamil Nadu with cows running along Taxis along Gurney drive….
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Let me divide the whole scandal into two parts to make people understand LGE is twsiting the whole story.
Part 1: The legality of title transfer from trustee to state government, conversion to TOL and cancellation of TOL.
Part 2: Land sale from state government to Koperasi.
I am a loyar buruk, but i can tell you LGE is trying to jumble part 1 and part 2 as one single part by using court order in part 2 as his excuse for inaction to investigare part 1.
Hindraf people and villagers are not asking LGE against court order in part 2. They are asking LGE to investigate part 1 carefully and revoke the land deal IF part 1 was done illegally.
I agree koperasi got the legal right to sue state government and how much compensation is debatable.
I ask LGE again, seeking justice for people or at risk of being sue is more important to him and PR government?
Rakyat wants JUSTICE, and rakyats know any compensation for part 2 is entirely the fault of Koh Tsu Koon.
LGE inaction in part 1 is indirectly a cover-up for Koh Tsu Koon.
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