Aug 052009
Here’s an article that should be essential reading in understanding the background to the Kg Buah Pala issue.
In particular, how did Penang state government sell the land to the Koperasi when the trusteeship is believed to have passed to the Federal Government?
Can you sell something that you don’t own?
How could the Penang state government under the BN sell the Kampong Buah Pala land when “the available evidence seemed to show that the land is still vested in the Federal Lands Commissioner”, wonders a bewildered P Ramakrishnan.
Negative elements – greed, corruption, abuse of power and judicial indifference – have conspired to wipe out part of Penang’s history and destroy its heritage. Read on…
It’s pretty clear who (is ultimately responsible) is on this land grab – Koh Tsu Koon.
Not a word of accountability from this (political) eunuch….
People like him should reflect on their karma for the lives that they destroy.
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I had thought there were ample evidence of fraud and deception and I am disappointed that lge did not pursue that avenue.
The civil servants have to be complicit in the illegality of the whole deal and this new deal somehow wreaks of political expediency.
It is not about obeying the court order or the law – a retort oftened heard from lge but about justice and fairness which obviously the court were not aware of. Without pursueing this avenue lge indirectly upheld… – after the fact.
Would PR be held ransom by a bunch of civil servants fleecing the rakyat ?
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Who cares if the crook was KTK or Kublai Khan ? We can deal with them later if LGE can provide all the necessary evidence.
What we care NOW is how to solve this problem ? LGE don’t keep evading the issue by talking about past. TALK about NOW.
If LGE is not guilty why then he is avoiding from going to KBP and face the residents ? Why is he insist on having closed door meetings and without the presence of lawyers from the KBP side ? What has he got to hide ???
CAT…no it is just pure BS !!
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The resident and those who are concerned should demonstrate in front of Penang’s BN HQ, Penang Gerakan Office, Penang UMNO office. WHY? WHY? WHY? they didn’t do that? They only know how to condemn the current state government, demonstrate at KOMTAR, demonstrate at LGE resident.
SURELY, the resident has been mislead by own RA main office’s bearer.
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LGE as a new guardian for state government is intentionally to hide this legal issue from the public knowledge.
Koh Tsu Koon initiated the dubious land sale first and then Lim Guan Eng’s (administration) completed the transaction within four days.
Both of them have to be blamed…
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Hi everyone,
The Kg BP villagers and its residents’ committee can opt to do one of two things;
(i) accept the offer of the developer of a double-storey house,
or
(ii) pursue the matter of how the former Pg State govt can alienate the land to the cooperative when it did not own as evidence point to the fact that the land is still vested with the Federal Lands Commissioner.
2. The current Pg State Govt should pursue further how such land held under trust can be ‘given’ away by the former Pg State Govt. Investigate thoroughly on how such a land transaction can be effected, any vested party took part in State Exco deliberations, any civil servants, who are obviously interested parties in the land transaction, played any major role in promoting and effecting the transfer of KBP land to their very own cooperative, etc.
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People,
It’s very painful to have people like K. Come on! How to solve the problems without fully understood the root cause!
K,
…K, I thought you always say you are more concerned on the action now. What say you, K? Still wanna be BN’s …?
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K is sick.
he really really anti with LGE , he’s not even helping, just bashing LGE all the time.From all over your post. It’s just look alike you had an old grudge with him!….
Nmind.. what ever it’s .
many of my indian’s friend will never vote for BN ever again.. (i mean many, not all of them.)
Just just see the true colors of BN now.
All the best LGE. You’re on the “Hot seat of the year”.
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I’m sure LGE would like to win the case more than anyone else being his first term of CM in Penang. But there is much weighing to do, 1.5 million penangites vs the no. of folks in KBP. Afterall, KBP folks are offered compensations. If one wants to protect the land as some heritage site, take it up in another avenue, do not try to put everything in one basket and complicate matters – it’s money, time and other resources we are talking about. There are other issues that the state govt needs to look and move on.
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Strait to the point.
1. The land is not belong to the villagers. The villagers is “stinggan”.
2. The legal owner have every right to do whatever they want to do to their land.
3. Everybody must obey the court order. Villagers stay and use the land years freely and demanding something not belong to them… Patuhilah undang-undang (parties acting like a lawyer should mirror themselves)
Simple Question: If somebody stay and used the land thats belong to you what would you do?
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The reason why LGE wants a closed door meeting is to find a solution for the penduduk without letting those *spy/spoiler know what he intend to do..
He need time to plot his next move especially in a situation where:-
1) So called rep for KBP is (allegedly) UMNO’s goon
2) Media (Utusan, B. Harian, the star, nst, TV3 and
more are all reporting negative element and
working for BN
3) MACC / PDRM / Land Authority are all (seem to be)
control by UMNO.
So LGE need to play the card close to his heart..
why do u think that fella KSK got a ministerial job in putrajaya? UMNO need to keep an eye on him.. Tell u the truth I also dunno what is he doing there? KPI?
hahaha..
Come on’ rakyat, can’t u guys think properly? I repeat again, the land was sold by BN during it’s administration in PENANG!! Do u guy know what it meant? BN sold the penduduk off.. and now KTK even have the guts to ask LGE to clean his s…!
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It really is amazing to see some commentators here acting as KTK-apologists when the political eunuch himself doesn’t even have the decency to provide public accountability of this and other rip-offs.
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The land is lease hold which expires in 99 years. It was valued at RM 6M 5 years back. Today, I guess it is worth about RM 24M, not the RM 100M as claimed by some.
In exchange for the KBP land, the coop paid RM 3M + the land next to Dewan Sri Pinang. It was not a raw deal for Penang because Koh Tsu Khoon knew this is the easiest way to remove the squatters. The state will get the land back in 99 years.
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Mr K,
It is only that Lim Guan Eng as the CM did the villagers and people like you who go on making demands.
If BN is still in power, whether the deal is right or wrong, the villages would be gone.
Do you think the developers would be so patient to go on negotiating? They would be like the Co-op guys la – demolish the village already la
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Wait – federal court has awarded the case to the land owner? What is there to say? Stop harping K. I live in the kampung…
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Since we are at this blaming game, I am wondering why no one has yet blamed Helen Margaret Brown for leaving such a poor trust that could not withstand the trial of time ??????
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Now the true fact is revealed. No sales as the land is in the Fed Govt hand. Now you MIC and Hindraf go picket at Najib’s office in Putrajaya. As I have said before Penangites will be the ultimate losers as the state govt will eventually have to compensate Koperasi Pegawai Pulau Pinang Bhd for … selling them the land (or exchanging the land) under the previous BN state govt.
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For LGE and team PR, I hope in future they will thoroughly do their homework fast and not practice Crisis Management technique.
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The issue of possible fraud can be pursued later and it may take years to unravel and bring the culprits to book but how does that help the villagers now? The urgent matter is to find a solution for the villagers now.
Some of you may be deluded into thinking that just because (alleged) fraud was committed, LGE has the power to reverse the land transfer. Fraud or not, the court has upheld it and LGE can do nothing.
In the Adorna Properties case, the Federal Court in a controversial decision ruled that a buyer who buys a land in good faith gets to keep it even though the seller may have committed fraud to steal the land from the real owner. Is this justice? But this is the highest court’s decision so what can anybody do about it although it has given every landowner the jitters?
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ON a separate note, i did read in the Star about this festival that the Kampung people did where 3000 local univesity students were bussed in to attend. They seemed to lament at the ‘loss of the village’ and come out with a banner of support to the world heritage. All is well actually but i am piqued by 2 of the activities. In the grabbing flag from the bull & the oiled pole game, RM1000 were placed to the winner. No offence, but how did the villages get so much money? Who is supporting this pR stunt and getting the Star to write it on an emotive position?
I do think LGE is doing good. If he goes after KTK, people complain that he is witchhunting. If he looks to solve this, people ask him to look at federal and KTK. What my own observation is that he is working hard to get something done. The offer looks good but i suspect that the same underhand would move the villagers to reject. Then, nobody can help them.
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The offer is better. Just look at the orang asli – what do they get. Bloggers never say anything in supporting them. Believe or not, their dwellings are worst then these kg people.
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I’ve seen Anil’s photos of the village but frankly, I cannot see any reason to label it a heritage site. I looks like any small settlement in rural Malaysia. The houses are nondescript and appear to have no unique architectural features. Just because the Hindraf brothers claim it is a heritage site doesn’t make it so.
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To Hitam and other like him.
Do not use the benefit of million people to justify any wrongdoing on any individual or a small group.
This was exactly same excuse used by million white immigrants in America to kill native red Indians.
LGE should be able to avert this blunder if he blocked the land deal and nullified illegal land sale by the previous state government.
Obviously he wanted to see so-called “concrete jungle development” instead of protecting disadvantaged group.
KBP residents shall sue Penang state government for (taking away) their land.
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nkkhoo wrote,
“KBP residents shall sue Penang state government for (taking away) their land”
May I know what do u get from urging KBP residents to sue the state govt? Probably Gerakan will pay for the legal expenses, eh?
Who exactly is taking the land away from these folks in the first place? Where were u under the previous state govt to protect the residents?
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A bona fide purchaser gains good title provided they bought the property in the utmost good faith.
The Adorna Properties case (provided it is clad by cast-iron Justice) decision is, in my view, a harsh but nevertheless necessary policy decision, as otherwise, no purchaser will be ever be sure, even after taking all the necessary precautions and exhausting all reasonable checks, that they have gained irrevocable good title to the property they bought because they honestly believed the vendor had the right to sell it.
The caveat emptor rule warns all purchasers ahead about the cast-iron bona fide requirement if they are to be protected should a case of fraud be brought to light after the purchase of the property has been concluded.
Some salient questions crop up in the KBP land disposal:
1. Was the Penang state government the owner of the land and so had the legal title and the right to sell it?
2. Was the purchaser, the civil service cooperative a true bona fide purchaser?
How could the cooperative of state civil servants (with a clear attendant risk of a conflict of interest in the transaction to guard against) and its lawyers who handled the conveyancing transaction NOT have become aware of the trust/real status of the KBP land?
3. If KBP was sold or contracted out (for development) subsequently to the developer, is the developer a bona fide purchaser/transactor here?
How can it be so when the developer and its lawyers must have been clearly aware of the status of the land (through its routine checks at the land registry) and could also see for themselves the residents and their farming livelihoods in KBP, which had existed in that state there since before Malaysia’s independence?
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
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