Kampung Buah Pala: A postscript

 Development issues, Housing  127 Responses »
Jul 092010
 

The project details for the property development at the site of the demolished Kampung Buah Pala have been put on public display.


I am not quite sure how the compensation of double-storey terrace houses for the displaced Kg Buah Pala residents fits into the compensation details shown on the board above. And 53 units?

The board shows that the building plan was approved on 7 December 2006. The double-storey terrace-house offers were made to the residents last year.

The developer Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd’s main contractor is Wabina Construction & Engineering Sdn Bhd. Continue reading »

Augustine Paul’s role will not be forgotten

 Development issues, Judiciary  60 Responses »
Jan 032010
 

Federal Court judge Augustine Paul, who passed away yesterday, will be remembered by many Malaysians for his role in the Anwar trial during the reformasi era.

His frequent use of the word “irrelevant” during the Anwar corruption trial whenever Anwar’s defence counsel wanted to raise what they felt was pertinent evidence soon resulted in the word becoming something of a sarcastic buzz-word in Malaysia.

Paul’s meteoric rise through the judicial ranks, immediately before and after that trial, raised eyebrows.

One of his last major decisions was in the case of Kampung Buah Pala, where some 300 residents were facing eviction and the demolition of their ancestral village. On 24 June 2009, Federal Court judges Paul, Hashim Yusoff and Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff dashed the villagers’ hopes by unanimously rejecting their application for leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that had overturned a landmark High Court verdict in their favour.

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Contractor demolishes structures on govt land?

 Development issues  13 Responses »
Nov 092009
 

A cowshed located on what is believed to be government land next to the site of the flattened Kg Buah Pala was demolished by private contractors this afternoon.

The contractors are believed to be linked to the developer of the Buah Pala land, Nusmetro.

A journalist and another eye-witness contacted me and raised the question: why is a private contractor demolishing structures believed to be standing on government land (state or federal?), when government officials are nowhere to be seen?

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Kg Buah Pala disintegrates under hammer blows

 Development issues, Housing  39 Responses »
Sep 142009
 

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.”

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