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Guan Eng warns developer not to play hard ball

Chief Minister Guan Eng has issued a warning to Nusmetro Ventures after the Oasis developer’s “highly irresponsible and inflammatory” threats yesterday.

Meanwhile, the state investigative committee needs to quickly get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding the questionable sale and land transfers. What has happened to the villagers’ report to the MACC?

The State Government will not take a single cent of the so-called “goodwill payment” from the developer unless the kampung Buah Pala residents agree to the compensation.

The Penang state government warns Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, the developer of the proposed housing project in Kampung Buah Pala, for threatening to send bulldozers in by August 2 to forcibly evict residents and demolish their houses as highly irresponsible and inflammatory. It is highly improper to stoke fear into the villagers’ hearts by reminding them that they will have to move out by Aug 2 when the one-month grace period given by the developer expires and there will be “no more extensions”. The one-month grace period was negotiated by the state government with the developer to find a solution to the problem.

Developer says villagers have until 2 Aug

The developer for the Oasis project, Nusmetro, says the High Chaparral villagers have until 2 Aug to leave the land, according to a media source.  The developer is drawing a firm line in the sand.

LIVE: High Chaparral villagers inside Komtar

Villagers: “We want our land which is our life”

The Kampung Buah Pala residents have released a statement today, expressing dissatisfaction with Pakatan politicians who had promised to defend their right to the land during the general election campaign last year.

The villagers, who had earlier filed a complaint with the MACC over the land deal, are also claiming that not all families and households were offered compensation.

Some excerpts from the statement:

If the present State Government cannot stop the demolition then it is adopting the abuse of power by the previous government and is a party to it.

…We ask the state government to act now and at least stop and postpone the demolition. It can direct the developer and the police to do so. It should not abdicate its responsibility and shirk its responsibility.

CM: Penang can’t afford to acquire High Chaparral land

Penang Chief Minister Guan Eng makes several points:

  • The crisis was created under the previous BN administration;
  • The Buah Pala villagers should distinguish between their friends and those responsible for their predicament;

PKR councillor’s sacking from MPSP creates a stir

The Penang state exco has removed Johari Kassim as councillor of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) with effect from 26 June.

Johari, the PKR whip at the council, had led a boycott of the swearing-in ceremony of new council president Mokhtar Mohd Jait, a former district officer of northern Seberang Perai. Johari claimed that the Council president’s post was reserved for PKR.

High Chaparral: Deputy CM Mansor to meet developers

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Deputy Chief Minister Mansor Othman is to meet the Oasis developers tomorrow to discuss the crisis faced by High Chaparral villagers facing eviction, according to a media source.

He expressed some optimism that the developers could be persuaded not to file the writ of eviction on the residents just yet.  The residents want their village to be preserved as a cultural and heritage area.

Mansor’s meeting with the developers will thrust the new Deputy CM into the spotlight and provide a stern test of his mettle under pressure.

Now it’s 1Sarawak…

From 1Malaysia… it’s now 1Sarawak… Or is it from 1Sarawak towards 1Malaysia?

Whatever.

I just wonder what “1Sarawak” would mean to those struggling to protect their native customary land from encroachment by plantation and logging firms or to those being displaced by the state’s dam-building frenzy.

Excerpt of a report from The Borneo Post:

Promoting 1M’sia with 1S’wak

Concepts vital to thwart effects of new-style politics which could be detrimental to progress

SRI AMAN: Sarawak is ready to lead the way in realising the 1Malaysia concept by developing its own version called the ‘1Sarawak’.

Frustrated villagers gather outside Adun’s house

Photos by Kris Khaira and another

2100: As time runs out, a few dozen High Chaparral villagers have gathered outside the house of the Adun for Seri Delima, R S N Rayer, located off Jalan Masjid Negeri/Green Lane.

Some of the frustrated villagers call for his resignation. “We were betrayed by the BN government previously,” says one of them. “We voted for the Pakatan government, hoping they could bring about change. But we have been let down again.”

No one emerges from the house. The lights inside are off though the porch with cars parked in it is lit.

Several of the villagers are being interviewed by reporters. One of them claims that the village land could have been federal instead of state land. He says that when the Housing Trust was dissolved in the 1970s, “Vested Crown” land should have gone to the federal government.