The controversy over the Tamil High Chaparral traditional village in Kampung Buah Pala has yet to be resolved and Penang is already bracing for another one.

This time around, it involves an ancient traditional village belonging to the Malays in Tanjung Tokong.

NONE

Many Penangites have read historians' account of Kampung Melayu Tanjuing Tokong as the oldest living Malay cultural village in the state.

It is stated in a book called 'Old Penang ' that the village had existed for more than 200 years, long before the arrival of English captain, Sir Francis Light, in 1786.

However, in an affidavit submitted by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) in November last year, the government agency declared the villagers as ‘squatters.'

The affidavit was filed in response to a civil suit filed against UDA by the legally registered Tanjung Tokong Villagers Association.

Association chairperson Mohd Salleh Yahaya said the villagers decided not to proceed with their suit for the obvious reason that UDA was a government linked company under the Finance Ministry.

'We have lost our rights'

"UDA declared us squatters in a simple piece of court paper," he told a packed press conference at his village house this afternoon.

Now the association wants Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak to declare the village as a Malay heritage village.

"Penangites know that we have existed here for more than two centuries, long before Francis Light stepped foot on Penang shores.

"But we have lost our rights even though we are the descendants of original natives of Penang because of UDA's declaration.

"The federal government must declare the village as a Malay heritage for us to retain any of our legitimate rights over our traditional land," he said, drawing similarities to the predicament faced by Indian villagers in Kampung Buah Pala.

NONE "Our case is even stronger because our village has existed even before Kampung Buah Pala," he said.

But, he pointed out that the biggest obstacle faced by the villagers for the heritage declaration was UDA.

"We cannot put much hope on UDA. We need the premier to intervene and help us on this issue.

"The federal government must declare the village as a heritage site for the villagers to retain their locus standi to claim any compensation in case of future developments.

"Currently we are in a hopeless situation," said Mohd Salleh ( left ), who had already submitted a letter on the matter to the Prime Minister's Office in May this year.

The previous Barisan Nasional state government alienated and leased out the village land encompassing about 64 acres (about 26ha) for 99 years to UDA in 1974 under a redevelopment policy.

It was to create Malay settlements in George Town embarked by the late premier Abdul Razak Rahman, ironically Najib's father.

'UDA failed to carry project'

Several years ago, the previous state government had also leased out another nearby 54 acres of reclaimed land to UDA for development purposes.

According to Mohd Salleh, under the policy, the village must be ‘rehabilitated, reorganised and upgraded' to match current mainstream development in the city. However, he said UDA failed to carry out any projects in line with policy.

UDA instead built three phases of 650 unit low cost flats on a 40ha land for villagers, who were not house owners. The agency built another phase of medium cost apartments for the open market.

"UDA totally neglected the remaining villagers without house ownership.

NONE "All the reclaimed areas were used for profit-making housing and commercial projects in the open market," said Mohd Salleh, and took a dig at Najib's 1Malaysia concept.

Under the concept, he said ‘rakyat didahulukan dan pencapaian diutamakan . . . tapi penduduk Melayu Tanjung Tokong diabaikan.'

He said between 1990 and until recently, UDA showed no interest in redeveloping the village, which was the original policy objective.

"Only recently when the whole land value reached an estimated RM1 billion, UDA started to show interests in developing the land.

"But that too at our expense," he said.

Villagers may end up with nothing

He revealed that UDA managed to convince several tenants in the village to move out to a nearby longhouse with promises to provide each family a flat in a future project.

Kampung Melayu Tanjung Tokong now stands on a 24-acre land with 300 houses, including 30 illegal structures without registration numbers, 1,026 families and about 6,000 residents,

NONE About 20 per cent of the families have moved out to the longhouse, but Mohd Salleh warned they could have been deceived given that UDA had declared the villagers as ‘squatters.'

"They may end up with nothing," he said.

Mohd Salleh said the villagers want the federal government to intervene given that the current Pakatan Rakyat state government was powerless to do anything since the land was owned by UDA on leasehold.

"Without the heritage declaration, we will not have any locus standi to claim anything.

"We can end up with nothing if UDA were to forcibly evict us," said Mohd Salleh.