In the latest development in the ongoing saga of the resettlement of the cattle farmers of Batu Kawan by the Penang state government, two petitions were handed to the chief minister of Penang at his office on May 29 by Persatuan Penternak Lembu dan Kambing Ladang Batu Kawan, representing 20 impoverished families.
One petition was about a proposal to fence the area of the farms to fence in the cattle to prevent them from straying into the neighbouring residential area. This was a short-term measure till the final resettlement of all the farms occurs. The second petition was about the resettlement itself - a request to the chief minister to alienate land to the members of the association in a location within Batu Kawan in a permanent area.
It was reported in the media recently that Batu Kawan MP Kasthuriraani Patto had said a task force had been formed to look into the matter. According to her it involved several agencies including the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), South Seberang Prai land and district office, the state Veterinary Department, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), Penang Indian Cattle Rearers Association, Bukit Tambun assemblyperson Law Choo Kiang’s office and her office.
Ironically it did not include this association and its members who are really going to be the victims if this issue is not resolved positively.
We wish to resolve the issue of our resettlement in an amicable manner. We have requested N Ganesan, the national adviser to Hindraf, to be also the adviser of our persatuan. We are not able to effectively represent ourselves in the complex negotiations, so we have sought out his assistance.
The state government and the chief minister must see this as a positive move on our part and not insist on excluding him from the discussion. This has been the contentious issue holding back direct discussion between the state government and the association.
In another recent letter to the media titled ‘Penang Gov’t cares for Batu Kawan cattle breeders’ , Dr P Ramasamy, the Deputy Chief Minister, had said, “Penang is scarce of state-owned lands. In fact, most the parcels of the land in Batu Kawan have been sold to investors.”
However, just days before in the state assembly session on April 30, 2015, the chief minister went on record that the state government had sold a total of 1101 acres up to April 15, 2015 to corporations like Abad Naluri (750 acres), PE Land (40 acres), Paramount Corporation (30 acres), Aspen Vision Land (245 acres) and PKT Logistics (36.7 acres) out of a total of 6,326 acres the state government had acquired through the Land Acquisition Act of 1960 from 1960 to 2008.
These facts do not bear out Dr Ramasamy’s assertion that most parcels of land have been sold.
In that same assembly sitting the chief minister had also made specific proposals for the alternative sites for the farms.
‘We would like to remain in Batu Kawan’
We see this as the state government’s position on the matter now. In our petition to the chief minister today we have stated our position quite clearly. We would like to remain in Batu Kawan as it is impractical for us small farmers to manage remote farms - considering the security, availability of manpower, daily supervision, emergency responses and so on. It just is not possible.
We also have no financial capability to purchase land at anywhere near market prices. So we have proposed that we would like the state government to alienate an acre each for the 20 farming families in Batu Kawan at a very nominal premium as recognition for the equity we and our forefathers have brought to Batu Kawan ever since the opening up of the area.
We hope the state government can appreciate this and work with us for a mutually acceptable solution.
R BALASUNDER is chairperson, Persatuan Penternak Lembu dan Kambing Ladang Batu Kawan.
