Kg Buah Pala: Developer warned
The Penang government has decided to play the tough cop role to halt a developer from demolishing Kampung Buah Pala, a 200-year-old Indian settlement located on the eastern side of the island.
The Penang government has decided to play the tough cop role to halt a developer from demolishing Kampung Buah Pala, a 200-year-old Indian settlement located on the eastern side of the island.
Deputy Chief Minister 2 P Ramasamy urged the developer, Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd, not to demolish the village houses until an amicable solution was reached to end the predicament of the 65 families who live there.
“The developer should not force the state government’s hands in using legal means to stop the development. It should not think it can flatten the village and start the project straightaway,” he told a press conference at the state government headquarters in Komtar today.
According to Ramasamy, the best solution was for both parties to go the negotiating table.
On May 11, the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court order - which favoured the villagers - in awarding the land’s disputed owner, Koperasi Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang, and developer Nusmetro, vacant possession of the village’s 2.6ha plot.
The appellate court also issued an eviction order for the villagers to vacate the settlement by June 11.
Ramasamy, however, warned the developer against assuming the court’s order as “a god-given warrant to bulldoze and bully the villagers out from their homes.”
He said the state government would order the developer not to carry out any demolition work in the village today.
"The best way out is to find an amicable solution," he said.
The villagers’ residents association has since appealed to the Federal Court to overturn the Court of Appeal decision and have filed for a stay of execution.
Although the developer has yet to issue the writ of vacant possession to enforce the eviction order, the villagers are not taking any chances.
Many of them are ‘preparing themselves’ to protect their village against possible demolition work by Nusmetro.
On Tuesday, the villagers lodged a graft report at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in Georgetown against the district land office for alleged malpractice when alienating their village land titles to the cooperative two years ago.
Some 300 villagers have been living in the quiet Indian settlement, popularly known as ‘Tamil High Chaparral’, which is located at the heart of the rapidly developing eastern zone of Georgetown.
Five-person team to probe land deal
The state government has also set up a task force to probe the alleged land scam by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.
Deputy Chief Minister 1 Mansor Othman will head a five-person team, including Ramasamy, to investigate the land transfer deal.
Mansor said the probe would begin immediately as time was running out for the villagers.
“The state government had never washed its hands off this issue. It could not do much due to legal implications since the case is pending in court. However, we will work out an amicable solution for all parties involved,” assured Mansor.
The villagers claimed that the land office had unlawfully alienated their village settlement under the state-owned land category when it was legally gazetted as the Helen Brown Housing Trust under the Housing Trust Act 1950.
The original owner of the once coconut plantation area, David Brown, has given the land to their villagers' forefathers nearly 200 years ago.
After the British left, the state government took over the village in the capacity of 'trustee' and began to collect annual temporary occupation licence (TOL) rents.
In 2005, the land office refused to accept their TOL payments apparently to facilitate the land alienation to the state government.
The land was subsequently alienated by the land office without dissolving the trust, which is a requirement under law.
Even if the trust were dissolved, under the law it should come under the purview of the federal government, not the state.
The villagers alleged the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) had in 2007 approved a lucrative housing development project on the plot by Umno-linked Nusmetro.
This was done without even before land ownership was transferred to the senior civil servant's cooperative, which breached the council's building by-laws.
Prime plot transferred ‘secretly’
The land was subsequently transferred on March 27 last year - 19 days after Pakatan Rakyat captured the Penang government.
It is learnt that the land transfer was done by certain officers without the knowledge of the new government.
Kampung Buah Pala, which is occupying the prime plot of land, has some 33 houses with 65 families.
Nusmetro plans to develop a mix township of four blocks of medium and low-medium cost apartments of 740 units and an additional eight units of shoplots.
The cooperative is expected to earn a whopping RM12 million from the project.
The affected families have wanted their village to be preserved as traditional Indian cultural site, a cause supported by heritage and social activist groups in Penang.
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