DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh wants the Pakatan Rakyat Penang government to caveat the Kampung Buah Pala land in Bukit Gelugor, to give a crucial breathing space to all parties to explore an amicable solution to end the villagers' predicament.

He said the state Land Office Registrar can by itself caveat the land with immediate effect that would temporarily halt the controversial lucrative township development project.

kampung buah pala penang karpal singh meet 120609 02 "The land office registrar can do it under its own administrative rule, notwithstanding whether the land dealings were tainted with fraud or malpractice," Karpal (extreme right) told newsmen after meeting the villagers this morning.

The Bukit Gelugor parliamentarian plans to meet Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng soon to demand the state to caveat the 2.6ha prime land by Monday.

Karpal said the caveat will also provide vital time that the villagers need to apply and obtain the Federal Court leave to allow their appeal to overturn an earlier Court of Appeal decision favouring the developer, Umno-linked Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd.

On May 11, the appellate court overturned an earlier High Court, which favoured the villagers, and issued an eviction order effective June 11 on the villagers.

It also ruled that the villagers have no rights in the land that the current residents and their ancestors have had occupied for nearly 200 years.

The three-man bench also decided that the developer need not compensate them.

Villagers on high alert

The villagers have applied to the Federal Court for a stay of execution and a leave to overturn the appellate court decision.

However, since they don't have a stay yet, the village is now under a demolition threat by the developer.

The villagers have been on a high alert since last Thursday to defend their village from being flattened by the developer

To prevent this, Karpal said the caveat would be an avenue to force the developer to heed to the state's call for negotiations in an attempt to end the controversy.

kampung buah pala penang p ramasamy meeting 120609 05 Once the land office has caveats the land, the developer needs to apply to the High Court to nullify it - a process which would allow all parties, especially the villagers, breathing space to work their way out of their predicament, via legal and diplomatic channels.

Yesterday Deputy Chief Minister 2 Dr P Ramasamy said the state government would explore all ways and means including a caveat order to end the impasse.

Karpal also wants the state government to issue an order against any demolition work and compel the developer to negotiate an amicable solution.

The villagers want their village to be gazetted as an heritage human cultural site.

Some 65 families and their ancestors have been living in Kampung Buah Pala in Bukit Gelugor, a quiet Tamil Hindu settlement located in heart of the rapidly developing eastern part of George Town.

The village residents' association has also lodged a graft report to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission on Tuesday alleging fraud in the land alienation and transfer carried out by the northeast district land office two years ago.

Probe team formed

The state government has also formed a five-man investigating team to probing the matter as land scam.

The traditional Tamil Hindu community village originally came under a housing trust gazetted under the Housing Trust Act of 1950.

penang kampung buah pala 110609 03 The original owner of the once coconut plantation area, David Brown, had given the land to the villagers' forefathers.

After Merdeka, the state government took over the village, acting as the land trustee and collected temporary occupational licence (TOL) rents until 2005.

Later in that year, the land office alienated the land to the state government before it was subsequently sold for some RM3.21 million (estimated at RM11.33 per sq ft), to a cooperative society, the Koperasi Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.

penang kampung buah pala condominium project macc report 090609 05 The land title was transferred to the cooperative on March 27, 19 days after the Pakatan coalition stormed to power in Penang in last year's general election.

Under a multi-million ringgit project pipeline, a proposal was made to turn the land into a mixed-development township by Nusmetro, a developer engaged to build four blocks of medium and medium-low cost apartments.

In their graft report, the villagers alleged the land was sold below the market value and that the local council had approved the plans before the title transfer was effected.