Some 300 people held prayers and an hour-long candlelight vigil at Kampung Buah Pala in Penang last night, pinning hopes on divine intervention to end their predicament and save their 150-year-old village.

buah pala high chaparral vigil 200609 03 The peaceful crowd of villagers and social activists, which included senior citizens and children, held the vigil at 8.30pm under the watchful eyes of plain clothed police officers from the Special Branch unit.

Unlike previous vigils, no one was arrested.

Led by Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairperson M Sugumaran, the crowd walked around the village chanting ‘Makkal Sakti’ (people’s power) and ‘Long Live High Chaparral.’

Kampung Buah Pala is known among locals as ‘Indian High Chaparral’ because of its population of cowherds, cattles, goats and Tamil traditional cultural features.

penang kampung buah pala 110609 02 During the Ponggal (harvesting) festival celebrations held at the village in January, Unesco officials have called on the Pakatan Rakyat state government officials to preserve the village as a state heritage.

The villagers are facing eviction to make way for a lucrative township development - the Oasis - following a Court of Appeal decision last month favouring the developer.

The villagers have filed an appeal at the Federal Court to overturn the appellate court’s decision and the case is up for hearing next Wednesday.

Former CM Koh blamed

buah pala high chaparral vigil 200609 04 Speaking to journalists, Sugumaran blamed the previous state government under former chief minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon for their predicament.

He alleged the BN government of violating the villagers’ rights when it alienated the 6.4 acres of Kampung Buah Pala land some four years ago.

The land was sold in 2007 for RM3.21 million to a senior civil servants cooperative, the Koperasi Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.

penang kampung buah pala condominium project macc report 090609 05 Umno-linked developer Nusmetro Venture is set to develop the Oasis, consisting four blocks of medium and medium low-cost apartments.

Sugumaran said the previous administration went ahead to approve the project even though the villagers and other residents living within the Bukit Gelugor area had vehemently objected to it.

He said the list of objections included environmental damage, noise pollution, overcrowding and traffic congestion.

buah pala high chaparral vigil 200609 02 However, Sugumaran said the local council failed to conduct any inquiry into the objections, as required under the local government by-laws.

Instead, he said the municipality hurriedly issued the planning approval for the project in late 2007 even before the land was transferred from the state to the cooperative.

The transfer took place on March 27 - 19 days after the Pakatan Rakyat coalition stormed to power in Penang in last year's general election.

“We have collected thousands of signatures from the villagers and other residents living in the outskirt of the village opposing the project. But the authorities failed to heed to our calls,” lamented Sugumaran.

A traditional natural heritage

The villagers want Kampung Buah Pala to be preserved as heritage village.

Some 65 families live in this quiet Tamil Hindu village at the eastern part of Georgetown, which was originally a housing trust gazetted under the Housing Trust Act of 1950.

The original owner of the once coconut plantation area, David Brown, had given the land to the villagers' forefathers.

penang kampung buah pala 110609 04 After Merdeka, the state government took over the village, acting as the land trustee and collected temporary occupational licence (TOL) rents until 2005.

In that year, the land office alienated the land to the state government before it was subsequently sold to the government servants’ cooperative.

Vigil organiser Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) coordinator Muammar Khris Khaira called on the Pakatan government to make a difference by gazetting and preserving the village as a cultural heritage.

buah pala high chaparral vigil 200609 01 He said one could mistake Kampung Buah Pala for a village in India when witnessing its spectacular religious festivities celebrated so passionately and joyously by the villagers.

“The festive mood and colourful atmosphere are hardly visible in other areas of the state. The state government should take pro-active steps to preserve this traditional natural heritage in Georgetown," he told Malaysiakini.

Legal action and pleas to the state government aside, the villagers have now sought divine help to end the impasse.

“May god help us,” said the villagers.