Two families from the Malay heritage village of Tanjong Tokong were surprised today to find out that developer UDA Holdings Sdn Bhd has obtained a judgment in default against them at the Penang magistrate’s court.

The judgment was obtained by the developer as the villagers had failed to enter an appearance in court within 14 days of the eviction summonses being issued against them earlier this month, urging them to leave their homes.

NONE The families, along with nine others, were at the court today to appeal against the judgment in default, with their lawyers Yusmadi Yusuf, Jason Ong Khan Lee and S Raveentharan.

Yusmadi is the former PKR Balik Pulau MP, while Ong and Raveentharan were the assemblypersons for Kebun Bunga and Batu Uban.

Senior court registrar Ng Geok Nee fixed Aug 13 for the families’ application to set aside the judgment in default, and the lawyers will file their defence by then.

“We only knew about the judgment in default this morning when told by the court tegistrar, that the developer had filed the judgment online,” said Yusmadi.

“If the judgement is not set aside, the developer can proceed with the execution (to evict the villagers) and can do whatever they want,” he added.

“It is inhumane to ask the families to leave especially during the holy fasting month of Ramadan,” he stressed.

Yusmadi said that last week, the villagers had met Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Rashid Hasnor, executive councillor in charge of housing Jagdeep Singh Deo and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Mohd Khir over their plight and were informed that UDA’s development plan for the area has “lapsed”.

The meeting took note of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s announcement on Jan 30 last year that Tanjong Tokong should be preserved as a heritage site.

Lim had also declared the village as a heritage site in the Penang legislative assembly on Nov 3, 2011.

Yusmadi said he wanted to put on record that Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz had immediately instructed him to meet National Heritage Department director and commissioner Siti Zuraina Abd Majid.

‘A living heritage site’

“During the meeting, it was agreed that there must be an agenda to make Kampung Tanjong Tokong into a living heritage site,” said Yusmadi.

“This is a good development for the country, and the federal and state governments and UDA should sit down to take the opportunity to utilise this situation,” he added.

“If we fail to do so, we will lose the opportunity to make this a tourist attraction as the village is even older than some heritage sites in George Town, for example, the Khoo Kongsi,” Yusmadi claimed.

“Such a heritage site is not only a tourist attraction but economically viable,” he stressed.

The village has existed as a fishing settlement even before British colonialists landed in Penang in 1786.

The problem faced by the Tanjong Tokong villagers has been ongoing since the 1990s, and to date, about 300 families had moved out to transit homes to make way for a redevelopment project.

It is learnt that UDA will spend about RM80 million to redevelop the 250-year-old traditional village, which includes mixed development projects and alternative accommodation for evicted villagers.