The oldest Siamese community in Penang faces being destroyed in the name of progress, but for now it is safe.

 

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the local authority has not issued any work order for development at the Pulau Tikus site and is still collecting information on the issue.

 

Lim said the issue remains a private dispute between the Siamese and Burmese communities.

 

"I find it very unusual that the Thai (sic) and Burmese trustees who are supposed to take care of the land have now become an issue of contention," he said at a press conference today.

 

"It is something for the trustee members to pursue, whether their action conforms with the deed of trust. It is not for us to explore or discuss but for them to do so," he added.

 

Lim recalled that few years ago there had been an application from the developer to develop the land.

 

"It was not approved because there is a private dispute between the Thai and Burmese trustees. It is a very complicated case," said Lim, who is also DAP secretary general.

The Burmese and Siamese community have been living together in the village, which was bequethed to them by the British in 1845.

However, Lim said the Burmese community had sold the land where the Siamese homes are located.

 

He added the local authorities do not approve any development project with squatters on it.

 

"This is a change from the previous policy under BN since Pakatan took over Penang in 2008.

 

"Those who claim otherwise are not telling the truth," Lim asserted.

Candlelight vigil

Meanwhile the Siamese community there are fighting against an accusation that they are squatters despite being slapped with a court writ by a private developer last Wednesday to appear in court in 14 days.

 

The community will be holding a candlelight vigil in their village this Saturday at 8pm to highlight their plight.

 

"We are not squatters. We have the right to this land bequeathed to our community by Queen Victoria during the British Colonial era," said Boonma Sararaks, 31, a resident of the village.

 

"Our forefathers have lived here for six generations. We have photocopies of the grant that states this land cannot be sold and we are all trustees," he added.

 

Like those living in 20 other households, Boonma is a fourth generation resident who still lives in the area and wants it to be valued as a heritage village.

 

According to social activist Anil Netto, documents reveal that the land was originally bequeathed by the East Indian Company on behalf of Queen Victoria to the Siamese and Burmese communities in 1845.

 

Netto stated in a blog post in May that the land was supposed to be bequeathed in "perpetual ownership to the joint communities."

 

The grant, he said, included a prohibition "to grant, bargain, sell, assign, transfer or otherwise alienate the said piece of ground or any part of parcel thereof...The land shall remain, continue and be for the benefit of the Burmese and Siamese community of Prince of Wales and its dependencies from henceforth forever."  

 

However in early 2000, the plot was split into two between the Siamese and Burmese trustees and the residents were issued eviction notices in April this year, said Boonma.

 

The residents are not happy with the RM30,000 compensation per household offered by the developer and are asking for an amount compatible with the size of the plots that they occupy.

 

Pulau Tikus assemblywoman Yap Soo Huey is assisting the residents to ask the state and developer to consider this piece of land as a heritage village.

 

Boonma said the developer recently came to conduct a survey in the village but after a few days issued a court writ to the residents.