Press Statement Issued By The Penang State EXCO On 5.8.2009 In Komtar, Georgetown, Penang Read out By Penang DCM II
Professor P. Ramasamy.
The Offer Of Double-Storey Terrace House With 99 Years Lease To Residents Is A Successful Effort By The State Government To Gain Recognition For Kampung Buah Pala Residents To Remain As Legal Rightful Landowners.
The Penang State EXCO unanimously endorses the “win-win” formula worked out by the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Deputy Chief Minister 1 Mansor Othman and Deputy Chief Minister 2 Professor P. Ramasamy to resolve the Kampung Buah Pala issue. Despite the developer and the landowner of Kampung Buah Pala possessing the eviction and demolition order granted by the Federal Court, they have acceded to the request of the PR state government not to implement it on 4.8.2009 but to defer until Friday.
The developer has agreed to the state government’s request to share a portion of their land with the residents by offering a 1,200 sq ft double-storey terrace house with a built-up area of 1,400 sq ft and a 99 year lease.
Some say that the demands of the residents are unreasonable and overly excessive. And that the offer of a landed property by the PR state government is too generous and sets a dangerous precedent in the state, especially when no BN or any state government has done so. However there are special circumstances for Kampung Buah Pala in that they were allowed by the original landowner to live there during the British colonial days before the land reverted to the government.
Even BN and UMNO have conceded that the residents have been staying there over100 years. The BN state government under Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon had alienated their land twice to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang in EXCO meetings on 18.8.2004 and 8.6.2005 without consulting the residents. Worse the land was alienated by BN at a ridiculously low land premium of RM 10 per square feet. After losing their land which was “robbed” from them by BN, the BN land robbers treated them as illegal squatters with no rights to own their land.
The offer of a double-storey terrace house with 99 years lease to the residents is a successful effort by the PR state government to gain recognition for Kampung Buah Pala residents to remain as legal rightful landowners and not as illegal squatters.
The actions of one or two residents together with outsiders with their own agenda of undermining the Penang Pakatan Rakyat government only deepen suspicions that they do not want to see a solution but want the demolition of all houses to be carried out so that it can be used against Pakatan Rakyat. For the one or two residents together with outsiders who have houses, it is easy to demand everything when they have a house to go back to after Kampung Buah Pala is demolished.
The Penang PR state government urges the residents to seriously consider and accept this final solution that will allow them to remain in the land and receive a double-storey terrace landed property. If they agree in principle, then all the other details can be worked out by the PR state government, which has been sincerely helping the residents despite being unjustly blamed and criticised for an injustice committed by BN. Kampung Buah Pala residents should move on by considering the win-win formula of legally owning a 99 year leased land with double-storey terrace house.
Just as what I have expected, the resident will turn down the offer!
It is a waste of time to continue dealing with the residents. Their leader have hidden agenda, they are being used by your apponent to TOPPLE YOUR GOVERNMENT! The developer may offer them RM200k compensation BUT you must not forget your opponent may have offer their leader RM2million if he succeed in TOPPLE YOUR GOVERNMENT! Believe me, they have the CAPACITY TO DO IT, RM2million to them is VERY VERY CHEAP! They have done it in Perak and can do it again!
That is why the resident keep turning down whatever offer come out from your office/developer!
From what I have gather from the street, people what the matter to be solved ONCE AND FOR ALL! LET THE DEVELOPER SEND IN THE BULLDOZER!
I already knew this would happen. There are hantu influencing the kampung buah pala people not to settle. And most Indians know which Indian party is involve. We have been cheated by them before.
Dear YB Lim
You deserve the Penang people’s respect for having hammered out a win-win solution for both the Kg Pala’s residents and the developer. At least they can claim legally a house of their own now. I am afraid this is the highest offer a state government in Malaysia has ever worked out with a developer for the illegal squarters on a piece of land and you might have set an unprecedented demand by illegal squarters in future, I am afraid.
If the Kg Pala residents are ungrateful and still refuse to budge then they deserve to swallow their bitter medicine later on. Don’t ask the Penang people to sympathise with them. Probably they could have been given a better offer somewhere that they can afford to forgo this “chicken-feed” offer.
Having said this, I must also salute their courage and spirit in fighting to protect their so-called “ancestral land” to their last breath. However, why didn’t they express the same courage when it was known to them Koh Soo Koon govt was alienating “their” land? I think if they had carried out the same style of demonstrations at that time they would have not only got Penang people’s support but also the people of whole Malaysia.
I am also very amused by the argument of the resident’s representative that under BN’s rule they had been staying peacefully on the land, now under PR for slightly more than a year they have to be evicted. As a Penang resident I would like to advise them not to fool the public with such an unfounded statement. It was during the BN’s rule that the Kg Pala residents had been declared trespassers laready! The eviction is just a followup action of that declaration, even if BN is still the state govt.
I would also like to ask the Kg Pala residents: If YB Lim can help you to strike an offer of RM3 million per family from the developer, which makes each of you instant millionaire for occupying a land illegally, do you think Penang people can accept that? I for one cannot, whether the money is from the developer or from the state’s coffer. Definitely the Penang people would think YB Lim is senseless, and I would also begin to look out for any empty land to occupy illegaly so that eventually YB Lim can make me millionaire if I refuse to budge.
Long live justice to all.
Hello Mr yusopmat pls frazer you word what u mean illegal squatters if Indian stay u named illegal squarters if Chinese or malay squarters not illegal for u its …. …. The Indian the who right owner of land because develop the land … after the value goes up for land u say they illegal.
If this happen in balik pulau or Chinese squarters do u all brave enough to bring BULLDOZER!
1200 sq house is bird nest u called a house
Hi Mr Yusopmat you so coward not using ur real name ….
SV.Suren
State your lot number as well as your address before you speak. I was a resident of Kampung Buah Pala. It is people like yourself who speaks with fork words and mallicious lies that make the residents confuse. Selveraj, Thamaraj, Sugumaran are misguided people. If I had listen to them, I would have faced the drama that unfolded recently. I guess the house offered is far better than the ones I had before. Peace and tranquility are things I ask for. You are no better SV Suren. I was the resident there and I am a proud Indian that pride myself for being able to have a caring PR government unlike one who sold away the land 2 years back. Accept the Federal Court ruling. Ruling is the court is colorless. Only you are the bigger racist. State your name and lot number before responding. Otherwise, I won’t respond to you