An aerial view of Kampung Buah Pala.
Just another day of everyday chores in Kampung Buah Pala.
Where motorbikes and cows roam for now, maybe not for long - Kampung Buah Pala.
Draviam Arul Pillai, he wants to know where gets to live now if evicted.The oldest resident in Kg Pala.85 years old cattle herder who owns a little grocery shop. Father was bought in by Brown Family in 1920s.
Family in Kg Pala . Will this be their last Merdeka Celebration in Kg Buah Pala?
Village people: Family members and supporters waiting for the trio to be released at the Jelutong police station Sunday.
The Kampung Buah Pala residents and media members waiting outside the the
administration lobby of Komtar on level 3 with police personnels as the former
were not allowed to enter into yesterday.
Several Kampung Buah Pala residents sitting at the public lobby of Komtar while
holding up banners as part of their hunger protest yesterday.
Twenty-three families in Kampung Buah Pala who are supposed to vacate their houses handed a memorandum to the police on Tuesday, seeking assurance of their safety in the village.
The two-page memorandum was handed over by Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairman M. Sugumaran to the Head of Management of the Penang police headquarters, ACP Zakeri Kamaruddin, at 10.30am.
Sugumaran said the residents had sought police assurance of their safety as they were firm on staying in the village until a consensus was reached between the residents and the developer.
"Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's attitude towards this issue has left us in a lurch.
"We want to move but refuse to do so due to the loose offer and unkept promises by the developer. Until the problem is solved, we won't budge," he told reporters after handing over the memorandum, here.
Meanwhile, Penang acting police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah refuted the allegations that the police favoured the developer and the state government in the issue.
The majority of the villagers, about 300 ethnic Indians, have resisted all attempts by the developer to get them out. They have even threatened to go on a hunger strike on Tuesday.
All is quiet at the village with a few residents keeping vigil at the entrance, local online reports said.
The Kampung Buah Pala villagers will have to vacate their land by Wednesday following the Federal Court's decision on August 20 which rejected the appeal of the 23 families to stay on the prime land.
The developer had failed in its two attempts to demolish the village due to protests by the affected families.
Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd executive director Thomas Chan had said the company would take vacant possession of the land any time after September 1.
The developer had offered the residents a double storey house in return of their vacating the premises. However, most of them have rejected the offer.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng says the state government had nothing to do with the recent arrest of three Kampung Buah Pala residents committee members.
Lim said he did not control the police, and thus had no knowledge of why they were detained.
“Since the residents have sought the help of Umno, they should ask Umno for an explanation.
The state government has no idea about any action taken by the police (against them),” he said after visiting a Merdeka baby at KPJ Penang Specialist Hospital in Bandar Perda here Monday.
On Saturday, police detained the committee’s chairman M. Sugumaran, secretary J. Steven and assistant secretary C. Thamaraj at about 10pm on grounds of criminal intimidation.
They were arrested over an Aug 4 police report lodged against them by several contractors who claimed that the three men had threatened them.
Lim said it was clear that there was an attempt by certain quarters to undermine the state government.
“But, I am certain they will not succeed because the people of Penang are solidly behind the Penang state government.
The villagers had been locked in a protracted battle to save their homes from being demolished after the land was sold to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang (KPKPP) by the previous state government.After the villagers lost a court battle against the sale of the land, Nusmetro, under pressure from the Pakatan Rakyat state government to reach an amicable settlement, offered link houses to the residents.
But many of the villagers rejected the offer, and claimed the agreement presented to them by Lim was full of loopholes and placed them at a disadvantage.
Chief among the restrictions was that the residents were required to drop all legal action filed against the landowner, KPKPP, and relevant parties, and to refrain from filing any new suits.
The agreement would also be automatically cancelled if the project was not approved by the authorities, putting residents at risk of being left high and dry.
Lim however has dismissed the concerns, saying the clauses are part of a “standard agreement.”
What Penang People feel now?
Public sentiment has clearly turned against the residents of Kampung Buah Pala and they know it.
Any sympathy for the community, which trace their roots back to the colonial Brown Estate over 150 years back, was lost after news spread that they had rejected an offer for double stories houses from developer, Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd.
However residents claim they were being given a raw deal and have been unfairly maligned in the press.
Why reject the link house deal by the developers?
Draviam Arul Pillai, the oldest surviving villager whose father was first brought to Kampung Buah Pala in the 1920s by the Brown family ,acknowledged himself they had no documents giving them rights over the land.
But he said he refused to take the offer because no mention was made about when and where the new houses would be built or what would happen to the villagers in the meantime.
“There was nothing in black and white, all we had were promises.” He said, insisting that he would have taken the deal if it was more concrete.
He argued that today’s DAP government could be gone tomorrow and there was nothing in the document to ensured the houses would be built.
Besides a brief description on size of the houses, there was little else in the offer letter.
There was also a requirement for the villagers to drop all their legal claims while the houses would be built subject to approvals from the local government, failing which the villagers would have no legal recourse.
The concerns of the villagers were relayed to the state government after the offer by Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj.
When contacted Dr Jeyakumar said the concerns of the villagers were legitimate and not unreasonable.
“They wanted safeguards because the company could go bust and then they would be left with nothing.”
Who resposible for this problem face by Kg Pala people?
Originally Brown family in 1920s bought in the Kg Pala people here to management the estate.Later the land was given to the government of that time and the people are issued Temporary Occupation License. However , under the BN government Tun Koh Tsu Koon sold off the land and let the developer deal with the settlements.
Draviam blames both the present and past state governments for the dilemma but is more bitter with the DAP, who he said had made the plight of the village an election issue.
“We had always supported BN until they sold our land so we voted for the opposition because they promised to help us, but they have forgotten this,” he said.
He also lashed out at the MIC as well as other political parties and Non Government Organisations (NGO) which he said were trying to get political mileage but have done nothing to solve their problem.
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Hindraf, previous Barisan Nasional state government and the current Penang state government under Pakatan Rakyat are involved in the Catch 22 situation faced by Kampung Buah Pala villagers. Hindraf is reported to organize a demonstration nationwide, burning of Lim Guan Engs effigy at Komtar, Penang and defend the villagers of Kampung Buah Pala. Meanwhile, the Pakatan Rakyat state government under CM Lim Guan Eng are looking for an amicable solution for the villagers. Barisan Nasional is blamed for the sticky mess .
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The mainstream media reported that MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is working with CM Lim Guan Eng to resolve the Kampung Buah Pala issue. Datuk Samy Vellu is said to have spoken to CM Lim. However, CM Lim revealed in a press conference in his office on 27 July 2009 refuting the claim and even remarked that, "It is all a big bluff by MIC. " Further, CM Lim said the biggest bluff of all is the Maika Holdings shares where shareholders have been cheated of their savings and have not got a single cent in return.
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