theSun | MONDAY JULY 6 2009 5

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THE KAMPUNG BUAH PALA CASE

Federal govt must bear
acquisition cost, says CM
GEORGE TOWN: Penang is prepared
to invoke the Land Acquisition Act to
resolve the Kampung Buah Pala issue
but the federal government must bear
the cost.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said
he would be writing to the Prime
Minister and his predecessor Tan Sri
Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who is also Minister
in the Prime Minister’s Department, to
ask the federal government to bear the
acquisition cost so that the villagers can
remain there.
“If you want us to use our powers to
acquire the land, we can do it but we
cannot afford to pay for it. So if the fed-
eral government is willing to pay, we
will gladly do it,” he told reporters after
a meeting with Hindraf representatives
led by V. Ganabatirau in the chief min-
ister’s Komtar office.
Lim said the 2.6ha “High Chapar-
ral” costs many times more than the
reported RM30 million and there was
no way the state government could af-
ford the acquisition cost.
“We are caught in a bind here.
Whether we agree or not, we still have
to accept the Federal Court’s decision
that the land belongs to the developer,”
he said.
Lim said the focus of the whole issue
should train on the culprits who caused
the mess in the first place, “not the cur-
rent administration which is trying its
best to help the residents.
“We don’t understand why so many
parties who are trying to help them do
not see that all these are caused by the
previous Barisan Nasional (BN) gov-
ernment and not us.”
He urged those who really want to
help the villagers to focus on pressuring
the federal government, BN and Koh
to help pay for the land acquisition to
“undo the damage the previous state
government had inflicted”.
On calls by the residents that he go
down to the ground to meet them, Lim
said: “I am willing to meet only the
residents, nobody else ... not when they
bring in outsiders or other parties.”
He said the state government would
ensure that the developer pay the
RM200,000 compensation to each of the
residents and if the developer refuses to
do so, “we will take action”.
The Kampung Buah Pala issue has
been in the news in recent weeks and
about 23 households have refused to
move out and want the state govern-
ment to intervene and allow them to
remain “squatting” on the land.
Broken
promises
led to ‘High
Chaparral’
woes
GEORGE TOWN: The Kampung Buah Pala
or “High Chaparral” issue has become mired in
controversy because of promises made by politi-
cians, says land law expert and academician
Prof Salleh Buang.
He said the politicians, mainly from DAP,
had made promises to the villagers from the
beginning that they will resolve the issue for
Susilo the residents.
holds “They made the promises during the gen-
eral election and now, when they are unable to
aces as fulfil their promises, the residents are enraged
Indonesia because this can be termed as a breach of trust,”
goes to he told theSun in a phone interview.
On a legal point of view, Salleh said: “The
polls law is very clear and the legal position of the
pg 7 land owner, which is the developer, is very
strong at this point. The Federal Court’s deci-
sion to allow the legal land owner to take vacant
possession of the land without compensation is
strictly according to the land law.
“The land may be previously categorised as
a vested crown for housing trust before it was
alienated and reverted to the federal govern-
ment but the residents still do not have any right
to the land under the land law.

Koh tells
“The previous owner, Helen Margeret
Brown, made a gratuitous promise to settle
them there all those years ago but this promise

Guan Eng to
does not give them locus standi on the land.
“The residents do not have any legal position
to stand on at all as under the law, they do not

act like CM
KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri
Dr Koh Tsu Koon says Penang Chief
Minister Lim Guan Eng should act like a
CM and solve the problems on the island
himself, especially that concerning the
Kampung Buah Pala or High Chaparral
villagers’ problems.
He said Lim and his DAP party had
promised a lot of things for the villag-
ers in the last general election, “so they
should fulfil their promises”.
“Usually, he would push away prob-
lems which he could not resolve to the
federal government or blame the previ-
ous Barisan Nasional government. He
must remember, he has been a CM for
quite some time, more than 16 months,
and he still wants to blame others.
“Resolve it. That’s why I don’t want
to fight with him. He should focus his
attention and energy on resolving the
problems in Penang as a Penang CM, not
as an opposition leader,” he told report-
ers at the Fiesta Satu Hati programme
organised by the Kuala Lumpur Federal
Territory Wanita Gerakan yesterday.
Koh was asked to comment on Lim’s
statement asking the federal government
to acquire the land in Kampung Buah
Pala to enable 23 squatter families facing
eviction to continue living there.
Koh said he did not want to say much
about the issue as he did not want to
fight with Lim through the media.
have any right to the land. However, all this
commotion now is due to a breach of trust by
the politicians who promised them a solution
and not a legal matter. They are only demand-
ing for the politicians to fulfil their promises.”
Salleh suggested that the only way for the
state government to resolve the whole issue
now was to find the residents an alternative
place to reside.
“Like any good state government that cares
for the welfare of its people, the only avenue is
resettlement since it cannot do anything about
the land being taken back by its legal owner.”
The Kampung Buah Pala community of 41
households was served with the writ of posses-
sion last Thursday morning and they have until
Aug 2 to vacate the land.
The land owner and developer, Nusmetro
Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, had said they will come
in with bulldozers after that to clear the land as
the planned development project for the land is
way behind schedule.
The developer is also not offering any more
compensation to the residents.
Koh with the In the meantime, Deputy Chief Minister I
children at Mansor Othman and Deputy Chief Minister II
the Fiesta Prof Dr P. Ramasamy have asked the residents
Satu Hati to be patient while they try to seek an amicable
programme. solution to the matter.

Stop the blame game and deliver

those who keep flogging a dead horse. report by PricewaterhouseCoopers The ongoing land issue in Kampung Municipal Council (MPPP)’s inability to

Comment Opposition politicians, especially

by Ng Kee Seng
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Desperado, why don’t you come to
your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long
now
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow ….
Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin no
younger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re
drivin’ you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that’s
just some people talkin’
Your prison is walking through this
world all alone …
THE lyrics from The Eagles song Des-
perado best describe the actions of
some seasoned politicians, especially
DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, have been
relentless in their attacks on Transport
Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and
the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue.
The Chinese media are having a field
day publishing Lim’s statements with
impunity.
The PKFZ was hatched during the
tenure of former MCA president and
transport minister Tun Dr Ling Liong
Sik. Ling was succeeded by then MCA
deputy president Tan Sri Chan Kong
Choy, who failed to reveal PKFZ’s bal-
looning costs.
After Ong took over the ministry and
elected MCA president last August, he
promised transparency and initiated
an independent probe into PKFZ’s ac-
counts. In doing so, he rattled many
quarters, risking a political backlash
from those with direct or indirect inter-
ests in the controversial project.
But, the bottom line is, Ong has de-
livered. He fought to get the cabinet’s
approval to make public the PKFZ audit
Advisory Services Sdn Bhd.
But Lim is still dissatisfied and is
continuing his attacks. Surely, he does
not expect Ong to be both judge and
executioner on the PKFZ issue?
Or is master politician Lim trying to
divert attention from the growing woes
of DAP and its standing in the Pakatan
Rakyat? Or could Lim be worried about
the performance and growing integrity
of Ong, the only MCA MP in Selangor to
be re-elected amid the March 8, 2008
political tsunami.
While on the subject of performance,
how is Lim’s son, Guan Eng, delivering
as Penang chief minister in terms of
good governance?
Penangites say developers are
“king” in the state because most are
linked to the Barisan Nasional (BN). But
the DAP-led state government, which
has ruled for more than a year now,
has little to show by way of effecting
change or that it will make the differ-
ence in the public delivery system to
help resolve societal woes.
Buah Pala (dubbed Penang’s High
Chaparral) is a case in point. The land
use was converted by the BN govern-
ment and sold to property developer
Nusmetro Ventures Sdn Bhd without
the residents’ knowledge. But land is a
state matter.
Guan Eng can continue to point his
finger at the BN for all the woes that
will naturally surface daily or weekly.
After all, the BN had ruled Penang for
decades and is thus responsible for the
many boo-boos. But Guan Eng must
remember that the people elected him
to govern, not just blame.
A stone’s throw from High Chaparral
is the 144-unit Vista Gambir Condomini-
um block developed by Lereng Wira Sdn
Bhd. The project was “forced down the
throat” of the then Gerakan-led state
government to facilitate the federal-pro-
posed Penang Outer Ring Road. Thus,
Bukit Gambir residents realised the
futility of opposing the project.
But what frustrates them is the
state government and Penang Island
resolve the problem of traffic diversion
and location of giant garbage bins near
a row of double-storey houses.
Lereng Wira and the MPPP insist on
locating Vista Gambir’s main entrance
at the narrow lanes of a row of residen-
tial double-storey link houses instead
of diverting traffic out to the main road
– Jalan Yeap Chor Ee. The condominium
block’s giant garbage bins are also sited
barely 20m from the row of houses.
The residents complained to the
MPPP, executive councillor Chow Kon
Yeow and Guan Eng. Nothing happened
and the affected residents have been
left to seek legal redress.
On Thursday night, another property
development issue “cracked up”, involv-
ing the construction of the controversial
super condominium project on Gurney
Drive by Hunza Properties Bhd.
Don’t be surprised that Guan Eng
and the state government will again
point their fingers at the “BN-approved”
project. Perhaps, this time it’s better to
talk less and deliver.