6 theSun | TUESDAY JULY 14 2009

news without borders

The Kampung Buah Pala Issue

Dead tilapia mystery

Residents say at Mengkuang Dam

‘sorry’ to Guan Eng

by Opalyn Mok
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: After
much quarrelling between the
residents of Kampung Buah
Pala and the state government,
the residents finally decided to
resolve their differences with the
administration by apologising to
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Kampung Buah Pala Resi-
dents Association chairman
M. Sugumaran was at Dewan
Sri Pinang after the investiture
ceremony in conjunction with
Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun
Abdul Rahman Abbas’ 71st
birthday celebrations for a
brief meeting with Lim in the
afternoon.
“On behalf of the residents
of Kampung Buah Pala, I wish
to extend our apologies to the
chief minister for what had
taken place recently and we
hope the chief minister will
accept our apologies,” he said.
Lim said the apology was
accepted and it is the residents’
right if they want to meet him,
as he is also their chief minis-
ter.
“What is important now is
how we can work together to
resolve this situation. Sugu-
maran has agreed to arrange
a heart-to-heart talk between
us and the affected families on
Thursday at 8pm,” he said.
Lim said each family can
send a representative to meet
him on Thursday at his office
on Level 28 in Komtar.
The Kampung Buah Pala
issue, dubbed Penang’s “High
Chapparal”, was in the news
after the Federal Court decided
the residents did not have
locus standi and had ordered
the residents to deliver vacant
possession of the land without
compensation.
The affected residents have
refused to move out and asked
the state government to help
resolve the issue by procuring
the land so that they can con-
tinue living there.
Other non-governmental
organisations such as Hindraf
also jumped on the bandwagon
to help the residents “fight” for
their cause.
The state government has
since de-classified the minutes
of all state executive council
meetings held by the previous
state government that are re-
lated to the transfer of the land
ownership to Koperasi Pega-
wai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang
Bhd and Nusmetro.
The residents had wanted
to meet with Lim a few times
before but he had refused to do
so if they were accompanied
by outsiders, including lawyers
and Hindraf members.
by Himanshu Bhatt average of 30 dead fish every day
newsdesk@thesundaily.com over the last 10 days.
Jeyabalan also said the staff
GEORGE TOWN: Hundreds of members have been asked to beef
tilapia fish have been found dead up enforcement against fishing,
BERNAMAPIX
in Mengkuang Dam in Penang over which is disallowed in the dam.
the last 10 days, raising anxiety “We have yet to determine
among visitors who frequent the if the situation is harmful to
site. humans,” he said, stressing that
The Penang Water Supply the PBAPP was awaiting a detailed
Corporation (PBAPP), which microbiologist’s report from the
manages the dam, has conducted Fisheries Department.
stringent checks on the quality of the He said the public should still be
water after being alerted by work- cautious about consuming affected
ers there, only to find its condition fish which are illegally caught
to be normal and uncontaminated. from the dam due to the presence
But a preliminary examination of bacteria that may have killed
on the dead fish by the Penang them.
Fisheries Department
found traces of bacterial
infection in their bodies.
The mystery has
deepened as the bacteria
appears to only affect the
tilapia adults, and not any
of the fry or other species
that inhabit the dam, the
largest in the state.
PBAPP corporate service
manager K. Jeyabalan
expressed surprise over
why only tilapia adults
Sugumaran were being affected when
shakes the fry would normally be
hands with more susceptible to such
Lim after infection.
apologising He said the raw water,
to the chief which is left untreated in the
minister dam, has been found to be
on behalf not toxic.
of the “This is the first time that
residents. such a thing is happening in
this dam,” he said, adding that
the authorities do not suspect
foul play.
Workers have found an
Service centre vandalised again
GEORGE TOWN: DAP state executive vulgar SMS in Chinese directed at him,

Loanshark kingpins still on the loose
SIX loanshark kingpins in the
country, who are targets of a police
crackdown on illegal moneylend-
ing activities, have operations both
within and outside the country.
According to a report in Oriental
Daily News yesterday, these loan-
sharks have their runners stationed
at casinos overseas to provide easy
loans to gamblers from Malaysia.
It is learnt that the loanshark
kingpins also started to go big time
in the local night entertainment
industry three years ago to launder
their ill-gotten money.
Some of them are said to have
fled the country two weeks ago to
escape police arrest.
According to the report, the
loansharks’ runners, who trawl for
potential clients in casinos in Macau,
Melbourne and Las Vegas, are like
credit cards to cash-strapped gam-
blers, providing instant cash.
Money changes hands once the
borrowers agree to the terms and
conditions set by the loansharks and
Press Digest
by Kong See Hoh
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
the runners start to collect repay-
ments when the gamblers return to
Malaysia.
Following the latest crackdown
on illegal moneylending activities,
the “top and second line” leaders
of these loanshark syndicates have
started to take refuge overseas two
weeks ago. And their runners are
said to be keeping a low profile.
An insider source told the daily
that the six loanshark kinpins tar-
geted by police got wind two months
ago that the men in blue were after
them but were not convinced that
they would be hauled up, now that
they are seen as legitimate business-
men with some social standing.
It was not until some tough ac-
tion taken by the police in the wake
of the expose on loanshark lock-ups
where debtors were chained and
beaten that these kingpins and their
right-hand men started to feel un-
easy and decided to go on “vacation”
overseas.
“Most of them have fled to Macau
or Shenzhen where they have long
established good connection and are
able to enjoy life as usual,” said the
source.
“Police have said the six loan-
shark kingpins were still in the
country. But as far as I know, all
have fled the country except one.
“Of the six, who happen to be
from Johor, four are Datuks and
have been in the business for more
than 10 years.”
Meanwhile, Bukit Aman CID
director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri
Mohd Zinin told Oriental on Sunday
police have arrested four loanshark
bosses, including one with the
“Datuk” title.
He declined to disclose whether
the suspects were among the six
kingpins they have targeted.
councillor Phee Boon Poh received
threatening text messages yesterday
after his service centre in Sungai Puyu
was splashed with red paint during
pre-dawn hours.
This is the second time in five
days that the service centre has been
splashed with paint by an unknown
party. On July 8, the centre was
similarly hit with red paint early in the
morning.
“The first time they did this, I
treated it as an act of frustration,”
Phee said outside his service centre
yesterday morning. “But now I see this
as criminal intimidation.”
Phee, who lodged a police report
later, said he also got a menacing and
PKR guidelines on titles, awards
GEORGE TOWN: PKR will introduce
a set of guidelines on the conferment
of titles and awards for its members
starting from next year.
“We will need to look at some
criteria, such as how long they have
served the party and their achieve-
ments before proposing a member
but sent to a friend, at about 9.45am.
It said his service centre had been
“renovated” a second time.
“You still want to tear down our
stalls? You want to die or not? I will kill
your whole family,” it said, apparently
referring to action by the local authori-
ties against illegal hawkers.
“You asked us to vote for you
before the elections. Now we find
illegal hawkers disappearing,” it said.
The SMS also threatened to “renovate”
his car.
Seberang Perai Municipal Council
(MPSP) councillor Soon Lip Chee also
got an SMS threat on June 21 in con-
nection with the council’s crackdown
on illegal hawkers.
PKR member and former MCA leader
Lim Boo Chang, Tan said there was
no basis for such talk.
“I may have got some SMSes
from members voicing their unhappi-
ness over Lim getting the award but
these are only differences in opinion
and does not signify a split within the

Ng, buyer can’t check out Khir’s mansion
SEKINCHAN assemblyman Ng
Swee Lim, who took up a challenge
by former Selangor mentri besar
Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo to find
a taker for his Shah Alam mansion
after he (Ng) claimed it was worth
RM24 million, brought a prospective
buyer to see the mansion but they
were denied access to the property.
According to a report in China
Press yesterday, the prospective
buyer, a Malaysian with business
interests in Indonesia, has offered
more than RM10 million for the
house.
The two could only take a peek
at the plush mansion as there were
no guards to open the door because
Ng has not fulfilled Mohd Khir’s
condition that he must put a down
payment of RM2.4 million for the
property in order to inspect it.
Ng told China Press he has yet to
officially accept Mohd Khir’s condi-
tions to act as the latter’s agent for
the property.
He said he has appointed Kota
Shah Alam assemblyman M. Mano-
haran as his lawyer and will ask
Mohd Khir to relax the conditions,
like scrapping the 10% downpay-
ment to see the house and to extend
the one-month period set to con-
clude the sale of the property to three
months or more.
“To sell a property worth more
than RM10 million in one month?
It’s impossible, I need at least three
months to close the deal,” said Ng.
for any awards or titles,” state PKR
deputy chairman Tan Hock Leong
told a press conference after the
investiture ceremony in conjunc-
tion with Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun
Abdul Rahman Abbas’ 71st birthday
celebrations at Dewan Sri Pinang
here yesterday.
He said the guidelines will be
formulated to ensure that all aspects
are covered when considering a
candidate.
On talk of a split within the party
over the conferment of a Darjah
Johan Negeri award to newly-joined
party,” he said.
He said Lim was given the award
based on his contributions to society
and the state in his almost 30-year
career as a politician.
“This is just the conferment of an
award. The members should accept
it,” said Tan, who is also the state
legislative assembly deputy speaker
and Machang Bubok state assembly-
man.
Lim said the final decision on con-
ferring him the award lay with the
state secretary, state government
and the Yang di-Pertua Negri.