Kg Buah Pala - The truth

Ini adalah kenyataan akhbar yang telah diedarkan oleh Lim Guan Eng, kepada media.. tetapi tidak disiarkan oleh Media Arus Perdana..

Press Statement By Penang CM In Georgetown On 30.6.2009.


Hindraf Must Wake Up And Realise That Kampung Buah Pala Is Still StandingToday Because The Penang Pakatan Rakyat State Government Had SuccessfullyPrevented Them From Been Evicted In The Middle Of Last Year.

The Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government has never consented nor approvedany demolition of Kampung Buah Pala. Any action taken is by the private developer via a court order issued by the relevant courts.Up to RM 200,000 per family was offered by the developer to the residentswhich was accepted by many families but not by those remaining in KampungBuah Pala.

The state government respected the decision of those remaining inKampung Buah Pala to reject any compensation offer and to fight it out incourts.If the state government had not been sympathetic to the plight of theresidents, then the developer would have evicted the residents in the middleof last year when a court order was obtained.

Only the determined preventiveefforts by Penang DCM2 Professor P Ramasamy and Penang State EXCO AbdulMalek stopped the developer from entering the village with bulldozersseveral times last year.

All parties must therefore realise that it is only because of the efforts ofthe present Pakatan Rakyat state government that the Kampung Buah Palaresidents are still living there.

Koh Tsu Koon Owes The Public A Full Explanation Why He Sold The Kampung BuahPala At A Cheap Price Of Only RM 10 Per Square Feet In 2007 And Withoutconsulting the residents.

The state government land of Kampung Buah Pala was approved to KoperasiPegawai Kerajaan Pulau Pinang twice by the BN Penang state EXCO led by TanSri Dr Koh Tsu Koon on 18.8.2004 and 8.6.2005 with a premium of RM 6.42million or RM 20 per square feet.

I can not understand neither the rationaleof approving this project without consulting the residents nor selling it atsuch a low price.Worse Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon's EXCO reduced the premium further by 50% toRM 3.21 million or only RM 10 per square feet on the recommendation oftheUMNO Deputy Chief Minister.

Koh Tsu Koon owes the public a fullexplanation why he sold Kampung Buah Pala at a cheap price of only RM 10 persquare feet in 2007 when the market price in this prime area is many timesover and without consulting the residents.

The Penang State Government Should Not Be Unfairly Victimised And TargetedBy Hindraf For Helping The Kampung Buah Pala Residents.It is BN, Gerakan, MIC, UMNO & MCA that are the main culprits for causing,abandoning and even selling out Kampung Buah Pala residents.

The Penang state government regrets the highly irresponsible and irrationalactions of Hindraf in targeting the Penang state government over the actionstaken by the developer to evict residents in Kampung Buah Pala. Hindrafwants the state government to act against the court order obtained by thedeveloper to evict the residents.

This the state government can not do asPakatan Rakyat governs under the rule of law and is compelled to respect anycourt order issued.On the other hand, there have been suggestions that the Penang stategovernment forcibly acquires the land under for a public purpose under theLand Acquisition Act. Doing so would play into the hands into the developerwho would be able to reap enormous profits without putting in a single cent.

Much as the Penang state government would wish to do, cancelling the projectand forcibly acquiring the land would incur costs beyond the financialcapability of the state government. We are NOT talking about millions ofringgit or tens of millions of ringgit here!Clearly Hindraf is unable to distinguish who its friends are by likeningsuch actions to UMNO's tearing down of Hindu temple.

And yet Hindraf doesnot organise nation-wide protests for the recent tearing down Hindu templesin Kuala Lumpur. The Penang state government should not be unfairlyvictimised or targeted by Hindraf when we have assisted the residents andalso not involved with the tearing down of any Hindu temple in Penang.

Why is Hindraf not demonstrating against UMNO or Gerakan or MCA or even MICwho are the main culprits and perpetrators behind Kampung Buah Pala? Thisbegs the question whether Hindraf has now been infiltrated by collaboratorsof MIC and BN when it should be demonstrating against those who demolishtemples and not the Penang state government seeking a fair deal for theKampung Buah Pala villagers.

Hindraf should realise what the Penang state government has done for theIndian community, temples and Tamil primary schools. Not only was the firstIndian Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang appointed but the 28 Tamil primaryschools were given a yearly allocation of RM 1.5 million along with otherChinese primary, Sekolah Agama Rakyat, missionary schools and Chineseindependent secondary schools.

Further Penang put up the FIRST Tamil roadsigns in the country alongside with Arabic, Chinese and English bilingualroad signs in Georgetown. Even Hindraf never even raised the issue of Tamilroad signs.By going against the Penang state government, Hindraf is indirectly helpingUMNO and BN and putting all the achievements made by the Penang stategovernment at risk.

There will be no Indian DCM2, no yearly allocation offunds to Tamil primary schools and no more Tamil road signs or bilingualroad signs. Hindraf should use reason not emotions of rage or anger andthink again who are the real opponents and the real friends of the Indiancommunity.

Most important of all, the Penang state government treats all Indianstogether with Chinese and Malays as Malaysian citizens, where a Chineseleader can look after Malays a Malay leader can look after Chinese and anIndian leader can look after all citizens.

DAP and the Pakatan Rakyatgovernment will not back down or be cowed by BN, UMNO or Hindraf whocontinues to look at problems from a narrow racial spectrum of Chinese,Indian of Malays. DAP and thePenang Pakatan Rakyat government believes thatthe issues of Indians are not Indian problems, the issues of Chinese are notChinese problems nor the issues of Malays not Malay problems but a Malaysianissue.

We should be uniting together as Malaysians around the principles ofjustice, truth, freedom, democracy and welfare of the people to ensure thatwe fight corruption to both generate growth and prosperity as well asensure that everyone shares equitably.

However despite regretting the unwarranted targeting of the Penang stategovernment, Hindraf leaders have the right to exercise the basic humanrights of peaceful assembly by demonstrating no matter how unreasonable theyare.

I have instructed my officials to respect their rights and accept anymemorandum submitted in line with non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhithat, "violence begets violence, an eye for any eye would leave everyoneblind." I also urge the police not to take any action that would lead tountoward actions.The state government will also not be affected by the actions of theresidents in suddenly turning against the state government despite all theassistance offered.

The state government will continue to assist theremaining residents of Kampung Buah Pala, including if the residents sowish, that the developer of Kampung Buah Pala continues with its offer of upto RM 200,000 compensation per registered family to the residents.

The stategovernment has also not given any consent or agreement to the developer todemolish any buildings as the developer is acting on his own under the courtorder from the High Court and Federal Court.

Lim Guan Eng