Penang DCM II hits back at detractors

'How could I have made pledges to provide land and funding when I was not even in a position to do so?'

GEORGE TOWN: Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy today hit back at his Batu Kawan detractors, insisting he had never made any election promises as alleged by the residents.

“We (Pakatan Rakyat) did not even know that we are going to form the state government. How I could have made such promises when I wasn’t even sure of winning? he asked.

Ramasamy was accused of pledging to provide land, funding for schools, temples and for the upkeep of Hindu cemeteries. “These are blatant lies,” he said.
Yesterday morning, a group of Batu Kawan residents, led by Ladang Batu Kawan Hindu temple committee chairman A Nallakumar, held a half-hour protest in front of the Komtar building.

The protest was a show of no-confidence against Ramasamy, the Batu Kawan parliamentarian, and state executive councillor and Bukit Tambun assemblyman Law Choo Kiang.

The residents also wanted to handover a memorandum to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, demanding that he address their grievances.

However, they did not submit the memorandum when a junior staff representing the Chief Minister’s Office at Level 28 came down to collect it. Nallakumar has demanded for another date to meet Lim.
Ramasamy alleged that he had reliable information that certain residents demanded RM 1 million from Batu Kawan main landowner Penang Development Corporation (PDC).


“This deal was proposed to PDC about a year ago to exhume bodies from the abandoned 200-year-old Batu Kawan cemetery and re-bury them in new one about two kilometres away.

“I have first-hand information on this and am now in the process of getting full details. I will expose those involved in this deal,” said Ramasamy, who is also the Prai assemblyman.

He said his proposal for the Penang Hindu Endowment Board PHEB to take over the cemetery and turn it into a mini Hindu historical memorial was still in the pipeline.

He said that the temple committee can lay claim over the cemetery land since the residents have already abandoned it long time ago.

‘Land already set aside to help Indians’

On one of the demands in the 20-point memorandum, Ramasamy said that the previous and current state government had already allotted land for the relocation of two temples.

He added that land had been set aside for the development of the Ladang Batu Kawan Tamil school and for houses for 60 ethnic Indians in the former Ladang Batu Kawan area.

“I don’t understand on why the residents still want more land,” he said.
He said the state government was ready to allot 17 acres of agricultural land to ethnic Indians for dairy farming activities.

However, he said the programme had been suspended for time being due to politicking among the residents over “who should own the land.”

He said the residents must swiftly decide on whether the land lease title shall be put solely under the Batu Kawan Cattle Farmers Association or distributed among individuals.

“Until then the state can’t allot the land for dairy farming. The residents are well aware of the issue but they deliberately want to blame me for the halt,” said Ramasamy.

On another allegations he had failed to provide RM25,000 to rebuild a fishermen’s platform, Ramasamy denied ever making such promise although he was approched for help a year ago.

He said he told the fishermen who approched him to identify a site for the project after certain residents protested that the current site was no longer suitable for fishery activities.

“But the fishermen never came back with a new proposal. If they, I would have even got the PDC to rebuild a quality platform for them. But they never did,” said Ramasamy after dispersing an annual education aid of RM200,000 from the state government to 103 ethnic Indian students taking up tertiary courses.

The aid was part of an education programme undertaken by PHEB, chaired by Ramasamy. Last year PHEB gave out RM100, 000 to 30 students.