PENANG, 1 July 2009: The Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association in Bukit Gelugor here today urged Lim Guan Eng to step down as Penang chief minister for having failed to serve and help the people in the state.
Its spokesperson, C Tharmaraj, said the association also felt that Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, was not able to discharge his duties and keep his promise.
"He is a big liar and always makes contradicting statements. He doesn't know anything about Penang because he is from Melaka.
"The promise he made to us during the last general election to return our rights on the land was never fulfilled. I think it's better if he resigns," he told reporters here today.
The residents have been in a tussle over recent years to save their cattle-rearing village, dubbed Penang's High Chaparral, from being demolished to make way for development projects.
Thomas Chan, the director of Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, said that as the project developer, the company had suffered a loss of RM6 million annually due to the postponement of the project, which should have kicked off early last year.
"Ten families have been compensated to vacate the land so far, but 22 others still won't budge," he said, adding that the company would convene a meeting with the state government within this month to solve the problem.
He said like it or not, the residents had to vacate their homes as the Federal Court on 24 June had maintained the Court of Appeal's decision ordering the residents to vacate their homes.
"If they fail to do so by 2 Aug, action can be taken against them for contempt of court," Chan said.
Meanwhile, MIC Youth chief T Mohan also called on the federal government to help solve the problem faced by the Kampung Buah Pala residents.
"We are concerned that if prolonged, it would create racial problem in the country," he said in a statement here.
He said the silence and uncaring attitude showed by the opposition-led state government only proved that they were not ready to face the problem, let alone to take on the challenge to solve it.
Mohan said the village, which comprised 41 homes with over 300 residents, was the only Indian Malaysian settlement of over 100 years of age in the state.
Hence, he said the MIC Youth hoped that the issue would not be politicised. — Bernama
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