Demolition of Kg Buah Pala leaves a bitter taste

By Anil Netto,

The demolition of Kg Buah Pala, which has already begun, leaves a bitter taste.

People are more interested in ‘whacking’ the villagers for their political miscalculations and for being “greedy” because they did not jump at the offer of “double-storey terrace houses worth RM500,000″. At the same time, the developer’s greed is rarely mentioned.

The villagers, after all, are the real victims of a land grab – but they are the ones receiving the most flack. Wierd how the tables have been turned against them. Many “hardcore” Pakatan supporters just want them to disappear so they can get on with the BN vs Pakatan game. We must see the Big Picture, they argue. But they forget it is all the small little pictures like Kg Buah Pala that add up to the Big Picture.

Moving beyond the BN-Pakatan blame game, however, the loss of the village, which harkens back to a different era, when people lived more in harmony with Nature, is a source of mourning.

The demolition of this and other kampungs is a sign that the concrete jungle is taking over our increasingly unsustainable habitat.

The partisanship surrounding the Kg Buah Pala saga is disturbing. At the same time, the human rights angle is hardly mentioned, in particular, the primary rights to land and to shelter, and the right of communities to live in dignity.

Where are the partisan political supporters – Pakatan and BN – when it comes to the Penan who are engaged in a lonely struggle to protect their ancestral lands and the rainforests (what’s left of it) from the rapacious greed of logging companies? Is the silence because there is no BN vs Pakatan angle there? My posting on the Aljazeera video of the Penan received just 14 comments. Why the lack of interest towards their plight and the loss of our rainforests?

This shows that our mindset towards the downtrodden, towards marginalised communities, towards the environment has not yet changed – even after 8 March 2008. Many have simply transferred their loyalties from the BN to the Pakatan, but are still unprepared for a more sustainable model of development that does not harm marginalised communities nor damage our priceless heritage.