Fresh round of Buah Pala demolition

The police have blocked off all entry and exit points in Kampung Buah Pala, Bukit Gelugor to facilitate the lucrative Oasis project developer to demolish the village homes today.

Residents said a big police team had arrived at the village as early as 6.30am and immediately put up road blocks at the entry and exit points to prevent outsiders from coming in.

The developer Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd's demolition team, armed with sledge hammers and other demolishment equipments, arrived at the site at 7.30am and an excavator soon followed at 9am.

At 11am, the demolition team started to tear down 17 houses belonging to residents who had agreed to move out. A Light Strike Force unit was on standby while national power supplier TNB had cut the electricity supply to the houses.

Unlike the previous attempts by the developer to demolish the village homes, this time neither the residents nor outsiders formed any human barricade to resist the demolition.

Many residents were seen leaving for work and they were not in the least perturbed by the presence of the police and demolition team.

The developer was unsuccessful in demolishing any houses when the demolition team came twice to flatten the village on Aug 3 and 13.

However, the demolition managed to demolish three vacant houses and a small extended portion of another house in its third attempt on Sept 3.

This will be the company's fourth round in the demolition exercise.

Originally 24 house owners and some 300 residents have objected and protested against the state government's decision to sell their village land to civil servant cooperative society - Koperasi Pegawai Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang.

However, after months of struggle, most of the house owners have accepted the double-storey terrace house compensation made by the developer and agreed to move out.

All must move out by today

Negotiations were held between the developer, police and association representatives on the impending demolition of the more than 200-year-old village.

It's learnt that the association wants the developer to demolish only houses vacated by owners, who have accepted the compensation offer.

The association is resisting any attempts by the demolition team to tear down the remaining houses still occupied by owners.

Some of these house owners have already dismantled their own houses and moved out from the village.

The remaining 12 house owners, who have not accepted the compensation, have instead counter proposed for a RM300,000 cash compensation.

The 12 house owners plan to relocate and redevelop their village on another nearby plot of land, which has already been identified.

However the developer's director Gary Ho has refused to give any more concessions to the 12 house owners and has asked them to move out from the village by today.

These villagers have been given an hour-long to make a decision on the 'move out' order.

As it stands, these 12 will be given alternate homes and provided with transportation to transfer their household items.

Meanwhile George Town OCPD Azam Abd Hamid said that no more grace period will be given to the residents as "they have been granted three-months to move out".

He said all the affected residents will have to move out to the alternate homes provided by the developer - these temporary homes were built by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB).

He however did not state the specific area to where these villagers will be shifted.

Proposal for a new village

Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairperson M Sugumaran has counter proposed to Ho to give the villagers another week to give them enough time to perform rites and rituals according to their Hindu tradition and move out without any further hitches.

Sugumaran also plans to submit a written request to the state government to allow the 12 house owners to stay in the western part of the project site for at least two years until their new village is ready.

He claimed since only the project plan for the eastern part of the site had been approved, the villagers' stay in the western part would not disrupt the Oasis construction.

However, Nusmetro executive director Thomas Chan has rejected the association's 'two-year stay' proposal, saying the developer would not entertain anymore requests from the villagers.

Kampung Buah Pala is famously called as Tamil High Chaparral by the locals due to its population of Indian community, cowherds, cattle, goats and other livestock. It hosts lively Indian cultural features and festivities.

Residents and many civil society groups have long called on the government to gazette the village as an Indian heritage village.

However, their appeals have been unsuccessful so far and today the village faces permanent extinction.