Has DAP lost its sway over Indians in Penang following its 'mishandling' of the Kampung Buah Pala incident?
GEORGE TOWN: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s act of kindness in offering the nine Kampung Buah Pala residents new houses, after their homes were demolished by the Penang Government, would have a major impact on ethnic Indian electorates in the next general election.
DAP grassroots leaders and political observers here believe that the curse of Kampung Buah Pala will haunt the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat in the the 13th general election.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim that he was unaware of the federal government offer of houses for the nine ‘is not funny’.
Many believe Lim was simply unprepared for such a move and was caught off-guard by Najib’s gesture.
The federal government had pulled a massive political coup, in the Kampung Buah Pala incident, and that too from right under Lim’s nose.
The nine residents of the village were left in lurch after the state government demolished their homes in September 2009.
The heartache of the nine residents, who’ve been snubbed by state, is now partially appeased as they have been offered double-storey houses worth RM220,000 each by Syarikat Perumahan Negara (SPN) Bhd in Taman Sejahtera Indah, Teluk Air Tawar.
The news that they will soon sign the sales and purchase agreement with SPN has silenced the Penang Pakatan authorities.
“Najib has a scored an open goal against DAP. Our custodian has gone to sleep. It’s a case of political revenge stalling a rational political thinking,” admitted a DAP branch leader.
‘State government lying’
Seated on a Helen Margaret Brown trust land for over 200 years in Bukit Gelugor, Kampung Buah Pala was famously known as Tamil High Chaparral by locals due to its cowherds, cattle, goats and Tamil traditional way of life.
The nine fought bravely against the odds for nearly five years to safeguard their legitimate rights and preserve their traditional Indian village as state heritage.
In the final months leading to the demolition of the Indian village, the nine led by Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association chairman M Sugumaran, fought like men possessed to save their homes.
Thanks to them 24 households, including those who accepted the original offer of either a flat or cash compensation and who left the village between 2005 and 2007, were given double-storey houses on the same village site.
But the nine ‘bravehearts’ however were denied compensation.
While Lim’s administration has repeatedly claimed that the nine had rejected the offer, many who are well versed with the whole fiasco know the truth to be in the contrary.
Sugumaran himself has openly said they had received no offer of compensation.
“The question of rejecting compensation never arose because we were never offered compensation anyway.
“Would anyone with a sensible mind reject compensation offers after their houses have been brutally demolished?
“The state government is lying,” he said.
‘Why wasn’t Lim as compassionate?’
Rumbling through the grapevine is talk that it was political vengeance that systematically denied the nine of any state compensations.
A Kampung Buah Pala villager claimed a state government leader had told him that the nine would not be given any compensation as punishment for bringing up the village issue to the attention of Unesco’s office in Paris.
Whether or not there is truth in this allegation is left to be seen, but what is known is that Lim’s government is being blamed for the
demolition of the village and the poor handling of the ‘crisis’ regardless of the fact that the 24 temporary occupation licence (TOLl) holders were compensated.
The prevailing question now is why wasn’t Lim as compassionate as Najib in giving the nine their rightful compensation?
A DAP assemblyman, who declined to be named, said Lim’s mishandling of the situation with the nine and the constant media spins during the whole fiasco had caused a shift of Indian voters from Pakatan to BN.
“Lim should have done some damage control by giving the nine their rightful houses.
“As it is now, Najib’s offer of houses for the nine is a huge blow to the DAP and Pakatan, and a slap to Lim’s face.
“The talk on the ground is would Lim have demolish the houses and denied compensation to ethnic Chinese, let alone Malays?” he said.
How did land get transferred?
Meanwhile London-based Hindraf Makkal Sakti chairman P Waythamoorthy has raised several questions in relation to transfer of the Kampung Buah Pala land.
Among the question ares:
i) Why Lim’s government failed to reveal until today how a land under trust was transferred and put under state’s control?
ii). How did Lim’s government officially transferred ownership of the controversial plot of land on March 27, 2008 to the current owner civil servants cooperative society – Koperasi Pegawai Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang?
iii) Why did Lim’s government give life to a dead land deal?
Waythamoorthy also wants the state government to disclose the findings of its investigation into the village land scam.
“Lim should also reveal the court order on the dissolution of the legally-constituted Brown Housing Trust, which encompasses Kampung Buah Pala,” he said.
Lim’s administration has however blamed the previous BN government under former Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon.
Lim even declassified documents containing chronology of the previous BN executive council decisions made on the Kampung Buah Pala land deals.
But strangely enough he has failed until today to declassify his own council’s documents on the subject.
Meanwhile the nine, led by Sugumaran, are bent on securing their rightful compensation from the state government.
They are currently seeking a court declaration on the land’s real status.
