PENANG, 2 July 2009: The Penang government today warned the developer of the proposed housing project in Kampung Buah Pala, Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, for threatening the residents.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the developer’s threat to send bulldozers to the village by 2 Aug 2009 to forcibly evict the residents and demolish their houses was an irresponsible and inflammatory act.
“It is highly improper to stoke fear into the villagers’ hearts by reminding them that they will have to move out by 2 Aug when the one-month grace period given by the developer expires,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the one-month grace period was negotiated by the state government with the developer to find a solution to the problem instead of using force.
“I wish to reiterate that the state government has nothing to do with the eviction, or the Federal Court order and the bringing in of bulldozers to demolish the houses,” he said.
He said the state government would also not take a single cent of the so-called “goodwill payment” from the developer unless the residents agreed to the compensation.
It was reported today that company director Thomas Chan had said that they were in the midst of working out a “goodwill payment” to the state government, which could choose to deal with the residents if it wished.
On 24 June, the Federal Court maintained the Court of Appeal’s decision ordering the residents to vacate their homes. — Bernama
Ritchie says
Strong-arm tactics and Barisan-like agression will only distance the Indian [Malaysian] community from the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat. This is not an issue that the Penang chief minister can claim ignorance about or pass the buck. Never underestimate legitimate concerns at the grassroots, and stand firm against “goodwill protection money”.
armstrong says
Hindraf and those who are genuinely seeking for change should not protest just for the sake of [protesting]. Change does not happen overnight. For the past 50 years, the [Indian Malaysians] themselves [were] willing to [be] subject to MIC and to be exploited by BN. [But] just because they finally woke up, they expect [an] immediate turnaround or fortune to be given to them.
The PR government is trying to stop what is of the old regime and … to implement policies that are as fair as possible (nothing is 100% fair in life). So if my [Indian Malaysian] brothers/sisters are unwilling to go through the period of change and with a little patience, don’t you think the situation is similar to when Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt with the aim to bring them to their promised land (destiny)? [However] because they were impatient, they complained and they reflected back [on] how ‘good’ their slavery days [were,] which they deemed to be better than the [little] struggle to get to the final destiny.