Developer Kampung Buah Pala di Pulau Pinang untung berbilion.
“Yang menjadi mangsa ialah orang kampung.” — M. Sugumaran, wakil penduduk Kampung Buah Pala
“Apa yang kami tidak faham ialah mengapa kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat ini, dia bukan nak selamat kampung [sebaliknya] nak roboh kampung. Bila di bawah pimpinan Barisan Nasional, 30 tahun kami dok bincang, bincang, bincang 30 tahun tapi tak roboh le.” [Sugumaran, YouTube]
Penghuni Kg Buah Pala amat malang kerana dari mulut harimau masuk ke mulut buaya.
Saya pernah dikhabarkan bahawa Hindraf gagal juga dalam usaha mereka untuk mengadakan perjumpaan dengan Lim Guan Eng supaya mencari penyelesaian yang baik kepada isu.
Hindraf difahamkan Guan Eng tidak ada minat untuk melayan sebuah organisasi yang membela kelompok daif kaum India kerana sebagai seorang ‘Malaysian First’, ketua menteri merangkap setiausaha agung DAP itu menganggap Hindraf bersifat rasis.
(Kuali mengata cerek hitam, Guan Eng nampaknya lupa akan “Malaysian agenda” yang diuar-uarkan partinya – screenshot di bawah – apabila dia mengkritik Johor tatkala berada di Singapura.)
Petikan Malaysiakini (14 April 2010)
Kawan-kawan Hindraf saya juga berkata sepanjang saga kampung gembala lembu itu meleret, Guan Eng enggan turun ke padang untuk bersua dengan penduduk kampung kaum India yang (bukan Kristian dan bukan golongan profesional) terlibat.
Namun semalam ketika majlis penyerahan kunci dilangsungkan di tapak Kg Buah Pala (yang dirobohkan dua tahun lepas), Guan Eng dengan muka tebal sekali muncul untuk mengambil kesempatan ‘foto op’ (peluang bergambar) demi meraih publisiti murahan.
P. Uthayakumar:
“Saya berasa amat sedih sekali sebab pada hari ini saya terpaksa mengambil ‘banner’ untuk menyatakan bahawa kami bantah salah guna kuasa oleh ketua menteri Pulau Pinang ini.” [YouTube, 3:06]
“Saya masih ingat lebih kurang 20 tahun dahulu semasa berlaku isu Kampung Khoo Kongsi di Penang, Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang, DAP bertungkus-lumus bermati-matian untuk menjaga kepentingan kampung Cina di Khoo Kongsi.
“Tetapi bila mangsanya ialah orang-orang India, a different set of rules applies,” kata Uthaya.
Kg Buah Pala – yang tanahnya diamanahkan keluarga peladang Brown kepada buruh India mereka – telah menjadi tempat kediaman cucu-cicit pekerja-pekerja India itu selama lebih 110 tahun … sehinggalah pemaju Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd berjaya mengambil alih hakmilik selepas berlakunya pengkhianatan oleh ketua-ketua DAP Pulau Pinang.
9 keluarga hilang segala-galanya
Sebanyak 24 keluarga telah menerima kunci rumah baru masing-masing sementara sembilan lagi buah keluarga yang diusir dari kampung itu tidak mendapat apa-apa setelah menolak pampasan tunai RM125,000 yang ditawarkan oleh pengarah eksekutif Nusmetro, Gary Ho.
Semalam juga seorang pemimpin kanan DAP, iaitu Karpal Singh, pada akhirnya terpaksa membuat pengakuan bahawa Pakatan gagal menunaikan janji-janji yang ditabur mereka kepada penduduk kampung itu.
Karpal sendiri yang mengaku juga bahawa pemaju tanah Nusmetro akan mengaut keuntungan berbilion ringgit dari projek ini.
Mengikut laporan Malaysiakini, Karpal telah memberi sebagai alasannya bahawa ketua menteri boleh dipenjarakan jika dia ingkar terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan pada 24 Jun 2009 yang memenangkan Nusmetro.
Karpal telah dipetik sebagai berkata dalam ucapannya:
“Ramai yang bertanya, apa yang berlaku kepada janji-janji? Macam mana dengan janji Lim [Guan Eng] yang berkata kami akan mempertahankan kampung itu? Betul, kami semua berkata begitu.”
“[Namun] jika kami hina mahkamah bukan sahaja kami akan diheret ke penjara … tetapi kerajaan negeri juga boleh dilucutkan kuasa.”
DAP kerap menyalahkan kerajaan negeri Barisan Nasional pra-2008. Itu hanya cerita mudah.
Penjelasan rumit yang diberitahu penduduk kampung kepada aktivis adalah lain.
DAP yang menggali kubur
“Tanah [Kg Buah Pala] yang diberimilik ini [kepada penduduk India oleh keluarga Brown] tidak boleh dipindahmilik, cagar, pajak, pajakan kecil atau sebarang bentuk urusniaga tanpa kebenaran bertulis daripada pihak berkuasa negeri,” kata A. Thiruvengadam.
Dalam klip YouTube, Bhg 1-4, Thiruvengadam seorang bekas councilor Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) menceritakan penyelewengan yang berlaku di mana golongan penduduk kampung penternak lembu tenusu tersebut ditipu.
Hujah Thiruvengadam ialah kerajaan negeri mempunyai kuasa dan kata putus atas urusan Kg Buah Pala. [Nota: Catatan minit-minit exco mengenai Kg Buah Pala masih belum didedahkan kepada umum. Ke mana perginya CAT kerajaan negeri Pulau Pinang?]
Akan tetapi sepertimana didakwa oleh Sugumaran (wakil penduduk Kg Buah Pala) dan sukarelawan lain yang prihatin dengan nasib golongan India kurang berpendidikan itu, rupa-rupanya Guan Eng dari awal-awal lagi sudah menetapkan bagi pemaju Nusmetro meneruskan projek pembinaan tersebut.
Memanglah, Guan Eng kan merupakan exco Pulau Pinang yang memegang ‘portfolio tanah‘.
(Baca sini tentang projek-projek perumahan di Pulau Pinang yang bak cendawan tumbuh lepas hujan / selepas Mac 2008.)
Tidak berhati perut
Ramai para penyokong Guan Eng berkata “padan muka” sembilan keluarga India tersebut yang kehilangan tempat tinggal.
Screenshot komen-komen pembaca Malaysiakini ini adalah tipikal kepada penghinaan yang sering dicurahkan ke atas penduduk Kg Buah Pala “bodoh” oleh puak DAP yang cerdik-pandai.
Bagaimana acuan begitulah kuihnya.
KISAH LATAR
Thiruvengadam mendakwa bahawa Nusmetro sudahpun menjual condo kepada para pembeli serta menandatangani perjanjian jual-beli (S&P) dengan mereka dua bulan sebelum pemaju itu berjaya memperolehi surat hakmilik tanah.
(1)
“How could the developer Nusmetro caveat this piece of Buah Pala land to this company’s name when the condition [i.e. cannot be transferred, mortgaged, pawned, sublet, or used as a business instrument without getting written consent from the state authority/exco] on the land title is still there?”
YouTube: Chronology of Buah Pala Land Scam, Part 1
(2)
“The lawyers [consulted] are telling that the state government under the leadership of Lim Guan Eng can still save this piece of land because the state authority has got special power by certain clauses in the law.”
“If the state government itself is making a report to MACC on this particular land transaction, it shows that there is some basic of fraud in the land transaction. … Why did this new government complete the transaction? This new government is the one which has issued the land title. WHY?”
“If fraud is proven, the state government can withdraw the land title.”
[Nota: Laporan kepada SPRM dibuat oleh Timbalan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang (I) dan (II) Mansor Othman dan P. Ramasamy pada 13 Julai 2009.]
YouTube: Chronology of Buah Pala Land Scam, Part 2
(3)
“Let me tell you this. Lim Guan Eng is the main culprit in announcing all this kind of news and this news [is] being carried in the media that can be the cause to reduce public support for these villagers.”
YouTube: Chronology of Buah Pala Land Scam, Part 3
(4)
“Imagine this kampung is a Chinese kampung. … Do you think Lim Guan Eng would act like this?”
“How can a chief minister, how can a state government, force the people to go into illegal transaction to accept the offer by this developer and leave the kampung?”
YouTube: Chronology of Buah Pala Land Scam, Part 4
Helen Ang 
served them right.. nuff said..
Dulu kecil-kecil saya selalu tengok juga panggung cina di pekan-pekan berhampiran. Macam macam karakter yang ada, solekan tebal di muka, berpakaian mirip watak di lakonkan. Cerita opera yang di ‘percayai’ pernah berlaku di China, kata penonton. Walhal kebanyakkan cerita hanya mitos belaka.
Realti nya dunia masakini, watak-watak itu masih kental wujud dan masih kuat di pegang oleh masyarakat cina tapi dalam bentuk watak watak manusia biasa sahaja. Sehinggakan kaum nyonya yang mengamalkan tradisi melayu, langsung tidak pernah menyanjung budaya melayu ! Semua di cinakan dan semua di milikkan sambil membuang kepunyaan asal. Malu dan memalukan.
Lantaran itu sekeras-keras buah pala, dijeruk dan di bubuh gula akan tetap menjadi makanan yang sedap….. buntut periuk dan kuali hitam hanya layak di simpan di belakang dapur, tidak layak di papar kepada umum. Kerana apa ?
Jawapan : …..”watak-watak mitos yang masih wujud mengelirukan” hanya orang-orang cina sahaja yang TAHU cerita nya…..
here are some racist comments by your own race Helen,bare in mind ,the majority of condo owners are chinese.what say you!
pang
“Wah.. Now the indians want to treaten dev and gov.. They are crazy lor.. If they want to burn their self carry on, after burn so their family juz take the ash clear the land.. S0 stupid this indians, they think if they said wan to burn their body so gov and dev will fullfit their wish.. Crazy thing, for gov and dev juz let they do wat they wan, mayb for merdeka they want to burn they their body.. hahaha.. This indians to much and greedy over greedy.. Hope they get nothing and sent they all back to india.. freedom! 1st i heard their place want to demolish i feel pity them and hope they can get new place but after today i feel like they should get nothing bcoz of their greedy to much!!”
thunder
“chinese don’t like to be like that. they are busy busy all day…too busy for kids schooling, earn money…..busy and occupied with our daily life…too tired to participate in this “primitive” gang-up to resist changes thing.
chinese looks for other alternative when there is a crash a head because they don’t like to use egg to hit the stone….smarter breed.”
thunder
“it is all negotiation…………..but never negotiate with indian, because they are born lawyer. you never win. looks at all criminal lawyers..they are indian. No chinese/malay can compete. they are good in verbal arguing, and negotiation. i admire them because they can twist tongue faster than you. and they are also good in Drama and sandriwara because i believe they have rich culture like chinese…
There is only one way to defeat the villager. “bulldozer”. the developer is using the right”
You yourself wrote that this transaction is fraudulent. Whose fault was it?? Your bloody freaking beloved BN govt. The 9 tried to hold out for bigger pay day (under puppet master control). Why dont you go interview the 24 families and ask them if they are satisfied?? If under BN govt, their home would have been bulldozed and not even 1 cent compensation given. So you bising apa lagi?????
i am sorry but like that chap said – quote – under BN they nego and nego and nego but not even one house torn down. end quote.
come on. this is a BLUNDER by the guan eng. the end.
i am not anti PR. i am anti dishonest to the point people lose their basic need i.e shelter. that chap said clearly about impossible for the land to be transferred in anyway (without the consent of the government of the day). i dont know what the back story of this but it sounds to me guan eng signed the papers, took away the land from the villagers. done.
guan eng doesnt possess great quality of leaders. he is not brilliant. the way he settle this kampung buah pala stuffs is not great leader does. it is so easy to check where his fault. the transfer of the land. and the way he handles the compensation. i dont care whether the 9 are looking for bigger money but it is their right.
the said amount isnt going to give them the financial power to buy back the land guan eng took from them. the others may be okay and satisfied thats why they took the money but u cant expect people to agree to whatever u agree into.
i can give solutions to this problem. many. but guan eng needs to give CM ship to me first then i tell him what to do. of course it is all about power. not about using your god given ability to think in brilliant way.
socially he failed in walking the talk. politically he gave endless bullet to every indians. but i fear the rectification procedure has now undertaken. look how some people belittling the 9. stripping them naked accusing them for looking more money. and the use to social network to spread this fast, efficient, and covers large area. i am not suprise if many will agree with guan eng (perhaps not until their lands are taken just like guan eng did)
but guan eng, one tip. isolating the 9 from indians in general would atleast spare u some bullets. but i can see that also already undertaken. too bad thats also not brilliant at all.
good read.
This KBP case is one of the saddest episodes in the country’s history. It’s a case of the rich blatantly robbing the poor. Saya tidak sampai hati hendak tinggal di kondo di KBP walau diberkan unit percuma. Pemaju dan penghuni kondo itu bahagia atas jeritan dan limpahan air mata darah orang lain.
Episod ini sepatutnya mengajar pengundi India bahawa DAP hanya membela nasib kaum Cina. Sifat penipu itu dapat disimpulkan daripada beberapa kenyataan Lim Guan Eng dalam setahun dua ini. Sebak hati saya memikirkan isu ini. Orang putih, walaupun kejam dari beberapa segi, amat gentleman dalam menjaga kebajikan dan memegang janji kepada pekerja mereka. Tanah KBP diberi agar anak cucu pekerja estet itu menetap di situ turun temurun atau selagi ada bulan dan matahari.
the truth hurts:-
where is the grant which gives the land to the settlers? A. None
who sold the land to the developers? A. Gerakan aka BN
where were all those MIC leaders when the state govt illegally sold the settlers’ “land”? A. abang adik lah (Gerakan & MIC aka BN)
why did my family meekly accept a paltry RM40K as compensation for our West Jelutong house when we could have gotten a deal like RM500K house? A. Land was not ours – plain & simple – no need to blame previous or present state govt!
The truth is that on March 13, 2008, the Kg Buah Pala villagers met the new Penang Chief Minister LGE and updated him about their situation.
Before the GE on March 8, DAP had made promises to the villagers (something Karpal acknowledged during the handing-over of the house keys ceremony recently).
But on the very next day on March 14, the state government accepts final payment of RM2,247,000 for the Buah Pala land! (source: Anil Netto)
Pure coincidence? I don’t think so. That’s why it was a case of ‘Padi harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi’.
The said RM2.25 million paid on March 14 comes almost a year after the previous payment of RM321k and almost 10 months after the Land Office asked for final payment.
On the intent of the white plantation owners, “Keluarga Brown balik ke Britain pada tahun 1953, dan meninggalkan tanah Kampung Buah Pala kepada “housing trust” (amanah perumahan). Akan tetapi, “housing trust” telah dibubarkan pada tahun 1976 dan status tanah ini telah menjadi satu misteri.” — See Kg Buah Pala resident’s blog site. Also Anil for doc. image.
Correct that Gerakan-led state govt sold the land to Koperasi Pegawai-Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang for a song.
However, it was DAP who hit the final nail on the coffin because the last tranche that sealed the deal was carried out on 14 March 2008 during which time remember that it was DAP, and not Gerakan, in power. And later DAP that betrayed the villagers’ trust in the subsequent siding with developers.
Helen, how DAP can do better in this case? If you are the CM, what would you do? I am asking because i been thinking to myself, can i do better if i were in his shoe, to me, perhaps he (DAP) shouldn’t simply make promise without knowing all the detail.
____________________________________________________________
Hua Yong, Connect the dots from March 13 (meeting in CM’s office) to March 14 (sudden payment). — Helen
helen terus lawan, benar tetap benar,i malay i will with you in this case
Let me enlighten
Justice needs to be done not seen to be done
With heartfelt disappointment on the truth of the matter, I write this article in rebuttal to Karpal’s recent admission of Pakatan’s promise prior to GE12 and how the whole DAP government then made a scapegoat of the 9 families who fought tooth and nail to preserve Kg Buah Pala.
I am sure there are many lands and people in Malaysia that have been cheated and squandered by the UMNO led BN government. That was history. Now with DAP minus PAS & PKR in power in Penang, we expect a change not another manipulator singing the same song, blaming everything and anything under the sun.
I don’t have to educate the great Karpal Singh on the legal issues as you could not get anyone better versed with the legal nuances in Malaysia.
I will get straight to the point. Prior to election GE12, by their own admission, the leadership of PR agreed to fight against all odds to preserve Kg Buah Pala on the basis of a fraudulent transaction. Then came GE12, DAP was in power yet did not seem too interested in condoning to the actual transfer of the land on March 28, 2009, three weeks after coming into power.
Now fraudulent transaction gives ample power to the state government according to to Section 340(2) of the NLC that clearly spells out
The title or interest of any such person or body shall not be indefeasible
(a) in any case of fraud or misrepresentation to which the person or body, or any agent of the person or body, was a party or privy; or
(b) where registration was obtained by forgery, or by means of an insufficient or void instrument; or
(c) where the title or interest was unlawfully acquired by the person or body in the purported exercise of any power or authority conferred by any written law.
Notwithstanding all this, under section 81 & 82 of NLC 1965, there is a time limit whereby the premium needs to paid, normally within three (3) months otherwise the state government has the authority to invalidate the transaction. In this case, YB Koh Tsu Koon’s approval was on 25/4/07, and the Cooperative paid the balance of the premium only on the 14/3/08 to the Pakatan Government led by YB Lim Guan Eng. So what happened?
Then on 23/05/2009, the PR state exco decided to claim for the balance of 50% of the premium which the Koperasi agreed to settle if the terms of the land title were honoured. Therefore, they know that there is a possibility that it would not be honoured and the legal implication if you drag them to court on the fraudulent transaction.
Then in the MalaysianKini report on July 30, 2009, Lawyer and Petaling Jaya city councilor, Derek Fernandez, said the state government can take back the land, based on a caveat in the 99-year lease document issued by the land registrar. He says “It is issued with restriction ‘tanah yang diberi milik ini tidak boleh dipindah milik, cagar, pajak, pajakan kecil atau sebarang bentuk urusniaga (the land cannot be transferred, mortgaged, pawned, sub-let or used as a business instrument).”This restriction reduces the cooperatives to an end-user as it can build houses for members only. It cannot enter into a joint venture to develop the land or sell units to third party,” he added. “Therefore the state government can stop the demolition by issuing an acquisition notice under the Land Acquisition Act”, he added, yes the same one with a stroke of a pen.Then on August 3, 2009- Star – GEORGE TOWN: The state government will file an application at the High Court Tuesday to invoke Section 116 (1)(d) of the National Land Code to prevent the demolition of houses in Kampung Buah Pala.Seri Delima assemblyman R. S. N. Rayer said they had initially wanted to file in the application Monday but North-east district officer Azizi Zakaria had yet to sign the documents. “We can only file them once Azizi signs the documents. I have been in the High Court until 4.30pm so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to file it,” he said when met at the High Court Tuesday. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary Ng Wei Aik said the state had appointed Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh and Rayer to file the application.
Anyway, did you ever file for that order? Were Rayer and Karpal in court on August 4, 2009 to file the application? You tell me, or was it just another media spin?
Nobody, including Karpal, has shown us, the public, what efforts had been undertaken to challenge the fraudulent land transfer, and many other avenues other than clamoring that it was KSK’s fraudulent act and that nothing could be done about it. Doesn’t the law provide for such acts? Well Karpal, you are the legal authority in Malaysia; please touch your heart and tell us that everything had been exhausted by the DAP government in safeguarding Kg Buah Pala.
These are just some examples and I am sure Karpal has many more legal avenues that his party could have pursued if they had the political will to preserve Kg Buah Pala.
Sorry to say this Mr. Karpal Singh, I have lost respect for you, and this naturally comes from just another meaningless Malaysian, like the many others you encounter. Nonetheless, the truth as elucidated above is indefeasible as I see it and many others would see that you have lost the fangs for social justice.
The truth has no expiry date for the Kg Buah Pala issue or any issue that involves social justice. Critics may attack it through malice and ignorance, but in the end, the lack of doing that what is socially righteous, will only haunt your consciousness.
Well said bro…..The duplicity and cruelty of the Dear Leader and his regime in destroying KBP is without parallel in Malaysian history. This was one of the turning point in my political view. I was under the impression that DAP was a people-centric and multi-ethnic party who was committed to social justice and fairness. The whole KBP episode completely destroyed that view and opened my eyes.
A game in which a liar is defeated by another liar.