Does the Penang State Government really care for the poor in Penang?

There has been no productive or positive meetings to resolve the issue of acquisition of the land on a willing seller and a willing buyer basis or even on the basis of a Kg Buah Pala type settlement, which the State Government so prides itself on. On top of giving empty assurances it is understood that the State Government wants the residents to make public statements of Pakatan Government goodness – as a sort of quid pro quo before they will act, if at all. 

N. Ganesan, Hindraf National Advisor

The 23rd of June 2012 saw another demonstration in distress on the part of the Kg Boundary Villagers of Penang in the Penang CM’s own c.onstituency. The first demonstration was on the 15th of April 2012. The protest was to continue to attract attention to a potential travesty of justice as 10 poor families who have paid for and own the land on which sits their homes are on the verge of being robbed of their rightful ownership of their land by fraud. It appears that the 10 residents of Kg Boundary Lima are slowly each, being issued with eviction notices by the courts on behalf of Property Developer Berstau Stabil Sdn Bhd. 

4 of them were issued eviction notices on the 17th of April 2012. Now one more resident has been issued with an eviction notice on the 11th Jun 2012. This is in spite of the fact that the matter of ownership of the land is in the courts with the residents claiming fraudulent actions to steal the land from them. This is also in spite of the fact that the Residents Association has been in contact with Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister and the Adun for their constituency himself, on the matter before and since then. There seems to be suspicious paralysis on the part of the government to act to equalize for them.

If indeed the Chief Minister cared for the poor citizens of the State of Penang, then he should prevail promptly in ways that help equalize for the poor on the basis of social justice. He should get the Developer and the Residents to sit down and resolve the matter in a win win way. After all the contacts the Residents Association have had with the Chief Minister, all that has been achieved are empty assurances from Lim Guan Eng about wanting to resolve the matter.

There has been no productive or positive meetings to resolve the issue of acquisition of the land on a willing seller and a willing buyer basis or even on the basis of a Kg Buah Pala type settlement, which the State Government so prides itself on. On top of giving empty assurances it is understood that the State Government wants the residents to make public statements of Pakatan Government goodness – as a sort of quid pro quo before they will act, if at all.

This is utter nonsense as what that implies is the DAP State Government wants only to make political capital out of the hardships of the poorer sections of the Penang Citizenry instead of trying earnestly to solve their problems. By prolonging the matter, by remaining ambivalent on the matter, by taking wayang kulit type actions the DAP State Government is effectively working only in the interest of the Developer and effectively against the interests of the poor of Penang.

We from Hindraf believe the State Government has an immediate obligation to resolve this matter in a just and expeditious manner:           

1)  The developer is only responding  to the ongoing agenda of this State Government for the development of the State. Therefore the State  Government is behind the overall push that is reaching up to the 10 families in this way.

2)  The State Government has a moral obligation to see every citizen of the State prosper, not just to see the developer community prosper  – for if this matter is to continue in its current trajectory, the people pushed out will not be able to avail of the expensive homes in Penang and get pushed out to the periphery while the developer walks away with super profits.

3) The State Government is led by YAB Lim Guan Eng who grew up on the shouts of social justice in his DAP Socialist Youth days and if there are social injustice issues to be addressed there could not be a better place to do it than from within his own constituency.

4) Article 8 of the Federal Constitution says : 8. (1) All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law. But this is expressly not true when the developer has huge financial resources to move the courts in so many ways while these poor villagers struggle to even meet their most basic legal expenses. A Government based on the values of social justice must step in to equalize.

Therefore Hindraf Makkal Sakthi urges the State Government to step in immediately to intervene on behalf of social justice in Penang and on behalf of the poor of Penang.