The Malaysian Insider By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — The DAP wants former Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to solve the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco by lobbying for federal intervention.
Lim claimed that Koh, now a federal minister, was responsible for the controversy as it was during the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s rule of Penang that the decision was made to alienate the land concerned to a private developer.
“I think the only solution is for Koh Tsu Koon as the former chief minister, who is responsible for this problem in Kampung Buah Pala, to take it up with the federal government and ask the federal government for an allocation or a grant to the Penang state for an amount necessary to have a win-win solution,” he said.
A small number of families in Kampung Buah Pala, in the Glugor area of Penang, are facing eviction after a private developer won outright ownership of the land recently. But a number of Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) activists have seized on the residents’ predicament, and turned the dispute into a racial issue.
Today, Lim urged all parties to be calm and not to go overboard.
“The issue of Kampung Buah Pala is that the people are being evicted because the previous Penang state government had acted in breach of total trust to the people,” he said.
Lim stressed that the problem was complicated than it appeared because the state government could not afford to acquire the land as a new development project had been planned for the location.
“Although people say that the issue could be solved with a stroke of the pen, it needs a compensation of more than RM150 million.
“The Penang state government and the people of Penang cannot afford it and the number of affected families is only 23,” he said.
As such, he said Koh, as the former chief minister, should act responsibly and request the federal government to help the residents of Kampung Buah Pala