Thesun 2009-06-25 Page02 High Chaparral Residents Lose Bid To Save Homes

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theSun

| THURSDAY JUNE 25 2009

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‘High Chaparral’ residents lose bid to save homes by Tan Yi Liang [email protected]

PUTRAJAYA: The residents of Penang’s “High Chaparral”, Kampung Buah Pala, lost their bid to save their homes when the Federal Court dismissed their case yesterday on the grounds that their claims had no standing as the questions put before the court did not address the issue. “They said the questions raised would not answer the issue on its merits. The court decided that since there was a specific question on the standing of the residents to sue, they were not going to give leave,” counsel for the residents Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said. “The question of locus standi

was actually addressed and taken up in our arguments here, going back to the question of whether the state had the power to give (land) titles in the first place,” he told the media after the decision of Justices Datuk Seri Augustine Paul, Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Hashim Yusoff to reject the residents’ application. “The argument of the developers is that these individuals, despite living there for the past 70 years plus, have no grounds to sue, as they are squatters. We told the court they are not squatters,” he said. Malik, accompanied by cocounsel Ravi Nekoo and Cecil Rajendra, had argued that it was

the federal government which had power over the land. “We say it is the federal government which owns the land because of the way the law works. “We asked the Federal Court to interpret the law. The other side was saying the state owns the land, and therefore could alienate it,” Malik said. Rajendra said the developers had claimed that the residents of Kampung Buah Pala had no right to the land as they were squatters. “Some of them were born there in the 1930s, so they are not squatters. They were tenants of the Brown Estate, and without their knowledge, their tenancy was converted to Temporary Oc-

cupation Licences (TOL).” The residents have been in a tussle with luxury apartment developers over recent years to save their village from being demolished to make way for development projects. On May 11 this year, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision made in 2008 in favour of the residents and gave the owner Koperasi Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan and developer Nusmetro Sdn Bhd vacant possession of the land. The court ordered the residents to vacate the land by June 11 this year. The residents subsequently filed an appeal in the Federal Court and applied for a stay of execution.

‘Wife’ causes stir in court KUALA LUMPUR: The “wife” of a man charged with committing robberies caused a major stir in the sessions court here yesterday when “she” turned out to be a he. The issue arose when P. Ramesh, 40, pleaded not guilty to the charges and his “wife” wanted to post bail for him. Judge Zainal Abidin Kamarudin, on checking the “wife’s” MyKad, discovered “her” name to be Rajandren a/l Nagarajan. This prompted him to ask the “woman”, who was dressed in a brown saree and matching blouse if they were indeed married, to which “she” just smiled and nodded her head. Rajandren told the judge they had a traditional marriage but had yet to register the marriage with the authorities because his sex status had not been changed with the National Registration Department. “So how should I address you, “Puan” or “Encik”? For now I will just follow what is stated in your MyKad and call you “Encik”,” Zainal Abdin said, adding this was the first time he had come across such a situation. Ramesh and an accomplice, D. Shanmuganathan, 31, were jointly charged with four others still at large with robbing RM500, a copy of a Bangladesh passport and two ATM cards belonging to Babul Nejamuddin in front of Menara Maybank, Jalan Tun Perak here around 10.30pm on April 16. Ramesh is also charged with robbing another Bangladeshi, Mohd Rajivur Rahman, of RM700 at the same place, date and time. He is also separately charged with being in possession of a stolen watch belonging to Chung Kim Wooi, 61, at a house in Lorong Haji Taib 2 at 5.15pm on June 5. Zainal Abidin allowed him bail at RM5,000 in one surety and fixed July 30 for re-mention. Shanmuganathan also pleaded not guilty to robbing Babul Nejamuddin together with Ramesh and also to a separate charge of being in possession of a stolen taxi behind Bangunan Sime Darby, Jalan Raja Laut here, at 1pm on June 4. Zainal Abidin also imposed the same bail conditions for him and July 30 for re-mention of his cases. – Bernama

briefs Former council chief charged with graft

By children for children ...

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, shares a light moment with Tabika Perpaduan pupils attending the appreciation and cheque-presentation ceremony for the “Power of 10 Sen: Gaza Dibela, By Children for Children” campaign at Universiti Malaya yesterday. At the ceremony, she handed a RM143,730.10 cheque to Palestine Ambassador to Malaysia Abdelaziz Abughoush. The money was collected by the children of Malaysia since March 9 for Palestinian children suffering from armed conflicts.

Exco man under fire from Subang residents, rep by Llew-Ann Phang [email protected]

SUBANG JAYA: Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu has come under fire from residents and Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh for saying a small portion of Subang Ria Park will be developed. Liu reportedly said after the Subang Jaya Local Draft Plan public hearing on Monday that if the private company that owns the park land agrees to keep most of it as public amenity, “we won’t say no to having a small part of it developed”. Armed with the title deed proving that the state govern-

ment alienated the land to Sime UEP Properties Bhd on Feb 6, 1988, Yeoh said the provisions attached to the title stand until Feb 5, 2087. At a press conference yesterday, Yeoh said: “Subang Ria Park should be gazetted as a green lung and any development in the park should be restricted to recreational purposes as stated in the land title, not condominium development, bungalows or any other form. It must be purely recreational.” There had been talk and even signs indicating development of service apartments and bungalows on the 29.39ha piece of land but residents have

opposed any further development in an already congested community. Subang Jaya Residents’ Association chairman AS Gill said: “Subang Jaya is already a sick area – the roads cannot handle the current load, and the environment cannot cope with the development. “The residents are also getting sick of the developers’ greed.” Gill said the residents are disappointed with Liu for disregarding legislation, competence, transparency and accountability. Residents Committee of Zone 1 committee member A.B. Naicker chipped in that

Subang Ria Park should be maintained as a green lung and there should be no more proposals by any party for any development other than recreation in the area. Gill said the residents will write to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to express their disappointment and shock over Liu’s statement. Abdul Khalid is expected to hold a consultative session with the residents associations on the issue soon. In 2007, an application to develop the land by Sime UEP was rejected following a public hearing and residents’ objections.

MALACCA: Former Yasin district council president Mustadza Abu Bakar pleaded not guilty in the sessions court here yesterday to soliciting a RM10,000 bribe six years ago. Mustadza, 55, a businessman and former Jasin Umno division treasurer, is alleged to have solicited the money from Zakariah Abu Bakar to quash a fine imposed on Built Tex Construction Sdn Bhd for late completion of a food square project at lot 3622, Merlimau, Jasin. The offence was allegedly committed at the council office here in November 2003. Judge Ahmad Kamar Jamaluddin fixed July 29 for mention and set bail at RM10,000 with one surety. Deputy public prosecutor Noor Fazlin Hamdan from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission appeared for the prosecution while Mustadza was unrepresented.

Duo calm on getting death sentence KUALA LUMPUR: Without a tear and with a calm demeanour, two men listened yesterday to the High Court’s decision here to sentence them to death for drug trafficking. Judicial commissioner Azman Abdullah passed the sentence on S. Raja, 39, and K. Krishnan, 38, at the end of the defence’s submission and found that both men had failed to raise reasonable doubt. Raja and Krishnan were charged with jointly distributing 111.5gm of heroin and 35.9gm of monoacetylmorphines at the car park of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital in Cheras at 9.15pm on Sept 24, 2007. Raja was a moneychanger while Krishnan was unemployed. Krishnan had to be brought to court in a wheelchair as his left leg was amputated due to diabetes.

‘Muslim maids for Muslim families’ call KUALA LUMPUR: PAS Youth has called on the government to set down a regulation that Muslim maids from Indonesia or other countries are allowed to work only for Muslim families and non-Muslim families be allowed only non-Muslim maids. The movement’s chief, Nasrudin Hassan, in a statement said the matter had been suggested several times by it as well as by several non-governmental organisations so that the issue of the denial of right to pray, fast, halal food, comfortable and clean dwelling, and fair wages could be resolved. He said if the problem is not resolved and allowed to persist, it would sour ties between Malaysia and Indonesia. – Bernama