Thesun 2009-08-05 Page06 High Tension At High Chaparral

6

theSun

| WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5 2009

news without borders

High tension at ‘High Chaparral’ » VILLAGERS FORM HUMAN BARRICADES » POLICE AND CONTRACTORS STAND BY » DEMOLITION PUT OFF » NEW ‘OFFER’ BEING DISCUSSED [email protected]

GEORGE TOWN: It was a day of high tension at Kampung Buah Pala, also known as Penang’s “High Chaparral”, yesterday. The demolition of the village, as feared by the 200 or so villagers, failed to materialise, and the saga continues. The residents, who woke up to a large police presence, began forming human barricades at the two entrances to the village early in the morning. A bullock cart was placed across the main entrance, next to a cow pen that had seen a dramatic bullfight during a carnival on Sunday. The villagers, including the elderly, children and students who skipped their school examinations, sat on the road, singing hymns and motivational songs in Tamil. Joining them were supporters from the Marginalised People’s Network (Jerit), Hindraf, Suaram and MIC. At 9.15am, Deputy Chief Minister

(II) Prof P. Ramasamy arrived and told the crowd the developer, Nusmetro Ventures (P) Sdn Bhd, had agreed to hold back the demolition. The villagers reacted emotionally, with one sobbing elderly man hugging Ramasamy, pleading for his home to be saved. Some were heard telling Ramasamy the state should acquire the land since it had said the land transaction was fraudulent. Ramasamy disclosed that Nusmetro had a new compensation offer and that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng wanted to meet the residents in the evening to discuss it. It is understood that at a meeting on Monday night, the state government had worked out a plan with Nusmetro for each family to be allocated a double-storey terrace house. But there was a stir about an hour after Ramasamy left when a team of contractors was spotted waiting further down the road, about 200m from the village. This caused the residents to rush back to form their human barricades. The contractors, sporting hard-

MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

by Himanshu Bhatt and Bernard Cheah

Two men lie on a bullock cart placed across the main entrance to the village, and women and children (below) form a human barricade to prevent the demolition team from entering.

hats and carrying sledgehammers, declined to comment when approached by reporters. Penang police chief Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob, who arrived soon afterwards, was ushered into a mobile police coach to hold a meeting with the developer’s representative, a court bailiff and village representative C. Tharmaraj. Tharmaraj was accompanied by Balik Pulau MP and Penang PKR youth chief Yusmadi Yusof. When they emerged, Yusmadi said the meeting had agreed to hold

off the demol i t i o n because of an application to the Federal Court to revise the court’s ruling in June that had awarded the land to Koperasi Pegawai Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang.

Nusmetro managing director Thomas Chan, however, denied this at a press conference, saying the villagers were given a new deadline – Friday – before the bulldozers moved in. Ayub said the police did not side with any party but were present to maintain order. T h e MIC’s V. Mugilan was heckled when he said the party was ready to provide money to acquire the land. By afternoon, the police personnel were seen packing up and the residents began dispersing to fight another day.