With that, Penang Gerakan Youth acting chief Jason Loo planted a tree on top of the hill today.

He said he hilltop of Bukit Relau had still not been restored to its original state four years after the landowner illegally cleared it.

He hoped Penangites would support his move and said each tree there would help make the hill green again.

“Time flies and Botak Hill is still ‘botak’ (bald).

“Instead of waiting for the Penang government to fulfil its promise to restore the Botak Hill, why don’t we do our part to take care of our hills? Every person can plant one tree there.”

The hill was illegally cleared by the landowner in 2013. The city council took the landowner to court and the development company was fined and ordered to rehabilitate the huge bald patch.

In late 2015, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the hilltop would be green again by the end of 2016, but Loo said the hill was still not back to its original state.

“The roads leading to Botak Hill have been widened. Was this widening necessary? No.

“The roads are so obvious that you can see them from the Penang Bridge. As long as the roads are still there, Botak Hill will always be ‘botak’.”

It was previously reported that the roads up the hill were built to facilitate rehabilitation works.

Loo invited nature lovers, environmentalists and DAP’s Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu to support the tree-planting effort.

In 2014, Teh had shaved his head bald to protest the slow action in rehabilitating the hilltop.

Loo said he would also invite his state party chairman and Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow to plant a tree.