The land – given by the Penang government – upon which hostel facilities were to be built is now the subject of a legal battle.
This is the second time the good intention of retired civil engineer and founder of property development company IJM, Koon Yew Yin, is being frustrated.
Koon had offered RM30 million to build a hostel adjacent to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Kampar, Perak, six years ago.
But his offer was turned down by UTAR, which led him to offer RM50 million to the Penang government to build a hostel near Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) campus in Gelugor, Penang.
In turn, the state government provided a 1.5-acre land diagonally across USM. The necessary building approvals were obtained and an open tender was called to do the piling work. That was three years ago.
Today, he wrote to FMT saying that his good intentions were again thwarted – this time in a dispute over the 1.5-acre land .
“As the piling contractor was about to start piling, former Butterworth MCA leader Tan Swee Heng claimed that he had the right to own the land.
“The lawyers from both sides had been exchanging letters for almost a year. Finally, the case will go for arbitration in February 2018.
“No one can predict the conclusion of the arbitration and its final decision,” Koon said.
He said his current predicament reminded him of the UTAR episode, where the owners, the MCA, had similarly prevented him from building a hostel.
“In spite of the fact that I clearly stated that I did not want any profit derived from my donation, the MCA leaders rejected my offer.”
He claimed that with the UTAR Kampar campus snub, more than 20,000 students were left to look for accommodation outside their campus.
In his plan, laid out in 2015, the Gelugor hostels would form the Koon Yew Yin Residential Complex. Each hostel would be named after fundamental rights, such as Liberty, Justice and Equality.
It would also bear a plaque stating that hostel residents and Koon Yew Yin scholarship-holders must promise to help other poor people when they graduate and are financially capable.
Koon had said the Penang government had agreed to his conditions for the donation. These were:
The RM50 million and any profit from rental and other income must be used for building hostels and other associated buildings for university students in Penang;
Construction contracts exceeding RM10,000 must be open to competitive tender;
The state government would provide the land for the hostels and facilities for sports, parking and other uses, and would engage professional staff to manage the hostels; and
Competitive rentals would be charged but must not burden the student residents;
When contacted, Tan said he would not comment on the points raised by Koon as it was subject of a “court case” next month.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/09/26/koon-gives-rm50mil-to-build-student-hostels/
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2015/10/02/why-i-gave-rm50m-for-penang-hostels/