Penang Forum steering committee member Khoo Salma Nasution said it was “never a political party” but merely a group that represented the public interest to preserve Penang’s environment for future generations.

On Sunday, Chow said with political opposition members withering in spirit, NGOs have taken their place by being critical of the state’s infrastructure plans.

“It is a very sad day when the CM says the civil society is the new opposition because we have been consistently fighting for the public interest. We have not changed our position.

“But if he sees this as an opposition instead of working with us, then I think it is a very sad time for Penang,” Khoo said at a press conference organised by the Penang Forum and Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam (Peka) today.

She said despite the new label, Penang Forum would continue to represent the public interest, especially when it came to environmental concerns and uncontrolled development.

Khoo also said the Forum was not against development as suggested by the Penang government, but was a supporter of sustainable development that would spare the environment.

Peka president Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said the Penang government’s stance against NGOs smacked of arrogance and ignorance.

“We are not the opposition, we are the check and balance for whatever you do. I thought with the change of government, things would have become better, but instead, we are having more cases of deforestation, logging.”

Penang Hill isn’t like Genting Highlands

Earlier, she and other members of Penang Forum and Peka spoke out against a major development plan on the island’s famed hill station, Penang Hill.

Recently, the Penang government said it would call for tenders to build two hotels on the colonial-era hill resort. It was reported that the state government plans to build large hotels behind the Convalescent Bungalow (about 200 rooms) and at Coolie Lines (about 100 rooms).

Chow had told the state assembly the planned hotels were not skyscrapers but merely “tasteful development” without ruining the image of the hill.

NGOs have since responded by saying building anything on the hill would be asking for trouble, as it is landslide prone and very fragile.

Malaysia Nature Society Penang branch adviser D Kanda Kumar said those planning to develop Penang Hill must understand that it was not a hill resort similar to Genting Highlands.

He said the hill was a place to which people went to find peace and quiet amidst a pristine surrounding. He said building additional large hotels to get more tourists would cripple the carrying capacity of the resort.

“Once you develop it, things would become more commercial and expensive. Why do you need such a big hotel there when there are plenty across the island?

“And what about the locals? Please, we do not need outsiders to dictate what we need. We locals elected you to office, so listen to us.

“We once objected against development on the hill to the extent of booting out those in power. You say we are in a new Malaysia, but please do not go with the old Malaysia ways,” Kanda said.

Kanda recalled DAP elder Lim Kit Siang joining civil society in protesting development on Penang Hill in the past.

“How can you say otherwise today, how do we believe in you? People voted for you and now you are going in the opposite direction,” he said.

Penang Hills Watch coordinator and Penang Forum steering committee member Rexy Prakash Chacko said the hotel idea had created much “worry and antipathy”, with Penangites barely recovering from the landslide disasters of Bukit Kukus and Tanjung Bungah.

He said Chow’s admission that one of the hotels would be “built on a slope” had gotten everyone “gritting their teeth”.

“It is worth reminding that Penang Hill suffered more than a hundred landslides during the November 2017 storm.

“As Penang Hill is environmentally sensitive, we are extremely worried that similar tragic incidents could happen during the construction of the proposed hotels,” he said.

Chacko said the areas to be developed into hotels were part of a gazetted water catchment area and surely would impede precious water resources

“It is worrying that a hotel with about 200 rooms could be planned in such sensitive water catchment areas.

“We are extremely worried that any disruption, sedimentation or pollution of our water catchment areas from the construction of these hotels would jeopardise the water supply of a water-stressed state like Penang,” he said.

He said in theory, if the two hotels were to be built, there would be 500 to 600 overnight guests on the hill, excluding hotel workers. This, he said, would strain the limited resources such as water supply, electricity and sewerage facilities.

‘Hotel plans not set in stone but call for tender soon’

Meanwhile, the Penang Hill Corporation (PHC), a state government-linked company tasked with managing the entire hill township, said the hotel projects remained at a “preliminary stage”.

In a statement last week, the PHC had said it was looking into refurbishing and repurposing existing buildings, such as the disused workers’ quarters at Coolie Line.

Another property considered for refurbishment is the Convalescent Bungalow, a property built in 1803 for British officers to recover from illnesses, primarily at a time when there was a Malaria outbreak.

As for the reported 200-room project, PHC said it was a “previous concept proposal”.

It said a new request for proposal (RFP) would be called soon and interested parties could submit their ideas.

In a related development, a petition to “save Penang Hill” and “no to hotels on the hill” addressed to Chow by Penang Forum on change.org has garnered 22,000 signatures, since it was started about a week ago.

The petition includes seven points on why a hotel project should not take off, with an emphasis on the degradation of the environment there.