After negotiations between the federal Lands and Mines Department (JKPTG) and the chief minister’s office (CMO) today, it was decided that abandoned, unoccupied homes will be torn down using backhoes, as planned on March 15.
The occupied homes would be spared from the backhoes pending an appeal on ex gratia to the home ministry, the Penang CMO said today.
The 80-odd residents of Kampung Sungai Dua, including five places of worship, were recently served multiple eviction notices to clear out from the 5ha site. The residents have since pleaded for a replacement home or land and appropriate compensation.
In a statement, the CMO said chief minister Chow Kon Yeow met JKPTG officials, state assemblymen, MPs and Penang police deputy chief Aziz Abdul Majid this afternoon over the issue.
The meeting concluded with the Penang police pledging to appeal to the home ministry to reinstate an ex gratia offered in 2007. The then ex gratia offered was RM27,200 but with no replacement homes. Most of the 34 families then had refused to take up the offer, it was reported. However, a handful did take up the offer and vacated their homes.
The CMO said all action against the occupied homes in the village would be deferred until the appeal was completed.
“The home ministry has been given the necessary allocations under the 12th Malaysia Plan to build a new police headquarters in Penang and the project is expected to commence in a few months,” it said.
The villagers facing eviction are largely descendants of families who have lived in the area for close to a century but without formal land titles. The threat of eviction has hung over them since 2007, when plans for a new police headquarters in the area were first mooted.
According to Batu Uban assemblyman Kumaresan Aramugam, some residents accepted the ex gratia payment and left but others had wanted replacement homes as part of a full compensation package.
“While most of the residents here understand they are squatting on government land, all they want is fair compensation and a roof over their heads. They are willing to move out,” he said.