Penang Watch

Stop blaming previous administration for Kg Buah Pala: Teng

PENANG, July 15 — A former Penang state executive councillor today
slammed the state leadership for blaming the previous state leadership
over the issue of the Kampung Buah Pala land sale in Gelugor, when they
themselves finalised the matter last year.

Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan, the former state local government and
traffic management committee chairman, said the new state government
may not be aware that they approved the decision of the previous
administration when they concluded the land title to the Penang
Government Officers Cooperative about 19 days after winning in the
March 2008 general election.

“As soon as they took over the state, the opposition pact signed a
transfer letter to the cooperative on March 27, 2008,” Teng told
reporters after launching a Purple Ribbon Campaign to fight violence at
the state Gerakan headquarters here.

Teng, who is also Penang Gerakan chairman, said the new state
government also accepted the balance of the land premium of RM2.47
million on March 14, 2008 and on May 23 of the same year, and that the
state executive council decided not to grant a 50 per cent discount to
the new owners of the land, instead asking for the balance.

“This shows that the opposition government actually took steps to
finalise the decision of the previous government. If they were really
serious, the state government could have used the opportunity to make a
new decision and not finalise the land title,” he said.

Teng said the previous state government took a long time to approve
the land sale to the cooperative as the application from the
cooperative was received in 2001, because they wanted to look out for
the welfare of the residents involved.

According to him, two previous executive councillors, P. Subbaiyah
and Datuk Koay Kar Huah, were involved in championing the compensation
for the residents. The previous government gave a 50 per cent discount
on the land premium from RM6.42 million to RM3.21 million as the
cooperative’s land beside Dewan Sri Pinang was taken for a court
complex in exchange for the Kampung Buah Pala land.

The cooperative also needed to pay compensation to the residents to
be relocated and the developer was to give a seven per cent discount to
cooperative members who would buy houses that would be built later. —
Bernama