A Tribute to Kg Buah Pala - The Last Indian Heritage of Penang

While many Malaysians were thrilled to cheer the so called Malaysia Day on 16th September 2010, here in the island well known as Pearl of the Orient, a group of Indian villagers were in tears to remember this date which reminds them of an awful memory. This day symbols their 1st year where their entire village which was also popularly known as The High Chaparral of Penang, demolished by a developer with the help of DAP steered State Government. Despite many pleas and cries by the Indian villagers to save their land which is a century old, this DAP lead state government merely refused to lend their ears.

This is an exclusive case where a traditional Indian parish was ROBBED by the Gerakan lead state government and handed it over to UMNO owned cooperative, who then sold it to a Chinese developer for a share of earnings. That was when DAP government entered the scene after the result of a political tsunami where Pakatan Rakyat achieved victory in 4 states on the 8th of March 2008 12th general election. This was actually an end result of a ‘snow ball’ thrown by Hindraf on 25th November 2007 where by the opposition alliance should never deny it.

(Before)

During election campaigns at this particular village, all top guns of the opposition party promised to retrieve the said land from the hands of the racism UMNO government and a pledge by these leaders to secure an individual land title for each and every family. These villagers were ecstatic by the promises of these top guns and proved their genuineness in the ballot box. The DAP took over officially the state government after the 8th of March 2008 polls with Lim Guan Eng leading the administration.

Instead of protecting the interest of these poor Indian villagers, this DAP lead state government took side of the developer by again giving them empty promises and false hopes. These poor Indian villagers who are generally live stock breeders where their land was the only survival ground and home to their families were left high and dry with their hopes and dreams. Lim Guan Eng as the administrator was more in favour of the developer than to villagers. Although after a few sequence of dialogues, discussion and pleas, nothing could be done to save the village. The village was finally demolished completely on the 16th of September 2009, the day every other Malaysian celebrating to signify the formation of Malaysia.

(present)

To date, the villagers are still waiting anxiously for their cries to be heard. This exactly proves the discrimination of the politically powerless Indians. This merciless betrayal by the Pakatan Rakyat will not be forgotten by Indians in this nation.

To Pakatan Rakyat…there is this physics theory to be remembered by the leaders;

‘For Every Action, There Will Be an Equal Reaction’.

See you all in the next polls.

Muralitharan Ramachandran
18/09/10