GEORGE TOWN, Sept 30 ― A Penang lawmaker is applying for a 200-year-old Siamese village in Pulau Tikus to be gazetted as a heritage site in a bid to save it from being demolished to make way for new development.

Pulau Tikus assemblyman Yap Soo Huey, whose bid is supported by the Penang government, said this is the only way to prevent the landowner, Five Star Heritage Sdn Bhd, from evicting the villagers through court orders.

“Even if we were to rezone the land back to cultural and religious land, it can't stop the landowner from evicting the villagers as this is still a private land,” she  told a press conference at the village this morning.

The 2,681sq metre plot of land in Pulau Tikus with 11 residential homes and 10 shophouses was rezoned as a commercial area back in 1996, Yap claimed.

The dispute  surrounding the village started back in April this year when Five Star Heritage issued eviction notices to the villagers.

The villagers refused to comply and last week called a press conference to reveal the rich history of the land and their reluctance to vacate a land where six generations of Siamese had been born and bred there.

Yap said she will write to the Heritage Department to seek assistance on the procedures to gazette the village as a heritage site.

“Once it is gazetted as a heritage site, the landowner will have no choice but to preserve the village,” she said.

She is also writing to the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) to review the heritage status of the buildings in the village as well as shophouses in its surrounding area along Burmah Road and Cantonment Road.

She then urged Barisan Nasional leaders, particularly those from Gerakan, who have been vocal in criticising the state government for not protecting the village, to lend their assistance.

“They are most welcome to help especially in our application for the land to be gazetted as a heritage site as Jabatan Warisan is under the BN federal government,” she said.

Last month, Five Star Heritage initiated court proceedings to evict the villagers from the land to make way for a hotel development.

Yap said Five Star Heritage has applied for planning approval to build a hotel, but reassured the villagers that MPPP will not approve the application as long as the dispute is not resolved.

The case is now pending mention in court.