GEORGE TOWN, July 31 — Kampung Mutiara residents have been given three months to vacate their village after final discussions with the landowner to postpone today’s eviction.
The residents will be shifted to temporary housing at Seri Tanjung Pinang in Tanjung Tokong by UDA Holdings within these three months.
“The eviction notice today has been withdrawn with the condition that the residents deliver vacant possession of the land to the land owner three months from today,” Northeast district police chief Asst Comm Anuar Omar told the residents today.
As early as 2am today, the residents started moving vehicles and large tree trunks to block entrances to the village to stop the bailiff from entering and evicting them.
Politicians from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan turned up to support them while Umno’s Datuk Ahmad Ismail and Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Rashid Hasnon along with Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari led negotiations with the landowner Loke Leng Seak.
Following the negotiations, Ahmad, who represented the residents, said it was agreed that BN pays the landowner RM50,000 compensation due to the delay in the villagers vacating the land.
“We are also paying him another RM50,000 as a surety for all the residents to move out in three months’ time and he will return this sum after the residents have moved out,” he said.
He said they have already arranged with UDA Holdings for the residents to move to the temporary housing but the housing is still awaiting strata title before keys can be handed over.
“We will try to arrange for the strata title to be obtained as soon as possible, failing which, to arrange with the state government to allow the residents to move in first pending the strata title,” he said.
Prior to today’s discussions, the Penang state government had also gazetted Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on July 27 to acquire the village land for public housing.
“We have agreed to withdraw Section 4 if the landowner agreed to give the residents time to move out,” Rashid said.
The state government had also agreed to waive five years’ quit rent fees for the land owner.
Ahmad said after the villagers move out, Penang Umno will ask for a further RM20 million from Putrajaya to develop two lots of land next to Kampung Mutiara.
“This is a joint venture between UDA Holdings and Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) to build 550 units of free housing for all Batu Ferringhi villagers, including the residents here, who were evicted from their homes,” he said.
He said the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has already approved an initial RM10 million to build the housing and they are in the midst of coming up with plans for the project.
Earlier today, cars and large tree trunks were used to barricade the entrances to the village with banners proclaiming, “Kampung tradisional bakal hilang. Penduduk Batu Ferringhi di Kampung Mutiara akan diusir oleh Tuan Tanah”. (A traditional village will be lost. Villagers in Kampung Mutiara in Batu Ferringhi are being evicted.)
A few hundred metres inside, villagers formed the second blockade in wheelchairs holding up placards with the words “kami sayang kampung kami” (we love our village) and “selamatkan kampung kami” (save our village).
This is a repeat of the standoff between the villagers and the court bailiffs back in August and December 2015.
At that time, the demolition was deferred after the police advised the landowner not to proceed with the eviction due to the volatility of the situation then.
The landowner bought the 3.5 acre land in 2006 and proceeded to evict the residents without offering any compensation or applying for planning permission for any project on the site.
He had applied for the courts to evict the residents back in 2012 and on April 20 in 2015.
A court order asking them to vacate the premises was issued followed by a writ of possession on June 25, 2015 and finally, a notice to vacate was issued on July 9, 2015.
The resident appealed to the High Court and later to the Court of Appeals against the notice to vacate.
In February last year, the Court of Appeals threw out the residents’ appeal while Ahmad and Rashid continued to negotiate with the landowner on resolving this issue.
Most of the residents in the century-old village, in 66 houses, have been living there for a few generations.
