Senators to CM: Save Kg Siam

Two BN appointed senators have urged Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng intervene to save the Siamese village in Pulau Tikus as land matters are under the state’s jurisdiction.

Senator Boon Som Inong from Kedah added the Lim could help by bringing the issue to the state cabinet to find a ‘win-win’ situation for the residents.

"Please gazette the area as a heritage village as the priority is to preserve it. If that can’t be done, at least offer the residents a proper compensation package," Boon said after visiting the site today.

"They were offered only RM30,000 in compensation. What can you buy with that? Are they going to sleep on the streets?

"I am here not for political reasons but to find a solution," said Boon whose senatorship was at the recommendation of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Senator cum Kelantan Gerakan chairperson Ng Chiang Chin said that whoever takes over the land should resolve the plight of the residents on humanitarian grounds and not look at it from the the commercial perspective alone.

"In Kelantan, we also take care of the Siamese community and thus we are concerned about what happens here. We hope to help this minority community regain its losses," he added.

'Value the residents'

Malaysian Siamese Association president Osot Prayun also urged the authorities to value the residents here.

"We seek the mercy of the state to look after their wellbeing," he said.

The residents whose history goes back six generations, have been issued eviction notices by the developer who is planning to build a hotel on the 0.64ha land.

To make way for the hotel, seven shops and 10 wooden houses would have to be demolished.

Use of the land had been converted from cultural to commercial use in 1996.

The plot was originally bequeathed to the Burmese and Siamese communities by East India Company on behalf of Queen Victoria in 1845.

Reasonable compensation

Parti Cinta Malaysia vice-president Huan Cheng Guan.who accompanied the trio today, claimed the developer has many projects.

"I am sure they are good friends with the state government and can discuss the matter with them.

"This is not a case of you help me, I help you, but involves everyone's interests," he said.

He suggested that Lim work out a reasonable compensation package like Taman Buah Pala where the residents were given replacement units worth about RM600,000 each.

Huan said Lim could also seek the aid of the federal government to help the community.