The Chief Minister says he had no knowledge Anwar Ibrahim had promised Kampung Buah Pala villagers land titles should PR win the state.
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told the High Court today that did not know that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had once pledged to save the Indian village, Kampung Buah Pala.
Guan Eng said he never knew that prior to the 2008 general election Anwar had made the pledge to the village residents.
“I am not aware of it,” was Guan Eng’s reply to a question by defence counsel Baljit Singh during a cross-examination in the chief minister’s defamation suit against heritage activist Professor Dr Jimmy Lim Cheok Siang, FMT and journalist Athi Shankar.
Baljit, who was representing Jimmy Lim, asked the chief minister whether he knew of Anwar’s pledge to save Kampung Buah Pala, a 200-year-old Indian village once commonly known as “Tamil High Chaparral.”
Baljit refreshed Guan Eng’s memory, saying that Anwar had promised Kampung Buah Pala residents that they would be delivered land titles for their village homes within two weeks if the then opposition coalition of PKR–DAP–PAS wrested the state government from Barisan Nasional in the 2008 polls.
The opposition alliance, which later came to be known as Pakatan Rakyat, won the state government in the general election.
But the land titles were never delivered as promised.
But the land titles were never delivered as promised.
Anwar’s pledge became a major public issue during the height of the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco in 2009 with video footage showing the PKR supremo making his promise by putting his hand on an elderly villager’s head.
Guan Eng is represented by lawyer N Murali, while Baljit, V Amareson and Rowena Yam represented the first defendant, Jimmy Lim.
Legal counsel Clement Lopez acted for the second defendant M-Today News Sdn Bhd, the holding company of FMT, and third defendant Athi Shankar.
In his suit, Guan Eng claimed that an article titled: “Guan Eng has failed, says NGO” that appeared on FMT on December 6, 2013 carried unadulterated malice to destroy his image and reputation as an elected representative, people’s leader and politician in Penang and Malaysia.
Guan Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general, claimed that the article, which reported a statement by Jimmy Lim at a press conference, had alleged that he was an incompetent chief minister and not qualified to be a leader.
Guan Eng is demanding a public apology from the defendants as well as general and exemplary damages and other damages deemed fit by the court.
The suit is being heard before High Court judicial commissioner Nordin Hassan.
To another question from Amareson, Guan Eng testified that his state government had not finalised the gazetting and implementation of the Penang Island Local Plan, which was passed in 2008.
He revealed that the main reason for the delay was because his state government had not finalised the local area development plan for heritage zones even after Pakatan’s seven years in state power.
George Town and Malacca were listed jointly as Unesco International Heritage cities in July 2008.
Lim also admitted the all his claims and pleadings made in his suit did not exist in the said FMT article.
Source: FMT
Source: FMT
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