GEORGE TOWN: Wheelchair-bound Zawiah Ismail wept for about three hours while being part of the human barricade against bulldozers which were thought to be coming to tear down her home in Kampung Mutiara, Batu Ferringhi.
When news reached her that the demolition had been called off, she broke down in sobs of relief.
“I will never give the bulldozers an inch! I grew up in this village!” Zawiah, 61, cried out.
Police have advised landowner Peter Loke not to act on his vacant possession court order after the 500-odd villagers and 2,000 supporters blocked access to the village between 7am and 10am yesterday.
About 300 policemen gathered at the Batu Ferringhi police station. George Town OCPD Asst Comm Mior Faridalathrash Wahid was in the village to assess the situation.
Zawiah and about 10 other elderly women on wheelchairs formed the front ranks of the barricade, followed by a group of primary schoolchildren in uniform while the remaining supporters crowded behind them.
They also parked 12 cars, a van and a school bus on the two lanes leading to the village.
The crowd cheered as Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail made the announcement, but their joy is likely to be short lived.
Kuala Lumpur-based Loke, who will apply to the court for another date to carry out the demolition, said the authorities had informed him that the state government needed two months to arrange alternatives for the villagers.
He agreed to the time given.
“I only want to exercise my right as the landowner.
“I don’t believe in giving people trouble, but at the same time, I don’t want people to give me trouble.
“What bothers me is that the squatters think they have the right to compensation.
“Why is the state government helping people who are illegally living on my land? Where is the justice?” he asked.
Loke, who has owned the 1.4ha land since 1991, was critical of the state’s politicians for backing the villagers’ plea for resettlement as compensation.
“They are bullying me and the state is helping them. This has become explosive and the villagers took the law into their own hands while the state is backing them.”
He stressed that there was no law requiring landowners to compensate those who “have stayed on his land for free for 25 years”.
Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon confirmed that the state was looking into the possibility of providing housing for the villagers.
“But this is not compensation.
“The houses will be for the villagers to buy or rent.
“We will also give them priority for low-cost, low-medium-cost or affordable housing.”
Kampung Mutiara is one of the last Malay villages in Batu Ferringhi, situated behind the Yahong Art Gallery and the police station.
The villagers formerly lived by the sea where Penang Parkroyal is now located.
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