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By Himanshu Bhatt. SINCE early this year, authorities in Penang have been forced to contend with a special breed of squatters who have a knack for carving out territories for their private use. Encroaching on public land without any permission or official consultation, these people are known to build illegal buildings to live or operate businesses in, and then insisting that they deserve to be left undisturbed in their self-proclaimed domains. Most remarkably, the areas that have been quite visibly trespassed upon have been beaches, which come under the government and are by law required to be open for full public access.
In Tanjung Tokong more than a dozen elaborate structures have been built on a reclaimed beachfront even though the entire 300m stretch has been gazetted as state reserve land and is earmarked for a public park. What is shocking about this illegal “kampung” is not just that it had emerged in less than a year, but the sheer sophistication of the buildings. Government officials, including from the state land office, were taken aback when they went to the beach recently only to be greeted by the sight of buildings like a bungalow, workshops, boat sheds, and enclosures with chicken, turkeys and other livestock. One family that lives there admitted it had spent in excess of RM40,000 to build a house, a gazebo and sheds on the beach – all in less than nine months. Understandably, one can be forgiven for reacting with a sense of indignation at the behaviour of these modern squatters. One may be inclined to ask what right these people have to put up their private dwellings on public land without any permission. What gall do these people have to think they can squat and take over for free land that is meant for people at large? But the issue is not just one of gross indiscipline and brazen violation of the law; it has also to do with the acute scarcity of land and the rampant population spread in urban areas. For example, unknown to most people, the family mentioned earlier was previously residing at the nearby Kampung Tanjung Tokong which has been slated for demolition to make way for a high-rise residential project. Having lived in the vicinity all their lives, the quiet secluded beachfront seemed to be the only place they felt they could settle down. “We don’t disturb anyone here,” the head of the family said. “I have explained to the authorities that this area was unused, so we just moved here.” In an even more astounding case, the Penang Island Municipal Council recently demolished a three-storey wooden tree-house built about eight years ago at a public beach in Tanjung Bungah, ending months of controversy. Supporters of the illegal tree-house, whose owner used it to operate an unlicensed café called “Do Re Mi” in it, questioned why similar action was not taken against other structures, including illegal extensions to beachfront houses, that were encroaching on the beach without permit. The tree-house operator has since asked for compensation, saying the government should help reimburse him for the investment he had put into the structure and the bank loan he had taken. Never mind that the whole thing was built without permit on state land; or that it had elicited complaints from nearby residents about issues of cleanliness and safety. The government has since given an assurance that it will work in stages to address complaints of other illegal works at Penang’s beaches. In places like Batu Ferringhi for example, entire swathes have been taken up by illegal commercial beach operators, who insist they have a right to squat there to earn a living. To compound the matter, there are almost always political elements waiting in the wings to get involved in these cases, ostensibly for their own purposes; even as more and more communities are uprooted from their traditional places of residence by development projects. And the cases highlighted above form just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous other instances of illegal encroachment at inland areas, posing a string of headaches for the authorities. ** Reproduced with permission. This article first appeared in the June 17, 2010 issue of theSun. Himanshu is the newspaper’s Penang bureau chief.
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