THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT PENANG

Massive floods lift masks on uncontrolled development, incidences of poverty

PENANG’s worst floods in recent memory have highlighted two clear worrying trends. The first is uncontrolled development, including the clearing of hillsides for high-rise property projects especially on the island.

Secondly, the floods, or rather the aftermath of the floods, also exposed the sharp class divide, where there are many poor people. They are the most vulnerable every time floods hit the state.

On the first point, Penang is in a very precarious stage because of over-development, according to academics.

The state does not have a gazetted Local Plan for development and the Penang Masterplan 1970 is outdated. When there is no Local Plan, the ruler rules.

A friend of mine who grew up in Bayan Lepas near the airport said he used to swim in the river near his house. The river is now badly silted and there is no more water flowing freely.

The same pattern is repeated across the island, where developers clear the hills and destroy the water retention, causing sediments to clog the nearest river and waterways.

The floods have also sparked considerable public debate with one former Penang Island City Council (MBPP) councillor basically saying that some top DAP Penang government leaders are contradicting themselves.

Dr Lim Mah Hui, in an online piece entitled “The danger of half-truths in Penang landslide issue”, questioned the contradictory statements between DAP assemblyman Jagdeep Singh Deo and Penang exco member Chow Kon Yeow.

Jagdeep was reported as saying that the Penang government had not approved any development projects on hillslopes above 76m since 2008.

He then compared the zero approvals for projects on land above 76m by the current administration with the 28 highrise schemes allowed to be built on land above 76m by the previous ad- ministration.

Lim said this contradicted Chow’s statement in the state assembly that the Penang government had approved a total of 56 projects on slopes with gradients above 25 degrees or above 76m high.

“Chow’s answer in the state assembly completely destroys Jagdeep Singh’s claim that “the Penang state government has not approved any development projects on hillslopes above 76m since 2008,” said Eric See-To, deputy director at Barisan Nasional strategic communications.

“How can a son of Karpal act this way when lives were lost and more lives are at stake?” he asked.

Lim said Penang officials also liked to play with words. He said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Second Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy and Jagdeep had all claimed that the landslide that occurred near Lembah Permai on Oct 21 was on land below 76m and ostensibly on slopes of less than 25 degrees, and was not on hill land but on “flat land”.

“What is their definition of ‘flat land’? Are they confusing ‘low land’ (land below 76m above sea level) with ‘flat land’? Is this Class 2 hillslope land regarded as flat land? It may not be hill land, if ‘hill land’ is defined as land above 76m, but it certainly is not flat land,” Lim said.

This leads to my second point, which is the incidence of poverty in Penang.

Volunteers coming from Kuala Lumpur and other states for the clean-up efforts concede that they encountered many flood victims who are poor, landless and living in terrible conditions.

Seberang Prai Utara and Seberang Prai are two areas where incidences of poverty are prevalent.

Despite many government