Missing link in 50 Love Lane

Historical shophouse’s transfer of ownership hits a legal snag

GEORGE TOWN: The state government must find a legal connection before it can hand over a historical shophouse it seized in 2014 to the Penang Chinese Clan Council (PCCC) for a token RM1, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said a snag had surfaced because PCCC did not have the necessary legal link to take over the shophouse, 50 Love Lane.

The house is historically tied to a powerful Chinese society in Penang in the 1800s called Ghee Hin, which governed the majority of the earliest Chinese migrant workers.

“PCCC wanted the property transferred to its name, claiming a connection with Ghee Hin through its ownership of another Ghee Hin property, Meng Eng Soo Temple in Jalan Pintal Tali,” he said in a statement yesterday, adding that the state government was agreeable at first.

However, although PCCC operated Meng Eng Soo Temple, Lim said the ownership of the temple was still with a group of trustees, all of whom are dead.

“Legally, this changes the whole equation as the legal nexus of connected property ownership in Meng Eng Soo temple and the Love Lane property is broken,” he said.

The Chief Minister was responding to a commentary piece in Sunday Star, detailing PCCC’s quandary.

Lim expressed disappointment that PCCC chairman Anthony Chang was “looking for a fight with the state government”.

“We believe that the transfer of property can be still be effected through rational discussions with their lawyers, although it may take some time,” Lim said.

When contacted, Chang said he would respond after a discussion with his members.