The Kampong Buah Pala(荳蔻村), Bukit Glugor, the houses are now demolished.
The village which is part of Glugor estate owned by David Brown, whose family Helen Brown left with a Housing Trust to the estate workers,so that a land will be a village for their families in years to come. The legacy of Brown family will be continued as trust land and public housing for their workers...... But they did not realized that their charitable act, and their intention in the trust established for the benefits of their workers' families will not last more than 200 years(approx). Will the family feel bad if they know their good intention will come to this end? will they change their mind?
The trust land were changed to TOL after Malaysian independence....and owned by the state.
The land was sold by the former state government to a government servant's cooperative on package deal,reported to be lower than market price, however it was also reported that it was in deal of replacement of another land. No more housing trust or public housing, it is now private housing development....
The villagers, NGO and politician joined in to protest against the developer and the current state government,the demonstration and the drama have attracted the attention of the whole nation. Each stakeholder has their own hidden agenda, it was not disclosed to the public. The ugly political games hide the actual moral and legal issues, the actual issue was forgotten, and it ultimately come close to the issue of compensation.
The villagers were in dilemma, there are many smart people to follow; the NGO, the lawyer, the politician, the internet, the developer, the state government......It is now the decision closed to their heart,nobody can decided for them. It is bread and butter decision, it is the decision involving money and pride, form and substance, egg and chicken issue...need to decide fast.
The supporters and advisers quietly disappear from Kampong Buah Pala. The villagers are left alone to decide for themselves. Now we know who are the actors in the drama, where are all the actors gone? it does not mater now, all the players have achieved their respective agenda. The villagers have to face the reality alone, ya alone...
The smart politician Vs innocent villagers....
The game is now over, gone is my village, my memory, it is all history when the houses fell one by one.
It is history we will remember; about David Brown, about NLC and Trust law, about political games(how the politician is able to play up the emotion of the innocent people), the experience of opposition party becoming a government(eager to push their view)and how an experienced politician can made use of the inexperience; the showmanship of faded personality; the eager of some NGO pushing their agenda without the real understanding of the issues....
We will remember the days. Personally,gone are the memory of the place where I used to stroll during the evening when I was in Bukit Glugor(in 70s), the familiar village..... The new Kg Buah Pala that to come will not be the same again.....
Goodbye, Kampong Buah Pala.
Related articles:
1. 豆蔻村=历史名词？（更新）, Kwong Wah Daily, 2-8-2009, http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2009/08/02/116.html
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