| Koh Annoyed With Developer Who Demolished School |
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PENANG, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- The Penang state government described the action taken by a developer, Motif Era Sdn Bhd, to demolish SJK (C) Sin Chung, in Permatang Sintok, Butterworth, as harsh and callous.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the developer paid no attention to the students'safety and went ahead while students were still in the classroom.
"We are very disappointed with the developer's action although they had received the court order but at the least they should have shown some concern for the students'safety in the classrooms," he told reporters here, Friday.
On Thursday, following a court judgment in favour of the developer, the company immediately began demolishing the canteen and toilet buildings in the school that was set up in 1940s.
However the demolition works stopped few hours later when the school authorities managed to get a stay of execution order from the Penang High Court against the Sessions Court's decision.
The school with 46 pupils is supposed to be relocated to a new site nearby provided by the developer but there was a delay in putting up a building there.
Koh also denied claims by the developer that he refused to intervene and failed to respond to the letter dated 22 Dec sent by the developer.
"Yes, I received a letter through fax in my office but it was in fact a legal notice stating that I had trespassed the developer's land and at the bottom it was mentioned that they were willing to negotiate," he said.
Koh said the developer alleged he trespassed the land when he went to attend the ground breaking ceremony for the school on Dec 19. The new site to the school is only accessible through the developer's land.
The state government represented by two state executive councillors and two assemblymen had tried to negotiate with the developer but the latter was adamant to continue with the legal action.
Koh urged the school board to speed up the new school building project and the state government is willing to allocate RM100,000 while Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is also the Kepala Batas Parliament member agreed to allocate another RM200,000 and the school board had collected contributions worth RM300,000.
"I request the school board to build the first phase of the school building with the money in hand though they have planned a new building worth RM1.5 million there is no need for them to wait until they have enough money," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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