Penang politicians say that the hills are alive with the sound of
music but angry residents in Tanjung Bungah think the hills are dying
and their once serene suburb has become unlivable.
(Also see a quick, same-day, reply from the Penang Chief Minister http://limguaneng.com/index.php/2012/07/01/hill-development-projects-putting-the-record-straight-from-stars-dishonest-efforts-to-rewrite-history-encn/)
THE
rugged-looking Teh Yee Cheu, assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah, used to be
dubbed the “bicycle YB” because he had once cycled to a Penang
Legislative Assembly sitting. His DAP bosses did not quite approve of it
but he received a lot of publicity from the media and went from an
unknown to being noticed.
But these days, Teh’s name is more
synonymous with the “dying hills” in his constituency. The hills of
Tanjung Bungah have become a prickly issue in Penang politics and Teh is
feeling the heat.
The DAP politician has been under immense
pressure from his constituents to act on their complaints about the
string of development projects coming up in Tanjung Bungah’s hilly
terrain. Hillslope development and its environmental costs have become
the No. 1 issue in this upmarket coastal strip.
Stolen
charm: The once scenic coastline of Tanjung Bungah now resembles a
concrete fortress and the fear is that things will get worse because
there are more projects in the pipeline.
Tanjung
Bungah, for those who are not from Penang, is an affluent residential
belt on the island’s northeast. It occupies a narrow stretch of land
with the hills on one side and the sea on the other. It is a much
sought-after location and as land grew more scarce, the trend has been
towards building high-rise and high-end apartments on hill slopes.
