TODAY, I write to you from the coastline of Permatang Damar Laut in Bayan Lepas. Yup, I am on a reconnaissance field trip, to check out the sites of a mammoth land reclamation called the Penang South Reclamation scheme (PSR).

Recently, the Penang government announced plans to initiate reclamation on the south side of Penang island. The scheme involves creating three man-made islands off the southern coast spanning Permatang Damar Laut, Teluk Bayu, Sungai Batu, Teluk Kumbar and Gertak Sanggul.

As with all mammoth projects, the scheme does not escape opposition. One the other hand, being one who understands the benefits of this scheme, I would like to share with you, so that you, too, can have a clear understanding of the rationale behind this scheme, which, at the surface, seems so removed from our everyday Penang lives and yet, will have a positive impact on the lives of the people of Penang, not just for a moment, but for decades to come. It would be to our own disservice to blindly oppose it.

And, the best way to explain the benefits is with an analogy.

Young children can be incredibly self-centred. When we were small, we often made demands of daddy, whether for new clothes, new toys or a new tricycle. We throw tantrums when daddy says he cannot afford them. We just want those things. We don’t care how daddy gets them for us. On one hand, we want daddy to buy us these things yet, on the other hand, we don’t want daddy to go to work because we want him to stay home and play with us. We get very upset whenever daddy uses the words “cannot afford”. That’s how we were, as children.

As we grow older, we begin to learn the realities of life. We start to understand why daddy has to work so hard. We also learn unpleasant things about our own family. Like, how grandpa borrowed lots of money, not to help the family, but to waste on careless spending. Because of grandpa, the family is in debt. Now, it dawns on us kids that those people knocking on our door are not friends: they are debt collectors.

On May 9, the family suffered a big upheaval when it decided grandpa was not fit to handle the family’s money and so, a different grandfather – let’s call him granddaddy – took over the role. But granddaddy has to settle the debts grandpa left behind. That means no new toys, no new clothes and forget a new tricycle. That makes granddaddy very unpopular, especially with the younger children. But the bigger kids know that this period of austerity is not forever and that one day, happy days will come again. But until that day arrives, we will wish we were innocent children again, so that we could unknow the unpleasantness we now know.

Some people, having grown up, continue to harbour that child-like mentality. Except that daddy is the state government and grandpa/granddaddy is the federal government. Like children, they make unreasonable demands of the government. They want the government to give them this and that, but they are not interested in listening when the government says it cannot afford to satisfy their demands. For all they care, the government holds some kind of magic wand that materialises money out of thin air.

The reality is, the state and federal governments operate pretty much the same way every family does. A responsible family is thrifty and does not borrow unnecessarily. Daddy’s day job is barely enough to cover the family’s basic necessities. To afford the new clothes, new toys or a new tricycle for us, daddy has to take a second job. In the family called Penang, the PSR is daddy’s second job.

The Penang government cannot make money from thin air. What it receives only covers basic necessities for the people. To have more money – to pay for things like a new highway or a new LRT line – it first has to create for itself a new revenue stream.

The state government is aware that land that can be developed on Penang island is depleting. That itself creates both a concern and an opportunity. Such opportunities present themselves only to cities that are islands, for they can create new land, which will become a much-needed revenue generator for years to come.

The plan involves creating up to three islands, which will provide the state government with as much as 1,800ha of land that it will own. This land can then be slowly sold for development as and when the need arises. On top of that, 30% of the land will be set aside for public housing for Penang folk.

The Penang government does not intend to sell off all that land at once. Doing so will have a huge negative impact on land prices in Penang. Some of the land will be sold, some will be used by the state for the people, such as to create public spaces. Selling the land gradually serves as a mechanism to ensure property prices in Penang can be controlled and does not steeply increase. To put it bluntly: if we want future generations to afford Penang property, it is in our own interest to support our government’s initiative to put this price stability mechanism in place.

Unfortunately, those opposed to this plan are trying to paint the state government as rapacious, attempting to swindle the people. They either do not comprehend or deliberately wish to ignore that the reclamation scheme is to introduce long-term benefits and a property price stability mechanism while, at the same time, providing the state with a long-term revenue stream. Those who are too lazy to understand the rationale often say, “If Penang island runs out of land, why don’t we develop mainland Penang? It has plenty”.

Such a remark disregards the objective: how does that create a revenue stream for the state government? Mainland Penang may have a lot of land, but if it does not belong to the state government, it doesn’t benefit the government and, therefore, cannot be channelled back to benefit the people.

Now that we understand how the PSR will benefit the state government, it is also necessary to be aware of the environmental and social impacts this mammoth scheme will have on Penang and its people, especially those living along its southern coast. And to best understand this, I visited the places involved.

Permatang Damar Laut is an area on the south side of Penang International Airport. While it is part of Bayan Lepas, it comprises several villages, including Permatang Tepi Bendang, Permatang Tepi Laut and, of course, Permatang Damar Laut proper.

In the 1970s, Penang International Airport underwent a major expansion. The extension of the airport runway resulted in the relocation of Permatang Damar Laut villagers by a few hundred metres. The only trace of that village is its cemetery, now an “island” surrounded by airport land. Jalan Permatang Damar Laut cuts right through airport land.

In subsequent decades, padi fields in the area were developed and the village of Permatang Tepi Bendang became expunged. To the west side of the airport’s land is the village of Permatang Tepi Laut. Today, it is the only intact settlement in Permatang Damar Laut that has neither been relocated or expunged.

Sungai Permatang Damar Laut flows beside this small fishing village, which has its own little fishermen’s jetty. The coast has a muddy bottom and, at times, you can see mudskippers. During World War 2, the British built small batteries, colloquially known as pillboxes, the relics of which can still be seen on the coast.

During my visit to Permatang Tepi Laut, there were a few villagers sitting around a table at the local fishermen’s hall. I got into a conversation with them. Being friendly rural folk, they asked if I was a reporter. I told them I was exploring the area to get to know more about it.

I asked them about the neighbouring village of Permatang Damar Laut, which was relocated in the 1970s. The villagers told me that those people were lucky because, as a result of the compensation, they received a proper plot of land with brick houses to replace their wooden village houses. In comparison, they themselves were “not that lucky” because their village, Permatang Tepi Laut, did not have to relocate.

I did not inform the villagers that in the future, they, too, might have to relocate if their village is in the path of the Bayan Lepas LRT. (Yes, the LRT will pass through here on its way to the first of the three reclaimed island. The exact path of the LRT line, I do not yet know.) But if that were true, I believe they would welcome the idea, for finally, they could enjoy the compensation received by neighbouring Permatang Damar Laut a few decades earlier.

Careful not to plant words in their mouths, I asked if they were aware of plans to reclaim land off the coast. Yes, they were aware, but didn’t seem perturbed by it. In fact, based on the benefit received by neighbouring Permatang Damar Laut decades ago, the people I spoke to at Permatang Tepi Laut seemed to welcome change.

As I chatted with them, these villagers came across as admirably resilent and pragmatic, and more welcoming of progress than we often give credit to rural people. I realised that quite often, villagers who oppose government’s plans are those who have words planted in their mouths by outsiders set on derailing the government’s plans for their own malicious motives.

As Penang urbanises, the remaining rural pockets may have to undergo change, something that many villagers have come to accept. Change has already started in places surrounding Permatang Tepi Laut – in Batu Maung, in Teluk Kumbar, in Bayan Lepas – so it is only a matter of time before it arrives at this sleepy vllage.

In fact, the people of Permatang Tepi Laut deserve the change, especially change to a better life, with better housing, better standard of living and a better way to earn a living. Even the way they fish may have to change. But the fear of change is understandable, and should not be ignored. The key is to apply a sympathetic approach to managing that change.

AnakPinang understands the necessity of the PSR scheme. The funds it generates can be used to improve our infrastructure, particularly the Penang Transport Master Plan, which leads to a better life for all of us. In addition, enlarging our state’s land bank will help prevent property prices from drastically overheating.

Nevertheless, we will remain watchful, and will impress on the state government that the common people impacted by the PSR scheme benefit rather than suffer. After all, for what purpose is the scheme if it not to benefit the people? Often, people who cannot articulate their plight have their well-being overlooked. At AnakPinang, we want to ensure that those impacted will not be adversely affected, while those not directly impacted will be able to see and enjoy the benefits.

It is, therefore, a necessity for us to understand the change the villagers have to undertake and, in our most sympathetic manner, ensure that the transition will be handled with the greatest of care. There are times we cannot avoid progress, but neither should we become casualties of it. – December 19, 2018.

* Timothy Tye is a spokesman for Penang-based civil society group AnakPinang.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.