“Of what good is a highway project?”

Azizi Abdullah dalam tulisan bertajuk, “Of what good is a highway project?” salah satu artikel dalam: Tanah Airku – Land Issues in Malaysia based on CAP’s national conference on “Land: Emerging Issues and Challenges”


“At Bumbung Lima in Kepala Batas, Prai, a poor farmer ― let me call him Tuk Said ― had a piece of heritage land and a padi field which he harvested twice a year. On his land, he had some coconut trees, banana trees and others.

When a highway project was started, a strip of his land was affected. Tuk Said protested as he had no other land. If the project was allowed to continue, it would mean the end of his land and field.

Unfortunately Tuk Said’s friends had already agreed to the compensation, so only Tuk Said persisted and continued to fight for his land. He almost managed to nip the project in the bud.

Finally he was visited by certain parties who lorded it over him and said that if Tuk Said did not want the money, they would keep in a trust fund, and it would be real hard to get back the money. At first, Tuk Said stood his ground. Then they said whether he liked it or not, his land would still be taken over by the authorities for the project.

In the end, Tuk Said was forced to accept the RM 60,000 compensation. But being heritage land, Tuk Said had to share his money. He was left with RM 10,000. And what could he do with the RM 10,000? Buy back the equivalent of the land taken away? Buy a terrace house? Buy a field as big as the one lost? Or get the coconut trees, banana trees and others just like the previous ones he had?

Now Tuk Said has built a house costing RM 5,000 on reserve land of the new highway. When the highway is ready, what kind of dangers will Tuk Said face, with his home on the side of it? But then, Tuk Said has no other alternative.

Maybe one day he will receive an order to quit the area, as he would be deemed to have overstayed on reserve land. Perhaps Tuk Said himself would have got tired of the highway conditions and left the place. But where would he go? To the forest? Under the bridge? Only God knows….”