Villagers in Pengerang, Johor, have recovered tombstones from graves of their ancestors, after a cemetery was cleared without their knowledge early this year.
The site had been levelled during land reclamation works for the construction of a disputed deepwater petroleum terminal by oil and gas company Dialog Group Bhd.
Dialog is among the companies that will invest in Pengerang where Petronas is to build the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project.
One of the tombstones was recovered from the grave of Hong Tian Hwa’s grandmother. He is coordinator of Angry Lobster, a protest group comprising Pengerang villagers who are against both the deepwater petroleum terminal and Rapid project.
“Even if the burial site was demolished unintentionally, Dialog should compensate by recovering the tombstones and returning these to (family members), but they have chosen to ignore it,” Hong said in a statement today.
The frustrated Hong then pointed his finger at the Johor government, which is one of the investors in the project.
“The state government should explain to the villagers whether it is condoning such illegal action.”
Hong also claimed that the contractor engaged by Dialog had demolished an altar at a Chinese temple and fenced off the site on the basis that structure was on its land.
However, the contractor was forced to remove the fence after a check by the authorities confirmed that it was the contractor who had trespassed into temple land, according to Hong.
“The altar has been torn down. The temple owner is now discussing the matter with the authorities.”
Project underway
Land reclamation work, which started last July, is part of the deepwater petroleum terminal project being jointly developed by Dialog, Dutch company Royal Vopak and the Johor government.
Rapid will eventually acquire some 9,000 hectares of land, affecting up to 15 villages in Pengerang, a small coastal town located some 110km from Johor Bahru. It is famous for seafood, especially small lobsters.
The first phase of project development, which has yet to kick off, will lead to the relocation of some 3,000 residents occupying about 1,000 houses.
In April, 578 traditional fishermen in Pengerang had filed a suit seeking compensation for land reclamation work in connection with the project.
However the government has assured locals not to worry about their livelihood as all the necessary compensation would be paid to them.
Once completed, the project will be bigger than the combined facilities in Kerteh, Gebeng and Malacca, with the capacity to produce 9 million tonnes of petroleum products and 4.5 million tonnes of petrochemicals a year.
It will also have its own regasification plant to serve Liquified Natural Gas tankers.
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