This was my response:
1. I do not live in Penang.
2. I was alerted late Feb / early March by two sources, one from Seattle USA and the other from Hong Kong, they had heard from others who had heard from someone from the Taiping Tseng Lung Association who had seen a tiny little ad in one Chinese newspaper -- nothing published in any Malay or English language newspapers.
3. I immediately engaged with civil society and NGOs to seek advice, direction and help. I made contact with Lim Gaik Siang, Khoo Su Nin and Clement Liang of the Penang Heritage Trust.
4. I wrote to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow 曹觀友 and Heritage Commissioner Rosli Nor on 2nd March 2022. Chow did not reply. Rosli said three months before they had done preliminary documentation of the tomb, they were aware of the problem, the tomb ought to be saved because of its uniqueness and its connection to historical personalities, and he would look into the matter further.
5. I continued my correspondence giving warnings that the developer may covertly destroy the tomb presenting the government with a fait accompli as was done in the case of the Hotel Metropole (Northam Road) and the Koh graves -- in fact there are many other examples. I urged government to act fast.
6. I wrote to Zairil Khir Johari and Jason Okl, neither of whom responded so much as to even acknowledge my appeal. Presently Ong untags himself every time I tag him on Facebook.
7. I wrote to Soon Hin Yeoh [he untags too] who also never wrote back.
8. None of these should have been sad, shocked, surprised etc. when the grave was eventually destroyed.
9. Through all of this the Press have been great help, contacting me directly with information they received first hand from the site.
10. I continued to correspond with Rosli -- the only one who had bothered to engage with me, and with the general public.
11. I raised a petition. The public did not care. The petition to save the tomb of Foo Teng Nyong got all of 1,214 signatures. I contrast this with the petition I raised to end child marriage which got almost 200k signatures and made it to Parliament.
12. I was slightly relieved but still wary when Rosli informed me that something had been done. The gazetting process was a long one. Meanwhile I was not to worry. Government had come up with a win-win solution. All developments are required by law to have a green feature, and government had proposed that the developer retain the tomb as part of its green feature. Rosli said they were now waiting for the developer to get back to them with agreement or a counter proposal. In the interim the developer was not to do anything until this was resolved.
13. Instead of reverting to government on the proposal to retain the tomb as part of its green feature, instead of holding off all work in abeyance pending resolution of this issue, the developer covertly, without reference to any of the stakeholders, made their way to the site on Sunday 28th August, and then, if we take the words of the residents there, very noisily, destroyed the tomb.
Which "nothing" were you referring to when you say family members did nothing? Is the above nothing? Which family members do you mean? I myself am 60 years old. Perhaps you mean my even older Aunt, last surviving child of Capitan Chung Thye Phin? She's the only one in Penang. Did you mean family in Australia, or Canada, or America or England or Hong Kong?
I was the nearest able person and I did all I could think of and all anyone could suggest for me to do. What would you have done?
So now, here I am asking the public for help. I am asking the public to give government the courage to do the right thing. I am asking the public to empower government to act. I am asking that these:
1. Government to require developer restore the tomb as government required of another developer when the Hotel Metropole (Northam Road) was destroyed.
2. Government to require developer to retrieve the remains of Foo Teng Nyong they caused to be removed and interred in Batu Gantong, to be reinterred in the restored tomb.
3. Government to gazette tomb and land of Foo Teng Nyong tomb a heritage site.
4. Government to immediately take action to put up signages at the site of the tomb of Chung Thye Phin, and to fence up and padlock the site.
5. Government to gazette the land and tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin a heritage site.
6. Government to immediately order the prohibition of any exhumation at the site of the tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin.
be emailed to these officials:
Governor of Penang: Ahmad Fuzi bin Hj Abdul Razak
Chief Minister of Penang: Chow Kon Yeow
chowkonyeow@penang.gov.my
State Assemblyman [ADUN] for Tanjong Bunga: Zairil Khir Johari
zairil@penang.gov.my
State Assemblyman [ADUN] for Kebun Bunga: Ong Khan Lee
ongkhanlee@penang.gov.my
Exec. Councillor for Tourism, Arts and Creative Economy: Yeoh Soon Hin
yeohsoonhin@penang.gov.my
Governor has not published his email address but may be written to care of his Confidential Secretary whose contact information is available
mrahman@penang.gov.my
The Deputy Governor has an email address
mbak@pdc.gov.my
Another official whose email addresses you may wish to have:
Mayor of the City of Penang Island (Datuk Bandar Pulau Pinang)
datukbandar@mbpp.gov.my
If enough people do that, government will be empowered to act against developer.
What will you do? Will you help? I will not cost any money. It will only take a little time and effort.
Thank you
Jeffery Seow
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