A philanthropic project by business tycoon Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary to educate poor Muslims from other countries has local villagers in Alor Malai, Kedah, worried that the charitable deed will be at their expense.

At the centre of the dispute is the quantum to be paid by the AlBukhary Foundation to compensate the 32 families of Kampung Tok Bidan, part of the site on which the foundation is planning to build an institute of Islamic higher learning.

The RM250 million complex, projected to teach and house poor students from all over the Muslim world, would serve as an extension to the two-year-old Albukhary Higher Education Institute, based in Alor Setar, Kedah.

All 150 students at the current institute, hailing from more than 30 countries, are fully sponsored by the foundation.

According to lawyers for the villagers, a private surveyor appointed by the foundation had in February placed the value of Tok Bidan, measuring 1.75 acre, at RM14.70 per square foot, which is lower than the going market price of RM20 per square foot.

Following appeals to the state land and mines department (PTG) and the PTG's appointment of another surveyor, the foundation succeeded in reducing the quantum to RM7.50 per square foot.

RM7.50 was, therefore, the offer quoted in the 'H Forms' issued on March 20 to the villagers, in accordance with regulations under the Land Acquisition Act (1960) as well as in the PTG notice issued a few days later to a village representative.

Uneducated and poor

According to village head Shuib Mohd Ali, this has caused alarm among the villagers, most of whom are said to be uneducated and poor, earning meager incomes selling traditional cakes, among other products.

The total compensation of RM573,255 would be inadequate for the resettlement of the village's 32 families to the proposed relocation site of Mentaloon, said Shuib.

"RM7.50, that's half of the RM14.70 that we had agreed to. Is that enough for all of us to move and resettle?" he asked when contacted yesterday.

Malaysiakini was informed that the villagers' lawyers were only acting for Tok Bidan.

There are 80 other families residing in the nearby village of Kampung Dato' Murad and a neighboring area, which measures roughly the same size as Tok Bidan.

Those villagers had also been 'offered' the same amount of compensation, said the lawyer.

As provided for under Section 37 of the Acquisition Act, the villagers have appealed through the PTG to the Alor Star High Court to review the compensation.

Benefit 'outsiders'

"We are merely waiting for the PTG to notify us of the date for the hearing. We will be taking this case to court," he said when contacted.

The villagers have also appealed to their elected representatives as well as the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

"It is clear that the said project will not benefit our local children but 'outsiders," said Shuib in his letter to Suhakam.

"We are not stopping any proposed development, but let it not violate or negate our rights as villagers who already poor and need," he said further.

A meeting has been scheduled for June 6 next week between Suhakam and representatives of the foundation, PTG, and the villagers.