KUALA LUMPUR – Melaka’s Portuguese community in the 1970s protested against a reclamation project involving a 1km stretch, and today, it is up in arms about a mega development expected to reclaim 33km of seafront, from Umbai to Sg Udang.
Save Portuguese Community Action Committee president Martin Theseira believes the Melaka Waterfront Economic Zone (M-Wez) will have a devastating impact on their way of life.
The community since the 1970s has never been in favour of land reclamation. Taking the sea from us is like cutting off our lifeline. The livelihoods of our forefathers were tied to the sea.
“It is so unfair and unjust for outsiders to come to Melaka and spoil it. It is driven by sheer greed, and it is mind-boggling why so much land must be reclaimed.”
Aside from being a threat to the community, he believes M-Wez also jeopardises the state’s cultural and historical value.
“Some 600 years of history will be washed away into the sea if they just continue with indiscriminate reclamation.”
The RM100 billion M-Wez has already seen almost 1,620ha reclaimed, with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali saying the project will create 10,000 jobs.
Theseira said his community has been fighting reclamation for decades.
“Sometime in the 1970s, developers Duta Credit and the Yap Brothers had concessions to carry out land reclamation at the Bandar Hilir seafront. But, residents of the Bandar Hilir Portuguese settlement and fishermen living in the coastal areas objected to it from the start.”
The community was told that the 1km reclamation project would reclaim some 100m from the shoreline, and would prevent their homes from being washed out to sea. And, an assurance was given that it would not interfere in their fishing activities.
Realising that the project was going to continue despite their protests, the residents demanded more benefits.
“At the time, we had the late assemblyman Bernard Sta Maria. He tried to get the state government to provide facilities to the fishermen, like an area to place their nets and housing on the reclaimed site,” said Theseira.
“Unfortunately, when the state government changed hands and was taken over by Adib Adam (Datuk Seri Mohd Adib Mohamad Adam), he as chief minister wanted a different approach.
“He proposed that the demand for benefits be presented in the state assembly. But, Sta Maria got sick and passed away, changing the situation, which turned into a mess.”
The project went ahead, and the Portuguese community was left empty-handed.
Coined the “Big Move”, the completion of M-Wez, spanning 10,117ha, will take 15 years, with the zone described as Malaysia’s version of Australia’s Gold Coast.
M-Wez chief executive Mohd Yusof Abu Bakar told an editors’ briefing that the project is expected to attract RM100 billion in total investment and contribute 5% of Melaka’s gross domestic product.
“The master plan will be ready by June or July, and we expect the project to kick off thereafter. But, land reclamation is already under way, with 4,000 acres (almost 1,620ha) already reclaimed,” he said, adding that some 40 concessionaires are involved in the reclamation.
“We have adhered to all the requirements and procedures to undertake these reclamation works, including obtaining approval from the Environment Department.”
Among the projects to be developed under M-Wez are a cargo and container port, ship-to-ship transfer services, a free trade zone, maritime activities, the Pulau Upeh holiday resort, a customs, immigration and quarantine complex, a biodiesel storage warehouse, hotels, offices and homes.
In February, the developer of the RM43 billion Melaka Gateway failed to get the courts to review the state government’s decision to scrap the project.
The state administration late last year terminated its three-year concession for the reclamation of islands that would form the foundation of the development. – The Vibes, April 14, 2021
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