Tanjung Bungah residents vow to defend 'Sore Thumb' from development

GEORGE TOWN: Tanjung Bungah residents have vowed to defend their coastal promontory — known as "Sore Thumb" — from destruction.

The community is mounting fierce resistance against plans to bulldoze the 22m-high headland and build a concrete retaining wall to make way for a five-storey private wellness centre.

The promontory took shape after rocks and earth were dumped into the sea from 2001, but the site was abandoned after stop-work orders halted illegal dumping.

Over the ensuing two decades, nature reclaimed the terrain, transforming the rocky mound into a self-regenerated coastal sanctuary inhabited by white-bellied sea eagles and dusky leaf monkeys.

Resident Oo Huei Ying said pushing retaining walls beyond the high-water mark would alter the seabed and trigger severe coastal erosion along the sensitive Tanjung Bungah coastline.

"A coastal park should co-exist with nature, not destroy it," she said, criticising blueprints that shave down the promontory for concrete tracks, parking bays, and amphitheatre-style retaining walls.

"Extending a retaining wall into the sea threatens our fragile shoreline.

"We want a genuine public park, not an over-engineered concrete development built at the expense of our coastal environment."

Annelies Allain, 81, who has lived in the area for 27 years, said watching further development on the regenerated promontory was a betrayal of the community's trust.

"There was once only a clean, open beach here where we could walk straight to the nearby Penang Swimming Club. Nature took over and the trees grew back naturally.

"Now they want to flatten it all just to secure sea views and commercial facilities for a private development. It is an injustice."

Another resident Dennis Au, in his 60s, echoed the call for preservation, urging authorities to abandon heavy construction on the public foreshore.

"The state's duty is to protect ecological balance, not shave away public hills for commercial gains.

"We will fight every inch."

For resident Jeya Shah, 59, the community's demands are uncompromising.

"Our demands are non-negotiable: any retaining wall must stay within the developer's private lot boundary. The promontory cannot be shaved down and the natural beach must be kept intact.

"The state government promised this would be gazetted as an open green lung with walking trails."

Tanjung Bungah residents have put forward their own low-impact, architect-designed master plan to transform the "Sore Thumb" into a nature park.

The community's counter-proposal directly challenges the state-approved plans.

Its 78-page master plan advocates retaining the hill's natural topography, preserving its tree cover and creating an eco-park modelled on the Penang Youth Park and the Moon Gate trails.

The community's plan also eliminates the need to bulldoze hillside slopes for car parks.

"Our plan costs the state nothing. The residents are ready to carry out gotong-royong and crowdfund the trail work ourselves, exactly as we have done over the years," Oo said.

"The only thing the state needs to do is leave the headland intact and ensure the developer's retaining walls remain inside their own boundary."