GEORGE TOWN: The state government has been urged to stop development plans to alter the land along the coast here known as "Sore Thumb".
Tanjung Bungah Residents' Association (TBRA) chairman Zulfikar Abdul Aziz said residents are questioning the state government’s apparent silence regarding their proposal for a coastal nature park at Sore Thumb.
"They are allowing public coastal land to be used for a private five-storey wellness centre.
"Nearly 20 years after residents began campaigning to save the Sore Thumb as a public coastal park, the fight is still not over.
"We want the wildlife conserved instead of unnecessarily reshaping it. We want a public park, but not at the expense of the natural environment it should protect," he said during a peaceful demonstration outside the state Legislative Assembly building along Lebuh Light on Tuesday (Nov 3).
Zulfikar said the developer's plans to reduce the lush hill from 18m to six metres, remove mature vegetation and build a massive concrete seawall along the public shoreline were not welcomed.
He said a coastal park should coexist with nature, not destroy it to accommodate unnecessary facilities.
"We want to preserve the original two-acre public-park area without extending recreational facilities into the habitat," he said.
TBRA during the demonstration handed over their 78-page landscape plan to state opposition leader Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff outside the Penang State Legislative Assembly building along Lebuh Light on Tuesday (Nov 3).
Another resident, Oo Huei Ying, warned that extending a hard retaining wall beyond the actual high-water mark could disturb seabed sand and trigger severe erosion along the Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi coastlines.
She questioned why residents had to continue negotiating with private interests while their own 78-page plan, submitted in February (2026), had yet to be considered.
She called on Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow to honour his pledges to protect the land's natural character.
The land, formed following illegal dumping two decades ago, has since regenerated into a habitat for otters, white-faced dusky leaf monkeys and nesting sea eagles.
It was reported that a new public park overlooking the sea will soon take shape in Tanjung Bungah as part of Penang’s push for greener coastal spaces.
The Seaside Pocket Park, to be built beside Lot 4658, forms part of a development planning approval for a five-storey wellness suite project on that land.
However, state infrastructure, transport and digital committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said claims that the coastal greenery was being cleared for a luxury development were false.
The Tanjung Bungah assemblyman said the ongoing work is for the construction of a public seaside park, required by the state government as part of the development conditions.
He said that the park would remain a public facility and that the developer was told to build it before any private construction.
