Ethnic Indian Malaysians rallied on Monday to defend a 150-year-old village of cowherds from being razed to build condominiums, witnesses said.
The fate of Buah Pala Village in northern Penang state has become a headache for Malaysia's opposition alliance, which took control of Penang in 2008 but is unable to reverse the previous administration's 2005 sale of the land to a cooperative.
The razing could jeopardise ethnic Indian support for the opposition, which has made major political progress recently following minorities' complaints of racial discrimination by the ethnic Malay-dominated federal ruling coalition.
The village of some 300 has immense cultural value for ethnic Indians because it is their oldest remaining settlement in Penang.
Malaysia's top court ruled in June that the villagers must vacate the land without compensation. Villagers say officials should have consulted them before selling the land where their families have lived since the 1850s.
With the deadline for them to leave expiring on Monday, scores of supporters have thronged to the village in hopes of delaying any demolition, said Anil Netto, a Penang-based political blogger.
