KUCHING, July 14: The building owner of the wall where the famous orang-utan mural was painted over, Roger Pui explained that the decision to lease out the wall was done in compliance with the law and with no ill intent, but to add beauty and to bring tourism value to this nostalgic part of the city.
Responding to the community’s shock over the cover-up of the orang-utan mural painted by Lithuanian street artist Ernest Zacharevic, Pui expressed regret that the issue has been used as what he termed to be ‘political hype’ and that its intention on re-beautification has been misunderstood as an act of vandalism.
“In fact, I am the legal owner of this wall. My legal advisor also advised that in Article 13 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, everyone has the right to use their own property.
“At that time, I allowed the mural of the orang-utan to beautify the city, and now it is for the same purpose. We should not be deprived of ownership of the wall of the double-storey shophouse just because we allowed the orang-utan mural on the wall before,” he said in a statement issued on July 12.
Quoting Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, it states: “(1) No person shall be deprived of property save in accordance with law; (2) No law shall provide for the compulsory acquisition of use of property without adequate compensation.”
With that, Pui said his rights as an owner of the property should be respected.
Furthermore, he added that he had also applied for an advertising license from the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) as many businesses or companies have approached and offered to sponsor work to beautify the walls on the premises of promoting or advertising their company’s products.
“DBKU has basically accepted our application and we are currently waiting for the official approval from them. This will also increase additional income for DBKU at the same time.
“So far, no commercial advertising components have appeared on this wall, and the relevant advertising part has been covered. All that has been presented so far is the word ‘Kuching’,” he clarified.
While noting that it would be nice to have another mural featured on the wall, Pui however explained that the huge cost involved was beyond what he could afford, and therefore decided to rent out the wall which was done legally.
“But I set up a condition that the renter of this wall must use it for something to do or related with Kuching, so that this wall can once again become a place for tourists to check in,” he said.
MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng had earlier expressed his disappointment with the act of having the orang-utan mural covered up.
While Pui has allowed the orang-utan mural to be painted there many years ago but today, this piece of artwork had suffered damage with its colours severely faded over time and due to external factors.
“Besides, it is known that this area belongs under the jurisdiction of DBKU, and we have already talked about this matter with the officials of DBKU,” he added.
Now, Pui hopes to repair and beautify this wall again so that it will become the focus of tourists and make citizens of Kuching proud.
“I believe that it is our role and duty to play as Kuching citizens to beautify our dear hometown.
“This is our will and we call on social media to only post reports based on facts and stop reporting for political hype or slanderous rhetoric,” he said. — DayakDaily
