Penang has yet to receive the complete technical report on the landslide that killed a doctor at his home in Taman Seri Rambai, Paya Terubong, although the city council has handed its draft findings to the state government.
The draft, New Straits Times reported, is still under review before a full assessment of the 25 October incident can be finalised. Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said investigators have flagged several possible causes for further study.
“Several possible causes of the incident have been identified for further technical investigation, including weather conditions, surface runoff, drainage pipes, and excessive soil loading,” he told reporters after opening a factory in Batu Kawan on Thursday.
Chow declined to go further. “We do not want to speculate. A detailed explanation must come from the engineers, and the state government is still awaiting the complete report from MBPP,” he said.
Wong Kar Lin, 73, was killed when the slope behind his house came down at 8.36am on 25 October. His wife, Chang Mei Nuo, 68, and his mother-in-law, Wong Poh Lim, 86, escaped. Hours later, the Penang Island City Council ordered an immediate stop to condominium construction and roadworks on the hillside, Malay Mail noted, and six houses were cleared of about 15 people from five families.
State Infrastructure, Transport and Digital Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said slope stabilisation works were already running at the site, but the section still unfinished was the one that failed. The Northeast District Office found that ground movement went on even without rain, with a leaking pipe on the slope and clogged drains suspected of feeding water into the soil.
The state government has held the developer and landowner of the condominium and road project responsible for the slide. It said the failure happened on the developer’s land and that both parties carried responsibility for site safety and mitigation, with possible legal consequences. The developer has since contacted affected residents about accommodation and welfare.
On calls to suspend all projects on high-risk slopes, Chow said approvals were granted under procedures and conditions set by technical agencies, and that stopping work midway carried legal implications for developers who had already begun.
Technical planning now sits with state Local Government and Town and Country Planning Committee chairman H’ng Mooi Lye. Welfare for displaced residents is coordinated by state Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai, who is also the Paya Terubong assemblyman.
Chow said all agencies have been told to stay on alert through the 2026/2027 northeast monsoon, which began on 27 October and runs to March 2027. The Malaysian Meteorological Department expects three to five episodes of continuous heavy rain between November and January, raising flood risk along rivers and in low-lying areas, with strong winds, rough seas and rising sea levels in the South China Sea.
