Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has halted a condominium and road project beside Taman Seri Rambai in Paya Terubong after a landslide struck the back of a house there on 25 October 2026 and killed a 73-year-old doctor.
Dr Wong Kar Lin was buried when earth and debris hit the rear of his double-storey home at about 8.30am that Sunday, FMT reported. His wife and mother-in-law escaped. A post-mortem found that he died of blunt force injuries and asphyxia, FMT reported the next day.
Mayor Datuk A. Rajendran said at the scene that a stop-work order had been issued against the development next to the site, which NST and Penang Property Talk reported involves a road and apartments that had been under construction for more than a year. Residents of neighbouring houses were advised to move out as a precaution, with the land office handling the arrangements. NST reported five houses; The Star reported six.
On 26 October the mayor said the slope had shown no further sign of instability since the rain stopped. "So far, the slope has shown no signs of instability, but we must remain cautious as prolonged rain could further weaken it," he said, according to FMT. Council engineers have inspected the site with consultants, and the developer has rerouted a water pipe after water was found running down the hill without proper drainage, he said.
Rajendran said MBPP had sent warning letters to the developer and the contractor in September, ahead of the monsoon rains, FMT and The Star reported. He declined to say what caused the landslide. The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is investigating, with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) expected to take part, and the investigation will take at least three months, he said. Residents will be told when they can return once the investigating authorities have assessed the site, The Star reported.
Neither the council nor the reports we read have named the developer, the contractor or the condominium project, and no official has said how much soil came down.
Paya Terubong assemblyman and state executive councillor Wong Hon Wai has said no link between the project and the landslide has been established, FMT reported. Others have already drawn one. Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman told FMT that residents and groups had long warned about hill-cutting in the area, and said the state government must explain why the landslide was not prevented. Parti Muda state committee member Andika Putera called on the state to withdraw every hill-slope development approval in Penang, Sinar Harian reported, and Gerakan's Penang chapter urged a temporary halt to all hill-slope projects and a police investigation into how the project was approved, according to Berita Harian. A neighbour, Teh Kean Hooi, told The Vibes he had written to 15 state assemblymen asking for a ban on hill-slope development, and that they had told him the matter would be raised at the state assembly sitting that opens on 30 October.
Paya Terubong was also the site of the October 2018 landslide at Jalan Bukit Kukus, which killed workers on a road construction site.
Hours after the Paya Terubong slip, a second landslide partly buried two cars near Leisure Bay Condominium on the evening of 25 October. The fire and rescue department received the call at 6.50pm and reported no injuries. Reports placed the site in Tanjung Tokong or Tanjung Bungah. Rajendran said the next day that it involved an old slope that had deteriorated and was not caused by construction.
Sources: FMT, The Star, NST, Penang Property Talk, FMT (SAM), Sinar Harian, Berita Harian, The Vibes, FMT (Tanjung Tokong).
