Archive for July, 2007

NCER: Who benefits more - Sime Darby or farmers?

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has launched the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) masterplan. The masterplan was designed by Sime Darby although the project will be implemented by a regional coordinating authority.
But Sime Darby is not a disinterested party. It is eyeing the seed market and planning to produce patented “mother seed” for 10 popular crops, [...]

Watch out for the BN ad agencies’ election media blitz

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine, a pensioner, received an unusual phone call from a woman he didn’t know.
From the way he described it, it sounded like someone from a market research agency was trying to gauge public opinion and sentiment. The woman asked him if it was okay if she took [...]

Unable to access Malaysia Today; Keng Yaik warns bloggers

What’s going on? I am unable to access Malaysia Today, the website that has shaken up Malaysia, from up here in Penang at 7.30 pm today. It’s been like that for a few hours now. (It was back online when I checked at 10.45 pm - but downloading pages inside is still kinda slow.)
Meanwhile, [...]

How The Star watered down my water article

When I was invited by The Star to write a piece on water in June, I hesitated. Knowing how steeped The Star was in promoting corporate interests, I wondered whether the article I would write would emerge unscathed (without cuts).
My concerns were not unfounded. When I submitted my completed article, the first thing [...]

Minimum wage more effective than NEP equity targets

As we all know, the two main prongs of the New Economic Policy are to wipe out poverty across the board and to restructure society so that no one ethnic group is stereotyped with a particular occupation - which in effect largely meant lifting the bumiputera community above the poverty line and into the ranks [...]