Anwar seeks firm assurance of security for self, family

 Civil society, M'sian politics  9 Responses »
Jun 302008
 

1926: Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah has sent a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah asking him to personally guarantee Anwar’s safety. The letter was received by the Prime Minister’s Office at 3.15pm. 1834: Human rights lawyer Charles Hector has a slightly different take in his blog (see below). He says that Saiful too has rights that need to be protected. That makes sense to me – assuming you have an impartial AG, police force and judiciary. What do you think? Does he have a point? The defamation suit allegedly being filed with regard a complaint to the police is a shameful act ….and that again is something that should never be done when someone makes a complaint to the police. So what now, will “Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan” now have to do – rush find some lawyer, and expend more money defending a defamation suit. This is VERY wrong and [Read more]

LIVE: High-stakes drama as Anwar holes up at Turkish embassy

 M'sian politics, Malaysian elections  40 Responses »
Jun 292008
 
LIVE: High-stakes drama as Anwar holes up at Turkish embassy

Anwar and Syed Husin at a hotel in Shah Alam earlier (Photo courtesy of Anwar’s blog) Saiful with Minister Azalina (Photo courtesy of PKR) 2307: All quiet at the Turkish embassy at 118 Jalan U-Thant. An eye-witness passing by the embassy says he saw only about 20 reporters and police personnel, a police van and a police car. And no PKR supporters. Is Anwar really spending the night at the embassy? 2231: The police have confirmed that a medical examination has been carried out on Saiful, reports Harakah Daily this evening. “Jangan dengar khabar angin. Dengar cakap saya. Saya ketua CID,” Bakri Zinin is quoted as saying. 2154: The big question now is what happens next? Will they go in after Anwar? Or will they just bide their time? Has the mattress been detained?(!!) How long can Anwar remain in the embassy? He has got to come out at some [Read more]

Organic rice and curry, please…

 Agrobusiness/GM food, Development issues, Environment, Poverty  5 Responses »
Jun 282008
 

While all focus is on higher oil prices, not enough attention has been given to higher food prices. Now, it has been suggested that the higher prices of food (and fuel) are being driven by extraordinary speculation in commodities by index-linked speculators. These speculators are said to be exploiting a “swaps-loophole” in US banking regulations, which allow certain huge investment banks to act as intermediaries and dealers in entering into index-linked futures contracts, which are quite unlike the normal futures hedging, where positions are regularly unwound. So how do we tackle higher food prices? Food security and self-sufficiency will help. There is no reason why each state in the federation cannot be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. We have fertile soil and a favourable climate. For instance, Penang once had thriving vegetable farms on the island; now a lot of our veg comes from Cameron Highlands. Penang still has fruit [Read more]

Petronas’ pricey foray, Bakun nightmare, bumi par value

 Accountability, Energy resources, Environment, Health care, Poverty  22 Responses »
Jun 272008
 

Three issues I would like to raise: Petronas hospital – undermining the public health care system Why is Petronas setting up a private hospital – the Price Court Medical Centre? I don’t supposed they named it after its pricey price tag of RM544 million… In the first place, what expertise does Petronas have in health care? Why is it jumping on the health care and medical tourism bandwagon? Shouldn’t it be supporting our government hospitals, which are badly underfunded and understaffed? By setting up a new hospital, wouldn’t it be encouraging more doctors to leave the government hospitals?

New beginning for public transport – from the bottom up

 Development issues, Public transport  20 Responses »
Jun 262008
 

More reactions from people regarding the federal government’s shelving of the mega transport projects for Penang. Obviously, the federal government doesn’t consider those projects as “people friendly”, which makes me wonder how they came up with those projects in the first place! Not a few people here are now seeing the shelving – or is it the scrapping? – of the monorail and Porr as a golden opportunity for Penang to do some serious public transport planning from scratch and to come up with a sustainable transport masterplan for the whole state. Let’s show them what we can do – to bring about a sustainable, people-friendly, affordable and accessible public transport system! Here’s a quick reaction from blog reader Moaz Yusuf Ahmad: This news is great. Let’s hope that the Penang Government will use the opportunity to create a very effective public transport system for Penang, building it from the [Read more]

Page 1 of 812345...Last »