Something is happening in front of the Dewan Sri Pinang on the quiet. Why is it that we seem to be losing many of our public spaces?
Palm trees are chopped down and fencing sprouts up instead: Another open space lost? – Photos by Anil
It so happens that this is the same area where the Abolish ISA candlelight vigils were held in September and October 2008. Perhaps the local government can tell us what is going on here.
Check out the photo below taken just over a year ago and compare and contrast.
An Abolish ISA vigil in solidarity with detainees held on 14 September 2008 at the same spot
Come to think of it, this spot would have been ideal for a Speakers’ Corner in Penang.
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As you have your right to write or bring up any thing, I have the right to avoid what you write. Me think there’s more important issues instead of these petty matters.
Ilham,
Certain things ain’t that petty. But however judging from what Anil is writing in his blogs, it seems he doesn’t know what matters to the nation.
Or he only bothers what he thinks best……Kinda bourgeois, don’t your think
Ooooh get her! Sniffy first post!
Anil – what do you think of a public issue tracker for local governments so that you can make an enquiry that anyone can track the progress of? They’re very popular for managing open source software projects, providing snapshots of how much work is being done, how different people or groups are performing, who is doing what and when you can expect them to be finished – even listing who else is interested in the answer.
In a case like this one, you could add this question and your images to the tracker. You could give us all a link to follow if we wanted to see who answered it, how quickly it was answered, what the answer was and how the issue progressed if anybody wanted to take it further. It might expose under-performing local government machinery to some very targeted criticism, but I don’t think any of us would regret that.
Good suggestion. Maybe this sort of tracker is something Penang Watch might be interested in?
http://www.penangwatch.net/
Good question, it is not the smallness but the principle behind closing a space previously used to express public feelings in the spirit of democracy. Are we closing places where some acts of democracy have taken place?
anil you now seem to be a BN supporter.You are partly responsible for the KBP residents crisis
Why you shoot the messenger? You should blame LGE for selective transparency!
Funny,
You operate from Penang and yet cannot engage anyone in the state government to get answers before coming out with such articles of ‘concern’?
This is the biggest problem with the way media sometimes behave.
First coming up with speculative articles, get the public to also make ‘noise’ for something that they are not sure of, and then use it to write further with views/comments from the public. Again, not knowing what the development is all about.
And you live in an era of ‘open communication’.
By now, as a responsible and ‘neutral’ blogger, you should have improved your contacts in the public offices to get answers.
Looks like that you are not there yet or you do not want to do that because you want to lead a ‘comfortable’ life with ‘inducements’ from those who want to see the Pakatan state government fail in Penang?
As someone rightly pointed out, you were one of those who caused further mess in the KBP issue. That fellow Sugumaran showcased … ignoring the current state government efforts, tyring to be a hero in a bye-election and bringing up the issue to the DPM and UMNO (which also played him out wholesale), listening to Uthayakumar and Thiruvengadam who messed up further and on the day of partial demolition of the residences, this fellow was no where to be found but was in K.L!
Such irresponsible elements are also partly your making lah.
You do not want to be objective at all?
Because you are also being ‘encouraged’ and ‘coaxed’ to be anti-Pakatan?
Looks like with people like you around, its ‘Last Supper’ everyday for the current state government in Penang!
What inducements are you talking about?
Shouldn’t the state government or agencies be more transparent about what they are doing instead of waiting for bloggers to contact them?
I am just writing as a concerned member of the public.
Anil,
If you are the minister, you spent time thinking about the trees,and (lavatories) and scrubs? Anyway, those are palm trees just decorative unlike the hundred years raintree. Like a husband supposed to be head of the house, you must know what your wife is cooking and also be transparent over minor matters. If the Malaysian parliament botak all the trees who cares if Gerakan/UMNO do not want us to go there.
Parameswara,
Well, I guess Anil is pretty harmless but a bit delusional. Remind me of Don Quixote. Watching Communist inspired movies over & over again (no choice being in China for some time), Anil reminds me of the fading functionaries within Kuomintang failed to stem wave after wave the onslaught on KMT…..
Of course, it’s aplicable to Pakatan. It can be applicable to Anil. Anil got ulterior motives. Not monetary, power or position. Anil is a naturalist, anarchist & idealist.
David Marshall, ring a bell
“Why is it that we seem to be losing many of our public spaces? ”
The article does seem a bit plaintive without the expected “I phoned the local authorities but nobody knows”.
Transparency is one thing, but conducting your business in public is quite a leap. In the UK it’s quite common to see public notices attached to or near any public property that will be disturbed, changed or otherwise altered for many weeks before anything happens. It’s usually just a sheet of A4 paper inside a flimsy clear plastic cover. That is the obvious place to give notice, rather than online. Even online would be good – easier to maintain, at least.
It’ll be a while before we get information ‘pushed’ to us. It would be quite something if we could easily ‘pull’ it! That’s your job, Anil. I look forward to reading your update.
Actually, it’s not my job.
No one is employing me to do this!
I think it’s the job of the local government to tell the public what they are doing. Transparency, right.
This was just something I noticed when walking by – didn’t have time to stick around. Hopefully the media will pick it up.
oh come on anil.
takkan la pasal tebang pokok pun you nak assume apa2? takkan lah tebang pokok pun nak kena cerita dulu mengapa buat begitu right?
if you still feeling regret or not satisfied with the penang govt in case of KBP, you don’t have to ‘dendam’ them. They already doing their best.
If you think ‘thats not enough’ for KBP, I felt it’s too much enough. If you comparing with ‘tiba-tiba rumah setinggan terbakar’ in KL (under ubn persekutuan) several times this year, then im very proud what LGE and penang govt did for some of KBP – lefted the greedy one.
i currently living in shah alam. PKR govt here doing well. They maintenace the pokok-pokok near road very well. Trimmed end maintenance well every month!. Even the best thing is, lori sampah also doing job well, pickup the garbage just like you never seen before!. No left stinky one for 2 day, nor any lefted unpicked-up just like what previous PBT and local govt did.
Then best part now, the jalan tar also no need to wait every 5 year like before. If there rosak, they will try to tar new one within 2 3 month (maybe when they got budget). That’s also apply to Klang town!. But.. well.. they are not perfect yet. it took times and enough budget to do it.
Even funding from their HQ – federal govt believed is alwayssssssss….. not in time.
If you expecting all of this not much and worthless.. please compare what you had in prev govt? See that?
…MBSA had tried to ban beer and illegally confiscate beers from 7/11 store. People will reject such lawless administration in next GE/by-election. Let’s see the result.
BN Government also secretly ban pig rearing (in some places)… Gerakan (allies) also insult and mock animals such as display cow heads
Ok, Poor Anil, is trying to raise some awareness. Give him a break. he has done so much of good work for all of us. I may disagree with Anil on this issue. Maybe I can get someone in the State Govt to monitor Anil’s blog and respond accordingly.
Malaysians generally do not comprehend the importance of public spaces. In any developed country, the local community will fight tooth and nail to protect their public spaces.
There is a dire need to raise public awareness of the importance of public spaces in Malaysia. We have hardly any public spaces left and we are ill afford to lost any more of them.
Dannyboy
Is the space being taken off for a new building? If not don’t understand you as the public space is still there unlike Gerakan K/UMNO want to take off the Chinese School in Damansara.Since you said about space, maybe the authority follow your suggestion – chopdown trees to create more space – to allow more demostration and more people.
Some update for you. This school already re-opened.
Anil … yes we need space but perhaps as a so called tutor for Citizen Journalists its best to get the facts than to aimlessly question when such questioning can cause issues. Is that what you teach the new aspiring CJs or is causing issues your intention?
What are the tenets of journalism?
[...] had blogged about this before here but today, I found the following message from a concerned Penang resident in my mailbox: This [...]
Having looked at the replies, you get Anil. It appears that not many realize the implications of the loss of such a space where the People have had their say and would continue to have their say if not for the kind of action the Penang State government has taken. It really doesn’t matter whether it is BN or PR in government, the government of the day must be held responsible for what it does and everyone has a right to voice their opinion as well as to disagree with others. This is what good governance, transparency and accountability are about. By the way, what happened to CAT?
Environmental awareness also seems low, in that taking trees away increases global warming ( so don’t complain about the heat if you don’t even care about preserving the trees, grassy spaces and other plants) and increases pollution from vehicular and other fumes that we are breathing in now and will continue breathing till we die of some pollution illness like cancer.
Moreover, if we do not monitor what the government is doing and make it public, why did most people in Penang get rid of the BN (Gerakan) State government? We should have allowed them to carry on their corrupt practices and continue destroying Penang further. People said they wanted change and now they are back-tracking. What kind of change did we want? Did we want change for the worse instead of the better? Is the PR gov. in Penang very different from the previous BN administration? Please tell me what the difference is if anyone can as I have not seen any difference so far.
As for Selangor, the PR state gov. can be seen to sincerely try to change things for the better, the PR gov. there is NOT the SAME as the one in Penang.
In fact, the PR gov. in Penang should ‘learn’ something from the PR gov. in Selangor instead of ‘learning’ BN governing methods. Penang PR has ‘bungled’ in many aspects, slow to learn to pull themselves together and stop squabbling. They better get their act together or lose what they gained in the March 2008 tsunami.
Some people seem to like being monitored by ‘BIG BROTHER’ authorities like the government, I guess privacy has lost its value. The person who suggested this blog should be monitored by the State authorities, should think about having his/her phone tapped and CCTV install in his/her home where the Government can monitor what they do on a daily basis. May be you will feel very safe then.
Others would prefer to exercise their right of privacy and freedom of expression, THAT would make us feel safer.
The question here is: HOW POLITICALLY MATURE ARE YOU?