Photos by concerned Penangites
A couple of Penangites have expressed concern about what’s happening at the Penang Botanic Gardens.
The Lily Pond was drained some time ago by the Gardens Department to carry out some work, but few seem to know what its plans are.
Similarly with the “Formal Gardens”: one section was cleared in March and until now nothing has been planted. From the photos above, you can see the section of the Formal Gardens before the clearing work and after.
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What botanic garden? Do people still go there? I tot it’s already “dead” 20 years ago and nobody goes there anymore.
Ditto for your site too. What happened to the previous user-friendly design? Your website is a mess now for the eyes!!!
A fitting post, talk about poetic justice. Lol.
The municipal and city councils in the PR states are still loyal to BN. There (seem to be) elements of sabotage for example MBAS in Alor Setar are not clearing rubbish, clogged drains etc. Conditions worse than before and people are getting angry with the PAS govt for that. It will take years to cleanse the councils of these people. They (appear to be missing) all the good times making money under BN and will (probably) do everything to sabotage PR so the rakyat will vote for BN again next GE
I think there are those in the respective local governments who sabotage the effoerts of the PR administrations, hoping that they would be rewarded if BN were to take over again. They are the real betrayers of the rakyat.
Anil, your webpages are not displaying properly. Looks messed up. Try viewing it in firefox browser.
Anil,
What do we really want. We cannot eat both cakes. If the State Government buys over High Chapparal, then, it is better for the government to sell off the gdn. We think the government is very rich and money is photstat
Well, I like the new look. Easier for an old bird like me with increasing old flower to read.
We used to go to the Botanical Gardens when we was young. That or Waterfall Gardens, if I remember correctly, as it was called then. From the pic above, if we put some clay heads of Greek Gods on those poles, we could pass it off as an amphitheatre. Then we could boast of a little Athens in Penang.
Anil,
I go for evening walks 3-4times a week.
Each week, i see the garden deteriorating from what
i knew its was from childhood.
I used to stay at JKR Quarters(all demolished
during BN koh tsu koon thus making Malay population in KebunBunga not more than 20people, exclusive
for koh’s race only, one of the reason Malays voted DAP) in the 1980s. Back then, pretty flowers almost thru out the year and we would go take photos.
Now, this flowery scenario is all gone.
Botanical garden is a dead garden now.
The lily pond is so dark, queit, unattractive & a scarry place, i dare not go becoz my niece “imagined anaconda” and “arapaima” under the green algayed
water.
The Japanese garden look a rainforest jungle today.
The air-rod bridege….do we need that? What to
see below?
This is supposedly one of the tourist attraction
in Penang, but its dead garden after Pesta Flora a few months ago.
I met many Arab tourists while walking who gave feedback, some said “nothing to see, better in langkawi”.
I hope CM would give attention, maybe set up a commitee to push this garden authority, if no funds then do fund raising, to liven this garden, have more activities for children, schools, contest, health topics, save nature talks, etc.
Its no excuse to say “this that” still loyal to BN.
PR must have the initiative to move & bring physical change for rakyat to see.
I believe the comment made by ‘SinLeong” is correct.
Its the same for Kuala Lumpur.
Now it takes 6 weeks to repair a broken street light here.
Dear Sinleong,
Do you have proof of your accusation, or is is the PR government which is really inefficient.
If the PR government cannot even deal with sabotage, how are we going to trust this country to them. They’ll be on blaming on others.
Come on, wake up, the PR government simply does know how to administered the states let alone to lead a country.
Vote BN ? No definitely not.
Look how BN over 50 years had done to us Malaysians ?
1. Divide and rule using the ketuanan concept. In the 60’s I can still drink and eat in the same coffe-shop but now …
2. Massive corruption and losses suffered by some top BN leaders downwards and their cronies. PKFZ 12.5 billion ; MAS 9 billion ; Perwaja ; BMF etc
3. Arrogance of power – Control of Judiciary , Police , Prosecution , Civil Service etc
4. No transparency – OSA used to cover up illegal clauses in contracts and land dealings. N-S highways, LDP , Penang High Chapperal incident etc
5. No Competency – Higher Education in poor shape and universities are not up to standards.
We can rattle on and on but these 5 is enough. Enough is enough.
What Botanic Garden?
The land is more valuable developed that planting flowers and trees. I suggest the State Govt auction it to the highest bidder(s). I am quite sure it will raised billions. The money can be used to buy High Chaparral and do many more things for Penang.
Unlock the value.
Hey, I like your new look! Nifty!
PAS will win the Manek Urai by election. Another feather in PR’s cap. It shows PR is relevant.
From the state BG is you can conclude that Penang does not have the right people for the job of looking after it. They simply do not have pride in their job. Please tell LGE to sack the entire department and employ qualified horticulturists to bring back BG’s beauty. Go to Singapore and see how well maintained their BG is. Ours is older and more natural and yet we just left it to rot to this state. I’m ashamed to bring people to the garden I used to enjoy when I was a child.
http://ssquah.blogspot.com/2009/06/dashed-expectations-lily-pond-at-penang.html
Too many excuses from the Pakatan state governments. Why can’t they sack the BN-loyal city council workers for non-performance, espcially the higher rank officials? Why can’t they penalise the BN-loyal contractors for not doing the job they have been paid for? And if you can’t sack the officials, why can’t they transfer them to our version of Timbuktoo, like somewhere in some kampung that is not on the Malaysian map? If the PR government don’t sack these people that don’t work, then we may sack the PR government in the next election.
Botanical Gardens is not what it used to be anymore!!! Waist-deep pools of water are mere memories, so are the flora and fauna. Whatever happened to the mini zoo? It is now simply not worth it to go there anymore, come rain or shine! CIAO!
BG is a mess now and I have stopped going there.
In fact what people have pointed out is true.There is a marked decline in the level of municipal services since PR took over in Penang.
Go just about anywhere in Penang now you feel we have gone backward. Illegal parking and hawkers have gotten worse. Parks and public facilities not maintained well at all. New buildings cropping up in unlikely places.
I remember speaking to one MPPP officer and what he said was rather very revealing.
We met this guy while attending a show recently in Georgetown. He was saying that most of the civil servants were rather shell socked and unsure what to do initially when Pakatan took over. After some discussion most of the people in his Jabatan decided to focus on their jobs and forget abt politics and carry on like they used to do.
He denied that those in his dept tried to sabotage. However, the initial nuetrality was changed when they started to see too much interference from politicians. He was saying all kinds of DAP & PKR (not PAS) openly giving instructions by-passing their superiors. There were so many people coming and giving instructions that it was rather confusing.
He also claimed that the state govt (esp DAP) has started to appoint new contractors and suppliers. This he said had made the civil servants rather angry and the morale plunged. So he says now they just going through the motions or focus on their part time business. He himself apparently doing some educational product business.
He claimed/(alleged) that most new contractors are politicians or linked to them (mainly DAP)and mainly out to make money and do a poor job.
So perhaps this explain the issues we are seeing.
So Mr Guan Eng, where is the CAT you have been hyping about ?
Anil
Your website is a mess.
There are many issues you have covered and given us better light on.
Remember, its also about presentation.
Strange, a couple of you said you preferred the new look. Maybe I should do a poll on that
– Anil
Dear Anil,
Your new look is pretty unkind to senior citizens.
The columns narrow when we zoom in to view.
That’s bad.
Guys,
Do not push the new state govment too hard since no budget no action. BE fair to PR Govment. Look at the course of the problems….pressure fed. Gov to allocate more fund to Penang. LGE mentioned that less than 1% of the (financial crissis rescue fund was allocated for Penang and perhaps otehr PR controlled states. Mana ada fair….we all pay income tax what.