Mahathir quits Umno: What’s next – Umno Baru Baru?

 Judiciary, M'sian politics, Poverty  32 Responses »
May 192008
 

So the man who established Umno Baru in 1988 quits the party he founded in a huff. Now this comes just a few days after he and a string of his cronies were accused of involvement in the fixing of appointments of judges. Over the last few months, Mahathir has watched from the sidelines as his house of cards, built over 22 years, came tumbling down. All that waste and corruption and cronyism and superficial nation building during his administration finally came home to roost. The last straw was probably the release of the findings of the royal commission report on the Lingam Tape. When I sent the news to a friend that Mahathir was leaving Umno, I received the following message in response: “And form Umno Baru Baru?” Another friend joked, in a text message: “He is joining PKR ” Later he sent another message: “You know Umno is [Read more]

How did Abad Naluri get over 1,000 acres of Batu Kawan land?

 Accountability, Environment, Human rights, Malaysian elections, Malaysian finance/business, People's Park/PGCC, Poverty  20 Responses »
May 172008
 

When discussing the RM1.5 billion PGCC scandal along with the scandalous rezoning from “recreational” land to “new development”, we cannot afford to ignore what was going on in Batu Kawan, which is closely connected to the PGCC saga. The PGCC and Batu Kawan deals reveal some highly questionable circumstances. During a meeting between Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and activists a couple of days ago, I suggested to the Chief Minister that the state government initiates an in-depth probe to uncover the business-political connections in the PGCC-Batu Kawan deals while thoroughly examining the re-zoning of the Batu Gantung land. For there is more to these deals than meets the eye. It is important to recall that Abad Naluri did not actually own the Batu Kawan site in 2002 when it submitted its tender to the Penang Turf Club. After all, the principal or master agreement for the acquisition of the [Read more]

Two Suaram activists still held, five others released

 Accountability, Democracy, Health care, M'sian politics, Marginalised groups, Media, Poverty  21 Responses »
May 112008
 

9.00pm – Five of the activists are released. But Suaram’s Teh Chun Hong and Lau Shu Shi, who is also Penang coordinator of the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), are still being held. Shu Shi in particular has been actively involved in organising a number of well-attended forums after the 8 March general election. Both are expected to be produced in court in Penang tomorrow morning for possible extension of remand. This reflects badly on the BN federal government’s stance on basic rights and is not likely to win it new friends. Malaysians are not going to be impressed. 7.00pm – Blog reader Kah Seng reports: MP Liew Chin Tong (Tg Bungah, Bukit Bendera, DAP) was reported there in the afternoon. You reported PKR DUN Ravi was also there. I was a busy body there from 5pm to 7pm. The police handling was very slow. Went in afternoon, and still taking [Read more]

Who’s profiting from higher food prices? Certainly not the rice farmers

 Agrobusiness/GM food, Development issues, Malaysian finance/business, Marginalised groups, Poverty, Workers' rights  8 Responses »
May 092008
 
Who's profiting from higher food prices? Certainly not the rice farmers

Some people are making big bucks from the higher prices of food, including rice. But not the farmers. The Star (8 May) carried this tiny report on page 32 – it should have been front page headlines, Chun Wai! – telling of how over 2,000 rice farmers in the country’s “rice bowl” state of Kedah are now threatening to turn to oil palm cultivation because of the low price they are getting for their padi. And who can blame them? Many of them are just hovering around the poverty line. The farmers want the padi price to be raised from the current ceiling of 65 sen/kg to RM1/kg. They complain that they have to sell their padi cheap, cheap but when they buy rice, the price is between RM2.20-2.80/kg. Where got meaning? (There’s no ceiling price for rice.) “Farmers have to absorb the escalating costs of fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and [Read more]

An impassioned plea to save the environment from a 12-year-old

 Corporate agenda, Development issues, Environment, Marginalised groups, Poverty  3 Responses »
Apr 202008
 

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, then 12, addresses the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro in 1992: To all those greedy and wasteful people (and their corporations) who are destroying the environment, think of your children and your families and what kind of world you will leave behind for them. Who is she? According to Wikipedia: Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 1979) is an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. Born to writer Tara Elizabeth Cullis and Canadian geneticist and environmental activist David Suzuki, Cullis-Suzuki received a B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University in 2002. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind, and take individual responsibility. In 1992, at the age of 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, the Environmental Childrens Organization (a group she founded) to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. [Read more]

Page 20 of 26« First...10...1819202122...Last »