The federal government’s double standards in the allocation of funding for conservation and revitalisation projects in Penang and Malacca are disturbing. Malacca receives RM30 million while Penang gets only RM20 million.
First, the disparity in the amounts given is hard to understand, given that Penang has the largest collection of pre-war shop-houses in the region. Unless the reason is political – you know, Malacca comes under BN and Penang under Pakatan.
Second, the RM20 million for Penang doesn’t go to the state government but to Think City. Now, Think City is a wholly owned special purpose vehicle established by Khazanah Nasional Berhad (under the Finance Ministry) to implement and manage a so-called ‘George Town Grants Programme’.
View ThinkCity Physical Projects Map Round 1 & 2 in a larger map
See how the Penang state government has been by-passed? Shouldn’t decisions on how best to conserve Penang’s heritage be ultimately decided at the local level by representatives elected by the people of Penang with public participation, in line with the principle of subsidiarity?
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One more comment:
Sometimes one cannot help wondering if the
vindictive BN guys don’t seem to realise that such short-sighted policies may cause Malaysia to fragment like post-Tito Yugoslavia (with some economically viable states (e.g. Slovenia) emerging and non-economically viable states (e.g. Kosovo) emerging too). Their policies are causing great unhappiness in Sabah and Sarawak too. 1Malaysia??
Dear Anil
A clear case of
“Cutting off your own nose to spite your face”
Any state that elects a government other than BN automatically becomes a stepson. There is a moral to be learnt from this and Pakatan Rakyat had better keep this in mind. The rakyat is watching and this doesn’t augur well for BN candidates in the next GE.
Malacca’s monorail service comes to a stop!
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/11/nation/7601872&sec=nation
Well, don’t you think this is money ‘well’ spent?
With RM15.9 million, Penang could do a lot for its Heritage tourism and with some spare change to belanja!
Karma has its strange ways to deal with recalcitrants.
Rustam did not read the specs written in Mandarin.
That LRT is a ‘toy’ for kiddy ride.
Patriotic Citizens of Malaysia,lets go for change in the coming GE and oust this evil regime from Parliment and rebuild real democracy in this beloved country of ours.
Its now or never.
Anil,
You still missing another double standrds allocation, I wrote a letter to Malaysiakini Chinese two weeks ago.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/149514
Melaka is allocated 115 million by Tourism Ministry under the 10th Malaysia Plan while Penang get “nut” thing from the Federal Government.
Yes, nkkhoo, lots of double standards, including allocations for parliamentary constituencies.
Thanks for pointing that out.
The new monorail of melaka is no longer functioning!
Ha Ha. Another opportunity for easy money under the guise of repair and maintenance.
Not just about penang.
We all know that all the PR MPs did not get additional funds .
But we will continue to vote for PR.
Private initiatives. That’s the the way to go. Unfortunately, most big private companies are not that eager to invest / contribute to Penang’s Heritage efforts in a collective way. A few notable companies like Ghee Hiang are contributing in their own special ways to create better awareness of Penang Heritage. Ghee Hiang has a heritage brand which ties in well with Penang Heritage. That’s one way to go. May be the state Gomen comes up with a tax incentive for corporate contribution to Heritage efforts rather than for these profitable companies to spend on meaningless luxury or flashy cars as… Read more »
…Penangnites will survive! The non-malays survived comfortably even with … discrimination against them by Ketuanan UMNO… what is 20 million!
Get your fact right. Penang no longer the Chinese majority.
Stop showing your racist comment.
After going through ‘Cities, People & the Economy: A Study on Positioning Penang’ by Khazanah, I am not sure if they are in Penang for the World Heritage Zone, instead of focusing on the core aganda, it is more like planning to takeover Penang’s economy. Anyway, it is just 100 ++ pages that what you already know. Conclusion: Lame!
Even a donkey knows that the fedral government is practising double standard. Ther only people who deny it are those from UMNO, MCA, MIC, GERAKAN !!!
Anyway, as a Penangite, I will never ever vote for BN even though the fedral governmant do not give a sen as aid.
Hishamudin has reminded CSL that Umno is the abang and mca is the adik. What more do you expect?
nothing new mate
come Ge13, vote them out
This is just another of the federally funded gravy train for the likes of Gerakan K and K to hitch a ride on now that they can no longer (benefit from) the state coffers.
You got it….how to siphon if no control
BN says … support me and you get $$$, support others and you get NONE! Smart huh? Anyways, how is ThinkCity doing? Are they doing a proper job?
Any AG report on ThinkCity?