It has been a most eventful day involving the three-island project in Penang and the plan to develop more than half the north Kuala Langat forest reserve. Aliran has just released this statement:
Today has been an inspiring day for People Power in Malaysia.
Two major successes in one day show we can never underestimate the power within ordinary people to bring about change.
Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, highlighted the concept of the Malaysian Family in his inaugural address to the nation.
This is a welcome development, especially after the unsavoury political jostling and power grabs over the last couple of years. “Let us open our hearts and minds to uncover similarities, without digging up differences,” he said. “We need to work together to save our family, that is, the Malaysian Family.”
Today, alarming news filtered out of Selangor: 1,326 acres or 54% of the 2,300-acre Kuala Langat north forest reserve will be ‘developed’ – or rather destroyed. It would be given to a private company for ‘mixed commercial development’.
These 8,000-year-old forests had been gazetted as ‘permanent forest reserves’ – a misnomer if there ever was one.
Bad news folks. I wrote the article (see bottom) about the organic farm known as the Wonder Wilderfarm at the Relau Agricultural Park on 12 January 2017. On Monday, 23 August, four days ago, a bulldozer flattened the farm – without any notice, from what I hear, and with hardly any time for the tenant to salvage whatever she could (though she has now been given three weeks to remove her stuff).
The rain that belted down this evening aptly summed up the sense of despondency in the living rooms of many homes here.
Over 300,000 people have signed an online petition rejecting the choice of Ismail Sabri as the next prime minister.
If we think this week of uncertainty over the choice of PM and government is too much, spare a thought for Belgium, which last year had to go through 500 days of horse trading before settling on a seven-party coalition government.
What a day it has been! So the backdoor government has been shown the exit door. With that, let us hope some serious lessons have been learned.
Updates from Twitter from selected sources:
So it looks as if Monday will be the moment of truth for Prime Minister Mahiaddin Yasin.
What do you think of Mahiaddin Yasin’s invitation this evening to opposition parties to come together.
It looks as if (outgoing?) Prime Minister Mahiaddin Yasin is fast running out of options as the rug is pulled from under his feet.
The Kedah government has signed an agreement with ECK Group to build a northern regional airport in Kulim.
ECK Group and the Kedah government will hold an 80:20 stake in a special purpose vehicle to build the airport.
The first phase will reportedly cost RM6bn.
The PM must be under tremendous pressure with each passing day. Give the departure of a group of Umno MPs it is hard to see how he can come up with a parliamentary majority on 6 September.
The big news today is the resignation today of a cabinet minister for from Umno.
Bit by bit, the PM finds his base slipping. How long more can he hold out as PM?
Each day brings with it more agonising news for the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
But Umno too faced a blow today when the Registrar of Societies wrote to the party saying its decision to postpone its party elections was invalid.
Take a look at this fascinating video. It is the closest thing to catching a glimpse of what life was like on the streets of Penang in the 1980s.
So it looks as if we have to wait for the September sitting before we can have a vote of confidence. The PM appears to have bought some time.
Remember how Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s letter contributed to Tunku Abdul Rahman’s downfall as Prime Minister in 1970?
Dramatic scenes from Independence Square this morning brought to us by Media Rakyat: