The spirit of the protesters at Tahrir Square is just amazing. The latest is that striking doctors and 3,000 staff from a key Cairo hospital along with 3,000 lawyers have joined the protests.
A newly appointed Cabinet Minister for Culture has also resigned. According to Aljazeera, “the NDP Secretary General Hossam Badrawi says he expects Mubarak to respond to the demands of the people before Friday. An official statement from the military is imminent”. Is this the end of the road for Mubarak and his regime?
Nice to see tanks being put to good use as shelter for the weary - Photo credit: SherineT
“The great tragedy is Obama chose not to hold out his hand”: Robert Fisk on the gap between US rhetoric and action in the Egyptian uprising
When it comes to the question of the chain of command in political matters, I am reminded of the 12th century story of Thomas Becket.
Authoritarian leaders of nations these days don’t like to get their hands dirty. Instead, they tend to surround themselves with sycophants who can almost read their minds and then go out of their way to fulfil what they believe to be the leaders’ desires.
So when some dirty deed is done, the head honcho can then say, “I didn’t order it, it wasn’t me; it was the army or the police who fired at the crowd/tortured dissidents/detained political opponents without trial, etc.”
The second Penang bridge is expected to be completed by November 2013, barring delays. The big question now is how are the roads on the island going to cope with all that traffic?
My main disappointment is that planners never thought of building an inter-city rail link to the island instead. That would have eased inter-city traffic on the existing bridge. Without a rail link, the traffic pouring into Penang will reach nightmarish proportions. Anyone who was in Penang Island over the Lunar New Year holidays will have got a taste of things to come (in terms of traffic congestion).
Meet C.S.D.P. @ CikShidaDariParit, a 38-year-old school-teacher and mime artiste from Perak, who is breaking out of the mould of what society expects of her.
“I’m not a professional artist. I have no basics in acting, singing or dancing and I’m not an IT expert also. I’m just an ordinary woman and a teacher. I do all the videos by myself from recording, make up till the editing and I’m only using used materials,” she says.
A friend sent me this news commentary and I thought I would share it with you. Does it ring a bell by any chance?
Under sweeping privatisation policies, they appropriated profitable public enterprises and vast areas of state-owned lands. A small group of businessmen seized public assets and acquired monopoly positions in strategic commodity markets … While crony capitalism flourished, local industries that were once the backbone of the economy were left to decline. At the same time, private sector industries making environmentally hazardous products … have expanded without effective regulation at a great cost to the health of the population.
A tiny economic elite controlling consumption-geared production and imports has accumulated great wealth. This elite includes representatives of foreign companies with exclusive import rights in … automobiles. It also includes real estate developers who created a construction boom in gated communities and resorts for the super-rich. Much of this development is on public land acquired at very low prices, with no proper tendering or bidding.
Why is it that we always have to wait for tragedy to strike before we implement safety measures?
These photos above were taken on 2 January 2011, just a couple of days after a beach accident involving a seven-year-old Japanese girl. They show beach buggies on the sand, parasailing activities and water scooters all on the same stretch of beach where toddlers and young children are playing, blissfully unaware of the danger lurking all around them. Notice the buggy wheel tracks across the beach.
More images and accounts have emerged of the Muslim-Christian understanding on the streets calling for a new dawn in Egypt.A Muslim holds aloft a Qur'an while a Christian carries a cross in a mark of Muslim-Christian solidarity in Tahrir Square - Photo credit: Huffington Post
See another picture here. And see this Reuters video.
This is an except from an Irish Times report:
MUSLIMS PRAYED with Christians yesterday in Tahrir Square at the heart of Cairo. A priest from Egypt’s ancient Coptic rite held high a cross, read verses from the Bible and in a deep, sonorous voice led hymn singing. The mostly Muslim throng joined in, familiar with the Arabic phrases the faiths share.
Muslims prayed while Christians protected them. And today, Muslims returned the favour as they stood guard around Christians participating in a Sunday service. Tahrir Square continues to witness remarkable scenes of inter-religious solidarity in the struggle for freedom and justice. Visual of the day: Father Fawzi Khalil holding the Bible standing next to an Imam holding the Qur'an.
See another picture here. And see this Reuters video.
Remember this renewed solidarity is happening in a land where a Coptic Church in Alexandria was attacked on 1 January 2011 in a suicide bombing, killing 23 and injuring 97.
thedailynewsegypt.com reports:
CAIRO: Christians and Muslims recited in unison the “Our Father” prayer in Tahrir on Sunday, a day intended to commemorate those killed in pro-democracy protests since Jan. 25.
“Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts – Egyptian president has cash in British and Swiss banks plus UK and US property”.
That’s the headline of a Guardian report.
I can’t say I am surprised. He joins the ‘illustrious’ ranks of US-backed dictators such as Suharto, the Shah of Iran, and Marcos, who enjoyed fabulous wealth while their people suffered from poverty and repression. That’s also what happens when the political elite mix business with politics and engage in lots of corporate wheeling and dealing.
Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian report:
President Hosni Mubarak’s family fortune could be as much as $70bn (£43.5bn) according to analysis by Middle East experts, with much of his wealth in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
We know that the United States provides military aid to the Mubarak regime. But where does much of the money actually end up (leaving aside the ‘commissions’)?
According to Amy Goodman of truthdig.com:
… Mostly to U.S. corporations. I asked William Hartung of the New America Foundation to explain:
“It’s a form of corporate welfare for companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, because it goes to Egypt, then it comes back for F-16 aircraft, for M-1 tanks, for aircraft engines, for all kinds of missiles, for guns, for tear-gas canisters [from] a company called Combined Systems International, which actually has its name on the side of the canisters that have been found on the streets there.”
A rare video report from the ground looking at how pro-democracy activists defended Tahrir Square – at a terrible cost, several killed and over 5,000 injured – after coming under waves of attack from pro-Mubarak thugs.
On this ‘Day of Departure’ protests, some three thousand people have gathered in KL calling for Mubarak’s ouster. They join protesters gathering across the world.
Watch Aljazeera’s live streaming of the’ Day of Departure’ from Cairo. (Why is Astro’s screening of Aljazeera’s ‘live coverage’ a few minutes behind Aljazeera’s live coverage over the Internet?)
Photo by Khalid Samad's streamTwitter photo by FaizFazilTwitter photo by FaizFazilProtest in KL on the 'Day of Departure' - Photo via tweet from pmnicol1616: Eight people are believed to have been arrested. Those arrested are in police trucks outside the PNB building.
1556: Protesters have dispersed from the Tabung Haji building area, as police linger on. Meanwhile, Latheefa tweets: “They tried to arrest Fadiah who went to inquire about the arrests! – shouting at her ‘budak baru! very prof indeed!'”
1551: A least four protesters have been arrested, reports my contact.
1546: Police fired water cannon briefly to disperse the protesters, reports a contact. About a hundred people are still around the Tabung Haji building area. My contact says he saw police taking one of the protesters away, and he believes there could be a few arrested.
1538: Police are spraying stuff on the demonstrators. They look poised to make arrests, reports a contact.
1532: According to a tweet from Latheefa Koya citing her source Fadiah, police have arrested some people including an old man. They are being brought to IPD Dang Wangi.
1522: A contact at the scene reports that the turnout was in the region of 3,000 to 5,000. Riot police blocked the road leading to the US Embassy, leading to some commotion. Some teargas was sprayed (but not fired using tear gas cannisters.) By 3.20pm, the protest was drawing to a close after demonstrators were pressured to disperse.
1453: Riot police have taken up positions about 50 metres away from the US embassy.
1440: The crowd has reached 2,000 people, according to a tweet.
1427: Some 500 people have gathered in front of the Tabung Haji building in KL. Several hundred more, carrying banners, have just arrived from KLCC. A contact at the scene reports that the crowd has reached a thousand. They might be heading for the US Embassy.
About a hundred police personnel are already at the scene as sirens wail.
After what’s been happening in Egypt, I thought I would draft a memo to dictators and authoritarian leaders around the world to give them some free and unsolicited advice.Inspiring photo of the day: Egyptian Christians protecting fellow Muslim protesters who were praying at Tahrir Square earlier today - Photo credit: ShawkattRaghib via twitterDear Mr Dictator/Authoritarian Leader
Recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere must be giving you sleepless nights or making you feel terribly uneasy.
May I offer a few tips so that you don’t see similar eruptions in your own countries:
Do not suppress dissent
Allow your people sufficient avenues and outlets to express their frustrations, anger, complaints and criticism. You don’t want their anger and frustration to be pent up. Think of these avenues as built-in safety valves. In this respect, free media and a functioning Parliament have a big role to play. Don’t forget to free up the state-run media as well. Get rid of all repressive laws, especially detention without trial, and bring back democracy quickly before it’s too late. Liberate your people!
A “life-threatening” cyclone is expected to hit the coast of Northern Queensland, Australia at around 10.00pm. It comes in the wake of devastating floods which swamped large parts of Queensland recently.
Meanwhile, a colossal winter storm has struck the United States. It is expected to affect a third of the population. And over here in Malaysia, we have floods in the south of the peninsula. Climate change? sign of the times?
Updates from Cairns, north Queensland below:
Many of us now know that Malaysia has lost RM889 billion in terms of illicit financial outflows from 2000 to 2008. But how much was the per capita average annual illicit outflow when compared to per capita GDP?
Independent observer Philip Khoo does the maths in a commentary for Aliran:
Most shocking of all, the illicit outflow from Malaysia cost the rakyat 17 per cent of per capita GDP, but less than 1 per cent in Egypt and Tunisia. In other words, that outflow could have potentially added up to 17 per cent of GDP, or made available up to US$1,200 for the betterment of every man, woman and child in the country, including non-citizens.
By now, we are gradually becoming familiar with the poverty, unemployment (especially among youth) and income inequality in Egypt that seems to be fuelling the protests. But what is less well known is that Egypt, like Tunisia, had only recently been viewed as an ‘economic miracle’ after it wholeheartedly pursued standard IMF/World Bank ideas.
(Follow the ‘one million-strong’ gathering in Cairo ‘live’ over Aljazeerahere.)
It’s funny that Hillary Clinton now says that Egypt has to”‘reform”. Only in August 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt had become Washington’s economic favourite. And last year, the World Bank, in its ‘Doing Business 2010’ report gushingly (and embarrassingly) applauded Colombia and Egypt as the “top global reformers in four of the past seven years”. I kid you not. How wrong can you get? Unless they meant reforms to profit a small minority of the business elite.
Such IMF/World Bank ‘structural adjustment’ policies include privatisation, subsidy cuts, market ‘liberalisation’ and deregulation. Sound familiar?
Although many welcomed the Penang state government’s decision to enact a Freedom of Information Act, the release of a draft Bill has made a mockery of the people’s aspirations for more transparency and accountability.
Have a look at Sarajun Hoda’s analysis of the draft Bill on Aliran here:
The FOI Bill is surrounded by a million reasons stipulating why information ‘may’ not be given. Instead of asserting the opening up of access to information, it only speaks about conditions for not divulging information and even more excuses for impeding access. It finally sounds just as haughty, opaque and obfuscating as the Selangor Bill.
As petrol pump prices rise steadily (another increase in RON 97 price has just been reported), here’s a less well known trend: Malaysian oil production has been gradually falling since peaking in 2004.
This graph should be of concern to all Malaysians. Notice the production-consumption gap narrowing.
Graphic credit: http://www.eia.doe.gov
That’s why they are dishing out contracts for ‘enhanced’ oil recovery.
Events unfolding in Egypt have gripped the attention of people all around the world. The writing is clearly on the wall for the US-backed dictator Mubarak.
Oddly enough, I was just watching a documentary on the last days of the Marcos regime (US-backed too) and there are some uncanny similarities. The United States only withdrew support for Marcos in the last minute when confronted with a huge display of People Power. The US government unceremoniously whisked him away to a safe haven in Hawaii. He thus escaped from justice and the wrath of the people of the Philippines.
It is also interesting to see that some of the looters, arsonists and ‘rioters’ are suspected to be police or other security personnel. (Robert Fisk provides an eye-witness account in ZNet.) If that’s true, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise as such ‘black ops’ tactics among security apparatus, not to mention agents provocateurs, are standard fare aimed at discrediting the protesters in the eyes of the rest of the public, who may be wavering or undecided. One activist interviewed over Aljazeera alleged that vigilantes had caught a looter(s) with a police ID(s) on him(them).
One popular tweet going around reads: “‘Egyptian Christians said they will guard the Muslims from the police while they on Friday Pray.’ Amazing solidarity.”