Did you catch the front page of theSun today? It’s an important story not to be missed – for KTMB needs all the money it can get to upgrade its archaic rail system.
For a glimpse at what visitors think of our railway system, check out a feature in TIME here.
Yesterday, we saw how the Sarawak government would lose hundreds of millions of ringgit if land in Kuching was sold at bargain basement prices. And now this. The big question in this case is – apart from KTMB being deprived of the full value of the land – who is going to be the ‘lucky’ developer?
Image via Wikipedia
An unfair deal?
Terence Fernandez and Llew-Ann Phang
KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 26, 2010): Is Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) getting a raw deal in the development of a piece of railway land in Bangsar?
This is the question on the lips of those concerned with recent developments of the 8ha site behind the former the Unilever headquarters along Jalan Bangsar.
Said to be worth at least RM400 million, the national railway company may be paid only RM50 million for giving up the prime real estate.
This is a piece on the trams of Penang that I wrote as a guest blogger for The Guardian:
Image via Wikipedia
George Town on the island of Penang in Malaysia used to have a viable tram system in the early
20th century. It was part of a fairly integrated and efficient transport system.
But then the trams faded away in this British ‘Crown Colony’, with the advent of buses and private motor vehicles, at about the same time some of the tram systems in Europe disappeared.
DPP Abdul Razak Musa demonstrates during the Teoh Beng Hock inquest how a person might strangle himself.
This clip is an except of a much longer video that was uploaded to the AG’s website this afternoon. Thanks to Malaysiakini for the editing.
Blog reader Ganesh was alarmed by what he stumbled upon at Gasing Hill the other day.
Photo by Ganesh
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Ganesh shares with us what he discovered:
I saw plots of land being sold, starting from the bottom right up to the top, on both sides of the road leading to its peak.
PopTeeVee interviews Pas MP Mujahid Yusuf Rawa on the party’s efforts to draw in non-Muslim supporters.
What do you think? Is Pas really genuine in reaching out to the non-Muslims or is it merely for political expedience?
Are you interested in mansions in the United States?
Check out the Sarawak Reporthere, which features a couple of exclusive tastefully appointed mansions in Seattle linked to the family of a familiar politician.
The MP for Bandar Kuching has reportedly accused the Sarawak state government of alienating 269 acres of land near the Kuching airport to a private company at a “obscenely under-priced” rate.
Chong Chieng Jen alleged the alienation rate was RM291,000 per acre on average, according to a Malaysiakini report. “The market rate is between RM1.5 million and RM2 million per acre. Had the government gone for public tender, the state could have (earned) RM400 million to RM500 million,” the popular web portal quoted him as saying. Monarda Sdn Bhd, a dormant company that has a paid-up capital of RM100, only paid about RM78 million for the three parcels of land, he claimed.
The New York Times carries a feature on Thai forensics pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand.BANGKOK— THE mild-mannered bank manager poked his head into the doorway, then quickly pulled it back. His wife was at work, and he did not want to look. He has never looked. He is afraid of corpses.
If the body on the stainless steel table inside had somehow awakened for a moment, it might have jumped, too, with shock.
National Geographic Channel features Thai forensic pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand’s role in the investigation of the sudden death of a Thai parliamentarian.
This is the new Sarawak State Assembly building, built at a cost of about RM300 million, on the banks of the Sarawak River in Petra Jaya, Kuching.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Source: Naim Holdings Bhd Annual Report 2009
The structure was developed by Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s family-controlled listed firm Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd and another listed firm, Naim Holdings Bhd. According to the Annual Report 2009 of CMS Bhd, the complex was developed by CMS subsidiary PPES Works (Sarawak), along with a Naim subsidiary, Naim Cendera Sdn Bhd. Naim Holdings’ Annual Report 2009 says these two companies were turnkey contractors for the project, which was completed in May 2009.
With the federal and state governments and GLCs holding stakes in an increasing number of private hospitals, is there a conflict of interest?
Blog reader Ganesh shares his thoughts.
If you see the private hospitals, some of them are virtually owned either directly or indirectly by the government.
So, the government has absolutely no incentive to build more new government hospitals nor to upgrade existing government hospitals at all.
Ever since health care support services in general hospitals were privatised, costs borne by taxpayers have soared.
In 1996, health care support services were privatised to three companies: Faber Medi-Serve Sdn Bhd (FMS), Radicare (M) Sdn Bhd and Pantai Medivest Sdn Bhd.
In 1997, the payments made to these companies added up to RM340 million, broken down as follows:
Male GM mosquitoes could be released at both inhabited and uninhabited sites in Pahang and Melaka in October or November, if the National Biosafety Board of Malaysia approves an application to conduct experiments.
The Aedes mosquito (OX513A strain) has been modified to include two new traits, fluorescence and ‘conditional lethality’, which means that in the absence of the antibiotic tetracycline, offspring from these males will die. The trial is aimed at finding out how long these GM mosquitoes will survive and how far they will disperse compared to the wild type non-GM mosquitoes.
If the Institute of Medical Research’s application is approved, up to 6,000 of these ‘non-biting’ GM mosquitoes and a number of non-GM mosquitoes will be released in the Bentong district of Pahang and Alor Gajah and Melaka district. The release will be carried out over two consecutive days during the second week of October or November 2010.
Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand is the most trusted individual in all of Thailand, according to a Readers’ Digest Trust survey.
This survey in October 2009 found that out of 80 individuals in the country, the Director of Thailand’s Forensic Science Institute was the most trusted.
A study just out reveals that about 85 per cent of new drugs offer few if any new benefits. In fact, a significant cause of death in the United States is due to the toxic side effects or misuse of prescription drugs, reports the Science Daily.
“Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs’ benefits,” said Prof Donald Light, author of the paper, Pharmaceuticals: A Two-Tier Market for Producing ‘Lemons’ and Serious Harm.
Drug firms also tend to spend two or three times more on marketing than research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs for conditions other than those for which the drugs have been approved, said Light, who is professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He added that doctors usually tend to dismiss patients’ complaints of side effects or take them lightly.
Thai forensic pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand, testifying at the inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s death, insists that the incident was not suicide: “I will not go into percentages. I am sure it is not suicide.”
When the MACC counsel accused her of taking sides, Pornthip responded, “You have to understand. I work for the rights of the dead, not the Selangor government.” The crowd in the courtroom broke into applause.
Photos by Rakyat@work
While Umno and MCA enjoy a public spat and put up a wayang for the rest of us, Zaid Ibrahim has a story on how the NEP was put to use to fabulously enrich a coterie of well-connected individuals.
Najib’s brother Nazir Razak noted the NEP had become bastardised, but Zaid writes: “What he (Nazir) doesn’t say explicitly is that the NEP, which was set up with noble aims of eradicating poverty irrespective of race, has become a system that is opaque, corrupt, non-accountable and highly secretive.”
Check out Zaid’s fascinating blog entry here to find out how a few familiar names made it big, thanks to the NEP. Now that’s the real 1Malaysia for you – all very muhibbah among the political and business elites as they get-rich-quick, while the ordinary, struggling rakyat are manipulated into squabbling about racial and religious issues in a highly polarised environment.
Photo by Ganesh
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Source: Naim Holdings Bhd Annual Report 2009
The structure was developed by Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s family-controlled listed firm Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd and another listed firm, Naim Holdings Bhd. According to the Annual Report 2009 of CMS Bhd, the complex was developed by CMS subsidiary PPES Works (Sarawak), along with a Naim subsidiary, Naim Cendera Sdn Bhd. Naim Holdings’ Annual Report 2009 says these two companies were turnkey contractors for the project, which was completed in May 2009.
Photos by Rakyat@work