Kg Buah Pala villagers spend night in darkness
Kampung Buah Pala villagers have been thrown back into the Dark Ages after electricity was disconnected in most of the houses still standing, many of them partially damaged.
Photos by Anil
Small groups of dejected and subdued villagers and other visitors sat huddled in quiet conversation along the lane under the glare of street lights.
Several houses still standing used candles to illuminate their partly broken homes. A stray dog trotted aimlessly along the lane.
Kg Buah Pala disintegrates under hammer blows
It was a sad, sad day for Kampung Buah Pala as a demolition team smashed the homes of villagers who had struggled to protect and preserve their 200-year-old settlement.
Photos by an eye-witness
1930: “My heart is completely broken today. Where were all the NGOs and political parties?” lamented a volunteer who had stood by the villagers. “Nobody was there … to see for themselves the pain the people went through. (I was) standing there and watching the demolition helplessly.”
“Even trees were not spared. A goat took refuge under a tractor. Dogs and cats were helpless with nowhere to go.”
Stop targeting Malaysiakini, say NGOs
About 30 activists this morning voiced their concern about the MCMC’s action against Malaysiakini over its videos relating to the ‘cow-head’ protest.
Photos by Rakyat@work
They held a brief gathering outside the Malaysiakini office at 10.00am, followed by a press conference in the Malaysiakini office.
The main NGO speaker (centre among group of speakers) was Amin Iskandar, director of the National Institute of Electoral Integrity.
Labuan residents suffer as taps run dry
Is this a sign of things to come as our planet contends with water shortages aggravated by competing demand from the public and demand from industry (to cater to ever-increasing production of consumer goods, which in turn requires more raw materials)?
Why haven’t we heard more about the Labuan water shortages? Some 80,000 Labuan residents, including 4,000 students, have been faced with a serious water shortage since July.
Bernama reports that demand for water in Labuan is about 56 million litres a day but supply (from the mainland) is only at 42 million litres, a shortfall of 25 per cent. But 10 million litres (about a quarter) of the water supply is consumed by Petronas’ mega methanol plant (photo here).
And the people suffer.
“Negative NGOs”
The release of the federally sanctioned report on the sexual abuse of Penan women and girls has prompted contrasting reactions from Sarawak government leaders.
Take a look at the Borneo Post, which reports that Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu, who had not seen the official report, took a swipe at the messengers, the “negative NGOs”, while casting aspersions on the contents:
Doubts over KL Penan rape report By Churchill Edward Jabu says negative NGOs could have a hand in federal government finding KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu yesterday questioned the credibility of a government report about allegations of rape of Penan women. Although he has not seen the actual report from a special task force set up by the federal government as of yesterday, he believed negative non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could have a hand in it.
Samy’s men win, but MIC faces uncertain future
Samy Vellu’s men might have swept the top posts in the MIC party elections, but the future of race-based politics and parties remains distinctly bleak.
Leaving aside the lack of renewal in the party’s top leadership, the reality is that race-based parties are catering to a shrinking “market”, despite the best attempts of politicians to whip up ethnic sentiment. Thus, we now see attempts to use religion for political mileage. All this at great cost to unity.
One Malaysia or two Malaysias?
Do we really have OneMalaysia or two Malaysias – one for the rich and the other for the lower-income group. Here’s something I wrote for Aliran:
The Najib administration has touted its One Malaysia slogan in the weeks leading up to the Merdeka and Malaysia Day celebrations.
Demolition of shophouses along Magazine Road
The Penang Heritage Trust has come up with the following statement on the demolition of several shop-houses in George Town.
Photos by Penang Media
The PHT regrets the initial demolition by the state government of the traditional shop-houses along Magazine Road which is part of the historic ‘Sia Boey’ enclave. We had earlier inspected the buildings and spoken to the residents of the area on their invitation. While these buildings are not situated strictly within the heritage enclave (which is bordered by the Prangin Canal), they nevertheless form part of the established communities living and providing services in the inner city.
Artists capture last impressions of Kg Buah Pala
While many Penangites and other Malaysians fail to see anything of value in Kampung Buah Pala, 14 of Penang’s top artists felt otherwise.
This morning, a downpour did not deter them from descending on the village to capture images of the village for posterity.
As the artists caressed their canvases with deft flicks of the brush, the thuds of ongoing demolition work broke the tranquility of the village – no doubt, music to the ears of the developer. A herd of cows grazed on a hillock behind while a couple ambled closer as their curiosity got the better of them.
Among the renown artists were Chong Hon Fatt, who runs an art gallery in George Town, and Ong Choon Hoo from Bukit Mertajam.
Fire in a kampung
A morning blaze in a kampung off Mengkuang Road in Butterworth
Fire in a kampung
From a distance, grey plumes
Darken the morning sky,
Someone’s in trouble,
Someone’s home is ablaze.
Passers-by gawk in awe,
Fire-fighters frustrated,
As hoses run dry,
Valuable moments lost.
Pg Transport Council’s biggest test could be Porr
The Penang State Exco has set up a Penang Transport Council, whose motto is “moving people, not cars”. The biggest and most formidable challenge for the Council, however, is how it responds to any attempt to revive the highly controversial Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr) project.
The formation of the council, chaired by state exco member Chow Kon Yeow, is a step in the right direction. The Council’s task is to tackle transport problems especially trying to get the public to move away from “over-dependence on private transport to a more economically and ecologically sustainable public transport system. The system will be people-centric and part of the council’s task is also to increase public awareness, participation in and acceptance of such a system.”
The council is made up of “state and city council members, civil servants, university professors, professionals, stakeholders, and members of the public with interest in and knowledge of transport issues”.
Beware the perils of health care “liberalisation”
Michael Moore’s must-see documentary, Sicko
And then came the expose of a PR campaign by the private health care industry to discredit Moore’s documentary…
I was reading the latest edition of The Edge – I am interested to see how the business folks think and what motivates them – when I came across a report that private hospitals are full because of the H1N1 alert.
You would think that this would keep these private hospitals busy. But folks in the private hospital industry are actually worried – not because of the H1N1 outbreak – but because these flu patients do not bring high enough revenue yield! “Flu patients could occupy the beds for up to five to six days and yet make less money [for the hospitals] than those that come in for higher-yield procedures such as minor surgeries but who would only occupy the beds for about three days,” an industry observer told The Edge.
Smog hits Sarawak, Kalimantan
Source: Environment Division of Asean Secretariat
Just heard from a friend that Kuching is blanketed by a haze. Visibility is down to just about 1km.
The Department of Environment reveals that Sibu and Sri Aman both have API readings of 105 (unhealthy) at 11.00am. But the readings for Kuching and Samarahan show only 84 and 99 (“moderate”).
Buah Pala leaves bitter taste
Buah pala or nutmeg, along with other spices bearing exotic flavours, once drew hordes of traders to these parts. Today though, the mention of Buah Pala is enough to leave a bitter taste as the village that bears its name – where the descendants of those who laboured in the spice plantations of yore now reside – faces demolition.
Folks today are more interested in ‘whacking’ the villagers for their political miscalculations and for being “greedy” because they did not jump at the offer of “double-storey terrace houses worth RM500,000”. At the same time, the Koperasi/Nusmetro’s greed is rarely mentioned; they have already made a huge unrealised profit on the land, even before any work has begun, after having bought the land for peanuts. (Purchase price approx RM10 per sq ft vs market value approx RM100 psf ==> for 6.5 acres, that works out to a cool RM25 million profit just on the vacant land).
Kg Buah Pala in more hopeful times
Just spotted this on Youtube; it could explain some of the disappointment among the villagers, who desperately wanted to preserve their settlement.
Humble Penan resist logging, oil palm giants
Penan forest inhabitants are battling to save their ancestral lands from the might of plantation and timber companies, who have already stripped most of the primary rainforests in Sarawak.
Whatever happened to the much touted “sustainable forest management”? How were primary rainforests flattened for acacia tree and oil palm plantations, dealing a devastating blow to biodiversity?
Look at the greed of these logging and plantation firms. And when it comes to the interests of these giant firms vs those of ordinary people (like the Penan, in this case) – you know whose side the politicians will be on, as usual.
Kg Buah Pala: No deal struck yet
2219: Contrary to reports that a deal has been struck with all the villagers, half the remaining households have not yet accepted the developer’s vaguely worded compensation offer.
This is the current position:
- Those who had left much earlier and signed – 9 households
- Those who have now accepted and signed – 12 households
- Those who have not signed – 12 households
Shah Alam MP writes to Section 23 residents
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has written an open letter to the residents of Section 23 regarding the relocation of a Hindu temple to their area.
Bagan Pinang: Postal votes could be crucial
Update: Postal votes could be crucial in Bagan Pinang. According to the chart here, Pusasda (Pusat Latihan Asas Tentera Darat) Kem Si Rusa falls under this state assembly seat with close to 2,000 postal voters. In March last year, Harakah reported an alleged irregularity involving a Bagan Pinang postal voter here.
Bagan Pinang Adun Azman Md Noor (BN) passed away in Seremban, according to a tweet from Khairykj.
In the 2008 general election, the first-term assembly member won the seat with a 2,333-vote majority over his Pas rival, winning by a 6,430-4,097 margin.