Jerit cyclists asked to fill up forms meant for “gangs”
44 Jerit cyclists being taken to KK police station
The PJ vigils go on regardless…
A new Freedom Ride cycling team reaches Kamunting
Mission accomplished with a candlelight vigil last night outside the Kamunting Detention Centre: Yin, Joseph, Meng and Michael. Their colleague and photographer, Jorge, is not in the pic. The camera flashes alerted the officers on duty, who came out to have a look. (Note: This cycling team is not part of the Jerit cycling team.)
Ready to roll on the Freedom Ride
First it was candle-mania; now it’s cycle-mania
One of the cyclists, Michael, sent in this report at 4.00am today:
It’s been a very tiring and hectic two days (Saturday and Sunday) for me especially today as I had to reach Kamunting, do the candlelight vigil last night and still catch the 9.00pm bus back to KL. It was a great feeling having been able to achieve what we set out to do.
We started out from Klang on Saturday, 6 Dec at 8.00am from a bak kut teh shop, no less. Besides the five of us, two more friends rode with us to Sabak Bernam (110km) where we stopped for the first night. The next morning, the five of us started at 8.00am and, with only a few stops for lunch and quick breaks, we rode all the way to Taiping (160km away), reaching the town just before 7.00pm. (Coincentally, the southbound Jerit cycling team were spending last night in Taiping and Bagan Serai.)
The exuberant Simon Bolivar youth orchestra lets rip
This is the product of El Sistema, Venezuela’s music education programme pioneered by economist and musician José Antonio Abreu in 1975. According to a UK Telegraph report, the programme offers every interested child, no matter how poor, an instrument and free tuition. Some 250,000 children are participating in the programme. El Sistema general manager Javier Moreno was quoted as saying: “We’re interested in creating citizens with all the values they need to exist in society – responsibility, teamwork, respect, cooperation and work ethic.”
If only we had a Malaysian equivalent – comprising the youths of all ethnic groups and classes (rich and poor) from Perlis to Sabah – playing a fusion of Malaysian music with similar exhuberance. Wouldn’t that be more culturally authentic – and more affordable – than the big-budget Petronas “Malaysian” Philharmonic Orchestra, which comprises highly paid expats performing before mainly well-heeled audiences? This is how The Telegraph describes the BBC Proms of 2007:It was a night that anyone who was there will never forget. The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra prom Fiesta time as the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra lets rip Yes, the Proms are renowned for their party atmosphere, particularly on the Last Night, but that’s from the audience. At the concert by the astonishing Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, it was the performers who let rip in what must have been the most joyful Proms performance ever. The high jinks started at the end of the scheduled concert when they produced from nowhere jackets in the national colours to replace their immaculate suits. To cheering and stamping from the audience, they performed three increasingly wild encores.
Eight Jerit cycles torched; Riot police in Bagan Serai
Someone doesn’t like the Jerit cyclists Photo by the Jerit crew (More pictures here)
The Jerit cyclists continue to be hit by one obstacle after another.
In a pre-dawn incident today, unknown arsonist(s) torched eight of the Jerit bikes in Penanti on mainland Penang, where the cycling team were spending the night. Three of the cycles were badly damaged.
The four dozen cyclists were not to be deterred and continued their journey south.
The glass wall that separates the rich from the poor
The glass facade of George Town’s premier business hotel, Traders Hotel (formerly Shangri-la Hotel), where Jerit cyclists were to hand over their memo to Guan Eng at 1.30pm
Pakatan leaders were inside attending a conference to outline their “New economic vision for Penang and Malaysia”. US multinational electronics corporation, Agilent Technologies, and the Shangri La hotels chain were the sponsors of the event, to which participants had to pay RM250/person to attend. Ironically, the session scheduled just before lunchtime was “Getting the politics right to enable sustainable economic growth that is socially just.”
But nobody cared to ask the workers and representatives of marginalised communities outside what they thought of this vision. Instead, the front door of the hotel was locked while hotel management and security looked concerned. Not that the Jerit cyclists were desperate to get in. All they wanted to do was hand over their memo and leave. Still, it would have been a great gesture if the Pakatan reps inside had invited the cyclists and activists in to listen to the aspirations and hopes of workers and marginalised groups. The Pakatan folks would have been seen as pro-people.
As it stands, the Pakatan leaders in general look increasingly pro-market, pro-investor and pro-business while lowly paid workers, who are struggling to make ends meet, do not seem to figure very highly on their list of priorities.
Jerit cyclists peering through the glass to see how the rich wine and dine: The poor in Malaysia can only dream of the lavish life-styles of the upper middle-class and the rich.
The rich top 10 per cent of the population earn 22 times what the bottom 10 per cent earn, making Malaysia one of the most unequal societies in East Asia in terms of income disparities. The Jerit campaigners and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress have been calling for a decent minimum wage in the country that would enable workers to live in dignity. A minimum wage would also help the economy as it would give the public, especially workers, greater purchasing power.
Clinton’s KL speech dogged by controversy
16 Jerit activists arrested; police road-blocks in Johor
A snatch theft victim in hospital; Paula’s bail extended
Good news! Bicycles freed… but no “perarakan” allowed
Penang gov’t backs Jerit cyclists but police block them
Jerit cyclist freed on police bail
Jerit campaign cyclist arrested near Kulim
Out-of-touch Najib wants poor to buy laundry dryers
First, petrol price increase. He said: Change your lifestyle. Then, crime: Change your perception. Now, laundry drying: Change your habit by buying a dryer or dry your laundry downstairs. This guy has no inkling of the life of ordinary people. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he has never known privation or hunger. So, when he talks, his ideas and suggestions are all in tune with his privileged world-view of his own creature comforts. Does he think everyone living in a high-rise can afford a laundry dryer?
Petrol price – subsidy, levy or free float?
Anil, You have been advocating strongly for a STRONG and WORLD CLASS public transport system. At this very time you are asking the Government to lower petrol prices. Lowering petrol prices will only make the public go back to using their cars even more. I think the push is for the Government to maintain a levy of petrol and then use this MONEY effectively to IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION system. Lets not jump into the bandwagon and simply oppose for the sake of opposing. On the other hand LGE is making ludicrous demands of giving RM6,000 per family using PETRONAS money. Seriously, why can’t he talk about using this money to improve public infrastructure? The very thing China is doing, pumping in USD600 BILLION plus to improve infrastructure, and not handing out money to its citizens just like that, where ther is NO Return On Investment, except paying for more imports with this sort of money handed out.To clarify, I am not advocating a total peg to the market price. So while a price of around RM1.50/litre might be the real market price price based on the current global market price for crude and the historical trend (as Penang CM Lim Guan Eng has suggested), it might not be prudent to use that price. A price reduction, yes (to provide immediate relief for people affected by the slowing economy), but not a total free float. I believe in the long run, we need to tax fossil fuels, which are a polluting, non-renewable resource. This could take the form of a small levy to invest in renewable energy (solar, for instance), public transport and other conservation projects. Such a levy should accompany immediate significant improvements in public transport – but so far, all the past promises of improved public transport have not materialised. This levy must go into a special “green fund”, which must be carefully and transparently managed. Only problem is I don’t think it’s possible to have such a transparently managed fund under this administration; if the fund is not managed properly, the money could so easily be squandered in dishing out inflated contracts to cronies, as we all know. It is risky to talk about pumping in billions into infrastructure when we know there are many “leakages” along the way. Public spending should be for the widest possible public benefit and not just to profit some big-time crony contractors.
Abolish ISA Mass prays for police too; RPK defends site
Does RM1.90/litre for petrol sound right?
| Petrol price | Global crude | |
| RM/litre | US$/barrel | |
| 01/10/00 | 1.20 | 35 |
| 20/10/01 | 1.30 | 20 |
| 01/05/02 | 1.32 | 26 |
| 31/10/02 | 1.33 | 28 |
| 01/03/03 | 1.35 | 31 |
| 01/05/04 | 1.37 | 38 |
| 01/10/04 | 1.42 | 47 |
| 05/05/05 | 1.52 | 48 |
| 30/07/05 | 1.62 | 57 |
| 26/02/06 | 1.92 | 63 |
| 05/06/08 | 2.70 | 120 |
| 17/11/08 | 2.00 | 55 |
| 2/12/08 | 1.90 | 48 |