Sign up here for press freedom

Anil Netto
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benar memoSupport the cause for press freedom. This is an announcement from a string of civil society groups. I must say it is refreshing to see more new groups joining in the struggle for media freedom in Malaysia. What we need now is to achieve a critical mass of Malaysians demanding press freedom, whose voices cannot be ignored or suppressed any longer. The organisers are hoping for at least 5,000 signatures. So far, they have received just over 200. I hope readers of this blog can help them achieve their target.
Concerned Malaysians are working hard to collect as many signatures as possible for the 2008 Memorandum on Media Freedom – sponsored by Benar for Free and Fair Media (Benar), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs) and Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI). The Memorandum, together with the signatures collected until 30 August, 2008 shall be presented to the national leaders on August 31, 2008 and to state leaders on September 16, 2008 to demand for reforms in media laws. This project will be weaker without your support. We hope you will place this image link on your blog to help promote the cause. There can be no free nation without free media. Let us come together to demand media freedom as the birthday present for our beloved nation. Thank you very much for your support and attention. In our love of the nation and freedom, All-Blogs, Benar, CIJ and WAMI

Be careful of FDI-driven growth

Anil Netto
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As we mark 100 days of the Pakatan governments in office, it has become fashionable to measure their success by the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) they have succeeded in drawing in. Everything seems to revolve around FDI. So that even the decision to build a RM5 billion second road bridge in Penang hinges on what the almighty foreign investor thinks and not what sustainable transport planners consider appropriate. In short, state governments are rapidly becoming servants of Big Capital and Big Business, mere tools to serve and facilitate their interests.  FDI is seen as the prime mover of the economy. In the process, sustainable development especially environmental concerns, local businesses and workers’ rights take a back seat.  What has been the level of technology transfer after some four decades of promoting the electronics industry? As the experience of Latin America suggests, we would do well to proceed with extreme caution in dealing with FDI.
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Petronas accounts: Let’s see the detailed Profit and Loss A/c

Anil Netto
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Petronas is saying its financial statements are available to the public. True, they have the annual reports published on their website. But these provide only brief summary figures e.g. revenue, profit before tax, etc – not detailed breakdowns. As mentioned earlier, I would like to see the detailed accounts, not summary figures for revenue and profit before tax. I want to see the administrative and operating expenses, the other misc expenses. Let’s have a look at the detailed profit and loss acount.
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Subdued encore at City Stadium

Anil Netto
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I just dropped by for a few minutes to check out what was happening at the City Stadium last night. Around 15,000 people turned up at the stadium. I could say it was the first time in memory that the stadium has been used for an “opposition” event. But then I would be wrong – for these parties are no longer in the opposition at least in Penang. At least there was no sign of a police presence or FRU personnel at the side entrance facing busy Dato Keramat Road.
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Cheers! Have a rent-seeking beer label…

Anil Netto
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Making your way in the world today Takes everything you’ve got; Taking a break from all your worries Sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away? (Extract of lyrics from the “Cheers” theme song)
Times are bad and everyone wants to get ahead in the world…. Today, while Malaysians were protesting in the heart of Kuala Lumpur against the sharp and painful oil price hike, comes news about what sounds like another rent-seeking operation. Beer makers Carlsberg and Guinness-Anchor are locked in a standoff over controversial security labels with a little-known firm Kod Efisien, which was awarded the concession. Kod Efisien later passed this concession to another firm, Lembah Sari. And guess who is a director in Lembah Sari…
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“Tak habis-habis dengan cerita ini”

Anil Netto
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Abdullah Badawi doesn’t see the need for a royal commission on the judiciary in the light of Justice Ian Chin’s revelations of Mahathir’s threats to remove judges. Such a commission is badly needed to comprehensively investigate the 1988 judicial crisis and the undermining of judicial independence and integrity since then. From The Star today:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said this was because the Government had decided to reform the judiciary. “Tak habis-habis dengan cerita ini (The matter seems to be dragging on). I don’t see a reason for another commission. We are going to implement the reforms,” he told reporters at his office yesterday.
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Mahathir and the judges… again

Anil Netto
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Somehow, even after his retirement, Mahathir is still involved in controversy involving the judges. The Lingam tape, Salleh Abas, Ian Chin… ? What else is coming out of the judicial closet? So what do you make of Mahathir’s response (to Ian Chin’s revelations)? Maybe his memory needs refreshing…
Both the New Straits Times and the Star today chose to splash Justice Dato Ian Chin’s “stunning” claims of my alleged interference in the judiciary, providing brief respite from the current issues of oil price hike etc etc I will refrain from commenting for now and will do so in due time. However, I am quite curious about what Ian Chin considers as “veiled threat”. Perhaps he could be more specific as his allegations are very serious.
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Mouth-watering seafood, anyone?

Anil Netto
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By now, you would have heard that Malaysian seafood exports could be slapped with a EU ban. What’s gone wrong? From reports, we hear that:
“… there are infrastructure and facilities such as fishing vessels, fish landing ports, and fish and prawn farms, which are lagging behind the standards set by EU,”…
Random checks conducted on nine seafood companies exporting to Europe found six of them lagging behind in health standards and practices set by the EU… (The Star)
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Corporate doublespeak: subsidies vs “incentives”

Anil Netto
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I walked into a petrol station along a busy road in Penang last night and engaged in some small talk with the cashier. I asked him what kind of impact the petrol price hike has had on his collection. “In ringgit terms, it has gone up,” he replied. “But in terms of litres sold, there has been a drop.” Hmm, so there has been a drop in consumption, at least at this station, I thought to myself.
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From People Power to Pedal Power

Anil Netto
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There has been a lot of talk about people boycotting the petrol pumps – you can see this being circulated via email. Only snag is how long can people sustain this? So it’s time for pedal power! Hey, if Paris can do it, why not KL, Penang, Ipoh, Johor Bharu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu? It will do wonders to turn our cities greener and quieter. We need not follow the business model in Paris. All we need to do is press our state governments to come up with dedicated cycle lanes, shaded by trees to keep off the blazing sun. 
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Why the generous subsidies for IPPs?

Anil Netto
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Oil price hike protest in Ipoh (Source: Unknown; forwarded via email)

So Petronas and the Malaysian government says subsidies distort the market. Of course, the withdrawal of subsidies will encourage conservation of a scarce resource – which is a good thing. It might even reduce pollution and congestion. Roads were noticeablly less congested in parts of Penang and KL today. Traffic on the Penang Bridge heading to the island at 5.20pm – peak time – was smooth; the usual bottleneck after the toll plazas, as the mutiple lanes narrow down to two lanes, was gone. But has the government given much thought to the impact of the removal of oil subsidies on the poor – and even large segments of the middle-class, who are rapidly moving down to the ranks of the poor in terms of real purchasing power? One key question has not been answered: why a sudden complete removal and not a gradual phasing out? Come on, tell us how much profit Petronas made for the year ended 31 March 2008. The figures should be available by now, even if the annual report isn’t ready.
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Would you like to see this in your city?

Anil Netto
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trams

A modern tram in Grenoble, France – Photo credit: Wikipedia (copyleft)

The tram initiative is building up momentum. So far, 25 29 30 31 bloggers and websites have signed on to the campaign. Civil society activists have articulated their views too. Here’s what some people are saying: Heritage writer Khoo Salma Nasution:
Heritage writer Khoo Salma Nasution noted that the Penang Island Municipal Council was the first local government to introduce electric trams in the inner city in the early part of the last century. “People think the tram is a thing of the past, but they are wrong because it is actually the thing of the future,” she said. “It is clean, energy saving and user-friendly not to mention fast, efficient and also cheap.”
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More on the mysterious oil subsidies

Anil Netto
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Some more light on this mysterious subsidy thing: Most of the country’s oil fields contain low-sulfur, high quality “sweet” crude. Malaysia exports the majority of its oil to Japan, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea.
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At least RM500/mth to use the second Penang bridge

Anil Netto
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second penang bridge Now that oil prices have gone up by 41 per cent and diesel by even more, our planners should scrap the proposed second cross-channel road link for Penang. If the RM4.8 billion second Penang bridge (all 24km of it, 17km over water) sounded like a bad idea before the oil price hike, today it sounds like a terrible idea in the light of higher fuel prices. Let’s try this out for size to see how much it will cost the average commuter every month to use the bridge.
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Time to bring back the trams

Anil Netto
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Before the general election, they told us that we would become a net importer of oil by 2011. Now, with the sharp oil price increase, they tell us we can remain a net exporter of oil until 2014-2015. You see, domestic demand will slow down. Some of us might turn to bicycles – and even live to tell the tale, given the notorious absence of bicycle lanes on our roads.

Excerpt from Reuters:

“It will be postponed if the demand does not grow at the rate that it should grow,” (Petronas) Chief Executive Mohd Hassan Merican was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.

He added: “If the rate is reduced from six percent (demand growth annually) to four percent, it will be extended by three to four years to 2014 or 2015.”

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Subsidy? What subsidy? Aiyah, I don’t understand-lah…

Anil Netto
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For the last few days, I have been trying to figure out what exactly this oil “subsidy” is that the government is talking about, which it cannot tahan any longer and so it has to collect more money from the people. What exactly is this “subsidy”? Everyone is talking about it without really knowing what this subsidy is all about. Who is paying this “subsidy” to whom? I mean, actual cash payment. Is Petronas actually paying cash to anyone for this “subsidy”? Is the government paying cash to Petronas?
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It’s a jungle out there! Oil price hike madness…

Anil Netto
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I was stuck in a massive jam after I went to pick up a friend from the Penang airport. No matter how hard I tried to avoid the petrol stations, it seemed like the whole of Penang was out on the streets looking for oil, before the price hike at midnight. While listening to the radio, I heard one caller phoning in to the deejay and saying something to the effect of, “Here I am stuck in a jam on the way to a petrol station to fill up. I wish I could stay at home like my friend Mr Abdullah and shake legs cos he doesn’t need to go out and fill up.” It took me a couple of moments to realise that he was speaking about the PM! Even the deejay responded, “I would rather be like your friend Mr Abdullah”! This, then, is the shape of things to come. A 40 per cent hike in petrol prices plus a 20 per cent rise in electricity tariffs. Welcome to the free market and the “brave new Malaysia”.
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What are they doing on the Penang Bridge centre-span?

Anil Netto
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High above the Penang Bridge

For the longest time now, there has been major ongoing work on the three-lane centre-span of the Penang Bridge. The work seems never-ending. Many motorists are puzzled about the long-term closure of the far left lanes on the centre span.

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Petronas’ RM600 billion profit: Where has it all gone?

Anil Netto
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So the figure has been revealed. Petronas’ group profit before taxes, royalties, dividends and export duties amounted to RM570 billion for the period from its establishment in 1974 to 31 March 2007. If you include the figure for the period until 31 March 2008, then you are probably looking at a figure closer to RM700 billion, with the higher oil prices. Let’s see the breakdown of that RM570 billion:
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Second Penang bridge cost soars to RM4.8 billion

Anil Netto
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Traffic jam on the Second Penang Bridge in 2020? Toll $$$ for UEM

In July 2007, the estimated cost of the second Penang bridge was RM2.7 billion.
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