Lipstick on a gorilla Nowhere are the contradictions of building these eco-homes better illustrated than in Dalston, East London. The Victorian theatre there, and adjoining late Georgian houses, were recently demolished to make way for a transport interchange, as part of a regeneration exercise loosely linked to the 2012 Olympics. The development contains homes complete with wind turbines, and the tower blocks will have ‘green’ roofs. As the propaganda has it, the whole exercise is environmentally sustainable. But once construction starts, more that seventy-five lorries will be arriving at the site daily, for several months. The Carbon Trust estimates that the carbon emitted in building the reinforced concrete slabs alone will be something like 15,000 tonnes, equivalent to the Greater London Authority’s carbon emissions from electricity use for the next twelve years – or the amount that would be emitted if the mayors of London and Hackney flew across the Atlantic and back continuously from now (2007) until 2045. – Robert Bargery, editorYou still think it’s going to be “zero carbon”? Aren’t we having wool pulled over our eyes? This makes the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s call to fast-track the approvals process all the more irresponsible. What we really need is a thorough, detailed, independent EIA process.
Lipstick on the PGCC gorilla
The PGCC developers talk about building a zero-carbon city, but they don’t tell us about the scale of carbon emissions during the years of construction.
It might be worth looking at what people in the know are saying about large so-called “eco-projects” elsewhere.
Check out this excerpt from The Georgian, Issue 1, 2007. The Georgian is the magazine of the Georgian Group, a national charity in the UK dedicated to preserving Georgian buildings and gardens. Every year, the group is consulted on over 6,000 planning applications involving demolition or alterations.
Main Penang NGOs express alarm over PGCC
If Patrick Lim and Equine Capital think it is going to be smooth sailing after the Prime Minister announced that approvals for the PGCC would be fast-tracked, they had better think again.
This morning, half a dozen of the main Penang NGOs came together to express their stand against the development of the PGCC at a packed press conference held at the CAP office. Also present was a cameraman (the logo on the camera said ntv7, but I am not so sure) who meticulously videotaped the proceedings. (Let’s see what comes out on ntv7 tonight. I am not holding my breath.)
Present were representatives from CAP, Penang Heritage Trust, Malaysian Nature Society, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Cepat, and Aliran as well as other concerned Penangites.
The site of the project – the present Turf Club – was originally given by the government for a nominal sum and was zoned as ‘Open Space’. This was changed very recently to ‘Mixed Development’, even though public opinion was unanimously against it (judging from the submissions sent in by the public during the 2007 Structure Plan exercise), the NGOS said in a joint media statement.
“By doing so, the State has acted arbitrarily and sacrificed the interests of the community to a group of developers,” they said.
The NGO representatives expressed particular displeasure over the fact that the project is being steamed-rolled through and imposed from the top-down without full and open public consultation.
What Patrick Lim didn’t show us: The missing 35 towers
Holy shmoly! What the…
So PGCC master planner Nasrine Seraji claims I misquoted her and took her comments out of context. She was reported as saying that those comments were made four years ago and that no slides or pictures were shown on my blog post, which she claims was also not in the context of her conference.
But those comments were published by Canada.com last November, less than a year ago. Take a look at my original post here, where you can also find the link to her full original Canada.com interview (which doesn’t contain any pictures and slides either) and then you decide if I misquoted her and put her views out of context.
You want to talk about not giving the full picture and putting things out of context? Patrick Lim, Fox Communication and the mainstream media have been misleading the public by telling us only about the “iconic” crooked twin towers. (One of them is 66 storeys high by the way, almost similar to Komtar, that ugly protrusion in the centre of George Town.)
They have not shown the public what the other 35 towers on the site would look like. (Yes, I have recounted – there will be 37 towers in all, almost all of them over 40 storeys high.) The above view (which is actually a cut-out model done to scale on the actual plan – minus the Fox gloss) is what my late grandma and my late dad will see from Batu Gantong. (The crooked towers are at the top left and Scotland Road is on the right at the bottom.) Not a pretty sight.
Towers rattle and shake after “iconic” towers’ masterplan launched
When I requested my late dad and my late grandma a couple of days ago to watch over the green spaces surrounding their final resting place at the Bukit Gantong columbarium, neighbouring the proposed Penang Global City Centre, and to ask God to preserve the environment there for future generations, I wasn’t expecting anything earthshaking.
What a day to launch the masterplan of those “iconic” PGCC towers! (Wonder why they can’t say the word “towers” without adding the adjective “iconic” before it. Don’t they have any other word?)
Hours after the launch on 12 Sept, we had an 8.4 earthquake off nearby Sumatra, a tsunami alert, and people fleeing from high-rise buildings.
Too bad for Patrick Lim and Fox Communication that news of the quake and the tsunami alert shoved aside reports of the PGCC launch from the front pages of the newspapers yesterday. There are some things that even a PR firm can’t anticipate or handle.
The mothership is landing…
And so Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi launches the masterplan for Patrick Lim’s RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre project on 12 Sept.
They say a picture paints a thousand words. Have a look at these graphics visualising the PGCC, which I am reproducing here from architect firm Asymptote’s website in the public interest
I don’t know about you, but it looks like a soulless alien colony to me – as if a mothership from a distant galaxy has docked at the Turf Club land!
Architect Nasrine Seraji exposes PGCC developers’ greed
The developers of the RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project have been telling us how green and carbon-free their project is going to be.
But what they didn’t tell us is they actually wanted to cram in as much as they could into the Turf Club land to maximise profits. In fact, they wanted a density that would have made it twice the density of Hong Kong!
Somehow, the PGCC’s Teheran-born architect, Nasrine Seraji, managed to convince the developers that no one would want to live there if they went ahead with their original plan.
Even so, it looks like the PGCC could end up with 33 tower blocks of over 40 storeys each. That is still massive.
And isn’t there going to be any social housing – low and low-medium cost housing – in the Turf Club site itself?
Somehow, the PGCC’s Teheran-born architect, Nasrine Seraji, managed to convince the developers that no one would want to live there if they went ahead with their original plan.
Even so, it looks like the PGCC could end up with 33 tower blocks of over 40 storeys each. That is still massive.
And isn’t there going to be any social housing – low and low-medium cost housing – in the Turf Club site itself?
RM25 billion PGCC: 33 tower blocks, over 40 storeys each
It’s a RM25 billion whopper: about 33 tower blocks, each over 40 storeys high on the land being used by the Penang Turf Club. Imagine that!
And it looks like two different meetings on the Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project are going to be held at two posh venues on Monday, 10 September – one at The Mansion and the other at the Penang Sports Club.
I now gather that the meeting at the Penang Sports Club was requested by the Jesselton Residents Association, which is concerned about this mega project on the doorstep of their peaceful and tranquil neighbourhood. Apparently, the developers requested that only three reps attend the meeting but the Jesselton Residents Association asked for 10.
The meeting at the Mansion will be a briefing on the PGCC on behalf of the developer (Abad Naluri) by Equine Capital executive chairman Patrick Lim (who is said by some to be the most influential businessman in Malaysia). The target audience: activists and performing arts people. Let’s see how many people actually turn up. I believe activists from the main Penang-based NGOs are boycotting the event; I am not sure about the performing arts folk though.
This briefing is being arranged by the Fox Communication people in Penang, K Y Pung, The Star’s former regional associate editor, and Mohd Tajudin, former journalist of theSun.
Timber firms to receive soft loans a.k.a. subsidies
Timber firms are set to receive millions of ringgit in soft loans from the government under a “reforestation” programme.
In this article for IPS, I discussed two questions:
- Why should profitable timber firms receive soft loans, which in effect are subsidies?
- Is this really a reforestation programme or will such commercial tree plantations actually cause the deforestation of logged-over (but still viable) rainforests?
Fox makes its move
Not making much headway with the Penang-based NGOs, the Fox Communication/Equine people have now trained their sights on the Jesselton Residents Association, neighbouring the Turf Club. The latest I hear is that this meeting will be held on 10 September at the Penang Sports Club nearby – two days before the official launch of the Penang Global City Centre mega project on the Turf Club land.
This means the idea to hold the meeting at “The Mansion” has probably been dropped. What to do, their original invitees don’t want to turn up. Update: Now I hear they are targeting the performing arts people and trying to woo them with the proposed performing arts centre in the PGCC. And they are still trying to round up activists to attend the Mansion meeting.
But hey, the Penang Sports Club is still pretty exclusive. Members – and their guests – only.
Apparently, they want to limit the meeting to 10 reps from the resident association. Maybe they are worried the public might turn up and start shouting at them.
But if Fox/Equine think its going to be smooth sailing with the residents association, they have another thing coming. Jesselton Heights is a tranquil, lush green upper-middle-class neighbourhood in Penang – perhaps equivalent to Damansara in KL (though I am not sure what that is like these days!).
A phone call from Fox
This is no rumour.
I was reading an article by Raja Petra of Malaysia Today about Abdullah Badawi, Patrick Lim and rumours that someone had forwarded to me – when suddenly, the phone rang.
It was a guy, Tajudin, from Fox Communication.
Fox is the firm handling the PR for Patrick Lim’s Penang Global City Centre mega project. Lim is of course the executive chairman of Equine Capital, which is also involved in another project on mainland Penang – the 450-acre mixed residential and commercial development in Batu Kawan known as the Crescentia project. Crescentia, close to where the proposed second bridge is located, has an estimated gross development value of RM860 million. We are talking big bucks here.
Anyway back to the PGCC project. We are talking even bigger bucks here.
Tajudin was under the impression that I was the one coordinating on the NGO side the meeting between activists and the PGCC developers, which Lim wants to address on 10 Sept, just two days before the official project launch.
Whatever gave Tajudin that idea?
Unspinning Patrick Lim’s spin on his Penang mega project
So just as my public relations guru (PR Guru) friend predicted, the spin is out for the Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project on that sprawling green lung (and prime land) that used to be the Penang Turf Club.
The Star today reports Equine executive chairman Patrick Lim (widely known as “Patrick Badawi”) highlighting two aspects of the project, which will be officially launched on 12 September 2007:
- Two new flyovers that Equine associate Abad Naluri will build to connect the PGCC to the Penang Outer Ring Road (another controversial project); and
- The green credentials of the PGCC – 40 per cent of PGCC to be allocated to “green and open spaces”, carbon-free city, blah, blah, blah
An inspiring night
Just back from the dinner to celebrate Aliran’s 30th anniversary – and being so close to the 50th anniversary of Merdeka and 44th anniversary of Malaysia, there was much cause for reflection.
But so different from the official Merdeka celebrations. The 700-strong crowd seemed to relish the performances put up by the Community Band, the Aliran Singers, Johan and the Instant Cafe Theatre Company. Perhaps the songs and satire about the struggles of ordinary people and our trials and tribulations in trying to discover what it means to be a true Malaysian struck a chord among those present.
RM4.6b PKFZ scandal a major embarrassment for PM
You know that whole official fuss about the Negara ku rap video clip?
Well, my theory is that the official uproar was aimed at diverting attention and public disquiet away from several issues such as the rising cost of living, the trade unions’ popular campaign for a minimum wage, recent allegations of high-level corruption… and the fallout from the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal.
It’s a classic ploy that never fails to work. Just ask a string of US presidents. If faced with a domestic problem, scandal or crisis that threatens to erode popular support for a leader, simply divert public attention away with an imaginary bogeyman – or, in the case of the US, launch yet another foreign war against a Saddam-like “monster”.
Remember how Abdullah Badawi pledged to stamp out corruption ahead of the 2004 general election? What is he going to promise now ahead of the next general election?
Everything that could go wrong with the PKFZ project appears to have gone wrong.
This is a piece I wrote for Asia Times on a scandal that has tarnished the image of the government.
Merdeka! But beware the new power…
Just watching the 50th Merdeka celebrations on TV and I can’t help but notice how top BN politicians are dominating the proceedings.
The 8tv talk show hosts are singing the praises of the PM.
Samy and Ong Ka Ting are hovering around the PM. So too Hishamuddin Hussein.
Khairy Jamaluddin raising the flag… Khairy leading the Youth of the BN component parties in a marchpast…Najib literally breathing down Abdullah’s neck, looking over his shoulders, as the PM delivers a “spirited” speech.
(Fifty years ago, the Tunku was flanked by Najib’s father Razak, Cheng Lock, and Sambanthan. Umno Youth leader Sardon Jubir placed a chain around the Tunku’s neck in recognition of his role as Bapa Kemerdekaan.)
Dressed in BN blue, Abdullah uses words such as “terbilang” and “gemilang” (from the BN tagline), raising his voice in an attempt to fire up the crowd – but he ends up coughing in between… 0ops. Someone, tell him that yelling at the top of his voice is not his style.
In front of him, Umno flags (and was that an MIC flag I spotted?) flutter next to the Jalur Gemilang. (Hmm, that gemilang word again.)
Would Jesus want the Makkal Osai suspended?
This evening, I received an SMS with the intriguing question: “So u think Makal Osai shld b suspended?”
Makai Osai of course refers to the Tamil daily that published an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a beer can four days ago. It was slapped with a suspension from today to 24 September.
It was interesting to see the Islamic Party, Pas, coming out to express displeasure against the depiction of Jesus in the paper. Archbishop Murphy has found himself an unlikely ally, I thought!
Since then, the paper has apologised and Archbishop Murphy has accepted the apology.
Quite appropriately, the quote next to the picture that was deemed offensive read: “If someone repents for his mistakes, then heaven awaits them.”
End of matter? No, the paper was nonetheless hit with a suspension order.
West Bank: Checkpoints, teargas and other daily oppressions
Here’s a riveting account of what life is like in the West Bank. Making a guest appearance today is political scientist John Hilley, who has just returned to Scotland from a trip to Palestine with the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign. He describes his time there “between getting tear-gassed and shot at in Bil’in to being around our wonderful projects and friends in the West Bank refugee camps”.
I thought it was particularly courageous of John to engage with the IDF soldiers manning checkpoints and to point out their role in the crushing Occupation. In doing this, he puts into practice the powerful moral force of non-violent resistance.
This piece deserves a wider audience; so here it is, reproduced in full with kind permission from John. It’s a longish piece, but it’s worth the read to catch a glimpse of life beyond the checkpoints.
Checkpoints, tear gas and other daily oppressions:
10 days in the West Bank
With the Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign July-August 2007 by John Hilley “What is the purpose of your visit?” I want to tell this young, abrasive soldier at the passport terminal on the Israeli side of the Jordanian border crossing that I’m here to witness her state’s illegal, apartheid treatment of the Palestinians. “Tourism.” Aware of the many people around being subject to intense interrogation, and likely refusal, it seems, for the moment, the more practical reply.Across the hall, a more lengthy queue of Palestinians waits to enter, their treatment, as I will witness these next days, part of the humiliating ritual of life under Israeli occupation. Boarding the bus for Al Quds/Jerusalem, one feels an immediate sense of imposing militarism.PR firm soliciting NGO views on Penang mega project
I’ve just heard from a reliable source that a PR firm, Fox Communication, is going around meeting NGO representatives to find out their views on the Penang Global City Centre project. The project is located on that vast plot of prime land used by the Penang Turf Club, which will be relocated to the mainland.
The PGCC is being developed by Equine Capital. Isn’t that a Patrick Lim company?
I hate to think what the traffic will be like along Scotland Road, already congested during peak hours, if they go ahead with the PGCC and build, what, 40 tower blocks on the Turf Club land.
This project will in all likelihood spell the deathknell for Komtar, that mega project of the 1970s. The 65-storey tower block is fast turning into a white elephant even before all the planned phases are completed.
As one veteran activist said, the PGCC project “looks like a mega monster of a development, totally incompatible with the site and context…empty more of Komtar? kill more existing shopping place? add crazily to excess office space and luxury housing? create traffic mess? and an ecological nightmare!”
Penangites should instead lobby for the Turf Club land to be turned into a Penang State Park along with model social housing on the fringes. After all, KL is going to have a “Central Park” – what about Penang? The Turf Club is the last huge plot of accessible land on Penang Island that could be turned into a spacious state park.
Penang badly needs a new park. Just look at the Botanical Gardens and the Youth Park: they are both so congested that people are practically walking into one another.
At one time, I had hoped that the Penang state government would use the large empty plot of land along Jalan Udini for a state park. No such luck; the state government obviously has other (business) priorities. When our planners see any green space, you can almost see $$$$ in their eyes. So Tesco set up shop there – and that was the end of that, as winding access roads and large commercial complexes rapidly filled up the green lung.
Then there was Pulau Jerejak. Large parts of that too have been slated for commercial development when it could have been left untouched and used as a park along the lines of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.
The developers of any mega project these days usually appoint PR agencies not only to promote the project to potential investors but to deal with possible protests from ordinary people or civil society.
PR firms are paid to come up with strategies to overcome NGO or public resistance to huge controversial projects.
My friend, an experienced marketing and communications professional with extensive experience in the PR industry, had this to say:
There really ain’t any point (for the NGOs to give) Fox any input — this will only be fed into their PR strategy and they will just come up with ideas and strategies to HANDLE THESE NGOs AND THEIR VIEWS – which determines their (PR) fee. Sigh… NGOs talking to them are just being used by them. NGOs should just gang up and put their views across via their own ‘PR vehicles’.
Job materialises above my desktop
Sometimes its hard to understand the meaning of suffering and misfortune.
I spent most of today running around taking the first step towards getting all my cards replaced. And discovered that it is an expensive affair to get burgled. The fee for replacing each card (whether bank ATM card, identity card, driver’s licence) ranges from RM12 to RM50.
It’s back to my old desktop PC now after the laptop was stolen. My Samsung monitor, for some reason, looks blur. Maybe because it is past its prime.
Yesterday, I discovered a book that I thought had gone missing. It was on wisdom spirituality based largely on material from the Old Testament. I found it lying strategically on the CPU of my desktop.
I flipped the book open to where I had left a book-mark inside to indicate where I had last stopped.
The next chapter was all about Job. How apt, I thought. I mean, I couldn’t help identifying with Job at this point in terms of the things he had lost.
Burgled! They even took the poor mouse
Today was not a great day.
I woke up this morning to find that my home had been broken into while I was asleep.
Here’s what they took:
- A laptop (yes, they took the power adapter, the modem… and even the poor mouse, but no, they weren’t interested in my older desktop PC, which was next to it);
- Wallet with around RM600 in cash (of which RM500 was actually donations passed to me to hand over to Aliran for its 30th anniversary dinner), identity card, driving licence, bank cards (not just mine but family members’ as well);
- Computer case with thumbdrive and bank pass books inside;
- Handphone.
- a snatch theft
- harassment by an “Ah Long” (loan shark). Apparently the Ah Long had demanded RM900 a day in interest, failing which he would “kerjakan” the hapless victim.
- an assault by unknown people.
The triumph of Life over Death
I like to think of these unexpected victories as a legacy of the Resurrection, a sign that the forces of Death and Oppression will never have the last word over those who struggle for justice and peace, even though those who struggle may never live to see the fruit of their work. For Christ’s Resurrection tells that the struggle to build a kingdom of love, compassion, justice and peace will always triumph against all the odds.
We need only look at a few examples to see the progress that has been made over the last few decades and centuries despite all the bad news along the way. But even with these triumphs, we always have to be on our guard against the forces of darkness, which continue to assail the human race, giving rise to fresh challenges.
Let’s look at a few examples in this piece I wrote for the Herald:
For many centuries, slavery flourished in many parts of the world. But thanks to the abolitionist movement and the dedication of enlightened souls, today slavery has been outlawed. (Though of course there are new forms of legalised ‘slavery’: Think of the migrant workers who are exploited, the domestic helpers who are treated like bonded labour.)Another classic example: In South Africa, after decades of struggle, the oppressive apartheid system was dismantled, thanks in large part to the perseverance of pro-democracy activists. Nelson Mandela’s party, the ANC, took over the reins of power as an entire nation celebrated. But sadly, the ANC has since then introduced top-down neo-liberal “free market” policies and embraced privatisation. It has also failed to introduce meaningful land reforms. The result: race-divisions under apartheid have now given way to class divisions. But that does not diminish the sensational triumph over apartheid. And let’s not forget how Gandhi and his independence movement brought down the might British Empire in India.
In Malaysia, the struggle for human rights has gone on for a few decades now. For many years, “human rights” was considered something of a dirty word. Darkness descended in the land during Operasi Lalang in 1986-87, when over a hundred people were detained without trial under the ISA. A decade later, we heard of cases of police brutality against street demonstrators during the reformasi period of 1998-2001.
Who would have imagined then that we would one day have a Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) – whose major contribution has been the official legitimacy it has bestowed on the human rights struggle. This was later followed by the Royal Commission’s recommendation to set up an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
These were major victories, but unfortunately Suhakam, without any enforcement powers, remains a powerless and conservative toothless tiger while the IPCMC has still not yet been set up – a sad reflection of the current administration.