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.
Fundraising walkathons for bailouts and fighter jets?
Most of us have done it while we were in school. You know, taking part in walkathons and donation drives to help the school build a new wing or to carry out urgent repairs. And we usually thought nothing of it and were glad to chip in.
But a friend of mine phoned this evening sounding upset that their child had been asked to take part in a school donation drive.
“No way is my child going from house to house to collect money for the school,” my friend told me. “I have written a letter to the school to tell them that my child is not to be involved in such fund-raising activities. And I told my daughter that if the teacher or the principal is unhappy, they should get in touch with me.”
“I mean, I am paying a lot in income tax; where is all that money going? Why should my child then go from house to house raising money for her (government) school?”
My friend has a point. After all the money the government has wasted on mega projects, our schools are still short of funds – especially schools in the interior areas and many of the Tamil vernacular schools.
But funny how we are never short of funds when it comes to buying the latest multi-million ringgit submarines or advanced fighter jets – or for the latest bailout. How many billions of ringgit have we spent on bailing out failed projects?. Now we have the fiasco over the Klang Port Free Zone – which is proving to be far from “free”. In fact, pretty expensive, if you ask me – a worthy contender for mega scandal of the year.
When was the last time you saw government officials going from house to house, cap in hand, trying to raise funds to buy a fighter jet or to bail out a failed mega project?
This is not a peculiarly Malaysian situation. Take Pakistan, for instance: it allocated US$4.2 billion on “defence” out of its US$21.7 billion federal budget compared to only 2 per cent of GDP on education.
And let’s not even talk about America. Listen to Robert Dreyfuss:
And it’s important to keep in mind that the official Pentagon budget doesn’t begin to tell the full story of American “defense” spending. In addition to the $650 billion that the Pentagon will get in 2008, huge additional sums will be spent on veterans care and interest on the national debt accumulated from previous DOD spending that ballooned the deficit. In all, those two accounts add $263 billion to the Pentagon budget, for a grand total of $913 billion.Gulp! Nearly US$1 trillion on “defence”. So I have a suggestion. Instead of donation drives for schools, why don’t we have walkathons to raise funds for the latest fighter jets and bailouts. I am sure the public would gladly chip in for such a good cause.
Look, a minimum wage would spur economic activity
Here’s more evidence to show that a minimum wage can actually keep the economy purring.
This time, we go to the United States.
San Francisco-based journalist, Dick Meister, a specialist on labour issues, is actually calling on the US administration to raise the minimum wage there to a more decent level. A minimum wage, far from dampening economic sentiment, could actually spur domestic demand and boost economic activity. Here’s what he has to say:
But what of that other bit of fiction spread by opponents, their flimsy argument that raising the minimum forces employers to eliminate jobs? Don’t you believe it. Just the opposite has happened after each of the 19 previous times the minimum has been raised since it was initially set at 25 cents an hour in 1938. The job growth has been spurred primarily by the increased spending of those whose pay has been increased. What’s more, the raises have benefited employers, since increasing workers’ pay raises their morale and, with it, their productivity, while decreasing absenteeism and recruiting and training costs. Taxpayers would benefit, too, since so much of the billions paid out in public assistance goes to families whose working members do not earn enough at the current minimum wage to be self-supporting.So isn’t that reason enough for Malaysia to introduce a minimum wage? After 50 years of Merdeka and 44 years of Malaysia, do you seriously think our nation as a whole stands to gain by paying poverty-line wages to hundreds of thousands of long-suffering workers?
Oil running out – and Malaysia allows an energy-intensive smelter
The oil is running out.
Yes, in Malaysia too.
By 2010, we will become a net importer of oil. If our domestic demand for petroleum products continues to increase by 4 per cent annually, we will have nothing left over to export as demand will exceed domestic crude oil production.
Many countries around the world are beginning to feel the energy squeeze. As Peak Oil – the slowdown in oil production, which is incapable of meeting rising demand – sets in, the price of oil will soar. The resulting energy squeeze has already hit dozens of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Jeroen van der Veer, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, has just laid out the “Three hard truths about the world’s energy crisis” and it is sobering food for thought:
- The first hard truth is that demand is accelerating.
- The second hard truth is that the growth rate of supplies of “easy oil,” conventional oil and natural gas that are relatively easy to extract, will struggle to keep up with demand.
- The third hard truth is that increased use of coal will cause higher carbon dioxide emissions possibly to levels we deem unacceptable.
What if Jesus had lived in Latin America?
I came across this interesting power-point presentation of the Stations of the Cross by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Argentina, and I thought I would share it with you. What is different about these Stations is that the scenes of the Passion are actually contextualised to reflect current day realities.
This particular presentation is set in Latin America with commentary by Alastair McIntosh, a writer, lecturer, social activist, broadcaster and campaigning academic based in Scotland. It is based upon, and builds on, original text from CIDSE agencies (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité) that distributed the images.
Download the powerpoint presentation here. Amazing how this 2,000-year-old Gospel event can jump to life when set against a backdrop of current day socio-economic realities.
Religious leaders overcome odds to affirm right to water
It’s not often that religious leaders come together to take a common stand on an issue of national significance.
Over the years, Aliran organised a couple of seminars – one on corruption and the other on the human being – that looked at these issues from the perspective of the various spiritual traditions.
In recent times, we have seen religious leaders coming together to protest against the invasion of Iraq and, last weekend, to reaffirm the right to water in an interfaith seminar. But this time, the plan by various religious and civil society groups to hold the event at the National Mosque was scuttled at the last moment.
Obviously, some quarters are uncomfortable with the idea of Muslims and non-Muslims putting aside their differences and coming together to take a common stand on an important public interest issue especially at such a prominent landmark as the National Mosque.
In this piece for IPS, I looked at the run-up to the seminar and the last-minute change in venue.
When religious leaders from different faiths sought to jointly affirm the sacredness of wateron scuttle interfaith harmony as well as support plans to privatise a common resource. Plans to hold the highly symbolic interfaith forum on the right to water at the National Mosque, a major landmark in the capital Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday had to be scuttled when the organisers were suddenly forced to shift the venue to a location five km way. But, the last-minute change did not stop prominent leaders of the Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh faiths from signing a landmark joint declaration on water and affirm that the element is a sacred gift bestowed by the creator to people to be conserved and used to fulfil the basic needs of all living things on earth. Full article: Water a sacred gift, affirm interfaith leaders
Return the denarii to Caesar
Christianity should not merely be seen as a spiritual process. There are also the social, cultural and economic dimensions involving the whole human person and his/her relationship with the community.
In the Old Testament, God dramatically intervened in human history to rescue His people from slavery and oppression. Jesus heralded the reign of God in a more direct fashion. Inevitably, when we choose the side of the poor and criticise injustices, we run into conflict with the interests of the rich and powerful. This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for the Herald.Jesus himself did not set about to upset the powers-that-be during his time. But his message that the Kingdom of God, God’s reign, was at hand was a slap against the sovereignty of Caesar, the Roman Occupiers and Israel’s own worldly rulers. The values that he proclaimed – love, compassion, justice – were diametrically at odds with the values of the Roman Empire (oppression, tyranny and greed).Seen in that light, Jesus’ message to render to God what was God’s and to render to Caesar what was Caesar’s meant that we should give back to worldly rulers the ultimately worthless and futile pursuits (wealth, greed, ambition) symbolised by the denarii (money and the oppressive economic system). The denarii was to be given back to Caesar, while the people were to go back to their rightful “owner”, God. Through this separation of the tainted denarii from the people of God, it could be said that Jesus was bestowing economic independence on the people – an independence from the oppressive structures of the time.
And that independence was seen in basic communities from the time of the Gospel to the conversion of Constantine. They saw themselves as under God’s direct reign – a reign that, even though dimmed by the later worldly ambitions and oppression of political and church leaders, continues to this day.
In that sense, we are called once again to return to the Gospel in basic communities, to take stock of global challenges and begin the transformation at the local level. This time, the challenges – economic, political, social and cultural – and the oppressive economic system are a thousand times more formidable. Whereas the empire of the Roman world in the Gospels was confined to the known world, today the tentacles of Empire stretch across the globe in the form of neo-liberalism (and other policies which favour the rich over the poor, the capitalist class over the workers), militarism and the arms race, global trade injustice…
Old tram railtrack unearthed along Penang Road
The other day I was passing by Penang Road and I noticed some major road excavation work in progress. I looked more closely – and there it was: preserved like an elongated time capsule under the surface of the road were two parallel metal strips right smack in the middle of the road. The old tram track!
This section is probably a continuation of the 50 metres of tram track that was unearthed – and now kept visible – following road and pavement upgrading works in 2004 at the Chulia Street/Penang Road junction.
Let’s hope these discoveries will inspire our urban transport planners to look more closely at the system of trams, which first began running in Penang in the 1880s. These trams later became part of an integrated people-friendly public transport system in the decades that followed.
Reviving the trams will be timely – and it won’t cost much. In fact, Australian tram engineer Ric Francis, author of Penang Trams, Trolleybuses and Railways, estimates that half of the old tram track could be dug out and re-used. One tram could keep 55 cars off the road, he says. Plus it will conserve our fuel, reduce pollution and complement the new public bus service, RapidPenang.
Moreover, trams that blend with the old-world architecture of George Town will surely enhance the heritage value of the inner city, which has the largest collection of pre-war shophouses in South-East Asia.
This is definitely the way to go!
Listen to Francis speaking about Re-introducing the Tramways in Penang – A Proposal for Action on Saturday at 10 am at the Penang Heritage Trust (26, Church Street). For details, phone 04-2642631.
Be there for a fascinating glimpse of what could be possible.
1,800 turn up for MTUC picket in Prai
Just heard from Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid, the chairman of MTUC Penang, that some 1,800 workers turned up for the MTUC picket near the Prai Industrial Estate, adding their voices to the call for a RM900 minimum wage and a RM300 cost of living allowance.
This exceeds the turnout for the earlier 25 June picket, in which some 1,000 workers took part.
Razak said that a few more new groups joined in today’s picket. He added that similar pickets were also held in about half a dozen locations across the country – Ipoh, KL (in three locations), Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
So the issue is not dying out – there is still disquiet among the low-income working class. And a general election is looming.
The ball is now in PM Abdullah Badawi’s court.
Will a minimum wage drive away investors?
The MTUC resumes its nation-wide picketing calling for a minimum wage at 5 pm today.
I dropped by to check out the demo in Prai during the last picket on 25 June 2007. The turnout – a vocal crowd of close to 1,000 – exceeded the organisers’ most optimistic expectations. A large majority of the demonstrators were Malays with a smattering of Indians and Chinese – working class people. I found out from them that some factories in the area are still paying their workers a basic wage of less than RM400.
The government has said that investors will skip Malaysia if we were to introduce a minimum wage.
But check out this report from the OECD Observer website:
Minimum wages are a long-standing tradition in many other OECD countries. A minimum wage was first introduced in New Zealand in 1894, and followed a few years later by Australia. The US federal minimum wage was passed into law in 1938. Japan and Korea now have minimum wages, while in Europe, so do France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, the Benelux countries and many countries in central and eastern Europe. Ireland and the UK (not for the first time) introduced national minimum wage systems in the 1990s. Today 21 of the OECD’s 30 member countries have statutory minimum wages, and in just over half of these countries minimum wages have risen slightly faster than average wage levels in recent years. Only in the US have the real earnings of workers on the minimum wage dropped sharply in recent years, and there is strong pressure to raise them again.In fact, the hourly minimum wage in Ireland is 60 per cent of the net average wage in that country! That hasn’t stopped the Irish economy from booming nor has it driven away investors from Ireland. If higher wages drive away investors, explain Singapore. The Bank Negara governor has said that the one of the main priorities now is to boost domestic demand. Well, to me, the best way to boost domestic demand – and to ensure equitable economic growth for all – is to introduce a minimum wage so that workers can live in dignity. The lower income group tends to save less and spend proportionately more of their incomes on essentials than wealthier Malaysians. Putting more money into the hands of the lower income group will surely boost domestic demand across the country – and spur economic activity in the most meaningful way. It is time to introduce a minimum wage.
What does Najib mean by “Islamic state”?
When Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak declared that Malaysia is an “Islamic state”, he created quite a stir and quickly polarised public opinion between advocates of an Islamic state and those who believe Malaysia is a secular nation.
Much of the debate now is constrained by knee-jerk reactions to the labels. So let’s go behind the labels and look at the substance: what exactly does Najib mean by “Islamic state”?
An academic friend of mine shared these thoughts with me:
“Does he (Najib) mean a state which:
- has a constitutional monarchy,
- espouses parliamentary democracy with an equal franchise for all regardless of religion,
- has a plural system of laws (although non-bumiputera customary law has been eliminated), with the civil law based upon the Constitution as supreme and the final arbiter of our worldly affairs,
- has no restrictions on who, in principle, can be the prime minister of the federation or the chief minister of any state in the federation, not unlike, say, (Shmu’el) HaNagid (993-1056), the leader of Andalusia’s Jews, who became, in 1037, vizier of the Muslim kingdom of Granada and commander in chief of its Islamic armed forces, second only to the king of Granada,
- provides for equal rights for all citizens,
- upholds equality before the law,
- practises a single system of taxation for all,
- provides for the free practice of all religions without discrimination?
- non-Muslims must cede all secular power to Muslims,
- non-Muslims are subject to discriminatory taxation,
- non-Muslims live and worship only by the secular grace of Muslims,
- non-Muslims cannot, in principle, hold any positions above a certain technical level,
- a non-plural system of laws, defined by someone’s interpretation of sharia (see, Abdullah an-Na’im), is imposed upon all,
- the Constitution does not represent the supreme law of the land,
- non-Muslims are not free to live where they choose,
- there is no concept of citizenship regardless of religion?
Six reasons why you should avoid bottled water
Often, many of us think nothing about drinking bottled water.
But here’s why you should avoid it, whenever you can:
- Expensive: Litre for litre, it is thousands of times more expensive than tap water.
- Hardly hi-tech: Processes such as reverse osmosis aren’t exactly state of the art. Bottled water isn’t much safer than what you could obtain by running tap water through a simple water filter.
- Processed tap water: In fact, in many cases, bottled water is actually obtained from public water sources a.k.a. tap water (See report below).
- Diverted from communities: In some cases, water is diverted from local communities and sent for bottling. This reduces the level of groundwater in those areas and it becomes critical especially in places where water is scarce.
- Environmental headache: The disposal of water bottles, which are not meant for long-term use, is a major environmental headache.
- Same taste: In the United States, taste tests have revealed that people are unable to distinguish between the taste of bottled water and that of tap water. Getting people to drink pricey bottled water instead of tap water is in fact one of the major triumphs of marketing.
The soft drink giant Pepsi has been forced to make an embarrassing admission – its best-selling Aquafina bottled water is nothing more than tap water. Last week Pepsi agreed to change the labels of Aquafina to indicate that the water comes from a public water source. Pepsi agreed to change its label under pressure from the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International which has been leading an increasingly successful campaign against bottled water. Full article: The bottled water lie
Malaysia Today closes in on The Star online
I did a check on Alexa to find out the estimated global reach of the main English media in Malaysia.
Here are the rankings at 5.30 pm on 4 August 2007:
1. Star (0.052% of daily Internet surfers worldwide)
2. Malaysia Today (0.020%)
3. NST (0.014%)
4. Malaysiakini (0.009%)
5. Harakahdaily (0.0075%)
Colour code:
Beige – The Star; Blue – Malaysia Today; Black – NST; Red – Malaysiakini; Green – Harakah
Interesting to see that Malaysia Today has overtaken NST, Malaysiakini and Harakahdaily and is now closing in on The Star online!
Of course, this is just a very rough estimate – with all kinds of other variables that could present a different picture – but it is a revealing snapshot nonetheless.
Colour code:
Beige – The Star; Blue – Malaysia Today; Black – NST; Red – Malaysiakini; Green – Harakah
Interesting to see that Malaysia Today has overtaken NST, Malaysiakini and Harakahdaily and is now closing in on The Star online!
Of course, this is just a very rough estimate – with all kinds of other variables that could present a different picture – but it is a revealing snapshot nonetheless.