Welcome to Botak Hill 2
We have the first Penang Bridge and the second Penang Bridge close to each other. So perhaps it is only fitting we have the ‘iconic’ first Botak Hill and the second Botak Hill next to each other.
Eight-lane highway planned between Gurney Drive and Gurney Wharf
A little known eight-lane highway has been planned inside the 131 acres of land to be reclaimed along the Gurney Drive coastline for the Gurney Wharf project.
Mahathir and rainbow group sign Citizens’ Declaration 4 March 2016 (video)
Mahathir and 57 other retired and active political leaders and NGO activists today signed a citizen’s declaration calling for the legal removal of Najib and institutional reforms.
Maria Chin Abdullah explains why she signed the declaration.
Maria Chin Abdullah explains why she signed the declaration. Redemption time for Mahathir? Should opposition parties, NGOs work with him?
The big question now, is should the forces seeking substantive change – opposition parties and NGOs – cooperate with Mahathir, whose sole aim appears to be to get rid of Najib as premier.
Poor enforcement against illegal parking: Penang Forum dialogue with CM
This was part of the discussion with the chief minister which focussed on illegal parking. Media reports described it as a “heated exchange”. You be the judge.
As has happened in the past, whenever Penang Forum committee members raise problems with the state government, they invariably are invited to take over or advise the state government or local council on the matter.
Now what, Najib, after WSJ’s latest revelation…
Everyday sees the ground moving from under Najib and his team. Yesterday, it was the New York Post report about Jho Low and Mahathir and Siti Hasmah quitting Umno.
Today, it is yet another Wall Street Journal expose that investigators allege the prime minister account had received over US$1bn (RM4bn) not just RM2.6bn via intermediaries and most of this is later returned to the intermediaries.
1990s heritage inventory listed over 100 buildings from all over Penang
A Penang State Museum committee came up with this inventory of mostly private heritage buldings but the list seems to have “melted down”, says a former urban conservator.
Solidarity with blocked Malaysian Insider
Concerned and disturbed by the MCMC move to block The Malaysian Insider. The blocking of Sarawak Report, Asia Sentinel, Malaysian Chronicle, and earlier, the Bersih website (now lifted) was bad enough.
PKR rep sacked from GLC post speaks out: Why the dramatic reaction?
The PKR reps are concerned about new not-yet-approved land reclamation projects not the previous ones, says Kebun Bunga rep Cheah Kah Peng, in a letter to the people of Penang.
Penang Forum statement on Green Lane road-widening
The Penang Forum steering committee has just released a statement on the Green Lane road widening. It can be found here.
Any congestion in that area is just going to be displaced elsewhere, if there is road-widening along Green Lane. What a waste of public funds.
Silly season ahead of Sarawak polls has begun
With the Sarawak state elections expected to be held in April, we can expect all kinds of announcements to be made ahead of the polls.
Like this one: Minister for Rural and District Development Ismail Sabri Yaakob reportedly announced on 21 February that a Mara Science Junior College would be built on a site in Bintulu, with the first intake of students expected in 2019.
Expect more such announcements in the weeks ahead.
By the way, can someone let me know the status of the “university” in Teluk Intan promised by Gerakan-BN candidate Mah Siew Keong on 26 May 2014, just five days ahead of the Teluk Intan by-election.
Unwise to penalise PKR reps for abstaining from land reclamation motion
The sacking of two PKR state assembly members, Bukit Tengah rep Ong Chin Wen (the PKR state whip) and Kebun Bunga rep Cheah Kah Peng, as directors of Penang state government-linked companies is disturbing.
Photographs and timeline of Raffles House in Penang – now flattened
This was the building known as Raffles House in Penang, along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah/Northam Road. Notice the five 19th Century Doric order columns.
It stood on the site of Stamford Raffles’ house, which was damaged in a fire in 1901. It was rebuilt or reconstructed in 1903 and opened as a hotel. (See timeline further below.) The solid structure of the building may well have been the original. Heritage circles had asked if they could investigate and record the building but it never happened.
Instead, the building was among several that were demolished at the Runnymede site over the Lunar New Year by the developer.
‘Special projects’ on hills: Penang Forum vindicated
Penang Forum’s position against special projects on the hills of Penang, put forward by prominent lawyer Agatha Foo, has been vindicated in recent weeks by three developments. [Basically, Penang Forum said that the Penang state government had come up with guidelines in 2009 that interpreted too broadly the term special projects contained in the Penang Structure Plan, gazetted in 2007. The Structure Plan prohibits development on hill land more than 250 feet above sea level, allowing only “limited development” for special projects under exceptional circumstances.]
- A decision by the Appeals Board, chaired by Yeo Yang Poh, in favour of the residents of Sungai Ara, who had appealed against the MBPP’s approval of developer Sunway’s ‘special project’ on a hill in their vicinity.
- An article by University of Malaya law professor Gurdial Singh Nijar which affirmed the Appeals Board decision and Penang Forum’s position on special projects.
- A statement by the Human Rights Society of Malaysia (Hakam), issued by Ambiga Sreenevasan and Gurdial Singh, supporting Penang Forum’s position and the Appeals Board decision on special projects.
Penang losing its ‘charm’ and ‘character’
I couldn’t help thinking of the demolition of the Runnymede ancilliary buildings over the Lunar New Year, when reading this report in Buletin Mutiara (below). The irony of it all.
Runnymede ancilliary buildings demolished: MBPP must explain
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, heritage circles in Penang were abuzz with talk that several buildings in the Runnymede property in Penang – the site of Stamford Raffles home in Penang – were being demolished, reminiscent of the way the nearby Metropole Hotel was flattened under stealth on Christmas Day, 1993.
Protests erupt in Auckland: TPP signing is just the beginning
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Auckland and elsewhere as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was being signed on 4 February. The chant that rose into the air summed up the sentiment: “TPPA – Taking People’s Power Away”.
Wishing you a prosperous New Year – but what do you mean by prosperous?
We are so used to wishing prosperity to one another over the Lunar New Year, but maybe it is time to look more closely at what we mean by prosperity.
New mobility agenda for Penang needed
Our guest contributor is Eric Britton, a sustainable transport expert who visited Penang a couple of years ago. He says, “The priority is not to further expand supply of inefficiently used infrastructure, but rather to manage and use it better.”