While Penang’s squash queen Nicol David has put Malaysia on the map in sports, another Penangite is carving a name for himself in real estate deals in New York. Only problem is the media coverage has not drenched his exploits with much glory. Oh, what a tangled business and real estate web he has spun … Check out this New York Times expose and note Jho Low’s reported brief meeting with Najib.
Scars and brown patches have pockmarked the face of Penang Hill – evidence of illegal land clearing on the hill. The bruising is evident as you approach the island using the atrocious skeleton ferry service under the now privatised Penang Port.
As the verdict for the Sodomy II trial draws closer, a defiant Anwar has vowed to carry on the struggle for political reforms.
He said many people had been asking him what he expected the Federal Court verdict to be on 10 February.
These hills are being cut in full view of the public. You can see them just on the left (in the direction of 8 o’clock) as soon as you pass through the toll booth of the first Penang Bridge, as you head towards Penang Island.
Residents of Bukit Gasing have launched an online petition after a developer was allowed to file an assessment for damages against 103 residents who had filed an unsuccessful judicial review of a project to build 68 luxury homes on the KL side of Bukit Gasing.
The fee for making a request to the Penang state government for information under the Freedom of Information Act is RM100 if the information relates to earlier years.
A veteran journalist then wondered aloud to me: “I want to make a number of requests for information in the course of my work,” he said. “Does that mean if I make five requests under the FOI, I have to pay RM500?”
The TPP is “the largest—and worst—trade deal you’ve never heard of,” says a campaign on moveon.org. In other words, “Nafta on steroids”. You may not have heard of it because the negotiations are all being done in secret. Perhaps even over a round of golf?
Incidentally, Robert Reich in the video above is “an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997” (Wikipedia).
A new bald path has emerged in Bukit Relau raising fresh questions as to whether the hill is being properly monitored.
By now, 1MDB has supposedly “redeemed” US$2.3bn from a fund registered in the Cayman Islands.
Of this amount, the firm says US$1.2bn (60 per cent) had been “redeemed” earlier, as reflected in its 31 March 2014 accounts. On 13 January 2015, 1MDB announced it had “redeemed” the remaining US$1.1bn. It also reportedly received US$267m in dividends.
