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Petition urging Azmin to quit hits 143,000, surpassing Tajuddin petition

An online petition calling for Senior Minister Azmin Ali’s resignation has collected over 143,000 signatures – after just one day – and the figure is rising by the minute.

The petition contains just one line – that Azmin has purportedly failed to live up to public expectations of a senior minister.

The petition has already surpassed the petition calling for Tajuddin Rahman’s removal, which collected 139,706 online signatures – and declared victory in just over 24 hours – when the government announced the Prasarana chairman’s removal with immediate effect. I didn’t think that figure could be surpassed anytime soon, given the storm of outrage over Tajuddin’s distasteful conduct at his press conference.

Well, I was wrong. Azmin is soaring (sinking?) to a new hard-to-beat mark.

A Change.org user going by the name of Kerajaan Gagal (Failed Government) started both petitions.

What do you think? Should Azmin Ali resign?

Now Nurul Izzah ‘tolak tambak’ in Penang!

The #PenangTolakTambak (Penang Rejects Reclamation) campaign received a major boost today when Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah came out with a strong commentary calling for the cancellation of the ecologically damaging Penang South Reclamation mega-project.

The project aims to create three artificial islands spanning 4,500 acres that will destroy prime fishing waters.

How Tajuddin’s boorish conduct united Malaysians in their outrage

Tajuddin Rahman’s appalling conduct at a press conference on 25 May after a collision between two light rail trains the night before outraged many viewers.  

The Prasarana chairman’s condescending dismissiveness of reporters’ probing questions, his lack of empathy for the victims and his sneering remark with racial overtones towards a woman reporter from China were apparent for all to see.

With his appalling conduct, he unwittingly succeeded in uniting the nation in the public backlash that followed. This was clear when stand-up comic Douglas Lim received many positive comments from a multiracial audience for taking the mickey out of Tajuddin’s appalling press conference in a spoof. Full article on Aliran website

The Gurney Drive beach in the city that we lost

Look at this photo of Gurney Drive, probably in the 1970s. It is hard to imagine we had a lovely beach in the city of George Town, Penang, once. People happily swimming in clear waters. A day out for families. Some buying fresh wild-caught fish directly from inshore fisherfolk. You can’t get fish fresher than that!

And the photo below is from the 1930s:

Now, after degrading this beach, we want to spend billions of ringgit trying to create an artificial “Gurney Wharf”, which is supposed to give city folk an artificial beach (which we once had for free), and a massive eight-lane coastal highway. (In reality, the real purpose of this reclamation is the high-density property development planned on reclaimed land from near the Gurney Drive roundabout to Gurney Plaza.) Full article on Aliran website

Tell Me – a song by Amirah

“Tell Me” is the talented singer Amirah’s second single. It was originally composed in Malay and entitled “Katakanlah”.

Amirah writes:

With the global pandemic and political turmoil, I felt this song could not wait any longer. It is more important now than ever for us to unite. In this song, I asked questions: Are we our name? Our face? Our religion? Our race? It saddens me greatly when I see people in conflict because of the differences in their skin colour, religion, race, status, nationality, gender and sexual orientation.

Lyricist: Amirah, Amy Powers

Publisher: Amirah360 Publishing

You can follow Amirah on her Instagram, Facebook or Facebook Unity Group.

This is her earlier song from 2020:

Dolphins frolic in fishing waters threatened by Penang reclamation

It’s almost as if they are popping up in Teluk Kumbar in southern Penang Island to highlight the threat to marine biodiversity that the massive land reclamation projects pose. Penang is ground zero of the reclamation madness and greed that has swept across the west coast of peninsula Malaysia – the other affected areas being Langkawi, Malacca and Johor.

#TolakTambak

PTMP has failed! Go back to the drawing board

Penang Forum has just released a statement on the contractor-and developer-led proposal dubbed “Penang Transport Master Plan”, which in reality was driven by land reclamation interests.

Check out the statement here.

It’s game on: PN vs PH vs BN vs….

With Pas now allying itself with Bersatu in PN, it is game on for the coming general election. The lines have been drawn (well, not quite, but still…).

Lee Zii Jia lifts Malaysia’s gloom with breakthrough All-England triumph

World no. 10 Lee Zii Jia has arrived on the world stage in style, giving the entire country a lift, as he edged out world no. 2 Viktor Axelsen to clinch the All-England men’s singles badminton crown. Lee is coached by Tey Seu Bock and Indonesia’ Hendrawan under national coaching director Wong Choon Hann. He was previously trained by Misbun Sidek and Indonesia’s Indra Wijaya.

In the quarter-finals, Lee ousted world no. 1 Kento Momota 21-16, 21-19, whom he had never taken a game off in six previous encounters. So the new champion’s triumph is no fluke.

It was a good day for Malaysian coaches abroad as well. Japan under Tan Kim Her (men’s doubles) and Jeremy Gan (mixed doubles) triumphed in all-Japan finals in the two events.

Japan, coached by South Korea’s Park Joo Bong, who once trained the Malaysian team, is undoubtedly a new powerhouse in world badminton, winning four of the five final events – three of them all-Japan finals, in the absence of China and Indonesia.

But Lee’s breakthrough win has shown us the power of perseverance and determination against the odds. It has rallied the nation together, breaking down ethnic and religious barriers, at a time of so much divisiveness.

Now let’s hope for Parliament to reconvene soon, so that our elected representatives can put their minds together to break through the political stalemate that is dragging the nation down.

Penang DAP election results: Your thoughts?

So what do you make of this? Does it matter if they still insist on the massive reclamation in southern Penang Island and all their other unsustainable mega-projects when so many ordinary people are struggling to get by? #PenangTolakTambak #StopPIL

ELECTION RESULTS (TOP 15)

Chow Kon Yeow 1,211

Phee Boon Poh 1,041

Lay Hock Peng 1,038

Lim Hui Ying, 980

Zairil Khir Johari 920

Teh Lai Heng 916

Steven Sim 890

Jason H’ng 888

P Ramasamy 826

Soon Lip Chee 811

Yeoh Soon Hin 773

Wong Hong Wai 735

Phee Boon Chee 734

RSN Rayer 659

Jagdeep Singh Deo 655