Over the past couple of days, Penang has been hit by strong winds, swollen tides and heavy rain. Trees crashed down in several areas, like they did in Singapore.
The heavy rains have at least helped to fill up Penang’s dams, where water levels had declined of late.
On this Malaysia Day, Aliran celebrates the bonding together of the peoples of Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in the Federation for 61 years.
Our nation’s greatest strengths are its diverse peoples and multicultural heritage – which contribute to our vibrant society. The existing inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony we enjoy is a precious gift that has been handed down to us.
Recent elections in Europe have revealed a seismic shift in the political landscape. They have also laid bare a growing discontent around the world.
In many nations, centrist or mainstream political parties have failed to deliver on the “people’s agenda”: affordable healthcare, adequately funded public education, as well as genuinely affordable housing, energy and nutritious food.
A couple of weeks before this by-election, Tasik Gelugor Pas information chief Abdul Rahman Kasim did not sound confident at all.
Rahman, who is on the ground in Nenggiri in Kelantan, rated Perikatan Nasional’s chances in the by-election as 50:50 at best. He said Umno had a strong presence in the area, going by the number of operations stalls it had.
This is what the Taiping Lake Garden looks like these days. (Photo taken on Saturday.) It’s drying up.
Imagine this is happening in an area that has long been known as the wettest region in the country.
The most telling moment for the “unity government” came on Sunday night, when a crowd of a few thousand at a dinner banquet applauded DAP MP Lim Lip Eng’s announcement that Pakatan Harapan had lost the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Imagine that. If that is not writing on the wall for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, I don’t know what is.
Two years have flown and if Anwar does not buck up, he will lose the next general election. Look what just happened to Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron in the UK and France.
Clearly, many among the ethnic minorities are no longer willing to give PH their undivided support. But because many of them feel they do not have a political alternative they are comfortable with, they stayed out of the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Some of the ethnic majority, the Malays, have no such qualms about voting for the opposition, so they switched their support from Umno or PH to Perikatan Nasional. Full article on Aliran website
Watch the webinar!
Voters in the Sungai Bakap by-election in Penang are heading for the polls tomorrow, but it has failed to capture the public interest.
It’s hardly the stuff of coffee-shop conversations here in Penang. Why? Perhaps its because it won’t change the balance of power in the state. But I suspect the real reason is that both sides have failed to articulate the People’s Agenda (structural reforms to the economy, healthcare, education and democratic change) endorsed by over 50 civil society groups.
By Rosli Khan and Anil Netto
So the piece “Penang LRT decision, the result of comprehensive evaluation“, published by a news portal on 11 June turns out to be only the personal view of the author.
Three hours later, the same new portal reported: “Putrajaya, not state, will decide on Penang LRT, says Loke“.
By Rosli Khan and Anil Netto
The population of Penang Island, standing at around 800,000, is simply too small to justify an elevated light rail transit (LRT) system, which is typically meant for cities with over three million people.