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‘Times’ are hard

Anil Netto
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These must be tough times for the New Straits Times. Promoters on a roadshow in Penang over the weekend latched on to a novel idea to try and stem the paper’s flagging circulation.

A promoter plastered with newspaper stands motionless while his colleague pretends to read a giant cutout of the NST (with nothing inside)

The promoters above were spotted at lunch-time at the entrance to the Batu Lanchang market hawker centre. They said this was part of a roadshow and their next stop was Queensbay Mall.

According to audited circulation figures, daily sales of the New Straits Times had plunged from 139,468 (for the year ending June 2006) to 111,158 (in the six months ending December 2009).

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Penang: No. 1 street food haven

Anil Netto
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Apart from the state’s heritage, street food is where Penang’s real comparative advantage lies.

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Live – Karpal receives standing ovation

Anil Netto
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Karpal receives a rousing reception from a largely Muslim audience while Anwar announces that Pakatan parties have agreed that Pas should represent the alliance in the Tenang by-election. Live updates from the Pakatan national convention at the Dewan Millennium in Kepala Batas attended by more than 3,500 people.

Standing ovation: Karpal immediately after the convention this evening after touching on the thorny Islamic state issue

TWO nuclear power plants by 2022

Anil Netto
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The BN government wants to build two nuclear power plants by 2022. But the nuclear option just doesn’t make sense.

The costs and the risks are too high. Imagine, we can’t even resolve ceiling leaks in Parliament!

How much will these plants cost? Who will profit or benefit from the construction? And will Putrajaya be considered as a site for these plants so that the PM and his Cabinet can gaze with pride at them everyday? After all, they love these huge projects, don’t they? Putrajaya itself was a mega project.

See this Bernama report:

Malaysia Plans To Establish Two 1,000MW Nuclear Power Plants

By Alan Ting and Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 (Bernama) — Malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants that will generate 1,000 megawatts each with the first plant ready for operation in 2021 and the second plant, a year later, as part of the overall long-term plan to balance energy supply.

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Weekend hive of activity in Penang

Anil Netto
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Penang has become a hive of political activity this weekend.

On Friday, PSM held a 30-table fund-raising dinner in Bayan Baru. PSM secretary general Arutchelvan said whether BN, Pakatan or ‘third force’, what really mattered at the end of the day was ‘people power’. Jeyakumar Devaraj, on the other hand, said it was important to check feudal and pro-corporate elements from creeping into Pakatan. See Malaysiakini report PSM welcomes third force to kick BN out.

Last night, over 1,000 people attended a Pakatan ceramah in Balik Pulau. The Penang State Assembly Speaker said the state government would hand out RM100 to single mothers and disabled persons next year if they register with the local JKKK, said one eye-witness at the scene. (I hope this won’t be tied to voter registration lists.)

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Artefacts missing from Bujang Valley?

Anil Netto
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Questions were raised by the public about missing ceramics and other artefacts at the Bujang Valley archeological site in Kedah during a ‘Penang Story’ talk yesterday evening.

This is serious as the Bujang Valley is a national treasure. As one of the earliest, if not the earliest, civilisations in the region, the site could potentially become a source of much knowledge about the region besides becoming a major draw for visitors.

The talk yesterday was presented by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Global Archaeological Research director Associate Professor Dr Mokhtar Saidi, who leads the archeological dig that has discovered monuments dating back to the first century AD at the sprawling site in the northern region.

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X’mas comes early for Gamuda-MMC

Anil Netto
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Gamuda-MMC has received an early ‘durian runtuh’ with the government reportedly granting preliminary approval for the consortium to manage a RM36 billion mass rapid transit (MRT) project for the Klang Valley.

See a report by Reuters here.

Because of the large amount of public money at stake, the government must tell us exactly how the tender process for the consortium’s reportedly ‘unsolicited proposal’ was carried out. Is it true that there was only one  contractor with whom the government negotiated? That in itself is disturbing.

The actual project is expected to cost RM36 billion. Add land acquisition and rolling stock cost and the tab reportedly could come up to a jaw-dropping RM43 billion. (What about possible cost overruns?) That makes it the largest construction job under the Tenth Malaysia Plan.

Examine carefully the major shareholders of Gamuda Bhd as at 15 October 2009:

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Councils: Rewarding party faithful

Anil Netto
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It looks like the status quota – or even an entrenchment – in the system of rewarding party faithful with appointments to the two Penang municipal councils.

The DAP general election manifesto in 2008 (click image to enlarge): Have they lived up to their campaign pledges in relation to the protection of green spaces and the environment, electoral reforms and local democracy, PICC and transparency, and affordable health care (as opposed to 'health tourism')?

The total quota for “NGOs” in both MPPP and MPSP is reportedly being reduced from 10 councillors in 2008 to seven for 2011. Bear in mind, the state’s definition of ‘NGOs’ includes groups with vested business interests. As for the representation of public interest (civil society) groups, the word that comes to mind is tokenism.

Pending the restoration of local council elections, public interest groups had asked for five reps in each council. Under the banner of Penang Forum, they had conducted open elections to choose their nominees in a bid to broaden their selection process and make it more transparent.

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From ‘Stop PGCC’ to ‘Stop PICC’

Anil Netto
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The state government is pushing ahead with the controversial Penang International Convention Centre. Now who is going to be the lucky developer and main contractor?

See a Sin Chew report here.

In the interest of transparency, FOI etc and as public money is involved, the state government must provide us with the full details of the project, the full cost, the cost to the state/public, and the tender details. The full project value under the Build-Operate-Transfer scheme (see my earlier blog post – PICC and the risks of BOT) may end up much more than the RM50 million subsidy figure mentioned earlier (although the state had budgeted RM50 million for its share of the cost). And if the BOT financial projections fail to materialise, guess who could end up subsidising the PICC even further?

Politicians just love these big projects whose worth to the ordinary person on the street is, at best, questionable. But who profits the most? Probably the developers or contractors. And at whose expense? Of course, the politicians will try and convince us otherwise.

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14th by-election, a test in BN stronghold

Anil Netto
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The by-election expected to be called in Tenang, Johor, following the passing of an Umno state assembly member, will be the 14th since 8 March 2008.

Thus far, the score reads 8-5 in Pakatan’s favour, but the last few results have gone BN’s way.

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