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Red flag and black cake protests

Anil Netto
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Some comic relief in the midst of the political uproar of late.

This one’s not a red-shirt protest but a red flag demo. Coming face-to-face with a phalanx of riot police is not for the faint-hearted:

You got to say, that woman bearing the red flag did not flinch – she just looked up at her flag, grit her teeth and gave the ‘other side’ a glare.

Here in Penang, we had our own dose of ‘black’ humour, courtesy of a few jokers. Somehow, I don’t foresee many scrambling to try this latest Penang ‘delicacy’.

MPs suspended; Anwar’s fate sealed?

Anil Netto
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Have a look at this latest ruckus in Parliament as Opposition MPs tried to put forward a motion.

They had wanted to question the intention of the parliamentary rights and privileges committee’s decision to censure Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim over his allegations regarding Apco without calling for his defence.

Judge for yourselves the behaviour and antics of certain MPs. Notice how the BN MPs badger the Speaker to take action.

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Support Pg govt’s port takeover bid

Anil Netto
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The Penang state government should be supported in its bid to acquire Penang Port, currently under the Finance Minister, after news emerged of plans to privatise Penang Port Sdn Bhd.

The state government has written to the PM to express interest in entering discussions to buy the port.

theSun reported the Penang Chief Minister as saying:

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Khir Toyo charged; elections soon?

Anil Netto
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When the news spread that Khir Toyo had been charged in court for accepting in bribe, a political scientist sent me a message: “Khir Toyo arrested and Samy out. Elections must be very close now.”

He isn’t the only one with that thought. While a general election next year is by no means a certainty, one thing is a fair bet: the BN has begun to try and spruce up its image ahead of 2013, the deadline for holding the next general election.

But that’s a massive ask, though. Remember the corruption revelations in Sarawak?

And Remember Kasitah Gaddam and Eric Chia – the big fish (well, medium-sized fish, actually) who were hauled up in court ahead of the 2004 general election at a time when Abdullah Badawi wanted to show he was serious about corruption. What happened to them? Eric Chia was acquitted in 2007 and Kasitah Gaddam in 2009.

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Live – Water protest march in KL

Anil Netto
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Welcome to live coverage of the water protest in KL today.

Sugar price hike: Who benefits?

Anil Netto
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So the prices of sugar and petrol have gone up again. But who stands to gain?

This is the third time this year that the price of white refined sugar prices has been hiked. It was raised by 20 sen on 1 Jan and by 20 sen on 15 July. Now it’s going up another 20 sen to RM2.10 per kg. Okay, we all have to cut down on sugar for health reasons, but it’s going to have a spin-off effect on a host of other products like your coffee at the kopi tiam.

But who actually benefits? Only four refineries are allowed to import raw sugar into the country.

Chart courtesy of thestar.com.my

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Once again, Penang shows the way…

Anil Netto
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Once again, Penang is showing the way with a fun-filled week-long awareness-raising campaign for greater local democracy.

The events in Local Democracy Week, an initiative arising from Penang Forum 2, are being organised by various Penang-based civil society groups.

Click on the programme below to expand and see if there’s anything in there that might interest you.

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Selangor water: Return it to the people

Anil Netto
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What is the dispute between the Selangor government and the federal government over water supply and distribution in the state all about?

Essentially, the state government wants to take over water operations in the state because it feels that the politcally well-connected private firm Syabas has been inefficient and not complied with the terms of the concession agreement. The federal government could well bail out Syabas – with public funds. The Selangor government is also against Syabas’ plan for a 37 per cent tariff hike.

It all began under Mahathir’s ill-conceived privatisation policy. The website airuntukrakyat goes on to explain:

• Starting in 1997, BN privatised the various water companies in Selangor.
• Since then, Syabas and the others have exploited the people by draining them of hundreds of millions in cash.
• At present, the Selangor State Government wishes to return the right to control these companies back to the people.

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EU-Malaysia FTA: ‘Trade invaders’

Anil Netto
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Negotiations between the Malaysia and the European Union for a free trade agreement (FTA) are expected to begin in Brussels next week. But most Malaysians are being left in the dark about what this means for Malaysia while Parliament is not even looking at this seriously.

The way I see it, the EU-Malaysia FTA aims to prise open the Malaysian market for large European firms – in the same way that these firms are eyeing the vast Indian market under the EU-India FTA and the Asean market under the EU-Asean FTA. That’s the main agenda of Corporate Europe.

These large European firms or BusinessEurope are working very closely with EU Commission negotiators to secure the best possible outcome for themselves. What are they looking for? We can get a pretty good idea of what they want by looking at the negotiations for the EU-India FTA.

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S’wak White Paper on ‘naughty people’

Anil Netto
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The Sarawak State Assembly has tabled and passed a White Paper to ‘prevent the escalation of dangerous politics employed by outsiders, especially politicians’.

The state’s Cabinet will decide at its meeting next Thursday whether to come up with legislation based on the White Paper.

The Taib Mahmud administration appears to be feeling the heat after all the damaging allegations of corrupt practices, shady deals and cases of obvious conflict of interest.

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