- Say NO to GM food! Check out this rap music video with a difference http://youtu.be/HnN6FFjZBZQ! #
- Chile's Ghosts Are Not Being Rescued by John Pilger http://bit.ly/dyR6Aq #
- A different way of looking at the Commonwealth Games medal tally (GDP per medal) – see which are the top countries: http://bbc.in/be7WlO #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-10-17
Not just Sarawak natives losing land
For the past couple of days, I have been going in and out of a global conference in Penang on forests, biodiversity, community rights and indigenous peoples organised by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific.
The theme “Ecological equity: Sharing the stories, reclaiming our rights” couldn’t have been more timely. Listening to the heart-rending stories from indigenous representative and activists from places such as Philippines, Uganda and Bolivia, I realised that the indigenous groups in Sarawak who are struggling to protect their native customary rights land are not alone.
100-storey mega-tower pop quiz
Now, here’s a multiple choice question on Najib’s plan to build a new mega-tower by 2015 that would dwarf the Petronas Twin Towers.
Why do we need the proposed RM5 billion 100-storey Warisan Merdeka Tower (to be built by Permodalan Nasional Berhad)?
A. We have a serious shortage of commercial space in the Klang Valley. Plus the boys could do with more contracts.
B. We have a healthy fiscal surplus and we don’t know what to do with all that spare cash. RM5 billion is petty cash-lah. Huh? Fiscal deficit? What fiscal deficit? Nah, cannot be.
C. No major earthquake will ever strike our country.
D. Najib’s tower has to be higher than Mahathir’s Twin Towers. And we have excellent public transport to ensure congestion is minimal. Besides, we could call it a super-duper ‘zero-carbon’ green tower.
E. Because Malaysia Boleh! “The most important thing is that we can do it. Why should we hold back?” as Ng Yen Yen puts it. A tower is more important for the rakyat. They will be so proud.
F. I don’t know. I give up. You tell me.
Govt should take over highways
Three different entities are said to be eyeing the north-south highway cash-cow.
- EPF-UEM has just put in a RM23 billion bid for PLUS Expressways.
- MMC Corp (yes, MMC again) had offered to buy UEM Group Bhd, the parent company of PLUS.
- Asas Serba Sdn Bhd, which last year put in a RM50 billion proposal to take over PLUS and 21 other toll concessions.
Dark history behind Chilean rescue
The miners in Chile may have been miraculously rescued, but there are ghosts in that country that linger after the repression of the Pinochet years. Chile, after all, has its own Sept 11.
This is the hidden story that the mainstream media have not reported:
The accident that trapped the miners is not unusual in Chile and the inevitable consequence of a ruthless economic system that has barely changed since the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Copper is Chile’s gold, and the frequency of mining disasters keeps pace with prices and profits. There are, on average, 39 fatal accidents every year in Chile’s privatised mines. The San Jose mine, where the men work, became so unsafe in 2007 it had to be closed – but not for long. On 30 July last, a labour department report warned again of “serious safety deficiencies ”, but the minister took no action. Six days later, the men were entombed.
Why MRT proposal before masterplan?
Of late, Gamuda-MMC has been mentioned in connection with the RM36b MRT project for Klang Valley – the biggest mega project so far. But why has an MRT proposal been put forward when the national public transport policy is not yet ready?
The thing is, the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) has just been formed. And one of its first tasks is to come up with an integrated national public transport policy, followed by regional public transport policies. Spad is now working on the national policy in parallel with the regional policy for the Greater KL/Klang Valley area.
So much for sustainable forestry
in the aftermath of the Rajang River logjam, this image of the Sarawak edition of The Star says it all. ‘Overlogged’. No prizes for figuring out who is responsible.
Perak DAP: Peace formula?
On the surface, the DAP appears to have stitched a peace formula to unite rival factions in Perak after a recent flare-up.
Prasarana struggles with RM10.5b debt
In 2002, the government bailed out two privately run LRT systems, which had run into financial difficulties, at a cost of over RM8 billion. That cost of that heavy bailout burden has resulted in the subsequently formed government-owned Prasarana now struggling to repay its bonds.
The takeover of the Star LRT system cost RM3 billion, according to a national financial accounting committee report. Star was owned by EPF, Lembaga Tabung Haji, LTAT, KWAP and private firms such as KLTG Assets, AIA Co Ltd, STLR Sdn Bhd, Apfin Investment, Trustees of Shell Malaysia Retirement Fund and Trustees of Shell Sarawak and Sabah Retirement Benefit Fund.