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Penang Hill Railway: Selling the family silver?

Anil Netto
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You know they are supposedly “upgrading” the Penang Hill Railway.

So what’s going to happen to all the vintage machinery (scroll down that page to see the equipment) that pulls up the funicular trains? There are two sets of such equipment to pull up the trains, one at the middle station and the other at the summit station.

The other day, I met a friend and he told me that someone from the UK was in Penang recently, interested in acquiring the wheel that pulls the cable (and the trains) up. Apparently, there is a funicular railway in Devon in the UK that is interested in the equipment.

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Muhyiddin for Malaysia “not available!”

Anil Netto
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How apt that Deputy Prime Minister’s new My-Malaysia website, bearing the tag line ‘Muhyiddin Yassin for Malaysia’ is now “not available!”

That says a lot. The website was launched at the end of January. But now – poof! – it has vanished without a trace. Now we know he thinks of himself as Malay first.

Seen from one level, a national leader should be thinking of the nation first. Maybe that was the reason he set up his now defunct website as ‘Muhyiddin untuk Malaysia‘ in the first place.

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Penang launches ‘green citizens’ initiative

Anil Netto
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The Penang state government has made a commendable move to launch a green citizens initiative.

It launched a one-month registration drive on Saturday to register Penangites who would have to pledge to adhere to 10 green initiatives:

  • work to save water,
  • conserve electricity,
  • support the anti-smoking initiative,
  • reduce plastic bag usage,
  • stop open burning,
  • stop littering,
  • work to reduce one’s carbon footprint,
  • cut down the use of polystyren
  • help create a caring society and
  • observe the 3Rs – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse.

This initiative comes on the heels of the criticism over what is going on in the Botanic Garden.

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Images from outside the Perak State Assembly

Anil Netto
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Scenes from before the opening ceremony of the new sitting of the Perak State Assembly yesterday and the Pakatan assembly members’ press conference immediately after.


Photos by Jong

Youths set out to register 2 million new voters

Anil Netto
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Two million new voters? How on earth are they going to do that? Never say ‘that’s impossible’ to the idealism of youth.

That’s the ambitious target that a group of young people have set for themselves in a mass voter registration initiative dubbed “Voice your choice”.

You may laugh, you may scoff, but it’s not impossible. Do you know that 4.4 million Malaysians over the age of 21 have not yet registered as voters? Of these, 787,000 are in Selangor.

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Live – Perak State Assembly sitting

Anil Netto
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We will be following what’s happening in and around the Perak State Assembly this morning.


Pakatan assembly members march to the Dewan this morning – Photo by Jong

After the sitting this morning, Nizar walked up to where Ganesan was presiding in the Dewan and criticised him for allegedly allowing police “to intrude into the Dewan”, saying that as a lawyer, Ganesan should have known better. “You are a pengecut,” Nizar admonished Ganesan, who responded with a smile.

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Allah issue leads to Muslim-Christian dialogue

Anil Netto
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In case you are having the Perkasa blues, this should brighten things up: Muslims and Christians have been holding dialogue sessions in church halls across the northern region ever since the Allah controversy led to a spate of arson attempts on places of worship.

You could say it has opened up an avenue for a rapprochement of sorts among the ‘People of the Book’, heirs to the Abrahamic spiritual traditions.

The latest church to play host to such a dialogue was St Louis Catholic Church in Taiping. Now, St Louis, along with the Convent School next door, was the target of an arson attempt on 10 January.

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Perak State Assembly: Stage set for more drama

Anil Netto
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The stage is set for more drama in Ipoh with the 28 Pakatan state assembly members having submitted 200 questions for the assembly sitting which begins tomorrow.

Once again we could be treated to the spectacle of two Perak Speakers at the proceedings.

Kinta Kid provides the background here.

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Penang Botanic Garden: What went wrong?

Anil Netto
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Concerned Penangites distributed leaflets yesterday calling for a halt to projects to ‘upgrade’ the Penang Botanic Garden which have resulted in more concrete structures, including two large arches at the entrance.

They came face-to-face with federal and state government officials responsible for managing and overseeing the Garden who were there for the launch of the official programme to mark the 126th anniversary of the historical site.

One activist was overhead telling the officials, “The whole world is trying to move towards more greenery; here, we are adding more concrete.” The officials say they will hold a public briefing on what is happening to the Garden.

What went wrong at the Garden? Who is responsible for the mess? A source familiar with the workings of the Garden described the situation as follows:

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PICC: Don’t touch MPPP funds

Anil Netto
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The Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) has issued a clarification over a report in The Star yesterday that is at pains to stress there is no difference in position between the Council and state government over the Penang International Convention Centre (PICC).

The clarification seems to be an attempt at damage control. The MPPP chief’s views reported yesterday would not have pleased the state government. Let me just say, for what it’s worth, I fully support her position that no Council funds should be used for PICC. Remember what happened to Batu Kawan Stadium, that white elephant? Two more convention centres are coming up under private projects – so why get the MPPP to undertake PICC (even with private assistance)?

In the MPPP clarification (below), they say they are inviting the private sector to help reduce the burden of building PICC. But if there is no private interest, the MPPP will abide by the state government’s decision – which means using Council funds? Please, NO!

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