The newly appointed Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) chief, Patahiyah Ismail, has come out to say she is not in favour of using Council funds for the controversial RMR50 million Penang International Convention Centre (PICC).
Site plans showing the proposed PICC (in brown) located directly in front of the existing Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa)
“I would not want to spend the council’s money on this project. This is my opinion,” she was reported as saying in The Star today.
Perkasa held its first AGM at the PWTC in KL this morning with Mahathir in the spotlight – but estimates of the turnout vary.
The large crowd at the PWTC – Photo twittered by Tun Faisal (More photos here)
Malaysiakini put the turnout at more than 2,000.
According to blogger Aisehman, the MC said 8,000 seats were put out but the crowd was 10,000-strong.
A conference on building dams – and what more ‘appropriate’ venue than Sarawak, where a dam-building frenzy has gripped policy makers.
These days they have green-washed their image: they are calling it “Water Resources and Renewable Energy Development”.
Many Malaysians would have been shocked at the expensive highspeed broadband (Unifi) packages rolled out by Telekom.
No wonder TM decided to launch them in the affluent areas of Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar. Whatever happened to bridging the digital divide?
Blog reader Ganesh shares his concern:
Yet again, Malaysians are misled with false promises. For months there was so much hype to the government’s initiative to provide cheaper, affordable and yet very fast broadband.
Yesterday, it came as a shock to Malaysians that the so-called affordable and fast broadband service starts at RM149 and ranges up to RM249. To many Malaysians, this sum is a huge commitment. Many were expecting prices from RM50 onwards.
He’s out of office but he still manages to do some pretty dumb things. Bush wipes his hand on Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with a local during a recent trip to Haiti.
Moral of the story: In this Internet age, politicians had better be prepared for intense scrutiny of their every public action.
This time, they have to call a by-election.
What do you think are likely to be the main issues in Hulu Selangor?
Anwar’s trial will be going on.
So will the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
This morning I bumped into a retired veteran politician and we got to chatting about current developments over a cup of coffee.
Top of the list of talking points was the resignation and U-turn by Yip Sun Onn, the Perlis State Assembly member for Titi Tinggi. Yip reportedly retracted his resignation from the assembly in a text message to the Perlis Speaker last night.
The veteran politician sounded perplexed and bewildered at what had happened. From all his years in politics, he had always understood that once a resignation letter was handed over to the Speaker, the Speaker had to declare the seat vacant and inform the Election Commission, whose duty it was to conduct a by-election. He had never heard of a retraction. Neither had most of us. Just goes to show how terrified they are of by-elections these days.
The US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) has warned that the cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor (simvastatin), made by Merck, increases risk of muscle injury when used in large doses.
The FDA said that people taking the 80mg dose face an especially high risk of developing muscle problems, including rhabdomyolysis, the most serious form of myopathy, which can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure and even death, reports Business Week.
Bukit Gasing residents campaigning against a property development project on a steep hill-slope are showing other Malaysians how to push for greater accountability from local government.
Solidarity in the rain – File photo courtesy of Save Bukit Gasing blog
Their struggle shows that local residents need not remain helpless and disempowered when confronted with unsustainable development or environmentally risky projects by private developers. The residents’ campaign to save the area, which began in 2005, is finally seeing some light: obstacles have been cleared for the residents to now mount a full-scale legal challenge in court.
If a by-election is held in Titi Tinggi, it could turn out to be a referendum on unpopular neo-liberal policies such as the regressive Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Full-Paying Patients (FPP) scheme.
The MCA’s Yip Sun Onn has resigned from his seat in the Perlis State Assembly just days after Indera Kayangan assembly member and Kangar MCA chairman Dr Por Cho Chor replaced him in the Perlis state government exco line-up on 19 March. Utusan reported yesterday that the “replacement was made by the state government as a normal practice upon the request of the MCA leadership itself”.
The GST has been shelved for the time being – but it could be resurrected later. At the same time, plans are afoot to extend the Full-Paying Patients (FPP) pilot scheme to other general hospitals.