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Politics over a cup of coffee

Anil Netto
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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.

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FDA warning on popular statin

Anil Netto
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15

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.

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‘Save Bukit Gasing’ residents show the way

Anil Netto
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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.

Save Bukit Gasing
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.

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Perlis by-election could be GST-FPP referendum

Anil Netto
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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.

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Penang Botanic Garden: Is this progress?

Anil Netto
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41

For over 120 years, the Penang Botanic Garden has managed perfectly well without these concrete structures.

But now, in the name of ‘development’, ‘progress’ and ‘upgrading’, concrete is being dumped in the Garden and useless structures are sprouting up. (The slideshow above includes photos of the horrendous new arches at the Garden entrance and of the administration block being built near Moon Gate.)

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Have you heard of Aneurin Bevan?

Anil Netto
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If you haven’t, it is time you got acquainted with the man: Aneurin Bevan was the Minister of Health in post-war Britain who played a key role in setting up the National Health Service.

Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan - Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

It was Bevan who uttered these immortal words: “The collective principle asserts that… no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.”

Which means health care is not a commodity but a basic right that should be made available and accessible to all. It also means we need a top-class public health care system with adequate funding. That was what the speakers at a Sembang-Sembang talk this afternoon, Dr Jeyakumar and Dr Jayabalan, stressed.

Many among the audience at the Caring Society Complex in Penang were moved when they heard a woman, Roszita, describing how she lost her husband, Ahmad Nazri, 49, a heart patient, because the couple were unable to raise RM19,000 in time to buy three stents that were needed to deal with blockages.

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Learn from PSM’s annual asset disclosures

Anil Netto
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Political parties in Malaysia can learn a thing or two from Parti Sosialis Malaysia: the party has made it a point for their two elected reps and three councillors to disclose their assets and income to the public every year.


Declaring their assets at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall – Photo courtesy of PSM

Their asset disclosures are each accompanied by an annual performance report.

You can see the asset disclosures here. Even so, the format could be improved to include disclosures of the assets belonging to immediate family members and comparative figures for the previous year to indicate if there has been any significant increase.

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Jelutong Expressway: Lingering questions

Anil Netto
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10

The 5km-Jelutong Expressway still poses a couple a niggling questions.

This RM 700m expressway, orginally estimated to cost RM300m, later rising to RM370m or more, was supposedly built “free of charge” – with no toll imposed on motorists – under a privatisation exercise mooted in 1997.

But at what cost to Penang?

The valuable rights to the reclamation of close to 300 acres 325 acres of prime sea-front land, in addition to existing land – making a total of some 330 355 acres, later apparently increased to 368 acres  – were handed over to IJM in return for the ‘free’ highway.

And, for good measure, a loan was reportedly given – was it RM33 million? How thoughtful.

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PICC: Political motive or genuine concern?

Anil Netto
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41

More on the Penang International Convention Centre.

Tan Seng Hai, the person spearheading a petition expressing concern about the PICC, sent the following letter to The Star – but it apparently has not been published.

I refer to the report “Council will announce successful bidder of PICC, says CM” (Sunday Star, 14 March 2010) in which Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was quoted as saying critics of the PICC have their “own political motives and agenda behind their criticisms”.

I do not belong to any political party and have no affiliation to any organisations. I initiated the on-line petition against building the PICC on my own initiative out of love for Penang and in the hope that the Penang State Government will do the right thing and do it right.

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Why are the Orang Asli protesting?

Anil Netto
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19

Some 2,000 Orang Asli have protested today in Putrajaya while 12,000 have signed a memorandum.

It’s all to do with the government’s proposed Orang Asli land policy, which one analyst has decribed as a recipe for planned poverty.

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