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Penang’s long awaited local plan sees light

Anil Netto
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19

A local plan is in the offing for Penang – a positive development indeed. So, good work to the state government for seeing to this.

I bumped into Penang exco member and local government committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow a few days ago and told him I was pleased to hear about this development.

Many of the problems in the state have been due to haphazard development. A local plan, on the other hand, would provide a systematic guide of what sort of development is allowed in each area and what isn’t.

If you want to know what’s going to happen in your area, then you have to examine the plan when it is displayed. So, I hope adequate publicity and access would be given to the public so that they can provide their views when the plan is put on display.

This excerpt is from an Edge report:

Penang local government committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said that among the steps included the completion of the Penang draft local plan. This plan would govern details of land use throughout the island, including compliance within the heritage zone.

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Weekend reflection

Anil Netto
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3

Here are a couple of articles that gave me hope and which I appreciated.

On respect, thinking and dialogue – Interview with Tariq Ramadan (theSun)

The day I spoke at the Hall of Holy Spirit – by Mujahid Yusuf Rawa (Malaysian Insider)

Meanwhile, broken glass has been found near the outside wall of a mosque in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak.

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Why are young people shunning Bursa?

Anil Netto
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20

While the the spate of attacks on religious sites is cause for concern, Bursa Malaysia has more worldly worries.

Few young adults are investing in the Kuala Lumpur stock market. A survey has revealed that only 12 per cent of investors are in the 20-29 age group, while 59 per cent involve those 40 years and above.

Some have cited possible reasons: the high risk factor involved in investing in the stock market; young people preferring to spend their money on property, cars and movies;  a lack of education about how to invest, etc.

I have my own theories.

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Another church in Seremban targeted

Anil Netto
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10

Another church in Seremban has been targeted – the Grace Global Prayer Church in Happy Garden, Rasah, Seremban, according to a twitter message from Lim Kit Siang.

It is the twelfth religious site – eleven of which are church properties – and the second in Seremban to be targeted since 8 January.

The incident at the new two-storey shoplot church occurred at around 8.00pm. Two window panes were found broken.

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Need training for your ‘character and attitude’?

Anil Netto
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12

A private company based in Kuala Lumpur is conducting an interesting training programme in Johor called “Character and Attitude Training”.

The programme is targeted at 1,500 Malaysians – graduates, unemployed, retrenched workers and existing employees, according to the firm’s website.

It is part of a so-called “Skill Enhancement and Employability Development (Seed)” programme, which is a “capacity building initiative by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) intended to equip the talents in Johor with soft-skills as well as technical skills to increase the employability of the unemployed and performance of the existing talents in the Region”, according to a letter from the firm to participants.

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Can we make a difference?

Anil Netto
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17

Can we reverse the damage that is being done to our society, to the environment and to the social fabric?

Is there hope for the future in this era of climate chaos, dwindling resources and social problems?

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Herald lawyers’ office, Johor church targeted

Anil Netto
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13

Update: The St Elizabeth Catholic church in Kota Tinggi, Johor, was splattered with red paint at dawn, making it the 11th place of worship to be targeted since last Friday. It’s the first church in Johor to be targeted.

Earlier this morning, I received word from a church source that the PJ office of the Catholic Church’s lawyers, Fernandez and Selvarajah, was broken into last night and ransacked. A laptop was reportedly stolen. (More details here.)

  1. Metro Tabernacle Church (Assembly of God) in Desa Melawati – molotov cocktail damages administrative wing (8 Jan)
  2. Assumption Church (Catholic) in Jalan Templar – molotov cocktail hurled on pavement in front of church fails to explode (8 Jan)
  3. Life Chapel (evangelical Brethren) in Section 17, PJ  – molotov cocktail slightly damages porch (8 Jan)
  4. Good Shepherd Church (Lutheran) in PJ old town – firebomb misses window, scorches outer wall, minimal damage (8 Jan)
  5. All Saints’ Church (Anglican) in Taiping – two molotov cocktails scorch stair case leading to main entrance and side porch (9 Jan)
  6. Convent school (Catholic) in Taiping – molotov cocktail, probably meant for St Louis’ Church (Catholic) next door, breaks guard-house window (9 Jan)
  7. Malacca Baptist Church (Baptist) in Durian Daun – smeared with black paint (9 Jan)
  8. Good Shepherd Church (Anglican) in Lutong Miri  – stones shatter window panes (9 Jan)
  9. Sidang Injil Borneo Church (Borneo Evangelical Mission) in Seremban – front doors scorched (10 Jan)
  10. Gurdwara Sahib (Sikh) in Sentul – stones flung, mirror at entrance cracked and wall chipped (12 Jan)
  11. St Elizabeth’s Church (Catholic) in Kota Kecil, Johor – packets of red paint hurled, splattering the grounds, main gate, front door, wall and a statue (14 Jan)

Meanwhile, this is a piece I wrote for Asia Times:

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Images from the Sentul Sikh temple

Anil Netto
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10

Here are a couple of images from the Sikh temple along Jalan Haji Salleh near the former Sentul Railway Yard:

One of the large black ornamental stones found in the temple and the cracked mirror. – Photos tweeted by Tian Chua.

Police collected 18 such stones, said Tian Chua, who is MP for Batu, the area where the temple is located.

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1MDB, China eye RM37b Sarawak projects

Anil Netto
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28

While we are rattled by the Allah controversy and the spate of attacks on places of worship, others are eyeing big bucks – in Sarawak.

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), one of the world’s largest utility firms, and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) have signed an agreement to enter into joint venture negotiations to undertake projects reportedly worth up to RM37 billion (US$11 billion).

The agreement reportedly involves the construction of three hydroelectric dams and a smelter plant in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) – and that’s just for starters. What are they going to do with all that electricity? Feed it to power-guzzling smelters, it would seem – and perhaps transmit the rest to the peninsula? What kind of impact will that have on local indigenous people, their land and the environment, especially Sarawak’s rainforests (what’s left of them) and the biodiversity? Don’t ask.

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… and now a Sikh temple in Sentul

Anil Netto
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11

A 100-year-old mirror at the entrance of a Sikh temple in Sentul was reportedly cracked after stones were flung at it at around 6.00pm.

The wall of the temple was also chipped. When contacted, a Selangor state exco member told me that temple reps collected about 20 black stones, about the size of a kiwi fruit and of the type used in landscape gardening, after the incident.

“They (the temple reps) are rattled and don’t want to play up the incident,” the exco member said.

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