Home Blog Page 436

A peek at the Pulau Tikus town hall meeting

This is for those of us who couldn’t make it for the Pulau Tikus town hall meeting organised by the Penang Municipal Council as part of the Penang Transport Council’s pilot project to de-congest Pulau Tikus.

pulautikus
Dr Lim Mah Hui of the Penang Transport Council addressing the town hall meeting – Photos courtesy of Dr S P Choong

pulautikus1
The participants, journalists and police at the town hall meeting

Maybe the following exchange will encourage public discussion and participation in the initiative towards more sustainable transport.

First the write-up by soohuey, who attended the town hall meeting:

Bagan Pinang: Congrats to the BN!

Congrats to the BN! It finally broke the Pakatan’s winning streak on the peninsula. There will be much rejoicing in the mainstream media about how the tide has turned.

But at what cost?

In its desperation to win in its own stronghold, Umno put up a popular local candidate whom its own party disciplinary board had found guilty of “money politics” (let’s call a spade a spade and refer to it as corruption). A candidate who perhaps best reflects the ethos of the party – at a time when the MCA itself is in utter disarray following the PKFZ debacle.

What message does this send out about “1Malaysia” and “1World”? We might as well disband the MACC…

LIVE: BN routs Pakatan in Bagan Pinang

Live coverage of developments from the Bagan Pinang by-election.

Last day of Freedom Film Fest in Penang

If you are free tomorrow (Sunday), why not hop over for the final day of the Freedom Film Fest in Penang organised by Komas. This time the fest is being hosted in Han Chiang School/College, near the Penang State Mosque.

You can find the programme schedule here. You are spoilt for choice, but if you are not sure which film to go for, I have been reliably told these shouldn’t be missed:

11.00am – Flow

Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century – The World Water Crisis.

MCA sharply split ahead of Bagan Pinang poll

The BN was dealt a demoralising blow on the eve of the Bagan Pinang by-election after contradictory motions passed during the MCA’s extraordinary general meeting today threw the party into disarray and left it bereft of top leadership.


Photos by Jong

Before today’s EGM, a couple of political scientists/analysts I know who visited Bagan Pinang last night got the impression that the BN had the edge. They observed that the Pakatan’s campaign was missing some of the earlier by-election “spirit” and felt that Isa would win comfortably.

Scenes from Bagan Pinang

Just to give you a flavour of what it’s like in Bagan Pinang a couple of days ahead of the by-election.


Photos by Jong

Town hall meeting to de-congest Pulau Tikus

Here’s something interesting from the Penang Municipal Council, which hopefully will be the first step towards more sustainable transport and pedestrian-friendly streets in Penang. Pulau Tikus is supposed to the focus of a pilot project that could be extended throughout Penang. If you are in the area, why not check it out or better still, participate.

Decongest traffic in Pulau Tikus

You are all invited to a stakeholders’ meeting

Time: 4.00pm – 6.00pm
Date: 10 October 2009
Place: Balai Rakyat Pulau Tikus, Jalan Cantonment
Organised by MPPP

Daily traffic jams!! For so many years!!
HOW can this problem be solved??
CAN holistic win-win solutions be found??
YES!!

“Apex” USM still in the doldrums

Looks as if USM isn’t making much headway among the major league universities, if the THES ranking is anything to go by.

Not to be obsessed with those rankings, but I can’t help wondering where the big apex (more popularly known as ah pek) budget is going to and what kind of results it is yielding.

All those courses and workshops in hotels aimed at improving standards don’t seem to be filling up the academic “silos” of USM.

Why is PDC re-negotiating with Abad Naluri?

It is shocking to see the Penang Development Corporation and Abad Naluri re-negotiating the deal in which the latter was supposed to acquire 750 acres of land in Batu Kawan from the PDC.

batu kawan land
The site of the failed equestrian centre project in Batu Kawan – Photo by Anil

This Batu Kawan land was supposed to have been used for a new equestrian centre among other things around the time the Penang Turf Club entered into an agreement with Abad Naluri to sell its Batu Gantung race-course for the Penang Global City Centre project. Neither project (the PGCC and the new equestrian centre in Batu Kawan) took off.

An Edge report says no money has exchanged hands for the Batu Kawan land even though there was a principal agreement between the PDC and Abad Naluri. If so, hasn’t this agreement, which was entered into in 2004, now lapsed? Shouldn’t the PDC be terminating the deal outright?

Bagan Pinang postal votes in spotlight

This morning’s press conference at the Pas operations centre in Port Dickson to announce the party’s protest over the issue of postal votes:

Photos by Jong

Pas is expected to meet the Elections Commission this evening.

Meanwhile, Aliran president P Ramakrishnan has come up with a statement here on the corruption vs breach of ethics controversy surrounding BN candidate Isa Samad.