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Kg Tanjong Tokong’s fate in balance

Anil Netto
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Mahmud Yusoff, who grew up in Kg Tanjung Tokong in Penang, shares with us his thoughts on the uncertain future facing the villagers:

I was born and grew up in the kampung until Form Five and later left for further studies and work in KL; so my heart is never far from developments in the kampung i.e. through regular visits and involvement in local NGOs for the sake of villagers’ rights…

Back in 1974, the federal government (during the leadership of the late Tun Razak) decided to develop Tanjong Tokong through the Urban Development Authority (Uda). Thus, the state government transferred 48 acres of the land for a token RM1. The traditional villagers who have been there for the last 200 years were declared “squatters” through Uda’s affidavit filed in the Penang High Court on 10 December 2008. Are they doing justice to the villagers?

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Tsunami watch cancelled

Anil Netto
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An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 has struck about 33 miles from Padang in West Sumatra, according to news reports.
It comes in the wake of an 8.0 magnitude quake and tsunami in the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific yesterday.

It makes you wonder how earthquake resistant our high-rise buildings are.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has cancelled its tsunami watch.

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MPPP Councillor opposes increased density

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MPPP Councillor Lim Kah Cheng has registered her objection to the Penang state government’s decision to raise the permissible density for property development. She made these remarks during an adjournment address on 25 September 2009:

Saya ingin merakamkan bantahan saya terhadap keputusan baru Kerajaan Negeri untuk menaikan kepadatan pembangunan di Pulau Pinang. Keputusan ini tidak mampan dan akan menjejaskan kesejahteraan rakyat Pulau Pinang dan akan menakibatkan persekitaran kita merosot. Infrastruktur kita yang berada masa sekarang memang tidak mencukupi dan tidak boleh menyokong kepadatan yang lebih tinggi. Rakyat Pulau Pinang sekarang menghadapi keseksakan jalan, banjir, pencemaran, krisis pengumpulan sisa pepejal dan kekurangan kemudahan kemudahan sosial seperti Tadika, Taska dan sekolah sekolah dan penagkutan awam yang efficien. Kualiti kehidupan rakyat Pulau Pinang akan merosot dengan keputusan yang di buat tanpa mendapatkan pandangan pandangan semua stakeholders di negeri ini.

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Heritage lost?

Anil Netto
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Is this what a heritage city is about – derelict land, decaying buildings and a high-rise construction site?

P1100418
Photo by a Penangite

The sign just about sums it up.

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Time to enact Freedom of Information law

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In case you did not realise it, yesterday was International Right to Know Day. The Centre for Independent Journalism has worked with other NGOs to come up with a Freedom of Information Bill.

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Climate signs “surpass worst-case scenarios”

Anil Netto
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The signs are there that climate change has surpassed worst-case scenarios scientists predicted just two years ago, reveals The Climate Change Science Compendium 2009, a UN report released on 24 September.

The report, released on 24 September, analysed 400 scientific reports released through peer-reviewed literature or from research institutions, according to a Reuters report.

An yet, here we are merrily continuing with our corporate-driven unsustainable development as if global warming doesn’t concern us and thinking that we and our future generations will be somehow immune from its effects.

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Kg Buah Pala: Release Pakatan exco minutes too

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There’s still quite a bit of unfinished business in this saga.

Why is it so important? First, land which is now said to be worth RM80-100 per sq ft was alienated to the Koperasi for RM10psf or RM3.2 million by the previous BN administration. Millions of ringgit that could have gone to the people of Penang were effectively handed over on a silver platter to the Koperasi-Nusmetro in exchange for peanuts. The big issue is, could the Pakatan state government have stopped the deal in its tracks?

Was the new state government in Penang unaware of the Kg Buah Pala crisis during the crucial period from when they came into power on 8 March 2009 until the land transfer was effected on 27 March 2008? Let’s zoom in on this period.

March 2008

8 – Opposition parties sweep to power in Penang.
13 – Buah Pala villagers meet the new Penang Chief Minister and inform him about their situation.
14 – But the very next day, the state government accepts final payment of RM2,247,000* for the Buah Pala land, nearly a year after the last payment, and almost 10 months after the Land Office asked for final payment.
15 – The villagers are tipped off that final payment has been made.

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They just can’t keep their hands off Penan areas

Anil Netto
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Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu has held up the Penan village at Suai in Ulu Niah in Sarawak as a “role model” for Penan villages, according to the Borneo Post.

But even in Suai, the state can’t keep its hands off Penan lands, and they too have to fight to assert their rights, as this excerpt from the Malaysian Mirror indicates:

MIRI – A meeting between 40 Penan landowners in Suai and representatives of SPB Pelita Suai Sdn Bhd ended successfully today when the landowners agreed to remove blockades on the promise that they be paid between RM1,900 and RM18,900 depending on the size of their land.

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Did you hear the joke about Mahathir and Samy?

Anil Netto
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A bit of comic relief this Sunday, courtesy of Mahathir via Bernama:

Asked whether (the new) Makkal Sakti (party) would affect MIC’s position as the main Indian-based party in the country, Dr Mahathir said: “I think MIC’s influence has already been diluted.”

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