anilnetto.com

Democracy under a tree

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5 Mar 2009

A message from DEMOCRACY TREE

I am just a tree, why not be like me..
I give shelter, and rest to all in need, you can see.
There’s shade under my branches, come and take your rest
You’ll know then, that I am simply Nature’s gift and I ….did my best.

– Shakuntala, an anak Bangsa Malaysia who adores trees and spends time just staring at their beauty and generosity and who believes in the fusion of Nature with human activity.

Some people are saying the tree in question is a yellow flame tree. Can anyone verify this?

Continuing on the tree theme, I wrote the following for IPS:

It has already been dubbed “Pokok Demokrasi” or Democracy Tree and is set to enter the annals of folklore in Ipoh, capital city of Perak state.

In an open space beneath this 60-foot high rainforest tree and another lush mango tree nearby, the state legislative assembly of peninsular Malaysia’s second largest state held an emergency session Tuesday as a crowd of several hundred looked on.

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Penang NGOs submit proposals to state gov’t

Anil Netto

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5 Mar 2009

15

Lim Chong Eu once tried to “develop” Penang Hill while later, Koh Tsu Koon tried to pave the way for the development of the Turf Club land for the PGCC project. In both cases, Penang civil society groups mobilised public opinion to “Save Penang Hill” and “Stop PGCC”. Both proved to be costly errors, driven by corporate greed and the interests of develors. The rest, as they say, is history.

Himanshu Bhatt writes about the Penang Forum’s submission of civil society proposals and recommendations to the Penang state government. Will the state government heed the views of the activists?

This article appeared in theSun:

Ignore NGOs at your peril

LAST Saturday, at a private meeting in the chief minister’s office, the Pakatan Rakyat government of Penang was handed a stack of working papers by a motley gathering of NGOs. The reports, drawn up by independent working groups, were made as part of a “People’s Forum”, a community-based initiative of as many interest groups as one could imagine popping up in Penang, a former “crown jewel” of Gerakan.

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How much of approved FDI is actually coming?

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

15

Projects approved by state

State	2008				2007
State	No	Domestic Invest (RM mill)	Foreign Invest (RM mill)	Total Investment (RM mill)	No	Domestic Invest (RM mill )	Foreign Invest (RM mill)	Total Investment (RM mill )
Sarawak	39	1988.3	13180.5	15168.9	23	403	631.4	1034.5
Selangor	302	2866.2	9004.7	11870.9	318	6989.7	4191.7	11181.5
Johor	173	2315.1	9396.6	11711.7	188	2495.4	6747.4	9242.8
Penang	151	5068.7	5087.6	10156.3	134	1625.2	3143.4	4768.7
Melaka	41	182.3	3452.2	3634.5	38	1618.5	2219.2	3837.7
Perak	50	696.8	2433.2	3130	59	651.7	1382.9	2034.6
Kedah	46	288.1	2279.3	2567.3	46	7856.7	6133.6	13990.2
N Sembilan	26	821	294.8	1115.8	40	493.6	2181.9	2675.6
Pahang	23	1017.7	63.1	1080.7	28	406.9	1156.9	1563.8
T’ganu	9	636.8	355.5	992.3	11	2772.2	3391.1	6163.2
Sabah	40	620.6	343.8	964.4	41	1080.9	2176.7	3257.5
Perlis	2	63.3	107	170.3	2	7.1	0	7.1
KL	12	94	23.8	117.8	12	52.8	39.6	92.4
Kelantan	3	17.6	66	83.6	9	52.6	30.1	82.7
Labuan	2	9.8	10.7	20.5	–	–	–	–
Total	919	16686.2	46098.8	62785	949	26506.3	33425.9	59932.2

Source: MIDA

If you consider that RM17.4 billion is for foreign investments in the electronics sector (think Penang and Selangor) and RM20.4 billion for foreign investments in basic metal products (think aluminium smelters in Sarawak), then you begin to wonder how many of these approved projects will actually materialise.

The global electronics sector is in deep trouble; so the Penang government shouldn’t rely on these figures for comfort this year. The figures for Sarawak include the proposed aluminium smelter (notice the sharp jump from 2007), which is nowhere near to being implemented – though that would be a blessing given the environmental implications.

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Speaker’s lawyers making another bid

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

16

The Speaker’s lawyers (from left): Chan Kok Keong, Augustine Anthony, Tommy Thomas, and Phillip Koh Tong Ngee Photo by KK

V Sivakumar’s lawyers are going back to court again in another attempt to represent the Speaker, says my source in Ipoh after a press conference held by the lawyers.

Yesterday, the court ruled that only the state legal adviser could represent the Speaker.

This time the lawyers will argue that under Article 132 (3) of the Federal Constitution, the Speaker is not part of the public services, and therefore he should be allowed to engage private lawyers.

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Fed gov’t interested in helping cronies: Water Panel

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

6

The Selangor government’s Water Review Panel has accused federal Water Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor of being more interested in protecting the private interests of businessmen rather than the Selangor and KL public.

In a Berita Harian interview yesterday, Sharizan had given two reasons for wanting to speed up the restructuring of the Selangor water industry:

to take over the water concessionaires’ assets by 31 March and avert a water tariff hike and
to assist the concession companies in bearing the costs of borrowings and bonds that they currently cannot afford.

In contrast, the Water Review Panel stressed in a statement that there would be no increase in tariffs should the Selangor government take over the assets.

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MACC officers question Speaker’s lawyer

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

7

A couple of MACC officers from Putrajaya turned up this afternoon to question Augustine Anthony, one of the five lawyers representing Perak Speaker V Sivakumar, a source in Ipoh informs me.

They questioned Augustine from 4.00pm to 4.40pm in Ipoh today.

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Khalid explains S’gor water talks position

Neo-liberal economics

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

6

Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim says the federal government recognised that its water privatisation policy had failed; so it introduced a restructuring of water management under which a federal body would take over the water assets and lease them back to the operators in the various states.

In Selangor, the state government owns about 70 per cent of the water assets with the remainder held by private companies. The assets owned by the state are valued at RM9 billion. The state government values the private sector’s assets and imputed equity at RM5.7 billion. (The assets alone are valued at RM4.6 billion though the federal government has valued them at RM5.0 billion).

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A tale of two post mortems

Anil Netto

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4 Mar 2009

47

Remember A Kugan, who died in police custody?

Well, he died as a result of “acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis due to blunt trauma to skeletal muscles,” an independent second post mortem has revealed. In layperson’s language: kidney failure as a result of repeated beatings. More accurately, his death was due to his muscle cells disintegrating into his bloodstream and absorbed by the kidney, which led to kidney failure.

His body also had severe burn wounds including those caused “by the repeated application of heat with an instrument or object with a triangular surface, causing multiple V-shaped imprint burn wounds on the skin of back”.

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Pokok Demokrasi stands tall as institutions lose lustre

Anil Netto

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3 Mar 2009

26

The majestic Democracy Tree that has now entered the annals of Ipoh folklore Photos by Jong (click to expand)

The raintree stands tall providing shade as the Perak State Assembly convenes an emergency sitting in the open air amidst the people.

All around, as Penang-based lawyer-writer Tan Ban Cheng observes, the traditional institutions of governance and democracy have not exactly distinguished themselves among the public.

Tense moments outside the state government building this morning (Click to expand)

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Meanwhile, over at the High Court…

Anil Netto

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3 Mar 2009

20

bn-lawyers-l-r-firoz-hussein-lead-counsel-faizul-hilmi-cheng-mei-datuk-hafarizam-harun-umno-legal-adviser-badrul-hishah-copy

The beaming BN lawyers (from left): Firoz Hussein, Faizul Hilmi, Cheng Mei, Datuk Hafarizam Harun, and Badrul Hishah Photos by KK

rejected-pr-lawyers-l-r-chan-kok-keong-augustine-anthony-tommy-thomas-phillip-koh-tong-ngee-copy
And the rejected, dejected PR lawyers (from left): Chan Kok Keong, Augustine Anthony, Tommy Thomas, and Phillip Koh Tong Ngee

The Judge had ruled that the Speaker could only be represented by the state legal adviser and not the PR lawyers.

From The Edge website:

2.55pm: Perak speaker sent letter to JC Ridwan Ibrahim stating he has not authorised state legal advisor Ahmad Kamal to act on his behalf

2.15pm: Lawyers for Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir are already at the Ipoh High Court studying legal points ahead of a hearing for an application of injunction to stop further meetings of the Perak state assembly. The hearing in the chambers of JC Ridwan Ibrahim is scheduled to start at 2.30pm.

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