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Last Abolish ISA vigil in Penang tonight

Anil Netto
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The sixth and last weekly candlelight vigil will be held today (Friday) at 9.00pm in front of Dewan Sri Pinang. This series has been organised by the Gabungan Mansuhkan ISA (Abolish ISA Movement).

On Sunday, GMI will be holding a commemoration of the 21st anniversary of Operation Lalang at the open space outside Prangin Mall in Penang from noon to 10.00pm. It looks as if there could be another candlelight vigil in PJ on Sunday night.

If you have not already seen the latest issue of Aliran Monthly, go here for more information. This issue focuses on the ISA and the unholy concept of a ‘national security state’.

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More environmental concerns

Anil Netto
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The last two postings on the environment appear to have struck a chord among some of you:

Blog reader Adam and the Ants says the problem isn’t confined to Penang:

The whole country for that matter is being raped. Try coming down to Seremban, it’s even worse. Nobody cares.

Orangutan in Perak is concerned about the waste discharge from a coal power plant:

The coal power plant in Manjung, Perak is flushing million of tons of sulphate, nitrate, chlorine oxide residue, and other toxic waste into the sea for the last five yeras. All this waste can have a damaging effect on the sea and the environment…. Tons of sea water is used and sent back polluted. This plant has another 20 to 25 years to go. Think what can further happen to the sea by then.

Over in Pahang, Phua Kai Lit is appalled:

In my hometown of Kuantan, the hill (Bukit Pelindung) near the beautiful Teluk Cempedak beach is being deforested step by step.

Some of the culprits (appear to be) government agencies that build offices and housing for their staff!

Andrew shares with us his experience of the floods in Penang:

I experienced the (floods) on the way back from Chulia Street to Gelugor after supper.

Just like a scene out of “The day after tomorrow”, the roads were filled with angry rushing water. Poor motorcyclists were being splashed full bodiedly by passing cars.

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Penang, paradise lost…

Anil Netto
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6

Here are more telling signs of the worsening environmental situation in Penang. Time we woke up and did something about it.

Blog-reader Steve Oh shares with us what Penang was once like:

Anyone who knows Penang will tell you it is such a beautiful island with an alluring and rare charm that even beguiled Somerset Maugham the novelist, who spent time there. But take a drive along its unique sinuous coastal road round the island and you will see how the poor island has suffered a tortuous existence since development hit the island. It is like Cinderella ill-treated. The Pearl has lost its lustre, and without its blue seas, perhaps greenish at ground level, it has lost its natural appeal.

I inspected a beachside property and was aghast to see several illegal houses built of concrete and zinc roofs that had been there for some time right smack on the beach in front of it. And you can even find illegal food shops on some beaches! You wonder where all the sewage go. There are big open monsoon drains that flow into the sea and you can find some beside those beautiful hotels. Do they seriously want people to swim in the sea? Ask a silly question! Sigh.

Yes, we remember our childhood days on the beaches of Penang. We used to dig for siput at Gurney Drive. They were plentiful and you could play on the sand and the water was typically Penang but not as crystal clear as the sea at Muka Head but still relatively unpolluted.

The rape of Penang’s natural heritage will not stop until Penangites themselves mobilise to stop the rot. The new government has a challenge on its hands but it is a challenge that requires every Penangite to feel a sense of ownership and chip in.

Mut recalls what it was like fishing off the coast of Penang:

Even in the early 80s we could still find nice sandy beaches; for me, the srtongest signal that something was going wrong came when fishing trips yielded worse catches.

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What happened to the blue waters of Penang?

Anil Netto
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Ever been in a plane and looked down carefully at the sea around Penang?

These satellite images paint a thousand words. Look at the mess around the island and mainland. And take a careful look at the colour of the rivers leading to the sea. Black. Siltation and pollution. Ugh!

Now, would you really want to swim in these waters? You can see the contrast between the murky waters around Penang and the deep bluish green hues of the Andaman Sea farther north leading up to the breathtaking islands of south Thailand.

Is this the price we have to pay for industrialisation and ‘progress’? Is this an acceptable price, do you think? Who is to blame for this? Industry (untreated discharges that flow into the sea)? Property developers (hill-cutting that leads to siltation and sedimentation)? Lack of effective sewage and effluent treatment plants? Government (for its ‘pro-business policies’ that fail to take into consideration compliance with tight enivironmental regulations and standards)? Or all of the above?

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Hindraf turns up at Anwar’s open house

Anil Netto
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Hindraf and Makkal Sakthi supporters had a great time at Anwar’s open house (Photo credit: abinesh.com)

More surprise guests showed up at Anwar’s open house, this time in KL on Sunday. Blogger Abinesh reports:

The exact same group visited Dato Sri Anwar’s PKR Hari Raya open house last weekend at Kelab Sultan Sulaiman at Kg Baru. Like the previous open house, the group met outside the venue where they were chatting up the other Malay friends wishing them “Selamat Hari Raya“, with the passers-by wishing them the same and some chanting “Makkal Sakhti” (back at them) in the process. How do I know, you may ask? I was there! 🙂

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A special guest at Anwar’s open house

Anil Netto
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The Governor of Penang exchanging greetings with Anwar at the latter’s open house in Cherok To’kun on mainland Penang on Saturday. He spent about an hour there. (Photo credit: anwaribrahimblog.com)

Time for fuel prices to come down

Anil Netto
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Latest: Pump prices will be reduced by 10-20 sen from Wednesday

Isn’t it about time local fuel prices are lowered in line with global prices? After all, we haven’t seen much improvement in our public transport with all those government subsidies we were supposed to have saved, have we?

With global prices now down to US$80-85/barrel, our policy planners should reduce prices to ease the effect on the lower income group. A 20-sen reduction would be reasonable for now, bearing in mind that global prices could fall to a more realistic range of US$60-80 in view of the likely slump in global demand.

It was a blunder to have raised the price so drastically in the first place, when all the signs were that the recent price uptrend was the result of excessive speculation.

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18-24 months global recession likely – and stagnation?

Anil Netto
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It looks as if we are staring at a 18-24 month global recession, at the very least – no thanks to the greed that was on display in Wall Street and among global capitalists, financial institutions and commodity speculators until recently.

The latest stock market rally on Wall Street is likely to be temporary as the underlying problems are still there. Drastic measures by central banks world-wide are needed to prevent a financial meltdown and a long period of stagnation like what happened in Japan. Already, such measures have been initiated in Europe and the US, but will they be enough to contain a further slide and an even longer stagnation?

The damage has been done, says economist Nouriel Roubini:

… major sources of future stress in the financial system remain; these include the risk of a CDS market blowout, the collapse of hundreds of hedge funds, the rising troubles of many insurance companies, the risk that other systemically important financial institutions are insolvent and in need of expensive rescue programs, the risk that some significant emerging market economies and some advanced ones too (Iceland) will experience a severe financial crisis, the ongoing process of deleveraging in illiquid financial markets that will continue the vicious circle of falling asset prices, margin calls, further deleveraging and further sales in illiquid markets that continues the cascading fall in asset prices, further downside risks to housing and to home prices.

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Uh-oh, Mahathir calls for return to “strong” government

Anil Netto
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With the reactionary forces now taking over Umno, Mahathir has fired a broadside calling for a strong, powerful government.

He said in his latest blog entry that a weak government would be incapable of dealing with racial and religious conflicts:

We now have a weak Government and clearly it is incapable of dealing with the tendency towards conflicts because of race and religion. Because of its weakness it commands little respect and even the weakest parties would thumb its collective noses at the Government. The Government apparently has no idea how to handle these problems. We see it apologising only to have it’s apologies rejected.

Hang on a minute. Who are the ones actually stirring these conflicts? Who exactly is responsible for “race politics”?

If the government is weak today, it is because of its inability to reform the oppressive structures, many of which were put in place during Mahathir’s time. It is this inability to reform and undo the damage of the Mahathir era that led to the Abdullah administration losing much of its popular support. In fact, the Abdullah administration’s initial popularity was premised on the hope that Abdullah’s softer approach promised to usher in an era of liberalisation that would be in stark contrast to Mahathir’s repressive rule.

Of course, we know that Mahathir’s use of the terms “strong government” and “stability” are but code words for authoritarian and even repressive rule.

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Guan Eng questions Maybank’s RM8b BII acquisition

Anil Netto
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Maybank could have given out cheap loans of RM8.25 billion to the public to face the global financial crisis instead of wasting it on acquiring PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), said Guan Eng. By investing in the the Indonesian bank, Maybank has suffered “almost immediate losses of RM4 billion”.

The current global financial crisis could lead to a severe Depression and will hurt many economies. Ordinary Malaysians are unlikely to be spared. “Why not use RM8.25 billion to help tens of thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Malaysians instead of buying one bank?” he asked in a statement on Saturday.

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