Another Abolish ISA candlelight vigil today in front of Dewan Sri Pinang at 9.00pm. It is organised by Penang-based civil society groups belonging to the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI).
Syed Hamid gets fewer nominations – but wins
Some of you may have missed this news item as it was just a small snippet in The Star:
Syed Hamid has won the Kota Tinggi Umno division head post uncontested – after the membership of his opponent, who actually secured more nominations, was suspended by the Umno disciplinary committee. It was 23-21 nominations in his opponent’s favour.
Syed Hamid wins uncontested
Compiled by V.P. SUJATA, LEE YUK PENG and A. RAMANHOME Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar won the Kota Tinggi Umno division head post uncontested after his challenger A. Malek A. Rahman’s membership was suspended, reported Utusan Malaysia.
Malek’s membership was suspended by the Umno disciplinary board chaired by Tengku Tan Sri Ahmad Rithaudeen Tengku Ismail for three years or one election term.
Prior to the suspension, Malek received 23 nominations and Syed Hamid 21 for the division head post.
An unforgettable Raya morning in Kamunting
They came from all over to send their Raya greetings (Photos by Teh/Lim)
Marina received lots of flowers and cards for RPK
Eye-witness Peng shares his experience in Kamunting today:
We arrived around 11.06am. Singing was underway when I got there. I was excited to see many people who were there to show support. People were mingling around with intermitten shouts of “Free RPK, Free Hindraf Five” and “Mansuhkan ISA”. There was no heavy presence of police. Marina was there. It was good to see her smile amidst the challenges she’s facing. People, she needs all the support we can give. …
I am glad that strangers could get together for a united cause. Today, I put a face to names that I know through blog comments. … It’s great to have met you all. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
300 gather at Kamunting to convey Raya greetings
If you visited Kamunting today, do share your citizen journalist eye-witness accounts in the comments below:
Blog reader Rakyat@Work comments:
Way to go folks. Keep it up. Thank you all you great people. God bless all of you. Tell RPK that many more ‘reserve’ supporters (those like me who cannot make it for the trip) are still around. Don’t worry, we will continue to support and uphold him and family in prayer as well. Have fun. Cheers. Wish I was there.
1142: The crowd is singing ‘Negaraku‘ now before dispersing. They have lots of lots of flowers and cards outside the camp, but these are unlikely to reach the detainees.
Another contact at the scene reports that the crowd earlier had sung two numbers, ‘We are Malaysians‘ (sung to the tune of ‘We are the world‘) and a ‘Selamat Hari Raya‘ song. “Everyone is so cheerful and glad to be here,” says my contact, adding that Marina was touched by the show of support. The turnout today is estimated to be in the region of 200 to 300.
How will the Murum Dam affect Bakun?
Bakun Dam nearing completion (Photo by Raymond Abin/IPS)
Even before they can make up their minds what to do with all the electricity to be generated by Bakun, they have already started preliminary work on the 944MW Murum Dam, which is just 60km upstream from Bakun. Remember, Sime Darby has pulled out from the project to lay undersea power cables to the peninsula.
About a thousand indigenous Penan will have to make way as their homes will be submerged by the Murum.
How will the Murum Dam, which will be constructed in the Bakun catchment area, affect the Bakun Dam?
These are some of the issues I looked at in writing this piece for IPS:
PENANG, Malaysia, Sep 27 (IPS) – Preliminary work on a 3 billion ringgit (875 million dollar) dam in Murum in the north Borneo state of Sarawak has put the spotlight on a controversial scheme to build a string of public-funded dams to provide cheap electricity for energy-intensive industries to the state.
Encounters with JBJ in JB
I hope all of you are having a good Raya break.
But let us remember our Muslim brother undergoing detention without trial, in Kamunting or elsewhere.
Read Farish Noor’s ‘Eidil Fitri in prison’ (Aliran) and Raja Petra’s ‘Give me liberty or give me death’ (Malaysia Today) from Kamunting.
I wish all Muslim readers a joyous celebration with their loved ones and friends.
Blog reader RastamanJB shares with us how as a stranger, he met and got to know the legendary J B Jeyaretnam:
I met him many times at the Kerala Reastaurant, Jalan Ibrahim, JB, and chatted with him about his WP.
He was a man worth his salt. His steadfastness and righteousness was there for all to see. It is a shame that we do not have anyone, and I repeat anyone, on both sides of the border to match him.
He was a very approachable person and talked to anyone who acknowledged him. A simple man, with his trade mark side-burns, collared T-shirts and short pants and sandals… popped into JB very often for his thosai and air suam.
J B Jeyaretnam 1926-2008: Passing of a legend
The legendary Singapore opposition icon, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, better known as JBJ (photo credit: Wikipedia), passed away early this morning of heart failure.
After having left the Workers Party, he had just formed the Reform Party to mount a new challenge to PAP dominance. He was the interim secretary general of the party.
He was Singapore’s Mr Opposition, having broken the PAP’s 15-year monopoly in Parliament in the Anson by-election in 1981, winning 52 per cent of the votes to become Singapore’s first opposition MP.
Trip to Kamunting to convey Raya greetings
I have just been informed by the Bukit Bendera MP’s office that they, along with several Penang-based civil society activists, are planning a drive to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping on the second day of Raya to convey their greetings to the ISA detainees:
Flowers, cards and gifts, if any, will be passed on to Raja Petra and the other ISA detainees to let them know that they are not forgotten on this special day. RPK’s wife Marina has been informed of the event and hope that she will also be able to join us. The Press will also be invited for this event.
Details of travel:
Date: Thursday, 2 October 2008
Meeting Place: DAP Bukit Bendera Service Centre, Wayton Court, Penang
Meet at 9.00am
End of an empire?
For those enamoured by free markets and deregulation, the US experience makes for sobering reflection – although some argue that the Military-Industrial-Media Complex is hardly a model of free market economics.
For some time now, market fundamentalists had preached that the government should have as little do as as possible in regulating business. Now, we see Wall Street being brought to its knees and turning to the US government to bail out failed financial institutions, the victims of their own unbridled greed. All this is the result of financial deregulation with little oversight.
This is also what happens when the Occupation of Iraq meets financial deregulation, a wild credit bubble (cheap credit) and a colossal debt:
A shattering moment in America’s fall from power
The global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when the Berlin Wall came down. The era of American dominance is overJohn Gray
The Observer,
Sunday September 28 2008Our gaze might be on the markets melting down, but the upheaval we are experiencing is more than a financial crisis, however large. Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably. The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over.
Trams: Can Penang emulate The Netherlands?
Trams glide along the narrow streets of Amsterdam (Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Leidsestraat_Amsterdam.JPG)
Blog reader Josh, a Penangite in the Netherlands, is impressed with the trams over there:
I fully support the re-introduction of trams in Penang. I am a Penangite now living in The Hague, The Netherlands. Trams are the main public transportation here in The Netherlands, be it in The Hague, Amsterdam or Rotterdam.