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85% of motorists ready to switch to buses and trams

Anil Netto
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20

Photo by Henk Graalman, Adelaide

Trams in Adelaide, the “twin city” of George Town, Penang Photo credit: lightrailnow.org

It looks as if a huge majority (85 per cent) of urban motorists in Malaysia are ready to leave their cars behind at home if there is an effective and integrated public transport system comprising buses and trams. That is the outcome of a just concluded poll of 551 visitors to this site.

The main reason I put out this poll is that I wanted to allay the fears of those who are worried that dedicated bus and tram lanes may cause road congestion for motorists. The results confirm what many of us may have already guessed: many motorists are ready to abandon their cars in favour of buses and trams. So why are we still talking about new urban highway projects, ring roads, and other infrastructure for more cars?

Here are the poll results:

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Abdullah buys more time with 2010 handover deadline

Anil Netto
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22

It looks as if Abdullah Badawi has bought himself a little more time with this new handover deadline – he wants to hand over power to Najib in June 2010. Remember, before this latest development, many analysts were predicting that Abdullah’s shelf life would expire by December.

The PM probably knows that a lot of things could happen in two years which could jeopardise Najib’s chances of taking over. Najib’s ‘baggage’ could weigh down heavily on him in the coming months. His prospects have already dimmed somewhat after the allegations linking him to the Altantuya case surfaced last week. If a week is a long time in politics, two years is an eternity.

Najib is in no position to argue. He probably figures he needs a couple of years anyway to recover from all the negative publicity – so 2010 would now suit him nicely.

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38% of households struggling to make ends meet

Anil Netto
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21

According to the latest household income survey, the following are the percentages of families in the various monthly household income brackets.

Household monthly
Percentage
income range
of families



< RM 1000
8.6



RM 1001 – 2000
29.4



RM 2001 – 3000
19.8



RM 3001 – 4000
12.9



RM 4001 – 5000
8.6



RM 5001 – 10,000
15.8



> RM 10,000
4.9





100.0
Source: Figures presented by Senator Amirsham A Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, in response to a query in Parliament by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, MP for Sungai Siput
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World Heritage listing: Some words of caution

Anil Netto
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Following Unesco’s recognition of George Town and Malacca as world heritage sites, LW wrote these important words of caution, which I thought I should highlight:

I just hope, though, that this listing will actually bring about more context sensitive and local-culture-based modes of development in Penang and Melaka that are sustainable in the long term – not speculative and profiteering projects that will only earn quick cheap dollars from tourists but suck the life out of the cities.

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George Town, Malacca now Unesco World Heritage sites

Anil Netto
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27

Armenian Street in George Town, which has the largest collection of pre-war houses – over 12,000 in all – in South-East Asia. Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Stadhuys Square in Malacca Photo credit: Wikipedia


Rua das Flores (Flowers Street), the main street in Curitiba, Brazil, has been a pedestrian avenue since 1972. Penang Road and other streets of George Town could be turned into pedestrian malls, serviced by buses and trams. Photo credit: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=377289

The historical Straits Settlement cities of George Town and Malacca have just been classified as Unesco World Heritage sites.

“The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia,” said the citation on the Unesco Heritage list website.

This comes as a major boost to the lack-lustre economies of these two states.

The new status is the result of a 11-year-long struggle. “It has been a touch and go affair until the last minute,” said heritage conservationist Loh-Lim Lin Lee, when contacted.

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Gloomy outlook for Malaysian economy

Anil Netto
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27

Today I was chatting with someone who owns a few stationery shops in Penang and I was told that “business is down” because prices have gone up. Later in the evening I chatted with the cashier at a petrol station and he told me that sales volume was down.

So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we are in for some gloomy times ahead especially with a global economic slowdown expected in the second half of the year.

I culled the following from various analyst reports on Malaysia:

  • Global economic slowdown 2H 2008
  • Slowdown in Malaysian exports to US and UK (esp electronics)‏
  • Trade surplus will narrow
  • High commodity prices support palm oil, oil exports
  • Fiscal deficit could soar to 5% of GDP in 2008-2009
  • Possible fiscal pump-priming
  • RM1.5 billion to subsidise rice farmers
  • More imports of rice from Thailand
  • Delay in large infrastructure projects
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LIVE: Oil price hike protest

Anil Netto
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28

Malaysia Today is now accessible at this URL: http://202.75.62.194/

2245: Anwar has addressed the crowd of not more than 10,000 people, about 85-90 per cent Malay, mostly young people. He explained the political circumstances surrounding the sodomy allegations at this time, saying there was great fear among the BN that they could lose power.

Najib came under fire too and Anwar told the crowd they could see the DPM’s office if they had any problems.

He also maintained that he could reduce the price of oil. How exactly he would accomplish this, he didn’t say. Instead, he said he would reveal more details on the 15th. My source at the scene believes that, from the hints he got from Anwar’s address, this could involve plugging leakages of funds. The event has now drawn to a close, thankfully without any major incident. Malaysians have once again asserted their right to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly.

2200: Charles Santiago in the stadium reports that the crowd has now swelled to 10,000 as Kit Siang address the crowd.

2105: About 7,000 people are in the stadium now as the main speakers start arriving one by one.

2042: The stadium and the field are filling up. People are still arriving. The roads to the stadium are jammed.

1947: Malaysiakini reports that sections of the crowd were unhappy with a couple of the performances by two different rock bands. A member of one of the bands had shown his rear to the crowd; it was unclear if he had boxer shorts on. A mob rained projectiles on them, mostly water bottles. Earlier, about 700 Pas Amal members pulled out in protest at another rock band performance. That could partly explain the traffic jams later.

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30,000 gather to listen to PR top guns

Anil Netto
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20

A large crowd has gathered in Seberang Jaya on mainland Penang tonight for a ceramah by Pakatan Rakyat leaders, according to a source.

Anwar and Guan Eng have been speaking. Among the hot topics are Najib as well as the issue of selective prosecution.

The ceramah comes on the eve of a scheduled protest against oil price hikes in KL. The speakers have been telling people to show up in KL. They are saying it’s the “last opportunity to tell AAB it’s time to wrap up and go,” says my source at the scene.

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Bala – before and after “fish-head curry”

Anil Netto
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Photo credit: China Press

Bala (left) when making the first SD

Bala (right) when making the second SD

Remind me to avoid fish-head curry in Brickfields.

Bala and family have now gone missing and are out of contact, says his worried nephew, who has lodged a police report. Meanwhile, Najib has denied any involvement in Bala’s retraction of his first SD. “I have no knowledge of anything,” said the deputy premier.

Bala left for fish-head curry in Brickfields: Americk

Anil Netto
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He had friendly phone chat with ASP who wanted to congratulate him for first SD, says lawyer

(Press statements by Americk and Sivarasah)

At a press conference now going on at 5.30pm, P Balasubramaniam’s lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu has cast doubt on the private eye’s second statutory declaration.

After spending hours with Bala taking notes of his testimony previously and being familiar with his character, Americk said, “I am very sceptical that he has signed the second statutory declaration of his own free will and I am convinced he has been intimidated to do so by either threats or promises, as I can think of no other reason.”

He said Bala had signed the first declaration in front of a commissioner of oaths – someone whom Bala recognised as having grown up in the same Slim River neighbourhood as himself – on his own free will.

“I am therefore extremely surprised that Mr. Bala, in the space of 24 hours, has engaged the services of another lawyer and affirmed another statutory declaration swearing the first one was untrue and that he was forced to sign it,” said Americk.

The last Americk saw Bala was in Americk’s office after the press conference. Bala said the police were trying to contact him over the phone. Americk then told Bala to talk to them since they were trying to reach him.

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