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LIVE: High-stakes drama as Anwar holes up at Turkish embassy

Anil Netto
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Anwar and Syed Husin at a hotel in Shah Alam earlier (Photo courtesy of Anwar’s blog)

Saiful with Minister Azalina (Photo courtesy of PKR)

2307: All quiet at the Turkish embassy at 118 Jalan U-Thant. An eye-witness passing by the embassy says he saw only about 20 reporters and police personnel, a police van and a police car. And no PKR supporters. Is Anwar really spending the night at the embassy?

2231: The police have confirmed that a medical examination has been carried out on Saiful, reports Harakah Daily this evening. “Jangan dengar khabar angin. Dengar cakap saya. Saya ketua CID,” Bakri Zinin is quoted as saying.

2154: The big question now is what happens next? Will they go in after Anwar? Or will they just bide their time? Has the mattress been detained?(!!) How long can Anwar remain in the embassy? He has got to come out at some point. What happens when he resurfaces? And has this whole affair overshadowed Raja Petra’s explosive allegations, the Sapp bombshell and the large oil price hike protest scheduled for 6 July?

2134: By now, the news has flashed all over the globe including, as one blog visitor notes, in the Turkish online media. Al Jazeera carries a phone interview with Anwar. “The stakes have just gone up a lot higher,” Farish Noor tells me over the phone.

2010: Abdullah Badawi appears on TV3 news. He looks haggard, the bags under his eyes more pronounced. He says the government is not involved. As far as he is concerned, a report has been lodged and the police are investigating. Those who are accused will naturally deny it, he adds. But the news is not good at all for the BN. The MIC Youth chief has stepped down now.

1933: The allegations against Anwar could be seen as an attempt to halt Pakatan Rakyat’s bid to take over the country, says Pas vice president Husam Musa in Harakah Daily. But he does not think it will succeed as the people are able to evaluate the situation for themselves.

1905: Blog reader Abdul sends in this comment about Anwar’s links with the Turkish leader:

The Malaysian Insider is simply spinning it…. Anwar has got friends from all over the world. But what’s interesting is their temerity to say the opposition used AKP tactics. Which one? … Anwar is a good friend of Turkish Prime Minister, President and senior ministers just like he has close relations with Western and Muslim leaders across the globe. Anyway, Anwar-Erdogan relations are two decades old and not what the Malaysian Insider, the propaganda tool of the Dollah regime claims to be.

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Organic rice and curry, please…

Anil Netto
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While all focus is on higher oil prices, not enough attention has been given to higher food prices. Now, it has been suggested that the higher prices of food (and fuel) are being driven by extraordinary speculation in commodities by index-linked speculators. These speculators are said to be exploiting a “swaps-loophole” in US banking regulations, which allow certain huge investment banks to act as intermediaries and dealers in entering into index-linked futures contracts, which are quite unlike the normal futures hedging, where positions are regularly unwound.

So how do we tackle higher food prices? Food security and self-sufficiency will help. There is no reason why each state in the federation cannot be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. We have fertile soil and a favourable climate. For instance, Penang once had thriving vegetable farms on the island; now a lot of our veg comes from Cameron Highlands. Penang still has fruit orchards in Balik Pulau and paddy fields on the mainland. These farmers need our support. The state could encourage more organic farming – even though agriculture might come under federal purview.

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Petronas’ pricey foray, Bakun nightmare, bumi par value

Anil Netto
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Three issues I would like to raise:

Petronas hospital – undermining the public health care system

Why is Petronas setting up a private hospital – the Price Court Medical Centre? I don’t supposed they named it after its pricey price tag of RM544 million… In the first place, what expertise does Petronas have in health care? Why is it jumping on the health care and medical tourism bandwagon? Shouldn’t it be supporting our government hospitals, which are badly underfunded and understaffed? By setting up a new hospital, wouldn’t it be encouraging more doctors to leave the government hospitals?

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New beginning for public transport – from the bottom up

Anil Netto
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More reactions from people regarding the federal government’s shelving of the mega transport projects for Penang. Obviously, the federal government doesn’t consider those projects as “people friendly”, which makes me wonder how they came up with those projects in the first place!

Not a few people here are now seeing the shelving – or is it the scrapping? – of the monorail and Porr as a golden opportunity for Penang to do some serious public transport planning from scratch and to come up with a sustainable transport masterplan for the whole state. Let’s show them what we can do – to bring about a sustainable, people-friendly, affordable and accessible public transport system!

Here’s a quick reaction from blog reader Moaz Yusuf Ahmad:

This news is great. Let’s hope that the Penang Government will use the opportunity to create a very effective public transport system for Penang, building it from the ground up.

First, get SBPP (the state bus corp) started. The government can buy the buses and tender the operations contracts to various operators…and even operate the buses themselves. A few of the operators could be from other countries. How about some professional internationally-recognised operators like First PLC or Veolia or ComfortDelGro….

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Who’s angry? I am celebrating!

Anil Netto
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Last night, I received a couple of text messages informing me of this. The report below says the scrapping of the Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr) and monorail projects is “likely to anger Penang”. But to me, this must be the best news all month. Thank you, Mr PM, thank you!

All those who cherish sustainable and cost-efficient public transport for Penang will be celebrating – even though the federal government may have had other reasons for shelving these mega crony-linked projects. Who cares what their reasons are… The important thing is that these projects have been shelved.

Malaysiakini

Penang’s Porr and monorail projects shelved

Jun 25, 08 8:36pm

In a stunning move which is likely to anger Penang, the government has put off two major projects in the state – the RM2 billion monorail and RM1.5 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (Porr).
MCPX

According to evening edition of Chinese dailies, the government has slashed the two mega-projects as part of a major review to the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

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Abdullah plugs leaking dyke – but how long can it hold?

Anil Netto
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Phew, it’s been an eventful week – but as they say, you ain’t seen nothing yet! The way I see it, Abdullah is fighting a rear-guard battle to save himself – and the ruling coalition.

Let’s see what his administration has been doing to try and keep the rakyat happy:

  • dishing out rebates to ease pain of subsidy removal (the pain is still there-lah)
  • approval for Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s application for registration (finally!)
  • allowing Harakah to increase its frequency to twice a week (Take that, Mahathir! The former PM had cut it down to twice a month after doing badly in the 1999 general election.)
  • planning to launch a crackdown on migrants in Sabah (uh-oh, more human rights abuses?)
  • lifting restrictions on journalists in the parliamentary lobby (talk about the BN shooting itself in the foot, in the first place, by restricting its own media!)
  • shutting down Kamunting Detention Camp (oh, sorry, not yet… just wishful thinking for now … akan datang…)

… and so on. But no matter what he does, it appears that many Malaysians have had enough – the reforms and concessions don’t go far enough – and cracks are beginning to show. For now, he has plugged the leaking dyke with his finger. But I dare say it won’t be long before other cracks emerge from the sheer force of the current of discontent.

Here’s something I was working on for Asia Times the last couple of days.

More cracks in Abdullah’s crumbling facade
By Anil Netto

These are trying times for Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who after a sub-par showing in the March general elections now faces opposition both from inside and outside his Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition.

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What is USM trying to do?

Anil Netto
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Who needs gold medals when you can be a serious global contender for a grand prize in gobbledygook….

Apparently, the Science University of Malaysia is planning to spend RM450 million to build a “science and arts innovation space”. USM had reportedly bought the 12.4ha plot of land in Bukit Jambul for RM59 million from IJM in March. (So much spare cash, huh? Or is it borrowed money? Or ultimately the rakyat’s money?) Looks as if USM is venturing into Big Business.

Today, in theSun, there was a four-page cover wrap-around ad (how much did that cost?) which featured this sains@usm thingy. It was full of gobbledygook and jargon.

Take this example from the V-C’s foreword:

The world of sains@usm will represent an innovative space that promotes highly integrated search and research with dedicated incubators and collaboratories as platforms to nurture transdisciplinarity as the way forward.

Huh? Could someone translate that please…

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A tale of two turf clubs

Anil Netto
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turf club

By now, most of you would probably have received an email (perhaps more than once) pointing out the uncanny parallels between the assassinations of US presidents Lincoln and Kennedy.

I thought I would do a similar exercise for the Selangor Turf Club and the Penang Turf Club, which I think is quite revealing in showing their common modus operandi. So here goes:

The Penang Turf Club land in Batu Gantung measures around 250 acres.

The Selangor Turf Club land at Sungai Besi measures around 250 acres.

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Kedah govt’s disregard of environment alarms groups

Anil Netto
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Environmental activist Nizam stressing a point during a press conference

Grassroots groups in Kedah have expressed alarm at several projects that they say are threatening the environment in the state. They have released a Kedah People’s Declaration listing several projects they say are degrading the environment. In recent days, even the Penang government has expressed concern that water catchment areas in Kedah could be affected.

While the Kedah state government may need to raise funds to compensate for a slowing down of federal funding for the opposition-ruled state, it should not resort to undertaking projects that could compromise the environment.

Several groups have criticised a string of projects and proposals including the Kedah Hydrocarbon Hub, a granite quarry in the Gunung Jerai water catchment area and permanent forest reserve, and logging near water catchment forests.

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State government officials must declare assets now

Anil Netto
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Yesterday, a factory owner in Penang alerted me to the Penang Chief Minister’s response to a reader’s question in The Star.

(Reader) Your exco members are required to declare their assets but this has yet to be done.

(Chief Minister) We wanted to but the Prime Minister’s department communicated to my state secretary that they wanted uniformity. And since we want to maintain good federal relations, we are waiting for them to send us the new forms because we also want to declare openly.

If they do not give us the forms, we have to do this on our own but we do not want to use this issue to score political points.

The businessman told me he was not satisfied with the reason given for not yet undertaking the asset declarations to the public.

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