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Cheers! Have a rent-seeking beer label…

Anil Netto
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22

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you’ve got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

(Extract of lyrics from the “Cheers” theme song)

Times are bad and everyone wants to get ahead in the world….

Today, while Malaysians were protesting in the heart of Kuala Lumpur against the sharp and painful oil price hike, comes news about what sounds like another rent-seeking operation. Beer makers Carlsberg and Guinness-Anchor are locked in a standoff over controversial security labels with a little-known firm Kod Efisien, which was awarded the concession. Kod Efisien later passed this concession to another firm, Lembah Sari. And guess who is a director in Lembah Sari…

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“Tak habis-habis dengan cerita ini”

Anil Netto
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12

Abdullah Badawi doesn’t see the need for a royal commission on the judiciary in the light of Justice Ian Chin’s revelations of Mahathir’s threats to remove judges. Such a commission is badly needed to comprehensively investigate the 1988 judicial crisis and the undermining of judicial independence and integrity since then.

From The Star today:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said this was because the Government had decided to reform the judiciary.

“Tak habis-habis dengan cerita ini (The matter seems to be dragging on). I don’t see a reason for another commission. We are going to implement the reforms,” he told reporters at his office yesterday.

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Mahathir and the judges… again

Anil Netto
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26

Somehow, even after his retirement, Mahathir is still involved in controversy involving the judges. The Lingam tape, Salleh Abas, Ian Chin… ? What else is coming out of the judicial closet?

So what do you make of Mahathir’s response (to Ian Chin’s revelations)? Maybe his memory needs refreshing…

Both the New Straits Times and the Star today chose to splash Justice Dato Ian Chin’s “stunning” claims of my alleged interference in the judiciary, providing brief respite from the current issues of oil price hike etc etc

I will refrain from commenting for now and will do so in due time.

However, I am quite curious about what Ian Chin considers as “veiled threat”. Perhaps he could be more specific as his allegations are very serious.

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Mouth-watering seafood, anyone?

Anil Netto
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6

By now, you would have heard that Malaysian seafood exports could be slapped with a EU ban.

What’s gone wrong?

From reports, we hear that:

“… there are infrastructure and facilities such as fishing vessels, fish landing ports, and fish and prawn farms, which are lagging behind the standards set by EU,”…

Random checks conducted on nine seafood companies exporting to Europe found six of them lagging behind in health standards and practices set by the EU… (The Star)

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Corporate doublespeak: subsidies vs “incentives”

Anil Netto
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6

I walked into a petrol station along a busy road in Penang last night and engaged in some small talk with the cashier. I asked him what kind of impact the petrol price hike has had on his collection.

“In ringgit terms, it has gone up,” he replied. “But in terms of litres sold, there has been a drop.”

Hmm, so there has been a drop in consumption, at least at this station, I thought to myself.

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From People Power to Pedal Power

Anil Netto
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13

There has been a lot of talk about people boycotting the petrol pumps – you can see this being circulated via email. Only snag is how long can people sustain this?

So it’s time for pedal power! Hey, if Paris can do it, why not KL, Penang, Ipoh, Johor Bharu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu? It will do wonders to turn our cities greener and quieter. We need not follow the business model in Paris. All we need to do is press our state governments to come up with dedicated cycle lanes, shaded by trees to keep off the blazing sun. 

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Why the generous subsidies for IPPs?

Anil Netto
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17

Oil price hike protest in Ipoh (Source: Unknown; forwarded via email)

So Petronas and the Malaysian government says subsidies distort the market. Of course, the withdrawal of subsidies will encourage conservation of a scarce resource – which is a good thing. It might even reduce pollution and congestion. Roads were noticeablly less congested in parts of Penang and KL today. Traffic on the Penang Bridge heading to the island at 5.20pm – peak time – was smooth; the usual bottleneck after the toll plazas, as the mutiple lanes narrow down to two lanes, was gone.

But has the government given much thought to the impact of the removal of oil subsidies on the poor – and even large segments of the middle-class, who are rapidly moving down to the ranks of the poor in terms of real purchasing power?

One key question has not been answered: why a sudden complete removal and not a gradual phasing out? Come on, tell us how much profit Petronas made for the year ended 31 March 2008. The figures should be available by now, even if the annual report isn’t ready.

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Would you like to see this in your city?

Anil Netto
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23

trams

A modern tram in Grenoble, France – Photo credit: Wikipedia (copyleft)

The tram initiative is building up momentum. So far, 25 29 30 31 bloggers and websites have signed on to the campaign.

Civil society activists have articulated their views too. Here’s what some people are saying:

Heritage writer Khoo Salma Nasution:

Heritage writer Khoo Salma Nasution noted that the Penang Island Municipal Council was the first local government to introduce electric trams in the inner city in the early part of the last century.

“People think the tram is a thing of the past, but they are wrong because it is actually the thing of the future,” she said.

“It is clean, energy saving and user-friendly not to mention fast, efficient and also cheap.”

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More on the mysterious oil subsidies

Anil Netto
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20

Some more light on this mysterious subsidy thing:

Most of the country’s oil fields contain low-sulfur, high quality “sweet” crude. Malaysia exports the majority of its oil to Japan, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea.

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At least RM500/mth to use the second Penang bridge

Anil Netto
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27

second penang bridge

Now that oil prices have gone up by 41 per cent and diesel by even more, our planners should scrap the proposed second cross-channel road link for Penang.

If the RM4.8 billion second Penang bridge (all 24km of it, 17km over water) sounded like a bad idea before the oil price hike, today it sounds like a terrible idea in the light of higher fuel prices.

Let’s try this out for size to see how much it will cost the average commuter every month to use the bridge.

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