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Two Suaram activists still held, five others released

Anil Netto
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21

9.00pm – Five of the activists are released. But Suaram’s Teh Chun Hong and Lau Shu Shi, who is also Penang coordinator of the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), are still being held. Shu Shi in particular has been actively involved in organising a number of well-attended forums after the 8 March general election. Both are expected to be produced in court in Penang tomorrow morning for possible extension of remand. This reflects badly on the BN federal government’s stance on basic rights and is not likely to win it new friends. Malaysians are not going to be impressed.

7.00pm – Blog reader Kah Seng reports:

MP Liew Chin Tong (Tg Bungah, Bukit Bendera, DAP) was reported there in the afternoon. You reported PKR DUN Ravi was also there.

I was a busy body there from 5pm to 7pm. The police handling was very slow. Went in afternoon, and still taking statements around 7pm. Efficiency? Cepat, cekap, whatever that motto that keeps changing?

Police seemed to be consciously aiming at photo and video takers. Ong was reported to be taking photo when arrested. Satish also said to be following the police with a camera around Gurney Plaza when arrested. Others taking phone video at the police HQ were hassled.

Is the police afraid of multi-racial sympathy toward the ISA detainees?

5.30pm – Three more Hindraf activists or supporters are also said to be held by police: Vimal, Hindraf activist Selvam and press freedom activist Stanley, who had earlier campaigned for a boycott of The Star. This brings the total to seven detained.

3.15pm – About 10-15 people are at the police station. B K Ong, Satish, Suaram Penang coordinator Lau Shu Shi and Suaram secretariat member Teh Chun Ong are being detained. Lawyer Darshan Singh is said to be around.

Teh was taken away in handcuffs after he had used his camera at the station while Shu Shi is now being held in the hall of the police station, guarded by policewomen. When Shu Shi tried to resist upon seeing the police handcuffing her colleague Teh, the policewoman told her not to struggle as she (the policewoman) was pregnant. Shu Shi is not sure if she is under arrest but her IC has been taken away and she is being confined to the hall. B K Ong is believed to be somewhere upstairs in the station.

2.00pm – Penang-based Ong Boon Keong, better known as B K Ong, and blogger Satish were detained around noon today after participating in an hour-long demonstration said to be organised by Hindraf to raise awareness of ISA detainee Uthayakumar’s medical condition. They were rallying in support of his attempts to seek further medical attention at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in KL.

The two were among 30-50 demonstrators who gathered along Gurney Drive outside Gurney Plaza for about an hour, while some of them were said to have attempted to enter the mall.

Police and FRU personnel were at the scene. It is not immediately known what circumstances led to the two being held.

A similar demonstration was held at the Prai Megamall on the mainland.

Ong, who runs the Penang Watch website, and Satish are now being held at the Patani Road police station. Supporters are waiting in the hall downstairs while Penang State Assembly member Ravi from PKR is now at the scene. I had only met B K Ong at a forum in Penang last night when we were both on the same panel at a Suaram forum discussing the role of Public Service Media and how it can be strengthened.

We also critiqued the Pakatan Rakyat’s plans to set up its own newspaper for five states and discussed whether this was a good move.

Ong felt that steps should be taken to make it more independent than what was being planned.

For my part, I felt that any attempt to set up a state government-backed newspaper would run into problems as it would suffer from credibility issues as a result of public perception of it being backed by the state – especially if editors and key staff are appointed by the party. Such journalism would serve the interests of political masters rather than the public.

Good journalism should challenge and critique oppressive power structures. And it would be difficult to do that if a newspaper is funded or owned by the state or if its editors and key staff were appointed by political parties. Surely, that would compromise its editorial independence and journalistic integrity.

Who’s profiting from higher food prices? Certainly not the rice farmers

Anil Netto
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8

Some people are making big bucks from the higher prices of food, including rice.

But not the farmers.

The Star (8 May) carried this tiny report on page 32 – it should have been front page headlines, Chun Wai! – telling of how over 2,000 rice farmers in the country’s “rice bowl” state of Kedah are now threatening to turn to oil palm cultivation because of the low price they are getting for their padi.

And who can blame them? Many of them are just hovering around the poverty line. The farmers want the padi price to be raised from the current ceiling of 65 sen/kg to RM1/kg. They complain that they have to sell their padi cheap, cheap but when they buy rice, the price is between RM2.20-2.80/kg. Where got meaning? (There’s no ceiling price for rice.)

“Farmers have to absorb the escalating costs of fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and seeds,” said Ramli Kasa, the Aman C-III Area Farmers Organisation chairman, in The Star report.

So it’s obviously not the farmers who are making big bucks. It has to be the parties in between the farmers and the consumers, right? And the speculators…

Meanwhile, Bernas, which was privatised in 1996, made a profit before tax of RM178 million for its 2006 financial year. Are you surprised? Bernas handles rice imports and local distribution.

Top 5 Shareholders (as of 19 April 2007)

No

Shareholders

No. of
Shares Held

%

1.

Budaya Generasi (M) Sdn Bhd

144,829,500

30.79

2.

HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd

87,381,800

18.58

3.

Serba Etika Sdn Bhd

30,143,500

6.41

4.

Lembaga Tabung Haji Sdn Bhd

22,590,000

4.80

5.

AIBB Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd

20,422,000

4.34

Source: Bernas website

Budaya Generasi is controlled by Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary.

And of course the share price of Bernas has been surging over the last year even as the rice farmers suffer. There is now talk that Bernas will be taken private. With rice prices surging, it’s a good time to ensure a monopoly of profits as well, eh?

See this Business Times report:

Bernas surges on talk it will be taken private

SHARES of the country’s only licensed rice supplier, Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas), closed at their highest in more than two months yesterday on renewed speculation that it will be taken private.

The stock rose 2.4 per cent to close at RM2.13.

Budaya Generasi (M) Sdn Bhd, controlled by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary, holds 31 per cent of the company.

Other major shareholders like Wang Tak Co Ltd and Lembaga Tabung Haji have been raising their stake in Bernas over the last year or so.

Fund managers said the rumour of a buyout is not new.

“The share price has been rather firm these few weeks, bolstered by the continued purchase of the company’s stock by existing shareholders,” Philip Capital Management’s Ang Kok Heng said.

Actually, we have neglected our rice farmers for far too long. At one time, we were 90 per cent self sufficient.

Then along came Mahathir. He looked down on agriculture. Instead of ensuring that we could produce enough food to meet the needs of the population, he pursued heavy industrialisation – with all its attendant failures and shortcomings – like a man possessed. Under his administration, Universiti Pertanian Malaysian was changed to Universiti Putra Malaysia.

He was not alone. Many other Malaysians also felt we could always import cheaper rice – comparative advantage, they said, using an economic term; so why bother about food security and self-sufficiency? Today, such irresponsible neglect of agriculture has come back to haunt us with rising food prices.

The newspapers tell us that we are only 70 per cent self-sufficient in rice. But a Bernama report on 19 April had this give-away line:

Malaysia, which imports between 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes annually to complement its 1.1 million local production, buys about 50 to 60 percent from Thailand and the rest from Vietnam, India and Pakistan.

Let’s do the calculation:

Local production 1.1 million tonnes divided by total rice requirements (1.1 million tonnes + 750,000 tonnes) = 59 per cent self sufficiency.

No wonder we are vulnerable to rising prices and speculation in food prices.

Is there an alternative to the pesticide-intensive corporate model of agriculture?

How about organic farming? Now, before you say, “Come on, be realistic, it will never be enough to feed the whole country!”, check out the video clip below featuring the amazing organic farming revolution in Cuba, which had the BBC presenter enthused with obvious admiration.

In Malaysia and elsewhere, young people are turning away from farming in rural areas and migrating to towns.

But in Cuba, many young people and professionals are actually turning to farming – even in their towns and back gardens – and taking obvious pride in it. They see themselves as making a useful contribution to local communities. They use natural pesticides – and the vegetable farms are close to the markets; so they cut down on transport costs too.

Let’s give a major role to organic agriculture – which has a tremendous global market potential in the face of the GM food menace and the onslaught of pesticide-laced food products.

Remember, we can’t eat semiconductor chips.

So there’s nothing to stop us from emulating the Cuban farming revolution.

Have a look at this piece I wrote for IPS to discover the likely culprits behind rising food prices.

MALAYSIA: Food Futures Behind Rising Prices
Analysis by Anil Netto

PENANG, May 6 (IPS) – With stock markets and the property sector in the United States weakening, speculative investors are turning to fuels and the food sector as a “safe haven”, driving up prices in the process, say some food security activists.

This is the logical sequence from the transformation of food from a basic human need to an economic ”commodity”, they point out. This has made it a lot easier for investors and trading houses to regard agricultural food as a legitimate target for speculation, hoarding and market manipulation, especially though the futures market. Full article.

Candlelight vigil for Raja Petra at Dataran last night

Anil Netto
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4

Looks like another ‘happening’ night at Dataran Merdeka yesterday. A candelight vigil for Raja Petra. Check out Teoh Jit Khiam’s photoblog here. Great pictures and witty write-up. Nice to see more creative people emerging in Malaysia.

And delighted to hear Raja Petra is out on bail. Welcome back, Pete!

Two hot potatoes in PGCC/Penang Turf Club deal

Anil Netto
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11

It looks like we are going to hear more about the Penang Turf Club in the news.

The controversy is simply not going away.

Here are two more hot potatoes:

First hot potato: No conversion fee charged

When the status of the Penang Turf Club land was converted from open recreational to mixed development land, by right the state government should have collected a conversion fee from the developer – even if the developer had not applied for the conversion. But the conversion was nonetheless handed over on a silver platter by the previous state government for the PGCC developer’s benefit.

The state waived hundreds of millions of ringgit in one fell swoop. How much would the fee be?

Few outside the local government know for sure what the actual rate should be in this case.

From one source, I hear it should be 25 per cent of the original value.

A second source tells me that it could be RM50 per square foot. (In Green Lane, for instance, if you want to convert houses from residential to commercial, the conversion fee is apparently around RM100psf.)

Let’s do the calculations for both methods, based on purchase price of RM488 million for 260 acres (with only 180 acres that may be developed, the remainder being hill-slopes and cemetery land):

Based on 25 per cent of the value:

RM488 million x 25% = RM122 million

Based on RM50/sq ft conversion fee:

180 acres x 43,560 sq ft/acre x RM50/sq ft = RM392 million

So the conversion fee would have been in the ball park range of RM120 million to RM400 million. Either way, we are talking about hundreds of millions of ringgit of lost revenue for the state. The developer should have been charged this fee – even if it had not applied for the conversion itself.

Let’s not also forget the profit made by the developer arising from the higher market value of the land following the conversion. Based on the current market value of mixed development land of around RM250psf:

Current value (180 acres x 43,560 sq ft/acre x RM250/sq ft) – purchase price RM488 million = RM1.5 billion revaluation profit!

Less: the cost of a constructing a new racecourse RM300 million

= RM1.2 billion surplus.

Hey presto! The developer becomes an instant billionaire, thanks to the government.

So this is one good reason for the Penang government to immediately regazette the land back to recreational status and turn the whole place into a People’s Park.

Second hot potato: Prime land sold cheap to Abad Naluri (but still unpaid)

Now, Abad Naluri was supposed to build a new replacement race-course in Batu Kawan over 300 acres of land acquired from the Penang Development Corporation. This land is now prime land in Batu Kawan as it is just next to the site of the proposed second bridge for Penang (what a “coincidence”!), the ground breaking ceremony for which was held in 2006 by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

And how much did Abad Naluri pay for this land?

According to one source, the purchase consideration was RM46 million for 300 acres (still not paid).

Let’s do the calculation:

RM46 million divided by 300 acres divided by 43,560 sq ft/acre = RM3.52psf!

And this probably includes the cost of earth filling by the PDC.

RM3.52 per square foot for prime land?!! What the…

It is now said to be worth 15psf, which means that Abad Naluri would have made;

Current market value (RM15/sq ft x 300 acres x 43,560 sq ft/acre) – Purchase consideration RM46 million =

unrealised revaluation surplus of RM150 million for Abad Naluri if the sale were to bes completed.

It’s time for the Penang state government to take back the Batu Kawan land and sell it at its real value or use it for the people’s benefit e.g. low-income housing.

Now, let’s look at the chronology of events:

2002

Nov 25 – Turf Club EGM approves sales of Turf Club land in Batu Gantung and acquisition of Batu Kawan site.

2003

March 21 – Preliminary agreement said to have been entered into with Abad Naluri. Under this agreement, Abad Naluri has paid advances totalling RM10 million, presumably as “compensation” to Turf Club members.

No mention in Annual Reports of progress of deal since then.

2004

May 12 – Agreement entered into between Turf Club and Abad Naluri for sale of the Turf Club land in Batu Gantung.

Abad Naluri also enters into Principal Agreement with PDC for purchase of Batu Kawan land, for which it has still not paid RM46 million for 300 acres. Terms and conditions apparently still not finalised.

2005

July 5 – And yet, layout plan for Batu Kawan race course approved by MPSP.

2006

By Sept/Oct – Abad Naluri submits application for planning permission for PGCC.

Nov 12 – Abdullah Badawi officiates at the ground-breaking ceremony of the proposed second bridge in Batu Kawan, right next to new race-course site.

2007

March 28 – Earthworks approval for Batu Kawan site obtained from MPSP; earthworks said to have commenced after this – even though purchase consideration not fully paid!

June 28 – Conversion of Turf Club land from recreational land to mixed development gazetted under the Penang Structure Plan, thus turning PGCC developer into instant billionaire!

Oct 17 – Prime Minister Abdullah launches PGCC, flanked by then Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon and Patrick Lim – even though acquisition of Turf Club land not yet been completed.

Penang civil society groups launch concerted and successful anti-PGCC Campaign, mobilising Penang public, who send 2,500 letters and 500 emails to Chief Minister Koh.

2008

Jan 14 – Koh issues directive to return the planning application to the PGCC developer, who now has to revise the plan before it can be approved.

March 8 – But it’s too late. Penang ruling coalition is shockingly trounced in the general election. Gerakan loses all state seats and Koh is dumped in Batu Kawan parliamentary seat. It’s a complete wipe-out.

March 12 – New Chief Minister Guan Eng says no approval has been given for PGCC.

Over in Batu Kawan, Abad Naluri has made hardly any progress in constructing replacement race course. Instead, cows seen grazing on the site!

April 1 – Supplementary agreement entered into between Turf Club and Abad Naluri extends the original agreement, which should have lapsed. The agreement is extended to 2011.

April 7 – Penang Turf Club holds AGM, amidst uneasiness among members over the deal.

April 10 – Abad Naluri chairman resigns.

April 14 – PTC opens documents for inspection by members, but says documents not for circulation to members; members only “free to make notes of the documents”. Some Turf Club members unhappy that allegedly material changes to the original deal not brought to their attention.

May 1 – New vultures said to be entering the picture through the back door, showing interest in Turf Club land.

May 8 – Turf Club members lodge police report.

Utter fiasco! Here’s why CCTV cameras won’t work in Penang

Anil Netto
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9

Now this is why the Penang state government should not go ahead with its plan to install CCTV cameras in crime-prone areas. The only people to benefit will be the camera and equipment suppliers.

The UK has the most CCTV cameras – but it has been an utter fiasco as this report from This is London: reveals:

Billions spent on CCTV have failed to cut crime and led to an ‘utter fiasco’, says Scotland Yard surveillance chief

Last updated at 11:22am on 07.05.08

The billions of pounds spent covering Britain with CCTV cameras has been an “utter fiasco” and failed to slash crime, Scotland Yard’s surveillance chief has said.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said a Metropolitan Police pilot project found just three per cent of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images.

He claimed the vast swathes of money spent on cameras had been wasted because criminals don’t fear the cameras.

But Mr Neville also castigated the police and claimed officers can’t be bothered to seek out CCTV images because it’s “hard work”.

The comments from Mr Neville, who is the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at Scotland Yard, will further cast doubt on the spread of surveillance in Britain.

Britain has one per cent of the world’s population but, incredibly, 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras – the equivalent of one for every 14 people.

Last year it emerged the £200m spent on 10,000 crime-fighting cameras in London had had little effect on reducing offending.

A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police were no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any.

Speaking at a security conference in London, Mr Neville claimed the use of CCTV images for court evidence had been very poor so far.

He said: “CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure.

“Billions of pounds have been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court.

“It’s been an utter fiasco: only three per cent of crimes were solved by CCTV.

“Why don’t people fear it? They think the cameras are not working.”…

So please don’t waste public money on CCTV cameras. Rather, get to the root causes of the rising crime rate and tackle them.

Meanwhile, hot off the oven:

Question #47 – Mei 2008

Liew Chin Tong (Bukit Bendera) asks the Minister of Housing and Local Government to state the direction and time frame to establish local council elections to start a new chapter of democracy in Malaysia.

Minister’s Response:
The Government does not plan to conduct any local council elections.

Well, we can’t wait for the BN-led Federal Government, which is so out of touch with the people’s aspirations. The Pakatan state governments must come up with a quick road map to push through local government elections.

Malaysia’s folk hero Raja Petra opts for jail to prove a point

Anil Netto
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1

Spent the evening working with Mus on a press statement in response to the action taken against Raja Petra.

It is just three days after we marked World Press Freedom Day.

Not good. And downright depressing.

But mind you, this move could backfire. It is high stakes poker, and I guess they didn’t anticipate that Raja Petra would refuse bail. Now he is in jail and the glare of the international media will focus even more on him, the Malaysian government, the judiciary and the Altantuya trial.

Certain people are going to be shifting in their seats rather uncomfortably – or maybe having sleepless nights. They have no idea what Raja Petra is going to say in court, come October.

As Malaysiakini observes, hauling Raja Petra to court has only turned him into a legend – if he is not already one. For it was Raja Petra and his Malaysia Today website that played a not insignificant role in the fall of five states to Pakatan Rakyat.

Farewell, blogger Rustam; welcome, blogger Mustafa

Anil Netto
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7

And so the baton is passed in the relay of life.

From one true Malaysian and leading public intellectual, Rustam, and his blog…

…. to another, as Mustafa K Anuar, the asst secretary of Aliran, kicks off his blog with his first full entry on World Press Freedom Day.

When Mus told me he was starting a blog, I remarked that he would be taking up the blogging baton that Rustam has handed over. Mus is also coordinator of Charter 2000-Aliran, a citizens’ media initiative to promote press freedom, and fellow of the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) programme.

Some of the best journalists in Malaysia today were taught by Mus and his colleagues – and they will undoubtedly be delighted to see his blog.

Rustam and Mustafa – both wonderful people with a broad, universal outlook; both involved in the media; both passionate about the cause of justice; both Aliran members – and both genuine Malaysians.

One blog goes dormant and another springs to life.

Mus says he is starting his blog because he has

“this nagging desire to know how it feels to be a monkey, a prostitute and an unemployed, among other unsavoury things!

For the uninitiated, these ‘labels’ were hurled against Malaysian bloggers by the powers-that-be especially before the 12th general election”.

Visit Mustafa’s brand new blog.

Odds and ends on World Press Freedom Day

Anil Netto
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12

I was about to wish you Happy World Press Freedom Day, but…

…they are at it again. Harassing Raja Petra, that is, over his posting on Altantuya. What exquisite timing. Come on, give the guy a break. And give him back his laptop.

Anyway my choice for quote of the day has got to be from the man himself as reported by Malaysiakini.

Meanwhile, Raja Petra, when asked if his posting contained seditious elements, replied: “The whole website (is seditious). The whole Malaysia Today (is seditious)”.

So there! What a guy…

On another note, someone sent me this link with the message:

Lim Guan Eng spotted by Ning Baizura’s manager/agent at the airport and on a plane. Click here.

Have we have finally found a Chief Minister truly for the People?

You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. To the other CMs in Malaysia, watch and learn.

Finally, blog reader Maliku has highlighted the latest threat to Penang’s hills:

There is a piece of land on a slope just behind the leader garden condominiums in Tanjung Bungah, Penang where we saw surveying points and cleared brushes/trees during one of our runs in the hills. It is located just beside a catchment area and about 200 to 300 feet high on a little valley in the hills. Could it be earmarked for residential development? Can Ms Anil (err, I’m male!) check this out and bring it to the authorities’ attention because we need to preserve the remaining hills before Penang Island become a barren land!

Can anyone verify this? Those living around that area for instance?

Bridge near Shanghai works out cheaper per km than second Penang bridge

Anil Netto
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21

Is the cost of the second Penang bridge way too high?

China yesterday inaugurated one of the longest sea bridges in the world – a six-lane 36km link (27km over sea) to connect Jiaxing city near Shanghai with Ningbo in the province of Zhejiang. And what is the cost? 11.8 billion yuan, which is RM5.3 billion (RM147 million per km).

In comparison, the cost of the proposed four-lane second Penang bridge, which is 24km (of which only 17km is above sea), is expected to cost at least RM4.3 billion (RM179 million per kim). It’s more than a third shorter than the bridge in China, and yet the cost is only about a fifth lower. The Edge even reported that UEM was seeking as much as RM4.8 billion for the Penang job.

So how? Something doesn’t look right. Why don’t we just expand the ferry service for a start to considerably ease congestion on the bridge while we explore a shorter rail link. Oh yeah, I forgot, that is too cheap a solution!

Still on the subject of transport, while Malaysian officials and planners can only think of multi-billion ringgit monorails and subways for our urban centres, the UK is rapidly turning to guided buses, guided trolley buses and trams as low-cost but efficient solutions to urban public transport in a string of British cities and towns. Check out this list of proposed schemes in the UK.

Again, this may be too cheap a solution for our planners’ liking… For some reason, they just love those multi-billion ringgit price tags.

Penang Turf Club: Here come the vultures

Anil Netto
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20

As expected, barely has the dust settled from Abad Naluri’s failed attempt to get the PGCC moving than renewed interest has been shown in the Turf Club land in Batu Gantung.

The talk in the market is that a major property player involved in the building of shopping malls in KL has been showing interest in the Turf Club land. Overtures are apparently being made.

For now, the agreement between Abad Naluri and the Turf Club still stands – though some Turf Club members are said to be disputing the way it was formalised.

So any renewed interest by other players will have to come through the back door. We already know that there have been boardroom changes in Abad Naluri and Equine Capital. So what’s going to happen next?

It is time for the Penang state government to probe the entire deal. In particular, who or what really persuaded the Turf Club members to sign an agreement to give up its precious asset for a pittance (RM43 per sq feet) to a developer who was bound to profit from a substantial jump in valuation (to about RM250psf)? Something just doesn’t square up. I mean, why would you give up your prized possession for just RM43psf? Yes, it was based on recreational land value, but why would anyone want to pay RM488 million for recreational land? Unless he was confident the land would be regazetted to “mixed development”. But what gave him that confidence?

Of course, Turf Club members received compensation of RM20,000 (supposedly inconvenience allowance for travelling to the new racecourse in Batu Kawan) totalling RM10 million. But that’s chicken feed compared to what’s at stake. In any case, why would they be paid upfront, when work on the Batu Kawan race-course hasn’t even started? Unless the payment was just meant to “persuade” ordinary members to come on board and give up their prized asset.

So was there a “kingmaker” behind the scenes – or more than one – acting as the driving force for the deal?

How was the status of the Batu Gantung race-course land changed on the quiet from “recreational” land to “mixed development”?

Those of us who want to keep the Turf Club land as a precious green lung and turn it into a People’s Park had better remain alert, as the vulture(s) circle and swoop for this prized land.

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