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Umno state assembly member criticises PGCC project

pgcc turb club

This is an actual picture of the Turf Club land and the surrounding low-rise properties. (Photo credit: PGCC Campaign Group)

pgcc turb club with towers

This is what it would look like with towers… gulp! The towers here are replicas of 37 existing towers from all over George Town transplanted to the Turf Club site (The wonders of image editing by the PGCC Campaign Group!)

pgcc from launch booklet

This is what they showed you – view of George Town (image from the official PGCC launch booklet)

pgcc with towers

What they didn’t show you – the view with 37 towers added in (Image editing: PGCC Campaign Group)

It is not just the PGCC Campaign Group and ordinary Penangites who are critical of the Penang Global City Centre project. Now, the Umno state assembly member from Bertam, Datuk Hilmi Abdul Rashid says the project is too costly.

“If it is too expensive, no locals or companies will be able to afford any of the commercial lots. In the end, the project will fail because there will be no buyers, or no tenants if the lots are leased out at a very high rate,” he was quoted as saying in theSun (27 November 2007).

He said five years down the road, the government may have to step in to save the project and force government agencies and departments to take up lots there. (Like they did for Komtar?)

“I am not against development as we need investments to generate income but we must monitor the investments to ensure they are not at the expense of the public,” he said.

Wise words, Hilmi. Of course, there is also the need to save the green lung that is the Turf Club land and ideally turn it into a Penang state park as a legacy for future generations. Now that would be really zero carbon and sooooo eco-friendly!

Look who’s breathing down Patrick’s neck…

PGCC campaign groups and Patrick

Priceless moment: A bemused Patrick Lim, the developer of the Penang Global City Centre, turns to look at heritage conservationist Loh-Lim Lin Lee as she presents the PGCC Campaign Group’s grave concerns about his mega project during the Penang Local Government Consultative Forum on 23 November. On Patrick’s right is Nasrine Seraji, the PGCC master planner. Seated behind the pair are half a dozen activists and others critical of the PGCC, including environmentalist Gurmit Singh (in blue shirt) who mocked the proposal to put up wind turbines, pointing out that the country just doesn’t have enough wind for it to work. Lots of hot air, yes… but just not enough wind, sorry guys! (Photo credit: PHT)

One of the questions raised was: “Carbon-0 is really carbon off-setting or carbon trading, isn’t it? Buy carbon reduction projects elsewhere (and) leave all the carbon emissions of PGCC in Penang?”

Patrick replied, “I don’t know about the carbon off-setting you are talking about.”

But on page 19 of the glossy PGCC launch booklet, it is clearly stated:

After efforts to reduce energy requirements and maximize renewable energy sources are exhausted, carbon offsetting can neutralise the remaining emissions associated with the city to achieve carbon zero status.

Can Media Prima take on Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini?

This is a piece I wrote for Asia Times about Media Prima’s intention to plunge into the Internet in a big way, ostensibly to diversify its revenue base and tap into on-line advertising revenue. Telekom Malaysia is spending billions to prepare the ground with high-speed broadband around the country. Though the main focus of Media Prima – which owns TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9; yes all the private stations! – appears to be entertainment, it also recognises that news is going to be crucial. Will the combined resources of Harian Metro (the country’s top selling newspaper), Berita Harian and New Straits Times prove more than a match for independent websites such as Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini?

Malaysian media giant grasps for Internet
By Anil Netto

PENANG – The media battle for Malaysian hearts and minds, pitting the government-controlled print and electronic media against critical Internet websites and blogs, is heating up in the run-up to general elections. Now, Malaysia’s largest private media conglomerate, Media Prima, has unveiled big investment plans to generate Internet content, a revenue diversification strategy aimed at getting a larger slice of the growing on-line advertising pie. For the full article, click here.

When human rights activists let their hair down…

aliran singers

The Aliran Singers re-united and in full flow!

Aliran turns 30: A heart-warming celebration of justice

It was all so different from the official Merdeka celebrations, monopolised and dominated by members of the ruling coalition, recalls Anil Netto, of a night to remember. Full article

Why not support the cause of human rights and justice by subscribing to Aliran Monthly, Malaysia’s leading independent English-language current affairs journal.

Penang Global City Centre: Spot the difference!

pgcc with patrick

This is the PGCC (based on Equine’s model of the 38 towers) (Patrick Lim is on the right)

pgcc nasrine’s presentation

And this isn’t? (The PGCC campaign group’s model of the PGCC which PGCC master planner Nasrine Seraji says is based on a “misunderstanding of the masterplan”) (photo credit: Sin Chew from Nasrine’s powerpoint presentation)

Err, pardon me… but what is the difference between the two?

Bersih and Hindraf gatherings: An awakening of the marginalised

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m96FCTKHNA8&rel=1]

Two huge protest gatherings – or attempted gatherings – in the space of 15 days in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Amazing! But what does this tell us? A few things, actually:

More and more Malaysians are casting off their fear of the repressive powers of the state. That was abundantly clear in the Bersih gathering calling for electoral reforms on 10 Nov, when 50,000 Malaysians converged in the heart of KL despite the warnings, the intimidation, the riot police and their water cannons…. and now 20,000-30,000 at the Hindraf demonstration.

In both gatherings, it appears that the majority of those who were determined to show up were the disempowered and the disenfranchised and the marginalised. In other words, those left out from the development process.

Positive GDP growth every year has not resulted in equitable development for all – rather, the wealth generated from economic growth has been concentrated in the hands of the upper class. To make matters worse, the system is now mired in corruption while affirmative action policies have not reached many of those who most need them.

Many appear to be retreating to a fundamentalist worldview of religion out of disillusionment with the oppressive state, a sense of loss of identity due to the pervasive, homogenising effect of global corporate culture, and dissatisfaction that the fruit of economic growth has not been equitably distributed. Real participatory democracy has not been tried and found to be wanting. It has not been tried at all!

Sadly, many Malaysians are still shackled by a communal world-view – largely due to years of being indoctrinated by a system of racial politics. They are still unable to extend their hands in solidarity with all those who are suffering, irrespective of ethnicity and religion. This was less evident in the Bersih gathering, which probably had a greater multi-ethnic representation (though the majority were Muslim-Malays). But in the Hindraf gathering, it appears that nearly all of those turning up were ethnic Indians/Hindus.

The marginalised Indians, Malays, the Penan, the Orang Asli, and the exploited migrant workers still find it difficult to find common cause with one another. We need to break free from the barriers that divide the oppressed in our country.

It is largely the poorer Indians who were likely to have been at the Hindraf gathering, just as it was largely Malays from the lower-income group that took part in the Bersih demonstration. Those at the Hindraf gathering may be unable to trace the roots of their own disillusionment and could be putting on the cloak of Hindu rights, finding solace in the security of their religion. In the same way, many poorer Malays, rebelling against a corrupt and exploitative system, are probably finding comfort in the embrace of conservative Islam.

Maybe a common ethnicity and a sense of being discriminated against – and now a shared experience of a perceived sense of persecution (the result of temple demolitions and controversial sharia-related cases) – has been more successful in rallying the Indians together. In a sense, this is a pity because it suggests we are still trapped in a world-view that perceives suffering and marginalisation through ethnic or religious lenses.

There are shortcomings in such a world-view. It ignores the exploitative nature of our economic system, in which a few (of all ethnic groups) with access to capital and connections lord it over the masses. For instance, why have richer Malays, Chinese, and Indians not showed up at these rallies? It is really because they have benefited from the system and they do not want to revamp something that has served them with wealth and position, titles and status, and the comforts of life.

The exploitative dimension of corporate-led globalisation, which has concentrated wealth in the hands of this small group, has driven many ordinary Malaysians to despair. The introduction of neo-liberal policies, the slashing of taxes for the rich along with the removal of subsidies for basic goods and services – education, health care, fuel, higher education – have all made life more stressful, not only for the lower-income group but increasingly the middle-class.

The suppression of local wages through a policy of importing migrant workers, the lack of a minimum wage, a weak trade union movement (only now coming to life), and racial and religious divisions have all meant that workers (of all ethnic groups) have been unable to achieve the critical mass needed to cast off the chains of exploitation that tie them down.

I believe what we are witnessing now is the awakening of the economically marginalised and disempowered who are rebelling against the system, which has seen Big Business profiting at the expense of the people. I doubt there were many wealthy Hindus/ethnic Indians from the posh neighbourhoods of, for instance, Damansara and Bangsar at the Hindraf protest today… just as you didn’t see the wealthy bumiputera elite at the Bersih gathering on 10 Nov.

Although it is heartening that the marginalised are stirring, it is important that we realise that their suffering cuts across ethnic barriers and has some common roots. Many have simply been pushed to the periphery by our model of development, which is relentlessly driven by Big Business tied closely to the vested interests of the political elite.

More Malaysians must wake up from their slumber – and join hands with one another!

Asean embraces a rogue regime while inking a Charter for Big Business

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-YVdpQHdqo&rel=1]

So the Asean leaders have signed a Charter in the wonderfully democratic nation of Singapore in the company of leaders from Burma’s rogue regime. (Check out this excellent documentary “Burma’s Secret War”.) Each member nation now has to take the Charter back to their home countries so that it can be ratified by their respective parliaments – which shouldn’t be much of a problem, considering how democratic Asean member nations are and how much their governments have the interests of the people at heart. Which leads to the question: why not a referendum as this is a hugely important document that affects the peoples of 10 nations? That will be the day…

Civil society groups that lament that the charter is too state-centred rather than people-centred are missing the point. It was never meant to be people-centred – even though that is what most ordinary people would have wanted, had they been consulted. That is why most of the work of drafting the charter was carried out behind closed doors – even though an Eminent Persons Group did briefly consult a sample of civil society groups. The EPG leader, Musa Hitam, had told civil society representatives that he considered the inclusion of a reference to a human rights mechanism or body as a great achievement. But such a body would predictably be toothless – if and when it is formalised – for some time to come.

So let’s not get side-tracked by the lip-service paid to human rights or the sweet -sounding, but ultimately unenforceable, pledges about democracy.

The Charter is not about protecting the rights of ordinary people including migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers. If it was, do you really think those undemocratic or authoritarian governments among the Asean member nations would have signed it?

Instead, it’s all about facilitating the interests of Big Business as well as providing an institutionalised framework that would, among other things, pave the way for the EU-Asean FTA and further the “free trade” and neo-liberal agenda.

How terribly, terribly sad for the people of Asean!

No need for institutional reform? You gotta be kidding!

Here is the Al Jazeera panel discussion (in two parts) on the 10 Nov rally to demand electoral reforms. The panelists were Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy, de facto Law Minister Nazri (Umno as well) and human rights lawyer Imtiaz.

Here’s an excerpt. Nazri tries to keep up with the fast-paced discussion by repeating his mantra about democracy ala Umno/BN, putting words in the mouth of the moderator – and then forgetting what the question was. Amazing feat!

What’s even more astonishing is his claim that there is no need for any institutional reform whatsoever.

Beware those who want to hijack Malaysia’s People Power movement

In a parting shot, Thierry Rommel, the European ambassador who left his post on Tuesday, castigated the Malaysian government for its deplorable human rights record and the “discriminatory” New Economic Policy (NEP).

News reports quoted Rommel as saying the executive in Malaysia is “all-powerful and not accountable” while the judiciary remains beholden to the executive because the prime minister directly makes the appointments. He said Umno runs the country like its own backyard and that the Malaysia was “a one-party state”.

“The parliament (is) useless. No fair elections, no freedoms. Police is unaccountable. Internal checks and balances? Forget it. So where do you find characteristics that (represent) democracy?”

Malaysians struggling for greater democracy, who marched in the tens of thousands on 10 November, might be forgiven for thinking that they had found an influential ally in Rommel and the European Union.

Big mistake. Although most of Rommel’s remarks ring true, they must be seen in the context of the forthcoming negotiations for the EU-Asean FTA which begins next year. With this FTA, the EU hopes to prise open the Asean market for unfettered access by European multinational corporations. This will no doubt also accelerate the neo-liberal agenda across the region.

“Iconic towers” or eyesores?

If our experience with “iconic towers” in Penang is any indication, then look out for what could happen with other towers in the pipeline.

Thanks to a reader for bringing these to my attention:

komtar viewing gallery

Sad-looking Komtar: Why has its viewing gallery become a store?

fire exit blocked

And here’s a blocked fire-escape

menara umno cardboard

Cardboard on the windows of the keris-shaped Menara Umno (supposed to be another architectural masterpiece). Innovative way to reduce heat and cut air-con emissions, eh?

So if we have more “iconic towers”, do you really think our habits will improve?

While on the subject of high-rise towers, a reader wrote this from England:

England’s problems are in the areas where there is high unemployment due to collapsed industries, steel shipbuilding, coal – where entire towns were employed in one industry. Also areas where many immigrant communities have settled – and worked hard to look after their families… It’s also in the areas were decent housing (albeit ramshackle) have been replaced with emotionless high-rise towers, set in dry hard landscapes – enough to send anyone around the bend.

All sounds rather too familiar? Give Malaysia 20 years and you’ll see the same – unless there is some very sound social management.

I was once talking to (someone in Malaysia) and described the social problems created by high-rise buildings.

“Oh, not in Asia,” he said.

Want to bet? The (consequences could be) worse in Asia where family and social connections are so very important and high-rise buildings will destroy them.