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Fahmi Reza’s outstanding film on the 1947 hartal

Anil Netto
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Remember the name – Fahmi Reza, the worthy winner of the Freedom Film Festival 2007. Last night I headed for the opening day’s screenings at the Actors’ Studio in Penang, mainly to see Fahmi’s “Sepuluh tahun sebelum Merdeka” – and I was not disappointed. It was the best local political documentary I had seen. The film focused on the first multi-ethnic political coalition in the country and depicted the events leading to the 1947 nationwide hartal or total national strike.

The visionary women and men behind the hartal were nine years ahead of their time in coming up with constitutional proposals for a “Melayu” citizenship covering all the major races. In fact, the term “Melayu” to describe citizenship for all was surprisingly well received even by the non-Malays.

The hartal had the backing of left-wing Malay nationalist groups, middle-class English-speaking non-Malays, even the Chinese Chambers of Commerce, women’s groups, and yes, the MIC too! It was a broad-ranging movement that was determined to seek Independence.

Of course, the British preferred to deal with Umno, which did not threaten colonial economic interests at that time, and completely ignored the Putera-AMCJA coalition’s constitutional proposals.

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Malaysian judiciary hits rock bottom

Anil Netto
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Well, say no more! As my academic friend observes:

…this is a sterling opportunity to draw out the oligarchic control of this country — a chance to pull away from the ethnic ding-dong that’s going on. Here is the oligarchy of wealth and privilege: an Indian lawyer, a Chinese tycoon, a Malay judge, etc. And claiming to do this in the interests of the country, of the PM (Mahathir).

Gives a whole new meaning to the word “muhibbah” – while they divide-and-rule the rest of the country, secure in their own positions of wealth and power.

See this press statement by Aliran president P Ramakrishnan.

He is calling for the immediate suspension of the Chief Justice and a review of decisions in the following cases:

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NO! to M’sia’s FTA with police state, USA – Remember, 1.2 million dead in Iraq

Anil Netto
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The new US ambassador to Malaysia, James Keith is urging both Malaysia and the United States to conclude a Free Trade Agreement after an earlier deadline in June was missed.

Of course, the US stands to benefit far more in such an “open market”. To draw an analogy, it would be like Manchester United playing against the Malaysian football team. Sure it may be a “level playing field”, but we all know who would win such a game.

The thing about an FTA with the United States is that it’s not just about trade. Keith said that trade and security issues will be a major focus during his tenure.

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PGCC: Council to hear nearby residents’ concerns

Anil Netto
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Feelings against the PGCC are running high. Despite the mainstream media’s almost total blackout of dissenting views, emails have been going around, highlighting the adverse implications for Penang if the project goes ahead. Concerned activists have begun a campaign to raise public awareness of the PGCC and its horrendous implications for Penang.

In the midst of all this, some welcome news: the Penang Munical Council (MPPP) has given an assurance that it would be transparent and accountable in vetting the project. MPPP president Zainal Rahim Seman said the MPPP would ensure all the requirements are met before approving the project.

theSun reports:

Commenting on the complaints raised by several NGOs in Penang after the project was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Sept 12, Zainal said a public hearing will be held in three weeks time.

“The developer has submitted it’s plans for the PGCC and I want to assure everyone that the MPPP will be thorough and open in deliberations on the project,” he told theSun.

“We will invite those in the neighbouring areas to come for the public hearing and they will be given an opportunity to air their views, which will be considered in our decision-makings.

“The developer will have to fulfill all the criteria, including traffic impact assessment in the area and the EIA requirement. The relevant departments, including the Public Works Department and Department of Environment, will also submit their reports on the project.”

Zainal said the approval for the project will not be given “so soon”.

He said although the project had been launched even before the approval was given by the MPPP, the initial assessment had been carried out by the Prime Minister’s Office.

So I gather that the Council will be holding a meeting for neighbouring residents to hear their concerns, perhaps on 27 Sept. And I hear the NGOs are also thinking of a public forum. All of a sudden, the path to the promised PGCC land doesn’t look like like it’s going to be strewn with rose petals.

First stop, the call for an independent and thorough EIA.

PGCC: Why did the Penang Turf Club sell a goldmine?

Anil Netto
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Say you had a home that sits on vast, potentially valuable, prime land in a popular land-scarce island. You know that bigtime developers are greedily eyeing your sprawling green turf because when they look at it, you can almost see $$$$$ pop up in their eyes and hear the chek-chek-ting! of a cash register – you know, like in the cartoons.

And then someone comes by and offers to buy your land at the present (relatively cheap) market value. And instead of paying most of the purchase price in cash, he offers to build you a “better” home on his even cheaper land on the mainland. Would you jump at the offer and dance in the streets?

This is what has been bugging me the last few days. Something just doesn’t compute. Unlike the swamp land sold by the fishermen’s cooperative (which eventually was resold to the Port Klang Free Zone authority) for a pittance, the Penang Turf Club land is prized land.

So I cannot understand why the Penang Turf Club sold its 260-acre land to Abad Naluri, the associate firm of Patrick Lim’s Equine Capital, for just RM488 million in 2002.

That works out to RM43 per square foot.

Even if you exclude the portion of the land that cannot be developed, it still works out to RM64 psf, which is dirt cheap.

Today, open recreational land in Penang is worth around RM60 psf.

But with the rezoning of the Penang Turf Club land to “mixed development” the land value could leap to RM250-300 psf, which is the land value in neighbouring Jesselton. One pro-PGCC bank analyst, in his exuberance, even suggested the land could potentially be worth RM500 psf (trying to pump up the value of the land, are we?) – though I am told that real estate valuers feel that RM250-300 psf is a more realistic range.

Either way, Abad Naluri is laughing all the way to the bank – even before the first bulldozer rumbles into the site.

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NCER: Transforming agriculture – for whom?

Anil Netto
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On 30 July, the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) master-plan was launched with much fanfare. Among other goals, the blueprint aims to transform agriculture in the rice-bowl region of Malaysia.The masterplan was designed by Sime Darby although the project will be implemented by a regional coordinating authority, chaired by the Prime Minister.

On the face of it, it all sounds great. After all, if we can increase our food production and be more self-sufficient, then we would achieve food security, right?

But there are some underlying issues that have not been highlighted in the mainstream media.

Sime Darby is not a disinterested party. It is eyeing the seed market and planning to produce patented “mother seed” for 10 popular crops, which it wants to sell, along with fertilisers, to contract farmers. Not only that, the firm will eventually buy the farmers’ produce, process it and market it via Tesco (in which Sime Darby has a 30 per cent stake).

To get this scheme started, Sime Darby will introduce mechanised agro-business methods on a 700-acre model farm to a core group of pioneer farmers, who would be paid monthly salaries higher than the average farmer’s income. The contract farmers, once trained, would become contract farmers working on land allocated to them by the government or on plots merged through cooperatives.

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Lipstick on the PGCC gorilla

Anil Netto
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The PGCC developers talk about building a zero-carbon city, but they don’t tell us about the scale of carbon emissions during the years of construction.

It might be worth looking at what people in the know are saying about large so-called “eco-projects” elsewhere.

Check out this excerpt from The Georgian, Issue 1, 2007. The Georgian is the magazine of the Georgian Group, a national charity in the UK dedicated to preserving Georgian buildings and gardens. Every year, the group is consulted on over 6,000 planning applications involving demolition or alterations.

Lipstick on a gorilla

Nowhere are the contradictions of building these eco-homes better illustrated than in Dalston, East London. The Victorian theatre there, and adjoining late Georgian houses, were recently demolished to make way for a transport interchange, as part of a regeneration exercise loosely linked to the 2012 Olympics. The development contains homes complete with wind turbines, and the tower blocks will have ‘green’ roofs. As the propaganda has it, the whole exercise is environmentally sustainable. But once construction starts, more that seventy-five lorries will be arriving at the site daily, for several months. The Carbon Trust estimates that the carbon emitted in building the reinforced concrete slabs alone will be something like 15,000 tonnes, equivalent to the Greater London Authority’s carbon emissions from electricity use for the next twelve years – or the amount that would be emitted if the mayors of London and Hackney flew across the Atlantic and back continuously from now (2007) until 2045. – Robert Bargery, editor

You still think it’s going to be “zero carbon”? Aren’t we having wool pulled over our eyes?

This makes the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s call to fast-track the approvals process all the more irresponsible. What we really need is a thorough, detailed, independent EIA process.

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Main Penang NGOs express alarm over PGCC

Anil Netto
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If Patrick Lim and Equine Capital think it is going to be smooth sailing after the Prime Minister announced that approvals for the PGCC would be fast-tracked, they had better think again.

This morning, half a dozen of the main Penang NGOs came together to express their stand against the development of the PGCC at a packed press conference held at the CAP office. Also present was a cameraman (the logo on the camera said ntv7, but I am not so sure) who meticulously videotaped the proceedings. (Let’s see what comes out on ntv7 tonight. I am not holding my breath.)

Present were representatives from CAP, Penang Heritage Trust, Malaysian Nature Society, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Cepat, and Aliran as well as other concerned Penangites.

The site of the project – the present Turf Club – was originally given by the government for a nominal sum and was zoned as ‘Open Space’. This was changed very recently to ‘Mixed Development’, even though public opinion was unanimously against it (judging from the submissions sent in by the public during the 2007 Structure Plan exercise), the NGOS said in a joint media statement.

“By doing so, the State has acted arbitrarily and sacrificed the interests of the community to a group of developers,” they said.

The NGO representatives expressed particular displeasure over the fact that the project is being steamed-rolled through and imposed from the top-down without full and open public consultation.

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What Patrick Lim didn’t show us: The missing 35 towers

Anil Netto
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PGCC from Batu Gantong

Holy shmoly! What the…

So PGCC master planner Nasrine Seraji claims I misquoted her and took her comments out of context. She was reported as saying that those comments were made four years ago and that no slides or pictures were shown on my blog post, which she claims was also not in the context of her conference.

But those comments were published by Canada.com last November, less than a year ago. Take a look at my original post here, where you can also find the link to her full original Canada.com interview (which doesn’t contain any pictures and slides either) and then you decide if I misquoted her and put her views out of context.

You want to talk about not giving the full picture and putting things out of context? Patrick Lim, Fox Communication and the mainstream media have been misleading the public by telling us only about the “iconic” crooked twin towers. (One of them is 66 storeys high by the way, almost similar to Komtar, that ugly protrusion in the centre of George Town.)

They have not shown the public what the other 35 towers on the site would look like. (Yes, I have recounted – there will be 37 towers in all, almost all of them over 40 storeys high.) The above view (which is actually a cut-out model done to scale on the actual plan – minus the Fox gloss) is what my late grandma and my late dad will see from Batu Gantong. (The crooked towers are at the top left and Scotland Road is on the right at the bottom.) Not a pretty sight.

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Towers rattle and shake after “iconic” towers’ masterplan launched

Anil Netto
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PGCC towers

When I requested my late dad and my late grandma a couple of days ago to watch over the green spaces surrounding their final resting place at the Bukit Gantong columbarium, neighbouring the proposed Penang Global City Centre, and to ask God to preserve the environment there for future generations, I wasn’t expecting anything earthshaking.

What a day to launch the masterplan of those “iconic” PGCC towers! (Wonder why they can’t say the word “towers” without adding the adjective “iconic” before it. Don’t they have any other word?)

Hours after the launch on 12 Sept, we had an 8.4 earthquake off nearby Sumatra, a tsunami alert, and people fleeing from high-rise buildings.

Too bad for Patrick Lim and Fox Communication that news of the quake and the tsunami alert shoved aside reports of the PGCC launch from the front pages of the newspapers yesterday. There are some things that even a PR firm can’t anticipate or handle.

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