Thursday, February 25, 2010

Blatant but feeble attempts to tarnish the image of Penang

Some people will go all the way (publish in The Star, The Sun and Malaysiakini) to put Penang in a bad light.

First there was this Calvin Sankaran, now another (?) person by the name of Raman Nair is again trying to blame everything bad about Penang on CM Lim Guan Eng. Is all that is bad in Penang the CM's responsibility? Where was this Calvin and Raman during Koh Tsu Koon's era - were we in a state of eternal bliss then?

Being a person from Penang (unlike Calvin and now Raman) I can certainly state that there has been much improvement (although more can still be done) in Penang since March 2008, but I would like to allow other writers to give their point of view. Here are two:

I refer to the letter Penang must arrest this alarming decline. As a citizen journalist and a Penangite who loves my island, I wish to point out some of the things that the writer mentioned in his letter. Being a citizen journalist, it is my habit to observe and report on things on the ground.

Firstly, I found that the same writer has written the same letter to The Star and The Sun (and also in Malaysiakini - JR) in January. Obviously, he is still sore from the 'supposed nightmares' he encountered in Penang after two months. A blogger had posted these two letters on his blog and claimed it as a blatant attempt to discredit the Penang government by BN/Umno.

I shall not dwell into the political side of things. But I can provide my own observations:


Read more from Lilian

I write in response to the letter titled Penang must arrest this alarming decline.

I find the writer's account of his visit to Penang rather strange. My recent experience in Penang was totally different. I am currently living in Selangor and my family and I were in Penang during the Chinese New Year.

Upon our arrival at the airport via a Firefly flight on Feb 13, (Chinese New Year eve), I did not recall seeing 'images of Lim Guan Eng everywhere'. I do not recall seeing 'huge billboards' and promotional videos of him.

What I do recall is an airport that is running smoothly, baggage delivered within a reasonable time frame but also an airport that is congested and badly in need of expansion. I remembered wondering to myself why Malaysia Airports is not doing something about this.

As we walked out of the arrival lounge and into my brother's car and as the car pulled out of the driveway, I remembered seeing Rapid Penang buses! Yes, Rapid Penang buses are running services to the Penang International Airport. The next day, I was at the airport again, this time to pick up another brother of mine arriving from Singapore.

As I sat in the car waiting, I could see Rapid Penang buses delivering passengers by the busloads to the airport with stunning frequency. I could not recall such an efficient and frequent bus service to the airport before. Things have certainly improved in Penang.


Read more from GH Kok

It is sad that The Star which used to be "The People's Paper" now seems more interested to publish letters slighting Penang instead of promoting the state where it was born in. Sad, but true...

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