"May 13" available at a Penang book store

I got a copy of May 13 by Dr Kua Kia Soong from a "popular" bookstore in central Georgetown today. It is not displayed on the open shelves so you have to ask the counter for it.

My advise to you is to get it before it is officially banned!



Read a blogger's review

Half a year to ‘polish’ Penang

The Star, 6 June 2007 - Half a year to ‘polish’ Penang

PENANG: A six-month target has been set by Penang Municipal Council president Datuk Zainal Rahim Seman to return the island – once dubbed the Pearl of the Orient – to its original lustre.

Zainal, who was appointed to the post last month, said those who dubbed the island Darul Sampah would soon have to change their tune. He suggested Darul Indah or Darul Mutiara instead.

“Keeping the island clean will be my top priority.

“We want to brighten up areas frequented by tourists such as Gurney Drive, Macalister Road and Little India.

“We may also do more landscaping in areas that tourists pass to get to their destinations,” he told newsmen during a media tour to see how rubbish was collected from high-rise buildings, factories and private residences. "

Why ONLY 6 months? - Penang definitely needs more than 6 months to clean up!

VW rejects "Old Maid" Proton - Is the dowry too much?

The Star, 1 June 2007:
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has asked Proton Holdings Bhd to start talks with other carmakers on a partnership because Volkswagen AG is not interested.

“I have made the decision that since Volkswagen is not interested in the proposal that Proton wants in terms of the equity participation but they want cooperation in some other form, Proton can begin to talk to others,” the Prime Minister told reporters after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting last night.

Read more

Other news:
Proton posts RM591mil loss

Poor attitude or no enforcement in Penang?

Beaches in Penang dirty due to poor attitude

Is Penang dirty because of the people's attitude or is it because there is no enforcement?

- How many times have you seen MPPP staff cleaning up a beach?
- How many times have you seen MPPP staff cleaning up your neighborhood playground?
- How many times have you seen MPPP enforcers issuing a summons to a litterbug?
- How many times have you seen MPPP administrators actually on the job, somewhere?

It is so easy just to blame it on the public. Have they checked to see if rubbish bins are easily available in major tourist spots or practically anywhere else where the public is prone to discard rubbish?

Any person walking around Penang can see that rubbish is strewn whenever there is no proper rubbish bin in sight. Can you blame the public for this?

Yes, sometimes there are those who throw rubbish everywhere especially out of their cars and on the sidewalks. So where are the enforcers? Why is MPPP so interested to enforce the meter car park system (I think there must be over a thousand summons each day on the island alone, this can be easily verified looking at the QUE system in place at the payment counter in Komtar) but there is hardly any fines on littering?

Is our meter car park system a tourist attraction?

Penang Stinks! - Comments by Arab Tourists

The Star, 3 May 2007: Malaysian Tourism Minister Gets First Hand Account From Tourists

Overcharging by taxi drivers and traders, stinking cabs and poor knowledge by unsmiling frontliners have marred Malaysia’s image among Arab tourists.

This feedback from Arab travel agents has left Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor red in the face.

He lamented that taxi drivers, sometimes, could not answer basic questions, like what the weather was like and queries on exchange rates.

“Sometimes, the taxis even stink!” he said, adding that he also received complaints from tour agencies here that the beaches in Penang and Kota Kinabalu were polluted with rubbish and sewage.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Malaysia has won an award as this year’s top choice summer holiday destination for United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents. (???!!)

Muslims - By Force

Al-Jazeera reports:-

Islamic authorities in Malaysia have removed a baby girl from her father's home and placed her mother in a religious rehabilitation centre in what has become the latest case to highlight the country's fragile racial and religious balance.

The case of 15-month-old Divya Darshini, and her mother, Revathi Masoosai, has cast light on the conflict between two parallel legal systems – civil and shariah - in multi-ethnic Malaysia.

Born as Siti Fatimah to a Muslim family, Revathi initially sought to legally change her name before deciding to marry the man she loved, Suresh Veerapan, in a Hindu rite in 2004.

Divya, was born about a year later.

But Malaysian law does not recognise marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims and in March religious officials, acting within Malaysian law, removed the child from Suresh's home and handed her over to Revathi's family.

Read more

Watch the Malaysiakini.TV clip or on YouTube:

Malaysian By-Election Campaigns Go Into Their Final Lap

And so the accusations and slandering starts (time to show off your laundry):

Najib accuses Khalid of being greedy (how come he wasn't accused then?)

Anwar accuses Najib of having a hand in the Mongolian murder case

Mahathir: Anwar will be PM only in his dreams

Najib's tainted defense contracts deals

Err... can anyone remember who is the other candidate in this by-election?

BBC prefers to interview Anwar rather than Pak Lah

Oooohh.... how it hurts when we put in so much effort and they don't even bother to interview us. How could they chose a "bankrupt politician" (who doesn't even have a seat in our august Parliament) over our beloved PM to interview. Tsk, tsk... the unfairness of it all!

Lots of sour grapes around. I didn't think BBC would have so much clout or influence over the Malaysian public. Now, according to our Information Minister, they do!

Apparently this was reported in The Star and China Post

Ex-PM Mahathir urges Ijok's voters to think before voting

Excerpts from the Ex-PM's interview with Malaysiakini.tv

“If you don’t think (about) what you are doing, you don’t use your vote intelligently, then of course, you are to be blamed.”

“Don’t vote BN blindly, don’t vote PAS blindly, don’t vote DAP blindly. Think. Use your faculties to think.”

“Unless you send a signal to the government that, ‘Look, if you don’t behave yourself, you may not get my vote at the next election,’ then the government will say, ‘You see? The people are voting for us. We are doing well.’

“If you vote (BN) because you get a lot of money or because you get a lot of projects, you may get a rotten government which uses money in order to buy your vote.”

Using Hooligans To Scare Voters

One would have thought this would be the tactic of the Malaysian Opposition but it is now used by the present BN government to scare the Malaysian voters into voting for them. What would they think of next?



Read more from Jeff Ooi's Screenshots

More brickbats for Penang CM from Malay contractors

The Star - 24 April 2007:-

The Penang Malay Contractors Association is upset with the Penang Municipal Council for awarding projects to contractors from outside the state since early this year.

Chairman Mohamed Fadzill Hassan said it had sent a protest letter to Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon recently.

“If nothing comes out of this we will even consider raising the matter with the Finance Ministry or Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,” he said yesterday.

He was commenting on the council’s decision to award road sweeping, grass cutting and drain cleaning projects to several contractors from Selangor recently. The Star had reported that the council awarded the RM8mil project to 33 contractors. Of this, it is learnt that eight contractors were from Seberang Prai and four from Selangor.

Mohamed Fadzill said: “I don’t mind projects being given to those from Seberang Prai but why give them to contractors from Selangor? “Will the local authorities in Selangor award such projects to contractors from Penang or other states?” he asked. Mohamed Fadzill said it was not legally wrong for the council to award projects to outsiders. He said it was an “ethical” issue as many contractors from Penang were facing problems in securing projects.

Citing another example, he said the council had awarded an RM800,000 road resurfacing project to a contractor from Selangor early this year. “A Penang contractor submitted a lower bid but he was not chosen probably because the council feels that he could not complete the project.”

Is "Acting President" Dr Koh trying to lobby the more powerful KL-based contractors?

Blogger assaulted while having lunch with Opposition candidate

Blogger Jeff Ooi and his co-photographer was recently assaulted while having lunch with the Opposition candidate in Ijok, a small town in Selangor with an upcoming by-election.

Read his blog entry