Screw you, Penangites!
Penangites have never asked for mega projects in the first place. We have vociferously objected to the PORR (Penang Outer Ring Road) and now the PGCC (Penang Global City Centre). Penang has developed too fast too soon for its own good. Roads are congested. Property price is getting ridiculous. Whatver is left of the beach in Gurney Drive is full of rubbish.
What Penangites want is sustainable development, not showy mega projects. These projects benefit only certain parties more than the people of Penang. That is why we are so against it. The previous government never bothered to listen to the voices of the people. They deserve the fate that befell them.
So, if Penang UMNO is going to “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all mega projects, I say go ahead. I for one will not shed a tear for the loss of these projects. To the people in Penang UMNO, carry on with this offensive attitude and you will be seeing more seats change hands in the next election.
Nation
Friday March 14, 2008PENANG: The state Umno will “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all the mega projects in the state in view of the people’s clear rejection of Barisan Nasional.
Since Penangites do not want development, the Federal Government should not force it on them, said state Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim.
He said that this was not Penang Umno taking revenge “but we are actually giving the people what they want”.
Struggle continues: Azhar (third from left), Abdul Rashid (left) and other Penang Umno leaders showing their fighting spirit after the emergency meeting on Thursday. — Bernama
“They voted for change, so let us see what the DAP can do,” he said after the party’s emergency meeting at Menara Umno yesterday.
Azhar, who is Penaga assemblyman, was appointed the state Opposition Leader at the meeting.
Meanwhile, Umno liaison committee deputy chief Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdullah hit out at the new administration for its decision not to practise the New Economic Policy (NEP).
Tags: Gurney Drive, mega projects, Penang, Penangites, PGCC, PORR, sustainable development
From Serenity To A Madding Crowd
This beautiful sight greeted us as we emerged from Sunset Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit yesterday. This cloud formation is called the altocumulus and supposedly warns of impending rain; nevertheless, still an amazing spectacle. That reminded me of the sand ripples at the bottom of the seabed which had fascinated me as a child.
Uncle Paul, who had come back from Malacca with his family to celebrate the Chinese New Year here, suggested that we have dinner at the Gurney Drive hawkers� corner. The traffic congestion five kilometres away from our destination portended the state of things to come.
Gurney Drive is not the place to go to during festive holidays. Traffic came to a crawl as we entered the beachfront. Parking space was hard to come and Peter, my cousin, had to wait a while to get one. The hawker�s corner was packed to the brim but Uncle Paul who had arrived earlier than us had a table waiting for us. The food was cut-throat expensive. I did not eat much as nothing caught my fancy.
We adjourned to the promenade after we had finished our food. It was equally crowded there. There were makeshift stalls selling fireworks. Children and adults were lighting all kinds of sparklers, roman candles, rockets and missiles that lit up the night sky in a pyrotechnic of colours and explosions. That was also a hazardous place to be with merrymakers recklessly hurling firecrackers all over the place, notwithstanding the acrid fumes that filled the air. We left a short while later and got stuck in another traffic jam on the way back.
Tags: Chinese New Year, Gurney Drive
