Monthly archives for May, 2012

PENANG MALAYS

May29th
2012 80 Comments

Written by chedet

1. I was in Penang recently, having been invited to give a talk by the Penang Mubarak (Council of Former Elected Representatives). On the way to Tanjung Bungah I was surprised to see the same wooden zinc-roofed shacks, which were there 60 years ago. The difference is that they are stuck between the slender beautiful high-rise flats favoured by Penang. Their ramshackle appearance seems out of place amidst the modern dwellings of the Penangites.

2. Why are the Penang Malays still living in these hovels? Yes, Kuala Lumpur has Malay slumps. But these are mostly built by new urban migrants. The Government has succeeded to rehouse most of the squatters in modern high-rise buildings so that, passing along the main roads, one does not see the slums anymore.

3. But the Penang Malays live in the same old shacks that housed them long ago. And they are an eyesore.

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POLITIK MALAYSIA

May25th
2012 92 Comments

Written by chedet

1. Kita sudah merdeka selama 55 tahun dan telah mengadakan 12 Pilihan Raya Umum. Walaupun parti-parti bukan dari Perikatan atau Barisan Nasional telah berjaya menawan dan mendiri Kerajaan dibeberapa negeri di Semenanjung dan di Sabah, tetapi Perikatan dan Barisan Nasional tidak pernah kalah di peringkat Pusat. Perikatan dan Barisan Nasional terus menjadi Kerajaan diperingkat Pusat, peringkat yang paling berkuasa di Malaysia.

2. Memang pada 1969 Perikatan hampir kalah tetapi kuasa kekal di tangan Perikatan dan akhirnya beberapa parti lawan telah menyertai Perikatan untuk menubuh Barisan Nasional yang terus memerintah.

3. Barisan Nasional menghadapi beberapa masalah dalaman tetapi berjaya mengatasinya dan mengekal kuasanya di Peringkat Pusat. Serpihan dari UMNO yang diusahakan oleh Tengku Razaleigh dan Anwar Ibrahim tidak berjaya mengalahkan Barisan Nasional.

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LYNAS

May20th
2012 48 Comments

Written by chedet

1. I was the first to write in my blog about rare earth, about how difficult it was to rid ourselves from activated rare earth when it was no longer needed.

2. Rare earth can be used for many things and in many ways. The rare earth represented by tin tailing, mostly ilmenite, when activated can be used in colour television. Today colour television uses plasma or LED.

3. This posed a problem of getting rid of the activated rare earth left in Malaysia. Finally it was agreed between Mitsubishi Electric and Malaysia that a site in Perak of almost a square kilometre be reserved for burying under concrete the activated “amang”.

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POLICE BRUTALITY – Part 2

May15th
2012 69 Comments

Written by chedet

1. The Bar Council accuses the Malaysian Police of brutality against the Bersih demonstrators. But, then that is to be expected. The Bar Council has never ever tried to be impartial or neutral when it comes to the Government. It is more of an opposition than the opposition parties.

2. But has the Malaysian Police been brutal? It is not the most perfect police force but this country is better served by its police than many other countries.

3. In a force that big there must be a few who may be inclined towards abuses of authority. When outnumbered, as they were during the Bersih demo, despite their being armed, the police must fear bodily harm to themselves. People in a crowd invariably feel daring and would do what they would not do when alone or outnumbered. They also know that the police had been instructed not to use their arms or undue force.

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POLICE BRUTALITY

May11th
2012 41 Comments

Written by chedet

1. One of the favourite accusations against the police in the West is “police brutality”. No doubt there is and there will always be police brutality in the West and elsewhere. But the term is used indiscriminately and even when the police apply some permissible force in the course of their work, they are likely to be accused of “police brutality”.

2. The recent Bersih demonstration in which the demonstrators are obviously violent has given rise to the accusation of police brutality. Even the pictorial and video evidence that the police were violently attacked by the demonstrators have not stopped the Bar Council from accusing the police of brutality.

3. There were it is believed some 250,000 demonstrators. i.e 250 times more than the police. They were violent. They broke the barriers set up by City Hall to stop the demonstrators from going into the Merdeka Square. Obviously from the video clips and pictures the demonstrators not only broke the barriers but attacked, literally attacked the police who were tasked to keep the demonstrators from breaking the barriers. They chased police cars, shattered the windscreen and overturned it. They kicked a policeman who had fallen on the ground.

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BERSIH 3 Pt 2

May8th
2012 47 Comments

Written by chedet

1. Some who condemned my piece on Bersih 3 say that the ruling party abused the authority of the Government to ensure its success. They ask why rural constituencies have more seats for less voters. Why the gerrymandering.

2. This is because since the days of the British the urban areas tend to dominate politics and to be better served by the Government. To balance this, the poorly serviced rural areas have to be given higher representation in the legislature.

3. This is not new. It is common practice in the United States the state of New Jersey with less than five million people gets the same number of Senate seats (two) as California with more than forty million people. In most democratic countries some leverage is given to constituencies which for a variety of reasons are less developed.

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BERSIH 3

May4th
2012 67 Comments

Written by chedet

1. Sunday’s Bersih 3 demonstration is no doubt the biggest and the most violent in the series. It is likely that future Bersih will be even bigger and more violent.

2. The stated objective is to demand that elections be cleaner and fairer. But is this the real objective? I think not. Malaysian elections have been more clean than those in the authoritarian countries where results have always been obviously fixed. There would always be 99.9% of the votes going to the Government party or the President. If at all the opposition were to win, it would get at best 10% of the seats contested. After that the opposition would be prevented from taking their places in the legislature.

3. But in Malaysia there has never been an election, whether at State or Federal levels when the opposition had not won a substantial number of seats. In fact whole states may be lost to the opposition. And no matter how the Government party tried, it just could not wrest Kelantan from the opposition.

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MINIMUM WAGE

May2nd
2012 34 Comments

Written by chedet

1. The workers of Malaysia must be happy over the RM900 per month minimum pay. It will give them a higher standard of living.

2. But the minimum wage would I think, cause a domino effect. Those now receiving RM900 per month would not be happy with the idea of their juniors getting the same wages as themselves. To preserve the salary structure their wages must be raised also. And of course if their wages go up those above them would also demand an increase so that their seniority would be properly compensated.

3. So the increase in minimum wage would result in increases in the wages of all categories of workers and employees. Costs of everything must certainly go up.

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Monthly archives for May, 2012

PENANG MALAYS

POLITIK MALAYSIA

LYNAS

POLICE BRUTALITY – Part 2

POLICE BRUTALITY

BERSIH 3 Pt 2

BERSIH 3

MINIMUM WAGE

Chedet Stat

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