An Email to Chandra Muzaffar

[On 24 April 2008, I wrote an email to Dr Chandra Muzaffar. There is still no response from him a month later by now. Reproduced here my letter and extracts from two related articles.]


Dear Prof.,

Greetings from Poh.

I read with interest your article THE 2008 MALAYSIAN ELECTION - AND THE BN DEBACLE . [Please read Dr Chandra's article here]

I would like to refer to Q3 and your answer and offer my humble comments.

Though your analyses of the dissatisfaction of the various ethnic groups are reasonable, I find that the key issues in the last election are not these. I used to think like this before the election. However, as I talked to more and more people of various groups and walked the ground a bit during the election period, I find that these issues were not the main ones bothering the general mass. I was surprised to find that my original analyses were out of date and out of place!

The Rakyat as a whole was angry at how the leaders of each ethnic group could be so ethno-centric to stir up their respectic community's hatred; when they are actually the leader of the NATION! How can we have Ong fighting for Chinese schools; Samy claiming that Indians cannot do without him, and Hisham threatening the non-Malays? They are national leaders who should be MALAYSIANS in perspectives, words and actions!

I was surprised but definitely happier that more and more common people are having an alternative perspective of seeing the various issues from the NATIONAL point of view. The opposition parties under Anwar had capitalised on this perspective well for their political gain.

I am very interested to know exactly how big the relative proportions of the rakyat having these two opposing perspectives, ethnic vs national. Perhaps you should scrutinise what the various surveys including those by Merdeka Centre and write about this with your personal strength as the leading political scientist.

Politics has been my personal passion and you were one of my earliest teachers, thanks for the lessons and Terima Kasih for your time.

NB: the article in theStar, Sunday March 30, 2008, How the tables have turned, Sharing The Nation, By ZAINAH ANWAR is quite reflective of what the general public thinks. [Please read Zainah's article here]

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=sharingthenation&file=/2008/3/30/columnists/sharingthenation/20776545&sec=Sharing%20The%20Nation

Rgds,
Poh Swee Hiang

Penang ferry services to be upgraded

[The following is a piece of news from the Star, related to my earlier posting.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/20/nation/20080520162808&sec=nation. I did forward my last posting on ferry to Jeff Ooi and have not received any reply yet.]

Tuesday May 20, 2008 MYT 7:24:02 PM

Penang ferry services to be upgraded
By ZULKIFLY MOHAMAD


BUTTERWORTH: Penang ferry services between here and the island will not be scrapped despite losing over RM50mil over the past four years.

State Public Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said that the Finance Ministry, which owns Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) that operates the services, had made it clear that the services must not be stopped for whatever reason.

“We will instead upgrade the ferry services. We may also introduce catamarans to complement the existing services.

“However, the catamarans will only be used once approval is given by the Federal Government,” he told reporters Tuesday after attending a briefing on the ferry services and a visit to the ferry terminal here.

PPSB chief operating officer Mohd Niana Merican Abd Kadir Merican had said recently that the vehicular ferry service would be scrapped on completion of the expansion of the Penang Bridge in September next year.

He had said the company planned to operate a speedboat ferry service, as it was cheaper and more efficient.

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop then said any decision to scrap the service between Penang island and Seberang Prai will be made only by the Federal Government.

He said both his ministry and the Transport Ministry would make such a decision if it proved to be viable.

“We have not decided on anything. The matter has not even been tabled to the Cabinet for consideration. At present, as far as the Finance Ministry is concerned, there is no issue over this."

Lim said the ferry services were running at a loss due to many reasons, including fuel increase and low passengers and traffic volume.

PPSB posted a loss of RM12.11mil for its ferry service operations in 2004, RM13.4mil (2005), RM10.73mil (2006) and RM14.69mil last year.

Presently, six of the eight ferries are used to ply between here and the island while the other two are on standby and under maintenance.

The six ferries ply 120 trips daily. Each trip cost PPSB RM772 and the company makes RM421 for each full load trip resulting in a loss of about RM350 for each trip.

Lim said an average of 4,000 cars, 5,500 motorbikes, 500 lorries and 6,000 passengers used the services daily.

“All in, 110,560 cars used the ferry services last year compared to 1.24mil cars that crossed the bridge during the period,” he added.

He said PPSB could not raise the ferry fares without the Government’s approval despite suffering annual losses.

He added the services might face a greater challenge when the expansion of the Penang bridge is completed in September next year and once the second bridge was ready in 2011.

On the upgrading exercise, Lim said the passengers waiting area at the Butterworth side would be improved.

“New fans will be installed and the floors will be tiled for easy maintenance and cleanliness,” he said.

Revive the Penang Ferries

Have you been to Penang? Even better, have you taken the ferry?

When I was a kid, Penang was not only an entreport, but also a duty-free island. We kids were asked by our parents to be small-time smugglers! However, of all the things, we only smuggled shirts by wearing extras and hiding away sundries like Colgate. The Custome Officers on Butterworth checked adults thoroughly, but usually let loose on the kids!

The map above shows how the Penang Island was connected via ferry to the Mainland town of Butterworth. The Mainland part of Penang used to be called Province Wellesley (PW), a term now overtaken by Seberang Perai (SP), which RTM at times ignorantly equate it with the name of the town called Prai!

Ferry used to be the only means of getting across the Penang Channel. The ferry is double-decked. The upper deck is for pedestrians who walk to and fro between the ferry and bus stop. The bottom deck is meant for motored vehicles including the lorries, cars and motorcycles, and also bicycles. Later part of the history, a second wharf was constructed for each side of the channels, with the upper deck meant for cars also; and thus another type of ferry was introduced, with both decks for motored vehicles only.


I was told that our Penang ferry modelled upon the Hoog Kong equivalent, but I have never taken the Hong Kong one to confirm this.


I enjoyed taking the ferry both as a pedestrian as well as a motorcyclist. There used to be a small shop on the upper deck, and the 20-cent ice-cream was my favorite!

Lately, I have tried taking the ferry too, just to reminisce.

The breeze, the short break after a tiring traffic jam and the walking-up-and-down the decks would have make one happy with travelling on the ferry.

However, there are three problems about choosing the ferry over the Penang Bridge:

1. You are not sure about the timing of the ferry, you may have to wait a long time as it not only depends on the density of the traffic, but also the number of ferries in service at taht particulat time.
2. For pedestrians, connecting means of transport after taking the ferry is also a headache as buses were not regular, taxi is expensive and trishaw-beca was not popular. I am not sure if this problem has improved with the introduction of Rapid Penang, can someone advise me on this?
3. For cars, you may have to face the long queue waiting for the ferry, I am also not sure how bad is this problem now.

For regular travellors who know the above problems, proper scheduling would save a lot of time.

I know of my kampungmate, Mr Low the accountant, who is taking the ferry every day. He must have some clues. Hope to hear from him too.

We voted in the new Gomen (I played my part as I have voted for the State Deputy Speaker), let's hope our Guan Eng and his team can do something on improving the ferry service, while waiting for the dilly-dally vengeful decision on whether to build the 2nd Link and how much should UEM profit from it...

Related links for reading:

http://www.penangport.com.my/english/facilities/ferry_cruise.htm

http://anilnetto.com/2008/05/03/bridge-near-shanghai-works-out-cheaper-per-km-than-second-penang-bridge/

May Day & V David

Today is the May Day!

One personality whom I know as a First Class Politician while growing up is V David, and I am glad that Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) writes about him in Malaysia Today, May Day 2008, the day I start this blog!

I admire V David for three reasons:

1. He has a humble beginning but serves the nation proudly
2. He is instrumental in developing the multi-racial politics in the earlier part of Malaysia especially in parties namely Gerakan and Pekemas
3. He speaks a simple language the men in the street particularly the workers understand!

Below is an extract from RPK's column "No Holds Barred" entitled V. David, the man who made ‘May Day’ possible, Thursday, 01 May 2008. This extract was written by K George in Aliran Monthly Vol 25 (2005): Issue 6, a magazine that I have been subscribing and I could even now remember reading it back in 2005! If you wish to read the whole article, click here.

Please read on:


Youngest MP at 26

In the 1959 General Election, David, already a member of the Labour Party, which formed a coalition with other opposition parties known as the Socialist Front, contested and won, becoming a Member of Parliament for Bangsar as well as Selangor State Assembly member. At 26, he was the youngest Member of Parliament – bold, vigorous and committed.

By mid 1960s, the registration of the Labour Party was cancelled. Its leaders like Dr Tan Chee Khoon, Veerappan, Tan Pock Kin, David and others decided to seek the registration of another party. I was then the General Secretary of the Federation of Armed Forces Civilian Staff Union as well as Vice-President of the MTUC and of CUEPACS. Like David, I too believed that trade unions had to involve themselves in politics. It was not an unusual phenomenon but a fact that was visible all over the world.

I was invited by the group to join and help with the formation of Gerakan. It was during this period that I grew closer to David. I am proud to claim that both of us knew what poverty was and that our commitment to struggle for the welfare of workers became a passion. David stood on a Gerakan ticket in the General Elections in 1969 and was elected to Parliament as MP for Datuk Keramat in Penang. However, being a civil servant and father of three young children, I decided to carry on with my job and union activity.

Gerakan became a very popular party and received multiracial support. In the May 1969 General Election, the party captured the state of Penang and formed the government with Dr Lim Chong Eu as Chief Minister. But within two years, it was embroiled in a leadership crisis, resulting in Dr Lim taking full control of Gerakan. Professor Alatas, Dr Tan Chee Khoon, David and other leaders left Gerakan and formed Pekemas, which contested in the 1974 General Election. Out of over 90 candidates, only Dr Tan Chee Khoon retained his seat as the MP for Kepong constituency. Pekemas did not last long. Subsequently, David joined the DAP.

He was elected to parliament on the DAP ticket in 1978 for Damansara and was successfully returned in 1986 and 1990 for Puchong. But in 1995, David did not contest because of health reasons.