Rains and the hidden realities

The rains in Penang, they are refreshing. Like a gigantic car wash, they give the atmosphere over Penang a big spring cleaning........washing away all the small particulates in the air that make up the haze...that hovers over the island and much of the country.

Clean air and not the smell of smoke, of something burning in the air. Gone are the irritation to the nostrils and the eyes. Yes I can see clearly now, and depending on where I gaze, I can see natural landscapes pockmarked by unnatural scars made by men to fatten their pockets.

I don't know which is worse, to see the hills of Penang marred unnaturally by men in their homage to mammon; or to have it hidden by the haze caused by people across the straits in their worship to the same god....

Maybe clear blue skies not filtered by smoke, where the verdant hills gleam, interupted by the red lateritic earth exposed by builders, is the better alternative. Seeing realities as it is.....not hidden but well exposed......a window to our souls and our hearts....

Trees, plants and flowers of Penang

Trees, plants and flowers soften up the urban landscapes......like balm to my soul and salve to my eyes....they ease away the toils and smoothen the rough edges of a crowded urban city.....

Their shapes and colours...unplanned yet created with natural symmetry...beguiling...subdueing the angry spirits arising from bruises suffered when people and thoughts collide

The peace they evoke....feelings that lay buried...crushed by the onslaught of daily living...foraging for crumbs that the system throw out to feed the hungry masses.....forgotten for awhile, but awaken.....as I sit and feed my eyes on God's creation.....

Reminded of His grace and tender mercies....I rest,.....assured of His love I find strength to move on and live for another day.......

Looking for a CEO/General/Dictator to run Penang's Public Transport System...

The Penang State Government is looking for a CEO to run the state's public transport system....or someone to spend the RM50 million loan they got from the Feds.....Who will they get??? ...that's the RM50 million question????

Someone with the experience and record to run a successful public transport system? To begin with...there's not much of a system in Penang.....as I said we had a system for much of the fifties and even up to the mid 80's...then wiser folks killed it....all in the name of ??????

We designed our cities for cars....& then kill the public transport by refusing to allow the operators to increase their fares when fuel costs, spare parts and cost of labour skyrocketed...all in the name of protecting joe public....we begin to "educate" joe public to expect pay peanuts for good services, we all love free rides....yet as Milton Friedman says "there's no such thing as free lunch".......in end, joe public have to end up paying more for transport because he has to buy a car that he only uses for about less than 10% of its life span...spending most of its time in car parks either at home or at the office or factory.....unless of course he moonlights as a taxi sapu.....that is the price we pay because the public transport system had broken down....

Why control fares?.....why control taxi licences....let there be no barriers to entry...& let the market dictate the fares people pay... free market...except to control ciminals or pyschopaths or peadophiles from becoming taxi drivers...anyone who wants to get a tax licence gets one...no renting...no special permits for special people.....no rent seeking opportunities....c whether we can get a good service... free market always....gives better services....its only when politicians come in and temper them all in the name of protecting joe public...that we get clobbered....remember wise man of old have this to say about governments..."a good government governs least..."

Well good luck to whoever the state appoints as a CEO....tough assignment ....thankless task...hopes the pay is good.

The haze.....but for the miraculous rain....

Yesterday the haze was pretty bad.....the visibilty was probably less than 50 m......the sky was already quite dark by 5.00 pm yesterday...and you literally smelled smoke or something burning....that's how bad it was.....pity the asthma sufferers and ppl with chronic respiratory problems....

i prayed for God to send the rain....and it came this morning....around 7.00 am...lasted till 10.00 am.....the rain send the haze away and clean up the mess that our greed created...burning the jungle to make way for oil palm....sustainable oil palm.....what a misnomer....

Homeless in Georgetown

The Komtar in Georgetown is a home for the homeless in Pg. Every morning along Pg road just opposite the Ong Kongsi, you will see a group (maybe 7 or 8) elderly Chinese man and woman sitting around. They have not come to shop because the shops are still closed nor come to have their breakfast in the coffee shops....bec they have just open and are getting ready for the office crowds.....

They are the homeless residents of komtar.....pg's tallest building.....at night they would sleep along komtar's corridors along prangin road..where the ground floor of the Departmental Store Super Komtar used to be....

I wonder whether any of our wakil rakyat ....people's represantative knows....it reminds me of many songs....the streets of london....an old lady carrying her whole world in two carrier bags or the song another day in paradise

We can do anything.... feed them.....find them a place to sleep.....its a good thing we don't have winters....or they will be frozen to death...as winter takes its toil....

Dough-nut effect - the hollowing out of Georgetown

The city of Georgetown is hollowing out.....as more of its residents moved out of its center.....it will become like a dough-nut....with nothing in its center....

Every nite just after 9.00 pm....the city is a ghost town except for some sections such as the UPR (Upper Penang Road for the uninitiated)...the city is dead as a dodo.....as most of the happenings are located on the fringes of the city in places like the gurney and pulau tikus and bayan bahru....

One of the consequence of this dough-nut effect can be felt in the morning. The formerly busy markets of penang, like chowraster, campbell street, kuantan road markets are dying a slow death.....it is so "uncrowded" compared to their hey days in the 60's and 70's.....some of the best and cheapest hawker foods are found there....

I am lamenting the closing of my favourite malaysian pan cake store at Anson road market....the store owner can make enough to make it worth his while to continue his business....so is my favourite curry mai fun man.....his curry laksa is one of the best...very subdued and yet aromatic and delicious and yummy....he complains that he can even sell more than 5 katis about 3 kgs of mee per day...he too will be looking for another place to ply his trade.....how sad.....that's progress

Yup, i am fed up, with progress....

The very rude drivers of penang

There is a sub-species of drivers in Penang that are impatient and and will do anything to beat the queue at road junctions and traffic lights.

They just want to go first, and to wait for the lights to turn green or for other drivers to turn is just too much for them.....they behave as if they are holding on to their urine or shit and have to rush to the nearest toilet or all hell will break loose and they will literally burst.....

These drivers break all traffic rules and norms of courtesy.....it shows their character...who they are .... is displayed for all to see....badly brought up and disrespectful, selfish and destined for destruction.....

Rain rain go away

The rains never seems to stop.......as i can recall the rain in Pg usually starts around March-April during the inter-monsoon months. Then it eases off by the beginning of June, until after August, it starts again, unleashing its fullest onslaught around mid-September and then easing off again towards the end of October. By the mid-December, the dry season starts and ends with the onset of early april showers, the next year.....

2006 seems to be an exceptional year....the drought was not as pronounced nor was it as prolonged.....april showers actually came in early March, then it left us for a short while...but it never seems to go away....it continues....on and off....weird....

Somethings going awry....the rain pattern may be out kilter......global warming perhaps.....

Penang - Public Transport a major flop

Knew all along that the revamped transport system would failed miserably. They changed nothing......as the saying goes....our system is perfectly designed to produce the results we are getting.....if the State governement or rather the Federal Government run CLVB did not changed anything.....how can the system produce different results.....

Madness or insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results.....

Sigh.....gets more depressing with each passing day......thats why i stopped blogging about penang......there is not much positive things to write....phew....

Is the second bridge really neccessary?

It was reported that the ADUN for Sg. Dua raised the issue of the second bridge, saying that it should not be build as it would lead to more congestion in Penang. Instead the ADUN for Sg. Dua suggested that the Pg bridge be expanded and that the proposed monorail system be expanded to include Seberang Perai and that both the monorails systems in the mainland and the island should be linked. In this way congestion be reduced and public transport be given a boost. Syabas....its been a long time since an ADUN has suggested something against conventional thinking but a great and good idea nevertheless.

However, I am truly disappointed with the knee jerk response of of ADUN for Batu Uban, saying not building the second bridge will not solve the congestion problem on the island.....of course it will not solve the problem.....BUT IT WILL DISCOURAGE VEHICLES FROM THE MAINLAND TO COME TO THE ISLAND & THEREFORE KEEP THE CONGESTION PROBLEM FROM BECOMING A EVEN BIGGER PROBLEM. It just like saying that if you don't add inflammable liquid or fuel into fire will not put out the fire but it will stop the fire from getting even worse.....CAN'T THEY THINK OUT OF THE BOX.....PUBLIC TRANSPORT NOT ANOTHER BRIDGE TO ALLOW MORE CARS TO CLOG UP THE ROADS IN THE ISLAND...SOON WE BE BREATHING IN FUMES FROM MOTOR EXHAUST THAT'S ALL....

Urban renewal or development.....Jelutong west

The area lying between Perak Road and Jelutong Road is slowly turning from a squatter zone into a new urban area. In the recent past this place was so notorious for its gangsters and communists.

In the fifties and sixties, it was the stronghold of the Labour Party.....the party was so infiltrated by the communists and chinese chauvinists that riots would should just explode from this place.....

This place is also the happening place for illegal gambling and drugs. In 1970s, when the communists were eventually hounded out of this place....the gangsters took over the turf.



This was also the stronghold of DAP stalwart, Mr. Karpal Singh until 1999 election when DAP stupidly joined PAS in a pact to unseat BN.....all their Chinese deserted them......Chinese just don't trust the Islamists, no matter what they proclaim during the elections.......

Police would tread warily here.....almost like the walled city of kowloon in Hong Kong.....a no man's land....

But development and urban renewal has finally arrived, nice shops with trees planted along its thoroughfares..... I hope the City Council will keep it safe and clean and not let it turn into a slum.....

Food Hawkers in Penang - a catalyst for urban renewal??

The area around Swatow lane and Nagore road is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. The old houses along nagore road had been recetly renovated and turned into rows of offices, retail and food outlets.

After the New World Park closed down in the 1970's, the place around these roads slowly went downhill except for the ice kacang stall, that was there. Even though New World Park had closed, customers continued to stream in bcause of the ice kacang........later on that attracted other food vendors who set up their stores to take advantage of the 'anchor' hawker store...the Swatow lane ice kacang man.....

For over 30 years, the ice kacang man thrived.....but for reasons best known to himself, he never took advantage of his position to buy or lease the property/house outside which his hawker store stood....in fact the owner of the property opened up a coffee shop in the 1980's and they probabaly quarreled and the ice kacang was banned from "entering" the coffee shop although it remained outside the shop...

But about a few years back, someone else took over the coffee shop and got it renovated and brought in a new set of stores to sell food in the shop including a store that sells ice kacang (to 'fool' outstation people who heard of the ice kacang but don't know where the store is)....the original Swatow lane ice kacang man had to move across the road......

But the human traffic it attracts everyday from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm is quite substantial.....this lead to property owners taking advantage and renovating those rent control houses and putting them up for lease as restaurants and offices....

Other examples of hawkers being catalysts of urban renewal is along Cintra Street (lesser extent) and New Lane......

Casino ship leaving from Swettenham Pier

Every morning around 11.00 am the casino ship leaves Swettenham Pier. Middle-age man and woman can be seen barding the ship. The spruikers with their red packets of special gifts wait at the entrance of the Pier to usher in potential clients to the boat.

Apparently, the boat will sail out to the international waters (12 miles) from shore and then the casino opens......and it sails back to Penang in the evening.....

Genting on "wheels"......to the detriment of the citizenry of Penang....

Penang Lor bah, tau yew bak & kiam chai boey for lunch

We had lor bah, tau yew bak & kiam chai boey for lunch in Church for mother's day....

Great stuff......enjoyed the food thoroughly.....Cheng See orgainsed for our cell group and invited the homeless to join us so that we can share God's love with them.

Delicious, yet simple traditional hokkien fare.....

Bridge mystic at daybreak

The bridge at daybreak....so mysterious with the backdrop of hills and the mountain ranges behind.

Still sleeping penang island...before the rising of the sun; before the dawn of a new day.....

What will the day bring.... a new day of happenings.....

Monuments & Memorials 3 - Sun Yat Sen

Penang changed the course of history in China. Without the Penang Conference in 1910, where Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the founder of modern China, pleaded with his overseas Chinese supporters to support him financially for the last fight against the Manchu rule in China, the course of chinese history may be different.

Read it in : http://www.sysmuseum-pg.com/selection.html

Many old-timers remember the time when the founding president of the Republic of China came and lived in Penang. He came to Pg as a political refugee on the run from the Ching (Manchu) Government of China. He had failed to rally the people of China to his cause i.e. to overthrow the Manchu government and set up a republic; his planned revolt failed and had to flee for his life.

He was dispirited and discouraged. In Penang as well as elsewhere, where there is a huge overseas chinese population, he successfully rallied the overseas chinese to his cause.....it is a measure of truth to say that he was not only financed mainly through his overseas chinese connections but also received much support and encouragement from the overseas chinese communities throughout the world (Dr. Sun Yat Sen was overseas chinese himself, having been raised in Hawaii)



Many chinese in Penang supported Dr. Sun, none more than the two millionaires in this sculpture together with him. They supported Dr. Sun and his cause till they bankrupted themselves...... Modern China owes these two people and overseas chinese all over the world a debt....if not for their support...who knows china may still be under imperial rule....and history would had turn up differently...

from wikipeadia

Sun and the overseas Chinese
Sun's notability and popularity extends beyond the Greater China region, particularly to Nanyang where a large concentration of overseas Chinese reside in Singapore. Sun recognised the contributions which the large number of overseas Chinese can make beyond the sending of remittances to their ancestral homeland, and therefore made multiple visits to spread his revolutionary message to these communities around the world.

Sun made a total of eight visits to Singapore between 1900 and 1911. His first visit made on 7 September 1900 was to rescue Miyazaki Toten, who was arrested there, an act which also resulted in his own arrest and a ban from visiting the island for five years. Upon his next visit in June 1905, he met local Chinese merchants Teo Eng Hock, Tan Chor Nam and Lim Nee Soon in a meeting which was to mark the commencement of direct support from the Nanyang Chinese. Upon hearing their reports on overseas Chinese revolutionists organising themselves in Europe and Japan, he urged them to establish the Singapore chapter of the Tongmenghui, which came officially into being on 6 April the following year upon his next visit.

The chapter was housed in a villa known as Wan Qing Yuan (晚晴園) and donated for the use of revolutionalists by Teo. In 1906, the chapter grew in membership to 400, and in 1908, when Sun was in Singapore to escape the Qing government in the wake of the failed Zhennanguan Uprising, the chapter had become the regional headquarters for Tongmenghui branches in Southeast Asia. Sun and his followers travelled from Singapore to Malaya and Indonesia to spread their revolutionary message, by which time the alliance already had over twenty branches with over 3,000 members around the world.

Sun's foresight in tapping on the help and resources of the overseas Chinese population was to bear fruit on his subsequent revolutionary efforts. In one particular instance, his personal plea for financial aid at the Penang Conference held on 13 November 1910 in Malaya, helped launch a major drive for donations across the Malay Peninsula, an effort which helped finance the Second Guangzhou Uprising (also commonly known as the Yellow Flower Mound revolt) in 1911.

From http://www.geocities.com/armenian_pg/sunbase.htm

This late 19th century shophouses at 120 Armenian Street was the base of the South-east Asia Tung Meng Hooi when it was headquartered in Penang from 1909 to 1911.

The Tung Meng Hooi was the party of Dr. Sun Yat Sen alias Sun Chong San, leader of the Chinese nationalist revolution. From Penang Dr. Sun and his friends planned the Canton Uprising of Spring 1911. The historic "Penang Conference" took place in November 1910 at the Tung Meng Hooi headquarters.

Although the Canton Uprising was defeated, it was considered the turning point of the Double Tenth Revolution, the establishment of the first Republic in Asia.

A grand memorial was built at Hwang Hwa kang to 72 fallen heroes of the Canton Uprising. Of the known martyrs, 24 were Nanyang Chinese, of whomthe most posthumously famous was Malaya's Luo Ching Huo.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the first provisional President of the Republic, is generally considered the father of modern China.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Penang Base was the focal point of the progressive Chinese of that period. In their effort to promote a greater social awareness among the Nanyang Chinese, Dr. Sun and his Penang friends and supporters made lasting contribution to the local society.

The Kwong Wah Jit Poh was also founded in this house in 1910.
The Malay community in the Acheen Street area was also aware of the anti-Manchu revolutionaries who were operating in the neighbourhood around the same time. The group was referred to as orang Sun Yat Sen yang potong thauchang, that is, the followersof Dr. Sun Yat Sens who cut off their pigtails in protest againts Manchu rule in China.

The "dwelling house or messuage" was already extant in 1875. At the time, the owner was Cheah Joo Seang, a trustee of the Cheah Kongsi from 1879 to 1895.

From: http://203.208.135.220/english/onceupon/mysupp.html#penconf
(Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Singapore)

Penang (Pulau Pinang)
The Penang Conference
Goh Say Eng (1875 - 1944)
A second generation Penang-born Chinese, Goh was a rich man's son. Of the Hokkien (Haideng) dialect, his family was in the flour business. Goh Say Eng was one of Dr Sun's most faithful supporters. Together with Chen Xinzheng and Huang Jinqing, the three of them almost expended their entire fortunes to back the revolution. Goh became paralysed in later years and died a pauper just before the end of the Second World War.Other supporters from Penang: Chen Xinzheng, Huang Jinqing, Qiu Minghe, Gu Liting, Li Zisheng, Xu Zonghan, Xiong Yushan, and Lin Shian

Penang Cooking School----Why not?

Someone had suggested that a school be set up to teach penang style cooking to promote tourism. Yes do it, but not just for tourism but part of Penang's contribution to the world of culinary arts.

Two or three decades ago, there a famous cook and pioneer in the art of flower arrangement by the name of Mr. Lim Beng Yeam (may have got his name wrong) that taught people how to cook...many of his students were rich housewives or mistresses who used these skills for their homemaking....some may have open restaurants....

Yes, a school specializing in Penang Nyonya kuehs, Nyonya & hokkien dishes such as Inche Kabin, Cheuw hoo Char, Perut Ikan, Gulai tumis, etc etc..., Penang desserts ...., Penang Hawker fare.... The school would also teach the art of selecting the fresh ingredients, preparation, menu planning, and management.

The school can graduate students at certificate, advance certificate level and diploma level.....

Not just tourism....but professional vocational courses.....anyone game to try.....

What is Penang if not for its nyonya kueh

The thing about living in penang is the chance to savour its nyonya kueh. Yes u have these kueh in kl and many parts of peninsular malaysia and even in s'pore....but nothing beats the nyonya kuehs made in pg for the discerning taste and cost consciousness penangite......

The variety and the competitively priced kuehs in pg is just unbeatable....we have

• kueh tai tai (the blue pulut kueh with kaya on top) is my all-time favourite;
• next is the ondeh ondeh with its melt in your mouth gula melaka embeded inside light green ball that is sprinkled with coconut shavings;
• then u have the rempah udang; the huat kueh;
• kueh kochi;
• kueh kochi santan;
• bankah (ubi kayu ...best in the world);
• kueh lapis;
• kueh talam;......

The list goes on and on and on.... the variety cannot be beaten.....and the availability....practically every market in morning...costs between 40 to 60 cents per pc......

What more to ask for .....Rm1.20 buys u the best breakfast in malaysia...plus another rm1.00 for cup of nescafe.....mmmm



Source : http://www.makansingapore.com/arch/0506-people.php

The above photo is taken from the ones sold at Copthorne Hotel Singapore. These kueh are made by its penang chef, Mr. Danny Ooi from Pulau Tikus. a pciesce of these kueh would cost you S$0.70 or S$20 for 30 pcs.....

See what i mean.....

Penang island ----residential suburbs of Butterworth

Butterworth, the twin city of Georgetown....just like the twin cities of Minneapolis & St Paul in the US, B'worth & G'town are linked by their close proximity and economy. There has always been an air of superiority of G'town residents over residents of B'worth which is totally unjustified.....in fact in many ways B'worth are now the engine of Pg's growth.....There are no more ports on the island except the ferry terminal & the passenger terminal at Swettenham pier......all the ports are in the b'worth. More importantly over the mainland, there are more room to grow......no more industrial land in pg island......besides, there are more land waiting in the industrial parks located in Kedah, and Perak. Kedah with its industrial estates in Sg Petani, Bakar Arang and Gurun and hi-tech park in Kulim are poised to grow even more vigourously.

The new stadium is at batu kawan, and soon the race course. With the second link, b'worth and its surrounding hinterland will boom.....b'worth serves not only pg but the whole northen region of peninsular Malaysia, including much of kelantan and even south thailand....Penang island will and must remain an residential suburbs of the mainland Butterworth and southern kedah, the more dynamic and industrial part of the mainland and so it should be......

Penang's taxi -the king of the road

Pg's taxis are the only ones in the country that can thump thier noses at the law and get away with it. Despite getting the highest rates (payment) in the country, they can still refuse to use the meters. They are given the license to fleece the public or as the taxis see it "charge what the market can bear"....like all true and pure capitalists......(they can, provided they pay for their diesel or petrol at market can bear prices without any subsidies.......)

They are supposed to abide by the meter rule by the 1st of may.....now this deadline has been shifted to accomodate them...ostensibly so that they can get their meters calibrated and approved by Puspakom.....as Dr. Choong rightly said....why fixed a date when you do not planned ahead to get things ready for compliance......then again only in Malaysia.....