Of late I have been taking bus rides on Rapid Penang. My initial conclusion is that on the scale of 1 to 10, I would rate it a 5, and that's not bad. I rate the public transportation system in Melbourne a 8.....it wouuld gotten a 9 if not for the bad service during the weekends.
We in Pg, still got a long way to go...I hope we get there....
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Penang's heritage....yes we are prepared to pay to keep them!
The REHDA Chairman of the Pg branch, said that Penangites do not know how much it will cost them to have the UNESCO heritage city status.......well I do not know how much it will cost...just as I don't know how much it will cost me to keep my "heart"....but without it I will surely die.....
So will Penang...it will lose its soul, spirit and its character, if we allow the "tear down" crowd have their way....what is heritage to them, a hindrance to them an obstacle to their desire to put in another souless building....what is the use of ole shop house except that they are sitting on a piece of land in which they want to build any high rise....flat and rectagular shapes buildings ...souless...without any spirit...blocks of concrete protruding thru the earth.... If these people have their way....Pg would not Pg anymore....it would just like any other city......just like Mcdonalds, everywhere it tastes the same.....
No Penang should be able to pay the price in keeping our place unique.....and full of its own peculiar vibrant personality.....our old buildings......our priceless possessions...they tell us where we come from who we are...it enriches us...make us who we are people of Penang....
Don't give us a souless city....like the dead PGCC......don't take the heart of Pg.....yes we are prepared to pay any price to keep our heart!!!!
So will Penang...it will lose its soul, spirit and its character, if we allow the "tear down" crowd have their way....what is heritage to them, a hindrance to them an obstacle to their desire to put in another souless building....what is the use of ole shop house except that they are sitting on a piece of land in which they want to build any high rise....flat and rectagular shapes buildings ...souless...without any spirit...blocks of concrete protruding thru the earth.... If these people have their way....Pg would not Pg anymore....it would just like any other city......just like Mcdonalds, everywhere it tastes the same.....
No Penang should be able to pay the price in keeping our place unique.....and full of its own peculiar vibrant personality.....our old buildings......our priceless possessions...they tell us where we come from who we are...it enriches us...make us who we are people of Penang....
Don't give us a souless city....like the dead PGCC......don't take the heart of Pg.....yes we are prepared to pay any price to keep our heart!!!!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Chulia Street ---Penang (1)
While the Heritage people are focussing more on the Pitt Street-Armeinan Street enclave...I think Chulia Street is more interesting...it is alive and not dead...and it is truly a living heritage....
Where else can you find Chinese and Muslim monuments & mosques string along this truly remarkable road in Penang. Formerly know as Malabar Street in honour of those Indian Muslims from the Malabar Coast in Kerala State.....the ancestral home of many UMNO politicians (not to mention our TDM)...
Starting from the Penang Road end, the road meanders its way to Weld Quay. At the start, very near Odeon, its a Madrasah...next to it a very cheap hotel......
Just walk alone the road you find many interesting shops....some old...some retrofitted....and those retrofitted shope cater for the budget backpacker tourists.....cafes......tour agents.....money changers.....
Where else can you find Chinese and Muslim monuments & mosques string along this truly remarkable road in Penang. Formerly know as Malabar Street in honour of those Indian Muslims from the Malabar Coast in Kerala State.....the ancestral home of many UMNO politicians (not to mention our TDM)...
Starting from the Penang Road end, the road meanders its way to Weld Quay. At the start, very near Odeon, its a Madrasah...next to it a very cheap hotel......
Just walk alone the road you find many interesting shops....some old...some retrofitted....and those retrofitted shope cater for the budget backpacker tourists.....cafes......tour agents.....money changers.....
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Penang -multilingual road signs.....
I was at Beach street yesterday...and just opposite the Police Station, there was this road sign that got a federal Minister issuing stern warnings about the Pg Govt diminishing the importance of Bahasa Melayu as the national language...
Looking at it, I do not know what was the big deal....first and foremost it did not replace existing road signs...the new ones were just a small plague measuring 18 inches by 10 inches the most...it is so inconspicuous...you can hardly say that it is replacing any signs...
The additional signs provide interesting information about how the various communities name the streets....and Beach Street got so many names....along the different sections...it is insteresting and part of Pg's heritage...
Surely UMNO politicians are so bankrupt of ideas.....that they took this as their rallying cry...seriously, compared to the multi-lingual roads signs in the BN run state of sarawak....the signs in Pg are nothing....even the tourism road signs in KL are much bigger & more dominating...and they are in various languages and not only in Bahasa Melayu...and nobody make a fuss...
All this and many more give rise to the perception that if it is done by UMNO members or supporters it is alright.....
How else can you explain the defeaning silence when Mahathir suddenly decide to change the medium of instruction for Science & Mathematics from Malay to English.....and not even a whimper from the so-called guardians of the language.....
Looking at it, I do not know what was the big deal....first and foremost it did not replace existing road signs...the new ones were just a small plague measuring 18 inches by 10 inches the most...it is so inconspicuous...you can hardly say that it is replacing any signs...
The additional signs provide interesting information about how the various communities name the streets....and Beach Street got so many names....along the different sections...it is insteresting and part of Pg's heritage...
Surely UMNO politicians are so bankrupt of ideas.....that they took this as their rallying cry...seriously, compared to the multi-lingual roads signs in the BN run state of sarawak....the signs in Pg are nothing....even the tourism road signs in KL are much bigger & more dominating...and they are in various languages and not only in Bahasa Melayu...and nobody make a fuss...
All this and many more give rise to the perception that if it is done by UMNO members or supporters it is alright.....
How else can you explain the defeaning silence when Mahathir suddenly decide to change the medium of instruction for Science & Mathematics from Malay to English.....and not even a whimper from the so-called guardians of the language.....
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Appointment of Low as Acting GM of PKNS
Shame on you, PAS......if there is only a Colin Powell equivalent in your party... you would even win more votes..... This is what Colin Powell, a Republican Party member & former Secretary of State has to say about the negative campaign against Sen Obama...suggesting that he is a Muslim (& therefore by implication an unfit person to be a President).....
“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
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