Hills clearing in Penang: NGOs not impressed with mitigation work at Botak Hill

http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2016/01/28/searing-queries-on-clearing-ngos-not-impressed-with-mitigation-work-at-botak-hill/
An aerial shot taken from the bald patch on Bukit Relau, George Town, during a visit by the state delegation and NGOs to check on the mitigation work. — Photos: CHARLES MARIASOOSAY.

Chow (left) being briefed by technical consultant Khoo Koon Tai during the visit up Bukit Relau.

THE climb up the steep track on Bukit Relau is an arduous one. And there is little reward now for those who endure the climb.

The infamous Botak Hill seems to be getting balder. It’s a sad sight. What was once a lush hill had become a wide open patch of brown. Now, it is a giant scar of boulder, sand and concrete. The developer General Accomplish-ment Sdn Bhd is carrying out mitigation work which it says will be completed in June this year. For now, however, the hill looks worse than it did before.

The trip up the hill was arranged by the state and led by Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow. Others in the entourage included Deputy Chief Minister 1, Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, executive councillors, state assemblyman, Penang Forum and Malaysia Nature Society, Penang.

It was no surprise that the NGO members were not impressed with the mitigation work. The condition of the hill has deteriorated so badly. The only greenery in sight were patches of grass on the boulders.

The NGOs are even more upset that with less than six months before the mitigation work is completed, there seems to be no plan in place to halt the erosion of the hill or to carry out restoration work, which will have to include replanting of trees, the undergrowth and comprehensive hydroseeding.

Roads and drainage systems built right down the hill have destroyed whatever greenery there was. The explanation given was that the roads were needed for the mitigation work rings hollow. “How can you carry out mitigation work and clear more land for the so called roads for mitigation work,” asked a Penang Forum member.

There are metal poles bordering a part of the hill, and it look like some hoarding is about to come up. Is there any development being planned for the spot of the hill?

A spokesman for the developer, General Accomplishment Sdn Bhd said RM20mil has been spent so far for the mitigation work and the amount could rise to RM50mil.

“Why would you want to spend RM50mil for mitigation work if you are not going to do anything with the land,” asked a reporter.

“Well, we are open to development of the land if that is what the people want,” replied the project manager for the developer.

Chow was non-committal when asked if the state would reject any development on the land saying it was a “hypothetical” question as there wasn’t any application (to develop the land).

Despite the long explanation, the burning question remains.

Will the hill be restored to its old state and or is the mitigation work just the start of plans to develop the hill for housing.

It was rezoned for housing in 2012.

By K. Sekaran The Star

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We don't need billionaire philanthropists, we need change !

An elderly woman sitting inside a store at a border village near the demilitarized zone in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Jan on 8, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS 

Society needs people who adopt business models that can enrich ordinary people's lives and free them from a life bound by servitude and dependency.

These days we praise charitable donations and philanthropy; however, we must understand that they are the symptoms of a dysfunctional society, not the remedy.

It’s similar to the Red Cross during wartime; they can’t stop the war. In many ways, they propagate the dysfunctions because the biggest funders of these temporary resolutions are also the greatest oppressors of our society, from whom these dysfunctions stem.

There are, for example, many people suffering around the world from curable diseases simply because they don’t have access to proper medical assistance. Why do they have no access? Because they are too poor.

That is to say, this problem is derived from the massive income inequality around the world. If they could earn a sufficient living on their own, they wouldn’t need any charitable aid from developed nations. They don’t need rich philanthropists giving them millions of dollars. What they need is rich philanthropists to stop hoarding money and allow them to make a sustainable living.

Let’s look at Bill Gates, who was simply driven to make as much money as possible at any cost. Along the way, he has smothered many smaller companies, copied others’ ideas, and snuffed out many innovative competing products. Yet, all is forgiven and forgotten because now he donates a lot of money.

It is exactly this type of thinking that breeds income inequality around the world, which leads to people dying from poverty, and thus preserves the need for these billionaire philanthropists to remedy the situation.

Another exemplary indication of this problem is Lance Armstrong. He cheated to further his career and eventually got caught. Yet, today he is still a millionaire and is respected by millions of people: 3.8 million followers on Twitter to be exact. Why? Because he is a philanthropist who donated lots of money to cancer charities. None of this would have happened had he not cheated, but people forgive and forget. In our society, winners prosper no matter the means, as long as they become philanthropists in the end.

Take a moment to think of the other cyclists who didn’t allow themselves to cheat. Where are they now? Can you name them? Are they rich and famous?

To address the real origin of the problem, we need to change the way we go about earning and spending money at the very basic level. Instead of being driven to become philanthropists, treat people around you without greed and with consideration. Make your living and enable others around you to do so as well. If you aim to save money in order to be a philanthropist, you provoke everyone to be protective and hoard money also in order to control how the money gets spent. The more everyone does it, the more we are compelled and even forced to do it. We need to stop this vicious circle.

The resolution I’m putting forward is not a utopian concept. We simply need more people investigating and adopting business models that can enrich ordinary people’s lives, which can free us from a life bound by servitude and dependency.

In turn, this would empower us to solve our societal problems without asking such billionaires to solve them for us with their accumulated wealth. Nowadays I’m starting to see more and more entrepreneurs and business owners trying to figure this out, and it is quite inspiring. I think the real change derives from the ordinary things we do.

If this type of mission is to succeed and be sustained, the principal function of business must be ordinary. It is impossible for a sustainable economy to remain healthy and upright if it is only supported by the crutch of charitable donations and philanthropy.

The principal drive to better our society must come from ordinary businesses.

Hero-worshipping rich benefactors and philanthropists encourages everyone to accumulate more wealth than they need. We do not need billionaire philanthropists; we need ordinary business owners who treat other humans with respect and encouragement.

They are not rare or even uncommon; they exist all around us if we look carefully enough. It’s just that we are so busy looking up to iconic figures like the Bill Gateses of the world that we can’t see them.

By Justin Hiraga
  / 
Asia News Network

Justin Hiraga is an assistant professor at the Department of International Business Languages of Seokyeong University in Seoul. He can be contacted at jthiraga@gmail.com. –Ed.

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Support TPPA because Chinese control trade and business in Malaysia?

Hadi: DAP supports TPPA because Chinese control business
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang accused DAP for supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) as the Chinese community controls most of the business in the country.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng claimed that his party was firmly against Malaysia signing the deal as it would purportedly cause nearly 40 per cent of SMEs to close down. — Picture by K.E. Ooi

Accused by PAS of backing TPP for Chinese concerns, DAP insists firmly against trade deal - TPPA not about race or religion, Lim tells Hadi

The Trans-Pacific Partnership will be detrimental to Malaysians by causing prices to increase and killing off small— and medium-sized enterprises, Lim Guan Eng said today when reaffirming DAP’s rejection of the trade deal.

Disputing PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s claim that the Chinese domination of local industry meant that DAP was supportive of the TPP, Lim said that race and religion did not factor into the support or otherwise for the free trade agreement.

The DAP secretary-general claimed that his party was firmly against Malaysia signing the deal as it would purportedly cause nearly 40 per cent of SMEs to close down.

“This is a fact that the federal government has yet to address,” the Penang lawmaker said in a statement released today.

“Malaysians would expect such misrepresentation of DAP’s position or a racially-tinged statement from Umno but for a PAS leader to indulge in such baseless untruths shows that PAS is now not only co-operating with Umno but also adopting Umno’s dirty politics of slander against the DAP,” Lim said.

He pointed out that the TPP is initiated by Umno not by DAP and that the the agreement is led by the United States to restrict China’s influence geo-politically.

“Using Hadi’s logic, then Umno must be Chinese too for initiating the passing of the TPP in Parliament. Why then does Hadi continue to work with Umno and even advice the BN federal government?”

He then told Hadi that he should not be against TPP if he is “so anti-Chinese”, but to support the TPP to oppose China.

Lim also asked why Hadi chose not to criticise Umno for spearheading Malaysia’s involvement in the TPP if PAS were sincere in its opposition to the deal, adding that PAS now appeared to be on congenial terms with the lynchpin of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Last week, Hadi accused DAP of agreeing to the TPP because the Chinese control trade in Malaysia.

This is despite the DAP announcing that it would vote against the TPP if Putrajaya could not clarify the impact of the agreement.

Parliament will convene a special session this week to discuss Malaysia’s participation in the TPP.

A rally was held during the weekend to oppose Malaysia’s signing of the free trade deal, although Pakatan Harapan parties such as DAP and PKR were poorly represented.

Hadi ticked off over his narrow views of TPPA





KUALA LUMPUR: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (pic right >) has been taken to task for linking support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) to the Chinese community.

MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon chided Hadi for having narrow views of the agreement.

“How can it be of Chinese interest when the agreement includes other nations such as Japan, Canada and the United States?” he asked after opening SMK Cheng Perdana’s Lim Kok Yeong multi-purpose hall here yesterday.

He urged Hadi to “wake-up” to the realities of globalisation where the agreement would benefit the nation as a whole.

“Please don’t use racial lenses to look at everything.

“It is a shame that there are still leaders talking like this even as we are about to become a high income developed nation in four years’ time,” he said.

MCA religious harmony bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker also said that the TPPA was about trade and should not be turned into a racial issue. It was ridiculous to put a racial tag on trade and commerce, he said, adding that Hadi’s remarks were an attempt to use race or religion for political gain.

In a statement, Ti said he was glad that many Malaysians had woken up to these racial tauntings and the “underhand” move of using the Chinese community as a punching bag or the bogeyman.

He said liberated Malaysians and the educated new generations had moved beyond colour or creed.

Malaysians, irrespective of races, were collaborating in business partnerships and this was a positive trend, he added.

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