Jimmy Leow

I used the old road to Balik Pulau via Teluk Kumbar very frequently and it just did not hit me that there was so much to do as far as the new highway construction was concerned. Maybe it was the gradual change in landscape that did the trick. Taking a lead from my fellow Citizen Journalist, Owen Koh, a team of CJs ventured into the very heart of Balik Pulau and after making good a few assignments, Owen Koh, Chan Lilian and I, took a drive along the old road towards Teluk Kumbar to witness the “half cooked” highway. One requires to blur off all the natural beauty of the hills and the greens of Balik Pulau and focus on the devastating condition of the abandoned highway.

Signs of landslides are frequent from the evidence gathered which we can observed from the side of the hills and it can only get worse with the prolonged halt of this project.

There was this section of the road  which is so narrow that it can only allow a one way flow of traffic from both directions. This can only be done with several traffics lights and these lights are manned by foreign workers. Based on my interview with a foreign “traffic controller”, it seems these narrow roads are monitored 24 hours. When asked if there was any kind of recent construction, he answered no. It seems there was no progress for the past 1 year or so.

At present, the old road  has also a lot of dangerous corners and there was one in particular which I highlighted in my short clip “Abandoned Highway Scars Balik Pulau”. The edge of this road has a drop of at least 30 metres and the worse part is there was not permanent barrier to stop motorists from driving into the ravine.

Since there was a new road construction near this section of the road, a line of plastic barriers were placed. If motorists are not careful, they may rammed through the plastic barriers and plunged into the ravine, a fatal plunge I am sure.

I was able to see these because this time around I rode a motorcycle and try to understand and feel the actual situation. I managed to get close up shots of the abandoned highway and it was shocking indeed.

Based on gathered information, the project was supposed to be completed within the 4th quarter of 2008, but until now, not an inch of this highway is usable. What is holding back the progress of this multi million project or will it become a structure waiting to be swallowed by the jungle of Balik Pulau, Penang?

You have to be bold (not sure if it is the same as thick skin), able to put up with some intimidating crowd, go without food, push your way through to get a good shot and finally, you got to be trained to hold your bladder overtime.

During the Bukit Selambau by election, I was there for nearly a week, covering several important events such as the nomination day, several ceramahs by different political leaders from PKR, DAP, MIC and MCA, a story about a temple waiting for the land transfer to their trustees, and polling day.

It was an experience which I was looking for indeed. The events took me further to understand what was responsible reporting and why there were instances people were misquoted by reporters.

Even when I was editing the footages I took, I realized that I need to let the public see what I saw and how I understood the matter at that point of time. Even at a slight change of sequence of the footage may project a wrong interpretation to the events. And that will come with consequences and a price to pay.

Reporters and videographers alike hold such high responsibilities to ensure things are not “twisted” to gain popularity for their company’s own gain.

My course-mates and I, Citizen Journalists, are lucky because we are not paid to write or video for anyone in particular, but only for the public’s view. We are not tied down with restrictions or favours, we tell and show it as it is.  And that is why, people are starting to take us seriously whenever we “speak” and that is the way it should be for all reporters and journalists.

Don’t you think so?

The differences between a PKR and BN dinner during campaigning in the Bukit Selambau by election was plenty as CJ Lim Boo Seng and I witnessed last night. We did a coverage at the PKR dinner and the atmosphere there was thunderous and cheerful, people shaking hands with PKR’s officials and so forth. Even the reporters looked lively and jovial. According to a PKR official, there were 106 tables (1060 seatings) and every seat was taken.

I noticed that the itinerary of the event was important and there were some differences in the way both parties arranged them. For example, PKR would get all the big guns to finish their speeches and then serve food. While MCA served food as they addressed the crowd.

Over at MCA’s dinner, much to our amaze, the crowd was very quiet, everyone seems attentive, well to the food, that is. Even when Ong Tee Keat was giving his speech, there was no reaction from the crowd. I believed the crowd figure was approximately 600.

The worst part was, when BN candidate S. Ganesan was giving his speech, some supporters had left, in particular the table right in front of us. Was that a sign of rejection? Well, we will know come 7 April 2009.

The only good thing that happened during the MCA dinner was a surprising statement by Mrs S. Ganesan in Hokkien and she spoke the dialect well. And that brought some cheers from the crowd. Maybe she should be the candidate for BN in this by election….

“If they (BN) offer free food, go and eat! If they give money, take it and spend it, why worry? By the way, the money is actually from people like you and me, so what is wrong? But vote PKR ok?” said a 70 Pak Haji that I came across at Youth Park Hill 3 this morning.

I remembered what Jalil, a homeless we interviewed in our “Homeless in Penang” video said, “sleeping here, no one disturbs us but we fear the Welfare Department.” He also mentioned that many of us do not know about the Welfare Department, it seems the Welfare Department sent many of the homeless to Tanjung Rambutan.

If he is corrupted then he has to pay the price. Of course, many will say that MACC acted so efficiently when the suspects are from the opposition parties. What about Khir Toyo, Norza, Azalina, and so many others? Since Fairus is from PKR, MACC jumped queue, quite understandable, if you know what I mean.

Well, as far as I am concerned, the Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng had openly said in his speech on the 8th March 2009, that anyone in his administration found to be “lacking” in the commitment to the state or to the people of Penang will be taken out. 

Like I mentioned in my previous post the other day, it was definitely fishy when Fairus went on leave without the knowledge of his superior Lim Guan Eng and Anwar Ibrahim had to “apply” the leave for Fairus.

Initial, it was fishy but now it really smells. I just hope that he will come out clean.

Malaysian Insider JOHOR BARU, March 26 — PKR’s Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who has been embroiled in graft allegations in Penang, has been detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for questioning.

The Penang Deputy Chief Minister I was stopped by Immigration officers at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex at about 11 last night.

He was subsequently handed over to Johor MACC officers.

Johor DAP deputy chief Norman Fernandez, a lawyer, was among Pakatan Rakyat leaders who rushed to the CIQ last night on hearing the news but was unable to speak to Fairus.

Fernandez said Fairus was taken to the Johor MACC headquarters in Air Molex at about 2.45am.

MACC investigating director Datuk Syukri Abdul told The Malaysian Insider that Fairus was detained only to facilitate investigations into allegations of illegal activities with quarry operators in Penang.

Mengarut! That’s all I have to say about this barring exercise which seems to be more popular nowadays. If something looked threatening, bar it, lock it, beat the hell out of it and finally ISA it. That’s all they know, sad isn’t it?

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 24 – The Umno headquarters has today barred six internet media organisations from covering the party’s annual general assembly, said a party official.

The ban came a day after the Umno dominated government suspended the publication permits of two opposition newspapers Harakah and Suara Keadilan.

According to party official Hamid Sattar the decision not to issue press tags to members of the six agencies including The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini was made after a high level meeting.

We tagged along with our Malaysia Kini’s “si fu”, Maran Perianen, to do a prelude coverage on Bukit Selambau today. My fellow CJs Lim Boo Seng, Owen Koh and I were not sure what we need to do and tried to fit in as Maran showed us the ropes.

To him, interviewing seem effortless with pin point questions growing out from his head. I noticed that he always have a “listening” face which made the interview much more informative and friendly.

In Sungai Petani this morning, we interviewed both parties, Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional which were just a few shoplots away from each other. We performed several vox pops on each party and earlier in the morning, we interviewed Dato Ganesan Subramaniam of BN who later on was named as the BN candidate for Bukit Selambau by the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak.

We then proceed to Bukit Selambau which was located about 25 kms from Sungai Petani. It took us approximately 30 minutes to reach the destination. Along the way, we made note of the rubber and palm trees lining up at both sides of the winding road. As expected, the JKR team was there “again” to resurface the road, it looked really new. By election near, new road? Ehmmm…

Bukit Selambau is a small town with scattered small shophouses along its one km stretch. We nearly missed it and had to convince ourselves that the row of shophouses which went by us was Bukit Selambau. 

We stopped at a “warong” and claimed it as our HQ for the day. There were many interesting and revealing comments from those interviewed around the vicinity. To find out more, tune in to Malaysia Kini Tv.

Information

A by-election was called for the state assembly seat of Bukit Selambau, Kedah after the resignation of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat representative V. Arumugam on February 9, 2009. Amongst the reasons why Arumugam quit were that stated in a statutory declaration which he wrote. In the declaration it stated that he no longer could stand threats he had been receiving from certain parties besides alleged attempts from people claiming to represent the Barisan Nasional (BN) who offered him up to RM5 million to cross over to the coalition. Nominations for candidates for the Bukit Selambau state by-elections will be held on March 29 followed by the voting on April 7, 2009. (Extracted from Wikipedia)