Jimmy Leow

A video produced by me caught the attention of JKR and the state government over the long delay of this highway which is supposed to be completed in Nov 2008. Click below to watch the video.

http://www.malaysiakini.tv/video/17211/abandoned-highway-scars-balik-pulau.html

By now, motorists are supposed to be zipping about on the spanking new highway spanning from Teluk Kumbar to Pekan Genting in Balik Pulau, Penang.

Unfortunately, the brakes have been hit on the project and a video taken by citizen journalist Jimmy Leow last month revealed the sorry state of affairs.

The structure now stands in disjointed, unfinished sections.

A signboard states that it is a Barisan Nasional project, contracted to private firm Bulkers Corporation Sdn Bhd.

It was also stated that the highway would be completed on Sept 3, 2008. However in March that year, voters had shown BN the exit from the island state.

Apart from being an eyesore, the uncompleted project – which is sited next to a busy road – posed a safety risk for motorists.

Readers of journalist Anil Netto’s blog commented that the project has been abandoned for more than two years and it was estimated that the government allocated RM58 million for it.

Citizen journalist and blogger Chan Lilian responded on the blog that several citizen journalists (including her and Leow) has met PKR’s Balik Pulau MP Mohd Yusmadi to discuss the matter.

However, the issue – just like the highway – remained unresolved.

See the response from JKR after this article was published in Malaysiakini.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/107793

Story by Emily Chow, Malaysiakini

The video which Chan Lilian and I had the privilege of producing will remain as one of the top videos in my life. I was able to meet the Bishop because Lilian and I were very curious if what had been said in the newspapers and blogs were true. And the most puzzling part was, how come no one from the main stream media got in touch with him? To tell you the truth, we called only once and the Bishop’s office got back to us within 48 hours with a positive, “Yes!” 

Without getting the other side of the story, how could these well trained journalists write? And what was the editors’ function here? It is already bad that you have crappy journalists, but editors too? So, it is time to remind ourselves, what kind of crap are we reading in the newspapers nowadays.

I recently covered a press conference with Lilian and I was really mad when certain reporters tried to get the “victims” to act. For instance, during a photo session with the residents of High ChaparralPenang, reporters acted as directors of a motion picture, huddling these poor old women together to form a demonstration line and said,” Oh..You are holding the placard to low”, “Shout something”, ” Shout louder” etc….

Is this not acting? Is this not putting words into people’s mouth? I mean they have suffered so much with their land ownership problem and these reporters tried to get a “good” shot for the newspapers’ front page. 

And while editing the Catholic Church Penang Eviction Controversy, we also stumbled upon one journalist telling his cameraman not to include the cable TV disks which were installed on the villagers’ homes in the photo shot. What crap is this? How low can you go to bring a false picture of the situation?

With all being said here, it really make sense to have citizen journalism to act as an “alternative” news to show the different angles of the story.  And you bet I am glad to be one!

That’s where I will stand. There were times when we produced a short video report, we were caught in a situation whether to upload it to the world to see. Questions like, “Have we covered all the angles?” or “Are we being balanced in our report?” kept on creeping into our minds when the issue reported involves the well being of the victims.

I was nearly fooled by certain people the other day, believing what they said was the truth and nothing but the truth and I nearly jumped into a pit full of pit bulls, just waiting to chew me up into pieces.

So, it does not mean that if they dare to say it in camera, it is the truth. I mean several presidents too had lied in front of the cameras in recent years.

We tend to be “biased” straight away when it comes to the “victim” of society. We tend to tune our “pitifulness” towards them and at the slightest murmur of agony, we rushed in to assist without much hesitation. We turn up the volume and we asked for justice. I called it, blind justice…I was blind for a while by such acts of emotional manipulation. 

It took me years to understand the kindness of human beings, but it took me just one day to understand how manipulative they can be, especially the “victims”.

I was about to meet up with the JKM officer this morning when I received a call from him saying that he will be unable to provide further information with regards to the case of Mr. & Mrs. Wong Koh Meng. Yesterday, I called him to set up the appointment and everything seems to be in place. The officer just got back from leave after spending time with his family in Ipoh, Perak.

He told me this morning, if I need more information I will need to get the approval from a En. Roslan (Pengarah in Penang). The officer also informed me that certain information can only be released to the couple’s relatives. But then we know the fact that both of them do not have any children as reported by The Star in 2008.

I just like to know the whereabouts of their last address as I was told that their home was located at a hill side in Balik Pulau. I want to understand why they chose to sleep on the streets near KOMTAR when they have a home. Why? Why? I knew that Madam Ooi Saw Lean (Mrs Wong) was sick and used a wheelchair, is there a possibility that the road leading to their home was too steep? Or was the road leading to their home damaged? What?

Even getting their address from their identification card was denied by JKM. I have written to JKM’s Ketua Pengarah this morning via email asking for more information about how JKM treats homeless couples after their “rescue”.  Is it a standard procedure to separate them because of gender? Is it a standard procedure to distance them (one in Taiping and one in Tanjung Rambutan)? And will JKM consider putting couples together as to make their life more meaningful while they are in these homes?

Since JKM is not opening its mouth, I have no choice but to get help from the people in Balik Pulau to point out the whereabouts of  Mr. & Mrs. Wong Koh Meng’s old home. And I will go from there onwards.

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.

This morning I forced myself to get up and really needed a gallon of coffee to make me stay awake. I slept at 3:30am last night because I was hunting for FRUs and tear gas.

Last night, I was looking forward to experience the FRUs and tear gas, but there was none to be found. You see, I was doing a coverage on the PKR ceramahs at Taman Kelisa, Bukit Selambau. Together with me was Malaysia Kini’s videographer Maran Perianen and a good friend of ours, Anil Netto.

Everyone was waiting for Anwar Ibrahim’s speech at 2 locations nearby. After a few vox pops, decided to walk to the next stop where Anwar Ibrahim will speak later in the evening.

Nevertheless, when you are carrying a tripod and a camcorder, people tends to ask which “TV station” you are from. Being a citizen journalist trained by Malaysia Kini, we tend to be carried away and yell back,”Malaysia Kini!”, you see, in this part of the country, Malaysia Kini is the people’s preference. So, I got a free ride on a motorcycle and I definitely saved some calories, not that I cannot part with them.

For the first in so many years, Anwar Ibrahim was just 4 feet away from me as he came out from his car, he looked tired, dressed in black and white. He sat for awhile and he walked to the make shift podium and started his speech with greetings in multiple languages, promoting multicultural bond and respect.

I tell you, he can really speak, I have a tape with a remaining time of probably 45 minutes. His speech filled the tape and I had to insert another to catch the finale of S. Manikumar and Anwar Ibrahim.

Overall, I believe the crowd was small, about 3500 people, but most of them went home happy and content, I hope that the long list of symbols of the independent candidates on the voting slip will not confuse the voters.

My impression of S Manikumar? Well, he is young of age, brilliant mind, good fighting spirit and most important, not corrupted. I think that is good enough…………..

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.

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.