I have never been so furious as I was when I read the Sun's report today about Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng saying, "If a particular area is reclaimed, the foreshore and sea bed cease to exist factually, physically and legally... Therefore an argument that foreshore and sea bed will always exist, regardless of reclamation or otherwise, cannot hold water. In our view, the foreshore/sea bed cease to exist upon reclamation."
What utter crap! The statement not only shows that, as a leader, Lim Guan Eng does not have his heart in the right place as far as respecting the environment is concerned, but it also shows how easily he is manipulated by one-sided legal advice and does not see the larger public interest (of public ownership of places) as important.
One thing about Penangites that Lim Guan Eng needs to know is that we are against high-handed public officials. The rich and poor mingle freely in Penang because every thoroughbred Penangite knows that the being decent to one another and being fair to everyone we meet is a basic tenet in life.
(That's why if you bother to open your eyes and observe Penang drivers, you will instantly see that they think nothing of giving way to cyclists and motorcyclists on the road or stopping their cars/giving way to let other drivers from small lanes etc get into the flow of traffic.)
That slight socialist-communist bent in Penangites that makes true Penangites be decent to one another and having a ready smile for one another is what sets us Penangites apart from Malaysians from other states.
Lim Guan Eng needs to pay very close attention to the last two paragraphs of the Sun news report: "The purpose of the proviso (i.e. the National Land Code 1965) is to protect the coastal land by keeping it in permanent public ownership through the state," one lawyer said, continuing, "When a party gains freehold tenure of such land, it prevents the public and the state from having it back, except by paying for it at market price."
In the same report, kudos to Batu Uban assemblyman S. Raveentharan, a practising lawyer, who profoundly asked if future generations of Penangites would be able to enjoy beachfronts if the coastal areas become locked by reclaimed lands under freehold tenure.
Lim Guan Eng just weakened his political party's foothold in Penang by one big notch. If Barisan Nasional had any strategist worth his salt amongst them, they'd start capitalizing on this, in line with their aspirations for the next general election. (And no, please do not do this via that disgraceful, unlearned and worthless racist of a human being called Ahmad Ismail!)
Image of that most beautiful and character-rich tropical island called Penang from http://asiaforvisitors.com/malaysia/peninsula/penang/index.html
The King and U
4 days ago
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