There I said it. If you watched it last night then do drop a note and tell me what you thought. Will update with youtube links once they are up.

Briefly, LGE opened with a flurry of accusations, touching on 5-6 “land scandals”. As the night went on though they focused on one particular scandal, the “40 million loss” related to the awarding of land to a private quarry contractor.

Koh managed to defend himself very well imo. His points were:

- The root cause of the confusion was a slipup made in the land dept 40 years ago.

- He had not met with the government privately to discuss the issue as they were constantly “going public” with new claims of “land scams”

- The “40 million” figure was merely the court amount. The contractor is apparently willing to settle for 1.5 mil.

- He had not fired the individual involved, as he had ordered investigations not once but twice against him but there was no concrete proof that there was criminal intent involved. The new government had not fired the official either.

- He had not gone public as the case was in court and he would be committing subjudice.

LGE made glaring errors in the debate:

- During the cross, Koh pointed out that the contractor was willing to settle for 1.5 mil; presumably the new Govt knew this as well. He asked why the 40 mil figure was constantly bandied about when the case was still being contested in court. LGE didn’t answer the question but did some pandering instead.

- Koh pointed out that the new govt had earlier accused of having come into an empty office with the state documents missing, but in fact while the office of the CM itself was free of documents, they could all - “thousands and thousands of them” - be easily found in the private archives on the same floor. LGE didn’t respond directly to this.

LGE did a lot of pandering to the crowd, which I thought was a waste of time. It made him look as if he were running for reelection. The constant tirades against the old govt instead of focusing on the topic at hand made Koh’s points seem more valid.

Koh on the other hand only focused on the 40 mil issue. Although he handily rebutted LGE’s accusations on that issue and definitely came out looking good, I would have liked to hear about PGCC.

For my part, the debate did a lot to convince me that the current govt is going down the wrong path in constantly going after the old administration. I remember after Koh’s gentlemanly concession in March, they were initially planning to consult him on governing the state. Gerakan was once an opposition party, and recent events hint that some within the party are dissatisfied with BN. I’d try to build bridges, not burn them.

[update]Lim Guan Eng also made an extremely bold statement during the debate: that his government would eradicate hardcore poverty in Penang within one year. That’ll definitely come back to bite him if he doesn’t deliver.

Popularity: 56% [?]

From NST:

Penang Umno will recommend to the Federal Government to stop all proposed mega projects in the state, include those planned under the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), the second Penang Bridge, the light monorail transit system, the Penang Outer Ring Road, the Penang Sentral and the RapidPenang bus service.
State Umno secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim said the previous Gerakan-led state government had worked together with the federal government to bring all sorts of development to Penang.

“Since the people have clearly rejected development and made their choice for a change, we will recommend to the federal government to cancel all such projects. Don’t blame us for this,” he said after a state liaison committee meeting here today. In March 8 polls, Umno only won two parliamentary seats and 12 state seats.

I wonder why Penang UMNO is making so much noise when they weren’t even ruling Penang. Even Koh Tsu Koon was gracious enough to attend Lim’s swearing-in ceremony, which UMNO boycotted. But somehow I don’t think Abdullah would really smite his home state.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Sighh… it’s just like a fairytale. Lim Guan Eng has been sworn is as Penang’s Chief Minister.

For those who don’t know, Lim Guan Eng was imprisoned ten years ago in a politically motivated trial. He had printed a booklet accusing the then Malacca MB Rahim Thamby Chik of raping an underaged girl. In a gross miscarriage of justice, Rahim wasn’t even prosecuted while Lim Guan Eng was sentenced to 18 months in prison!

It’s good to know that ten years later, justice prevails.

Among his first acts are to look into reestablishing local council elections, implement open tenders, and waive all summonses involving parking and hawker licenses ( I wonder if the last bit has to do with the police handing out summons en masse at the now-famous Han Chiang gathering ).

It is expected that he will repeal the PGCC project. Malaysiakini also quoted a sarcastic retort from Lim regarding early attempts to “bodek“…

Interestingly, the first bouquet sent to Lim’s office today to congratulate the DAP’s “historical win” was from the controversial RM25 billion Penang Global City Centre developer, Abad Naluri.

“So fast?” a surprised Lim said when told by a journalist on this. The new CM added that previously it had been very difficult for him to meet with the developer.

I guess some people still have trouble getting used to how things are going to be run now! :)

Popularity: 43% [?]

“Once a Free, always a Free”

Any of my ex-PFS mates who read that would be rolling their eyes at the oh-so-creative slogan we used to hear back then. And we always agree that our alma mater is going downhill - then again, maybe the generations before us thought the same thing…

But in some people the school spirit is still running strong! ntsocialism has a great post on how he discovered a car (or rather, a pickup truck) with the magic registration number PFS 1816. 1816 is the year Penang Free School was founded, making it the oldest school in SE Asia.

Mr. Lim Yew Meng, the owner of the registration number, is a modest and cheerful chemist who owns a pharmacy in Balik Pulau, Penang. Born and bred in Penang, he underwent his formal high school education in Penang Free School and completed his final year in school in 1983 under the guidance and leadership of the then headmaster, Mr. G. Krishna Iyer.
…
Amusingly enough, his three weeks old car has already been hit twice by unknown drivers - to which I responded, “Hmm! Must be them Xavierans!!”

Popularity: 26% [?]

Apparently it was closed down for about three hours today after police received a tip-off. The International Herald Tribune has a story on it.

Prank or near-miss? …

Popularity: 13% [?]

Found this in today’s Sun, p21:

After a decade of bringing blockbuster movies to people staying on the south west side of the island, Cathay Cineplex in Bukit Jambul Complex will be closed from 5pm next Monday. The closure is in line with the company’s plans to consolidate all its services under one roof at Prangin Mall in George Town. The company’s upgrading work for the cineplex in Prangin Mall is scheduled to be completed in May.

Well… not unexpected (note to self: If you ever open a shopping mall, don’t put shops selling pirated CDs on the 4th floor and the cinema on the 5th). I’ll miss all those times I indignantly say “We could just watch it in BJ!! GSC/Island Plaza is so far away!” when asked to watch movies.

Mega Pavillion - sorry, Cathay Cineplex - used to give out those cards where you get one stamp for every movie ticket and after about 15 or so stamps you get a “free” movie - that is, after no one wants to watch the movie any more, they put it on the free list and you can use your card. Oddly enough, I went to the cinema regularly but can remember getting only one such freebie. The only show on the free list was Love on a Diet starring Sammi Cheng. I sat down in the cinema; there were fewer than 10 people there. I was early because I like to watch cinema advertisements. But nadda. They didn’t even dim the lights. 10 minutes after the show was supposed to have started, the usher came in and told us to choose another show instead - in my case, Jurassic Park 3. Which wasn’t on the free list. Yay.

Is the GSC juggernaut destined to overwhelm all the other players with their caramel popcorn? At least they opened one practically opposite my house…

Popularity: 18% [?]

PenangFON is advertising a 2Mbps @ RM 60/month on a dedicated fiber-optic line (cue oo’s and aah’s). If your housing area is in the service area list, go try it and tell your friends what it’s like.

Competition is always good…

Popularity: 17% [?]