PP3739/12/2004 ISSN 0127 - 5127 / RM3.00 / 2004:Vol.24No.11/12 Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(11/12) Page 1 COVER STORY Our Island, Our World Tsunami, Penang’s future and the limits to nostalgia by Khoo Boo Teik riting from Penang Is- WWW land at the beginning of WW January 2005, I assume that many of us will long remember this past month because of two events. One event was as global and ‘out of this world’ as could be imag- ined. Within hours the tsunami of 26 December ended the year 2004 most horribly. Not even ‘safe, safe Penang’ was spared the tsuna- mi’s grievous destruction. The second but actually earlier event, spread over a week start- ing in mid-December, was a local and parochial outcry over Penang’s ‘loss of shine’. Three newspapers, The New Straits Times, Berita Harian and The Star, launched a joint campaign to ‘Stop Penang From Decay’ and to ‘Stand Up for Penang’. We are free to make real or imag- ined connections between these two events, one global and the other local. But they raise ques- tions about the future of the Island which no Penang resident can ig- nore. Destruction In Penang the tsunami caught the unfortunate mostly at Batu Ferringhi, Telok Bahang and Pulau Betong. The tsunami brought the Island its biggest loss Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(11/12) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE We apologise for the delay in getting out this issue. As we were going to press, the tsunami hit our re- gion including Penang and Kedah. We decided, CONTENTS therefore, to incorporate discussion of this tragedy into this issue. COVER STORY The cover story by Khoo Boo Teik, you will see, dis- ••• Our Island, Our World 222 cusses the early December media campaign on re- ••• Fishermen Worry About The Future 777 storing the shine to Penang in the context of the tsu- nami’s fury. FEATURES In accompanying pieces, Anil Netto reports on the ••• In Death, Imperialism Lives On 999 plight of a group of affected Tg. Bungah residents ••• ‘Riot’ At Kamunting: The Real Story 121212 while Jeremy Seabrook laments that the western ••• Violence In Kamunting 161616 media, even in this tragedy, makes a distinction be- ••• Radical Novel Challenges tween locals and westerners. Established Norms 191919 Housewife-turned-activist Norlaila Othman talks ••• People Cannot Afford Higher about the continuing tragedy in Kamunting and Medical Bills 222222 sheds some light on what really happened during ••• Say ‘No’ To Privatisation 242424 the so-called riot there recently. ••• A Young Mum's School A mini tsunami, if it could be so described, hit the ‘Balance Sheet‘ Story 272727 MTUC. The first by K George provides important ••• Siva Should Resign As Human historical background. The second article by A J Rights Commissioner 363636 Patrick and A H Ponniah welcomes the election of ••• Fresh Hope For Workers 383838 the new team led by Syed Shahir and Rajasekaran. The third piece by Aliran president P Ramakrishnan, ••• MTUC Election: Well Done, Raja 404040 distributed before the MTUC election, possibly had an important impact on the outcome. Rama had REGULARS asked how Siva Subramaniam, who was challeng- ••• Current Concerns 171717 ing Rajasekaran, was going to cope with the heavy workload from the many positions he had accumu- ••• LettersLettersLetters 323232 lated. OTHERSOTHERSOTHERS Angeline Loh writes on a mundane yet extremely ••• Aid For Achenese 111111 important issue: the financial burden of sending our children to school nowadays. On the same theme, ••• Subscription Form 313131 Jeyakumar Devaraj discusses the mounting costs of medical bills in the wake of healthcare privatisa- tion. We invite responses from our readers. Finally, do not miss our centre-page story by Shakila Manan, who discusses award-winning author Published by Fatimah Busu’s latest novel, Salam Maria. Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN) 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, ALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to Penang, Malaysia. Justice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on the Tel : (04) 658 5251 Fax : (04) 658 5197 roster of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomes Homepage : http://www.aliran.com all Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contact the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Percetakan Tujuh Lapan Enam Sdn. Bhd. No. 16, Lengkangan Brunei, 55100 Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(11/12) Page 3 some of the worst hit re- commonalities. gions. Communities Their efforts were made tire- lessly and quietly with no This isn’t contrived sentimental- thought of credit, profit or ity. publicity – a solid indica- tion that the tsunami’s toll Look at where the tsunami was on Penang (and Malaysia) deadliest – Acheh, Sri Lanka, has not been endured in Thailand and India. Without vain. Penang’s close historical links with the communities in each of Neighbours these places, could George Town have become heritage-rich and a Too often in the past self- world famous repository of cul- interest made us choose tural diversity? our neighbours. We needn’t speak moralistically While we prospered, we of debts and obligations. It’s prided ourselves on be- enough to recognize that old and longing to an abitrarily con- deep personal, familial, cultural, structed ‘East Asia’ that ex- social, economic and educational cluded large chunks of ties bind us to those communities Asia. During the 1997 fi- – and to act accordingly. nancial crisis, however, we of life, damage to property and hated it when foreign fund man- It’s evident that their post-tsunami disruption of livelihood caused by agers lumped us with the rest of a reconstruction will require long- a natural disaster in living ‘moribund region’. term efforts and external assist- memory: 52 persons dead, 5 miss- ance. It’s also likely that govern- ing and 206 injured; 615 houses When we were hit by the haze, ment-to-government arrange- and 1,332 boats damaged, accord- SARS and avian flu, we strove to ments won’t be enough to sustain ing to the Penang government’s ‘distinguish’ ourselves from our those efforts. Sooner or later, bu- statistics. neighbours in hopes of saving our reaucratic obstacles, political mo- tourist industry. (Some are already tives, corporate resentments and To the families of those who died, upset that foreign media coverage inter-state suspicions may give one offers condolences. One tries of the tsunami-ravaged areas the lie to well-intoned rhetoric in small ways to help those who lumped Penang with, say, about helping one another in a survived but bear other forms of Phuket.) time of crisis. hardship. Across the world, ordi- nary people have been extraordi- In short, faced with ‘globaliza- For Acheh especially, if the ‘com- narily selfless in responding to tion’ in full swing, we viewed if munity of Penang’ plans to extend the plight of devastated commu- not feared our neighbours as our its assistance beyond immediate nities. ‘competitors’. relief, our NGOs, which the gov- ernment has found ‘meddlesome’, Here numerous civic bodies, reli- Like it or not, the tsunami has have already been cooperating gious organizations, NGOs and forced upon us a shared misfor- with community-based individuals have volunteered tune and sense of vulnerability. Achehnese NGOs in Acheh and time and effort, contributed money But that, together with the need Penang. and materials, and joined over- for joint action to avert future dis- seas missions to mobilize relief asters, must inspire a deeper Working together, these NGOs aid for the tsunami’s victims in awareness of our regional would be well placed to facilitate Aliran Monthly : Vol.24(11/12) Page 4 regional ‘community-to-commu- then on persuading voters that smoother traffic dispersal when a nity’ support networks. In the everything was dandy? smaller urban population walked, process of aiding reconstruction, cycled, or relied on public trans- their continued cooperation may One should sympathise with the port. But the Island’s population meaningfully help to heal many Island’s long-suffering perma- grew. With the development of ru- kinds of social conflicts and po- nent residents. But one can’t em- ral areas, suburbanization in- litical wounds. pathise with the Kuala Lumpur- creased residence-workplace dis- based editors and journalists, poli- tances. Above all, to tackle our post-tsu- ticians from other states, ‘ex-YBs’ nami condition with confidence of the Penang Exco, and Parti There isn’t an efficient system of and creativity requires us to im- Gerakan’s foes within the BN public transport, whether pri- agine our neighbours differently. who claimed to ‘Stand Up For vately operated now or partially Penang’. run by the Municipal Council be- Decay fore. Much of the peak hour traffic Were they generously giving voice ferries children to and from Retrospectively, how petty must and space to local discontent? Or school because they can’t conven- seem the ‘Stop Penang From De- were they beating the drums for iently walk or safely cycle cay’ information overload on ‘regime change’ in Penang by tug- anymore. spoilt beaches, dirty seas, gar- ging at public heart strings? bage-strewn streets, snarled traf- There’s a ‘sell the national cars’ fic, abandoned buildings, unhy- Without being an apologist for the policy no State government can gienic hawkers and unscrupu- ‘present regime’, whose failings resist. And so highways and ring lous taxi drivers! Aliran Monthly has regularly docu- roads become ‘necessary’ while mented, one can say this much. the needs of pedestrians are sac- Substantively, the media reports, Only someone who dishonestly rificed to escalating car owner- complaints and letters taught us disavows BN’s collective (Exco) ship. nothing new about man-made responsibility would cheer a problems in George Town.