Saturday, February 1, 2020
New Selangor highway will destroy major water source, warns green group
First published by Malaysian Insider 6 July 2015 9:00 AM
Many thanks to LowYat.net for reposting
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3639173/all
BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA
A green group is sounding the alarm after the Selangor government approved a new highway they say will cut through the Ampang forest, a critical source of water for the Klang Valley.
The approval of the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) early last month comes as water distributor Syabas warned Klang Valley residents to brace for disruptions in the coming dry months.
The Selangor government’s approval of the EKVE also puts into question Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s pledge on January 7 not to allow development that harmed the environment.
“We are still questioning how both the state and federal governments are pushing this project forward,” a spokesperson for environment group Treat Every Environment Special (TrEES) said in an email.
“(On June 29) news was published on yet another eminent dry spell and likely water shortage. How is (the Ampang forest reserve) no longer needed for water catchment if a water shortage is looming once again?” said TrEES director Christa Hashim.
Highways over water
Christa said the green light for the 39.5km tolled EKVE was given via its inclusion in the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) Local Plan 2020.
The plan had been amended by MPAJ and the state planning committee to include the EKVE on June 2, said Christa.
An infrastructure project must be included in a local council plan in order for it to be built.
What this essentially means is that the Selangor government has given the go-ahead for the project’s developer, Ahmad Zaki Resources Berhad (AZRB) to build the highway.
Based on the EKVE alignment in the local plan, the Ampang reserve will be cut down in phase one, which starts from Sungai Long, Cheras to Ukay Perdana, Ampang.
The Selangor Forestry Department in February 2014 announced a proposal to de-gazette 106.65ha of the Ampang forest reserve for the construction of the EKVE.
In phase two, from Ukay Perdana to the Karak highway, the EKVE would have cut a swathe through the Ulu Gombak forest reserve north of the Klang gates dam.
“In the Selangor Structure Plan released recently, both the Ampang and Ulu Gombak forest reserves are classified as 'water catchment forests' and are part of the Selangor state park,” said Christa.
According to the TrEES website, the Selangor state park is the origin of its rivers and provides more than 90% of the water supply to Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Selangor’s water resources are coming under increasing stress due to heightened demand and leakage in treated water distribution.
According a November 2014 report in The Malaysia Insider, about 33 out of 100 units of treated water produced are lost because of leaky pipes or theft.
In a June 29 report in The Star, Syabas (Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor) warned that taps may run dry again in July and August due to supply disruptions.
The February to April water woes last year saw almost 6.7 million residents in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor hit by water rationing as rivers and dams ran dry.
No phase 2
MPAJ councilor Ahmad Sabri Abu Bakar, however, said approval was only given for phase one of the highway.
The final alignment has yet to be decided as residents of Ukay Perdana have complained that it could increase congestion in their area.
“Phase two of the highway was not approved due to environmental concerns,” said Ahmad Sabri.
Christa said the fact even without phase two, the highway would still harm Sungai Ampang, a valuable water source in the Ampang forest reserve.
“Phase 1 will cut through the Ampang forest reserve, running close to the banks of Sungai Ampang for much of the way.”
According to a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) of the project, Sungai Ampang is considered a class 1 river, or very clean, she said.
“Both phase one and two of the EKVE will jeopardise two very clean water catchment areas.”
AZRB declined to comment on concerns that the project would impact on the environment.
Another TrEES director Leela Panikkar asked why phase two was still part of the local plan if it was not approved.
A map of the local plan sighted by The Malaysian Insider included a road project matching the original phase two of the EKVE which meanders north of the Klang gates dam.
“The project proponent can still come back and propose a new alignment for phase two or a different alignment,” said Leela. – July 6, 2015.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Can the working class live without Astro, Internet? - TMI 1.0 Archive
Originally published in The Malaysian Insider 05 September 2014
Taken from a post by Horn bill unleashed
https://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/63116/
SHERIDAN MAHAVERA, LOOI SUE-CHERN, QUEK YIING HUEY
In our continuing series on the high cost of living in Malaysia, we ask low-income families whether ‘luxuries’, such as an Internet plan and Astro subscription are now necessities? Can people do without them?
Have Internet connection plans, mobile data plans and Astro become as indispensible as mobile phones, computers and cars?
The Malaysian Insider spoke to several families in the Klang Valley and Penang on whether these services were things that even low-income families cannot do without.
What emerges is a picture of how these “luxuries” compensate for the inability of low-wage earners to provide other things like recreation or childcare for their children.
Ghafar Mohamad, who lives in Klang, Selangor, believes that any family with secondary school students like his own could not do without an Internet plan.
“Primary schoolchildren nowadays have homework which requires them to go on the Internet,” said the 52-year-old business consultant with four children. Three are between the ages of 11 and 16.
Ghafar himself needs to go online for work, so the family spends RM68 a month on a basic Internet plan. Since he and his wife bring in about RM 6,500 a month, he is willing to ensure their children do not have to rely on cybercafes.
“With cybercafes, you’re not sure what they are doing there. At least with home Internet, you can monitor what they’re surfing.”
His sentiment was shared by all but one of the 13 families interviewed. The only household that did not need the web was Tee Seng Yean’s. The 78-year-old has no children or grandchildren living with him.
Even fathers who cannot afford a home Internet connection, such as Ojaran Fakharurrazi Omar, 37, from Penang, are willing to shell out money for their children to use a cybercafe, despite its risks.
“I have given my son money to use the cybercafe for Internet access to get his schoolwork done,” said Ojaran, of his nine-yeMohd Hafiz Abd Aziz says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing up for one.
Mohd Hafiz Abd Aziz says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing up for one.
Mobile Internet plans, however, are considered a necessity by four of the 13 families interviewed.
Ghafar, Michael De Cruz and Yazid Othman of Kuala Lumpur, and Mohd Hafiz Abd Aziz of Penang, claimed a data plan was necessary for work.
“A mobile data plan is a must. It’s necessary to communicate with friends,” said Yazid, 33, who works as a delivery person for a watch company.
Datuk Paul Selvaraj of consumer group Fomca said as the Internet had become a primary method of communication for school and work, it could be considered a necessity.
“But there are still issues of how much (bandwith) is a necessity and what people use it for. The government should consider regulating the industry so that there is a basic package that can be offered to low-income families.”
When it came to an Astro, the number of households who thought it was a necessity was about the same as those who felt an Internet connection was necessary.
Those with Astro claimed that in this day and age, television viewing was almost impossible without it.
Ghafar had an interesting take on why his family needed Astro.
“You save on other forms of entertainment. You don’t need to spend on movies any more and it helps keeps your children at home instead of having them wandering around so they can get kidnapped.”
Zainal Ahmad echoed this, even though he only earns RM2,100 a month from manning a burger stall.
“My children complain that I don’t take them out. But I can’t take my children out any more because money is short, so I have to provide an alternative way to entertain them and keep them occupied.”
If he takes his wife and children to the mall, for example, Zainal would have to spend on petrol, parking and food for six people.
A one-day outing could set him back by RM80 to RM100. In comparison, his Astro package is RM130 a month.
And then there is that other benefit, both Zainal and Ghafar agree, for schoolgoing children in the form of TVIQ, an education-based channel that provides exam and study tips.
Selvaraj, however, said cable television such as Astro should not be classified as a necessity.
“We are not ready to consider Astro a necessity. People will claim that they watch educational programmes.”
* This article was originally published in The Malaysian Insider on 05 Sept 2014. Since the website is no longer around, I am reposting it here for my own record. Many thanks to The Hornbill Unleashed for reposting the original.
Taken from a post by Horn bill unleashed
https://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/63116/
SHERIDAN MAHAVERA, LOOI SUE-CHERN, QUEK YIING HUEY
In our continuing series on the high cost of living in Malaysia, we ask low-income families whether ‘luxuries’, such as an Internet plan and Astro subscription are now necessities? Can people do without them?
Have Internet connection plans, mobile data plans and Astro become as indispensible as mobile phones, computers and cars?
The Malaysian Insider spoke to several families in the Klang Valley and Penang on whether these services were things that even low-income families cannot do without.
What emerges is a picture of how these “luxuries” compensate for the inability of low-wage earners to provide other things like recreation or childcare for their children.
Ghafar Mohamad, who lives in Klang, Selangor, believes that any family with secondary school students like his own could not do without an Internet plan.
“Primary schoolchildren nowadays have homework which requires them to go on the Internet,” said the 52-year-old business consultant with four children. Three are between the ages of 11 and 16.
Ghafar himself needs to go online for work, so the family spends RM68 a month on a basic Internet plan. Since he and his wife bring in about RM 6,500 a month, he is willing to ensure their children do not have to rely on cybercafes.
“With cybercafes, you’re not sure what they are doing there. At least with home Internet, you can monitor what they’re surfing.”
His sentiment was shared by all but one of the 13 families interviewed. The only household that did not need the web was Tee Seng Yean’s. The 78-year-old has no children or grandchildren living with him.
Even fathers who cannot afford a home Internet connection, such as Ojaran Fakharurrazi Omar, 37, from Penang, are willing to shell out money for their children to use a cybercafe, despite its risks.
“I have given my son money to use the cybercafe for Internet access to get his schoolwork done,” said Ojaran, of his nine-yeMohd Hafiz Abd Aziz says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing up for one.
Mohd Hafiz Abd Aziz says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing up for one.
Mobile Internet plans, however, are considered a necessity by four of the 13 families interviewed.
Ghafar, Michael De Cruz and Yazid Othman of Kuala Lumpur, and Mohd Hafiz Abd Aziz of Penang, claimed a data plan was necessary for work.
“A mobile data plan is a must. It’s necessary to communicate with friends,” said Yazid, 33, who works as a delivery person for a watch company.
Datuk Paul Selvaraj of consumer group Fomca said as the Internet had become a primary method of communication for school and work, it could be considered a necessity.
“But there are still issues of how much (bandwith) is a necessity and what people use it for. The government should consider regulating the industry so that there is a basic package that can be offered to low-income families.”
When it came to an Astro, the number of households who thought it was a necessity was about the same as those who felt an Internet connection was necessary.
Those with Astro claimed that in this day and age, television viewing was almost impossible without it.
Ghafar had an interesting take on why his family needed Astro.
“You save on other forms of entertainment. You don’t need to spend on movies any more and it helps keeps your children at home instead of having them wandering around so they can get kidnapped.”
Zainal Ahmad echoed this, even though he only earns RM2,100 a month from manning a burger stall.
“My children complain that I don’t take them out. But I can’t take my children out any more because money is short, so I have to provide an alternative way to entertain them and keep them occupied.”
If he takes his wife and children to the mall, for example, Zainal would have to spend on petrol, parking and food for six people.
A one-day outing could set him back by RM80 to RM100. In comparison, his Astro package is RM130 a month.
And then there is that other benefit, both Zainal and Ghafar agree, for schoolgoing children in the form of TVIQ, an education-based channel that provides exam and study tips.
Selvaraj, however, said cable television such as Astro should not be classified as a necessity.
“We are not ready to consider Astro a necessity. People will claim that they watch educational programmes.”
* This article was originally published in The Malaysian Insider on 05 Sept 2014. Since the website is no longer around, I am reposting it here for my own record. Many thanks to The Hornbill Unleashed for reposting the original.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Batam-based Radio Hang’s dangerous network of Islamist extremists ― Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman and Aida Arosoaie
FROM MALAY MAIL ONLINE
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
SEPTEMBER 3 ― The recent arrests of two Singaporeans planning to join the Islamic State group has cast a spotlight of a Batam based radio station, Radio Hang, which according to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), radicalised the two individuals.
Two others placed on Restriction Orders were also found to have been radicalised by Radio Hang, highlighting the blurred lines between violent and non-violent extremism, and a growing network of transnational Islamist extremism detached from power dynamics.
Radio Hang was founded by former bank officer Zein Alatas in 2002 and was given a licence to operate a regular radio station. In 2005, Zein was influenced by the ideas of Ustaz Abdul Hakim Amir Abdat, a puritanical Indonesian Muslim scholar, and started airing the lectures by Hakim Abdat.
A decision was made about a year later to cease airing music largely due to the puritanical belief that music is prohibited in Islam. The station began exclusively airing Islamic sermons and lectures by puritanical scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and visiting scholars from the Middle East.
It has a following in the Riau Islands, southern Malaysia and Singapore.
In response to MHA’s statement, Zein Alatas has vehemently denied that Radio Hang promotes terrorism and radicalisation. Yet, a closer scrutiny of the sermons and of scholars featured on Radio Hang has revealed the opposite.
Promoting intolerance and violence
The preachers of Radio Hang are known for their vilification of other Muslim sects that do not subscribe to their conception of Islam. Hakim Abdat is known for denigrating the minority Shia Muslim sect, referring to them as infidels and warning radio listeners about the purported threat posed by Shiahs to Islam.
In the same vein, Rasul Dahri, a Singaporean preacher who is currently jailed in Johor for teaching Islam without accreditation, accused those who celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (long a practice among South-east Asian Muslims) as having committed a sin bigger than murder. Such intolerant views are common themes discussed on Radio Hang and it is disingenuous for those running it to disavow its links to extremism.
This is because the station’s exclusionary and dogmatic discourse insidiously creates a systematic classification of the world in binaries of good and evil which condones the use of violence in particular circumstances.
In this context, as the sermons aired by the radio station vilify other Muslim sects such as the Shias, the undertone of their message justifies attacks against Shias in certain circumstances.
The juxtaposition of the preachers’ supreme authority in Islam and consistent push for puritanism command their followers to adjust their behaviour in response to the alleged threat to their religion.
This can be read as an unconditional readiness for violence. Furthermore, some of the preachers who go on air explicitly call upon individuals to take up arms in the name of Allah.
In a broadcast in October 2013, Ustaz Abu Saad, a freelance preacher who is featured regularly on Radio Hang, encouraged his listeners to embark on a “violent struggle” in Syria.
He referred to the act as the highest form of worship. Abu Saad has been active in fund-raising efforts for radical groups in Syria and has travelled there to disburse these funds and carry out humanitarian activities.
It must be qualified that the preachers on Radio Hang have openly criticised Islamic State and referred to the group as a divisive, deviant one.
But this is not due to their aversion to violent ideology of IS but rather because of their ideological leanings which are in line with other violent groups linked to al-Qaeda.
What is perhaps more worrying is that while the preachers on Radio Hang are actors with clear political allegiances, their followers appear to form a more loose movement detached from these power networks.
The case of Radio Hang shows the transnational network of puritanical Muslim scholars. In 2011, Singaporean preacher Rasul Dahri organised a fund-raising dinner in Kuala Lumpur for Radio Hang, aimed at sustaining its operational cost and building a secondary school to teach puritanical Islamic teachings.
Fathul Bari, a key leader of the youth wing of United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and a popular Muslim preacher, also supported these fund-raising efforts for Radio Hang. Both have spoken about the important role of the station in spreading the puritanical Islam teachings in Singapore and southern Malaysia.
Unlike the clerics, however, their followers’ penchant for the Islamist extremist rhetoric is based on a religious morality which bypasses political and strategic concerns.
The choice of joining IS in spite of the explicit pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric of Radio Hang indicates that these individuals are disinterested in the political divides that separate the two groups.
Since it was IS, not al-Qaeda, which claimed to have re-established the Caliphate, these individuals oscillated towards the former based solely on the group’s alleged association with the perceived righteous form of Islam.
Most South-east Asian individuals who joined IS in the past two years cited the purported creation of the Caliphate as the seminal factor in their decision to join the group.
As such, the politically-motivated Islamist extremist discourse employed by Radio Hang clerics has created an Islamist extremist movement which is governed solely by uncritically hateful beliefs.
The current trajectory of radicalisation in the region is worrying because of two important reasons.
First, the increasing number of a bottom-line transnational Islamist extremist movement that transcends political calculations will certainly bring along the increase of reactionary Islamophobic discourses throughout South-east Asia.
Secondly, the emergence of these parallel networks will make it increasingly difficult for both security advisers and policymakers to tackle the threat of violent extremism.
While established networks of Islamist extremists are easier to track, the seemingly autonomous Islamist extremist network which takes up arms based on individual considerations will be much harder to trace and tackle. ― TODAY
* Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is assistant professor and coordinator of the Malaysia Programme in S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Aida Arosoaie is a senior analyst at the Malaysia Programme, RSIS.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
SEPTEMBER 3 ― The recent arrests of two Singaporeans planning to join the Islamic State group has cast a spotlight of a Batam based radio station, Radio Hang, which according to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), radicalised the two individuals.
Two others placed on Restriction Orders were also found to have been radicalised by Radio Hang, highlighting the blurred lines between violent and non-violent extremism, and a growing network of transnational Islamist extremism detached from power dynamics.
Radio Hang was founded by former bank officer Zein Alatas in 2002 and was given a licence to operate a regular radio station. In 2005, Zein was influenced by the ideas of Ustaz Abdul Hakim Amir Abdat, a puritanical Indonesian Muslim scholar, and started airing the lectures by Hakim Abdat.
A decision was made about a year later to cease airing music largely due to the puritanical belief that music is prohibited in Islam. The station began exclusively airing Islamic sermons and lectures by puritanical scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and visiting scholars from the Middle East.
It has a following in the Riau Islands, southern Malaysia and Singapore.
In response to MHA’s statement, Zein Alatas has vehemently denied that Radio Hang promotes terrorism and radicalisation. Yet, a closer scrutiny of the sermons and of scholars featured on Radio Hang has revealed the opposite.
Promoting intolerance and violence
The preachers of Radio Hang are known for their vilification of other Muslim sects that do not subscribe to their conception of Islam. Hakim Abdat is known for denigrating the minority Shia Muslim sect, referring to them as infidels and warning radio listeners about the purported threat posed by Shiahs to Islam.
In the same vein, Rasul Dahri, a Singaporean preacher who is currently jailed in Johor for teaching Islam without accreditation, accused those who celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (long a practice among South-east Asian Muslims) as having committed a sin bigger than murder. Such intolerant views are common themes discussed on Radio Hang and it is disingenuous for those running it to disavow its links to extremism.
This is because the station’s exclusionary and dogmatic discourse insidiously creates a systematic classification of the world in binaries of good and evil which condones the use of violence in particular circumstances.
In this context, as the sermons aired by the radio station vilify other Muslim sects such as the Shias, the undertone of their message justifies attacks against Shias in certain circumstances.
The juxtaposition of the preachers’ supreme authority in Islam and consistent push for puritanism command their followers to adjust their behaviour in response to the alleged threat to their religion.
This can be read as an unconditional readiness for violence. Furthermore, some of the preachers who go on air explicitly call upon individuals to take up arms in the name of Allah.
In a broadcast in October 2013, Ustaz Abu Saad, a freelance preacher who is featured regularly on Radio Hang, encouraged his listeners to embark on a “violent struggle” in Syria.
He referred to the act as the highest form of worship. Abu Saad has been active in fund-raising efforts for radical groups in Syria and has travelled there to disburse these funds and carry out humanitarian activities.
It must be qualified that the preachers on Radio Hang have openly criticised Islamic State and referred to the group as a divisive, deviant one.
But this is not due to their aversion to violent ideology of IS but rather because of their ideological leanings which are in line with other violent groups linked to al-Qaeda.
What is perhaps more worrying is that while the preachers on Radio Hang are actors with clear political allegiances, their followers appear to form a more loose movement detached from these power networks.
The case of Radio Hang shows the transnational network of puritanical Muslim scholars. In 2011, Singaporean preacher Rasul Dahri organised a fund-raising dinner in Kuala Lumpur for Radio Hang, aimed at sustaining its operational cost and building a secondary school to teach puritanical Islamic teachings.
Fathul Bari, a key leader of the youth wing of United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and a popular Muslim preacher, also supported these fund-raising efforts for Radio Hang. Both have spoken about the important role of the station in spreading the puritanical Islam teachings in Singapore and southern Malaysia.
Unlike the clerics, however, their followers’ penchant for the Islamist extremist rhetoric is based on a religious morality which bypasses political and strategic concerns.
The choice of joining IS in spite of the explicit pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric of Radio Hang indicates that these individuals are disinterested in the political divides that separate the two groups.
Since it was IS, not al-Qaeda, which claimed to have re-established the Caliphate, these individuals oscillated towards the former based solely on the group’s alleged association with the perceived righteous form of Islam.
Most South-east Asian individuals who joined IS in the past two years cited the purported creation of the Caliphate as the seminal factor in their decision to join the group.
As such, the politically-motivated Islamist extremist discourse employed by Radio Hang clerics has created an Islamist extremist movement which is governed solely by uncritically hateful beliefs.
The current trajectory of radicalisation in the region is worrying because of two important reasons.
First, the increasing number of a bottom-line transnational Islamist extremist movement that transcends political calculations will certainly bring along the increase of reactionary Islamophobic discourses throughout South-east Asia.
Secondly, the emergence of these parallel networks will make it increasingly difficult for both security advisers and policymakers to tackle the threat of violent extremism.
While established networks of Islamist extremists are easier to track, the seemingly autonomous Islamist extremist network which takes up arms based on individual considerations will be much harder to trace and tackle. ― TODAY
* Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is assistant professor and coordinator of the Malaysia Programme in S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Aida Arosoaie is a senior analyst at the Malaysia Programme, RSIS.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
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