Tuesday, May 22 2012
Furore over a disconnect
Sunday, 22 February 2009 09:47

THE island-mainland physical divide of Penang is still very evident, and this comes into sharp focus once in a while when an accident occurs on the bridge. The crane that collapsed last Thursday at 3.15am brought traffic to a near standstill for hours. It was removed only eight hours later. Large numbers of people reported late for work. Flights were missed. And it caused a furore. Read here, here and here.  

Better physical integration, of course, is the prelude to other forms of inter-connections – socio-economic, cultural and political. Take a look at the Hong Kong-Kowloon divide. The connection is almost seamless with a combination of highly-efficient intregrated road, rail and sea transport networks.

In Penang, as we know, there are plans for the second bridge and upgrading the ferry service. The latest news on the bridge, however, is that UEM Builders has yet to sign the agreement to undertake the project. Read here. And nothing much has been heard about upgrading the ferry service since mid-2008. Read here and here. All these do not augur well for greater intra-state integration in the medium term.

Meanwhile, on the heritage front, there have been three developments:

Celebration for integration: The state government declared that it will celebrate all festivals grandly in order to promote greater racial integration. Read here.
Penang Free School status: Penangites, in particular the Free School alumni, have been asking the authorities to accord 193-year-old PFS heritage status too after 116-year-old Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur was given that status. Read here, here and here.
Call to hasten mangement plan: Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC) chairman Datuk Kee Phaik Cheen asked the state and local government to come out with the management plan for George Town so that there would be clear guidelines to protect the Inner City. Read here. 
  
On a different note, we announced in the press this week the launch of our e-newsletter – iGT Connect. You can read about the announcement here, here, here and here.

The following is an update on some of the other ongoing issues:

Of barter trading and retrenchment schemes: There was much on the economy this week as we see Penang wanting to reintroduce barter trade in order to diversify its economic activities (read here) and proposing a retrenchment scheme of RM800 monthly for each of the 100,000 workers who will lose their jobs in April (read here).
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