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THE PUBLIC sphere continues to be dominated by politics with scant debate over other important news coming out of the socio-economy: - Like the announcement that the Penang Goodwill Religious Council, the first of its kind to be set up in the country, will hold its first meeting in May (read here and here)
- Like the fact Penang had a record level of investments in 2008 (read here) while the prognosis for 2009 is not rosy at all (read here on a sharp investment fall in store for Malaysia and here on Penang port seeing flat growth)
- Like the calls, including from within the Penang government, to appoint professionals not politicians as leaders of the Penang Island Municipal Council or MPPP (read here)
- Like the implications, if any, of Penangites celebrating with all their hearts despite the woes and distractions around. Spectacular shows were put up for CNY and Thaipusam. Read here, here, here and here.
In the political sphere, Perakian events and their spillover continue to hog the headlines, with no end in sight (read here, here and here for current analyses). There have also been a few notable developments in Penang, like Pakatan reps declaring allegiance (read here) and police stopping a pro-monarchy gathering in front of Karpal Singh's house, detaining briefly former Selangor MB Khir Toyo (read here).Still to come are two by-elections on April 17 (read here on what theSun has to say), the Abdullah-Najib transition (read here on what The Malaysian Insider says) and an expected series of moves and counter moves that would sap the energy of all political players, including most of our leaders, the next two months. We highlight below some of the other goings-on in Penang: CULTURE, HERITAGE & TOURISM
Datuk David and char koay teow as national heritage: David Arumugam of the AlleyCats has been conferred the title of “Datuk” by the Sultan of Pahang, along with singer Khatijah Ibrahim. Read here. Meanwhile, Penang char koay teow, nasi lemak and tosai are now national heritage. Read here. ADMINISTRATION Action against 'little Napoleons': The MPPP has identified some and action is to be taken against them. Read here.
ENVIRONMENT Hazy Penang: Penang has been hazy the past few days due partly to the open burning of padi straw (read here and here)
SELECTED COMMENTS IN iGEORGETOWN The following are selected comments from readers: - Convene a heritage fair (Alex Koenig). Read here.
- Have only two major pedestrian-tourism links (Alex Koenig). Read here.
- Don’t overlook the original vernacular names of streets like “Phak Thee Kay” in multilingual road signs (Tim). Read here.
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