Losing 4 – 1 to Utrecht is unacceptable (tag). Blind has to go.
Period.
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So, in truest form of doublespeak, a crooked bridge has become a scenic bridge. Shakespeare would say, what’s in a name? Despite the doublespeak, I fully support the idea of a bridge, bent or otherwise.
In my opinion, the only reason Singapore is being impossible is because an opening of Tebrau Strait would enable Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor to seriously challenge Port of Singapore. The growth of PTP has already alarmed the Singaporean government. For the past few years, several of the world’s largest container ship operators like Maersk and Evergreen have migrated from Singapore to PTP. According to Wikipedia, Maersk’s migration alone represented a 10% drop in business at Singaporean ports.
PTP is growing because it’s a cheaper alternative to Singaporean ports. And it’s growing in spite of the Causeway. Imagine if there were no causeway to prevent sea travels. With clear lines connecting PTP with two other Johor ports in the east – namely Johor Port at Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat Port – PTP would become an even larger entrepot. That itself would encourage PTP to grow even further and faster.
I’m sure the Singaporean government know this and I suspect they’re trying to slow PTP’s growth down. Today in Utusan Malaysia, an article suggests that Singaporean reclamation projects at eastern and western reach of Tebrau Straits might be Singapore’s effort to prevent the strait from becoming a viable sea route. That article helped me sealed my suspicion. After all, narrowing the strait is the surest way to keep PTP and other Johor ports’ growth in check.
Singapore insists that construction of a bridge replacing the Causeway must bring benefit to both sides. However, opening up of the strait will hurt Singaporean trade. Given that, Singapore refusal to agree to a bridge is comprehensible, no matter how frustrating it is. So, when Singapore said it’s not benefiting from the construction of the bridge, Singapore is telling the truth. More importantly, a convoluted truth because Singapore is applying a false dilemma fallacy. The result of “no bridge” has already been guaranteed when they supplied the condition. And not to forget, this is done on top of other nonsense reasons such as traffic volume into Singapore, higher toll and how Goh Chok Tong is feeling nostalgic about the Causeway given by Singaporean government.
A false dilemma is the appearance that only two choices exist when in fact, there are other explorable options. For instance, if Singapore refuses to replace its half of the Causeway, Malaysia could demolish its half and then replace it with a crooked bridge, which is what Malaysia is doing.
A crooked bridge is an unfortunate political turn. Nonetheless, I believe it is important for Malaysia to take our economy into own hands instead of the Singaporeans’. We should never make ourselves as somebody else’s hostage. This bridge is us driving forward. This bridge is us giving the Tebrau Strait back its life.
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[717] Of haikus for whales!
Remember the Greenpeace’s ship (tag) that collided with Japanese whalers in the southern seas?
Well, they’re holding a haiku contest and the winner will win USD 20 worth of prizes of Greenpeace’s merchandises. Heh, and I say, why not?
Blue are the skies, seas,
Birds flying, whales swimming, safe,
Spring’s coming, rejoiced!
Haha. Lame.
p/s – a gem! Q & A: Our Omnipotent President by Fafblog. (via)
With the World Economic Forum going on (tag), let’s all be honest to ourselves and call a spade a spade. In reality, the world economy works like this:
Americans do the research and create something new.
Australians praise American ingenuity.
Southeast Asians accuse Australians of sucking up and then look at Japan for help.
Japanese innovate and make something better.
Germans introduce an efficient plan to produce it.
Chinese make it at almost no cost.
Arabs supply the fuel and some verbal abuses.
Israelis complain about the abuses.
French and Brits talk about it, end up arguing with each other and then do nothing.
Europeans undertake extended holidays even when they’re supposed to work.
Everybody else goes to work and then discovers that they need to call customer service.
Indians fill all call centers and take care of customer service.
Latin Americans refuse to believe what’s going on and party instead.
Africans don’t know what’s going on and get fucked.
At the World Economic Forum, the people there are trying to find out how the Africans are getting fucked.
It’s a miracle!
Malaysia is in the 2006 Environmental Performance Index’s top ten list (tag). Tenth out of 133 countries. Well, ninth or tenth. We’re tied with Ireland. What does the index measure? Well, according to the New York Times:
United States Ranks 28th on Environment, a New Study Says
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: January 23, 2006WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 – A pilot nation-by-nation study of environmental performance shows that just six nations – led by New Zealand, followed by five from Northern Europe – have achieved 85 percent or better success in meeting a set of critical environmental goals ranging from clean drinking water and low ozone levels to sustainable fisheries and low greenhouse gas emissions.
The official site for the index at Yale says:
By identifying specific targets for environmental performance and measuring how close each country comes to these established goals, the Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) provides benchmarks for current national pollution control and natural resource management results. The issue-by-issue and aggregate rankings facilitate cross-country comparisons both globally and within relevant peer groups. The EPI thus provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decisionmaking onto firmer analytic foundations.
I find this quite surprising given that Malaysians do not have a well-developed sense of environmental stewardship. Recent illegal toxic waste case, controversial logging activities and everything that happened last year sort of convinced me that Malaysia would perform badly in any environmental index. But I suppose, Malaysia has achieved many environmental goals like clean water and other environmental needs that allow low mortality rate.
But then, the index includes variables such as biodiversity. Given Malaysia’s a tropical country, it shouldn’t be too astounding that the country would score well in that and other similar subindicies. Still Malaysia scores quite well in places like environmental health (38/133), air (13/133) and water quality (33/133). Regarding air quality, seriously, the researchers probably weren’t in Malaysia last year when the granddady of all hazes hit us. Still, that was caused by outside factor. So, can’t really blame Malaysia. And water shortage is increasingly becoming a major issue in Malaysia.
Lastly, Malaysia scores badly in renewable energy, sitting at the 98th place. This shows how Malaysia relies heavily on carbon-based fuel. This is even more apparent given that Malaysia emits 352 tonnes of carbon per GDP – that’s worse than the worst polluter in the world, United States. In Asia Pacific, only mainland China, Mongolia and Vietnam are less efficient than Malaysia.
The index will be presented in Davos for the World Economic Forum, of which, our Prime Minister thinks, attending it, is not worth his effort. WEF begins this week. Alright, alright. I’m digressing and being unfair.
Overall, there’s a bright future for Malaysia after all. But maybe not too bright if we don’t stop the rot. Orang utans are facing extinction and we could experience a drop in biodiversity score. But, surely, you and I know an extinction means more than a drop in ranking. Much more.