PDC- Has sold the Island. from under our feet!

Vicram Mahalingam with Shamsul Bahari.

50 mins · 

Shamsul Bahari Sir, it was such nice moment spent with u. My children keep asking me even today morning when we are going to meet u. They want the car air cond get repaired again this week. Haha....
I am following your works since the day we met. I am really inspired. Truly authentic. I wish to get my car a/c repaired to meet u as well. Have a nice day. 

This appeared in my Face Book and it is from a friend I just met while hanging around Ah Huat's Auto Air Conditioning workshop doing my sketching while waiting for my car to be fixed. It was a delightful moment for me to spend a little time with his family while they were waiting for their car and I was very impressed at how he treated his to sons' constant questioning about this and that. It was very refreshing to watch the two boys very active and inqusitive and not a single hand phoneor Ipad in sight. So i decided to teach them my favorite children's song called 'Goreng Pisang' or Fried Bananas, I wonder if they still remember the lyrics.

This is life in Penang where you entertain and Indian family while waiting for your car at your Chinese's friend workshop. When you are with the common people like myself and those that walk in and out of my life, you will never get tired of feeling like this Island is special. Not only is she beautiful in the scenic sense but she is also a pot potpourri of mixed races, cultures and religions where if observed with due respect and within reason a very healthy coexistence will prevail enriching the Island's heritage. Sadly enough when one mentions the word heritage in Penang, the UN declaration takes center stage, where Georgetown is accorded, World Heritage City. It is sad because this declaration has robbed the Island off her true beauty and place the preservation of Colonial History as more Important than local cultural heritage.

As there was and perhaps still is money to be made from this accorded status of World Heritage Site, a whole lot of restorations went about in he effort to bring back the memory gone by of our British era of colonialism. As though our forefathers were proud to have been cowed by the British and till this day we are indebted to them. Hence we have whitewashed mausoleums renovated at the cost of millions all over the City to keep us informed of our Heritage while those who had the opportunity to handle the projects walked away laughing to the bank.Most of these buildings today are hardly used and new factions are fighting each other in order to ascertain who has the rights to occupy them. 

Yes, Penang has become a playground for hookers and carpet beggars pandering their wares at the expense of local populace. It is heart wrenching  to see the small fries struggling to keep up with the sharks and the piranha. he Island is slowly but surely being sold off to the highest bidder from overseas, those whose currency are riding high as compared to our shrinking economy. The cries of the mechanics and the coffee shop owners, the fishermen and the bus drivers falls on deaf ears and the reigning politicians plays dumb and innocent when confronted. Like the rest of the country, corruption is a way of life here; money talks and bullshit walks.

They are tearing up the hills all over with impunity these days too, and why not/ What is the use of a forest covered hill if it does not generate income and who is to say what i can do or not with my own property? Wait till you see the beautiful Hotels and high rises I have planned to build, then you will forget the green hills you so much adore today! Ask the CM if you think what is going on is wrong, he will tell you to stop whining and get on with the game plan. If you really have to worry, worry for your children and their children, who knows if the would even be space for them to park their behind if things keeps moving the way it is under the guise of so called 'Development' and an entity called PDC.

  

  

  

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