THOUSANDS MALAYSIAN PROTEST AGAINST PETROLEUM HUB
KUALA LUMPUR - Thousands rallied in southern Malaysia on Sunday against a government-backed US$56 billion (S$68 billion) petroleum hub they say will force thousands out of their homes and damage a fishing community.
Environmentalists from across the country gathered in the sleepy coastal town of Pengerang where the project, spearheaded by state oil giant Petronas and also involving private companies, is due to be completed by 2016.
A coalition of local NGOS say the 170-billion-ringgit (S$68 billion)
Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex - an industrial park for the oil
industry - will harm the livelihoods of local residents and fishermen in
an area famed for its lobsters.
On Sunday protestors, mostly dressed in green, heard opposition
leaders promise to cancel the project if they come to power at national
elections that must be held by the middle of next year.
Organisers said 8,000 demonstrators took part although reports estimated the crowd to be less than half that figure.
"We want development but not when it oppresses the people. The
government must give the public the right to decide on the location of
such projects," Anis Afida Mohd Azli, who is leading opposition to the
project, told AFP.
She added the NGOs will hand over a list of demands to the state government on October 8.
The protest movement began early last year as local anger mounted against the 22,500-acre petrochemical hub.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has faced numerous protests over projects
allegedly harmful to the environment since taking power a year after his
Barisan Nasional suffered its worst ever electoral result in 2008.
A green movement, largely supported by the opposition, has gained
momentum in recent years with Australian rare earths producer Lynas Corp
bearing the brunt of the backlash over a planned plant near an eastern
resort town.
Source: AFP
200 DRESSED IN BLACK, THE COLOUR OF PROTEST
- Dressed in black, the colour of protest, 200 activists sat at cafe tables quietly drinking coffee — black, of course. Bewildered, police stood outside and watched the coffee drinkers without interfering.
The protest at three cafes in Kuala Lumpur, a capital city of Malaysia ;was their way around a ban on unauthorized protests.
It was the latest twist in a row over the governing Barisan Nasional coalition’s seizure of power in Perak.
“Police were coming down hard on us and so we used this unique way to protest and tell people to demand an election in Perak,” said Wong Chin Huat, a protest leader and academic at the city’s Monash University campus. “We managed to send the message across.”
However, the protest which the academic called a “mild form” of civil disobedience did not last long.
Within half an hour, the managers of the cafes outlets of the popular Old Town White Coffee chain, had ushered the protesters and other customers out the door.
A spokeswoman said the three were shutting temporarily for “regular maintenance and renovations”.
She said it was unfair of protesters to use the chain’s outlets for the protest. “We have loyal patrons who are unhappy with so many people suddenly appearing all wearing black, which we associate with death. This is very bad for business.”
Undeterred, pro-opposition NGOs yesterday announced they would repeat the protest tomorrow at seven Old Town outlets in the capital and Penang. The protesters, who announced the location of the protests via the social networking website Facebook, urged the coffee company not to close the outlets.
“We are only drinking coffee and paying for it,” one protest leader said. “They make money, we get our message across.”a police spokesman said.
Courtesy: The Malaysian Insider, Democrasi Underground.Com , bluespeck blogspot 
It was the latest twist in a row over the governing Barisan Nasional coalition’s seizure of power in Perak.
“Police were coming down hard on us and so we used this unique way to protest and tell people to demand an election in Perak,” said Wong Chin Huat, a protest leader and academic at the city’s Monash University campus. “We managed to send the message across.”
However, the protest which the academic called a “mild form” of civil disobedience did not last long.
Within half an hour, the managers of the cafes outlets of the popular Old Town White Coffee chain, had ushered the protesters and other customers out the door.
A spokeswoman said the three were shutting temporarily for “regular maintenance and renovations”.
She said it was unfair of protesters to use the chain’s outlets for the protest. “We have loyal patrons who are unhappy with so many people suddenly appearing all wearing black, which we associate with death. This is very bad for business.”
Undeterred, pro-opposition NGOs yesterday announced they would repeat the protest tomorrow at seven Old Town outlets in the capital and Penang. The protesters, who announced the location of the protests via the social networking website Facebook, urged the coffee company not to close the outlets.
“We are only drinking coffee and paying for it,” one protest leader said. “They make money, we get our message across.”a police spokesman said.
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