The Malaysian Insight

PENANG, already home of many vocal civil society groups, now has an additional voice in the form of AnakPinang, a group which started with the simple desire to represent the “common people”.

AnakPinang kicked off at the end of October with 15 members and the tagline “For a better Penang” has already been making ripples in the crowded activist circle.

Key founder and member Timothy Tye said the group was formed out of a frustration that none of the other civil society groupings was speaking up for the common man on the street, especially on the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).

The PTMP is a multibillion-ringgit integrated plan to alleviate Penang’s worsening traffic congestion with highways, roads and public transport, such as a light rail transit (LRT). It is at various implementation and application stages.

Penang Forum – made up of a loose coalition of public interest civil society groups, Consumers Association of Penang, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society Penang branch – is a fierce critic of the PTMP, which also includes the proposed undersea tunnel linking Butterworth and George Town and the Pan Island Link 1 highway that partly features hill tunnels.

But Tye said the groups are disconnected from the real problems of local Penangites, who have to face hours-long traffic jams on a daily basis.

“The master plan is good for Penang but none of the major NGOs would lend their voice. They are in their own paradigm, unrelated to the common people, and unsympathetic towards their plight.

“We have been feeling left out in the statements they had made,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Tye said Penang civil society groups started out as a voice for the people, creating awareness on consumer rights and appreciation for nature and heritage.

“But now they are like a gang, all thinking alike and surrounded by people who say things they want to hear,” he said.

“They have a romantic idea of the common people – the traditional fisherman in his boat and the woodcarver.

“But the majority of the common folk are those stuck in traffic jams at 7am to go to work and repeats the experience at 7pm to go home.”

Tye said he understood the problem of congestion well because during his school days in the 1970s, he had to take two public buses to school in George Town and again to go home to Batu Maung, spending about three hours on the road almost daily.

He said AnakPinang could be likened to be a group for people stuck in traffic jams, “who just want more quality time with their families”.

Impractical ideas, demands

Tye said the main problem with many of the civil society groupings in Penang is their inability to be objective in their criticism of the PTMP.

He slammed Penang Forum’s recommendations that trams, a bus rapid transit (BRT) or an autonomous rail rapid transit (ART) be built to replace the massive highways and LRT system proposed in the PTMP, as impractical.

“I have walked on all the major roads and streets in Penang. I know the bottlenecks on the island and mainland. I can see why their proposal can’t work.”

Tye emphasised that AnakPinang is not “crazy about highways” and uncaring about the environment, but believed that developments for roads and public transport need to be sequenced in the proper order.

For the proposed LRT, he said Penangites needed to be ready for the transition to public transport use first before the rail system starts running.

He proposed that bus and feeder bus routes that mimicked the future LRT route between Komtar and the Penang International Airport be introduced, so Penang folk could experience using public transport to travel along the route.

“They can get use to taking the bus and feeder bus to go about their daily business. When the LRT is running, they will be ready to switch to the rail system and feeder buses.”

The rest of the buses could then be redeployed as feeder buses for the first- and last-mile connectivity, he said.

“The state needs to do this one or two years before the LRT is ready. Otherwise there will be low ridership once the novelty of taking LRT joyrides is over.

“How well the state prepares the people to use public transport will also determine the success of the LRT. If the people can see that it is convenient and cost-effective, they will use the LRT.”

Pro-Penang

Even though its views on the PTMP and other development issues are at odds with the other groups, Ling Chee Seng, another AnakPinang member, said the group was not formed to oppose anyone.

He said the group and its members also have no political affiliations, although some of their supporters were political party members.

“I am semi-retired and would love to see Penang grow as a liveable city where we can retain our local talents while attracting talent from elsewhere. We are now losing out to other cities,” the engineer said.

Ling said population growth is unavoidable and if there is no development, there will be no good jobs for the people.

 “AnakPinang wants to support and work on these balanced initiatives for a better future for Penang.”

Tye said if Penangites felt secure of their future in terms of jobs and quality of life, they would not have to move to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

“While we also care about heritage and nature, our priority should be the welfare of the common people.” – December 22, 2018.