banana republic...eh?

Development plans for Pulau Pisang

PUTRAJAYA: The Foreign Ministry will assist the Johor government to draw up a master plan for the future development of Pulau Pisang, the 178.4ha island 8km off the Pontian coast.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said he had been approached by the Johor government to re-examine the island for development.

"This is something that cannot be done unilaterally. We will recommend that the island must not be left to itself, as it has been in the past. We must be pro-active in terms of development."

Rais said the master plan for the island must be drawn up for the sake of future generations.

"In this regard, we will have to work closely with the government. Ideally, Johor should prepare the master plan as the island belongs to the state. The ministry will have no problem assisting Johor in developing the island."

Rais said the joint Malaysia-Singapore technical committee had been instructed to look into allegations that Singapore, which now manages the lighthouse there, had expanded the area surrounding the facility.

_____________________________________________________

It just tickles me senseless when these banana republicans opened their mouths.

"We will recommend that the island must not be left to itself, as it has been in the past. We must be pro-active in terms of development."

Wow! Certainly all those late nights and weekends spent studying law during the post Semangat 46 days are worth the country's while, eh? Imagine the awesome effort needed to come up with that two sentences. Let's not talk about coming up with fair bilateral agreements for Malaysia yet. That could be paralysing for some of these banana republicans. Doctorate notwithstanding. That too after being constantly prodded by the Johor government, who would rather give away the whole of southern Johor rather than lose another rocky islet, island whatever. Once bitten.

And the foreign ministry is now into island development. I could understand if it's the home ministry as the island is Malaysia's and is in Malaysian waters. The home minister could instruct the guys in blue to do something useful for a change, like safeguarding Malaysia's interests. I could understand if it's the works ministry. They are the experts in development. Or at least experts in inflating the costs of those developments. Look at all their JASA KEPADA RAKYATs. I could understand if it's the tourism ministry. Islands should be for tourists. To make billions for the country. We really need that extra ringgits for all those repairs to the MRR2 and all its cousins and nephews. Who said there is no inter-ministry cooperations?

But I could not begin to fathom why the foreign ministry is roped in instead. Any legalities that we don't know? Is the island still ours in the first place? Or some lowly government servant managed to sell it to Singapore too, to buy himself a red sports car and impress a minah salleh or two? Are them banana republicans just putting up a show until we eventually move on to something more interesting, like Ella finally getting married?

So what if Pulau Pisang is to be Singapore's? I'm no military strategist but reckon they don't need that island to be well informed about us. At the rate it's going, reckon SGD40 is sufficient to get them what they want to know. Secrets protected by the OSA you asked? Well, methinks most of the secrets covered by the Act is not even sensitive to the state. They are only sensitive to some of them banana republicans. As in unfair deals between the state and some of them puppet masters' companies and proxies. As in why government contracts are bloody expensive and the results are bloody fucked-up. Military secrets you asked? What military secrets? All those felled Nuris, the sell-out of Majidee Camp, them submarines, them fighter jets you read in the paper. Reckon the number of commandos is still a secret. Only to be used during elections in say Rembau or Kepala Batas.

Malaysia would not fall because of that island. People outside Pontian don't even know about it. Just look after what we've got, both here in the Peninsular and in Sabah and Sarawak. Check on foreign ownership. Reckon it's quite substantial and growing. Do we call that foreign investment, development or menang sorak kampung tergadai? Learn to look after your own mister foreign minister sir. Learn to look after us Malaysians, y'all banana republicans. It's definitely better than giving milk to them monkeys or menyusukan kera di hutan.