theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 16 2009 TELLING IT AS IT IS 11

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Learn from Singapore

ACCORDING to
Penang Chief Min-
ister Lim Guan Eng,
Singapore Minister
Mentor Lee Kuan
LocalCounsel Yew had comment-
by Goh Ban Lee ed that Penang’s
infrastructure was
not as good as that of Ipoh and Seremban.
Always a politician, Lim not only revealed
this nugget of an observation, but also took
the opportunity to point to the “18 years of
graceful decline” under the leadership of Tan
Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.
When told of Lim’s remarks, the former
chief minister, who also had a meeting with
Lee, pointed out that roads came under the
state government and local councils. He re-
minded the reporters that the state had been
under the Pakatan Rakyat government since
March 8, 2008, implying that the present state
government should be blamed.
Penangites are certainly appreciative of
the verbal skills and mental capacities of the
present and former chief ministers in the
blame game. However, they prefer better
infrastructure and want to know is what is
being planned for the state and how Lim
intends to implement them. Besides better
infrastructure, including pleasant transport
hubs, efficient mass transit systems and even
comfortable bus shelters, they also want af-
fordable housing, green open spaces, job op-
portunities and a safer and cleaner Penang.
The above wish-list is relatively easy
to make. The difficult part is getting it im-
plemented under the existing political and
economic conditions and administrative
capabilities. Complicating matters, it is not
easy to differentiate between the good guys
from the others.
The temptation to rehash old ideas should
be avoided. Take, for example, the issue of
mobility. Lim is still talking about Penang
Outer Ring Road (PORR) and has called
on Penangites to voice their views. But this
highway was proposed about 30 years ago!
Koh was committed to it in his 18 years as
the chief minister.
It would be an irony for Penangites who
voted for a change of government only to get
the same stale serving.
Besides, the traffic conditions in Penang
have changed dramatically since the 1970s.
The concept of good transport has also
changed, with the use of private cars to go
to work getting the last priority. The focus
should be on public transport and not the
outdated PORR.
Penang could and should learn from
Singapore about public transport. The world
is also learning from the island state. In fact,
Penang could learn from the republic about
housing, open space and landscaping, public
safety, pedestrian walkways and cleanliness,
just to name the obvious ones.
Most important of all, Penang and for that
matter Malaysia should learn from Singapore
about compliance with municipal rules.
This may be a good opportunity to remind
Malaysians of the story of Michael Fay, an
American living in Singapore, and how Lee,
then the prime minister, dealt with the issue
of good governance.
Fay was 18 years old when he was
found guilty of spray-painting cars. He was
sentenced to an 83-day jail term and six
strokes of the cane. Prominent personalities,
including US President Bill Clinton appealed
for leniency. Singapore came under severe
criticism of being a barbaric state.
Singapore stood firm. Indeed, Lee per-
sonally wrote an article in Time magazine.
Quote: “Can we govern if we let him off and
not cane him? Can we then cane other for-
eigners or our own people? I am an old style
Singaporean who believes that to govern you
must have a certain moral authority. If we
do not cane him because he is an American,
I believe we’ll lose our moral authority and
our rights to govern (May 9, 1994).”
Singapore did show that it heard the
appeals and reduced the caning to four
strokes.
There is, of course, no need to ape every-
thing Singapore does. After all, according to
a former president of Indonesia, it is no more
than a red dot on the map! Besides, there is
no way Malaysians or Penangites can pay
the chief executives of the government what
Singaporeans are paying their prime minister
and ministers.
Dr Goh Ban Lee is a retired academic inter-
ested in urban governance, housing and urban
planning. Comments: letters@thesundaily.
com.
Wiser to recall ESE rods
BUILDING owners and developers who have been
using the early streamer emission (ESE) lightning
rods should feel jittery about the latest ruling by the
European Committee for Electro-technical Stand-
ardisation (Cenelec).
Since February, Cenelec has ruled that all member
countries should withdraw any lightning protection
standard that did not conform to the international
standard (IEC-62305). Hence, the French ESE light-
ning protection standard (NFC 17-102) and all ESE
lightning rods are now legally banned in Europe.
This information was recently revealed by the
International Conference on Lightning Protection
(ICLP), an international scientific organisation that
focused on lightning research and safety. (see www.
iclp-centre.org/WITHDRAWAL_NATIONAL_ESE_
STANDARDS.pdf)
The ESE rods were declared as a danger to public
safety in a warning issued in 2005 by the ICLP.
Insurance companies that provide cover for
buildings that have been installed with the ESE rods
should feel jittery about the Cenelec ruling too. This
is because the ESE rods do not comply with the
Sirim lightning protection standard (MS-IEC62305)
either.
The problem is further compounded when most
government buildings also use the ESE rods. Since
these rods do not comply with the Sirim standards,
it is only proper that all government ministries and
agencies set the right example by replacing them
with rods that fully comply with the Sirim standard.
It makes no sense at all to allow the ESE rods
to be used on existing buildings or to install them
on new building projects since they are already a
known danger. The science, technology and innova-
tion minister should issue a total product recall.
ZA Hartono
Kuala Lumpur