Highflying diplomat Razali Ismail side-steps the PORR controversy in Penang as the state’s chief minister skips the inaugural Penang Lecture

Razali did not apply sustainable development criteria to PORR

Malaysian diplomatic highflier Tan Sri Razali Ismail, the man who carried Malaysia’s colours to Burma and the Earth Summit, utterly dissappointed the audience when he refused point blank to give his stand on the controversial Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) in a talk, ironically, to assess ‘sustainable development’ for Penang at a leading hotel on August 10.

Anti-PORR residents groups turned up in numbers after being baited in the press that the environmentally oriented talk to mark the Socio-Economic and Evironmental Research Institute’s (SERI’s) 5th anniversary, would be open to questions on PORR… but, well, only literally- with no answers! The organiser, SERI, tags itself as the ‘think tank’ of the Penang state government of Penang. In a hurried retreat, less than 20 minutes into the question-and-answer session, following the 40-minutes lecture, Razali was almost ‘caught’ with a real-life case-study related to the subject of his rather glowing talk minutes ago.

The occasion of the talk was the inaugural Penang Lecture, started under the patronage of Penang’s newly appointed Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas. It is not known if the fact that the patron, who had been discovered to be a shareholder in PORR’s concessionaire company, had any influence on the decision by Malaysia’s top diplomat to decline answering the questions. The Patron sat just metres away from the speaker’s rostrum. In a move which reflects some subconscious motivation, the Governor tried at one time before the talk to remove an anti-PORR logo from a T-shirt worn by a woman, thinking that it was a stick-on logo!

Razali’s many strong credentials on democracy and sustainable development at the UN level probably helped build up considerable expectations of the speaker before the talk. He had been Malaysian Permanent Representative to the UN, played a leading role in the 1992 Earth Summit’s negotiation and for that was later appointed to chair the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development. His latest diplomatic posting is as UN envoy to Burma, where he has been credited with having helped secure the release from house arrest of popular Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

His refusal to answer questions on a local environmental controversy thus disappointed many, who may have thought that we could call upon his international credentials and experience to help resolve a common local dispute involving the construction of a highway, which has irked affected residents. After the audience persisted in pressing ahead with questions on PORR, the best that Razali could come up with was to say, ‘If there are many objections to the project, surely the Government would have to listen.’

But that was not to be. Razali’s talk, which was described as ‘nothing I haven’t heard before’ by the first questioner was a rather mild and sometimes apologetic assessment of the sustainablity of Penang’s development and environment. But he did point out that the Penang State, like other Malaysian states as well as Malaysia as a country, had not adopted the Agenda 21 recommendations emerging from the Earth Summit in 1992 - even though Penang likes to think of itself as a model Malaysian state.

He also criticised the State for the loss of mangrove swamps due to displacement by Penang’s industrial estates (Razali also chairs a regional wet land body); for tourism-induced sea pollution; for traffic jams caused by urbanisation; and for the high volume of waste generated in the state (1kg/day/person), which has reached the level of developed nations. Nothing was mentioned of Penang’s dead rivers in which `a frog cannot survive for two minutes', as observed by the deputy premier in a recent visit to the state. But even so, the Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon could not sit through the assessment of Penang’s environment records: he came for lunch where he briefed the speaker on the State Government’s environmental initiatives, and then left. “So much for the sincerity of Penang’s top politician in presenting this environmental lecture to the people!” said a member of the disgruntled audience.

Razali did present competent criteria on sustainable development where all five dimensions (political, economic, social, cultural and ecological) need to be given due consideration, in contrast to the current development model which centres on the economic dimension alone. Alas, he did not give himself a chance to apply these criteria to PORR - something that irked many among the audience.

As he mentioned, often there is enough research already; what is lacking is the political will.With that the internationally well known Malaysian diplomat will be going to chair the Rio+10 Summit in Johannesburg before the end of the year, while Penangites will be left struggling with corporate-cum-political greed swirling over an unwanted highway..

Source:The Penang Organic Farm Club