RM1.8 juta untuk letrik ke 3 kampung

BALIK PULAU 13 Okt. - Walaupun Pulau Pinang pesat membangun sebagai negeri metropolitan, tetapi masih ada lagi segelintir penduduknya tidak pernah menikmati bekalan elektrik yang sempurna sehingga kini.

Namun, keadaan tanpa elektrik seperti dialami penduduk di tiga buah kampung iaitu Batu Hitam, Bukit Cengkih dan Mukim Tujuh Pulau Betong serta Bukit Cengkih di sini bakal berubah apabila bekalan itu disalurkan tidak lama lagi.

Berita baik kepada lebih 200 penduduk yang mendiami 47 buah rumah di ketiga-tiga kampung itu diumumkan oleh Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Pulau Betong, Muhammad Farid Saad di sini baru-baru ini.

Beliau berkata, projek yang membabitkan peruntukan kira-kira RM1.8 juta itu disalurkan oleh Kementerian Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah melalui projek Bekalan Elektrik Luar Bandar (BELB).

Tambahnya, ekoran kelulusan projek tersebut bermakna tiada lagi kampung di daerah ini terpaksa bergelap kerana tidak mendapat perkhidmatan bekalan elektrik yang sempurna.

''Kerja-kerja penyambungan serta penempatan stesen bekalan kuasa akan dilakukan oleh pihak Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) dalam masa terdekat dan ia dijangka siap sepenuhnya menjelang Disember 2010.

''Walaupun faktor muka bumi kampung yang berbukit-bukau bakal menyebabkan kerja-kerja pemasangan tiang dan kabel mengambil sedikit masa namun TNB yakin ia boleh diselesaikan mengikut jadual," katanya.

Sementara itu, rata-rata penduduk kampung yang ditemui melahirkan rasa gembira dengan pengumuman tersebut dan menyifatkan ia adalah saat-saat yang dinantikan sejak sekian lama.

SUMBER:

Utusan Malaysia - 3 kampung bakal dapat elektrik (14 OKT 2009)

SUKAN TAHUNAN TABIKA KEMAS, DUN PULAU BETONG

16HB Julai 2009, Padang Sekolah Kebangsaan Pulau Betong. Seramai lebih kurang 200 orang pelajar cilik dari Tabika Kemas Dun Pulau Betong Terlibat dengan acara Sukan Tahunan Tabika Kemas. Acara sukan dirasmikan oleh Y.B. Sr. Haji Muhammad Farid Bin Haji Saad, Adun Kawasan Pulau Betong.

Acara bermula dari 8.30 pagi dengan Lintas Pembarisan Hormat dari pelajar cilik diiringi dengan guru serta pembantu. Sungguh comel kanak-kanak yang dihiasi dengan riben, aksesori serta ada yang berkaca mata hitam. Lagu Negaraku bergema diiringi dengan Lagu Pulau Pinang dan Kemas dibantu oleh koir cilik dari Tabika Kemas Titi Teras.

Antara acara yang dijalankan ialah Larian Berganti-ganti, Larian Obor, Pundi Kacang, Kumpul Bola Dalam Bakul, Skipping, Telur Labah-labah. Turut menghiburkan di mana acara untuk guru, waris dan pegawai turut memeriahkan keaadaan. Tambah meriah dengan cabutan bertuah yang disediakan.

Galeri Gambar :

YouTube scenes and actions from Lik Lau, Penang (March 2009)

The secret beach:



Camping @ White Resort (National Service Training Venue):



'Merempit' at the treachourous hill road:



Cruising at Teluk Bahang curvy road:



Engineering work by students including from KKTM Balik Pulau:



Student memories from MRSM Balik Pulau (2006/2007):



Frontyard landscape completion for Hospital Balik Pulau:

PRESS RELEASE: Blog Bash 2009-MSC Malaysia @PenangCity (Sun, 22 MAR 2009

Contact: Cik Sarina bt. Ishak
T/F: +60 4 866-2706
M: +60 19 437-0147
E: ena@balikpulau.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RURAL FOLKS TO JOIN THE MALAYSIA’S 5% ELITES VIA ‘BLOG BASH’ – KNOWLEDGE-SHARING @ KONGSI, BALIK PULAU, PENANG

Social Entrepreneurs Club of Balik Pulau Launching Campaign via Rural Internet Centre on Sunday, 22 MAR 2009, To Not Just Bridge Digital Divide But Push Mass Local Empowerment Via New Participatory Media/Web 2.0 Technologies

While most villagers, or even urbaners are enjoying their day-off on Sunday morning, and folks in Balik Pulau congregating at the weekly “Agro Market” (Pasar Tani) near the local Rapid Penang bus depot, as many as a hundred internet and new media enthusiasts including the local village folks will congregate not too far away near a K-Komuniti Building to share and learn on how to collaborate using high-tech Web 2.0 tools, including Facebook, Twitter and Google Docs, which are rather unheard of by more than 95% Malaysians as of to-date.

Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSBP) with support from the multiple award-winning Pusat Internet Desa of Balik Pulau (PIDBP), an initiative by the Malaysian Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (KTAK) is organizing a full-day program ‘Blog Bash 2009’, themed “Community Media for Local Socio-economic Development” in the 3-in-1 forms of forum, seminar and workshop on Web 2.0 media technologies this Sunday, 22 MAR 2009 at Dewan Balora Mastika (next to K-Komuniti/JKKK Kongsi Building), Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang.

The first-ever held open program is in collaboration with Technopreneur Development Division (TeDD) of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC/MSC Malaysia), Penang Association of ICT Entrepreneurs (ICT Penang) and the Southwest District of Penang’s Council for Entrepreneur Development (MPUD-DBDPP).

Yang Berhormat Sr. Hj Muhamad Farid bin Hj Saad, Chairman of MPUD-DBDPP who is also the present ADUN for Pulau Betong, Balik Pulau and Advisor to PID Balik Pulau, is scheduled to officiate the event and initiative launch starting at 8:30am.

Pn. Siti Huraizah bt. Abdul Rahman, Honorary Secretary for the newly formed KUSBP who also currently serves as the resident supervisor for PID Balik Pulau said, “We want to empower the local community with cutting-edge means to elevate everyone’s potentials, not just for them to be ‘celik IT’ (IT-literate). Then only can every Malaysian no matter where each chooses to reside, can take advantage of various programs that MSC Malaysia is making available for many years now.”

Siti Huraizah also pointed out that the tiny PID Balik Pulau situated at the annex of the local Pos Malaysia office has provided various IT services to more than 10,000 local residents over the last few years, of which, over 1,200 has registered as its members.

The morning sessions will include presentations on the trends, evolution and other studies on both traditional and new mass media, and a discussion forum to be participated by all four quadrants of the society – policy makers and government agencies, business/industry, academic and social NGO. Among confirmed participants for the forum include En. Roslan Bakri Zakaria (General Manager of TeDD-MDeC, caretaker of the MSC Malaysia implementation), En. Rohizam Yusoff (Penang-born CEO of VirtualMalaysia.com Sdn Bhd, a multiple award-winning MSC-status company), En. Mohd Ansari Abdul Rahman (Vice Chairman of TechBiz Penang, a business cluster under InvestPenang), Pn Elia Mastura Kamaruddin (E-Public Relation Manager for Yayasan Kemajuan Sosial Malaysia - YKSM), and academic representatives from regional educational institutions. En. Adenan Sayan, a Balik Pulau “boy” who now markets herbal products to worldwide buyers from his growing Klang Valley base will also be joining the forum as a panel member.

To engage attendees, the afternoon sessions of Blog Bash 2009 @ Balik Pulau is crafted to run at least four parallel workshops on specific Web 2.0 tools including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WikiMedia and Google Docs. Other topics considered, based on request by participants which can be submitted while registering at http://kusbp.pp.my (official website for KUSBP) include among others, ecommerce-related dropshipping, Paypal online-payment, trading on eBay , AliBaba, Lelong, Mudah, 1K etc. Participants will later be able to draft their impromptu presentation on chosen topics for public-sharing and future collaboration.

En. Nasir Sobri, Honorary Secretary for ICT Penang, who also currently serves as the Vice Chairman of KUSBP commented, “We are very much pleased to work with ‘Rakan-rakan PID’, or also known as RaPID, to connect entrepreneurs in the ICT industry with the local community in knowledge-sharing events like this.”

ICT Penang’s main agenda, according to Nasir, is to acculturate the local community with entrepreneurship skills and ICT knowledge in order to generate more progressive entrepreneurs, especially among the Bumiputra residents of Penang.

“As in the past, we have had the pleasure to work with many other organizations including Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), MCA ICT Resource Centre (MiRC), Warisan Global (WG), Rural Internet Centre (PID) of Balik Pulau, YKSM and MDEC particularly during the recent annual Global Entrepreneurship Week event back in November 2008. This year, we plan to work with many more organizations especially with academic institutions for the week of 16-22 November 2009 to cultivate the culture of entrepreneurship, especially among our youths, fresh graduates etc, and enable these entrepreneurs to generate local employments to counter the present global financial crisis.” Nasir added.

Blog Bash 2009 happens to be one of the first events in Malaysia to include Twitter, a social micro-sharing web service as one of its focus topic. Although Twitter has accelerated to be the fastest growing community on the Web throughout 2008 with over 1300% annual growth according to the latest Nielsen Research report (GlobalFaces, March 2009), accumulating well over ten million users especially from the United States, Korea, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia among others, Twitter users in Malaysia currently number to no more than 5,000 as of March 2009, but is growing fast in the past two months of January and February 2009 -- Amazon.com’s Alexa web traffic statistics shows that web traffic has jumped four-fold globally (or at least two-fold in Malaysia), for the twitter.com website in just the two months of Jan-Feb 2009.

Participants in this Blog Bash (named after a favorite online activity in Malaysia being the nation placed at the fourth position globally for the interest on the word “blog”, just behind Vietnam, France and Singapore -- according to the Google Trends web search service) who are interested to explore avenues to turn their IT passion into entrepreneurial ventures will be offered guidance accordingly, in collaboration with MDEC among others, including via the “MSC Malaysia Innotech Interstate – Northern” event, the first of the four legs national stops, set to start three days afterwards on the 25th and 26th of March 2009, at the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) office complex in Bayan Baru, Pulau Pinang.

KUSBP is accepting registration for Blog Bash 2009 at its http://usahawan.balikpulau.org website. To ensure effective sessions, the afternoon technical workshop is limited to 50 first registrants only, based on online registration, open until 6pm on Saturday, 21 MAR 2009. For assistance, contact Project Blog Bash 2009 team at (04) 866-2706 (phone/fax) or email to kusbp@pp.my

###

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview please contact Kelab Usahawan Sosial Secretariat @ Pusat Internet Desa Balik Pulau at (04) 866-2706 or e-mail to kusbp@pp.my

Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSBP)

Social Entrepreneurs Club (KUS) of Balik Pulau as with the other similar clubs at each of the 42 Rural Internet Centres (PID – nationwide ‘telecentre’ establishments by the Malaysian Government via the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication - KTAK), was established in August 2008 to enable PID in offering more beneficial services to the wider local community, beyond with just Internet access and related telecommunication services. The mechanism of KUS is to offer sustainability model to PIDs, which are being progressively shifted from the government-supported model towards community-supported model as with many other telecentres around the world. Hence, although KUS Balik Pulau is a not-for-profit entity, it has initiated several business ventures to self-sustain itself, while at the same time offers a platform for existing and would-be entrepreneurs to network and collaborate for common benefits towards positive, local socio-economic developments. More information about KUS Balik Pulau can be obtained at its blog-centric website, http://kusbp.pp.my or from the PID-based secretariat via phone/fax at +60 4 866-2706. Honorary Secretary (2008-) for KUS Balik Pulau, Pn. Siti Huraizah bt. Abdul Rahman can be contacted at +60 19 579-6575 or ija@balikpulau.org


Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang (ICT Penang)

Penang Association of ICT Entrepreneurs (ICT Penang), as registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) Malaysia since 2007 is a not-for-profit Penang-based society dedicated for improving socio-economic status of Malay entrepreneurs and companies. Though, its memberships are open to include Malay-centric organizations (with 51% or more ownership or memberships) and Malay individuals located anywhere in the world. A committee board consisting of eight business-owning members engages ICT Penang in various business ventures and ICT acculturation activities. As of March 2009, ICT Penang has registered over 200 members from various industries and professions (including 58 companies), and has successfully ran various activities involving hundreds of individuals as well as participated in various regional, national and global events. Through its continuous and aggressive activities, ICT Penang intends to grow its membership to surpass 400 by 2010 (not including free memberships through its community portals such as TechPenang.com or Akademi.Asia training programmes). More information is available at its blog website, http://ictpenang.com or from its secretariat via phone at +60 4 250-3015 (Pn. Sharifah Suenan) or fax at +60 4 262 9903. Honorary Secretary (2007-2009) for ICT Penang, En. Nasir Sobri can be contacted at +60 16 416-2747 or nasir@1oasis.net

REGISTER TODAY, AT LATEST BY 6PM, Saturday, 21 MAR 2009 at HTTP://KUSBP.PP.MY

Just RM10 fee, to learn from EXPERTS from the Government, Business/Industry, Academic and Social NGO, including three experts from Kuala Lumpur!

FREE FOOD AND CERTIFICATES FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS. LIMITED TO FIRST 50 REGISTRANTS!

Merakit Buluh dan Menyampan Papan...

Asal Usul nama Betong menurut bahasa Melayu lama bermaksud buluh-buluh yang dicantumkan untuk dijadikan rakit. Jadi, buluh tersebut telah ditinggalkan di pulau itu dan serumpun buluh telah tumbuh kemudiannya. Sejak itulah dua buah pulau besar dan kecil yang dipisahkan oleh selat dinamakan Pulau Betong.



Menurut salasilah orang-orang dahulu, penduduk asal Kampung Pulau Betong ialah Long Tambang. Berasal dari Pinang Tunggal, Seberang Perai. Mata pencariannya yang utama ialah menambang dengan mengayuh sampannya dari Telok Ayer Tawar ke Tanjung. Beliau bersama isteri tercinta, Tok Yah serta anak-anak mereka telah menyelamatkan diri dengan bersampan dari Telok Ayer Tawar dan mendarat ke Kampung Pulau Betong sewaktu berlakunya serangan Thai ke atas Kedah (Tahun 1821-1876). Sewaktu itu Pinang Tunggal boleh dimudiki dari Kota Kuala Muda...

Anda boleh membaca imbasan lanjut tentang Pulau Betong hasil nukilan Zaidi Ali di blognya, Long Tambang Pulau Betong.

Technician claims assault by police

AN air-conditioning technician has alleged that he was wrongly arrested and beaten up by a group of about 10 policemen at the Balik Pulau police station in Penang.

Fam Li Hor, 21, said he was at home in Pulau Betong, sleeping at about 11.30pm last Thursday when a group of 12 men called at his house.

“They identified themselves as policemen from Nibong Tebal,” he said.

Li Hor said his brother Raymond Fam Li Seong, 27, opened the door for them. “They woke me up and I was roughly grabbed by the nape and my hands were handcuffed to the back,” Li Hor said.

“When my brother asked the policemen why they wanted to arrest me, the policemen in plainclothes reacted by handcuffing him, too,” he said.

Rough treatment:Li Hor demonstrating how he was manhandled by police.

“The police officers refused to show us their authority cards, arrest or search warrants,” he said.

The brothers claimed that the police officers conducted a search of the house, then took both of them and Li Hor’s Proton Satria car to the Balik Pulau police station.

There, Raymond claimed that while he was ordered to wait out-side a room, his brother was “blindfolded and beaten up by about 10 police officers during the interrogation process.”

Li Hor said: “The policemen kept asking me to mengaku (confess), I didn’t even know what have I done. I was kicked, slapped and threatened by the policemen for not confessing.”

The brothers were later transferred to the Nibong Tebal police station. Raymond claimed that a robbery victim there told police that Li Hor was not involved in the robbery case and the brothers were subsequently released on police bail at noon the following day.

“While sending us back home, the police officers explained to us that we had been detained as my car was similar to the car used in the robbery, right down to the model, colour and registration number,” Li Hor said.

He said he lodged a police report at the Balik Pulau police station on July 8.

The brothers were speaking at a press conference at the Gerakan service bureau yesterday. Bureau chief Looi Swee Cheang said the party would assist Li Hor in making an official complaint to the state police.

When contacted, Balik Pulau Deputy OCPD Deputy Supt Lai Fah Hin said he was aware of the incident and had instructed that a full investigation be carried out.

SOURCE: The Star Online (North)

More of Balik Pulau in Pictures...

Balik Pulau on Sunset - from evelation (From Flickr user kairilf)

Rocks at Balik Pulau (From Flickr user Ke Wynn)

Masjid Balik Pulau (From Flickr user hidupku)

Pulau Betong, Pulau Pinang (From Flickr user Ela!ne)

Silversmith in Balik Pulau (From Flickr user myram/nais)

Sunrise in Balik Pulau (From Flickr user limkahsoon)

Anak Bulan Di Kampong Pulau Betong... eh, Kampong Wa' Hassan...

That's the title for an act from the Actors Studio coming to Balik Pulau tomorrow night!

Excerpt from the Actors Studio website:

The Actors Studio with the support of / dengan sokongan Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage / Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan (KeKKWa) present / mempersembahkan GENE SHA RUDYN in the text written by / dalam karya tulisan ALFIAN BIN SA’AT

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan”

Director / Pengarah: Gene Sha Rudyn
Writer / Penulis: Alfian bin Sa’at
Cast / Pelakon: Gene Sha Rudyn

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan” tells the story of Kampong Wa’ Hassan, the last Malay kampung (village) to fall victim to Singapore’s efforts at modernisation. Far from a nostalgia trip down memory lane to a romanticised Malay kampung, this is a journey of discovery of the true worth of a kampung, filled with real-life characters in all their rawness, and the true loss in the dispossession of it.

“If ‘to know me is to love me’, then the way for us to understand why Orang Kampung love the kampung is to get to know the kampung that they know.” - Gene Sha Rudyn

“Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan” mengisahkan tentang Kampong Wa’ Hassan, kampung terakhir di Singapura yang menjadi mangsa dalam usaha Singapura mengejar kemajuan. Jauh berbeza daripada sebuah lamunan romantika tentang sebuah Kampung Melayu yang penuh nostalgia, malahan ianya merupakan satu penerokaan mengenali nilai sebenar sebuah kampung, yang padat dengan watak-watak nyata lagi asli, dan kehilangan sebenar dengan pemupusannya.

“Kata pepatah ‘Tak kenal maka tak cinta’. Jadi, kalau kita nak faham kenapa orang kampung cinta sangat dengan kampung, kita kenalah mengenali kampung yang mereka kenal.” - Gene Sha Rudyn

“…bijak pada masa-masa yang tepat dan lucu tanpa disangka-sangka.”

(“…intelligent at the right times and funny when least expected.”)
- Hasleen Bachik, Berita Harian (Singapore)

“Funny, intelligent and moving.”
- Eugene Ng, getasia.com.my

“Although hilarious at times, there was also serious reflection…”
- Jad Mahidin, The Malay Mail

“The insightful observations of Kampong Wak Hassan suggested the subtle suppression they faced.”
- Zieman, The Star

“…a weighty depiction of the faces of fear and apprehension…”
- Christina Leong, KLue

“…penonton ketawa terbahak-bahak,… mengetawakan diri sendiri.”
(“…the audience laughed hysterically,… laughing at themselves.”)
- Mislina Mustaffa, Berita Harian (Malaysia)

“…with this sense of unease,… left us with a powerful imagery of the past drowned out by modernity.”
- Veronica Shunmugam, The Edge Daily

“…so clearly illustrates the battle between the spiritual human voice and the increasingly dominant consumerism of our culture and traditions.”
- Amir Hafizi, Kakiseni.com

Event Information/Maklumat Acara (as SMS-ed to me from Lina/The Actors Studio):

Time/Masa: 9 pm
Date/Tarikh: Sunday, 10 JUNE 2006
Venue/Tempat: Taman Rimba Anjung Indah (hmm.. I don't even know if this place exist -- definitely not in Kg Pulau Betong!), Balik Pulau

ADMISSION IS FREE!

See you there!

UPDATE (15 JUN 2007): I finally got more info about the event and venue... but too late now... posted anyway here for everyone's acknowledgement -- and only yesterday I've first realized where the mysterious place called "Anjung Indah" (just officially named such last month) is situated at although that's one of my favorite hangout place for nearly five years now.. and I tiredly circled the entire Balik Pulau from Pulau Betong to Sungai Rusa to look for it last weekend... bummer!:

1. Event announcement at Behind the Red Helmet Blogspot
2. Info on Gene Sha Rudyn, the play director. He also has a website at geneshar.tripod.com