Happy Merdeka Day everyone, local observations

Not much in the news, but I was out on the town in Penang and saw relatively little celebrating going on except for mat rempits and police chasing them down. Traffic was noticeably lacking.

Upscale, large establishments were generally quiet compared to the relaxed, laid back, and more reasonably priced entertainment areas. Clearly this year will be a hard as the economy is still stagnant.

Shopping malls were full as many days of rain have the tendency for people to postpone their shopping trips. Add to that the Merdeka day sales, shopping malls showed their resiliency. I could not even get a parking spot in the shopping mall's garage.