UPDATE:

(The Star) - Just five days after it was put up, the Penang government’s “Tak Nak ISA” signboard opposing the Internal Security Act has been removed by vandals.

All that was left were the metal frame and some rope.

Be thankful for small measures. Locals having a leisurely time under the shade of coastal trees on Pangkor island. The calm blue waters betray the havoc that has wreaked the islands on the Pacific Ring of Fire the past week.

On Sept 27, Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped over metropolitan Manila more than a month's payload of rain in a space of 12 hours. It was the country's worst flooding in 40 years. Close to 300 people died in its path. From there Ketsana strengthened and swept over central Vietnam and Laos and caused immense hardship on its people.