GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia -- Behind the hoardings of the abandoned colonial-era market at Sia Boey in George Town, capital of Malaysia's Penang state, two workers are digging a hole close to an old canal overlooked by a terrace of derelict shop-houses.
Sia Boey lies on the border of George Town's World Heritage-listed old city, and is at the center of an increasingly acrimonious battle over a 46 billion ringgit ($10.9 billion) Penang state government plan to modernize the state's transport network.
