Religious Man = Crime ? Yes? No?

I read with interest the report in NST Nov 8th 2004 pertain a supposedly ground-breaking study of incest offender in Msia.

While I have no professional opinion to offer for the methodology used and the results of the studies I do have a question towards the statement of the Associate Professor who says:

"This phenomenon illustrates that lack of religious beliefs would make an individual prone to be engaged in this immoral behaviour.

The learned Proffessor, by virtue of the professorship, is a man of science, therefore, his statement attributing or acquainting immoral behaviour as a lack of religious belief just doesnt jive.

Here he is, using a scientific methodology (my assumption) to do a research is suggesting that an individual who has committed such heinous crime as forcing their own daugther(s) or niece(s) to submit, would not have done so if only they are more religious???

MAybe the learned prof have not been reading the news for awhile, for only very recently during the Australian Authority crackdown on child phonography code-named Operation Auxin roped in not only your average joe but the offender includes Priests as well as the various uniform bodies which is sworn to protect the public.

We can also find from the web many examples of individual of different faiths who have chosen to devote their life to their respective religion yet commit crimes of a sexual nature.

So, is it true that having a religious belief will automatically disqualified one from being a sexual perpetrator?

Unfortunately, the answer is not that clear cut becos humans have a complex and highly evolved brain which they used to the fullest be it to commit crime or to do good. And all this too, irregardless of whether one have undergone minimal or the highest education or no education at all!

For centuries psychologist and philosopher have tried to categorise man as, for example, an Ectomorph, Mesomorph, Endomorph or an Introvert or Extrovert and associate each category with a specific personality.

Today, in law enforcement agencies, the commonly terms being used are Profiling.

But where did all this categorising and profiling leads to? No where, it seemed.

Crime of all kind is on the increase instead of the other way round. We dont only have nuts who killed without provocation we also have nuts who kill because of religion.

So it would be a wonderful world to live in if only life is as straight forward and simplistic in nature as the learned professor seemed to propose.

Going by his learned theory then, we should be able to make Msia a crime free country in the world by inducing all criminals and potentials criminal of all kind into the world of religion! Voila! Problem solved! Case closed.

Flat Tyres n Good Service

I had a flat tyre on my way back from a shopping spree yesterday. Feeling lazy to change the tyre myself I called AAM for assistance.

After the usual Q&A by the lady on the other end, she finally ask for my membership number...erh....which I sort of didnt renew my membership since I think, about 6-7 years ago...

To which she replied: Sorry sir but we only serve members.

So I ask what is my alternative.

She says, either you renew on the spot which means RM150 cash or find other alternative.

Wow! That's d price to pay for not renewing my membership. While I respect their SOP for assisting only members I think it would make very good marketing sense for them to try to assist distress drivers who is by the way not having a breakdown in a remote jungle but is in the very middle of the town.

Instead of holding the distressed driver by the balls to squeeze out RM150 to change a flat or ask them to try surviving on their own by finding other alternative they could've check and see if their mechanics are having teh tarik somewhere and ask them to rush to the scene, help this poor bloke out for a reasonable fee, get him to sign up and in the process retaining a grateful and potential life long member of AAM.

But then again, as with most big companies in malaysia - individual customer or potentials meant little to them. Good services to the masses meant little more. CSR is an alien unheard of word. These big companies only focus is at the top 20% which they consider their a la creme - that gives their company the turnover needed. The rest can can go somewhere else for all they care.

By virtues of their size, the government lack of sympathy for poor folks plus impotent consumer associations, the consumer of Malaysia is frequently beaten to submission and have to continue to pay for the follies of a few "camouflaged" business people in position.

As consumers we should all stand together. Register our dissatisfaction no matter how insignificant we think it is. Do not, however, complaint for complaint sake becos we are hard to please.

Instead give constructive complaints based on service level expectation.

My friend once asked me, what do you get from complaining and do you think there'll be changes even if you complained?

Well, if we say nothing, nothing is definitely going to get changed - becos the clueless sitting up there will still very much be clueless - however, if we make a complaint, collectively, our voices may be loud enuf for even the deaf to hear.

We cant expect changes to happen overnite but like the chinese saying, if we have perseverance, slowly but surely even a piece of useless rusted metal can be turn into a beautiful shiny needle.

To my friends who says never mind to all the abuses heap on them by bullying big companies, I would like to quote Elie Weisel: to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all... neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victims..and silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

SPEAK UP! .... pleeeaasee....

Wisdom Quotes

George Orwell:
In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.



So, for those who says, "aiyah, it's not my problem." - they should read Orwell.

Trader Got Robbed In Miri

Letter to the Star Editor

Refer to your report "Trader robbed of RM800,000 in gold" and The Starpaper comments "A businessman from Kuala Lumpur found out too late how foolish and costly it could be to walk in town alone" as well as the Police Chief remarks that the victim is careless and reckless.

Firstly I agree with the Police Chief in that the businessman should have a bodyguard when he carry so much valuable with him. As a matter of fact, a businessman or the general public should be discouraged from carrying large amount of cash or valuables with them whether in a big city or a dark alley.

But having said that, we should also take into considerations the nature of the business involved, the time and the place the robbery took place in this case.

In the example of the goldsmith businessman who got robbed, the nature of his business dictates that he carry his wares as samples to show his clientele otherwise he may not be able to close the sales, secondly, he is walking in the middle of the main city near a busy supermarket at late noon when he was robbed.

Taking into consideration the place and time of the robbery it is logical to say that the businessman is not careless nor is he reckless because he is not meandering alone in the middle of the night or at a dark secluded alley. Thus the Starpaper comments that it is "foolish and costly for the businessman to walk around town alone with his gold" is grossly misleading because it will and can be miscontrued by foreigners as well as Malaysians who has never been to Miri that our Malaysian cities street is full of robbers and is not a safe place to walk alone!

Also, it is the basic right of every citizen to expect a certain level of peace and security when we conduct our daily businesses or just walk through the street anytime of the day, especially in the middle of a busy city without being robbed, threatened with bodily harm or fearing for our safety.

To this end, the police, instead of chastising the victim could have given assurance, not only to the immediate victim but to the general public and the local or foregin businessman, who frequent our cities that the police do have a strategic long term plans on crime prevention and that our Malaysian cities street are in actual fact a relatively safe and peaceful place where we can walk alone anytime of the day.

Nov 28th - D editor dont seemed to like my comment thus was not publish.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker

We all know, ever since the announcement from the BN government of their choice of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker that he is as good as confirmed.

Such is the state of our "people" representative that anything that was recommended from the top is as good as a command. Remember your favorite word to win your girl-friend heart? - Your wish is my command, dear....

What I dont understand though, is the nonchalant way our DPM put it that it was preferable that there was no contest as the person for the job should be accepted by all MPs.

Now, this is a mystery. Can any single politician can be accepted by the other politician - let alone 219 of them? And I thought we have a parlimentary democracy - one vote one person - ? hmmm....

TV Smith - Gold for Eight

From TV Smith:
15 ministers picked 8 sports headed by 6 datuks and 2 sultans for 1 gold medal.

Check out the full article at: TV Smith

Now we shall sit, wait and see whether our our performance will improve - since we have so many datuks, datuks and sultans in one place!!

JPJ Offline!

Jeez, it seemed like everytime I wanted to renew my license the Pos Office will tell me that "JPJ Offline-lah". This happened the last time I tried to renew my wife license.

Talk about being the ICT international hub!!! Out of frustration I sent an email to JPJ from their web site - I wonder if they care to reply! or maybe their web server is offline too???

Dear Sir,

I tried to renew my license at the Tmn Muda Pos Office but was unfortunately told that JPJ is offline.

This is not the first time I faced this problem. The last time I tried to renew my wife license I was told the same thing.

My friends told me they face the same problem.

I dont know whether the problem originates from JPJ HQ, your vendor or the Pos Office - what I know is I am rather disappoint that such issue can arise again and again.

Bearing in mind Malaysia goal of becoming an ICT hub of international recognition I do hope you guys would seriously look into this recurring "offline" problem so that we can leave up to expectation.

Beef up the enforcement too

IT IS that time of the year that road accidents are the issue of the day again. This time Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy have issued statements to the effect of tweaking and tightening the existing laws.

However, what our leaders have not touched on is the enforcement aspect.

No matter how good the law is, without a good enforcement unit, its purpose will be defeated.

This is shown in the increasing number of road accidents.

For enforcement of traffic laws we have the traffic police and the Road Transport Department but one can hardly see officers from these departments doing enforcement work at any time of the day.

Instead, enforcement occurs only when they set up roadblocks and create more traffic jams.

Why can't the enforcement officers station themselves at road junctions and summon motorists or motorcyclists who flout the law daily?

If law enforcement officers can be seen more regularly, I believe motorists and motorcyclists will think twice before speeding or beating traffic lights.

Other areas where law enforcement officers are seldom or never seen are the housing estates.

These are the areas that breed unethical drivers.

Here, you will find youngsters riding motorcycles and carrying pillion riders without wearing safety helmets, speeding and breaking all traffic rules and endangering themselves and others at the same time.

You will also find motorists who disregard all traffic rules by double parking and driving in the opposite direction along one-way streets.

Publish in The Star Leters to the Editor Nov 9th 2004

Are police doing enough?

IN YOUR report, “Senseless death”, (The Star, Nov 2), you highlighted yet another tragic death of a victim of snatch theft.

What has become of the security of our nation? What proactive steps have our police taken to ensure the security of the people whom they pledge to serve?

Please do not blame it on the lack of police personnel again. The nation is tired of listening to excuses and the shifting of blame.

When we have landslides, new highways with structural problems, the minister in charge conveniently shifts the blame to the working of nature and the incompetence of the contractors.

When our crime rates increase, the police blame it on a lack of public cooperation in giving information or a lack of manpower.

When will the relevant authorities care enough to take responsibility and be accountable?

Instead of blaming others, can they proactively keep the public informed of what they have done to ensure public safety and security?

Have the police done any research on why the number of snatch theft cases is on the rise and why snatch thieves are getting more violent?

What are the proactive steps the police have taken to minimise snatch thefts?

We need people who understand the value of accountability, research and planning.

We do not need bureaucrats who are slow, blame shifters and quick to shoot the messenger.

Posted in the Star Nov 3rd 2004

Foolish to employ ‘ex-gangsters’

I WAS aghast to read that Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim wants to employ “former gangsters” and “village bullies” as law enforcement officers, “Ex-gangsters to enforce laws”, (The Star, Nov 5).

His argument does not hold up at all. If the present enforcement officers are losing the respect of the people there must be something wrong in the way they execute their duties.

Shouldn’t the Mentri Besar be thinking of re-training or engaging a relationship specialist to reform the enforcement unit?

Shouldn’t he conduct a study to find out why his enforcement officers are losing public respect?

Also, the dictionary definition of “gangster” is “someone who has committed (or been legally convicted of) a crime”. So what did he mean when he said he wanted gangsters who have no criminal record?

And what makes him think that the public will accord more respect to ex-gangsters or village bullies.

Posted in The Star Paper Opinin Page Nov 8, 2004

Road Accidents - Enforcement is the Answer!

It's the time of the year that road accidents is the issue of the day again. This time our PM and the Transport Minister have issue statements to the effect of tweaking and tightening of the existing law.

However, what our leaders have not touch on is its enforcement aspect, for no matter how good the law is, without a better enforcement unit it will defeat its purpose, as can be shown in our increasing numbers of road accidents.

For enforcement of traffic laws we have the traffic police unit as well as the road transport department unit, but one can hardly see anyone of them doing enforcement work during anytime of the day. Instead enforcement occurs only during large, small scale operations when they block roads and create more traffic jams.

Why can't the enforcement unit station themselves at different road junctions and summons motorist/motocyclist who flaunt the law - everyday? If this enforcement unit can be found and seen more regularly I believe motorist and motocyclist will think twice about speeding or beating the traffic lights.

Another area which the enforcement unit is seldom or never been seen is the housing estates. As a matter of facts, these are the areas that breeds unethical drivers.

You will find youngster riding with pillions without helmets, speeding and breaking all traffic rules there is and endangering themselves and others at the same time.

You will also find motorist who disregard all traffic rules by double parking, driving against one way street etc.

Where is the enforcement unit? Or is there a separate rule for traffic in the city and those in the housing estate?

Agan, while I am happy that our PM and the Transport Minister is concerned and acknowledged the problem of high rate of road accidents, I do hope they will focus on its enforcement instead of creating yet more rules which most often than not, does not serve its purpose.

The Car, The Road, The Weather

Jeeez.. would it ever stop raining..and such heavy one too. Fortunately the rain dont last long but it leaves its mark with leaves scattered all over the road, tree branches fallen and mini flood of water on the street all over the place.

Back in 1997 when I got my first Kanchil 850 I was exhilirated for being able to join in the jam from Pandan Indah area to KL Sultan Ismail where I work.

But very soon my joy-ride was turned into a bumpy one becos there are just too many potholes in Pandan Indah as well as KL!! Can you imagine your brand new beautiful car running over potholes as big as your Kanchil wheel size???

So I thought, wont it be more appropriate for our national car to produce ONLY 4 wheels drive since driving round Pandan Indah and KL is like participating in a rally across the most treacharous mountain site in the world.

You not only have to look out for fast driven cars that zap in and zip out from nowhere, daredevil motorist that only need 1 cm of space to squeeze their way thru but you also need to be sure your car dont land into one of the potholes camouflaged as an innoncent looking pool of water.

But today I changed my mind. After the frequent flash flood we encounter in and around KL - I think we have to restrategise and instead of just producing 4 wheel drive we should incorporate the amphibian features into it.

Imagine the scene.

In your beautiful amphibian capable 4 wheeler, you plough your way out from Pandan Indah to KL, dislodging the daredevil motorist that is trying to squeeze past between you and the slow moving container on your left. Next you came across a pothole the size of 45cm wok but becos you have tyres fortified with silicon and suspension fitted for rally - you go over the potholes without being bounced around like a ball.

Come 4.00pm - suddenly the sky pours and pours - 5.30pm - you got to leave the office and unfortunately you got stuck in the middle of the mother of all jam of KL. (which often occurs anyway) and our famous flash flood occured at exactly 1 hour after you have sat in your car in the middle of the road at the same spot.

On your right you saw the water rising rapidly from the big monsoon drain which dont seemed so big now...what to do? where to go? back and front you have cars piled up and some of them is ignorant of the rising water....

Worry not. At the flick of a switch, your 4 wheeler is sealed air/water tight. The exhaust is turn into propeller and from your wheels 4 powerful paddle extruded to assist your car to stay afloat.

Now, you can slow drive onto the rising water in the monsoon drain and slowly propel your way home.

Isnt it neat? We dont need to spend millions and billions to design flash flood mechanism which may not work afterall - if our highway is anything to go by.

Coffee Talk...

Overheard in a mamak stall.

guy 1: Another landslide in the paper. sigh*

guy 2: ya-lo. How pitiful. Lucky no one got hurt.

guy 1: how come this semi-value still refuse to resign-ah? no accountability for his ineffectiveness. still adamant to hang on in office..time to give his seat to someone more capable-ma.

guy 2: ai-yoh. u really-ah. if u dont knw dont say-lah..

guy 1: what? what do u mean? i'm wrong in asking this semi-value to step down? after all the infrastructure failure fiasco? any right thinking responsible dude would have bowed out and accept his own failure!

guy 2: think deeper, my friend. I ask u. Who is really in charge behind the scene? who has the ultimate power in all this political sandiwara between the main political parties?

guy 1: eh...

guy 2: u see! u see! u talk only without analysis..let me tell u - the real power is the main party that holds the most seat. let me ask u again. how do minister get their seats?

guy 1: eh, allocated by the BN head, i think.

guy 2: no need to think-la this time - of course the minister seats was allocated by the BN head.. let me give u an example. if u got promoted by your manager - beside performing your job function, do u also take into consideration your boss whims n fancy.

guy 1: dont think so..

guy 2: ya, dont bullshit-lah. but anyway, u never work for a corporation b4 so u wont understand the political undercurrent of a firm and the power of the grapevine and how the people wanted to pander up to the boss..

my humble analysis of the situation is like this. the PM though weilding the ultimate power also got his own legions of whisperer and supporter who he need to return favors. otherwise why do u think the supporter supports the power that be?

guy 1: aiyah, simple - for some fringe benefits or mayb they like the man. who knows?

guy 2: u got the first one right. so if u r close to the center of power and is a known supporter - what do u think people not in the center of power perception is when they meet u?

guy 1: aiyah..how i know-man, i never even met any of them. they so high up there..drive big cars whizz here whizz there...makan also air-cond place..

guy 2: aiyah, cut the bulls-lah. let me explain. generally, the people outside of the center of the power tend to kow-tow a bit to the people inside the circle of the power. so if u r one frm the inside of the power and u talk to one from outside of the power about u wanting to do something, eh, let's say want to be involve in the building of a road, in all probability somehow your nominated proxy will be involved in that road construction very soon.

Now, most of the time proxy are developed from scratch at the eleventh hour thus their domain knowledge is lacking in certain field so the only option for them when a job drop from the sky (or somewhere up there...) is to sub the job to an A company let's say Ahmad Co.

On the other hand, Ahmad Co. may also lack the necessary support and skills to finish the job so they in turn have to sub it to MAniam Co and some how it landed on the feet of A Chong Co and finally the job is being executed by a certain Imran, a self style supervisor of a group of indons who have previuosly worked in some brick laying projects somewhere in KL. And so, my friend, the rest is history.

guy 1: wa-liao! u really analytical-eh... what a pity u dont become the editor of our newspapers.. spin very fantastic tales..he..he..he...

guy 1: but seriously, u r saying that even though semi-value is in charge of the office he is actually powerless to determine where and to whom the contract goes to becos the process is very much pre-determined by the people inside the circle of power?

guy 2: well, up to u to interpret-loh. i'm just conjecturing - a personal opinion, may not hold water but logic will tell us that if a job is being done by real professionals with proven track record - the failure rate will be sub zero. But in order for real professionals to be involved, we need to have transparent tendering and procurement systems - which our PM is trying to address. but then that is another story altogether...

with that the 2 guys pay their drinks and went off for another round of rubbish collection....

A Culture of Blame?

A Culture of Blame

Hightlighted in the Star Paper today is another sad case of a victim of a snatch theft.

What has become of the security of our nation? What pro-active steps have our police taken to ensure the security of the people which they pledged to serve?

Please do not blame it on the lack of police personnel again. The nation is tired of listening to excuses and the shifting of blame.

When we have land-slides, new highway with structural problems, the minister in charge conveniently shift the blame to the working of nature and the incompetencies of the contractors.

When our crime rates increased, the police blamed it on a lack of cooperation from the public in giving informatin to a lack of personnel.
When potholes besiege our roads, the municipal blames it on the illegal car washer and the incessant rain.

When will all this shifting of responsibility stop? When will the relevant authority care enough to take the responsibility and accountability that come with their offices?

Instead of blaming, can the relevant authority proactively keep the public inform on what have they done to minimise mishap. Like, have the police done any research on why our snatch theft rate seemed to have increased and gotten more violent? Are the perpertrator local or foreigners, are they mostly drug addicts as widely perceived and what is the proactive steps the police have taken in order to minimise snatch thefts based on their research?

Our nation is in dire need of technocrats to head the government agencies who understands the value in accountability, research, PR and planning and not beauracrats who is slow, reactive, blame shifting and quick to shoot the messenger.

Yet another senseless killing of an innoncent and helpless individual.

What have the world became? Why dont the so called freedom fighter or what not go after the perpetrator instead of the innocent?

They look so tough posing with the hapless victim all bound up - do they really think the world will take pity on masked killer who decapitate innocence who may have never hurt anyone in their life?

Even infamous killer like Hitler and infamous tyrant like Mugabe have a face people recognise - who are these ruthless killer behind those mask?

And what is the reason for them to wear a mask? Nothing I can think of except for cowardise.

Please - go to the perpetrator - stop killing the innocence. Their lifeless body wont do your cause any good, their government wont bend to your request.

Even Osama bring the battle to the battlefront - if you dare - do it. If not, pls leave the innocence alone especially those that went over to help rebuild your war torn country.

Why do newspaper have to report events based on religion and not on the contending issue on hand?

In this commentary from BBC Monitoring we can sample the reporting style of the regional newspaper.

Utusan Msia is the most blatant in using religion in their reporting as can be seen from their comment "for Muslims in southern Thailand, the latest incident has once again aroused their anger towards the government, which has so far been seen as discriminating against Muslims concerning development and the economy".

Do we categorise a person, regardless of his country of origin based on religion or based on his citizenship? In another word do we categorise someone from America or UK as a Christian or an American or a British?

Coming back to the report, the discontent in Southern Thai is because they felt that the main governtment is not looking into their welfare and for that they wanted secession. (of course, part of their reason is also due to historical delineation of the place, so their claim is not based entirely on the economical development factor.)

Having said that, the majority people living in that part happens to be of the religion Islam, thus they have always been categorised as the Muslim states as opposed to the Buddhist state of the rest of Thailand.

But based on that alone, we cant argue that the Muslims wanted secession instead we should say that the people of so and so state wanted secession from so and so state becos of.....If we put it this way life would be a lot less complicated becos then we would know the reason that so and so state wanted a secession is becos of these reason and not becos they are muslims or christians etc.

And why dont we want to say that the Muslims wanted secession?

Reason is simple. After 911, the world is further divided into religious line - in the form of Christian and Muslims countries. This division is causing a lot of antagonist between the 2 religion and in the process is dividing the people of the world.

And when we talk about religion many people tend to get overly emotional - for one reason or another and their normally rational judgement will be clouded. To add fuel to fire, we have in this world a certain species of human beings that does not like peace, that is greedy for power, egoistical, manical, fanatical and unfortunately these people was born with the charisma to incite unrest in common decent people.

However, if we are to step back, take a deep breathe and try to acknowledge the fact that nobody, no one race alone, owned the so call their religion per se - and further acknowlege the fact that we are all human beings though different in cultures, skin color and way of life - then we deal with each other as peers and not as christians, muslims and what nots - isnt life gonna be less complicating?

Our PM called for the National Integrity Plan (NIP)committee to study the government's procurement system in order to raise the country's standing in the Corruption Perception Index, is timely - if not a little too late.

But before the NIP committee began their undertakings the first thing they should do is ask one of the "minister" committee member by the name of Datuk Samy to put into practise the spirit of setting up the NIP in the first place, which if I am not mistaken listed its priorities as reducing corruption, enhancing corporate governance and business ethics. (nstp.com Oct 28th)

All that the long serving minister need to do is to disclose the findings of the MRR2 issue,(as well as other issues like landslide, the North West highway structural issues, the smart school roof collapse issues..ec) initiate a debate about it in parliament to brainstorm for ways and means on how not to repeat such dire mistakes and restructure his ministry to inculcate the values of integrity, accountability, corporate governance and transparency.

There are 2 type of restructuring - one is transformation and the other transitioning.

Generally, transformation involved drastic and painful changes for the good of the company or any public offices found to be dying from a cancerous growth of ineptitude due to apathy or gangrene for having sat too long in one place and of failing in discharging the duties of the public office which is to serve the public with integrity.

The first thing to do in such restructuring exercise is to control the outbreak of the cancer (or the cashflow) by performing an operation on the growth and cutting it out.

Translation: remove the head, assign a committee members of less than 3 people (preferably professionals from the private sectors which has never dealt with any public officials before) to be the team leader to redo the SOP, relook into the workflow, plug all the leakages etc.

Like the aftermath of an earthquake, most if not all structure needs to be rebuilt either from scratch or from what's left after the quake.

A lot of resistance is to be expected especially near the cancerous growth area - a radius of 20km from the contaminated area may also be already infected with this symptom of ineptitude due to apathy as such all need to be screened thoroughly to ascertain their fitness for duties.

Normally transformation takes about 1 to 1 half years plus many body counts to see results but if that is for the better for the public, isnt it time well spend?

I dont know why vehicles break down and why They breakdown when I am using the road??? ok...ok.. it's a bit selfish of me to say such thing, I'm not saying that vehicles can only breakdown when I am not using that strecth of road.

The thing is when vehicles breakdown, especially during peak hours - darn! - they freaking owned the road-man... the rest of the driving population will have to crawl and crawl and crawl to reach their destination.

I mean, come on, I am driving an 18 year old car - and i am taking pains to make sure that my car dont give up on me by going to the mechanic regularly, by making sure my petrol is always filled and man, so far, (touchwood*)I have been commuting to and fro Ipoh, KL and Penang without incident!

That's why I dont understand when I see cars newer than mine stalled by the road side or even at the middle of the road causing huge jam and inconvenience to everyone!

It especially frustrates me when big vehicles like lorries, containers or even loaders breakdown - and ESPECIALLY during morning rush hours!!!

Come ON!! People wake up earlier to AVOID the traffic and only to be stuck in a pre-dawn traffic becos of some inconsiderate driver who have no concept of vehicle maintanence???? grrrrrrHhhhhhh...

The past 1 month alone I have seen 2 trailers stalled becos of accident and the rest of the vehicles was backed up 1 mile away - I've seen 12 wheelers lorry stopped by the road side with emergency lights on - containers, 2 tons lorry etc.... what is Puspakom doing?? Arent they suppose to be the doctor of the commercial vehicle??

Granted even a doctor cant guarantee a patient full health so what is the next best thing we can do to prevent these big vehicles from kneeling down and bringing the entire traffic to a standstill?

What about putting up a 6 punisable breakdown reasons - say, if a vehicle breakdown becos of any of these 6 reasons:
1: No petrol, gas or engine oil.
2: Tyres blown, punctured cos of wear and tear.
3: No water in the radiator - smokes emitting.
4: No brake fluid, clutch fluid or gear fluid.
5: If the vehicle stalled in the middle of the road - heavier penalties.
6: If the stalled vehicle is not tow away or repair and be ready to restart in the next 30 mins - heavier penalties or the authorities will tow it and compound it.

A scenario: A vehicles stalled, if it is a commercial vehicle prob Puspakom may want to be involved - the traffic police arrive with their mechanic, discovered the problem the vehicle stalled was becos of 1,2 or all of the above - they will ask the owner or driver to get a tow operator to tow the vehicle away bearing in mind the 30mins grace.

Then they will proceed to summon the driver for their carelessness or inconsiderate behavior for allowing their vehicle to breakdown becos of their failure to send their vehicle for proper preventive maintenance.

On the other hand, if the driver can show on the spot, that they have just serviced their cars (by producing receipts or any documented proof) and the breakdown is not becos they failed in maintenance of the vehicle then in all fairness they should be excused.

I think if we can hold individual responsible by compounding them (esp drivers of big vehicles, becos they have the potential of holding back the traffic much longer) then vehicles breaking down in the middle of the road will be minimised....

I've not taken taxi for awhile - well, at least not after I bought my 18 years old Toyota Corona for the past 2 years. It's a reliable car, never broke down b4 (touch wood..)though a bit old and during heavy storm I need to improvise with a an umbrella but then, hey, it gets me from point A to point B.

But anyway, for 1 day every week, I'ld still need to rely on our ever "efficient" and ever "consumer friendly" public transportation again.

Let's start with our neighborhood hard-working taxis.

I live in Pandan Indah and have to commute to Tmn Desa for my current business project. From experience I know that some cab drivers are reluctant to go to Tmn Desa frm Pandan Indah due to the jam at MRR2 as well as Jln Sg Besi.

So, the ever civic consious me will always try to get a cab b4 6.45am in the morning so that we (the cab driver and I ) can avoid the jam at MRR2 as well as at Jln Sg Besi.

Unfortunately, most cab driver do not share my sentiment. On the other hand, the first dozen of cabs I hailed will give me excuses of some sort,like:

1: I'm in the midst of changing shift.
2: Oh, I only cover the Pandan area.
3: Aiyah, there jam-lah. Sorry-lah.
4: I can take you to the LRT.

I mean, come-on, isnt it the duty of a taxi driver to send the passenger to where-ever the passenger wanted? Why give excuses of not going to a certain area?

The lamest and most frequent excuse is "jam-lah" or raining etc... sigh*

Now and then I hear some taxi driver complaining that it is getting more difficult to "cari-makan" (earn a living) but if they maintain this kind of selective route to ply mentality why complain about difficulties in "cari-makan"?

As consumer I SHOULD be complaining...

It's indeed encouraging to hear the PM speaking about doing business with integrity at a function organised by the Kuala Lumpur Society for Transparency and Integrity.

However, it will be extra better if the PM can get his house in order - root out the (Slang)Neanderthals and the brain expired MPs whose only contribution is making nonsensical mumbo-jumbo in the press and in the process embarrassing the Msians in the international circles.

Look for example the frequent problem of our newly constructed highways. One have structural problem while the other got design problem which resulted in numerous accidents.

Taking into considerations the cost of building a highway (billions!!) and the fact that it involve the safety of the general public, isnt it appropriate for the PM to conduct an internal investigation as well as to request the ACA to investigate what really happened?

Question like, did we award the contract to a fully qualified contractor or did they build the highway based on the correct specs using the specified materials etc.?

I think in this respect the government owed the public an explanation as to why the Work Ministry, despite having been proved wrong time and again with his famous irrational outburst in the paper - is still in the office today and is still spewing illogical explanations.

The other aspect that the PM ought to look into is the Neanderthals camouflage MPs who live in the time past.

This type of people is good as History teacher but they lack the class and finess to be a constructive contributing MP. Why? Well, you cant live in the past and be forward looking and be able to plan for the future at the same time.

History is good as a guidance but to use history to extort - it just show the shallowness of character of this person.

So, dear PM, please do some house-cleaning, throw out the brain-death, the Neanderthals and the foul mouthed clueless joker so that the public will once again respect the MPs.

It seemed like consumers in Malaysia ia always at the other end of the bargain table. Just take a look at The Star Paper today.

Hotlink make an announcement to the general public informing them not to purchase the Hotlink Top Up tickets with Serial Numbers so and so...because the said tickets are stolen and Hotlink has already deactivated it.

To show their seriousness, they even cited the Penal Code which says that it is an offence to receive, retain, conceal or dispose of stolen property.

By putting up this Notice, Hotlink is assuming that whoever has in possesion the tickets with that particular SN is a thief or at best a party to a crime.

Question is, is it fair to prejudge the consumer this way?

While under the law, they may have fulfill their legal obligations to disqualified the stolen cards thus they have the right to deny the unknowing consumers from activating it or requesting for a replacement - however, by doing so, they will antagonise the genuine users who is unaware of this announcement for whatever reason.

If they really have the consumer in mind, they should've make an announcement about the lost of the cards plus an appeal for users who has unwittingly bought it to return it and be replace with a new one.

To ensure that the users are genuine their name and I/C number should be taken down upon return of the ticket and issuance of a new one. This way Hotlink can track the geographical distribution of the cards as well as ensuring that they do not put the genuine users to a disadvantage.

Now then, this is good Corporate Service Responsibility.

I really wonder what is the job description of a Datuk Bandar. Does it includes the delivery of newspaper to all the government department in Ipoh, as was reported in the Malay Mail yesterday?

What is the relationship between NST, a supposedly private entity with the office of the Datuk Bandar, a public institution?

Isnt the role of the Datuk Bandar to take care of the well-being of people in Ipoh, instead of the circulation of newspapers? Dont he have other more urgent matters to take care of instead of using utilising the public office for the benefits of a private entity?

Isn't that a blatant misuse of the public office and warrant an internal investigation into why the Datuk Bandar is delivering newspaper instead of working on how to reclaim Ipoh lost glory of being the Cleanest City?

I've not updated my blog for awhile - plain lazy, anyway, most of what I wanted to blog was blogged somewhere else.... and they always sounded so rational, logical and organised than me!!

Anyway, I have to blog this. Like most other Msians out there I am "frustrated" with the recent brouhaha surrounding Jeff (the blog/news I read for mind stimulation unlike reading the dailies where you get mind-fucked all the time with mundance, uncreative and propaganda shit page after page...)

Opps, I digressed.

What need to be voiced out was "loudly" voiced out for the last few days - so I really dont have much new comments to add - but, aiyah, if I dont say my piece in my own blog I really feel "gerammmm"and I think I wont have a good nite sleep.

Outside looking in, the whole thing is a farce and it smacked of a concerted effort from some interested parties to misled joe public into believing that what isnt is.

The comments from both B.Aman and Noh is really uncalled for. Everyone knows everyone is in bed with someone but with the new government newly established, I am hoping for a change from the old draconian "you can have any color as long as it is black" type of iron fisted paternalistic goverment but darn, am I so so wrong!!!

Why would I believe things would change? Why would I believe the present government would posess a more liberal advance looking outlook in managing Malaysia? Why would I believe that the days of thinly veiled threats to other Msians would be a thing of the past?

Why would I believe, with the new government, Neanderthals and braindeaths in the guise of MPs, YBs and whatnots would be banished from our prestige Parliaments so that Msia can achieve 1st World standard?

Sigh*.... when is santa coming round again?