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?