A Typical Malaysian

NegaraKu Slows Down Again??

2005-08-24T15:21:00.000+08:00

As the header goes "Negaraku marches with the times", The Sun informed all Malaysians that the cabinet has approved to change the tempo of our national anthem once again. Apparently, they decided to slow it down... last year!

Did you know about this??

I am in a total disbelieve when I read about this. The previous excuse to change the tempo back in 1992 was to make it into more of a marching style instead of the slow and sleepy style. Our so-called Information Minister, Abdul Kadir even admits that most Malaysians are still unaware of this. According to him, the "current" tempo was first heard by the public during the 2003 National Day celebrations.

Our Information Minister must be doing one hell of a bad job. It's already after one year since the change of tempo, and everyone (including me and people I know) still do not know about it. I wonder which version is being played when our sports teams win at international tournaments? I wonder if Nicole David knew about this..

Furthermore, what is the reason for the change of tempo this time? Is it like what The Sun has for header "marches with time"? Is this how the government is telling everyone that the economy has slow down? What about the rising inflation rate? Do we need to raise the pitch of some notes in our national anthem to accomodate that?

What a joke!!

Malaysia Moving Into Nuclear Age... Again??

2005-08-19T09:55:00.000+08:00

According to one of our deputy minister, the recent hike in oil prices may force Malaysia to "revive" our nuclear energy program, which he claimed have stopped in 1970s.

Malaysia already a nuclear state in 1970s??

Reading further:

Sebenarnya cadangan mengenai penggunaan nuklear untuk tenaga di Malaysia dicetuskan pada 1970-an ketika negara yang pada masa itu berada dalam blok dunia ketiga, berhadapan dengan krisis harga minyak yang tinggi.
Ketua Pengarah Institut Penyelidikan Teknologi Nuklear (MINT), Dr Daud Mohamad, berkata apabila harga minyak ketika itu melambung daripada AS$5 kepada AS$15, kerajaan mula memikirkan penggunaan nuklear untuk menjana
tenaga.
Bagaimanapun, katanya, krisis harga minyak dan bekalan bahan api itu tiba-tiba dapat diatasi apabila beberapa telaga minyak baru dijumpai di perairan Malaysia.
“Dengan penemuan baru itu, program nuklear untuk penjanaan tenaga dihentikan walaupun MINT ditubuhkan pada 1972 untuk meneruskan penyelidikan nuklear bagi kegunaan dalam bidang lain seperti perubatan,” katanya di pejabat MINT di sini.

So in other words, our country never did went into nuclear energy in 1970s. It was only an idea, like the idea of sending our satay to space and the idea of achieving vision 2020. So much for the title "Kita mungkin guna semula tenaga nuklear"!

Well, Petronas really had stand in our nation's way of venturing into sustainable and clean energy. We should blame Petronas for being the main obstacle to our nation's journey into nuclear energy. I wonder why with all the profit Petronas is getting year by year, why didn't the management thought of researching into alternative fuel? Since our oil reserve will probably run out in 10 years time, it doesn't leave much time does it?

I hope the said minister is not just merely "suggesting an idea" like what they did 30 years back just to get into the history books. In fact, I never realise we even had a "Institut Penyelidikan Teknologi Nuklear (MINT)" until this morning. A quick look at their website (at least they have a decent one) show that MINT was set up more than 30 years ago.

I wonder how much fund has been poured in and how much R&D has came out of it for the past 30 years? Or are the equipments there still in "MINT" condition like when they were first bought?

Let's just hope the people hired there is competent enough to handle a nuclear reactor. Recent events suggested that our nation fail to operate and maintain even the most basic utilities such as power generator, water supply, water pipes, computer labs, hospitals, highways etc.

Let's hope there won't be another Chernobyl in our own soil !!

Biggest Lie In The World

2005-08-17T11:59:00.000+08:00

I am always amazed on how idiots suddenly became so intelligent in telling lies (without blinking) in front of a big public audience.

Do pay special attention to the following lines:

kekal relevan sampai bila-bila walaupun perubahan terus berlaku
tidak wajar dipertikaikan kerana kewujudannya telah terbukti menjamin perpaduan antara kaum
termaktub dalam Fasal 153 Perlembagaan Persekutuan sebenarnya bukan sesuatu yang dianggap sebagai diskriminasi kaum
jangan sekali-kali menidakkan apa yang dipersetujui dan dijanjikan oleh nenek moyang
bukan sahaja bersifat adil dan relevan pada masa dahulu, tetapi juga pada masa sekarang
asas yang paling kukuh dalam pembentukan Malaysia
amat penting terutama dalam membentuk patriotisme rakyat bagi merealisasikan kemakmuran dan kecemerlangan negara

In summary, our country is built on the basis of racial discrimination and unjustice.

Dato Onn, Tunku, Tan Cheng Lock and John Thivy must be turning in their graves BIG TIME !!

Rafidah's U-Turn??

2005-08-13T08:38:00.000+08:00

Although Rafidah was ordered to keep her mouth shut after the cabinet on the AP, Proton issue, she still managed to convey her "personal" views to the press. In an about turn, she claims that she is all for abolishing the AP system!

Below is an excerpt from The Star:

After lengthy debates with politicians and those in the automotive industry over the Approved Permit issue – which caused her to break down in tears at one juncture – Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said APs should be abolished.
“This is my personal opinion although others may not agree with me,” she said

Let us assume that what she said is true for a moment, and that she is against the implementation of AP system all these while. It makes us wonder, who are the true supporters of the AP system? Who is responsible for upholding the system for the last 30 years or so? Is there a higher hand at play here? Or is it Rafidah is trying to make her last desperate attempt to cling on to her position the cabinet?

However, she did stop short of suggesting an alternative to the AP system which seems to protect local automotive players in the industry. Her sudden U-turn on the AP issue sent shivers down local car manufacturers and assemblers, as well as her colleagues. Without the AP system in place, anyone can bring in foreign cars as they like as long as they pay the required taxes.

Just as we thought the controversy surrounding the AP system took a much needed time-out before the announcement of the national automotive policy next month, our old granny stirs up the hornets nest once again!

Will this affect the outcome of the NAP?

Will this affect her prospect in the much rumoured cabinet reshuffle?

What will happen to the AP Kings if the AP system is gone?

Let's wait and see what little is left up her sleeves...

Lousy and Incompetent Servants !!

2005-08-11T11:59:00.000+08:00

Four short paragraphs!!

That is the end result of a full day of cabinet meeting yesterday presumably centered around Rafidah, AP and Proton. Jeff posted the same question to readers "You... satisfied with Rafidah?". The Prime Minister Department has issued the said statement in order to deter Rafidah from giving idiotic remarks that will further damage the government's image.

The statement further explains that the National Automotive Policy (NAP) will be announced next month after further scrutiny by a committee under the PM's office. So, Rafidah is out of the picture this time, it must have been a big turn-off for her!

Coming to think of it, is the whole controversy surrounding Mahathir, Rafidah, Proton and AP a big sandiward staged by the government with a helping hand from Mahathir in order to further postpone the NAP? I mean why does a retired old man would want to participate in a "bruhaha" involving a GLC that he has no interest in? Shouldn't he be spending the rest of his life with his family and grand-children?

The postponement of NAP shows how incompetence of our cabinet members and the Malaysian government as a whole. NAP was supposed to be announced early this year, and yet it has been postponed again and again. If you think about it, the whole AP episode may as well a strategy taken to cover the incompetence of our so-called policy makers.

The latest episodes is only an addition to a long list of incompetent track record of our government, which includes:

Failed mega government projects borne by tax payer's money (Bakun dam, Navy petrol boats, hospital with fungus)
Rampant corruption in all government departments
Corrupted police force and ISA
Uncontrolled development into green lung area
Failure in privatisation of public utilities (muddy water and interrupted power supply)
Over protective and bailing out of various GLCs with public funds
Racial sentiments cultivated at every political meetings and gathering
Miserable state of public transport system and traffic planning
Ever changing education policy
Sad state of affairs in public universities
Rising unemployment rate among graduates
Questionable justice system
Questionable policy in awarding public scholarships
Discriminative policies in all sectors
Twisted meritocracy system
Rising crime rates, drug addicts and HIV cases
Return of NEP (as if it has stopped in any way)
Independence of universities and UUCA
Brain drain (and in some cases done intentionally)
Rising inflation rate
Gap between the rich and the poor
Poor penetration of broadband internet
News censorship and media monopolization by political parties
and the list goes on and on and on

Knowing the above, why are we, the tax payer, continue to hire such incompetent people to serve us? They are public servant! They should kow-tow to us as their boss! Instead, we as the employer are made to suffer from their incompetence (not to mention the latest pay rise!).

I call for pay-cut (not RM1 pay cut mind you!) to all cabinet members on grounds of negligence and incompetence!

Prison System in UM

2005-08-10T11:00:00.000+08:00

According to news in Malaysiakini, University of Malaya (UM) has issued a few notices over the past few days to warn students about getting involved in "undesirable activities" which could tarnish UM's good name (if there is any left).

Such notices are issued by the university’s student affairs and alumni office or Hal-Ehwal Pelajar (who else) are pasted on all notice boards in campus. Among the "undesirable activities" deemed by UM are:

poison-pen letters
unauthorised (haram) leaflets
false news/statements
printing and distributing prohibited (without written permission from the HEP) materials
attending the seminar organised by Institut Kajian Dasar (IKD) - where Anwar Ibrahim was a key speaker
participating in a trip to see fire flies in Kuala Selangor organised by Umany (University Malaya Association of New Youth)

Penalties and stern action will be taken against students under the Universities and University Colleges Act (Amendment) 1975 if found to be involved in the activities concerned,” it stressed.

While all the universities around the world are striving for excellence in every field, our once proud UM is busy implementing a "prison system" within its campus. Using the authority granted to the VC under the UUCA, the university authority even go to the extend of forbidding students participating in specific outdoor activities.

Me, as a tax payer, fully object to public funds being wasted in such implementation of a "prison system" within the university confine. Instead of providing better facilities and hiring renowned academics, public funds are used to hiring high number of moral guardians as well as ridiculously high number of administrative personnel.

I fully urge the PM (not the Minister of Higher Education as I assume he already know, more so endorse such act) to grant independence to all local institutions. On one hand, we are faced with a huge number of unqualified (in terms of market expectations) graduates. On the other hand, evil hands are at play in producing such graduates who are not even allowed to think and make decisions for themselves.

What next? Prison guards and cells for student hostels?

Final Ultimatum !!

2005-08-09T15:48:00.000+08:00

It seems our dear PM has finally got tough with Poor Old Granny with his ultimatum.

Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri,Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz perlu menjelaskan kontroversi yang menyelubungi isu AP import kereta, dalam mesyuarat Kabinet esok kerana banyak isu telah ditimbulkan mengenai perkara itu, kata Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

According to Abdullah, he "thinks" Rafidah will be present at the cabinet meeting tomorrow after missing the last one due to health problems.

Personally, I would like to get some answers to the following questions:

Will Rafidah's explanation (18-pages report) be made public?
Will there be a cabinet reshuffle announcement tomorrow?
Will the long awaited national automotive policy be given the seal of approval?
Will Rafidah announcement her resignation or dishonorably discharged?
Will Abdullah come to Rafidah's rescue again?

The rakyat are waiting...

Rafidah Sidestep Najib?? ACA at MITI !!

2005-08-05T08:45:00.000+08:00

According to Singapore's Straits Times, Rafidah's "MC" from the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday were seen as snub to Najib, who chaired the meeting while Abdullah is in US accompanying his wife (my prayers goes to her). The newspaper also claims that Rafidah is believed to be still within the country although local press has reported that she had left for Perth.

Bernama also quoted Najib as saying that Rafidah will explain to the Cabinet "whatever it needs to know" on the issue of APs at its meeting next week. Last Saturday, Najib had said the Cabinet would ask Rafidah to provide an explanation on claims by former prime minister Mahathir recently that she had misled delegates to Umno's general assembly last month regarding the issuing of the APs.

Is Rafidah trying to wait for Abdullah to come back from US in order to save her butt again?

Will Abdullah do it again after previous attempts which failed to put out the fire?

Is Najib trying to step up on his effort to get rid of the "Iron Lady"?

Amidst the rumors of an imminent cabinet reshuffle that was predicted in two months time, I personally would not bet on Abdullah to protect Rafidah anymore. It may be wise for Abdullah to stay out of this fight that involved two (maybe three including Mahathir) of Malaysia's most senior politicians.

If everything goes well, Abdullah still stands to become the biggest winner of all as he will be pressured to "retire" Rafidah along with other cabinet members namely Mohd Isa, who got suspended from UMNO and those losers in the last UMNO election (Azmi Khalid, Abdul Kadir and Shafie Salleh). Abdullah will in turn replace them with "his men" or politicians with a cleaner PR image.

On a related note, a handful of ACA officers has "visited" the MITI headquarters yesterday. According to The Sun, they were there for about a total of five hours visiting five different floors in the building. Interviews (or is it interrogations?) were carried out with senior staff of various department (including AP department). Even the MITI secretary-general and his deputy were not spared!

However, official ACA responses regarding the visit were in a state of confusion and opaque. ACA deputy DG has no comment stating grounds of confidentiality while FT ACA director officially denied the visit. All of this happened while Rafidah is on her "MC".

Come to think of it, if an ACA director can go on the record to deny the visit, I wonder who are those people who visited MITI and even interviewed those big-shots there? Was the director kept out of the loop? Was it conducted by the Special Branch on orders of Abdullah? Or was there a visit by ACA after all?

Where is the transparency in ACA??

All in all, Rafidah will be prepared (in her 18-pages report) to stage a big come back. She will be weighing the odds all day throughout her "MC" on whether to be discharged dishonorably or being thrown into the brig (maybe not on sodomy charges like Anwar but on corruptions, remember the 18 files that is still on Abdullah's table?).

More episodes (hopefully the conclusion) of the Rafidah saga is set to unveil in the coming weeks ahead.

Be prepared for surprises!

Massa To Replace Rubens For Ferrari In 2006!!

2005-08-03T15:25:00.000+08:00

All the paddock rumors for the past two weeks came true!

According to a statement posted on Ferrari's official website:

The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has officially engaged Felipe Massa, taking up an
option in his contract that has linked the Brazilian driver to the Maranello
Scuderia since 2001. Massa will replace Rubens Barrichello who leaves with the
thanks of everyone at Ferrari, in particular President Luca di Montezemolo and
the Direttore Generale Jean Todt, with whom he has shared six years of
extraordinary success.

BAR sporting director Gil de Ferran (close friend of Rubens) tipped him as being a replacement for Takuma Sato to partner Jenson Button next year.

I personally think it is best for Rubens to leave Ferrari since he has been living under Michael Schumacher's shadow for long enough. Although Ferrari did not openly admit it, we can see that Michael often get the better end of the two drivers (as in team orders and strategy wise).

Both Schumacher and Barrichello had their contracts renewed last year until 2006. Like I said before, Barrichello's contract was not fully honored as with Schumacher's.

Who knows? With the current slump that Ferrari is experiencing (mainly due to their inferior Bridgestone tyres), it might be a blessing in disguised for Barrichello. Moving to BAR or Renault or even Mclaren might be a wise choice as they currently employ a pool of young drivers and they could need the help of an experienced Barrichello to maintain their grip on the sport.

All the best to Rubens Barrichello!

Poor Old Granny Taking From All Sides

2005-07-29T07:46:00.000+08:00

If there is anything such as pity in the world of politics, then all of it will be focused on one of our longest serving (or self-serving?) minister, Rafidah Aziz. However, there isn't such thing in the cruel world of politics...

Before the UMNO general assembly, she has taken shots from both Tengku Mahaleel and Mahathir on the issue on Proton and the issuance of AP. Subsequently, she stole the centre stage during the annual UMNO meet when members from all wings (maybe except Wanita) start firing shots at her for distributing AP unfairly, jeopardizing our national car as well as being "kurang ajar" to her long time mentor, Mahathir.

As a long time politician, Rafidah managed to keep her cool (although she lost it somehow during a press conference where she fell to tears) and fended off most of the accusations against her. The AP list was also released to the public as a result of continuing demand for transparency in governance, but mostly because the ex-PM demands it.

Probably because he is upset over Proton's decision for firing his protégé, Mahaleel, the ex-PM (who claimed he is not senile) fired more shots towards Rafidah for lying in front of over 2500 UMNO delegates as well as to him in her clarification of the AP issue. He also alleged that there are powerful hands at play in the removal of the CEO of Proton.

Most likely out of sympathy towards one of his cabinet member, our PM, Abdullah emerged every time to help put out the fire between the two senior politicians. Abdullah managed to calm the waters by making the AP list public right before the UMNO assembly. Later due to claims by Mahathir that the list is incomplete (wonder who's fault is this), he ordered again that the full list up to 2005 to be made public as well. Furthermore, he defended and backed the decision by Proton to oust Tengku Mahaleel.

Yesterday, we heard another opposition leader, Keadilan's youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor hurling a different kind of accusation against the poor old granny. He questioned Rafidah's over the allotment of bumiputera shares since she took over the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Rafidah is accused for allegedly allocating five million bumiputera shares to her son-in-law, Fazrin Azwar. Apart from that, Ezam also alleged that apart from the ACA probe, there were allegations by former MITI official Rejab Lebai Man - in his defence against a criminal breach of trust charge - how Rafidah had instructed him to give a company controlled by Gerakan president Lim Keng Yaik bumiputera allocated shares.

Given the latest development while she yet to return from her South Afrika along with the PM, I wonder if her position as the MITI minister will still be secured upon her return. Or will Abdullah continue to save her butt again from the fiery fire that seems to come from all sides. Perhaps she should have resigned together with Mahathir (instead of being the first one to jump on the stage when Mahathir first announce to resign) few years ago to avoid such cruel treatment.

I guess now she should understand what Anwar Ibrahim went through when Mahathir decided to strip him from his political career. I just hope the old granny doesn’t end up in jail with a black eye like the former DPM.

Poor old granny...

Real Time KL Traffic Info and CCTV !!

2005-07-27T14:24:00.000+08:00

For people of Klang Valley only!!

I came across this site (http://www.itis.com.my) last year after reading some big LED signboard on my way to work. Back then, there is nothing there but some launch video (which I find it sick because it has been there since last year and it is still there now).

Warning! The ITIS site has a high frequency of server down problem!

According to the site:

Integrated Transport Information System or ITIS is a comprehensive traffic information system developed for City Hall Kuala Lumpur (CHKL) to provide road users with reliable traffic information and user-friendly route guidance to ease their traffic woes in the Klang Valley.

The navigation of the site is really abysmal. In order to see the real stuff (ie. traffic information), you will have to scroll right on your IE screen to click on a panel (shown below) that opens up a new windows (if you have a 800 x 600 resolution, the panel is completely hidden - maybe is to discourage people from visiting).

The new window is definitely not meant for a 800 x 600 resolution screen. The default size is bigger than 800 x 600. I STRONGLY recommend everyone to change your screen resolution to at least 1024 x 768 before visiting this site. Or else, you will have a hard time looking at the navigation map.

I finally zoom into a particular area within KL city after some hard time figuring out how to navigate the stupid map (at least 8x zoom and 10x panning). As you can see, there are various colors that denotes different type of traffic condition (Green - smooth traffic, Yellow - slow moving, Red - heavy traffic).

Notice the left panel with Events, Incidents, Road Congestion etc.? I finally found something that I have been looking for all along (live CCTV pictures) by clicking on Road Congestion bar. After you click that, a drop down area will appear for you to select Zone Name and Road Name (if you can remember them). I picked the "famous" Jalan Kuching for example and clicked Go.

You will notice a third display area (previously white space) will be populated with a few tables with places along Jalan Kuching. Some of the locations has "view cctv" option. Once you click on the "correct" ones (meaning some of them are showing live pictures while some are off) , you will be shown another pop up window with a CCTV picture (not video mind you).

Do try it out and see if this will help you. Or else, remember to write many complaints to DBKL to remind them to stop wasting public funds.

I guess this also explains the installation of many CCTV cameras along the roads that I travel daily. Someone actually mentioned that those are speed trap camera a while ago. Well, you never know, they may be doing some multi-tasking.

Does this spell the end to our traffic nightmares?

p/s: remember to set your screen resolution to at least 1024 x 768, or else you will regret visiting the said site.

Mahaleel Fired From APprentice !!

2005-07-26T08:00:00.000+08:00

Just when everyone thought the Proton-AP saga has ended along with the closing of UMNO General Assembly last week, Proton announced yesterday that they have decided against renewing Tengku Mahaleel's contract as CEO of Proton Holdings Bhd.

In the words of Donald Trump, "YOU ARE FIRED !!"

With one TM down, the other TM (Mahathir) must be left wondering whether he should back off and retire for good as well. Or is he? I suspect a deal must have been strucked between the ex-PM with the current administration: release the AP list, and I sacrifice the CEO.

Is too bad that professional like Tengku Mahaleel has been sacrificed in a political tussle between an ex-PM and a current minister. However, Tengku Mahaleel should have seen this coming when he started to get his hands dirty in Malaysia's politics. He should have concentrated his efforts and skills in managing the pet project of Mahathir instead.

I am sure other CEOs and management of various GLC are very well made aware now that their current positions are not written in stone, but lies in the hands of a bunch of dirty and corrupt politicians. Come to think of it, majority of them do not deserved to be there in the first place since they did not worked to earn it. Most of them are there because of their skills in "knowing-who" instead of "knowing-how".

I am quite disappointed with the state of corporate management in various GLCs in the country. Although the current administration is trying to revamp all the GLCs by putting in place competent professionals to run them, however, the whole exercise is still being carried out well within the confinement of a particular race in the country. Well, I guess they just aren't ready to face up to real competition with other races, not to mention foreigners.

In view of the next dateline of NEP in 15 years, I certainly hope those young professionals put in place will be able to carry out their jobs in a competent way and not indulge in politics everyday. Otherwise, all hope is lost as the current administration is depending on these people to carry their race up to a level playing field with the rest of the world.

Poor Mahaleel... but hey... he started the whole fiasco in the first place!

Other interesting reads:

Wong Sulong offered some insider news on the reason why the TM is on his way out
Possible foreigner as Proton's CEO?
Tribute to TM for his guts by MAA

Umno-ise Academics and Students ??

2005-07-25T10:11:00.000+08:00

Finally, UMNO is making a move into academics cricles as well as students!

A Kedah delegate at the UMNO annual gathering points out that "the government has yet to set up an institute to ensure that university academicians and staff toe the Umno line" and he is "concerned that the next generations (will graduate) without having been Umno-ised".

The said delegate alleged that universities such as Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are "opposition strongholds which stood in the way of goals set by the Umno-led government". He also urged the government to "set up a National Academy of Higher Education so that academics can absorb and be reminded of the policies of the government".

Another Puteri member were smart enough to twist her own words in her move to call for the "establishment of a monitoring body to monitor Malay university students and ensure that they are effectively molded into "glocal" Malays" (why only Malay students?).

The way I see it, there is still a sizeable portion of UMNO members who still thinks that the whole world owes them a living. Furthermore, they hope to bring this kind of twisted logic to other Malays (may or may not be UMNO members) to gain their sympathy and support. This group of people have a weird idea of making everyone a programmable robot so that they are easily controlled and easily maneuvered to achieve some selfish agenda.

Look at the quality of the local graduates for the past few years for example, how many of those unemployed were the products of our local education system? And how many of them are Malays? Why did they become so un-employable? Do they have the capability of independent thinking? Or are they merely mindless robots produced by local universities?

I hope Malaysians at large will wake up from this nightmare we are experiencing now and face up to reality, which might be another nightmare by itself. Well, at least we are not dreaming our lives away...

And yet the UMNO-led government is trying to keep politics out of the sacred education ground...

Keng Yaik to Lead MCA-Gerakan !!

2005-07-25T09:34:00.000+08:00

I would certainly vote Lim Keng Yaik for leading MCA-Gerakan for his opinion on the revival of NEP alone. The Berita Harian headline captured most of his views but you really have to watch the live cover of his interview on TV in order to get his punch lines.

The best one of them I would like to quote goes something like "Kalau sampai 30% macam mana? Kalau turun lagi sampai 20% macam mana?".

This is very bold and true argument on the revival of NEP. If NEP is to be revived and implemented throughout the next 15 years, what is the next move of ensuring the Malays maintain their 30% after 2020? Do we need to have a whole squad of UMNO SWAT team scatter around the whole country (including rural kampungs) to make sure they do not sell any of their properties, wealth, business over to non-Malays (including foreigners?)? Do we need a separate statistics from Bank Negara from time to time to ensure that Malays grasp on the economy will not fall below the 30% mark? Is this what you call a developed nation?

The least I could say about Lim Keng Yaik is that he dares to speak up when it is going to far. In contrast, Ong Ka Ting (President of a BN party member) was blushed off by Hishammuddin (youth chief of another BN party member).

Speaking about being a mosquito party, look which mosquito is making the noise now?

When Did NEP Became Non-racial?

2005-07-25T07:54:00.000+08:00

NEP is a non-racial issue? What utter non-sense is this?

Since NEP was implemented, it has always been a racial issue, in fact, it is the biggest racial issue that is causing the growing rift in our society. It is also the root cause of the division of our nation along racial lines even after half a decade of achieving independence. Not only did NEP fail in its objective, it cultivated generations of people who live on hand-outs by the government instead of earning through hard work.

What are the various excuses of justifying the rebirth of NEP?

Malays are not competing on a level playing field. If you look at education and the issue of strengthening national schools, there is nothing racial about it.
agenda - covering ownership of land, housing, business premises and intellectual property - is aimed at increasing bumiputera share ownership of 30 percent by 2020
NEP must be clearly revived and outlined in detail under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), so that its implementation and target of achieving the Malay Agenda could be monitored and its success assessed from time to time

Throughout all the justifications made at the annual gathering in UMNO building, we see nothing but the same old chant of the "Malay Agenda". As I recalled, the NEP is supposed to benefit all bumiputras including the bumiputras in Sabah and Sarawak, not to mention the poor orang asli (who are the real bumiputras of the land).

If this is not racial, then what is?

UMNO Youth has transformed the original aim of NEP to help all bumiputras in the country to only help the Malays (namely selected UMNO members only). Furthermore, they have the nerve of saying that this is not a racial issue.

On one hand, Najib is asking the Malays to be "glocal" and stop depending on their crutches on his opening speech for UMNO Youth meeting. On the other hand, the UMNO Youth leaders are urging the government to provide more wheel chairs to the Malays so that they can grab hold of 30% of everything (if they had not already done so).

Looking at these scenarios, I sincerely pity the Malays in terms of their future prospect in view of AFTA and globalization. From what I can see, the current leadership understands the need of forgoing the subsidise mentality in order to bring the already lagging Malays to greater heights. However, the younger minds are thinking otherwise. Maybe is a good thing that those aged leaders continue to hold on to their post in the government, or else, we will have a bunch of idiots rising up to the helm with nothing but a crave for wealth and power through discriminatory policies.

I am also particularly disappointed in various speeches and interviews given by the Youth chief. He said "there was a small group of narrow-minded people who opposed the wing’s aspiration to put forward the Malay agenda" and "It was not we who are narrow-minded but these small groups of people who have such a mindset". He also pointed out the failure of his own ministry in the government when he complained about students who are currently studying in schools that do not have water and electricity supply for not able to compete with students from Smart schools, with the best teachers and facilities.

I would like to ask Hishammuddin, who are the ones that came out with the idea of Smart school in the first place? Why are funds not provided for supplying water and electricity supply to all schools? Why is there discrimination between schools that are situated in urban areas and those which are not? Isn't it in line with our country's education philosophy to provide equal education to everyone? Why the bias to city schools? Is this part of NEP as well? I think his grandfather must be turning in his grave after all his hard work of uniting every race under the same roof.

With regards to the hotly debated AP system, some delegate suggested giving 25 APs to each of the division leaders in UMNO. Such arrogance I must say! When did AP became UMNO property? The AP system is part of the government which is formed by everyone in the country. Although its aim was to help the Malays to enter the automotive industry, there is still more than half of the country's Malays which is not part of UMNO who are honest individual like you and me, working their ass off to make a living in our country.

On one hand, the government is hitting hard at those so-called rent seekers who tend to sell off their AP to get fast profit. On another hand, idiots are calling to distribute the APs in small quantities to a larger group of beneficiaries. Where is the logic in that? How many people you do think can come up with a show room for foreign and luxury cars? How many people do you think have the capital to secure franchise agreements with foreign car manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Kia etc.? By giving the suggested 25 APs to a particular person (read UMNO member), the government is encouraging the AP receiver to sell their AP to companies who own the franchise agreement. Isn't that rent-seeking in its purest form?

Speaking about crossing ranks, what about Hishammuddin's brave act of belittling other BN leaders such as Ong Ka Ting and Lim Keng Yaik? He should be reminded that he is a Youth wing chief, and not a party chief like Abdullah. Who does he think he is when he say he is prepared to meet Ong Ka Ting to discuss about the NEP? Isn't that up to the UMNO chief to discuss with the MCA chief? Isn't Hishammuddin crossing ranks in this instance? He should be discussing the matter with Ong Tee Kiat and other youth chief instead before he even make public his views on reviving NEP. Isn't that the spirit of Barisan Nasional? Or the spirit doesn't apply to UMNO as they have a bigger representation in the BN fold?

Such a sad week indeed for Malaysians !!

RM Pegging on US Dollar Removed !!

2005-07-22T07:18:00.000+08:00

In an immediate response to China's action to remove their currency peg, Bank Negara has announced yesterday that the exchange rate of RM will be allowed to operate in a "managed float", with its value being determined by economic fundamentals.

For further reading:

Finally Something That Make Sense...

2005-07-21T13:35:00.000+08:00

After all the "Hidup UMNO, Hidup Melayu!" chanting and out-"cry" by another, the top leadership finally came through his senses and make everyone understand the main culprit behind the failure of Malay as well as NEP.

Kegagalan mencapai matlamat 30 peratus penyertaan orang Melayu dalam bidang ekonomi bukan kerana kegagalan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) tetapi kerana perbuatan mereka yang diberi amanah tetapi lebih mementing keuntungan jangka pendek, kata Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Menurutnya, mereka tidak menggunakan peluang dan amanah tersebut untuk meningkatkan pencapaian orang Melayu dalam bidang ekonomi, tetapi sebalik mereka menyalahgunakannya kerana mahu cepat untung.
Setelah itu mereka meminta peluang baru bagi kali kedua, ketiga, keempat dan seterusnya

Read full speech in English or BM.

First of all, I am glad that Pak Lah finally dropped the curtain on the issue but I guess everyone has known this all along. How else can some Malay driving big foreign cars while some are even deprived of basic needs such as water and electricity.

Come to think of it, we understand there are various levels in any society. Some are rich and famous, some are middle-class workers and some may still be in hardcore poverty. The amount of currency in a country is limited. When someone gained a share, others have to give. However, we are damn tired of those very people who are on the receiving end of the deal always come out to shout for more and hiding behind those who are getting the raw end of the deal.

Among the 3.4 million UMNO members (so they claimed), I guess maybe only at max 10% of them are rich and famous. The other 90% are just mere assets for the top 10% to make use off once every year so that they can continue riding on them to ask for more "candies", so to speak. How else do you think those who lead them in shouting for more assistance every year are very well dressed, driving big cars and living in big mansions?

Maybe you can say this is a survival of the fittest, however, how long do you think this be allowed to go on? Most UMNO members (who may not even aware that their name are on the list) living outside the urban area have no clue that they are being taken for a ride by their so-called leaders. Although they are given great discounts at buying reserved properties in the urban areas, why are they still reluctant to take up the offer? Why are they still reluctant to move out of their home base like Kampung Baru or Segambut Dalam, which are more or less the only area left undeveloped in the whole of KL?

The UMNO Youth can shout all they want every year, create new demands every year, create new slogans every year, make a new keris every year. Do you think it will change anything? The poor will still remain poor, while the rich will continue to capitalize on the poor so that they can get more. This is the reality that the Malays will have to face, this is the reason why NEP has failed after almost half a century of implementation. (Maybe this can go down the Malaysia Book of Record as the biggest failure of all!)

Economy pie is not something that you can allocate or give out to anyone you like. It has to be earned through honest means and hard work. Whatever you earn belongs to yourself (and maybe your off springs or any name that appear in your will). So please don't drag the whole race or even the whole country down the drain with you just because you failed in your business venture. If you are smart enough to take advantage on government assistance, you should be smart enough to know that such hand-outs are not forever. (and maybe your big name will be published in the front-page of every major newspaper)

Everyone has to help themselves before any help is being forwarded to them. Giving a electric-powered wheel chair to a person who is walking on a crutch will only paralyze the person forever!

Wake up Melayu!
Bangun lah Melayu!
dan Buka Mata lah Melayu!

Look Familiar??

2005-07-19T14:40:00.000+08:00

Look familiar? Remember the Meru bridge incident?

I am not accusing anyone on this design nor I have evidence that the above structure (and at least another similar one nearby) will follow the footstep of the Meru bridge.

However, don't you think prevention is better than cure?

The photographed structures stand tall above the Segambut roundabout where there is a construction of a proposed flyover being carried out. One far end of the structure is situated on top of the road surrounding the roundabout. IF (God forbid) that part were to collapse at peak traffic hour, I cannot imagine what will happen to the poor motorists stuck in a jam under it.

Just something to think about for those great builders out there...

Between Subsidising and Business Model

2005-07-19T08:18:00.000+08:00

After the photos of the four AP Kings are being splashed on the front page of all the major newspapers in the country, I just wonder how this will affect their auto business.

Since the past two days, peculiar events are happening around the country. First we have the gangster incident in Sky Kingdom, now the official disclosure of the list of AP recipients. Both of the "settled" issues are among the most talked-about topic in the country. Both of them concern the welfare of Malays as well as Muslims (or the two combined - bumiputra). And both of them are to become the hotly debated subject in the UMNO General Assembly. I reiterate my question: do you think this is a co-incidence? I leave it to you readers to decide...

Back to the AP issue, I would like to give my two cents worth.

First of all, I do not object to most efforts implemented by the government to help the disadvantage group of our community (namely Bumiputra), and the AP system is no different.

I believe the Import Licensing through Approved Permit (AP) was introduced in the 70s with the objective of promoting and providing opportunities for bumi entrepreneurs in the automotive sector. Since then, many have been "chosen" to be recipient (mainly UMNO members) and sold their APs in order to get fast profit.

For the four so-called AP Kings, I believe they ought to be made role models to all the other AP recipients assuming they did not sell of their AP for fast track cash. I believe both Naza and Weststar Motorsport are doing quite well in their respective businesses. Naza even aroused the sore-loser comments from both Proton's adviser cum ex-PM and Proton's CEO which brought the AP issue to public eyes!

No doubt the AP system has benefited companies like Naza in their business. But isn't that the main objective of the AP system? Arent' the government happy to see that at least a few of bumi businessman are able to benefit from their policies? At last we are looking at a policy that works to the advantage of the bumi, albeit only a few selected ones. But I don't think we can expect the government to grant AP to each bumi right? Doing so will only encourage them sell their AP to people who are really committed to the auto business, thereby the fast money. But who can blame them?

I am not a AP recipient sympathizer, in fact, I would like to get a few AP myself so that I can sell to Naza or Weststar and settle all my outstanding loans to the bank. However, we must understand the bigger issue here. Naza is a well-known business entity in the automotive industry namely because they sell value-for-money cars like Naza Ria and Citra (apart from other luxurious models) to the rakyat. They have an effective business model (I hope) that thrives within the government's policy in the auto industry. However, as the business of the company grows, they will need more AP to serve the demand of their customers. Since the only way of importing car into the country is through the AP system, they are left with no choice but to apply for more. By doing so, they need to justify their actions to the government.

As you can see, the foreign cars auto business in our country is built on top of the AP system. Companies like Naza and Weststar have shaped their business model around the same system. In doing so, companies like this are able to survived and even thrived within a shielded environment. However, these companies must be made to realize that this form of hand-outs will come to an end someday. The government should not stop the implementation out of the blue and leave them hanging high and dry.

With the upcoming implementation of AFTA, I suggest the government officially announce their plans and datelines in removing the AP system. In doing so, we will be able to get a clear picture of who are the real competent players in the auto industry. Incompetent ones will definitely cry out loud to get public sympathy while the competent ones will build their next business model around the open market environment. So far we have only seen one company that is whining out loud even before full implementation of AFTA... you should know who by now...

Let's face it, not everyone is cut-out to be in business, furthermore the ever competitive automotive industry. We should let nature takes its course, and let the competent thrives. If 30 years of protection still fail to prepare ourselves for the real market forces, maybe we should concentrate our resources to other industries and let the foreign players take over. That way, the government will still receive revenues in terms of taxes.

I rest my case...

Who is the Official AP King?

2005-07-19T07:19:00.000+08:00

News Flash!
The Prime Minister Department has made another U-turn in its decision to release the list of AP recipients!

According to official numbers, the widely rumored Nasimuddin SM Amin has been officially ordained AP King - the largest single recipient.

More to follow... watch this space!

Let's Burn the Infidels

2005-07-18T14:28:00.000+08:00

Burn them to hell!

No wonder we are still a third world country. Never mind the tall KLCC Twin Towers, KL Tower, KLIA, Sepang F1 Circuit, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. With this kind of publicity, we will be doomed to remain as a third world country forever! More photos here...

A mob of about 30 people went on a rampage, torching structures and smashing vehicles and house windows within Ayah Pin's Sky Kingdom commune in Jerteh at 5am today. The mob also set fire to Ayah Pin's Pajero and smashed four other vehicles parked inside the area.
The sect leader Ariffin Mohamad, 65, better known as Ayah Pin, left the commune last night.
According to witnesses members of the mob were armed with parangs, sticks
and plastic bags believed to contain petrol.

What intrigued me was the fact that the incident occurred at such a perfect timing (on the eve of the UMNO General Assembly!). I am not suggesting anything or anyone, but it seems to me that the above vandalism (not to mention criminal) activity was part of a plan to get rid of Ayah Pin.

It was only yesterday that Terengganu's CM pointed out that the Ayah Pin issue has became an international issue and "must be tackled carefully to protect the country's image". And now this happens, what a careful way to handle the issue! I wonder what the CM has to say about this.

Well, I guess the top leadership will just come out and condemn "a small group of people" who is committing this kind of atrocities against another group of people with different beliefs. The police will commit into an investigation into the incident and before we know it, the whole issue will slowly "fade away" from the news media.

Is this the way to convince the world that Islam is a peaceful religion and there is no compulsion in the religion? Is this the way we want to attract foreign investment? Is this the way towards achieving a developed nation in 2020? Is this what you call freedom of religion as stated in our constitution?

I wonder this is a prelude to cultivating suicide bombers in our country...

Senior vs. Junior??

2005-07-15T12:01:00.000+08:00

It's official! MCA's current secretary general, Ting Chew Peh is going to challenge incumbent Chan Kong Choy for deputy president in the upcoming MCA elections. This was announced in a press conference called by Ting this morning.

With VP, Chua Jui Meng challenging Ong Ka Ting for president, is this a battle between the old guards and the young turks?

With Ting's confirmed move, two are going for president, three (including Chan Tse Yuen) are going for deputy president while nine are aiming for vice president. This will turn out to be the most democratic election since two decades ago (or is it?).

All candidates will have slightly more than a month left to campaign. Chua Jui Meng raised the stake when he announced his election manifesto, a first in MCA history. "Fish-head" Ling Liong Sik joined in the fray when he openly supported the Ong-Chan pair although he did mentioned that he will not interfere in MCA elections after he retire.

Rumour also has it that Ling has struck secret deal with Ong-Chan pair in order to elevate his son to lead the MCA Youth movement. Personally, I do not think that this will go through because I don't think Hee Leong’s bid will be successful (even with Ong-Chan's backing) as he is still does not has wide grassroots’ support and he is only a vice-chief for Perak. Electing him to the post will give out the idea of interference of outside force into the youth movement, which is the last thing they need to be seen as independent.

MCA Youth legal affairs bureau chief, Lim Seng Chai tipped Liow Tiang Lai (current MCA Youth secretary-general) to win the post because "If Hee Leong wins the post, it will affect the development of MCA Youth" and "We have never seen him voicing his views on national and international issues. We don’t know his way of leading, he has no reason to contest", and of course, "What we know is that he is a businessman who was embroiled in a multi-billion ringgit controversy over business deals involving businessman Soh Chee Wen".

With all the odds against him, I wonder if Hee Leong will even want to be nominated for the post. Doing so will only bring disaster to his short political life if he does not win (which I give it 0.001% chance). Lim also quoted as saying that "fish-head" Ling's influence is not significant and delegates will eventually reject irrational request (or out of the blue) and vote with wisdom.

With all these dramas unfolding, I forsee more to happen in the coming weeks. Hopefully this time someone won't be lame enough to call in help from Big Brother in order to get another "loser" mandate like the last time!

Hishammuddin for US President?

2005-07-13T11:27:00.000+08:00

Just read an interview with Hishammuddin Tun Hussein in Utusan prior to the 56th UMNO General Assembly. Throughout his interview, his mention of the US President interests:

Bagi saya daripada jadi pemimpin AS seperti George W Bush, lebih baik jangan jadi pemimpin, kalau sistem politik kita mengizinkan pelakon Hollywood dan orang seperti George Bush dibenarkan menjadi Presiden AS. Bagi saya lebih baik saya jadi peguam daripada menjadi presiden yang diketawakan dan menjadi bahan ketawa dunia.
Kalau kita halalkan politik wang itu, akhirnya akan melihat keadaan sama seperti di AS kerana hanya yang kaya dan berpengaruh yang ada talian diberi tempat, akhirnya mereka menjadi boneka.

To me, it just shows how shallow is the thinking of our current Education Minister is and also shows hypocrisy is much alive and kicking in UMNO Youth or UMNO as general. In his statement, he accused US democracy is tainted with similar money politics problems as in UMNO. Furthermore, he accused the US President as a puppet controlled by the rich and powerful.

Before Hishammuddin start making baseless accusations, I would recommend him to read more on the Presidential system in the US. First of all, the US President is indirectly elected by the U.S. Electoral College made up of electors chosen by voters in the presidential election. If we look at our country, the Prime Minister is appointed by the political party who won the majority in the General Elections. Further more, is Hishammuddin accusing all Americans of using Bush as a puppet?

Apart from this, does Hishammuddin know what it takes to be the US President? Can he even imagine what it takes to lead the most powerful country and the biggest economy in the World? If Bush is really the laughing stock of the world, why did leaders from all over the world pay so much attention to what he has to say? If he is really a puppet controlled by some rich and powerful people, what evidence is there to prove it? Why did our government spent so much money in lobbying so that Mahathir can have a meeting with Bush?

Hishammuddin further undermine past US President whose background is acting in Hollywood. He may have a narrow minded view that only politicians can make good leaders, but the rest of the develop world did not buy into his thinking. Politicians rise to who and what they are by various means in our country. Sad to say that many of them buy their way through. Before he criticizes others, I wish to remind him that what he is doing is only shooting himself in the foot because money politics have evidently cultivated within UMNO for God knows how long already. If the top-elected VP are guilty of corruption, I wonder who else are guilty too?

US President deals not only with domestic issues, but international issues as well. I just wonder how much can the Malaysia's PM contribute to global issues such as global warming, North Korea's nuclear crisis, human rights issues etc. Instead of shouting anti-Semitic remarks, what else did our PM contribute to help the Palestinian people in their struggle?

To Hishammudin, do you think you can measure up to the caliber and charisma of Ronald Reagan? Do you think you can make a hard decision of protecting Kuwait during the Iraq invasion like George Bush Sn? Do you think you can handle the criticism that comes from all over the world in any single decision you make?

Come on, all you can do is make empty talk and rhetoric remarks about others. Do stop to think for a while before you belittle other people, or else, our whole nation will if not already become the laughing stock of the world because of your narrow-minded and shallow remarks.

Qualified Students? Yeah right...

2005-07-13T10:36:00.000+08:00

With regard to my earlier post, I have quoted facts and figures from various organizations (which are unknown to me until this morning) that are used mainly to pressure the present government for more financial assistance to the poor Malays in order to pursue tertiary education.

The question I would like to ask is: Why does the all the findings focused only on the Malays?

One of the headline stressed that 120,000 students are now in a state of "terbiar, menganggur dan tiada hala tuju" because they fail to get into the IPTA. I find this very disturbing if it is true.

I once went through similar experience where I fail in my application to IPTA after SPM. But that did not stopped me from sourcing for other avenues to further my education! I went to education fairs, listen to talks, even went through few weeks of Form Six before my application to a private university was finally approved.

Even when my application was approved, I was at another juncture to decide whether I should continue with my Form Six or to go for it. My parents actually pushed me to go for the IPTS that offered me although they know they will not be able to support me financially (as I have 3 more siblings that will graduate from their secondary education in subsequent years and they want to be fair to everyone). After listening to all sides including the headmaster of my school, I've decided to go for IPTS pre-U studies despite the financial burden.

Since then, I have to worry everyday on how to pay my daily expenses, hostel fees as well as tuition fees. There were no such thing as PTPTN back then during my pre-U studies and the scholarship offered were only to Bumi students. My father withdrew a third part of his EPF savings to help finance my studies for the first year in pre-U. We could not afford to borrow from the banks as the interest rate was very high and way beyond us.

After I passed my pre-U studies and started my first year in the undergraduate programme, PTPTN came to the rescue. Our badge of students was the first badge to apply for PTPTN loan. Back then, we were offered RM12,000 per year while our tuition fees alone are RM13,000 per year. However, our family did our best to overcome the financial burden and managed to push four of us through tertiary studies with additional help from relatives.

To me, if the so-called "qualified" 120,000 students are stucked with no where to go, then I guess they should do more research into the area. Instead of sitting there waiting for something to happen, why don't they do something about it. I am sure the opportunities available to them as Bumi cannot be less that what we non-Bumi are offered. If they still cannot see opportunities laid out to them (other than IPTA or MARA), then who are they to blame but themselves?

The government can only do so much, and the government coffers can only offer so much to the field of education. PTPTN was set up back then with initial funding from the government for the first few years of its operations in the hope of self-sustaining after the fund starts to receive payment for the loans given out. The aim of PTPTN was to help the poor and needy who have managed to secure a place in local higher institutes of learning be it IPTA or IPTS.

For the 120,000 "qualified students" out there, a piece of advise:

Failing to get into IPTA is not the end of the world, if you are truly qualified, you will be able to find other ways to further your study. If you continue to sit there and cry about it, I guess you do deserve to be where you are.
Do you think that everything will be handed to you on a silver platter?

Is time to wake up and smell the roses!

Problems in Education System

2005-07-13T09:11:00.000+08:00

Follow up to my earlier post on our dismal education system, I would like to add further after reading more news on Utusan Malaysia this morning.

On the front page, where is a headline that states a total of 120,000 (why is it always a beautiful round number?) "pelajar pintar Melayu" (whatever it means) who failed to secure a place in public institute of higher learning (IPTA) although they have fulfill the criteria, are expected to be in a state of "terbiar, menganggur dan tiada hala tuju" (roughly translated as abandoned, unemployed and without any prospect).

The writer also commented that their hope of entering private institute of higher learning (IPTS) are "terkubur" (buried) when MARA decided not to stop giving out loans to such students who wish to further their studies in IPTS. It mentioned that almost all of them cannot afford to pay for their education in "IPTS-IPTS ternama".

The report quoted a research from Institut Kajian Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Melayu Malaysia that show that this group of students formed 65% of the 178,038 (no round figure this time round) SPM and STPM students who failed to get into IPTA this year. The head of the institute referred to the fact that majority of the unemployed in the country are Malays comes as no surprise given the above facts.

The President of Persatuan Kolej Bumiputera Malaysia also points out that a huge number of students pulled out last minute after they were confirmed a place in IPTS because they could not provide a guarantee of payment.

In a separate report, the President of Kongres Dalam Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Malaysia pressured the government to continue bearing the responsibility of giving financial assistance to Malay students who comes from poor family background in order to further their studies at tertiary level. He also urged those who have received loans to finance their education should pay back their loan so that such financial assistance can further benefit other people.

The head of Institut Kajian Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Melayu Malaysia says that the government should not hesitate to continue helping the poor Malays as they are an asset to determining political power.

He was quoted as saying "Orang Melayu atau bumiputera perlu disediakan prasarana yang secukupnya, termasuk yang berkaitan dengan keperluan pendidikan bagi sekolah-sekolah luar bandar termasuk di Sabah dan Sarawak yang masih
ketinggalan" and "Melayu masih perlukan tongkat selagi mereka belum mampu untuk berdikari"

I know many of you do not read the Malay dailies such as Utusan Melayu and Berita Harian. Hence, I provide the above excerpts in order to enlighten everyone on some of the issues that is being discussed in the Malay community.

I will comment on the above in my next post.

Bumi... Bumi... Bumi...

2005-07-11T12:22:00.000+08:00

Read this and this on the outcome of Malay Private Higher Education Convention organised by the Malaysian Bumiputera IPTS National Association.

Tengku Razaleigh enlightened the rest of the country that "Malay students pursuing higher education at private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) certainly have the right to receive government assistance as it is provided for in the Federal Constitution".

This is certainly an eye opener for me and maybe many of you out there. I would certainly like to find out which part of the Federal Constitution enshrined the above claim. As far as I understand, the constitution Article 153 only states the following:

"the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (The King of Malaysia) shall exercise his functions... in such a manner as may be necessary to safeguard the special position of the Malays... to ensure the reservation... of such proportion... in the public service... and of scholarships... and other similar educational... privileges or special facilities given... by the Federal Government."

In spite of PSD scholarship being given mainly to the Malays (which I doubt few is allocated for the "real bumiputra or orang asli"), there are still people out there crying for more and more "assistance" each day. Apart for asking help in scholarship, Tengku Rasaleigh also calls on the government to help finance students pursuing their studies in Malay IPTS through MARA (a whopping RM300million!).

Meanwhile, Johor CM, Abdul Ghani Othman claims that the current "meritokrasi" system is oppressing and discriminating against thousands of Malay students who is living in rural areas with limited access to quality education. He justifies his remarks by saying that the intake of Malay students in various "critical" courses in public universities has declined since the implementation of the said system.

After reading all the above, I wonder why these "champions of the Malay cause" fail to recognize the root cause of their problems.

First of all, who are responsible for providing quality education in the first place? Isn't that the job of the Education Ministry? Quality education should be equally provided to everyone regardless of family background, geographical locations, ethnic and beliefs.

Secondly, why are we focusing only on tertiary education? What about primary and secondary education? If a teenager is given proper education during the first 18 years of their live, they should be able to equip themselves with enough caliber to qualify for a scholarship like the rest of their peers. Does it mean that just because is student is studying in rural areas, they will receive inferior education as compared to those living in big town? Do you mean to tell me that good quality teachers are meant only for big boarding schools first, and the rest of the crops will be segregated among other "lesser" schools?

Thirdly, if Malay IPTS cannot survive without government help, why do they not submit the running of the IPTS to the government instead? Why are those investing in Malay IPTS still continue their business if such business plan is clearly a failure?

Some complain that the government is giving too much help to non-Malay IPTS instead. I find such complain doubtful. To me, IPTS (meaning Private Institute of Higher Learning) are private businesses. If I were to start a private business in any field, I would have come up with a sustainable plan that would last at least until I retire. It would be good to invest in business that is given some form of government assistance such as tax exemption etc. to help me to kick-start the corporation. Do you think that IMU, LimKokWing, HELP, Informatics etc. survived until now by relying on government funding alone? You'd gotta be kidding me!

As for meritocracy, I would only like to quote the Pahang CM Adnan Yaakob, "I would prefer to go to a doctor who entered a public university based on merit rather than someone who gained entry because of his bumiputra status". Would you do the same?

Some end note, does it matter if the education we receive comes from a Malay or non-Malay IPTS? Is one inferior in terms of standards compared to the other? If so, why are we having inferior IPTS educating our young ones when we know we are heading towards a knowledge-based economy?

God save our education system!

Meru Bridge is Falling Down

2005-07-11T11:38:00.000+08:00

Ever heard "London Bridge is Falling Down" and it never did?

Well, too bad no one bothered to came up with a song for the NKVE-Meru Flyover, else it would have not "fall down" yesterday.

Someone in the government must be going "phew!" when they got to know that all those people who are injured are not Malaysians! Or else, it will cause a huge uproar and difficult to sweep under the carpet.

Two lovebirds were lucky enough not crash into the divider and escaped unhurt. Both are considering legal actions against the construction company though. Apart from that, the incident also caused a 5km traffic jam on both sides of the NKVE.

My sympathy goes towards the Bangladeshi workers who were injured. I wonder did the company bought any insurance for those workers in the first place. Who is going to cover their medical expenses? and most of all, who are going to support them families back home if they are not able to work again due to the injuries suffered? Do they have rights to claim anything?

The NKVE-Meru expressway cost a whopping RM20million per kilometer and it is subcontracted out to an external contractor by SP Setia. I wonder why didn't the name of the subcontractor appear on the news yet? Something's fishy...

I have recently traveled to Klang via NKVE and notice the so-called NKVE-Meru's "segmental girders of a flyover". I didn't knew it was a project that is still on-going as I couldn't see any machinery nearby the site. I first thought it was another abandoned project. I saw the road sign but see no road leading anywhere.

Everyone including the CM of the "developed state", Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) Deputy Director-General, SP Setia Berhad director and Works Minister has requested report from a lot people (is akin to saying spending more money for something that might or might not benefits the victims at hand).

With MRR2 fiasco which is still left unresolved (and it is still open to public usage), I wonder anyone would still willing to pay in order to use some expressway which may end us up as collateral damage while those big-time company could only offer some apology!

In the mean time, all flyover constructors in the country are urged to come up with a song to ensure their projects do not "fall down" during and after construction!

Heaven is Crowded Now... Soon Hell Will Be!

2005-07-08T08:11:00.000+08:00

May the Lord bless the souls of those who were sacrificed amid the act of cowards.

I first heard the news on radio on my way home. When I tune into BBC, there was already four confirmed explosion that occurred. British Transport Police, Scotland Yard, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and later Tony Blair was seen given their interviews and speech to inform Londoners of the barbaric attacks that has taken place in Central London.

Among those who gave the official announcement and speech, only one of them actually gave the public exactly what they wanted, which refers to steps to be taken by public, things to avoid doing as well as an emergency number will be setup for handling queries on the incident. press however, was only interested in the numbers in particular number of explosions, number of deaths, number of busses blown up etc.

I understand the press and the public has the right and deserve to know what is actually going on. However, they should not pursue in a way that will hamper the safety of the public. After the first few explosions, the police are not certain of any more forthcoming attacks. Hence, they should be allowed to carry on their task in maintaining public security. Busy medical personnel are at every corner trying to save as many as possible. The press however, are always in the way of their work, and always impatient to get their numbers as seen when they keep on pressing on the matter although the police commissioner did not had the information they want.

In time like this, the feeling of anger and hatred will be sown. Terror begets terror. Only cowards and barbaric people are capable of such a horrible act. Performing such attacks in the name of God will only get them a express one-way ticket to hell. These people are not martyrs, these people are not fighting a holy war, as I quote our PM, "such acts as they do not bring solutions to the problems faced".

Heaven might be crowded now with innocent souls, but soon, hell will be filled with cowards and people who justified the killing innocent lives in God's name!

Obi-M Defends Anaikin-Mahaleel

2005-07-05T14:14:00.000+08:00

Alas... the old (but not out) master has come to defend his "young" padawan.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has come to fend off criticism against his 10-years old child, Mahaleel Ariff. I wonder just how many times does he think he can continue going to do that before he retire from life, another 2-3 years maybe?

Excerpts from Bernama:

Proton advisor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended the company's chief executive officer, Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Ariff's remarks for allegedly criticising the government's handling of the automotive policy, saying the latter was duty bound to protect the national car manufacturer
He also said there was no move to remove Tengku Mahaleel as CEO and neither was there any showcause letter to this end
Dr Mahathir said that in his meeting with Azlan, the latter did not mention anything about Mahaleel's removal

Besides that, Dr Mahathir also took fire at the current AP system where they are handed out to only a few "selected" companies rather than a large number, which according to him, "went against the spirit of nurturing Bumiputra entrepreneurship".

Lastly, he has given us a mathematical or logical equation to support his statement that there is no move to oust Proton CEO. According to him:

He (Mahaleel) has not told me that he has been asked + neither did Azlan tell me has asked (Mahaleel to resign) = Mahaleel has not been asked to leave

Just a question for Mahaleel (who is still in his hide-out God knows where):

What kind of CEO are you that need an old man to come running and save your sorry ass every time you cause a bruhaha in the media instead of concentrating on running the company?

Malaysians Keen On Entertainment??

2005-07-05T12:21:00.000+08:00

According to Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, Malaysians are more interested in entertainment matters; hence, his ministry (Information Ministry) faces difficulty in getting government messages across to the people.

Based on his briefing to BN members in the Parliament, he was quoted by Bernama saying the following:

He said the ministry's budget was increased every year but the messages it delivered lacked impact
"Although the role of departments and agencies under the ministry appears comprehensive, there are still many people who have little understanding of issues and problems that are reported"
"This has resulted in the public often questioning and not supporting government policies"

Arshad Hashim (Ministry Sec-Gen) also said "RTM faced tough competition on dissemination of information from VCDs and the internet".

In view of the above, one can say that the Information Ministry is less competent in their job as compared other mass media owners. While acknowledging the fact of their incompetence, they failed to outline their strategy to overcome their weakness.

Why do the minister think that the public are more keen towards entertainment matter in the first place? Is it because the rakyat are fed up of the government's policy? Do we lack the intellectual mind to understand those policy? or is it that we just don't care what the government decides to do?

To me, is simple. The public will want to know more about anything if they find them interesting or have a direct impact on their lives. Consequently, if I come across any news or events that I am interested it, I would have invest more time and effort to know more about it. In order to know more about something, I would have questions left to be answered.

If the minister does not like people to "question" them on their policies, then why on earth try to convey the information in the first place? Did he think that we are just robots that just receive input and get on with our daily activities without bordering to ask anything?

Talking about entertainment, don't you think we ought to have a glimpse of the entertainment that is happening in our Parliament? I bet people will even pay to watch some of our so-called leaders make a clown out of themselves in the August House (shouting the actual "racist" word repeatedly non-stop sounds like entertainment to me).

One more thing, why is the government allocating more and more money to a ministry that has admittedly failed to live up to the money? Why can't we put the money into better use instead of investing into a business with no return or benefits?

This is truly entertaining !!

Top Leaders Lack ICT Devices?

2005-07-05T09:11:00.000+08:00

After the Mahaleel's public outcry incident, the grand-master (Proton Adviser) is due to make his move.

According to various news sources, our ex-PM, Mahathir has met with Proton's chairman, Azlan Hashim over the position of their current CEO. According to the ex-PM, he cannot make his comments based on newspaper reports, hence, he need to find out the truth from the horse's mouth.

Just some food for thought...

As the ex-PM with such advocacy for MSC and pushing the country towards a developed nation, you would think that he owns a handphone, or for that matter, the Proton chairman and CEO also own a handphone with great capabilities... so instead of wasting resources like petrol and getting stuck in a huge jam (or contributing to the massive jam for that matter), why can't these people just call each other up?

If Mahathir wants to know the truth, why can't he call up the CEO (I am assuming a person with such a big responsibility on his shoulder should have at least subscribed to international roaming services while he is overseas) and ask him? Is Mahathir trying to show the public that he is siding the protégé that is assigned to look after his pet project? Or is he trying to make the front page of newspaper?

Many a times I have seen top leadership, even our current PM or DPM have claimed they have "no knowledge" of certain issues that is relevant to public. With all the cool ICT facilities set up in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, shouldn't our top leadership be equipped with the latest development that is of public concern? What is the point of advocating the advancement of ICT if our top leadership are not showing a good example of how the ICT technologies is helping them?

If I were to be in the top leadership, I would have equipped my self with the latest ICT gadgets so that I can get various feeds of information that I need from relevant government agencies (since this is all paid for). It would be embarrassing for me if I were not able to answer any question post by the press (or anyone I encounter). However, in our third world country, people tends to know less and claim innocent in order to avoid "embarrassment" (if you can call it getting out) while showing their lack of knowledge at the same time.

No wonder broadband penetration is low in Malaysia !!

Finally Some Challenge...

2005-07-01T15:43:00.000+08:00

Alas... the ONE has spoken (quote from Malaysiakini):

"Top vice-president Chua Jui Meng has decided to go for broke. He will take on incumbent MCA president Ong Ka Ting in party polls next month"

I really love to see a straight fight for the top post in MCA where they "claimed" democracy is always alive and kicking. Although "fish-head" Ling has his own share of bad reputation, but at least he is still elected to the post. But not Ong Ka Ting, he inherited his post just as MCA was heading down the drain, and worst of all, he got to where he is only because the ex-PM wanted it to be. To me, that is such a loser.

With this unexpected challenge, I hope everyone will vote with their heart instead their feet (or maybe money would solve the problem as UMNO did). I also hope more people will rise to the occasion and hopefully more will join in the fray and be counted in the democracy process.

Well... at least this will help elevate MCA to a higher level of politics compared to UMNO which is still buried in their own money politics scandals.

Vote for Chua I say...!

p/s: I am not a part of any political party, but is just that i prefer Chua's charisma than Ong's :P

35% Follow Their Leader's Footstep

2005-06-30T08:42:00.000+08:00

While listening to the news on radio this morning, I heard the following:

"According to the latest finding ACA, 35% of the students from the local institutes of higher learning says that they will accept bribe when they are placed in high or powerful position in the future. ACA expressed their concern over such statistics."

I guess this speaks very well about "leadership by example" shown by our generation of corrupt leaders. I wonder what Mohd Isa and his gang have to say about this? Actually I wonder what will be the reaction from any of our top leadership in the country on this matter.

Are they going react with their routine of "such report is baseless and not transparent" or "we will have a meeting with ACA to discuss the findings" or "35% is a small portion of the community which cannot represent the whole"?

In my opinion, 35% is quite a humble figure considering corruption is deeply rooted in our daily lives ie. traffic police summons, AP(s), car towing, land purchase, government tender and projects, piracy etc.

Imagine this, if we were to bribe a traffic police with our whole family in the car, do you expect them to believe such act are wrong? When we take them with us shopping for pirated stuff, do you expect them to not to follow suit when they grow up?

I hope this can be a clear reminder to those who is currently in "high and powerful positions", there are millions of younger people looking up to your "fine example" other than your "blinded" conscience, if you can't lead by example, it is only best that you step down before you caused further damage to our young minds...

The young ones are telling us: "You did it... Why can't us?"

Dry Land in "Developed" State ??

2005-06-30T08:15:00.000+08:00

According to news report, our one and only "developed" state (Selangor) will not be able to meet the water consumption of its people in 2007.

The Energy, Water And Communications Ministry's research shows that Selangor citizens will face a shortage of 10 million litres per day by 2007 and more than 800 million litres per day by 2010.

This is indeed shocking news to all citizens of a "developed" state especially to the Chief Minister who is about to throw in a RM1 million celebration in the coming month to celebrate the state's achievement in obtaining the status (God knows given by who).

Coming to think of it, is this another scare tactic employed by government so that they will be allowed a free hand in handing out candies (more research, consultation, meetings etc.) to their cronies in order to "overcome" the problem?

Given the "developed" status of the state, wouldn't the state's planning committee would have notice the issue well before hand? What were they thinking in their offices? Do they pray everyday that God will have mercy on Selangor citizens and pour in more rain in 2007 so that our water damps will never lack the crucial supply?

So much for RM1 million celebrations when everyone is worry about the most basic things in their daily living. If a state cannot supply the most basic need of its citizen, what is the benefit of "developed" status?

The ball is in your court Mr. Khir Toyo !!

Between Malaysian and "Potong"

2005-06-28T08:47:00.000+08:00

Having read Jeff's post on Mahaleel in what looks like his final public outcry to defend his "Potong" management, I can't help but felt sorry for the guy (and his ex-boss) and the automobile industry of our country.

When "Potong" was set up more than two decades ago, the then PM wanted to use "Potong", HICOM, Perwaja Steel etc. as part of his grand strategy to jump-start the country towards heavy industry. I guess he must be miserably disappointed in the outcome that he is seeing today. Not only those that he hand-picked has betrayed his trust (in the case of Perwaja Steel and many other CBT scandals that involved GLCs), the people have also condemned his endless effort to bail out many of his "pet-projects" throughout his reign.

As for "Potong", I guess the nation has tolerated long enough after two decades of subsidising the so-called "national car" projects. We have been made to pay many times higher for some low-quality products for far too long. When the government can no longer afford the monopoly of "Potong" in the car industry, it began to let loose their grip. Hence, companies like Perodua, Inokom and Naza were the outcome.

In all fairness, I must say that Perodua is currently doing quite well in terms of their marketing in the lower-end vehicles (quality and safety aside). They have managed to grab a huge portion of the Malaysian market within a very short time. The new model "MyVi" from what I saw, won hands down over "Potong Savvy" in terms of design, beautiful interior finishing as well as marketing strategy.

When "Potong" saw the inevitable defeat in their competition in the mid-sized vehicle, it began to focus on small-sized vehicle instead. Despite their poor effort, the "Savvy" came out as another mediocre product which not only failed in its marketing (it was launched later than "MyVi"), it also failed in its poor finishing as usual. Their theme of "Build Tougher Than You Think" was a poor choice in my opinion (as if Malaysian prefer to ram their own car towards a street of traffic blindfolded as shown in their radio commercial).

As for Mahaleel's complaint that Inokom and Naza does not live up to its "National Car" status, I have a piece of advise to him. Instead of criticizing others (which was unprovoked by the way), why don't he spend his time and effort in facing up to the problems that is plaguing "Potong" itself? After all these years at the helm, I am sure he is well aware of the unsatisfactory response of his customers which amounts to millions!

Mahaleel always hide behind the concept of "economy of scale" that "Potong" did not achieved at the expense of government and its people after two decades. I'd like to ask him this: If the company has failed to live up to its standards after 20 long years, not to mentioned all the protection that it has been given, do you seriously think it can do it in another 20 years? Do you think it is economically feasible that the whole nation continue to sacrifice for the benefit for one single company?

Inevitably, our government and our people will face AFTA and Globalization sooner or later, it's better to be prepared than sorry. All our industries which include those four "national" car might as well wake up now. All the rebates, tax relieve, AP system etc. will have to go someday. The sooner you get used to this reality, the sooner you will start to prepare to face it.

I was watching a sitcom on TV few weeks ago where a father actually wrote a cheque worth USD1,200 for his grown-up son so that he can go get himself a 2nd hand Japanese car from the shop.

Now... can you imagine the power of free trade and globalization?

All I can say is that:
"Potong"... suck up to reality or fold yourself while you can before taking everyone down with you !!

Something Light

2005-06-27T11:30:00.000+08:00

Received an email from my colleague to lift my boring day:

Words women use!

Fine
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

Five Minutes
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

Nothing
This is the calm before the storm. This means "something" and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine".

Go Ahead
This is a dare, not permission, DON'T DO IT!

Loud Sigh
Although not actually a word, the loud sigh is often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing".

That's Okay
This is one of the most dangerous statements that woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

Thanks
This is the least used of all words in the female vocabulary. If a woman is thanking you. Do not question it, just say you're welcome and back out of the room slowly.

To women out there... is there any truth in these??

"Mature" Dialogues Anyone?

2005-06-27T11:03:00.000+08:00

Quote from NST:

Gerakan president Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said today that a "national dialogue initiative centre" would be beneficial to address pressing sensitive issues such as economic, racial and religious affairs.
Because of their sensitive nature, these dialogues can be held behind closed doors
participation of politicians, non-governmental organisations and academicians of various backgrounds and communities
They can be carried out in a matured, intellectual manner, free of unnecessary emotion
suggested inviting famous personalities such as Nobel Prize winners
good intellectual exercise and it can promote inter-racial harmony

I post the following questions to the organizer of such event:

Who is to define what are sensitive issues and what are not?
Will FRU personnel be rushing into the said "dialogue" and arresting every participant under ISA?
Are the participants be liable for prosecution for what they said in the meeting or just like in the Parliament where MPs can shout anything without worry of being charged in court?
If such events are held behind closed-doors, what are the benefits of such event being held if at all? (those involved might just be having a high-tea behind those doors)
What if those Nobel Prize winners (assuming any of them are willing to come) were to be arrested under ISA?
Is the content of such meeting or discussion be a reference point for deciding national policy in the future?
Is anyone going cover the "dialogue" so that the public are made known of what is going on behind those "bullet and sound-proof doors"?
How are we going to achieve inter-racial harmony when only a few people are involved in the dialogue behind closed doors?

Limit Corruption to National Delegates?

2005-06-27T09:36:00.000+08:00

A Menteri Besar from the southern state was quoted that if divisional representative were to be allowed to participate in the electing of UMNO top leadership, he is worried that UMNO will stink of money politics "from head to toe".

So I guess what he is saying is that if anyone who is allowed to vote in any kind of democratic election, he/she is a potential threat to the democratic process. The less the people to vote, the less corruption will take place in the election.

If that is true, we might as well have a "family inheritance style" system in UMNO where all post are to be inherited by someone who is chosen by the incumbent.

But why UMNO only? Is it true that UMNO members are more inclined towards "money politics" if given more democratic rights in selecting their leadership? or maybe the MB (and many who supported him this time) are dependent on "money politics" to hold on to their position?

I wonder this would go down well with UMNO openly declaring to get rid of this dirty culture once and for all...

Never Ending Revamp...

2005-06-27T09:06:00.000+08:00

Klang Valley transport system seems to be forever going through revamping, privatisation, corporatisation, bailing-out and government take-over.

The latest news is that a major "revamp" is about to take place to attract more passengers. The recently (November'04) set-up government owned Rapid KL, which took over the operations of Putra-LRT, Star-LRT, IntraKota. CityLiner and other bus routes (almost 70%) is proposing a system that will involve the transformation of the 273km rail-based network into the backbone of public transport system.

It is the "hope" if the company that the new system will be efficient and attractive enough to bring in twice the current 470,000 passengers to its LRTs and busses carried daily.

It seems to me that the whole "revamping" exercise carried out so far only results in repainting of all the buses to accommodate the new Rapid KL logo and nothing more. We are still seeing buses being stuck in the middle of the road (not to mention heave traffic) almost daily.

Apart from that, I wonder whose idea was it to change the bus gear transmission system to automatic instead of manual. Seems to me that the automatic transmission system emits higher amount of black smoke and contribute more towards the noise pollution within the city. Furthermore, these buses often break down when going up a slope or hilly area.

I have been taking bus as a means of transport for work for almost one and a half years. During that time, I have to walk almost 1km to the nearest bus-stop from my house also almost 1km from my work place. The situation gets worse during rainy season where I am all soaked up in my feet and yet have to cramped inside a bus that is overloaded with angry people inside (as you might know, there are less buses traveling on the road during rainy season for unknown reason).

After living through that ordeal, I have decided to give up on public transport and get a car. Although a new problem arises with being stuck in traffic jam, I guess it is much better to know that I can adjust to the problem by timing my travel to and back from work. With public transport, sometimes I will reach home at around 8-9pm although I finish work at 5pm!

Based on historical events, I would say that the current "revamping" exercise is nothing but a smoke screen to fool the public into believing that the government is doing something. I guess the biggest winner would be the company(s) that was issued the contract to repaint all the 550 buses each time a routine exercise like this took place.

Cronies at work??

ISA for Mamak Stall Owners?

2005-06-25T09:44:00.000+08:00

I was reading on international news on CNN and BBC when I came across the one and only article that is related to our country.

Guess what?

Malaysian MP Mohamad Said Yusof accused mamak restaurants of serving food that is laced with opium poppy seeds!! He believe frequent mamak stall patrons have become addicted to the food.

BBC also pointed that the MP stopped short of demanding that offending restaurant to face the book through the use of the infamous ISA law.

As I quote (Read the full article here):

"Most saw it as a patriotic if eccentric gesture"
"That is normally the first cry of any government supporter who spots even the smallest potential threat to national security."
"The controversial law allows suspects to be locked away indefinitely without charge or trial. And in Malaysia, most would agree that few things threaten the country's well-being as much as tampering with its favourite food"

I also noticed that the last article related to our country was title "Malaysians plan Asian space food".

So I guess this is the international recognition that our country received after 4 decades of nation building...

What say you? (This is a tough question addressed to our so-called leaders)

Oxford and Cambridge Graduates to Rescue SK?

2005-06-25T08:42:00.000+08:00

The Education Ministry must be quite desperate in their quest to save the image of Sekolah Kebangsaan to the extend of asking help from Oxford and Cambridge graduates.

The question is: Why them only?

No doubt both are distinguished and outstanding institutes of higher learning in various fields. However, that does not mean students who studied there for a few years will be able to provide input that will be useful in overcoming the mess that the ministry has cultivated over the last 20 years or so.

The most important thing to do now is to understand the weakness in our entire education system, not just the primary level. Our education system was more or less inherited from our previous colonial masters (UK). Since its implementation began in the 1960s, the system was working fine main because we were following exactly what was practised in UK. Since then, a lot of changes were made to the system under the banner of "localization and national unity". The teaching medium has been changed, education syllabus modified to suit "local interest" and most important of all - cater to the need of NEP.

The latest modification to the system was the implementation of so-called "Meritocracy" in university intake which was implemented nearly 4 years ago to replace the "quota" system.

If we look back, we will see that there was no proper planning since our government began to "tweak" our education system. New policies are implemented on a test-run basis, where young and innocent students are made guinea-pigs out of these experiments. Now, we ended up with a half-baked system where the "final products" are facing huge obstacles in terms of marketing themselves in the "real-world"

Coming back to the subject... Why aren't the views of local educationist being sought after in the road to revamp our entire education system? Are they so inferior to even fresh graduates of renowned universities? Instead of hearing from the people who is directly involved in the profession, our government will use all kinds of ways including UUCA, ISA, Aku Janji etc. to suppress their ideas and suggestions.

Is this the best way to go forward?

Footnote:
I have a son who will be entering the education system in less than 5 years time, I wonder what will the scenario be like given all the uncertainties that is going now...

Most Efficient "Court"

2005-06-25T08:05:00.000+08:00

Mohd Isa Abdul Samad (UMNO VP and FT Minister) is sentenced to 6 years of suspension from UMNO !!

Less than 24 hours to pass judgment on nine charges, that should go down into "Malaysian Books of Records"... No wonder UMNO did not want their corruption problems to be hauled before the Malaysian court knowing the long list of back log they have...

Following that, Isa's political secretary Mohd Salim Sharif was also served with 3 years of suspension for acting as chairman and campaign lobbyist for Isa (basically acting as Isa's accomplice and doing his dirty work).

It will be interesting to see what will happen on the appeal process that follows... next UMNO VP line-up... as well as FT Minister post...

Guess that will be one down...

Who will be the next "big-fish" to be nabbed??

Food for thought: If Isa is found guilty... what about those delegates that accepted bribes and subsequently voted Isa into VP post? Wouldn't they be investigated as well?

"The taker is as guilty as the giver"

Dog Owning = Chinese Culture ??

2005-06-24T15:34:00.000+08:00

Excerpts from Bernama:

The Malaysians-Against-the-Neighbour's Dog-Disturbance Ad hoc Action Committee has dismissed claims that keeping dogs as pets is a Chinese tradition
"If it were a Chinese tradition (culture), why does the Republic of China have laws that prohibit dog ownership in Beijing, and for dogs in Shanghai it is compulsory for them to have an operation on their vocal cords," said the committee chairman, who wants only to be known as "Low"
he once again reasserted his plea to all state governments to strictly enforce the Dog Ownership Act to stop the nuisance and disturbance to human beings, at the same time increasing integration, unity and harmony between the races
Low considers dogs a nuisance because of the barking and howling at all times of the day and night, especially in the mating season, and this bothers the neighbours and disrupts students' concentration, as when a child is trying to do his or her homework for school the next day
Low salutes Prophet Muhammad because he forbade his followers from touching dogs, and with good reason too; there is a disease spread by lice that carry a virus which is terribly hard to get rid of, and these lice live on dogs
he urged all dogs, of all breeds - pure-breds, cross-breeds, and non-breeds - to be carefully registered and kept in control via the Act, and any dogs not taken into this process must be caught and put down, whilst owners should face severe charges
The fees for dog permits must also be given a hike to ensure the prospective owners are responsible enough to be given the duty of keeping a dog
dogs should be kept in a sound proof dog house and most certainly should not be allowed to roam around the neighbourhood and public places where they are not only a nuisance but a danger and a threat to the well being of humans in the area

Let me relate my experience in having dogs as pet. Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity of having 4 dogs as my family's pet.

The first two dogs was given to my mother by her friend. They have nice blonde hair and very smart looks. One of them (the junior one) went out and did not came back one day. Our whole family went out looking for them for a whole evening to no avail. Finally we gave up as someone might have taken custody of it (it was a nice breed).

The other dog ("Lassie") was with us for almost 6-7 years. Throughout the time it was with us, it met with accidents, chased thieves away and kept our family at peace during the night. It did not barked non-stop or bitten anyone that comes to our house. Only one fine morning came, when we discovered that it went missing for almost an hour (which it normally don't). We went out to search for it and found it at our neighbour's place (who was good enough to let it into his corner house with a small green area with soft grass). However, we only discovered that it has already passed on. My family grieved (my mother actually cried for almost a day) for our dog for almost a week after we buried it in the garden area of our house.

It is true then, "Dogs do not wanna die at their owner's home".

We never had dogs as our pet for almost another 15 years until a cute little black puppy (should be less than 1 week old) came wandering in front of our front gate looking hungry and cold. I took out some left-over food to feed it and later decide to keep it as our new pet ("Lucky"). Two years has passed since we had lucky. I must admit that Lucky has a hard time adjusting to being a pet where it barked a bit at night and to strangers walking by. However, it finally settled down after a week or so.

Recently, another puppy was lying below my car (almost as old as Lucky when I found him). I decided to take it in again as our pet and named it "Lovely". "Lovely" also go through the same adjustment period as "Lucky" and finally settled down.

Contrary to what "Low" mentioned about disease that dogs bring. My son (who is few months old) has been around our 2 pets all the time and he is fine with them. I must also mention that we do not keep pets in our house per se but at the porch area. Any time my son goes crying for no reason, pointing him to our pet dogs will stop his crying instantly and start laughing as he watches the dogs chase over one another for fun.

Hence, from my experience, you might be able to see that having a dog as pet does not necessary has something to do with religion or culture. To my family, having pets (whatever they may be) is another way of showing compassion towards all living beings. Our neighbourhood is much safer because quite a number of people have dogs as their pet. No one has been bitten as a result of that for the past 20 years. We all hold legal dog permits but we don't think we can afford any sound-proof dog house if there is one (our dogs just sleep under the car).

For the authorities who are making the rules, please do not make any hasty decision based on the arguments of a single group. Do gather all the facts and listen to all sides of the story before you decide what to do.

Sad Day for Klang Citizens

2005-06-24T15:11:00.000+08:00

Despite huge support and long list of signatories in her appeal, Dr Tan Yee Kew (Klang MP and Deputy Chief of Wanita MCA) only managed to reduce her suspension to six months as opposed to one year.

Obviously, this would mean that she will no longer be eligible to contest in the upcoming MCA election, not to mention defend her post. The biggest winner out of this will definitely goes to another rising star of MCA, Chew Mei Fun (PJ Utara MP and Women, Family and Community Development parliamentary secretary).

Dr Tan was accused for allegedly breached the party’s code of ethics by making available her recording of a purported scuffle at an MCA branch in Klang on April 17 to the media. The incident was aired over Astro the same night. MCA disciplinary board handed down a one year suspension after finding Dr Tan guilty as charged.

Public support has been high for Dr Tan who has been serving tirelessly for the people of Klang for as long as they can remember. Leaders of various organizations and NGO have submitted signed petitions to top MCA leadership in support of Dr Tan's appeal in the past week.

Dr Tan has mentioned that she will not quit her post in the government as well as her post as MP no matter how the appeal turns out to be. However, the decision to stay on as parliamentary secretary or not may well be out of her hands as this is at the discretion of the PM and top MCA leadership.

We will continue to monitor this saga as it continues...

Spurs are NBA Champions

2005-06-24T15:02:00.000+08:00

Finally... San Antonio Spurs came back from a sluggish 1st half, made 7 out of 11 behind the 3-point line to pull off an 81 to 74 win over Detroit Pistons in a classic action-packed NBA Final Game 7 to claim the World Champions title.

Tim Duncan, although started the game with missing eight straight attempts to the basket, managed to come to his form and dominated the last quarter in order to secure his third MVP of the finals.

Congratulations to the Spurs and I look forward to the rerun at 9pm on Astro tonight.

New "Education" Episode Set to Unveil

2005-06-24T08:37:00.000+08:00

Finally, the "seasonal" episode of scholarship appeals is coming to a close with PSD providing additional scholarships to all students with 11 A1 and above. However, the public are still left in doubt as to whether the same episode of the incident will continue in the future. The lack of transparency in PSD selection process is still up in limbo.

Today will be the "D-DAY" for STPM (or matriculation) students where they will know the outcome of their application to local institutes of higher learning. Judging from previous history, the Malaysian public can expect another episode similar to the scholarship fiasco.

I foresee many upset students will be complaining through local media about the outcome of their application. Some political spin-doctors will be out to steal some "limelight". The Higher Education Ministry will be out again with the same old excuse "We limited places in the public universities, hence, we cannot accommodate everyone". At the end of the day, the PM will have to step up to the centre-stage to calm everyone down as he did in previous year, calling for more places to be allocated next year, more universities to be built in the future etc.

Following the announcement, we will see political parties such as MCA, UMNO and MIC will be making their way into the local media to be seen as helping disappointed candidates in their appeal process (I wonder any of the Democrats or Republicans in the US is doing this).

Prior to this university admission episode, we already seen UMNO Youth trying to influence the Higher Education Ministry in order to review the current admission standards which is purported based on "meritocracy" instead of the old quota system. Excuse such as the lack of bumi students in "critical" courses are used to support their appeal.

It's pretty ironic to come to think of it. On one hand, we see a big number of graduates failing to secure employment (majority of the are of bumi as well as graduates from local public universities). On the other hand, we have an influential political group trying to get their way in order to create higher admission rate for bumi students. How are we ever going to solve the unemployment issues among local graduates? How do you convince employers that these graduates are of good quality and not been given the scrolls just to satisfy some political agenda?

Like it or not, our country is going to face the big tide of globalization. It is inevitable. When the time come, we will be facing hell a lot more competition compared to what we are facing now. If we aimed to achieve a developed nation around 2020, it is important that we recognize our own weaknesses now and try hard to correct them. No point trying to impose political will on employers to hire unqualified candidates for the job. No point in shouting slogans that Malaysia will become a regional education hub when rating on our university has been declining year by year. No point in coughing up sheer numbers of university graduates when a big number of them can hardly secure a job.

In short, no point trying to prevent the inevitable.

As the Borg species in Star Trek will say, "Resistance is futile !!"

US F1 Fiasco

2005-06-23T10:42:00.000+08:00

I was about to wait until Monday evening to watch the replay on Astro as the Live broadcast was at 2am (cannot afford to come to work with just 3 hours of sleep). However, a colleague of mine told me to save my time for better activities as it is "very funny" and not worth the time.

I finally gave up and opened my usual F1 site to check out what is the "funny thing" behind the Indy F1 race. It was then I realized that it was indeed funny that only 6 out of 20 cars started and finished the race as the rest did not participate due to safety concerns of their Michelin tyres. Fans, organizers, broadcasters and betting companies were fuming at the teams that pulled out last minute without giving them any reason for the fiasco (not to mention refund for the tickets which cost about USD100).

Reading further, it seems that it started when Ralf Schumacher crashed his Toyota during a practice session due to a tyre failure. The incident lead to a further investigation by Michelin's engineers and found out that their tyres were not capable of running a full race on the Indy's track surface. Hence, they have go through all the trouble of complaining to the FIA (including installing a chicane to slow down cars at turn 13), or else Michelin will advise the teams that they supplied (7 out of 10 that is) not to participate in the GP as they could not guarantee their safety.

FIA (the regulatory body of motor racing) reject the proposal of changing the layout of the Indy circuit just because it would be unfair to other teams who have brought the right equipment to the race. Michelin throws the blame back to FIA for refusing to adhere to their proposals although 9 out of 10 teams agreed to it (Ferrari did not agree as their tyres were supplied by Bridgestone).

Now, many of the angry parties are planning law suits against the F1 organizers pertaining to the fiasco.

In my view, FIA is correct to uphold the rules and regulations governing F1. Rules are not supposed to be bent just because some teams failed to bring the necessary equipments to the race. I did not see Bridgestone-based team requesting for any of the rules be bent when they fail to win anything prior to the US-GP. I wonder if the affirmative action phenomena are spreading to the international arena.

I also wonder: What if a Malaysian sponsored team were to enter F1 now? Will they be asking for a 2-lap handicap for all the races?

Game 7 in NBA !!!

2005-06-23T10:37:00.000+08:00

Finally, a Game 7 for NBA Final since 1994.

Can only watch the replay on Friday evening :(

Have to avoid reading any sports related news and avoid anyone who is into NBA as well for the whole day...

I am a Pistons supporter... so hopefully they will take the series and make it into the books as the first team who win the championship on the road after trailing 0-2 in the first of the series.

Keeping my fingers crossed... GO PISTONS !!!

Daily Excerpts (23/6/2005)

2005-06-23T09:56:00.000+08:00

Few excerpts from local newspaper:

After MPKK (Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council) applied for some RM51.6 million for landscaping projects, the Perak Menteri Besar provided details that RM18 million from the sum will be allocated for "projek Sayong River Front atau Dataran Sungai Sayong" without mentioning what is the project about. He went on to say that probably RM6-7 million will be approved for the said project.
(So I guess is common practice to jack-up many times the cost in the any proposed government project so that the government will look good in safeguarding the people's interest in lowering the cost of any projects while approving them.)
"Pejabat Jurutera Daerah" will continue their lucky-draw method when awarding non-urban projects to Class-F contractors as they considered it the be the fair and just way.
(Class-F contractors must be praying hard at home for the Lady of Fortune to smile at them, otherwise, they will end up broked. And also good luck to the people who will be benefiting from those lucky-drawn projects, hopefully no fungus, roof leaks, building cracks will come out of it. So much for safeguarding quality...)
Following the CSMU fiasco, PM provided the final jab when he announced that PSD will no longer provide scholarship or loan to "private" students who are planning or currently studying in Russian and Ukraine because of the "level of security" in both countries.
(Malaysia's "CIA" must be working hard to get this intelligence from the said two countries. Funny enough why these "level of security" issue was only brought up now... long after the Ukraine Presidential Election. I guess students who are caught there will have to survive on their own. What a knock-out!!)
Some ex-VCs, deans of faculty, local academics, even UMNO Youth have hit out at the recent decision by PTPTN to give out loans only to students undertaking "critical" courses, accusing PTPTN of discriminating students of other courses as well as students who comes from poor background.
(Well... more discrimination in our education policy I guess. I thought PTPTN was set-up to help the poor and needy. I foresee our country will only have engineers, doctors, lawyers, IT professionals, managers while other professions will soon extinct.)
There was a near 2-hour blackout in Bukit Bintang area due to fire and a series of explotion at a nearby power relay station. The incident also caused chaos to the already-heavy traffic condition. The incident caused a damage up to RM5 million (why is it always a nice number? and I wonder who is going to pay for it.) according to TNB official. Bukit Bintang MP plans to take it to the Parliament as well.
(I think TNB should go through some rebranding exercise like TM and hope that it will reset their PR image)

Food for thought...

All Because of a University in Ukraine

2005-06-23T09:02:00.000+08:00

Well... is official... and is on the front page of every major or minor newspaper in the country.

S. Sothinathan is suspended for 3 months from his government post (he is currently the Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister, the Secretary-General for MIC and MP for Teluk Kemang).

I guess this is the first time an actual member of the cabinet is suspended from his position. All because he "citicized his own government and thus breached party discipline".

After reading through the Hansard dated 21/6/2005 posted by Jeff on his blog, I think I will be quite happy if I were to be given a dollar for every uttering of the word "racist" in the parliamentary sitting on that day.

Ironically, the particular "numbskull" who only have a single vocabulary in his English dictionary throughout his entire outburst got off scot-free while the poor Sothinathan was to serve his "sentence" just for doing his duty as a member of MIC as well as an MP for his constituency.

Quoting some prominent local daily:

"Sebagai anggota kerajaan, beliau tidak sepatutnya mengambil pendirian untuk mengkritik kerajaan. Ia melanggar disiplin parti"
"Ini telah jelas melanggar disiplin sebagai seorang ahli kerajaan"
"He's a member of the front bench, he should not have taken a stand like he did, criticizing his own government. It is certainly a breach of party discipline"

So I guess this should serve as a lesson to other members of the government, maybe to all BN MPs. I think they should publish a guideline of some sort to all current and aspiring BN MPs which enshrine the first law "DO NOT CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT" as oppose to the first amendment of the US Constitution. Otherwise, more unfortunate and innocent victims might be suspended.

Another thing they should include in their guideline would be "If you want to shout racial slurs at someone, do it in the Parliament, or else... ISA". This is very much condoned by the government of the day as exemplified by Nazri in his showcase piece.

Is a pity too that no one (including Samy) came to defend Sothinathan for speaking up his mind on the issue which is greatly affecting his community. Quality of education aside, PSD and MMC should have given due consideration about the plights of the students who are currently studying medicine at Crimea State Medical University (CSMU), Ukraine. The de-recognition is at the worst possible timing as quite a number of students had already been accepted into the said university for the current academic intake.

Understandably, MMC has their own standards about evaluating medicine courses offered by various university. However, basing on increased university intake and lecturer-to-student ratio as the only excuse to de-recognize the said university is hardly convincing that MMC is safeguarding the quality of doctors in the country. What about the state of medical faculties in local universities? Did MMC evaluate local medical faculties in an on-going basis to safeguard local medical graduates? or do MMC just recognize them as the de-facto standards when comparing to other universities in the world?

What next? IEM to recognize institutes that offer engineering courses? MIA to recognize accountancy courses? etc.....

Regulatory bodies like MMC should conduct their evaluation on a fair and just manner on all universities or institutions alike. Factors such as intake criteria, quality of lecturers, number of research papers published, international recognition etc. should be given due consideration instead of giving so much thoughts only to intake numbers or lecturer-to-student ratio.

What if MARA University were to come up with a medical degree? Will MMC evaluate them based on the above mentioned criterias? or it will be based on a different set of criterias since MARA University are reserved on for a certain portion of the country citizens.

Food for thought...

Day One on the Job

2005-06-23T08:35:00.000+08:00

After reading day-in and day-out postings at Jeff's and Raja Petra's blog spot. I have decided to try on the same.

Brief intro on myself...

I am a typical "Made in Malaysia" product. Graduating from a private uni (after being advised to forget about public uni due to some "genetic" problems that do not conform to national standards). Working now as IT professional in a small-time IT company, I dedicate almost an hour a day reading through local and international news, interesting blogs before I start my everyday routine.

Reading through local news (in all 3 languages) is getting more and more tedious as signs of our country heading the wrong directions are showing up more often than ever recently. Hence, instead of keeping my thoughts to myself, I've decided to blog them out online in the hope that more people will share their thoughts as well.

Occasionally I will also do some blogging for happenings in F1, Tennis, NBA, MLB etc.

Everyone are welcomed to contribute to my blogs as long as you don't get me into some special interviews with the Special Branch people.

Egghead out...