Please mind your manners

Today I got a rude reminder of how uncivic-conscious Malaysians are. Coming back from the office on the LRT, I spied a seat and made a beeline for it, only to discover that some person (maybe a kid?) had left an empty paper cup that had contained pink syrup water which subsequently dribbled all over the seat. No one had bothered to pick up the cup and wipe the seat so now no one could sit there. Better yet, on the opposite row of seats, was wet with droplets of water. Who's betting that it was done by the same person?

We can aspire to have the best facilities and all, but if we still have a 'kampung' mentality, it will all be for nothing.

Malaysian 1 sen coin to be phased out

The Malaysian government announced yesterday that by 01 April 2008, the ubiquitous 1 sen coin would no longer be legal tender. This effectively means that the consumer has about five months to get rid of whatever 1 sen coins they have lying around in their pockets, purses, cars and houses before it becomes a worthless copper coin. The Bank Negara says it will save RM18 million yearly on production of 1 sen coins with the implementation next year.

However, consumers are informed that ALL payment totals will be either rounded up or rounded down depending on the final total. I wonder whether the consumer will benefit from this move or will businesses stand to gain more? In the long run, I think businesses will stand to gain in the long run as I'm sure that prices of a lot of goods will be 'restructured' soon to take advantage of this situation. It's just another excuse for the prices of goods and services to go up again. Bah.

It's coming, you know it

I blogged about it briefly on my other blog, It's all about the spin..., but here are my thoughts in full.

Was reading the news today when I spied this article that said prices of crude oil had made a sudden jump to a new high of nearly USD94 on reports that Mexico had suspended a fifth of its production. Wasn't it just last year that oil prices made a sudden jump to the USD60s range that prompted the last round of fuel hike? (You may correct me if I'm wrong.)

Back then, I could fill up my little Kelisa tank with premium V-Power fuel and a full tank only cost me about RM42. I love my car, so I give it the best la. Then with the fuel increase, I switched down to regular fuel and now a semi-full tank already costs me RM40 plus. If I were to really fill it up, I'm sure it would easily be over RM50. And that's for a small Kelisa. I shudder to think of my Dad's Waja, which right now drinks about RM90 plus of fuel every four days or so (he travels a fair bit). Luckily, his company pays for the fuel.

I don't want to think about next year when the promise of the government to NOT increase the prices of fuel expires. With crazy oil prices like this, by next year I could well be spending RM80 just to fill up one semi-full tank of petrol for my car. That is just madness, I'm telling you. Somehow or other, I get the feeling of impending doom that one day, humans will just use up everything that's viable on Earth and then we'll all go extinct.

A space-y issue

So our very first Malaysian astronaut went up into space and came back down to earth safely. Should we break out the bottles of champagne? I dunno. With all that talk about sending the second fella up now, it's not very good news for me and my taxpayer ringgits.

The news today said that the second Malaysian astronaut could probably take off in the year 2010 - 2011 as the Russian space agency had offered. But I agree with the statement by Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Shahrir Samad that a second bid *may* eat into funds. In my opinion, it's highly likely that that will happen.

So gee, I'm paying to send a man into space. How exciting. Not!

'Because he's already trained'

Forgive me if I sound unpatriotic Mr. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, but why should I stand a few inches taller just because one man (albeit a Malaysian) has blasted off into space? I am but a normal Malaysian on the street and while I think it's great we launched a man into space... it wasn't our technology. It wasn't our training, we had to send him to learn from others. It isn't our space shuttle. Borrowed one nia. It isn't our space mission. Just kinda like hitching a ride.

And... once was alright la, in my opinion. Now you want to send the next fella just because he's 'trained'? Not disrespecting that second fella and his dreams, but if I were to train an orangutan, you'd also send it just because it already received training, izzit?

Drive, baby, drive

I don't understand Malaysian drivers. They just don't seem to be able to drive properly.

They are slow to react and move their cars when the traffic light turns green.
They think that amber light means speed up and red light means go!
They honk and flash you because you didn't shoot the red light like they would.
They agressively speed up when you signal that you are changing lanes.
They honk and flash you when they think you are driving too slowly.
They honk at you when you (rightly) don't let them muscle their way into the lane.
They agressively tailgate you even in the midst of a traffic jam.
They steal the parking space that you have been waiting for; with your indicator on.
They take their own sweet time getting out of parking spaces.
They park indiscriminately.
They double and even triple park when it suits them.
They harass you to evacuate your parking lot / petrol pump / move out of the junction / roundabout.
They think that the highways are racetracks.
They pimp up their cars until they are unrecognizable.
They love big-@$$, low-riding exhaust pipes that make it impossible for them to go over roadhumps without slowing to a near complete halt.
They love to tint their car windows black until you cannot see the inside of the car.
They show you the universal finger when it suits them.

Then we have the motorcyclists.

They weave in and out of traffic like wannabe MotoGP participants.
They think they have right of way; all the time.
They shoot red lights frequently or they congregate in the front so that the cars can't move.
They refuse to travel on the motorcycle lanes provided when there is one.
They like to ride in the center of the road at a slower pace than other vehicles.
They seldom use their signal indicators.
They ride in packs known as Mat Rempit to intimidate other motorists.
They'll harass anyone found guilty of accidentally knocking down a fellow motorcyclist.
They are prone to yelling at you when they find they have less space to ride the bike.
They sometimes hit your car or side mirrors to make a point that they are passing by.
They show you the universal finger when it suits them.

Welcome to Malaysian roads.

Pointing the blame finger

A lot has been said about the events surrounding the tragically brutal and gruesome ending suffered by 8 year old Nurin Jazlin.

Barely has little Nurin been buried a few days when we have uncaring people saying that they should be hauled in for neglience and punished under the Child Act 2001. I agree with lynnee's take here that the parents shouldn't be blamed. Haven't they gone through enough suffering already knowing that their little girl is dead (in the most brutal manner) and that nothing they can say or do will bring her back? Why punish them further? They have their own guilt to bear for having let her out of their sight. It's easy to say that they shouldn't have let her go to the pasar malam on her own. It's easy to blame the parents (especially the mother) for not keeping an eye on her children. And what about the sister who was supposed to have followed Nurin to keep her company? Do we blame her for not going along when she could have potentially saved her sister or ended up as the killer's second victim?

But most importantly, why are we so hung up on hanging out the parents to dry when we should be redoubling efforts in the search for the killer?

There Nurin Jazlin's parents would do anything to have her come back to them, and here we hear of a woman caging up her own seven year old daughter in a cage outside her house or locking her outside the gate for hours.

What has Malaysia come to?

Reward me, I'm patriotic

Help us catch the culprit who burned the national flag, and you will be richer and holier. That seems to the message I'm getting from the Terengganu State UMNO Youth. They're offering a RM5,000 reward and a trip to perform the umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca) to the person who can provide information leading to the arrest of the person caught on film burning the national flag during the riot at Batu Burok on Saturday night.

If we were truly patriotic about this country of ours that we live in, we wouldn't need these rewards to catch culprits because none of these incidents would happen. Naive thinking? Yes. But better than burning flags.

Burning up our nation?

I never thought we would experience this in Malaysia. This incident somehow reminds me of Ku Klux Klan and Martin Luther King type of happenings. What is it? Flag burning.

Apparently some Jalur Gemilang (national flags) and UMNO (ruling party) flags were burnt on Sunday night at a political gathering. Somehow, just hearing this news makes me feel unsafe. What will happen next? Riots? Oh wait. There were protests and mini-riots at the same political gathering when a fracas broke out between the police and those who had gathered there, leading to shots being fired and people injured.

Did I mention that I don't feel safe anymore?

Makin' musical HIStory?

Time now for a bit of feel-good, Malaysia Boleh news.

The Star online reported here that a six-year-old musical prodigy was recognized last night by the Malaysia Book of Records as being the youngest composer ever in Malaysia. Already a published musician at age six, Julian Chan's book of music titled Original has 10 of his compositions since 2005.

I can't remember what I was doing at age six. Still playing masak-masak and reading books, I guess.

Now we have a musical prodigy, a golf prodigy and who knows what other talented kid will pop up next? Truly, Malaysia Boleh!

You'd better Visit Malaysia 2007... or else

Isn't it a shame that when the government is working so hard (sic) to promote 2007 as Visit Malaysia Year, we have Malaysians destroying the image of our country in our visitors eyes? A report by the Star today said that a rogue taxi driver and three friends attacked a Canadian teen who refused to take his taxi when the driver did not use the meter. o.0 How unscrupulous can you get?

In the first place, the taxi driver shouldn't have attempted to make a quick buck off an unsuspecting tourist (not sure if the Canadian teen is a tourist or not!) by refusing to use the meter. In fact, the taxi driver should use the meter, seeing as how the rates were just recently increased.

Then, the Canadian teen was probably too smart for his own good. At night in Petaling Street area, you wanna get moral and argue / tell-off with the taxi driver for not using the meter? Uh-oh. Not a smart move in any country, I'm thinking.

Anyway, the Malaysians were so lembik that even though they outnumbered the teen four to one and were armed with batons and bamboo sticks, they didn't manage to do any damage beyond minor scrapes and bruisers. That teen must have been some brawler!

What a lovely advertisement for Visit Malaysia Year 2007, don't you think?

Is it too soon to be happy?

Did you hear that? That's the massive sigh of relief heaved by Malaysian drivers after the move to close all petrol stations in the country by 10.00pm by the Petroleum Dealers Association (PDA) was called off. I wonder what arm-twisting went on the the meeting between the PDA and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry so that the move was "shelved".

But... will the consumers be made to pay the price one way or another? I predict that credit charges will still be passed back to the consumer OR after some "whining" about the stagnant petrol prices - fuel charge hike! Dearer petrol = less driving, maybe? Maybe this is the solution to the never-ending traffic jams in KL. That and making it harder for people to buy cars. But who am I to talk about this when I won't give up my Single Occupancy Vehicle no matter how the fuel prices go up. *grin*

Did the Malaysian system fail the public?

That surely must be the question asked by many as details slowly came to light in the wake of the express bus tragedy in Taiping which took 19 lives, one of the worst Malaysian road accidents ever. I myself am asking:

~ How did the bus driver manage to get away with 13 summonses totaling RM1,980? Doesn't the JPJ or police check when the summonses were issued? I thought just last year there was a highly publicized campaign wherein those who did not pay outstanding summonses would be arrested. I still remember seeing photos of people who were arrested and promptly paid up. It is said that TWO arrest warrants were issued for the driver. But he was still a free man the day he drove dangerously and killed 18 others along with him.

~ Why wasn't the bus driver's license revoked for his numerous offences? It was reported in the Star that he had been driving dangerously for over six years, broken nearly every law - speeding (in five different vehicles), obstructing traffic, driving without a seat belt, not producing a driving license, driving a bus without a permit - and racked up enough demerit points to suspend his license. How did he manage to renew his license? Surely it would have been easy to detect this in the JPJ / police system and revoke his license. But no action was taken. Why? Because the demerit point system has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, allowing you can get away scot free by: a) not paying your summonses and thus reducing the opportunity of seizing your license; and b) you can CHOOSE not to surrender your license after it has been suspended or cancelled. Then what is the demerit point system for? For show?

~ Why did the bus company hire him and keep him employed? Evidently the profit of the company is more valuable than lives, even the Transport Workers Union agrees in this article here. I am sure no action was taken against the driver for his summonses because he was still driving around for the company. This is pure neglience on the company's part. Are they now to be held accountable for the consequence of letting the driver loose on the road?

~ Did the driver think he was Superman? A survivor of the accident said that the driver was speeding, which by all conclusions, caused the fatal crash because the bus in question had faulty brakes (it failed Puspakom inspection FOUR times!). It has been repeated numerous time in tv adverts - speed kills. Evidently this message is not getting through to the Malaysian public.

~ Why did the bus company allow the vehicle to be used when it was evidently not roadworthy? Again, I'm thinking of profit over practicality. And the bus had 19 police summons with 79 JPJ summons to boot. It should be off the road!

I agree with this opinion article that said the blood of those killed in the accident is on the hands of the JPJ and the police. Had they done just a bit more to take the bus driver off the road (and the bus as well as the bus company), these victims would still be alive today.

As usual, after any incident or tragedy that occurs, all the politicians and officials will be pointing the finger at each other and refusing to take the blame that is rightly (or wrongly!) appropriated to them. I don't want to hear the blame game, I just want to know what is being done to make Malaysia a safer place for all of us.

A long way to go before achieving first class mentality

We may boast of having first class infrastructure and the like in our country, but sadly, I find that Malaysia still has a long way to go in achieving a first class mentality to go along with what we already have. Case in point:

We were at Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) last night as a close relative was in a critical condition. Family members were there to say goodbye to him. He was not in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but in an ordinary ward. As the evening passed and his condition steadily deteriorated, we all knew he could not last the night, it was just a matter of time when he passed on.

At 9.30pm, the security guard asked all non-immediate family members to leave the ward. That was not a problem. We waited outside the ward, in the corridor where benches were placed for people to wait.

At 10.00pm, the nurses said that even his family members could not be at his bedside, only two would be allowed inside the ward as they were locking the door. And we could not even wait outside the ward - we were told that we had to leave as it was beyond hospital operating hours.

Hello? The man only had a few more moments to live, and you forbid his children from being at his side at this critical moment? And you don't allow them to wait outside the ward too? If only Malaysians could be more understanding as to when the rules may be bent a little. Had the nurses and security guards of the Oncology ward been a little more understanding, the man's family - all of them - would have been able to be at his side when he passed away just a little after 10.10pm. From 10.00pm to 10.10pm it was only a few more minutes. Why couldn't they have seen that and shown more empathy?

First class facilities, third class mentality. How Malaysian.

They fight, we lose

After the announcement by the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) that they will close at 10.00pm by hook or by crook, suddenly the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs ministry (DTCA) has become vocal about the subject. They issued a stern warning to the petrol dealers not to close as this would affect the economy and they have no right to make such a decision without consulting the Government. It also quotes Pan Malaysian Lorry Owners Association president Er Sui See and Federal Territory and Selangor Taxi Operators Association president Datuk Aslah Abdullah as saying that the closure of petrol stations at 10pm would only drive up transportation costs and affect taxi drivers' income. I can just see the domino effect - lorries and taxi drivers hike their costs and fees because of the scarcity of petrol stations. The consumer is the end one affected by all this bickering.

Then the following day, DTCA says that petrol dealers who cannot take the high cost of operating a dealership should give up as there are many others waiting to take their place. I agree with this point. If you can't hack it, quit and let others who are willing to take it have a go at it.

U-turn

After days (and even months!) of labeling bloggers as being mostly unemployed people who are liars and stupid, the Information Minister has made an abrupt u-turn to say not all bloggers are stupid. Huh?!?!?!?! The Minister is quoted as saying:

"Some of them are informative, knowledgeable and disseminate positive views on current issues. The ones that were mostly goblok (stupid, in Indonesian) were political bloggers who float rumours and create hatred among the people."

Excuse me, Mr. Minister, can you make up your mind what we bloggers are?

Liquid gold

Yesterday, it was reported that the Petrol Dealers Association was seeking government approval to close all petrol stations (except those on highways) by 10.00pm daily. Today, they say they are closing at 10.00pm, with or without approval.

No need to bother about the people who may need to fill up late at night; we'll just let them run out of petrol. No need to bother about those working on night shifts; they don't need to fill up during regular hours. No need to worry about those running low on fuel who have emergencies in the middle of the night; that'll teach them a lesson not to fill up during normal working hours.

Escalating costs and security risk was cited at the reasons behind the push for shorter hours. I can understand about cost if you need to have a few attendants walking around. I know security risk is a factor - robberies might and can happen. But if you're a completely self-serve station (like all the stations I go to anyway), it eliminates the need to have a few workers working throughout the night. The customers can take care of themselves, the way I do. And the customers do know the security risk of filling up late at night. Plus, if it's a self-serve station, you can always make the ruling of no cash transactions after 10.00pm, just like how 7-Eleven does their little cash in the register policy.

And they want to pass on the 1% charge for credit card transactions back to the consumer. It's only 1%, and if I'm not mistaken other types of retailers are 3%. Who suffers? The consumer.

How Malaysian.

Of cops, robbers and footballers

More headlines from the boys in blue. What happened? They let a nearly million dollar car get stolen... for a second time... after recovering it yesterday. The Porsche was originally stolen on Monday by a well dressed thief posing as a customer, but abandoned a few km away when the car ran out of fuel. So the cops recovered found the car and parked it in their compound... where it was stolen the day after, most likely by the same thief. If it wasn't bad enough that the cops lost the car on their beat... the car was now fueled. *slaps forehead* Duh!

And more ideas from our brilliant Senator Dr. Puad Zarkashi. How to motivate our pathetic national football team? Show them video clips of yesteryear's glories. That's like saying, "Hey Malaysia, you'll be able to win the World Cup just by watching the videos of Malaysian teams from years back (when we were still a force to be reckoned in Asia)". Oh yeah, and the reason for Dr. Puad's suggestion? The horrible showing by Malaysian in the Asian Cup football tournament, where the team was thrashed 1 - 5 by China and 0 - 5 by Uzbekistan, leaving Malaysia dead last in the tournament and effectively out. And to think Malaysia turned down Manchester United's Asian Tour for this crap performance. Bah.

How Malaysian.

The solution to the flood

Whatever will they think of next? Our oh-so-brilliant Malaysian members of parliament (in this case, a senator) have done it again. From previous inspired ideas like chastity belts to prevent rapes from occuring, we now have... relocation to prevent flooding from occuring!

This article in the Star quotes Senator Dr. Mohd Puad Zarkashi as saying, "Rather than spend billions on flood mitigation, which have yet to prove effective, why not relocate and rename the federal capital Ibu Kota Tanpa Lumpur (Capital City Without Mud)?"

Wouldn't it also incur cost to relocate the federal capital? Furthermore, relocating the capital doesn't solve the problem of the floods which will still continue to occur in KL. It's just a diversion to draw one's attention away from the flooding because then KL would no longer be the capital city and thus, conveniently ignored.

I call this... Just Being Malaysian.