49 BN members of parliament embarked on their epic journey yesterday (Sept 8) to Taiwan on a study tour of the agriculture technology to waste taxpayers’ money.
It’s hard not to relate the visit as an attempt to prevent Pakatan Rakyat from forming a new government on Sept 16. Regardless, there are no justified reasons to send 49 MPs on a study trip to learn the industry and technology that most of them have no basic knowledge about… it’s a waste of money in every sense.
Well, BN might be able to delay Anwar’s takeover plan (if it’s happening) for a week or two… but at what cost? They are continuously throwing away people’s trust and gradually losing their original supporters with all these money wasting gimmick.
Well, it’s official… the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has ordered the 19 Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to block the Malaysia-Today website [more on Thestar]
When will the government learn that oppression is never the best way to win support? With Anwar’s threat to seize control looming near, the BN government should take every right measures to win back the people’s support… but bizarrely they are trying to harm their reputation further instead by committing the obvious fault.
You can still access Malaysia-Today via the mirror site or follow the steps by Crankshaft to bypass the ISP block.
Lim Guan Eng, as the Chief Minister of Penang, should really start moving forward and show what he is capable of as a state leader, not as an opposition leader.
No point wasting too much time digging old fault of the previous government; the Penang folks knew how corrupted the previous government was… they might not know the details, but they were suspecting something huge.
Or else, does DAP think that they won the state in March because Penangties love them that much? People voted for Pakatan because they no longer have fate with BN, and Pakatan was their only option for making a change… and a change is what LGE and his state exco need to do.
What the people want to see is better governance and better quality of living… and digging old fault doesn’t help. What LGE needs to do is to be clean and transparent, improve infrastructures, create job opportunities and reduce cost of living.
The BN central government probably won’t help much to build the state… it won’t be easy for LGE obviously. But that’s what a political leader should do, to overcome difficulties and to find solutions… or else any Ah Beng could have become Chief Minister if it’s an easy job.
As credit due, LGE didn’t perform badly during his tenure for the last few months… but it certainly hasn’t been great yet. Show us what you got Lim Guan Eng, as a true leader, a government leader, and not just an opposition leader. Time to move forward.
Seems like tomorrow’s fuel-hike demo is going ahead in Kelana Jaya; hope that there won’t be any violent crash during the rally, and I hope that the protestors are fighting on the right cause and not for political reasons.
There is no point protesting against the petrol hike… the fuel subsidy was wrong and should have been gone long ago. It there is anything to complain about… it’s about corruption, poor public transportation and the government failure in improving our living standard for the past decade.
Inflation is something inevitable; what really strike Malaysians these days is the failure to improve our earning-capability since the 1997 economic crisis. With exceptions of a few professions, the salary and income levels of most jobs are not on par with inflation rate for the past decade… some sectors are actually falling behind the pre-1997 era.
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We have a world class swimming facilities, the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, which is a perfect place for our swimmers to prepare for the Olympic Games in August.
The dire news is that the Malaysian swimmers won’t be able to use it on usual routines, but have to let the Australian national swimming squad to use it for acclimatisation process instead. [Thestar]
Not blaming the Aussies, they showed vision in renting the facility in 2005, that’s what a proper government related bodies should do… I call it proper planning. It would be nice if they could share the pool with Malaysians, but it’s their call, and it was us who gave them the rights.
Questions are, who were responsible for making the deal at the first place? Did the management of The National Sports Complex and National Sports Institute checked the schedule before agreeing the deal with the Aussies? What’s the excuse of not anticipating that our Olympic squad will be using the facility at the peak of preparation for the Olympic Games.
It’s not like Malaysians are having good chances to win a medal or two; but we have spend millions of ringgits and the swimmers and coaches have probably been working hard for the prime event… the least they should have is a proper training facility at ease, and yet someone flopped it needlessly.
And guess what, no heads will roll at the end of the day. We have heard of government wanting to cut off corruption and misconduct… but we have rarely heard of people taking responsibility (or be held responsibility) for the wrong things that they have done.
Update - the Aussies are willing to share the pool, thanks for that.
A Chinese folk-story…
A farmer who usually fed the monkeys four bananas in the morning, and three at night, had decided to change the sequence to four in the morning and three at night instead… but the monkeys started complaining. So the farmer decided to switch back to the original routine, and the monkeys are happy again.
There is a proverb following the story, which are used to describe the stupidity of the monkeys (and some people) who are flip-flopping on something but are not making any difference after all.
Ok, I just realised how bad a story teller I am.
Straight to the point… the government will pay the salary of its officers and staff in two installments a month from August (instead of once), but frankly… does it matter if the salary is still the same at the end of the day?
Update July 2 - it’s back to the original banana routines.
Selangor consumers will get their 20 cubic metres of free water from this month as the stalemate in the deal has been resolved… with the state government agreeing to compensate up to RM11 million monthly to Syabas through the state investment arm Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB). [Bernama]
When the plan was first announced in March, MB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has said that the free water policy is implemented by reducing the cost per unit of usage and the state government (and the taxpayers) need not pay subsidies to Syabas… looks like Pak Lah is not the only one that is good at flip-flopping.
Well, Selangor folks would not need to pay the water bill from their own pocket, but is the water really free? Those money are coming from the state government after all… money that can be spent on improving infrastructures, productivity and quality of living in other ways which in the end will benefit the people in long term.
Is this the right thing for the Selangor government to do? I am not sure. I don’t like the concept of subsidies (of any kind) at the first place… Malaysians have been pampered for way too long with the subsidies, so long that some of us have been taken it for granted and lost the sense of competitiveness.
Update June 19 - the water is not really free, seriously. Consumers will still have to pay a RM6 minimal (service) charge to Syabas.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has announced on Monday some government cost cutting measures to save public spending amounting to RM2 billion anually, which include freezing of paid leave for Cabinet members, aspects on travels for ministers, deputy ministers, government officers abroad, prohibiting renovation works on offices, postponement in asset purchases and the holding of official functions etc. [Bernama]
The measurements include a 10% reduction on entertainment allowance and restrictions on paid vacation for ministers and deputy ministers, which would be limited to the Asean region only and the duration should not exceed one week. Previously, the paid vacation is borne by the government to any destination once a year.
It’s a step forward for the government to cut wasteful spending, kudos for that… but they could really try a bit harder. 10% cut on the entertainment allowances mean nothing much; the ministers (and deputies) will still get a decent allowance to spend on I-don’t-know-what entertainment purposes.
Besides, why should we pay for their overseas vacation when we can’t afford to bring our family for overseas holidays? It’s not like the ministers are not getting paid… their monthly salary is higher than 70% (probably close to 90) of the Malaysians for goodness sake.
The paid vacation should be scrapped completely; and unless there is a good reason for the entertainment allowance, it should be scrapped as well. There are probably some other dubious expenses not mentioned in the plan… and there are definitely rooms for further improvements.
If the government has the determination to cut the petrol subsidy and forced the people to change our lifestyle, at least show their own determination to make a strong cut. It’s a good start, but not good enough.