Correcting malaysiakini's Heading to "Malaysia is 'lackadaisical'"

There is an article in malaysiakini headed:
Batu Puteh: Malaysia was 'lackadaisical'
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/83516

I have just returned from the land office in Johor Bahru after paying quit rent. Now May is the busy month for this department as you pay a extra charge after May 31st.

I took a queue number and noted there were 87 persons in the queue and the number of cashiers serving the public was three.

By the time I paid the quit rent it took about 60 minutes.
That is why I say "Malaysia is lackadaisical" if you study the operations of this department.

Those three girls were doing a good job and trying their best to cope with the large numbers but it seems this department has not changed much in the last 50 years except for the following items:

1. There is a large sign that proclaims they qualify for some QUALITY system.
2. The offices are now air-conditioned.
3 They now use computers to process payments.

I went to this office last Friday at 2pm but it was closed and I did not want to wait 45 minutes.

The offices hours displayed were:
Monday to Thursday : 8:00am to 4:00pm with lunch break 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Friday: 8:00am to 4:00pm with lunch/prayer break 11:30am to 2:45pm

Is that not too big a break for Friday prayers? In Malaysia most mosques will be within a 3-mile radius of a government office.

Now if we assume the staff work until 5:00pm for the 5 days, the actual hours of work total 37.75 hours.
I don't want to quibble about the hours worked but the level of service.
During a peak month like May, when only 3 out of 8 counters are manned, it seems the department has a lackadaisical attitude towards prompt service.

They actually had two other staff at the counters but one was just issuing queue numbers from the ticket machine while the other just more or less told people, "Yeah you don't need any other document - that one will do".

Other areas where there could be improvements:

1. Sending out the annual statements so that owners can pay through other channels like the post offices and TNB, TMB and MPJB.

2. Allow payments using personal cheques.

3. On-line payments using local banks.

On the other hand, I guess it may be they are very busy trying to locate that missing letter from 1953?

Graphics: thanks to malaysiakini