He Did it Again.....Lee Kuan Yew's Interview and malaysiakini

While the NST focuses on the non-event of Singapore rejoining Malaysia, they forgot to mention that he cited malaysiakini as "a credible source of information".

Not bad, coming from the most renowned political leader in Asia.
Some cynics will think that the NST is trying to divert attention from the tapes scandal as anything to do with Singapore usually raises a stink.

You can read the full interview here.

Let's hope malaysiakini keeps up high standards.

The Sky's the Limit but Let's Not Forget More Basic Things

All Malaysians should feel a sense of pride that we can afford to send a Malaysian to space and I hope he makes a safe return to earth.

With money one can afford to do many things and the recent movie "City Hall" shown on Astro showed that even judges can be bought.

So let's come back to earth and see what Malaysians are thinking about the video tape that is still the center of many articles and letters.This article in malaysiakini gives a good critique of the developments to date.

Based on the poll that was conducted on my blog that posed the question,
"What is Your Reaction to the Video on the Judges Scandal?"
a total of 358 readers took the trouble to state their opinion.

Here are the results:

220 readers or 61% chose "We Need a Royal Commission"

73 readers or 20% chose "The Chief Justice Should Be Brought Before a Tribunal"

47 readers or 13% picked "The Authorities Will Just Ignore the Findings"

16 readers or 4% picked "The tape is a fake"

2 readers or 1% picked "The Independent Panel will Find the Answers"

Do the poll results surprise you? Why waste time and energy on a panel that lacks authority and credibility?

Time to Check on Recruiting Agents and their Cohorts

This malaysiakini story is really tragic and shows how people will manipulate policies to maximise profits and leave the authorities the headache of deporting the unwanted workers.

The title says it all."Flawed policy results in flood of migrant workers".
Just imagine that.
According to the article,Tenaganita's "Fernandez said the source of the current crisis is a move by the government to allow some 200 agents to import 300,000 Bangladeshi workers this year."

Obviously some agents have been creating phantom jobs and just getting workers in so that they can earn some of the high fees that the workers fork out to get their papers.

A figure of US$3637 was mentioned as fees paid for a supervisor's post and this is about RM12,700.
If we take an average of RM10,000 per worker for easier calculations, 300,000 workers equates to RM3,000,000,000. It is a three billion ringgit business.

It is good that the authorities have recently imposed a freeze on workers from Bengladesh and a more comprehensive plan needs to be properly established.

For a start, companies should be allowed to apply directly for workers and there could be an insurance scheme to compensate workers who are denied jobs after they arrive in Malaysia.

This means that the jobs must be real and not a fiction to allow the agent to simply earn the fees. Perhaps 50% of the agents' fees should be held in trust by the government for at least 3 months or untill the worker is properly employed.

We should not allow such people to tarnish the country's name and image.

Photo: Thanks to http://murasakisikivu.at.infoseek.co.jp/fot/sharks013.jpg

Is SYABAS a Profiteer or Consumers Not Smart?

malaysiakini has this story about SYABAS collecting fees of RM50 each to reconnect water consumers whose supply has been disconnected for non-payment of water bills.

For some households RM50 is equivalent to a week's shopping bill for the family and RM50 does seem like too high a fee for a task that does not take more than 15 minutes of a plumber's time. The reconnection fee should be about RM20 to RM25 each as the subcontractor does not come out to do one household but perhaps 15 to 20 meters each day.

The difference in reconnecting is based on ease of work.
Ground floor will cost RM20 while above ground floor is RM25.

Consumers too should get their priorities right.Paying the water and electricity bills should rank higher than buying toys or McDonalds for the kids.

Some planning is also necessary if you are going away for a few months and you should either pay in advance or get someone to pay the bill for you.

As for those staying in flats, the laws should be amended so that each occupier has a separate account and not dependent on the management committee to settle the account.

The numbers being disconnected are staggering:
More than 500,000 consumers were penalised during the last 2 years in KL, Selangor and Putrajaya.

I daresay it surely reflects the struggle that many homes have to cope with the escalating costs of ordinary living. Should I say,
"Need to Change our Lifestyles?"

EPF Conflict of Interest?

It seems that the EPF has not stopped the practice of being the lender of last resort for companies that are in financial difficulties; or rather helping the shareholders of such companies with the use of public funds.

According to this malaysiakini report it has to reduce its shareholdings from 82% to 35% by the first quarter of 2008 to meet Bank Negara rules.

EPF members should be asking why the EPF bought more than the 35% limit and now has to sell off more than 47% perhaps at a discount?

The EPF regulations should be more strictly enforced so that fund managers are not permitted to engage in such speculative activities.

And members should take note of this deal so that no monies are lost in the transactions.

It is quite easy to end up in a situation similar to the Mv Augusta scenario.

Still Pondering Nuclear Energy?

Readers to my first year's blogging will know I have written a few articles against operating a nuclear power plant in Malaysia.

The primary reason is that we have a very poor attitude towards good maintenance. Perhaps we can blame it on the mild climate and our abundant resources that things get put off untill they fail, following the old adage,
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Maybe they should study the Malaysian genes to check if we have a DNA profile that abhors maintenance.

Imagine if we had a nuclear power plant and after a disaster, the CEO comes up with the pathetic excuse like,
"We had the heaviest rain in 20 years and the pumps to remove the water could not operate as the intake was choked with rubbish".

If the department in charge of controlling all the companies using radioactive material cannot do a simple task of ensuring its own building is properly maintained, how confident are you that it will be able to enforce the strict regime of monitoring a complex operation like a nuclear power plant?

Let's not even think of a nuclear power plant for Malaysia for at least another 20 years.

Photo: Thanks to New Straits Times

SYABAS! Gerakan is Showing the Way....

There are two good points that have emerged from the Gerakan Conference as described in this article from malaysiakini.
The first was the call for the formation of the BN Party wherein a new party would be formed to enable Malaysia to move away from race-based politics while the second was to call for a public inquiry into the "Judge fixing" tape that strikes at the very soul of the nation.

In fact I wrote this article last year in which I suggested how a BN Party could operate to provide a safe mechanism for ALL moderate Malaysians to encourage the change to less racist politics.

This arrangement will also enable the BN to retain control and give some breathing space for race-based parties to be finally replaced.

But it will take lots of moral courage and sincerity from the top leadership.