Letter to the Star Editor - somehow my email comment was divided into 2 part...?

Wednesday March 23, 2011

Vandalised lamp posts should be repaired

IN reference to “Electricity to lethal lamp post cut” (The Star, March 22), my condolences to the family who lost their precious son.

It is a very unfortunate yet entirely avoidable incident; if only the local authorities and Tenaga Nasional Bhd had been more vigilant.

Exposed lamp post wires may be the result of unscrupulous individuals breaking the cover of public lamp posts with the intention of stealing whatever is inside, probably the copper.

There are a lot of exposed lamp posts, especially near pedestrian walkways, public parks, and public phone booths.

I hope the local councils and TNB service teams will be more vigilant in their work and ensure that all vandalised public lamp posts are repaired.

BRIAN FONG,

Ampang.

At a shopping mall near where I live, there is a lamp post with the cover missing and it has been

in that state for months. And interestingly, this shopping mall is right beside the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council.

I also hope that the police will catch those who vandalise public property, leading to injury and, in this unfortunate case, death.

BRIAN FONG,

Ampang.

What Causes Traffic Congestion?

My observation on What causes Traffic Congestion

1: Mentally Deranged and Selfish drivers who likes to change lane in the middle of a mother of all traffic jam.

This type of drivers get a psychotic high when they are able to quickly slip in front of another vehicle in an already badly packed jam just so that they can be 1 car in front but yet is still stuck in the same jam. (ok, so they are in a different lane.)

Mentally deranged, because this personality type always think that "they" and "they" alone is on a hectic schedule while the rest of us in the same jam is in it for the fun. Ergo they must change lane in order to, in their severely limited cognitive operation, be 1 or 2 miserable cars ahead to have the childish and deranged satisfaction that they are actually moving ahead faster than the rest.

What this delusional individual(s) is unable to process in their limited basic cognitive processes is that by doing so they are not only not moving ahead any faster on the other hand they created a"ripple-effect" or cascading failure that causes sustained traffic jam to the rest of the motorist at the back. (as opposed to heavy but smooth traffic flow..)

How so? Simple arithmetic. An idiot slip into another lane in front of another motorist who will naturally need to brake so that he/she don't bang into the idiot. Possibly 5 seconds is all it takes.

But the motorist at the back of this motorist who don't want to bang the idiot will also have to step on the brakes this time for maybe another 6-7 seconds and it ripples down until the point when everyone will not be moving anymore.. and all this for 1 single idiot!

And therein lies the problem because in KL we have plenty of them "idiots" on the road !

16.6mil summonses not paid yet

16.6mil summonses not paid yet

Am surprised to read in the starpaper that there's a whopping 17 Mil summonses given out - and not collected to-date. That is one hell of an IOU dude!

If the 17 Mil is straight forward summonses, meaning no one is going to contest the legality of it, then that is revenue for the government coffer dude. So, if the head honcho of both the JPJ and PDRM operates anything like a corporate entity they would have been sacked by the board long ago or they would have been declared bankrupt. Gone.

Imagine you telling your boss this.. eh boss - I have sold 17 Mil worth of products over the years and only today I realized I have not collected the monies. huh?

Funny thing is this JPJ Dude don't seemed to be bothered, embarrass or guilty about admitting to his agencies ineffectiveness.

Anyway, out of the 17 Mil how many of the summonses are issued by the Traffic Police and how many are issued by JPJ Officers? I am curious to know coz I seldom, if ever seen any JPJ guys doing their round at all! Have you?

Darn, JPJ guys is not even on hand to help ease traffic congestion and yet this dude from JPJ is coming out to say there are 17 Mil summonses to be collected? For the Traffic Cops or for JPJ? Or do you guys share the same budget?

Another thing I am curious about; what is the most committed offences? Which states, town or area? Which age group? What type of car? Unfortunately there are no breakdown provided by JPJ nor the Traffic Police. It seems like these people are clueless about analytic tools and I thought they have recently "upgraded" their systems - from WinNT 3.51 Server to Win2000 perhaps.

The JPJ DG somemore squalls that "The department was serious about reducing the average of 18 accident-related deaths on roads each day and controlling the attitude and behaviour of road users like taxi and bus drivers, and other transport operators... but fails to mention any concrete steps that need to be taken to backup what he says.

Talk is cheap and this is what our civil servants and politician excels in. Work? Hmm... And know what, the silence from the Traffic Cops are deafening!

I see more Traffic Cops than JPJ dudes on the road, well, sometimes it may be a wee bit difficult to spot these cops as they may be hiding lurking standing behind corners or trees, like a spider waiting for his next victims meal. But man, at least we have a glimpse of them. JPJ Dude? uh.uh..d hollow-man in uniform?

Lastly, try to figure out this statement:

“We urge motorists, who still have 16.6 million outstanding summonses, to quickly settle their fines because the deadline ends on Thursday,” he told reporters here yesterday. (Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said.)

Some Get It Some Just Dont

When one is confident, hard working and posses an open mind to learn and master the tools of the trade one can compete locally and globally without having to rely on handouts.

My nasi lemak neighbor wakes at 4am every day and toil till late at night because he understand the concept of self reliance and competition. He dont sit around waiting for handouts.

My taxi neighbor drive day and night becos he too understand that we need to work to earn a living on our own.

Somehow, some people who are so call educated and work in air cond room is unable to grasp such a basic concept.

These people never look in the mirror and ask, how can I better equip myself to compete at the next level instead they are quick to blame the others, the world and anyone else for their incompetence and their inability to compete.

Free or Installment Plan?

There was this advert on thestar.com.my screaming "Subscribe to Streamyx Basic for only RM99 per month and get a FREE PC".

wow! a FREE PC? Standard Streamyx charge RM99 for 1MB with modem -if I sign up I get a FREE COMPAQ? that's a good deal -no?

Well - I click on the advert which leads me to HP Compaq website.

Again - the advert is there "Kick start your ride into the future with TM Streamyx! Sign up the Streamyx 1.0 Mbps today at only RM99 per month and get a FREE Desktop so that you can surf, download and connect instantly! That's right, a FREE Desktop! So, hurry and don't miss out this great offer."

The footnote in the picture tell u as much - 0% INTEREST INSTALMENT PLAN FOR UP TO 24 MONTHS" (yes they missed an L in the "instalment " )

You click on the More Infor and it will ask you to download a FORM to be submitted to HP.

And this is some of the T&C for the so call FREE PC:

1: This promotion is applicable to new personal application and only to qualified Malaysian credit cardholders (Visa or MasterCard) of the participating banks.
3: Customer must subscribe for this promotion through interest free installment scheme of 24 months offered by the participating banks.

So You must have a Credit Card and must pay for 24 months. And now look at this T&C:

(ii) HP PC Packages includes:
• The PC package is only applicable if customers complete the minimum subscription period of 24 months. PC package which do not conform to the 24 months subscription period shall be
excluded from this offer and the Customer is liable for the cost of the PC as shall be determined by TM

Note the word "Installment/Subscription period". According to the T&C buyers are "tied-in" for the next 24month for RM99 which means we are paying RM2376...

I am confused. Since when is an installment/subscription plan equals to FREE???

FREE PC as advertised by any definition would mean that if I sign up for Streamyx - pay Telekom the relevant charges and I should be entitled for the Free PC. But no, look at this T&C"

During this 24-month period, the bank will charge the monthly installment in the customersí credit card account. Thereafter, TM will charge customers automatically the Streamyx monthly subscription fee by issuing the Streamyx bill. TM reserves the right to determine the charges from time to time

That means for the first 24th month I am not paying for my streamyx connection but is paying either the credit card company or HP and only after the 24th month Streamyx will start charging me the monthly bill - either way - I AM DEFINITELY NOT GETTING THE PC FREE! darn it!

If there is anything free for the first 24th month it is my streamyx connection.

How misleading and mischievios can the advertisement be?

Just to be sure I called HP and the rep told me - it is free! you only pay RM99 installment per month for the next 24th month... blah blah blah...

Am I blur or is that rep sotong or what?

If I am paying them 24th month of installment - am I PAYING or am I getting it FOR F-KING FREE????

What kind of distorted freaking logic is that?

Tired

i dont knw whether it's d beer n whisky i had last nite but this morning i felt esp weary and tired. not only physically but mentally esp after having my daily doses of the online MSM and the political /civil right blogs.

if one is to compare what was written in the major dailies with the blogs and is not familiar with msia politics one will be left wondering whether msia has a dual identity. there is a msia for the current political master and there is another msia for social / political bloggers.

for the current political master - msia is in the best of health. there is mininal corruption, the politician are doing all the right thing, the rakyat is happy and have enough money to spend, lingam tape is a figment of the imagination of some crook. and the rakyat shd be awed and be grateful and kiss the feet of the people who walk the corridors of the power becos they have done so much for us.

on the other hand, the blogs will detail out the excesses of the government, the corrupted politician, the highest civil servant and the picture potrayed collectively by all these blog is a not too rosy for the rakyat future.

the major dailies does not have any insighful news that can enlighten common folks like us on what's really happening in the country - politically and economically. most time they just report on crime that will leave one wondering what is the police doing with their time, beside springing on opposition politican.

and when the current group of politician make any press statement they will only say all is well and not to worry they got everything under control.

on the other hand, some of the politically inclined blogs provide so much more information on the political misadventures of the government to the extent that left me, a joe public bewildered.

and this is what wearies me.

is some of our leaders so doggone? is most of the leaders so corrupted as implied in some of the blogs? is most of our leaders so clueless on the hardship the rakyat is facing?

with accusations on misappropriation / mismanagement flying left right and center - why is there no sane authorities doing anything? Or is some of the political /civil blogs out there merely theorizing or spinning negative stories?

it is just too difficult for joe public like myself to digest.

what had happened?

i dont know. but one thing i know for sure is our basic neccesities prices are rising but my salary is not. some of my friends businesses are floundering becos of rising cost but the government continue to spend on irrelevant projects.

i am so tired and weary. when oh when will i be able to move away from this twilight zone?

who is right and who is wrong?

A lesson for our MPs

In the online edition of theage.com.au the headline jumps out at you "Theophanous steps down over police investigation"

This is what Mr Theophanous said in his press statement - "I feel strongly that if a minister is the subject of a full complaint which is being investigated by the police, he or she should stand down until the matter is cleared up," he said. .. "For this reason, I spoke to the Premier this afternoon and informed him that I would be temporarily standing aside as Minister until this issue is resolved..."

Now that is integrity as a public servant. That is transparency in making a public statement even though the police has not make known the allegations against him. Now whether the police has any dirt on him now does not matter yet... but at least Mr Theophanous has responded responsibly..

And in Malaysia? A police report against the AG and the IGP was make alleging impropriety in some cases - but these dude is still carrying on business as if nothing happen.

Hello!?? Any of you or our MP / Minister reading the age.com.au?

Those that have investigation files open on them whether from the ACA or the Police - YOU GET D MESSAGE? YOU KNOW THE APPROPRIATE THING TO DO?

erh.. anybody HOME up there??? or no speaki inglis?