Category: Social Commentary

Public Servants’ Salaries


Lee Kuan Yew likes to trumpet the fact that Singapore has a reputation as one of the cleanest government/bureaucracy in the world. He attributes this to (amongst others) the high salaries paid.

In today’s local paper, it was reported that the CEO of our local council was paid a total package of $292,000 last year. This included a basic salary of $224,000. In comparison:

  • Steve Bracks, the Premier of Victoria, was paid $235,000
  • John Howard, Prime Minister, gets $309,000

You know, I dont think if you paid those clowns running places like the MPK (Klang local council) a higher salary, they’d be less inclined to corrupt practices. Higher salary can no longer work as a deterrent in Malaysia because it has become ingrained. The top guy in MPK would thank you for the $292,000 per annum salary and proceed with his corrupt way anyway. Pay Khir Toyo $235,000 per annum and you’d still …

Joe Bloggs in Malaysia


Bloggers in Malaysia have had a good run lately. There has been a sense of camaraderie, brought about by a law suit  commenced by the New Straits Times (Malaysia’s  ageing /dying newspaper)  and its senior executives, against two bloggers. The battle-cry has been “Bloggers United”.

After a stiff drink last night, I decided to have a little fun and went to some of these bloggers’ sites to post comments. I simply asked if these bloggers were for real, in the sense that all the chest-thumping cries for freedom of expression are sincere or is this just another symptom of herd mentality amongst bloggers? Would they, for example, blog about the appalling state of justice in Malaysia? The non-Malays are consistently and systematically marginalised, with each new generation of Malay leaders shouting the same racist slogans louder than their predecessors.

One blogger suggested, in his reply, that it is “not very advisable” to blog about the issue of a more just and equitable society in Malaysia. Malaysians tend to “keep everything inside us” on these matters. In the same reply however, he extolled the virtue of freedom of speech.

A major problem with Malaysia is the NEP and the preferential treatment of Malays. Singapore started out on the same platform with Malaysia, over 40 years ago.It chose to take the route of meritocracy, but Malaysia stuck to preferential treatment for Malays. See where these two countries are now?

A few weeks ago, I was reading up on some UNCITRAL stuff (UN Convention on International Trade Laws, I think) and stumbled on a speech by Chan Sek Kheong, the Chief Justice of Singapore. He was a Malaysian. Born in Ipoh. He ended being the top legal person in Singapore, after also serving as the AG of Singapore. That has another story all of its own but that lead me to look up the qualifications of some of its judges, as well as its Cabinet members.

The qualifications of the members of Singapore’s government and judiciary are astounding. When I tried to find out more info on Malaysia’s counterparts, I did not get very far. I dont think I need to try very hard to prove that the qualifications of Malaysia’s judiciary and cabinet is more a case of kulit-fication (based on the colour of one’s skin). In Malaysia, a basic requirement for success in the public service is that one has to be a Malay. Sure, there is the token non-Malay here and there but they are just that – tokens.

If you leave the crucial decisions in the hands of those who are there as decision makers not because they are the best qualified but because they are Malays, then there is a jolly good chance these decisions would be bad or wrong ones. Malaysia in the pits? Kiddo would say: like duh?!!!

The whole world is facing a multitude of issues so challenging everyday feels like the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. The economic uncertainties, the wars waged by the US and its allies, global warming and the worsening climatic conditions, social repercussions of floods of information and open communications via mobile phones, internet, satelite and the likes, all these are challenging matters even for the brightest. If you leave the decisions in the hands of…yada yada. I said it before. See above.

Surely these are matters Malaysians would want to talk about a whole lot more? No, apparently. It is “not advisable” It is better to “keep these things inside”. Come on, Malaysian bloggers. Get real.

Old Home, James Cameron & Prayer


Kiddo and Theresa left home about half an hour ago, both headed for the city. Kiddo’s having her music exam. She seemed calm so that was good.

Church

Theresa and I attended the church prayer meeting last night, after a hiatus of almost 3 months. I was put off then, as increasingly, praying in tongues overwhelmed me. Those praying in tongues were so loud I couldnt concentrate. And, I couldnt understand what they were saying so I couldnt follow and join in their prayers either. That gave me the excuse to stop attending.

Last night was a bit better. I had told a couple of leaders why I stopped attending and I dont know if that had anything to do with what happened last night. There were still some praying in tongues, but they were a lot less intrusive and distracting. I think the intensity was much lower. I came away feeling better, like I really have connected with God together with my fellow believers.

Work

As the meeting was about to start last night, my mobile rang (or rather, it vibrated…). I ignored it, and later, found out it was from that law firm I had turned down over 2 months ago. This was the third time they have called. I turned it down because it was an Asian firm, and typically, offered poor pay and long hours. They left a message to call back. Theresa thought I should, but I think it may be pointless. The gap between what was put on the table and what the industry rate is, is so wide I cant see how it can be bridged. I think I’d just call anyway, hear them out, and tell them no.

Klang, Malaysia

Kit Siang had this entry, which outlined the stupidity and/or corruption of the Klang Town Council. It wasnt written by him. It was written by a bloke called Z. Ibrahim. I doubt that person is Zaid Ibrahim the lawyer.

What Z. Ibrahim wrote was precisely how I felt when I was in Klang in December 2006. The traffic conditions, and my fears for the worsening prospects, confirmed my aversion to ever returning to live there. To my dismay, some Klang residents appeared to be pleased with all the mindless development taking place there. Cant they see it really is a case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg? Klang has been prosperous because it has the country’s premier port. All these “developments” would choke its role as such a port, no? I am both reliefed and sad at what’s taking place there. Here’s an extract from that piece:

The Berkeley section of the “highway” is now choked with not only incoming traffic from KL but also from hundreds of motorists and customers who attend functions and gatherings at the Hokkien Association Building and two Chinese seafood restaurants on either side of the highway which have been miraculously given licenses to operate.

In addition three completed condominium complexes, the Regency, Dynasty and Pelangi condominiums all exit at this section and worse still the “highway” now has to contend with the new but still not completely open giant Centro office complex. Shophouses and residential homes are being built at the old Chinese Maternity Hospital site over and above the already existing Government Clinic Complex – all still within this stretch. If you think this is incompetent town planning there is unfortunately more….

New Threat – Prima Klang Avenue Office Complex

As you crawl past the upgraded Jambatan Kota and pass the MPK building on your right and the Land Office Complex on your left, the “highway” suddenly takes an acute turn. On your left at this turn what used to be Bukit Kota has now been slashed to make way for Klang’s newest office complex – Prima Klang Avenue.

This complex spanning more then 4 acres and “perched on the highest point of Klang” with “four-storeys of shops and six-storeys of offices” apparently offers “an exciting mix of shops comprising food and beverage stores, entertainment outlets, fitness centre, banks and an entire level dedicated to automotive showrooms. Wide frontage and spacious corridors create a pleasant environment for leisure and relaxation.

All these come together to make Prima Klang Avenue an innovative one-stop hub, complemented by a scenic landscape with relaxing and majestic water features” …or so says the developer in his brochures.

The complex of course offers ” easy access via Jalan Jambatan Kota and Jalan Kota, the center of the business areas, putting it nearby the Klang Municipal Council, Klang District Office, banking institutions and PUAS, as well as a walk away from the upcoming new government administration offices.”

No doubt this will add up “to a steady traffic flow of some 400,000 people a day in this vibrant business area.” !! Scheduled for completion in mid-2008, Prima Klang Avenue promises to be the pulse of the heart of Klang town. Does the MPK know the consequences and ramifications of 400,000 people ending up at this critical part of the highway hardly a kilometer after Jambatan Kota and 300 meters before the Port Klang/Banting interchange?

You don’t have to be an Einstein to realize that traffic will virtually stall for motorists who slow down to gain entry into this new complex. Worse still the sharp curve is currently already a frequent site for traffic mishaps, what more with traffic flowing in and out.

Even if the developer had been overly optimistic and only 100,000 people converge at the complex and assuming that only 5% come in cars, that is 5,000 cars for the allocated 800 car park-lots the developer has reserved. The spillover to the highway will paralyze the KL-Klang Highway.

This would mean traffic which already now backs up to the Sungai Rasa toll gate will now be backing up to UITM. This would also mean that Klangites will either have to spend an additional hour or more on the road trying to get home or leave office two hours later just so this complex can be built at this spot where traffic is narrowed down?

You might just as well close the bridge down! Approving and building such a huge complex at this juncture of the highway is akin to building a pesticide factory next to the Klang Gates Dam!

James Cameron’s story on Jesus’ Tomb Find

Ben Witherington has come up with another piece to nail it even firmer. The tomb is not the one Jesus rose from.

Rubbish, Dr Mahathir.


Finally, an intelligent and articulate letter to debunk the rubbish about Dr Mahathir’s nomination for a Nobel Peace Price and his idiotic war crimes tribunal. Dr Mahathir a war crime fighter? He is just a religious chauvinist. Too bad there are too many sycophantic writer, bloggers, journalists and “think tanks” in Malaysia who are equally tunnel visioned to be truly anti genocide.

mm-in-sheep.jpg

Laughing at Methodists


I was brought up in a Methodist church. So, I’m allowed to laugh at this. An extract:

“We make fun of Methodists for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed, and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them….If you were to ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Methodistless place, to sing along on the chorus of ‘Michael row your boat ashore’ they would look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this with Methodists, they’d smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!”

And this:

‘Methodists believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.”

And this, because I often find myself doing it:

“Methodists will usually follow the official liturgy, and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins….You know you are a Methodist if when you watch Star Wars and they say ‘May the Force be with you,’ you instinctively respond ‘And also with you.’”

This one, because I was reminded that I didnt want to feel guilty:

“Methodists feel guilty if they don’t stay to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.”

Finally:

“You know you are a Methodist when it takes at least ten minutes to say goodbye!”

The last bit isnt always true. Bye.

CNY & Public Service in Msia


I received a call from A Pin earlier today, asking if we would like to join them for a CNY dinner at their home. This compounds the problem, especially for Theresa. A CNY do is really the last thing I want to be part of right now. Thankfully I’m not in Malaysia. Especially the ruckus of firecrackers which would have started by now. I remember calling the police when it went on past 2am. The police harassed me instead. Patrick Teoh, some I used to enjoy listening to on the radio in Malaysia, said that the police would be stricter this time. His is a different issue – fairness across all races… really Patrick, for a man your age, you should know better than to live in fantasy land. Racial equality in Malaysia? Gong Xi Fa Cai to you too. I think the law on this be enforced strictly and now is as good a time as any. The thing to do would be to remember this saga well and bring it up to the fore come Hari Raya next time around. All I remember is how it was impossible to sleep and kiddo and Roy our dog had a terrible time with all the firecrackers.

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The web version of The Star newspaper in Malaysia has this story about delivering public services more efficiently. Seriously? I thought the answer is obvious. Start hiring according to ability, not race or religion. Then you might actually get civil servants who are capable and interested in delivering the services.

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An ex-colleague just emailed me – he’s in Melbourne now and scounting around to migrate here. Another one. I hope those of my friends and relos who are still grinding it out in Malaysia seriously believe their long term future (and that of their children/ grandchildren) lies with that country.

Samosa Sayonara


What a snack

The beloved samosa is facing meltdown in India. I used to enjoy this snack in when I was travelling in India, and continued savouring it in KL and here in Melbourne. I guess Delhi Belly should be avoided as much as possible, but I have not heard of anyone dying from it – just a bit of dashing between the toilet and the bed.

Kit Siang: Ops Lallang II? A Pointer


“Dr Lim Chong Eu … said he had experienced it all … what Albar and his UMNO Turks had applied was a well-tested method. The police and the army held the ring while favouring the Malay rioters – usually bersilat groups, thugs and gangsters let loose to make mischief. Once passions wee aroused and enough Chinese counter-attacked, even ordinary Malays joined in. When the Chinese hit back, they were clobbered by the police and army; law and order were enforced against them, not the Malays. The result was a sullen. cowed population.”
– The Singapore Story – Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew, p602

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Strange Effects of Power


The man standing to the cleric’s right is Moshe Katsav. He is the Israeli equivalent of the Malaysian Agong. Well, sort of. He’s just been charged (in a way) for impropriety a la Clinton (Bill, not Hillary). The allegations of these (sexual) improprieties have begun a few months ago, and investigations had taken place, leading to the decision to charge him.

I guess there is something about power which tends to make people think they can get away with … er… anything.

Like the Malaysian Attorney General (Gani Patail), Menachem Mazuz is also relatively new to the job. He became Israel’s AG just a little over 3 years ago. He has decided to charge Moshe, saying there is enough evidence to do so.

The name Altantuya Shaariibuu doesnt roll off the tongue easily. Well, it didnt use to. Malaysian journalists however, will no doubt be used to the double a’s, i’s and u’s in her name by now. There is also the bad joke making the rounds in Kuala Lumpur, about C-4 explosives. Google either the poor lady’s name or “C4” and invariably, the response to one would include references to the other. A response would also mention the Special Action Squad of the Malaysian Police,

“trained to escort and protect VIPs at home and abroad. They are also called upon to assist in anti-crime and anti-narcotics operations from time to time … will be called upon by the CID and Narcotics departments when hardcore, heavily armed criminals, are involved, thus raising the stakes in the case,” (see source)

A few days ago, a letter to Malaysiakini suggested that insinuations that the Malaysian Defence Minister (and Deputy Prime Minister – guy in suit shaking hand) was implicated in the murder, should stop. The writer, who normally makes me nod my head in agreement, is either being naive or attempting to simply provide a countervailing voice of some sort. Kiddo would have trouble joining the dots. That is because she is only 12, and has left Malaysia more than 2 years ago. Most other Malaysians would have no trouble doing so, especially seeing that the very likely raison d’etre of the crime wasnt passion of the flesh, it was good old fashion greed.

I am a Manchester United fan. Have been for donkey’s ears. Travelled the world to see them play. That is not the reason I dislike Chelsea (my apologies to a friend who now lives in the UK, not to be nearer Chelsea but like me, is tired of Malaysia and its ways). I dislike Chelski because of its links to Abramovic, whose quickly gotten wealth suggests irregular behaviour.

Chelski gives credence to the idea that money rules. That is vile. The “Altantuya Shaariibuu-C4-Special Action Force-Defence Contracts” link is in the same pot. Malaysians underestand that link too well. Gani Patail should do more to ensure the investigating arm does everything they can to ensure all parties involved are brought to trial. Only then would Malaysians’ minds be satisfied. Hence the call for further investigations. Ask Malaysians to forget that link and leave certain figures out, before satisfactory investigations are exhausted? It wouldnt happen in places like Israel. That of course, would please many Malaysians, would it?

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Rot in Denmark House Still Wafting Through


 

Sometime in the late nineties, the Court of Appeal made an infamous Shakespearean reference in the course of alluding to corrupt judges. The Macbeth line of something being rotten in the House of Denmark was of course, an allusion to the court which was housed in the building in KL known as Wisma Denmark. That case was a high watermark (or more aptly, the low watermark) in judiciary corruption. It was of course, the Ayer Molek Rubber Company case.

I had forgotten most details of the case, when yesterday, someone in KL sent me an email suggesting the matter still has some mopping up to do. I guess it is a way of a certain disaffected bank owner trying to have a go at another (a more pro-establishment) bank. Whatever the motivation, it opened up a cache of unhappy memories for me. Suddenly details of the transaction trickled back into my mind and I have spent my otherwise quiet start to my mornings reading this fellow’s emails, designed to trigger some recollection in my mind. This transaction happened way back in 1994 and the last I had anything to do with it was in 1999, so the trigger needed to be pretty firm and sharp.

Ayer Molek was a clear case of regulators’ unhappy role in deal making. Deal making by its nature entails benefits to both parties. When these benefits and their recipients are multiple, it gets pretty damned close to signs of corruption. How large blocks of shares in a public company can disappear without the owner being traced shows how well Malaysian corporate players can collude. In Malaysia, the modus operandi is always to avoid getting to the bottom of a mess. Just sweep everything into an unseen corner and leave it there. Somehow people expect the mess to have nuclear properties and exude half-lives so that over time, they disappear. They don’t. They remain in some dust collecting corner and someday, someone would come along and dig it up, dust it off and the rot would waft through for all to realise it didn’t work to just “sweep it under a carpet”.

No one wanted to get to the bottom of the Ayer Molek mess. Not when I was still in KL, in the company which was at the centre of the matter. Documents came to me, I could not get proper instructions, and they would bounce right off. Sometimes I had to cut these down to size so that they may be dealt with within the constraints prevailing then. So things chug along. The hewn down documents would again be shoved into some corner until yet another person digs them up. It could be years before that happened. It isn’t my mission in life to wait for such events. I have moved on. Down Under.

What do I do with this request to assist in mopping things up? I don’t know. I couldn’t even recall the relevant details until I was prompted. I can confirm or verify certain facts or documents, suggest some details which I can recall, but that is about all. Ayer Molek was an ugly chapter not just in Malaysian corporate and judiciary history. It was an ugly chapter in my life, too. I spent hundreds of hours on it, often unnecessarily. Others did too. Others wrongly and illegally reaped benefits while people like us are asked to drag ourselves through the quagmires. I think I will cease participating in any way. I think I will say no more.