He's got a point!

One reader who was frustrated with double-parking wrote:

"Why do I need to pay for parking if I need to wait half an hour before the irresponsible driver who blocked my car moved his vehicle?"

He added, "I try to be a cooperative and civic conscious citizen by parking in allotted parking spots and paying for my parking ticket every time I do so. There have been times when my parking ticket had exceeded the time limit by just 30 minutes and I’d find a summons on my windscreen."

"Mind you, the driver who blocked my car for 30 minutes didn’t even get a summons."

Read more here!

Lower EPF rate, higher income tax payment!

Well, if you haven't lived in the jungles for last few months, you should know that the Gov has proposed to lower everyone's EPF contribution of 11% to 8%, so that you and I could have some 'extra income' derived from there. What the Gov didn't you, by means of that lower EPF contribution, that you might hit a higher income tax bracket!

Smart and sleazy ain't it?

Let' assume your monthly basic salary is RM4,000.

If your monthly EPF contribution is 11% (RM440), then your taxable income = RM3560, and income tax payable = RM77.

If your monthly EPF contribution is 8% (RM320), then your taxable income = RM3680, and income tax payable = RM109.

If you choose to contribute 8%, you will end up paying more income tax to the government which will make the Gov richer.

So, you might think that you have more money in your pockets, well, part of that pocket actually belongs to the Gov! This is the Gov way to establish a WIN-WIN. Ain't that great?

Will there be recession or not?

BusinessTimes reported that U.S, Eurozone (ie Germany the biggest economy in Europe, UK and Italy are in recession. Spain is heading for one.) and HongKong is already in recession. BBC reported that Japan and Singapore economies are already in recession. ABC reported that Australia is heading for a recession. A commentary has published a report that China, Russia, India and Brazil are all heading either a downturn or a slowdown. If the countries mentioned above are not one of the largest around, I don't know what is.

Sun Microsystem said that it will cut jobs, 18% of it's workforce or 6,000 jobs. Citibank was reported that it will shed 52,000 jobs or 15% of it's workforce. I'm sure the list doesn't stop here.

Even our local Human Resource Minister has said that "there are predictions that next year we will face bigger problems." He also said that the ministry will discuss the setting up of a retrenchment fund and have asked the International Labour Organisation to do research on how to implement the fund in the Malaysian context.

One-by-one, the economic dominos are showing its effect.

Even Warren Buffet has said that US economy will be more severe that most people's expectation.

BUT BUT

Najib says that Malaysia will not experience recession, today and last month.

mmmm.... it just doesn't add up, does it?

Butt Head

On the recent theStar's article;

When being asked what happens if there’s an additional passenger on the ruling of rear seat belts, Federal Traffic Chief Senior Asst Comm Abdul Aziz said, "It’s too early for me to comment on that, we will decide on the matter when the time comes."

Going out of topic then he went on and said, for now, the concern was to educate the passengers to start using the rear seat belts. "It is a good practice for the drivers, and also for the safety of their passengers." he said.

Wouldn't it be a good part of the education to know when the law enforcement are ready to bring in the books?

Don't you hate it when these people doesn't make up their mind? No one bothered what he said unless there are a genuine enforcement comes in to effect.

Seriously, I don't think there is a time that is 'too early' when it comes to saving lives. Just do it lah!

Oppss... Bull-tak Hamid does it again.

Taken from theStar's article:

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar who was at the state National Registration Department on Thursday explained that he had decided to consider granting the citizenship to Yong who was a genuine case. He said she was never registered as a citizen and held a permanent resident status but was mistakenly issued a blue identity card in 1996.

The government should send this botak fler to Iceland and try to sell ice to Eskimos.

cowboy country

When laws are applied to a selected few.

Chua Soi Lek had oral sex. Then Rais Yatim said that Anwar Ibrahim is charged with sodomy because sodomy is a crime. So is oral sex yet Chua is not charged.

Ahmad Ismail uttered something seditious. Many were upset but he was not charged. Instead the journalist that covered the moment was detained. Ahmad is now running a roadshow roaming around the country to 'explain' his side of story. Till today, Ahmand is not charged. On another hand, RPK was sent to detention camp for 2 years without trial. He was said that he published an article that could anger Muslims. Mufti of Perlis disagrees. So is Marina Mahathir.

Zaid Ibrahim, the former law minister who recently resigned said, "In terms of ISA usage, for example, the police said we detain first, then only we investigate. This is a strange principle. I don’t understand this. You cannot detain people just because you want to investigate."

How aptly. Kinda a cowboy country, don't you think so?

Look who is more stupid.

It was said that Najib, on behalf of UMNO, issued a public apology over a remark made by Bukit Bendera Umno division head Datuk Ahmad Ismail during the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election last month.

Earlier, PM Abdullah came to Ahmad's defence and said, "I don’t think he meant it".

In the run-up to the Permatang Pauh by-election, Ahmad Ismail had said at a ceramah that the Chinese in Malaysia were mere immigrants in the country and thus were not entitled to equal rights.

And the very next moment, MCA was said that it accepted the apology.

What's in today's news? "Ahmad: Why should I apologise?"

The morale of the story... who's the bigger idiot?
I'm sure they all are, just wanted to know who was the biggest!

Hudud Law...

I find it very interesting with PAS recommending the implementation of Hudud Law if the proposed PAS-Umno merger becomes a reality. Well, if the merger does happens, I doubt there will be any top grass from the other party be to alive and be a member of the new party! ;)

Or it could turned out be, Party Separuh OKU, with OKU stands out for Orang Kurang Upaya.

Haha.

Which one of the reasons why I don't believe the merger will ever takes place.

A Cop's Sworn Statement

In Malaysian, when a person gets arrested by the authority of law enforcers, he is not treated as a suspect BUT is passed off as a criminal, even before a court hearing begins.

Taken from Malaysia-Today's article, a cop's sworn statement of a high profile case;

“I saw the arrival of the vehicle. Dato Seri Anwar was helped out of the vehicle and was led by two police officers into the foyer. He was blindfolded. He was not handcuffed.”

“As he passed me I said something, “Treat him like a normal criminal. Why is he not handcuffed?” This statement was directed to the officers who affected the arrest.”

“The normal practice is, when a person is arrested, he would be handcuffed. It is not normal to blindfold a person who is arrested.”

“When a criminal is arrested he is handcuffed. At that time I knew that Dato Seri Anwar was arrested under Section 377 of the Penal Code which is a criminal offence.”

Welcome to Malaysia.

Self-gratification

I feel like I wanna puke when I see such self-gratification banners. Are these two clowns a subject of local domestic travel destinations or they part of a circus coming to town? If not, why do they appear on these banners? It's just a sheer waste. It happened in the previous ministry where the lady minister was, and now it's happening in this new ministry. Too bad the other monkey hasn't realized it, or just maybe he pretend to buat bodoh.

3 newest addtion at our 'world-class' zoo negara

You got to give it to them for ingenuity!

Sheeps in wolves clothings

Concerned over the security in the Parliment, the House Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia ordered the sanction against the Press Corp citing security as a rationale. When asked by Bagan MP Lim Eng Guan and Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan, the House Speaker said “How do we know whether those showing the press tag are indeed journalists?”

Who can you blame him?

You can trust no one.

A 17-year old girl raped by a policeman in the police station learned that in a hard hard way.

Welcome to Malaysia.

Just 10%?

Ok, I may be late in saying this. But before that, let's get the picture. Due to recent petrol hike from RM1.92/litre to RM2.70/litre (40.7% jump), the government announced some cut-cutting measures.

TheStar reported that the government is putting up a plan to cut-cost that will save RM2billion. Part of this plan was to slash 10% of the monthly entertainment allowances which enjoyed by all ministers. In the report, it says that the Prime Minister currently enjoys a monthly entertainment allowance of RM18,865 while his deputy gets RM15,015. Other ministers and deputy ministers are given RM12,320 and RM6,000, respectively.

To begin with, I think there are more than half of Malaysian are earning below RM6k in their monthly income. A quick look at the number of ministers (source: mycen), there are about 31 ministers and 37 deputy ministers. Now let's adds up RM18,865 + RM15,015 + (31 * RM12,320) + (37 * RM6,000) = RM637,800 monthly entertainment expenses. 10% of it would be RM63,780. Multiply that amount to 12months, you'll get RM765,360. This sum only represents 0.039% of RM2b. I don't really know if it makes a difference and how RM2b was arrived at... or maybe I was just plain wrong with my calculations.

On the other hand, these 70 ministers are eligible to claim RM574,020 as entertainment allowances. Multiply that to 12months, the sum will arrived at RM6,888,240. That is close to RM7million.

So, now we know 10% is just a symbolic cost-cutting measure. It is out of proportion to reduce 10% of entertainment allowances while fuel prices surge 41%. Besides these entertainment allowances, I am sure these 70 daylight penyamun were given petrol or vehicle allowances as well. Who's still the winner at end of the day? Yes, it is those buggers, who asked you to change your lifestyle so that they can go for their holidays paid by you and I.

VRF by our own elected representatives. Clear as the sky.

Those morons from DBKL

These are huge 6 foot trash bins collected from the public DBKL flat nearby. Each flat has six of these. Multiply that with 3 flats, you'll get 18 of these 6 foot trash bins. Yes, it's very messy and foul. The foul air can reach as far as one kilometer in diameter. Worst when it's a hot day when these trash (and whatever in it) starts to rot and decompose rapidly. Even worst when there is gusty wind or just slow breeze, the reach of these foul air gets wider and further. If you're living 50metres away, you're probably immune to these bad stench. Frankly, I don't know how people who lived 50metres away could bear it. It's like living in an unclean, heavily used yet not flushed toilet. Yes, it could be that bad. I think it was like that for many years.


Many years gone past. Some planning authorities had an idea to build a storage building to house these foul stench trash bins. It's probably cost not more than 100k to build such building. Moreover, it can be use for many years. It was a good idea, but they're probably forgot why they built it. Instead of using the trash storage building, the trash are still kept in open air. Just like many years ago.


There are even three schools and a surau nearby. All within a stone's throw away. There are about 204 houses in each flat with at least 4 flats nearby this rubbish dump. Imagine having these 816 households to bear the foul stench of these rotting rubbish.

In this part of the city, rubbish and wastage does go together. When I said wastage, I am referring to the people that are sleeping on their jobs while others have to bear and receive the brunt of their rubbish work.

Narrow road, narrow land and the bird brains

As you can see with these pictures, it is a one-way very very narrow road with cars parked by the both sideways. This 700m road is the gateway for at least 5 public DBKL flats. Each of these flats has approximately 204 household. Therefore 5 flats would have 1020 households. With minimum 3 members in the family, that would make 3060 people. That explains why there are cars parked at both sides of the road. Supposed one in every three households has a vehicle , that would make 304 vehicles that would have passed this single gateway to 5 public DBKL flats. Already, this place is a parking nightmare for these tenants.


To further add to this math-complexity, there are three existing schools within this 5 public DBKL flats. There are two primary and one secondary schools. You'll need to pass this single gateway very narrow one-way road to these schools and flats. Yes, it is hell of a traffic nightmare!!

And what did you know, as you drive along this very very very narrow road....

The authorities planned to build a new school in addition to existing three others, all within the proximity of 200meters away!!

The red patch is the space which the authorities are going to build this new school. Just look how narrow is the road is. Once you passed this bend, you'll be seeing one of the existing primary school ahead (see below). The secondary school is on the left, next to the primary school. The view of this school hidden by the block of the flat. There is also a primary school on the left, situated on the ground floor of the flat.


After the second bend, there are two schools (primary & secondary) which mentioned earlier (see below).

Sometimes I do find that these planning authorities comes with pea-brain size that beyond my comprehension. Don't you?

Emergency Services, where are the police outriders when you need the most?

Most drivers encounter a distressed ambulance making an emergency route to a hospital nearby sometime or another. Like everyone does, drivers pull aside their vehicles to make way for any distressed ambulance to go through. However, sometimes due to traffic circumstances, most cars could have been locked down and unable to provide the path for this ambulance to pass.

In these distressed situation where it usually involves life-and-death, I always wonder why these ambulance does not have the assistance of police outriders in opening up the route for this distressed emergency services. I cannot comprehend why police outriders are used for/by VVIPs to help and cut through traffic but are not used/assisted to those who really needed these assistance.

Seriously, who is/are more in need of the police outriders assistance in opening up traffic to a desired destination than the distressed ambulance in making these emergency route? These VVIPs with YB titles should be ashamed of themselves. It seems that these VVIPs have forgotten the meaning of being a wakil rakyat.

Only new cabinet ministers and deputy ministers?

Taken from theStar online report:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants all ministers in the new Cabinet and deputy ministers to declare their assets publicly. "I want their assets to be known to the public, that is important," Bernama reported him as saying.

Hey, what about present ministers? So Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the old dogs don't need to declare?

Hmmmm.... fishy isn't it?

Anyway, so what if they declares? ACA is already a non-functioning body, almost like gaji-buta job. Someone said, even if you make a report to ACA and if they don't follow-up on it, there's nothing you can do about it.

What about police report you may asked? It's the same. Someone made a report against the finance minister and a reports against Prime Minister, and you still don't get any results out of it.

Someone even submitted a report directly to the PM with evidence that a minister used company funds to payoff debt amounting RM 30 million, still there is no action about it. The minister was retained as cabinet was announced, unchanged from his previous portfolio.

Yes, not surprising that all these reports... everything just went "soundly asleep".

So what have we learned? Police and ACA are under the Prime Minister's portfolio... and there are no accountabilities as to what happened to, if any, investigations.

Yes, we're back to square one... We're got to admit we're one corrupted nation unless something credible and drastic action happens. An ex-president of BN component party, with a title of Tun, said this,"When the fish rots, the rot starts from the head."

And rot stinks! You can recognize the scent, even if it is miles away.

Release Hindraf 5

Someone should start some online petition for their release.

Now that he has got one big task done by announcing his full cabinet lined up, I hope he will release the Hindraf-5 soon. Afterall, didn't he say that he has ears of all Malaysians? By the way, when I heard over the radio on his announcement on the cabinet, did you notice that our PM seems to be out of breath? It was just 27 ministerial names + 27 or so deputy ministers' name. Someone should recommend him brands' essence of chicken or ginseng chicken soup... and also some candle ear wax.. you know, to clear the ear tunnel...

Anyway, back to the topic. Honestly, I think the Hindraf-5 were made out as scapegoats. If there are serious and tangible links to terrorism, I'm sure there's will be more than one country screaming out for their heads. There's even no complimentary hurrahs-pat-on-the-back from the Big Brother. We all know, they're keep 'in there' because of political reasons. It's time someone should own up. Hopefully, the new minister in Syed Hamid Albar will have good advisers to advise him and have courage to speak up. Otherwise, he'll be just another lame duck like the predecessor. I do really feel for the Hindraf-5. Away from your family, especially tough on the kids.

Anyway, this is what Syed Hamid Albar has to say, "I have to learn fast to regain public confidence in security related matters. Judging from the election results, Malaysians expect some things to be done."

Someone should start some online petition for their release now.

A good article by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar on Hindraf-5.