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?

Why not, Anyone can be DPM?

Well, seems like everyone got caught up with Obama's rhetoric presidential win recently. TheStar reported the PM sleepy head talking nonsense again, he said, "Anyone can be PM".

You and I know that's just bullshit, considering what the Federal Constitution and Malay supremacy had to say. But here's another perspective, if the sleepy head walks the talk, why not appointing someone else from another BN party to be the DPM instead going to the same party that has been hogging the seat since Merdeka.

A Sarawakian/Sabahan/Chinese/Indian DPM?

naaah... keep on dreaming!

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.

Budget RM20

When tabling the National Budget 2009 last Friday, PM Abdullah said: “As part of the government’s effort to further reduce the financial burden of the lower income group, households which incur monthly electricity bills of RM20 or less, will not have to pay for electricity for the period from Oct 1, 2008 to the end of 2009.”

RM20?

If you have a refrigerator running 24 hours daily at home you can forget about enjoying the RM20 electricity monthly exemption.

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.

Time Tower

You can find this Time Tower along Jalan Mahameru, somewhere in between PWTC and Parliament building.

Honestly, who doesn't have a watch with him/her. Moreover, most cars are equipped with a digital clock either on the dashboard or on the radio display. Additionally, many folks have mobile phone that comes with a digital clock as well. This country doesn't even have a day-light savings adjustments to begin with. Time is constant in this country.

And then, in a tropical country where we enjoy constant temperature all year, does it matter to common folks how accurate the temperature is? 'Weather' it is 24C or 28C, it just doesn't matter. Just turn on CNN, Kuala Lumpur's temperature is always between 24C to 33C depending the time of day. To add insult, I think the temperature shown above on the Time Tower is highly inaccurate. On a hot sunny midday, it's showing 25C. Even a 3 year old kid will tell you that it is obviously above 30C.

I think it is a total waste of taxpayer's money to built such thing as there are no real value-add/cost-benefits or justification to the cost of building and maintaining such structure. I'll be glad to hear from DBKL officers to tell me otherwise!

Plaza Damas: Self-Pay Machine

Supposed you buy some goods and when you are about to pay with your Ringgit notes, the cashier rejects your legal tender perfect notes. How would you feel? I think your brain/head will probably boiled over 1000°C.

Bank Negara Malaysia in its website states, "The value of ringgit is legal tender and is backed by gold and foreign exchange held by Bank Negara Malaysia. Legal tender means the ringgit is recognised by law for settling of a debt or paying for goods and services within the country."

So when all Ringgit notes are recognized by the law as legal tender for settling of paying services within the country, then why does this self-pay machine located in Plaza Damas Parking Bay-2 does not recognize RM5 ringgit notes for the last 6 months? Last 6 months is a lot of time to fix whatever the problem is.

It seems that the management of Plaza Damas are not interested to rectify this issue any sooner though. To add further insult, this self-pay machine does not issue any receipts!

Yes, this problem has been ongoing 'moment' for the last 6 months as of this writing. What a bummer!

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.

10 SIM cards per telco?

TheStar reported, "Mobile phone users are not allowed to buy or have more than 10 SIM cards from one telecommunication company effective Tuesday. On the restriction for sale of not more than 10 SIM cards to a customer, Commission chairman Datuk Dr Halim Shafie said the MCMC had traced one man who had more than 400 SIM cards."

While it may sound right, I think such restriction goes against the principles of democratic right/country. That is why MCMC issued a compound against the service provider and not the user who is/was holding 400 SIM cards. MCMC can't touch that guy.

Heck, it's not even a law! Hence, why compound the service provider?

So what if I have 400 SIM cards when i pay off all those bills promptly?

McCrap, I'm NOT loving it.

I drove to a McDonald's DriveThru recently and ordered a BigMac Value Meal. Instead I got an aliened-abducted mixed-up burger. The guys who made this burger must be pulling some prank. Does this look like BigMac to you?


I'm loving it? I doubt so.

ChipsAway, what a con job!

If your car windscreen is chipped or cracked, dont go to CHIPSAWAY. Why? read on.

Last October 2007, I had a star-like crack with 5-6 crevices on my windscreen due to a rock falling off from the lorry and hitting it on my windscreen. I called up the boss of ChipsAway in PJ. Although the shop was closed, I feel fortunate that the boss said he will repair the crack by himself. Impressed, I went to the shop and have it repaired. I went back to office as a happy man.

An hour later, something happened. The initial 1.5inches star-like crack now turned out to be 14inches long appearing from the 2 crevices just an hour after the ChipsAway repaired it. Not being satisfied, I called up the boss of ChipsAway and told him what happened. He said there is nothing much he could do. I don't buy that stupid excuse. I know he could have fixed this mess up if he wants to. If he had done his job properly (and professionally), this crack wouldn't happen. Just ask any vendors in this industry and they will tell you that.

Before deciding on ChipsAway, I gave at least two prominent windscreen repair vendors a call prior to inquire their availability and fees. I decided to go with ChipsAway since the boss said he will be getting his hands dirty to fix this crack up. The price of these prominent windscreen vendors charges more or less the same as what ChipsAway charges (RM150). One of them even go to your workplace/home to fix the windscreen.

Wanting to get this crack fixed, I called up these two vendors to seek solution to my car windscreen problem, and they basically advised me to go back to ChipsAway. I tried, but the boss of ChipsAway didn't budge. I wrote and send my letter (and fax another copy too) to ChipsAway on my dissatisfaction but to my surprise, there was no reply. The boss has given me an impression that he was a professional in his trade. I was wrong.

I'll like to warn anyone who has cracked car windscreen, please do not go to ChipsAway. Why?
1) poor and shoddy workmanship,
2) no warranty on repaired car windscreen (the other two has lifetime warranty)
3) misleading marketing gimmick (ChipsAway claims to be the first to do windscreen repair which means they are experience hands to fix these cracks)

I've wasted money on ChipsAway and I hope non of you will be in my position. I went to one of the other two car windscreen repair. They came to my office and did a good and satisfied job and I have no qualms in recommending them to you. Do drop in your comment here in this topic if you like to know the other two windscreen repair vendors contacts.

Cheers.

* I am a genuine customer who just got conned. I am not affiliated or related to any of these windscreen industry/business. I don't run any competing business with ChipsAway nor i personally know the boss or/and this company prior to my visit. I am just dissatisfied with this sort of crap which I was at the receiving end and wanting others to be aware of this guy's 'professional' trade.

This is where the scum is located:
Chips Away Auto Refinishes (M) Sdn Bhd
Chips Away (M) Sdn Bhd
Chips Away (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Lot 1A Jalan 19/1
46300 Petaling Jaya
Malaysia
Contact: Felix Lim
Tel: +603 7957 1618
Fax: +603 8945 6908

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.

"priceless moments" of being short changed

Have you ever been denied to use that visa/mastercard credit cards of yours although these establishments (restaurants, whole sellers, coffee shops, etc) has these card logo stickers welcoming the use of these cards as a acceptable payment mode?

So, as long as you hold that normal, gold, platinum or whatever your-ass-high-up-in-heaven cards with whichever premium or normal banks, you can be denied to use these cards if your payment is below a sum which is unacceptable to the establishment.

For instance, I went to Caring Pharmacy. Their acceptable sum to transact payment over these plastic cards is RM30 and above. Anything less than RM30, cash payments it will be. Same goes to this Japanese restaurant in Desa Hartamas, The Green Room accepts payment with credit cards only with sum above RM40. Eu Yang Sang accepts credit card if your final sum is above RM50.

And you know what, they only tell you this requirement when you ask for the bill or when you make your payment by the counter. There is no notice or heads up of any sort of this requirement when you enter the premise.

Kinda absurd isn't it? The last time I remember was I paid annual fees to use these cards. Who are you going to blame? I wonder if it is legal for any establishment that has credit card facilities to deny or restrict you with condition to use of credit card as payment. Instead of being a convenience to use these cards, it turned out to be plastic butts. So next time when you go out, make sure you'll have extra cash in your wallet to save you from a possible 'priceless moment' of embarrassment.