I think I have just about enough of the whining from the Civil Servants. And MORE than enough complaining from the teachers.
Sure, the standard of living has gone up, in fact every damn thing in this country has gone up in terms of prices, but the only thing that has maintained status quo is probably the service we get from governmental bodies. I still remember our PM doing his rounds(right before and after winning the election obviously, cos what other time does any politician actually go anywhere without a motive?) around the Immigration Department and some other government departments bellowing, SERVE THE PEOPLE! We must be effective!We must stamp out corruption!We must, we must!
So everyone was all geared up to serve the rakyat, then as quickly as it started, it ended. And in terms of follow up on the big speech of improving services to the rakyat, as usual, they are merely words. Simply because the service we get from them is still crap.
Its not unusual to have grumpy faces and "saya tak tahu" standard answers when you ask them something. Here, let me share something with you:
Me: Hello, boleh saya cakap dengan En. Yaakob?
Court: En. Y tak ada kat sini. Cuba cari kat pendaftaran sivil 2.
M: (At pendaftaran sivil 2) En. Y ada?
C:Siapa? Dia tak ada kat sini lah.
M: Dia kat mana?
C: Tak tahu.
M: Boleh saya tinggalkan message?
C: saya tak tahu mana mejanya.
M: Awak tak nampak dia langsung ke?
C: Tak.
M: Kalau saya nak check status file Mahkamah 10, macam mana?
C: Hanya En. Y boleh tolong.
M:Kalau dia tak ada?
C:tak boleh check lah. Saya tak tahu dia kat mana. Saya tak tahu mana meja dia. Kalau you nak check, you call balik lah.
(Repeat conversation on second, third and fourth attempt at calling)
Ahhhh...See why I abhor the idea of giving them a 40% raise in their pay? WTF did they do to deserve it? Its normal for them to practise "tai chi" in the department whereby one person tai chi's the work to another, and the next person repeats the tai chi stance until you go full circle and come back to the same person only to be told the same "Saya tak tahu". If YOU in the department tak tahu, wtf akan tahu???
Its the same with teachers isnt it?They work mostly half day, only on school days and they get very long holidays, they dont work on saturday and sundays. And if they are made to come back for courses during holidays, they whine about it because you know, they are SO overworked! They have to mark papers, they have to do this and that. My mum was a headmistress and a teacher, so yes, for those who think, oh you dont know what us teachers have to go through. I DO know. And my mum worked very very hard and as a headmistress, she had to work during holidays too. And she got transferred from one place to another and did her family have to follow her? Yes, we did. Did she complain? NO she didnt. And the reason being she chose to be a teacher because she loved to teach and educate. And I recently asked her if the complaints from teachers are justified and she said it isnt because teachers work much less today than previously, they get more because if they are invigilators or examiners, they get paid. If they attend courses, they get allowances. If they get transferred they get allowances too. So, what IS with the whining?
A 40% increase in the pay is not only unjustified, its incredulous. Its typical in this country isnt it? Its never a balance. Usually the price goes up, the service remains the same or goes down. Check out our Protons getting more expensive, but does the bumper still fall off after a slight graze? You can count on that. Does the automatic window need some tugging and pulling after a few months? You bet. But does the price reflect the sad, substandard work?Never. It will only go up.
I wish the PM would actualy listen to the rakyat instead of just saying, "I'll do it my way."
Sir, if its your way or the highway, I may just have to start packing my suitcases.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
A Non-Alternative
While I was waiting a very, very long for the Komuter to go to Midvalley yesterday after being caught in a massive traffic jam trying to get into the parking, I realised that someone has screwed us over.
The toll rates have gone up and I cannot fathom why it has gone up. The Minister's answer to any kind of hike is the usual "Malaysia has one of the cheapest rates". Sure, if compared to other countries, our toll rates and petrol may be cheaper, but what about our cars? What about the 300% import tax that we pay? What about that? And just because other countries are more expensive compared to us, does that mean that the hike is justified?
The public transport in Japan is super expensive, but for the price that we have to fork out, the service is fantastic. Here, we have to wait for bloody 20 minutes before the Komuter arrives, pay RM1.20 for ONE stop and then be shouted out by the Guard to "Masuk dalam sikit!Jangan berdiri dekat pintu!"
Like excuse me, if we could go any further inside the already packed to the brim aircondless Komuter, we would, ok?
And every other day is a technical failure for Putra and nobody can keep to a schedule for Star LRT.
Let's not even get started on the jams. If only the PM and his ministers were to drive their own car without any police man stopping traffic for them, then they would understand the kind of crap we have to go through every damn day of our lives before increasing the toll rates and the petrol and say its justified. And the new idea of charging us money to go into town to encourage us to use public transport and ease the jams? I would applaud that idea if the alternative to driving our cars does not involve waiting a long time, the hassle of changing trains and getting in and out of the station, paying for a toilet visit in the station, purchasing different tickets for different trains, being crammed like sardines in the infrequent trains, waiting for never-coming buses....
Let me just say it again, its NEVER justified when the alternative is so bad, it isnt an alternative at all.
I remember the petrol increase was to so called improve on the infrastructure and public transport. But the last I checked, its still in the same shitty condition.
So, arent we screwed over by someone?
I think so.
The toll rates have gone up and I cannot fathom why it has gone up. The Minister's answer to any kind of hike is the usual "Malaysia has one of the cheapest rates". Sure, if compared to other countries, our toll rates and petrol may be cheaper, but what about our cars? What about the 300% import tax that we pay? What about that? And just because other countries are more expensive compared to us, does that mean that the hike is justified?
The public transport in Japan is super expensive, but for the price that we have to fork out, the service is fantastic. Here, we have to wait for bloody 20 minutes before the Komuter arrives, pay RM1.20 for ONE stop and then be shouted out by the Guard to "Masuk dalam sikit!Jangan berdiri dekat pintu!"
Like excuse me, if we could go any further inside the already packed to the brim aircondless Komuter, we would, ok?
And every other day is a technical failure for Putra and nobody can keep to a schedule for Star LRT.
Let's not even get started on the jams. If only the PM and his ministers were to drive their own car without any police man stopping traffic for them, then they would understand the kind of crap we have to go through every damn day of our lives before increasing the toll rates and the petrol and say its justified. And the new idea of charging us money to go into town to encourage us to use public transport and ease the jams? I would applaud that idea if the alternative to driving our cars does not involve waiting a long time, the hassle of changing trains and getting in and out of the station, paying for a toilet visit in the station, purchasing different tickets for different trains, being crammed like sardines in the infrequent trains, waiting for never-coming buses....
Let me just say it again, its NEVER justified when the alternative is so bad, it isnt an alternative at all.
I remember the petrol increase was to so called improve on the infrastructure and public transport. But the last I checked, its still in the same shitty condition.
So, arent we screwed over by someone?
I think so.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The Big Ban
Its official.
Spongebob Squarepants, the animated book, has been banned. The reason?
Its inappropriate for Malaysian "culture".
Apparently, if we were to read it, we Malaysians would be influenced to run around with hideous too loose shorts, acting like a sponge(presumably by rolling on the floor when we see a damp spot, to you know, suck up the "dampness") and making sarcastic comments. At least I think that is why it was banned.
But I may be wrong.
Perhaps it is deemed indecent like another book which is banned- How to breast feed your baby.
Can you just imagine the horror of reading that book??Malaysians are SO not ready to READ about breast feeding our babies. Like hello!Anything with the word "breast" in it HAS to be banned. Does it matter that women nowadays breast feed their babies in public areas? I myself have on two occasions witnessed two malay ladies breastfeeding their children (one kid who was old enough to actually RUN around the lrt) in clear view of everyone in the train. And the fact that these two ladies were clad in a tudung and dressed in a baju kurung adds to my, well, amazement and amusement.
Who are these so called Moral Guardians of us Malaysians? I didnt elect them. I didnt appoint them and I sure as hell didnt ask them to be my guardian of morals. In fact I have no idea who the heck they are. Does anybody actually know?
Are these the same people who banned the word "Jesus" from the Killer's latest song? How does that affect our morals? Or is it purely a religious thing? An Islamic country cannot have any mention of another religion in songs, movies and books? After all they banned Passion of the Christ from showing in the cinemas. ANY movie which is not about Islam is prohibited because oh you know, its not appropriate for the Malaysian culture and the dominant religion. And if there is the word hell, that would have to go too. After all we Malaysians are such shallow, stupid and VERY easily influenced bunch of idiots. And apparently the Muslims have it worse because any exposure to any other religions will make them defect from Islam.
And for the Indians, suicide scenes would have to be censored from movies because these people apparently get ideas on how to kill themselves from the movies. And by censoring these "inappropriate" ideas giving scenes, the Indians are suddenly left with no thinking power and no "creative" energy to come up with ways to well, kill themselves. And so that solves the problems of high suicide rates among Indians. I mean, it couldnt possibly be because they are in the lower rank income group and they face tons of social problems. No way. Its the movies.
As for Christians, its the Da Vinci Code. Banning it because its blasphemous. And watching it means you no longer have Jesus in your heart and your thoughts. And ALL you can think about is that Jesus may have descendents. Hmmm.....But of course any movie which is widely thought to speak ill of Cristianity will show in the Malaysian cinemas, of course. What does the dominant religion have to lose?
All these so called moral/religion/social guardians irks me.
Simply because we Malaysians are not a bunch of idiots (some unfortunately are, but I shall not name names) and we do not need someone else to tell us what is good for us and what is not.
We know its not good for usthat the government wants to build another Istana costing RM4m or a sports complex costing RM490M in a foreign country, while increasing the petrol,electricity, water and toll charges and deem it necessary for whatever "economical" reasons. We know that is NOT what we want.
I think it would probbly make more sense to guard the interest of the public and the rakyat than to go around guarding our so called morals and religious inclinations. While other Asian countries are moving forward and being more open, stabilising their economy and increasing their revenue, we in Malaysia are just stagnant. In everything.
Come on people, get with the programme already!
Spongebob Squarepants, the animated book, has been banned. The reason?
Its inappropriate for Malaysian "culture".
Apparently, if we were to read it, we Malaysians would be influenced to run around with hideous too loose shorts, acting like a sponge(presumably by rolling on the floor when we see a damp spot, to you know, suck up the "dampness") and making sarcastic comments. At least I think that is why it was banned.
But I may be wrong.
Perhaps it is deemed indecent like another book which is banned- How to breast feed your baby.
Can you just imagine the horror of reading that book??Malaysians are SO not ready to READ about breast feeding our babies. Like hello!Anything with the word "breast" in it HAS to be banned. Does it matter that women nowadays breast feed their babies in public areas? I myself have on two occasions witnessed two malay ladies breastfeeding their children (one kid who was old enough to actually RUN around the lrt) in clear view of everyone in the train. And the fact that these two ladies were clad in a tudung and dressed in a baju kurung adds to my, well, amazement and amusement.
Who are these so called Moral Guardians of us Malaysians? I didnt elect them. I didnt appoint them and I sure as hell didnt ask them to be my guardian of morals. In fact I have no idea who the heck they are. Does anybody actually know?
Are these the same people who banned the word "Jesus" from the Killer's latest song? How does that affect our morals? Or is it purely a religious thing? An Islamic country cannot have any mention of another religion in songs, movies and books? After all they banned Passion of the Christ from showing in the cinemas. ANY movie which is not about Islam is prohibited because oh you know, its not appropriate for the Malaysian culture and the dominant religion. And if there is the word hell, that would have to go too. After all we Malaysians are such shallow, stupid and VERY easily influenced bunch of idiots. And apparently the Muslims have it worse because any exposure to any other religions will make them defect from Islam.
And for the Indians, suicide scenes would have to be censored from movies because these people apparently get ideas on how to kill themselves from the movies. And by censoring these "inappropriate" ideas giving scenes, the Indians are suddenly left with no thinking power and no "creative" energy to come up with ways to well, kill themselves. And so that solves the problems of high suicide rates among Indians. I mean, it couldnt possibly be because they are in the lower rank income group and they face tons of social problems. No way. Its the movies.
As for Christians, its the Da Vinci Code. Banning it because its blasphemous. And watching it means you no longer have Jesus in your heart and your thoughts. And ALL you can think about is that Jesus may have descendents. Hmmm.....But of course any movie which is widely thought to speak ill of Cristianity will show in the Malaysian cinemas, of course. What does the dominant religion have to lose?
All these so called moral/religion/social guardians irks me.
Simply because we Malaysians are not a bunch of idiots (some unfortunately are, but I shall not name names) and we do not need someone else to tell us what is good for us and what is not.
We know its not good for usthat the government wants to build another Istana costing RM4m or a sports complex costing RM490M in a foreign country, while increasing the petrol,electricity, water and toll charges and deem it necessary for whatever "economical" reasons. We know that is NOT what we want.
I think it would probbly make more sense to guard the interest of the public and the rakyat than to go around guarding our so called morals and religious inclinations. While other Asian countries are moving forward and being more open, stabilising their economy and increasing their revenue, we in Malaysia are just stagnant. In everything.
Come on people, get with the programme already!
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