Snatch robbery victim in Penang

Malaysia is SICK!!!

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The robbers are heartless,
The rakyat are cold, unfeeling,
The Police Dept is indifferent, ineffective,
The Wakil Rakyat are busy making money,
The Ministers are more busy to make more money,
The Opposition is utterly busy creating issues,
The Government is sleeping,
Thinking that with their measly BR1M payouts,
Will be able to cure all the ills of the society.

Crimes in Malaysia do not need the cover of the darkness of the night,
they do not only take place at small lonely alleys,
they are occurring in the busiest streets.
When approached by the public for help,
all the police can do is to shrug their shoulders,
and say, "We need the co-operation from the public."
But when they receive their gaji,
do they need our co-operation to use it?
Therefore people did not bother to report the cases,
And the authority jumped out and jelled,
"The crime rate is down!"

I remember I had once asked a young colleague from Kelantan,
"Why do you vote for the opposition? No progress, no development one."
He replied, "What progress? What for development?"
I was speechless.I did not understand him then.
Now I understand him perfectly well,
if this is the price we have to pay for progress and developments,
I rather vote for the opposition like they did in Kelantan!
Won't you agree?

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Happy Harvest Festival

To all KDM friends, Happy Harvest Festival!

Lynas Corporation & Rare Earths

I have until now kept away from blogging on the Rare Earths issue which is one of the hottest topics currently in Malaysia. I know very well that my faint voice will be drown in the loud noises in the wave after wave of protests coming out daily, therefore there is no point of blogging about it, no one will ever read it.
But I must blog now before it is too late, just to be on record that I am not without my opinion on this issue. Lynas Corporation, the company which has obtained a temporary permit of operations to process Rare Earths on Malaysian soils, had recently applied in the court for an injunction from stopping all Malaysians to discuss about the Rare Earths issue.Fortunately their application has been rejected by the court, but they will not give up so easily.They will try and try again and eventually get what they want, you know how it is in Malaysia.
So I have to blog about it now.
Actually, the Lynas issue is very simple and straight forward, either you take the foreign investment in the expense of the health of Malaysian citizen or reject it. It has been dragged on for so long despite the series of criticism from various NGOs and the public demonstrations is because the government has committed, already wet their foot as the saying goes (Cantonese say:洗湿咗个头) and there is no turning back. That is why it is in a stalemate now.
The government's argument is that there is no "scientific proof" that Rare Earths processing in Lynas Corporation's factory will be unsafe. If anyone can produce such proof, the government will stop the project. Wah, that is an over generalized statement by any standard! How scientific is considered scientific? The simple fact that Lynas Corporation does not set up shop in their own country and have to come all the way to Malaysia is a clear indication that Australian government does not find it safe to have the factory in their own country.
Are we more scientific that the Australian government? I am not looking down upon ourselves, we send the best of our youths to study in Australia, to learn from them. Don't we?
Also on the question of dumping the residues from Rare Earths factory, it was suggested that the residues be sent back to Australia for safe dumping because they have better expertise than us. But the Australian government rejected the proposal flatly. What does it mean? It means the Australian does not want it, why,why,why?
Then there came the suggestions that with proper control and monitoring, it is safe to have the factory here.Then again, can we trust the Malaysian Public Service Department with our health and well being? Sorry to say that the confidence level of the public is extremely low!
Of course the top management of Lynas Corp had came forward to claim that it is safe and that Australian government had in fact approved the setting up of their factory in Australia - deep in the desert of the Australian Out Backs! If it is safe why can't they have their factory in the urban areas? Why in the Out Backs,is it because the inhabitants there are the aborigines and not the white?
Lynas Corp comes to Malaysia is not because they sincerely want to invest here, but because they know no white men will like to work in the Out Backs and also they can't trust the natives there to run the factory.Malaysia therefore becomes a very practical alternative. Simple as that.
China is the largest producer of Rare Earths in the world, but they have decided to limit the rate of production for the sake of good health of the people.Super powers of the world like USA are angry about this and try to pressure China to lift the limit. But China does not give in. Malaysia should take a hint from China, if we want scientific proof.
History, though not scientific, is a good teacher. The tragedy of radio active Rare Earths is not new in Malaysia. About 30 years ago, in 1982, Asian Rare Earths Sdn Bhd (ARE) started operations in Bukit Merah New Village in Perak to extract yttrium, a category of Rare Earths. Few years later, physical defects were found in newborns in the village. It is linked to the ARE operations nearby. It was stopped after much publicity and investigations.
Do we have to wait until history to repeat itself before some thing is done to prevent it from happening?

Malaysian Students Protest Against PTPTN

In response to the demonstration staged by the students from Malaysian colleges and universities at Dataran Merdeka whcich enters the 15th day, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, reiterated that the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN)will not be abolished.

These students have demanded that the PTPTN (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional)to be abolished.
PTPTN is set up by the government to provide loans to poor students who performed well in their SPM (Form 5) or STPM (Form 6) examinations, yet not good enough to be admitted into government run colleges and universities, in order to continue their higher education in private run colleges.
They have to repay the loans by installments once they start working when graduate. This system has its implementation pitfalls (common with government agencies), but in my personal opinion, this is still a god send opportunity for the children from poor families in MALAYSIA to break free from poverty.
During my generation,we were not so lucky. I had to find a job, to study by correspondence courses (now it is called distant learning)to obtain my 1st professional qualification after 6 years.I don't claim to be hard working or smart, all my peers were doing it except those rich few.Some took more than 10-15 years to complete due to various factors like work loads,love & family problems, financial problems, etc; don't forget correspondence courses cost money, too.
I couldn't read the minds of those who protested against it, maybe they are from very rich families and don't see the need of it but at the same time couldn't bear to see others using it.
Or maybe they are the lucky ones who receive scholarships and studying in government universities and don't need PTPTN. Then again, if you are lucky and blessed with free education, you should be grateful and not try to block those less fortunate ones from pursuing their dreams of higher education.
You want to be an elite group? Therefore you can't stand the idea of so many people becoming graduates? So selfish!

These students are hoping that by abolishing the PTPTN loans, the government will introduce free higher education for everyone.
They are so naive!
Don't tear down the house you are living before you find an alternative place to stay.Similarly,wait until the government implement free education, then only do away with the PTPTN loans.Until then, many people still need it to continue their higher educations.Otherwise many will be shut out of the doors to the universities and colleges.
If the government were to accept their demands and do it, it is tantamount to abolishing the special privileges of the bumiputras because all will be equal by then.
Otherwise, it will be back to the good old days again, the bumi children will receive scholarships, while the non bumi children will go back to the streets to find their own ways of furthering their studies. Is this what they want?
It is a puzzle why the non bumi students are so enthusiastic about it. Free education for ALL? Come on, be real.

Cabotage Shipping Policy

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in response to a reader named K.C.Jong on his blog - Ah Jib Goh, regarding the Cabotage Shipping Policy which governs the cargo vessels plying between Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia since 1980, stressed that all foreign cargo vessels are free to berth at any harbour in Malaysia, and that shipping companies are also free to ship out goods from any port out of the country.
Najib said that the transportation of goods are decided by the shipping companies, which is based on commercial considerations.
The main factor affecting the decision where to unload the cargo is the logistic volume. It is not decided by the government, and government does not get involved.
Najib is repeating the answer given by the Transport Minister, Dato' Seri Kong Cho Ha. When queried by Datuk Seri Panglima Wong Khen Thau, the president of Federation of Sabah Manufacturers (FSM) earlier on,Dato Seri Kong gave the exact answer,word for word.
Datuk Seri Panglima Wong was seeking the help of the transport minister in amending the Cabotage Policy in order to allow foreign vessels to load goods which are destined for Sabah at Port Klang if there is any space left after finished loading goods meant for foreign countries.These vessels can then make a detour to Sabah on their way to foreign countries.After unloading at Sabah ports, they can up load goods from Sabah ports to fill up any empty space.Then they can continue on their journey home.
Similarly, incoming vessels would first come to Sabah, unload imported goods then upload goods for export to fill up any empty space.Then these vessels would proceed to travel to Port Klang.
Datuk Seri Panglima Wong claimed that this is not possible with the existing policy, it requires that all goods arriving at Port Klang to be unloaded, any goods destinations of which are the 2 East Malaysia states have to be handled by local companies which charge handling fees 10 times higher than those for foreign countries.Similarly, goods for export will have to be sent to Port Klang first, again handled by local companies.
Why is this so? Maybe the original motive was to protect the local companies, which is fine, but they should not take advantage of the monopoly and charge unreasonable rates.
I feel that the request by Datuk Seri Panglima Wong is very reasonable if what he claimed is true.
However, the transport minister seemed to have misunderstood Datuk Seri Panglima Wong's request. He told the press that the government has allowed foreign cargo vessels to stop at any port in Malaysia freely all along, implying that Datuk Seri Panglima Wong had wrongly accused the transport ministry. Datuk Seri Panglima Wong was furious on reading this reply, and vowed to bypass the transport minister and go straight to the prime minister for assistance.
But now that the prime minister himself is giving the exact answer as that of the transport minister, what's next?
The government is playing the words game. They keep saying the decision is made by the shipping companies on their own free will. But many a time, these so called "shipping" companies are merely forwarding agents, they do not own a single ship.They may rent one once in a blue moon, but they are not ship owners.If they are, these are small in number as compared to the total number of local shipping companies.They deal with the foreign ships' owners for maximum profits, that is all that is to it.
The FSM should counter this by writing a clear letter purging any ambiguous words and present their case clearly again. They should specifically request that foreign cargo vessels which chose to come direct to East Malaysia, be allowed to pick up goods meant for export, HANDLED by forwarding companies of the goods owners' choice, then proceed to travel to Port Klang.Do not force these vessels to leave for foreign countries from here. Similarly, vessels berthed at Port Klang be allowed to pick up goods meant for East Malaysia, HANDLED by forwarding companies of the owners' choice.
Also do not force them to leave for foreign countries directly. FSM should specifically mention that their president did not request for vessels to be allowed to berth at East Malaysia ports, which he knew very well they are allowed to do so already.
What he asked for is to allow the foreign vessels to make a DETOUR to East Malaysia when they leave Pork Klang for home, and vice versa.

I have been wondering why is it commercially viable for local agents to send goods between Peninsula Malaysia & East Malaysia, while it is not viable for foreign companies? Is it because the vessels traveling
between Peninsula Malaysia and East Malaysia are smaller in capacity? If that is the case, why don't the foreign companies use these smaller vessels for transporting goods to East Malaysia only? The FSM should
take the initiative to persuade the foreign shipping companies to employ these smaller vessels to transport their products directly in order to stop been squeezed by the local forwarding agents. An another alternative is to form forwarding companies under the control of the FSM, certainly these companies will have the best interests of FSM in mind. Then only you will be free from the iron grip of the so called "shipping" companies.
If you think this is too troublesome, then pay for it and have an easy life.

Posting comments

I changed the settings of ALL my blogs allowing only my followers to post comments on my blogs. And every comment needs my moderation, this is to control the content of the comments.
Therefore you need to do 2 things in order to post on any of my blogs from now on:

1. Click the "Follow" button on the blog to be a follower
2. Post non adults contents only, else you wont get my approval.

Producing Pharmacists

I read in the news that there is a shortage of pharmacists in Malaysia recently and out of curiosity I checked on the internet for the colleges and universities in Malaysia offering courses in pharmacy.
The results show there are 24 private and government colleges and universities offering courses in pharmacy at different levels,ie. Diploma, Degree, Master and Doctorate in Malaysia.With so many colleges and universities conducting courses in pharmacy, why is there still a shortage in pharmacists? Is it because it is too costly? Too difficult to study or the entry qualification requirement too high? Or simply due to lack of interests on the part of the students?
Below is the list of colleges and universities conducting pharmacy courses in Malaysia:

1. Sunway University, Malaysia
2. SEGi University College, Malaysia
3. AIMST University, Malaysia
4. Taylor's University, Malaysia
5. INTI International University, Malaysia
6. Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia
7. UCSI University, Malaysia
8. University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNIM), Malaysia
9. Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM), Malaysia
10. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia
11. International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia
12. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia
13. International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia
14. Mahsa University College, Malaysia
15. Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
16. Management and Science University (MSU), Malaysia
17. Kpj International College of Nursing And Health Sciences, Malaysia
18. Lincoln College, Malaysia
19. Kolej Teknologi Geomatika, Malaysia
20. Kolej Masterskill Kampus Ipoh, Malaysia
21. Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia
22. Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College (KLMUC), Malaysia
23. Masterskill University College of Health Sciences, Malaysia
24. Victoria International College (KUALA LUMPUR), Malaysia

My daughter is a student of KPJ International college of Nursing and Health Sciences, Malaysia, which is situated at Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. This college offers other courses in Nursing, Physiology, Medical Imaging,etc. If you intend to pursue a career in the medical field, try this college. It is specially suited for students from not so well to do background because it will not chase you for tuition fees until your PTPTN loan is disbursed which may take 9 months to 2 years ( my niece received her PTPTN loan payment after she graduated from UMS, and my own son got his payment 9 months after commencing his course). Also KPJ group owns more than 20 medical centers through out Malaysia, you may apply for sponsorship from one of them which is close by your home town.Then you do not have to worry about repaying the PTPTN loan later.
Free hostels are provided for all students.The hostels are segregated for boys and girls.

Kill that cow quick!

There is a cow by the name of NFC(Najib Falling Cow)running wild right now.Many fear that if the government is not sincere in dealing with it, the Barisan Nasional(BN) coalition would be run down by this cow.

Apparently various efforts have been put to sidetrack the issues. First a businessman is blamed for the mismanagement of NFC by accusing him of giving unsound advices to the Chairman of NFC by posing as a consultant.

Then the Auditor General Department denied using the words "in a mess" in describing the status of the operations of NFC.

The public really do not give a damn to all these, they only want to know why the close relative of a senior Federal Minister is awarded such lucrative concessions?
And they are also awed by the unabashed way the said minister responded when confronted by the public. Is this confident or arrogant?

Come next general election, surprises await.

Last day of Chinese New Year 2012

Today is the last day of the Lunar calender new year celebrations.
Happy new year, GONG XI FA CAI!