Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Heaps of Disappointment in Malaysia

Last Saturday and Sunday (16 to 17 June 2007), I visited Singapore for shopping. It was "The Great Singapore Sale". Things are not essentially cheap but worthwhile to be purchased. I bought a few CDs and a DVD from Heeren's 3-storey HMV. Being a music lover, I visited That CD Shop and Sembawang Music Center as well.

I purchased a greatest hits album of an operatic tenor, Nicolai Gedda, an Indian-New Age album by Sheila Chandra called Quiet and Raise the Red Lantern Ballet soundtrack. Prodigy's electronic "Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned" was really cheap (S$8.95). Amir Muhammad's international award winning "The Last Communist" movie is available in almost all bookshops and CD shops. The CDs and DVD that I collected are not sold anywhere in Malaysia.

Apart from all that shopping, it was a worthwhile experience. I have heard of friends coming back from Singapore only to complain about Kuala Lumpur but could not understand why. Now I understand what is considered as a well-planned, well-managed city.

There are no tiny strips of paper lying around the streets (even in residential areas). The transport system is superb and cheap if you are earning Singapore dollars salary. I am skeptical if Malaysia can catch up with this bunch of baboons running the show. Buildings are lined up properly. There are a lot of trees within the city. KL Petaling Street Chinatown is pale in comparison with Singapore Chinatown. The alleys of Singapore Chinatown are very clean. There are no dark spots, weird smells and oil slicks. Drivers are corteous. Jaywalkers follow rules. There are no strange ugly patches on the roads resulting from shoddy work from the Works Department.

Currently KL is the direct opposite of what I have mentioned above. I personally feel it is possible for Malaysia to achieve that if only the baboon government led by the sleepy Pak Lah managing this city can be removed.

Similar with Bali, I actually feel safe walking around the city in the wee hours of the morning (3 a.m.). That is not the case in our beloved crime-ridden Johor Bahru. It seems that Singaporeans know about this too.

Coming back to Malaysia and reading the Monday news is certainly disappointing. Let's take a look at some of the highlights:

1) Arrests at Johor’s anti-crime protest.

Excerpt:
"When the demonstration was almost over, the Police moved in to arrest 2 activists, Nyam Kee Han and See Siew Min. from Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Johor Bahru branch, who leafleted there in the morning.

The demonstration was organised to bring to the attention of the MB, the rising crime rate in Johor Bahru, and to call on him to take immediate action."

Comment:
We all know Johor Bahru (JB), the opposite (geographically and in security) of Singapore is in a terrible state of insecurity and crime. I have heard of JB residents moving to KL because of fear. Looking at the above, one wonders whether the activists and demonstrators are criminals. Why are the police catching these innocent and concerned people but not the "big bosses of the underworld", cohorts and thieves?

What is "Kerajaan Barisan Nasional" doing? People are living in fear. We should sign the Petition: Crime in Johor Bahru.

Malaysia kini reported that it is time for Malaysians to fight back literally.

2) Write in to request funds to raise the salary of civil servants in Kelantan, state government was told. Recently, Pak Lah made a national announcement to increase civil servants salary by somewhere 30%. We know Kelantan is controlled by PAS and Pak Lah is from BN. The civil servants work for the country. If the national civil servants can score 99% KPI (I remain skeptical on how this "strange" statistics was derived if you catch the drift), why can't you pay the Kelantan civil servants?

Is there something called "Double Standards" in the administration? States not controlled by BN will not get such rewards? Is that so?

Ohh yeah, Pak Lah said the increment was not for an up and coming general election. Oh, really? Then, why didn't Kelantan automatically get it?

3) On the Altantuya, the murder-bombed Mongolian model case, her father Mr Shariibuu was reported as saying by Susan Loone:

" Earlier, Mr Shariibuu complained about the various communications he had, via letters, to the government - PM Abdullah Badawi’s office and the Foreign Ministry.

He lamented that he did not received any reply for the said letters. He also queried why reporters did not carry his statements though he had often submitted information to the media. "

Furthermore Mr Shariibuu disclosed his information about his daughter. As reported by Susan Loone:

a) “The victim’s side had always been reported negatively, misunderstood and had wrong facts”.
b) First of all he revealed that Altantuya was never a model.

c) He said the media portrayed her as a “prostitute”, as a “bad person”.

d) “Abdul Razak Baginda and my daughter had a business deal, not a sexual relationship,” he said, showing documents that supported his claims. These documents were revealed for the first time.

All these information was not reported by our local mainstream media. Why? I thought media has ethical guidelines not to report only one side of the story? News must be balanced? Who is controlling our local media?

Conclusion:
The three of the cases above reflect the most important elements that define the progress of the society. All cases have to do with the state of our government, police (security) and media (news). These are the elements that you totally depend on for survival in Malaysia

Looking at the current situation, would you be happy if you are a Malaysian?

I am not only unhappy, but totally devastated and disappointed. If only I could do something to change the situation to a better one I would have done it. God will do something about it. God has eyes that can see what is happening in Malaysia and who are the evil ones.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

oops , wrongly type the earlier msg . Wow , sgaladoola , wat a thorough article posted by you abt the current situation our country is facing now at present . Just if Pak Lah can be a more responsible , action driven and a far sighted PM , our country Malaysia will be a far better place to live . Maybe Pak Lah will not be as good as compared to Dr M , but for least u dun drowned the country into such a wreckless condition whereby we're the most worst performing country in comparing to Singapore , China , South Korea and i would even says Thailand itself . Our country economy picture is at it;s worst of all times even comparing during the 1998 crisis and i just dun understands it . As a PM , u need to be a brave decision maker and
does possesed a thorough analytical mind by it self so that those decision made will benefit the country and it's people in the long run .

Anonymous said...

you must be really stupid when comparing singapore with kl or any other city in malaysia.. do you know that singapore is just a tiny place and is so much easy to managed?? and i agree with you about johor and what the govt should act more in this situation.. about kelantan civil servant.. why should the govt care to those who ddnt vote them? anyhow what makes you think what alantuya's father told was true? and you seems to jump to conclusion when things are still in court.. from your writings i know you are a very biased person who only criticize without giving any compliment.. it sounds more of another agenda in your mind.. nice try

pc said...

TO SAY THAT SINGAPORE IS EASIER TO BE MANANGED COZ ITS SMALL is not right.

KL is smaller than Penang. And Penang (the island only) is smaller than Singapore. We dont see them close to Singapore.

If we keep making excuse we cant learn from singapore because we are 'too-big' to be managed, then we will never go near to a 1st-world standard.

Singapore has no natural resource, so limited land. yet they strive on with an economy volume bigger the size of Malaysia.

we sponsor so many students to western countries, lauch all kinds of look-east-policy, spend millions sending officers for europe lawatan sambil belajar, when we should have just look at our neighbour.

be humble. we can learn so much so much from them