by INVISIBLEWRITER001
Today we see numerous Kopitiam being established. From the famous Kluang Station right up to Benta. I’m not surprised in a few years time every town in this country will have their very own Kopitiam franchise mushrooming nationwide. As u can see, coffee has been part of our culture since I can’t remember when. Like cigarettes, coffee basically puts aside ranks and beliefs.
Everyone basically enjoys the same black aromatic beverage called coffee like they enjoy a puff of smoke.In Malaysia we have our very own side walk cafes. Like those in France, they also serve coffee but instead of pastries or cakes, they serve traditional Malay and Nyonya kuihs.
Unlike Paris where you can probably see couples showing their affection towards each other publicly, here in Malaysia, what you’ll probably see are rakyats showing their affection for political party.
Like any couple hotly in love, things can get very hot in our local cafes or commonly known as ‘warung’.Warung is a hotbed for budding politicians. This is where they sharpen their oratory skill and PR. And here is where rumor mongers and small town lobbyist roam. And also a place where rakyats exchange and discuss latest gossips.Not to be outdone, the Chinese also has something similar where you have your daily dose of coffee and gossips.
Kopitiams are mushrooming throughout the country. Soon you’ll have Kopitiams from every town in the country. I’m not surprised if one fine day you’ll see Kopitiam Gua Musang, Kopitiam Sungai Siput, Kopitiam Cherok Tok Kun, Kopitiam Parit Sontor and even Kopitiam Batang Berjuntai!
Soon coffee shop, warung or kopitiam will have additional service on their ‘menu’. In not very distant future, all local coffee establishments will provide venue for the exco or State Assembly to conduct their meetings. This package will include free flow coffees served in ‘Cawan Retak Seribu’, assortments of kuih and Roti Kaya.
The former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Nizar can have his emergency meeting at any warung including, Warung Mak Limah.It seems he don’t mind any warung or coffeshop for the state assembly sitting since the state authority don’t allow them assemblymen to enter state secretariat building.
The political scenario in Perak is in shamble. The Speaker is wielding his power on every single matter. I think he’s the most powerful person in the state, more powerful than the Sultan. He should consider sacking the Sultan too.
But he must remember, he’s elected by the rakyats and rakyats never forgets. Rakyats in Perak are getting sick with these squabbles. The state is progressing nowhere. Things are getting bad economically and here we are looking at adults getting at each other’s nerves. These are supposed to be our leader.I suggest that everyone and anyone to let the Menteri Besar get on with his work in peace.
Let us rakyat be the judge. If he didn’t perform, the solution is simple, change the government come next election. If he performs and gets the support from the rakyats, it shows Perakians are sick and disgusted with the opposition’s childish act. And they should consider opening a Warung or Kopitiam to further improve their political survival.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
REDUCE LOAN REPAYMENT, INCREASE TOLL CHARGES
This is something unexpected. In this trying time I was expecting everyone include both government and private sectors to contribute something to ease the rakyats burden. But I heard this morning was the opposite.
5 highways will be increasing their toll rates on the 1st of March 2009. These highways are PLUS, SPRINT, Ampang – KL Highway, NPE & BESRAYA.
The banks are doing something to the repayment period. This move will give more disposable income to the customers.
But unfortunately the highway operators are doing the opposite. There won’t be mush decrease in volumes on highways that will affect their revenues. I was hoping the highway operators to be much more charitable this time around. I thought they might consider waiving this year’s increase. Unfortunately, I’m wrong. Capitalist will forever be a capitalist.
Some highway operator might argue that they don’t have enough volumes to justify keeping old toll rates. I understand where their coming from. What about PLUS Highway? Don’t tell me PLUS doesn’t have enough volume to consider no toll increase? Come on, rakyats are not blind to gauge that PLUS is in fact making tones of money.
Recently the government sugar coated our wallet with the sudden closer of 2 toll plazas on NPE and BESRAYA Highways. I’m not sure about NPE, but the for sure BESRAYA is not getting cash compensation. But there’s something fishy behind all these closures. Like I said earlier, being a capitalist, toll operators are not going to give up a money making device like toll plazas without a fight. And later I was proven right.
BESRAYA was given the task to extend their highway and this will include a toll plaza. You see…
You demolish one and they’ll set up another later on. Their argument is to justify constructing the extension for BESRAYA Highway. That’s not the end of it. And today they got them a toll increase.
Why must we put up with all these nonsense? Why can’t the government buy over the highways? Maybe 2 or 3 highways if not all.
When times were good then or maybe later, the government should consider buying over PLUS, Penang Bridge, SPRINT and LITRAK. I’m not suggesting buying them all of them together.
Maybe they can start with PLUS. Once bought, the government should charge at a very minimum to cover cost and a little bit of profit or keep at existing amount. This will add another cash cow to the government’s coffer.
This action shows the government isn’t being sympathetic towards the rakyats. They’re more concern about the well being of the conglomerate. Yea… they can say that this is to ensure highway operators can stay afloat in this trying time. Come on, they can stay afloat now; it means they can stay afloat for a very long time.
The Opposition parties will use the issue of toll increase to the max come next by-election. This gives much reason for the rakyat to hate the government more.
When banks are doing something to help increase the rakyat’s disposable income, the toll operators are taking that away! At the end of the day, we’re back to square one.
5 highways will be increasing their toll rates on the 1st of March 2009. These highways are PLUS, SPRINT, Ampang – KL Highway, NPE & BESRAYA.
The banks are doing something to the repayment period. This move will give more disposable income to the customers.
But unfortunately the highway operators are doing the opposite. There won’t be mush decrease in volumes on highways that will affect their revenues. I was hoping the highway operators to be much more charitable this time around. I thought they might consider waiving this year’s increase. Unfortunately, I’m wrong. Capitalist will forever be a capitalist.
Some highway operator might argue that they don’t have enough volumes to justify keeping old toll rates. I understand where their coming from. What about PLUS Highway? Don’t tell me PLUS doesn’t have enough volume to consider no toll increase? Come on, rakyats are not blind to gauge that PLUS is in fact making tones of money.
Recently the government sugar coated our wallet with the sudden closer of 2 toll plazas on NPE and BESRAYA Highways. I’m not sure about NPE, but the for sure BESRAYA is not getting cash compensation. But there’s something fishy behind all these closures. Like I said earlier, being a capitalist, toll operators are not going to give up a money making device like toll plazas without a fight. And later I was proven right.
BESRAYA was given the task to extend their highway and this will include a toll plaza. You see…
You demolish one and they’ll set up another later on. Their argument is to justify constructing the extension for BESRAYA Highway. That’s not the end of it. And today they got them a toll increase.
Why must we put up with all these nonsense? Why can’t the government buy over the highways? Maybe 2 or 3 highways if not all.
When times were good then or maybe later, the government should consider buying over PLUS, Penang Bridge, SPRINT and LITRAK. I’m not suggesting buying them all of them together.
Maybe they can start with PLUS. Once bought, the government should charge at a very minimum to cover cost and a little bit of profit or keep at existing amount. This will add another cash cow to the government’s coffer.
This action shows the government isn’t being sympathetic towards the rakyats. They’re more concern about the well being of the conglomerate. Yea… they can say that this is to ensure highway operators can stay afloat in this trying time. Come on, they can stay afloat now; it means they can stay afloat for a very long time.
The Opposition parties will use the issue of toll increase to the max come next by-election. This gives much reason for the rakyat to hate the government more.
When banks are doing something to help increase the rakyat’s disposable income, the toll operators are taking that away! At the end of the day, we’re back to square one.
EMPTY WAREHOUSE = BAD ECONOMY = OPPORTUNITY TO ENHANCE FUTSAL SKILL
by INVISIBLEWRITER001
I was talking with a friend who works with the custom department handling export items at Port Klang. He looked quite worried. For a former student leader, he being worry is something that you should worry about. He’s someone who would speak his mind.
The situation at the port contradicts whatever being said about our economy. Go to Port Klang and look at the container terminal. It’s empty. Not like it used to be.
Warehouses are also empty. You can play a game of Futsal there. Trucks are rare sights there.
You don’t the usual traffic of trucks carrying goods around Port Klang. We discussed further on other indicators for bad economy.
Many trading companies are suffering. Imports are suffering because there are not many demands locally and the manufacturer abroad are also facing credit crunch to supply more if there is such demand.
Export is also on a decline. Many factories are shutting down production line to reduce output.
This affected not only employees (when they can’t do overtime) but also vendors that supply components and raw materials.
How do we overcome this situation? Many suggest that we increase expenditure. I suggest we make more babies! That’s for long term solution. Tun Dr.Mahathir once suggested 70 million populations.
It’s a good idea actually. With that kind of population we can actually be self reliant. Our local demand can support local production. When economics turbulence attacking other nations, we can rely on local demands to spur the economy.
Pak Lah made a good start in trying to revive the agricultural sector. But the implementation is something of the opposite. Holland and Taiwan are good example for us to emulate. Both countries are almost self reliant where agriculture sector is concern.
I don’t have any land to toil. But I have a dream of having my own pineapple plantation. My plan was to plant pineapples under all high voltage cables running across the country. Those lands under it are basically underutilized. Some argued it generates ‘generous’ amount of harmful electromagnetic wave. I guess, that’s for me to find out. Whatever it is, we have plenty of resources to spur our economy. We need to be innovative in finding unorthodox solution during this economic downturn.
No point having stimulus package if we don’t know how to use it. We can throw a lot of money into the economy. The money is gone but we don’t see anything out of it.
Penang is one of the state worst affected. The state government is busy stabilizing the social structure but I don’t see much solution on the economy. They still need help from the federal government. The manufacturing sector hasn’t fully recovered from 1997-98 and now they’re experiencing another downturn and the tourism sector will never go back to its former glory.
Whoever plans to be in power come next general election need to come up with an extremely long term solution. The state no longer produces cheap goods. They’re not producing extremely high tech products and no longer a beautiful resort island. And the only reason why Malaysian throngs this island on weekly basis is to fulfill their hunger for delicious food! I don’t see any other solution for this except total re-branding!
To embrace whatever re-branding exercise, Penangites need also change their mindset, and this includes politicians too. And let me tell you something, despite claiming to be a developed state, penangites have among the most least developed mindset in this country. Tak percaya kah?
I was talking with a friend who works with the custom department handling export items at Port Klang. He looked quite worried. For a former student leader, he being worry is something that you should worry about. He’s someone who would speak his mind.
The situation at the port contradicts whatever being said about our economy. Go to Port Klang and look at the container terminal. It’s empty. Not like it used to be.
Warehouses are also empty. You can play a game of Futsal there. Trucks are rare sights there.
You don’t the usual traffic of trucks carrying goods around Port Klang. We discussed further on other indicators for bad economy.
Many trading companies are suffering. Imports are suffering because there are not many demands locally and the manufacturer abroad are also facing credit crunch to supply more if there is such demand.
Export is also on a decline. Many factories are shutting down production line to reduce output.
This affected not only employees (when they can’t do overtime) but also vendors that supply components and raw materials.
How do we overcome this situation? Many suggest that we increase expenditure. I suggest we make more babies! That’s for long term solution. Tun Dr.Mahathir once suggested 70 million populations.
It’s a good idea actually. With that kind of population we can actually be self reliant. Our local demand can support local production. When economics turbulence attacking other nations, we can rely on local demands to spur the economy.
Pak Lah made a good start in trying to revive the agricultural sector. But the implementation is something of the opposite. Holland and Taiwan are good example for us to emulate. Both countries are almost self reliant where agriculture sector is concern.
I don’t have any land to toil. But I have a dream of having my own pineapple plantation. My plan was to plant pineapples under all high voltage cables running across the country. Those lands under it are basically underutilized. Some argued it generates ‘generous’ amount of harmful electromagnetic wave. I guess, that’s for me to find out. Whatever it is, we have plenty of resources to spur our economy. We need to be innovative in finding unorthodox solution during this economic downturn.
No point having stimulus package if we don’t know how to use it. We can throw a lot of money into the economy. The money is gone but we don’t see anything out of it.
Penang is one of the state worst affected. The state government is busy stabilizing the social structure but I don’t see much solution on the economy. They still need help from the federal government. The manufacturing sector hasn’t fully recovered from 1997-98 and now they’re experiencing another downturn and the tourism sector will never go back to its former glory.
Whoever plans to be in power come next general election need to come up with an extremely long term solution. The state no longer produces cheap goods. They’re not producing extremely high tech products and no longer a beautiful resort island. And the only reason why Malaysian throngs this island on weekly basis is to fulfill their hunger for delicious food! I don’t see any other solution for this except total re-branding!
To embrace whatever re-branding exercise, Penangites need also change their mindset, and this includes politicians too. And let me tell you something, despite claiming to be a developed state, penangites have among the most least developed mindset in this country. Tak percaya kah?
Pink Tudung and Mat Rempit
by INVISIBLEWRITER001
Who are these SYT in pink tudungs? Do they serve any purpose or merely a more dignified escort? Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithaudden recently suggested to abolish UMNO’s wings is one of the freshest ideas ever heard in UMNO for the last errr… years.
You have Wanita, Pemuda, Puteri and Putera UMNO. What’s missing is ‘Kanak-Kanak UMNO’ wing. Come on lah. Why so many wings? They don’t serve any purpose. And some of them are redundant. How do you differentiate between Wanita and Puteri? Oh yes, we differentiate from the tudungs, red for moms and pink for daughters. What about grandmas and granddaughters?
Should they wear red and pink stripped tudungs?
All these wings serve only one purpose, which is to give legitimate positions in the party to the so called potential leaders. UMNO long realized the potential of some women and young individuals, but unfortunately doesn’t have enough room for them in the higher echelon. The solution….create wings for them to lead. And recently we have 2 more wings, puteri and the ‘unofficial’ putera.
OK, I have to admit. Wanita and Pemuda are needed to nurture future leaders. What about Puteri and Putera? Are they merely Servants and Mat Rempits? Can someone please tell me, what can Puteri and Putera does that couldn’t be achieved by both Wanita and Pemuda? I bet no one can justify this.
All these years Wanita and Pemuda have performed their job very well. And a few years back, new wings cropped within the existing wings.
At this point of time what UMNO need is concerted effort from everyone. There shouldn’t divisions where each wings have their own set of plans. UMNO need only 1 set of plan to strengthen the party and everyone should follow through it. Everyone in UMNO will claim that they’re one at heart despite serving under ‘different’ wings. But can’t they see the word “different” there? Twins will always be twins; they can never be ‘one’. Every twin has their own mindset and desire.
Putera currently being led a not so Putera aged leader. I find some of the ideas proposed by the Head of Putera UMNO bordering pathetic. One of them was to rehabilitate Mat Rempits? And look at what we have today? They’re much more daring than they used to be. Probably because “I’m a Putera UMNO!” Everyone knows that you can’t easily make Mat Rempits disappear.
Police have been trying that for God knows how many years. And one smart Putera thought of using reverse psychology to win them. Come on, look at the bikes. Do they have reverse gear?
You can’t reverse psycho a hard core Rempit. They’ll make you go psycho.
This ‘noble’ act sometimes creates disgust among the rakyat. Here we try to sleep in peace and over there someone organizing a huge gathering of Mat Rempits. Mat Rempits are ordinary folks like us only with fire raging hormones that crave attention. They’re not Mat Rempits all the time. They only rempit when they’re together, or when delivering pizza to my house. The more attention you give to them, the cockier they’ll get.
I don’t see Puteri playing effective or significant role in UMNO. Like Putera, they’re of age where they need to be nurtured by seniors in Wanita. A makcik should lead her daughter. That should be the way. You can’t make a junior lead another junior. This is not ‘Kelab Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya’.
From what I can see they are just ornaments at UMNO’s functions, manning booth, ushering guest and carrying trays. Infact they’re liabilities. Giving responsibility to juniors is like creating trouble unto you. They tend to screw things.
I’ve spoken to many Puteris and asked them “Why you join Puteri UMNO?” They can’t give me convincing answer except “Dah kawan-kawan ajak…” Do you think majority (both guys and girls) 20+ y/o understand true meaning of ‘perjuangan’ and ‘hak orang Melayu’? I don’t think so. These are Akademi Fantasia Generation. They only understand ‘entertainment’ and ‘sms’.
My solution is simple. Get rid of Puteri and Putera. Concentrate with Wanita and Pemuda. In this trying time for UMNO, they can’t afford to be segregated. Fewer wings are better. You’ll be more focus, more concerted and easier to monitor. Honestly, I’m a bit divided about abolishing Puteri UMNO, as I find girls in pink tudungs are much cuter than makciks in red.
Who are these SYT in pink tudungs? Do they serve any purpose or merely a more dignified escort? Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithaudden recently suggested to abolish UMNO’s wings is one of the freshest ideas ever heard in UMNO for the last errr… years.
You have Wanita, Pemuda, Puteri and Putera UMNO. What’s missing is ‘Kanak-Kanak UMNO’ wing. Come on lah. Why so many wings? They don’t serve any purpose. And some of them are redundant. How do you differentiate between Wanita and Puteri? Oh yes, we differentiate from the tudungs, red for moms and pink for daughters. What about grandmas and granddaughters?
Should they wear red and pink stripped tudungs?
All these wings serve only one purpose, which is to give legitimate positions in the party to the so called potential leaders. UMNO long realized the potential of some women and young individuals, but unfortunately doesn’t have enough room for them in the higher echelon. The solution….create wings for them to lead. And recently we have 2 more wings, puteri and the ‘unofficial’ putera.
OK, I have to admit. Wanita and Pemuda are needed to nurture future leaders. What about Puteri and Putera? Are they merely Servants and Mat Rempits? Can someone please tell me, what can Puteri and Putera does that couldn’t be achieved by both Wanita and Pemuda? I bet no one can justify this.
All these years Wanita and Pemuda have performed their job very well. And a few years back, new wings cropped within the existing wings.
At this point of time what UMNO need is concerted effort from everyone. There shouldn’t divisions where each wings have their own set of plans. UMNO need only 1 set of plan to strengthen the party and everyone should follow through it. Everyone in UMNO will claim that they’re one at heart despite serving under ‘different’ wings. But can’t they see the word “different” there? Twins will always be twins; they can never be ‘one’. Every twin has their own mindset and desire.
Putera currently being led a not so Putera aged leader. I find some of the ideas proposed by the Head of Putera UMNO bordering pathetic. One of them was to rehabilitate Mat Rempits? And look at what we have today? They’re much more daring than they used to be. Probably because “I’m a Putera UMNO!” Everyone knows that you can’t easily make Mat Rempits disappear.
Police have been trying that for God knows how many years. And one smart Putera thought of using reverse psychology to win them. Come on, look at the bikes. Do they have reverse gear?
You can’t reverse psycho a hard core Rempit. They’ll make you go psycho.
This ‘noble’ act sometimes creates disgust among the rakyat. Here we try to sleep in peace and over there someone organizing a huge gathering of Mat Rempits. Mat Rempits are ordinary folks like us only with fire raging hormones that crave attention. They’re not Mat Rempits all the time. They only rempit when they’re together, or when delivering pizza to my house. The more attention you give to them, the cockier they’ll get.
I don’t see Puteri playing effective or significant role in UMNO. Like Putera, they’re of age where they need to be nurtured by seniors in Wanita. A makcik should lead her daughter. That should be the way. You can’t make a junior lead another junior. This is not ‘Kelab Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya’.
From what I can see they are just ornaments at UMNO’s functions, manning booth, ushering guest and carrying trays. Infact they’re liabilities. Giving responsibility to juniors is like creating trouble unto you. They tend to screw things.
I’ve spoken to many Puteris and asked them “Why you join Puteri UMNO?” They can’t give me convincing answer except “Dah kawan-kawan ajak…” Do you think majority (both guys and girls) 20+ y/o understand true meaning of ‘perjuangan’ and ‘hak orang Melayu’? I don’t think so. These are Akademi Fantasia Generation. They only understand ‘entertainment’ and ‘sms’.
My solution is simple. Get rid of Puteri and Putera. Concentrate with Wanita and Pemuda. In this trying time for UMNO, they can’t afford to be segregated. Fewer wings are better. You’ll be more focus, more concerted and easier to monitor. Honestly, I’m a bit divided about abolishing Puteri UMNO, as I find girls in pink tudungs are much cuter than makciks in red.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Politicians Killing Our Sports
by INVISIBLEWRITER001
Politics and sports are what P.Ramlee described as ‘lagu dan irama’, song and melody. They can’t be separated. And this is what you see here in Malaysia.
Majorities of sports associations in Malaysia are led by politicians. If they’re not leading, you’ll either see them sitting in the exco or AJKs. Cast a stone at any sports association and you’ll definitely hit a politician. If you’re lucky you’ll hit them in the head and bring them back to reality that ‘politicians are not needed in sports administrations.’
I don’t see politicians as being anything special besides than their oratory, kiss ass and perhaps leadership skill. Some take their leadership skill a bit overboard. They have the notion that a leader can lead almost anything be it the rakyat, the nation or sports association. They think that they’re God’s gift to the rakyat, to lead them out of obscurity, and same goes with sports associations. They are to lead them out of oblivion. Yeah, right. Look at how far Malaysians have progressed in sports?
I don’t see them as bringing much benefits to the sports and the nation in general. Their politicking act is slowly killing the sports. Some politicians have too much on their plate that I find it hard to fathom how can they manage all these responsibilities?
First they’re ADUNS or Member of Parliament. Secondly, some of them are Ministers or Chief Ministers. Next, they’re also ‘Ketua Bahagian’ and also sit in the party supreme council. Lastly, they’re President of PENGULUM (Persatuan Guli Ulung Malaysia). And not forgetting their responsibility towards their wife and children, and their other wives too.
How can they give equal attention to all these responsibilities? Their argument is that they have assistants to help with all the responsibilities (I hope they didn’t ask the assistants to help with the wife). They need to be reminded that they were the one who was elected to the post, not their assistants. Might as well vote the assistants instead to lead, rite?
Lack of serious attention by the leadership caused many sports associations to suffer. Development programs weren’t implemented according what’ve agreed upon. Management in total chaos. Squabbles within the rank. Athletes being neglected. These are syndromes that are currently inflicted most of our sports associations. And this lead to our downfall. We can claim to be the 2nd best nation at SEA Games. But please, for how long SEA Games gonna be our benchmark? We should at least aim to be among the best in Asia.
There’s also another syndrome that being inflicted by politicians. Whenever a sports association led by passionate individuals managed to produce successful athletes, in short notice you’ll see politicians homing in on them (sports association). They’ll start throwing money or flexing their influence trying to convince members of the said association that they can do better once elected into the board or presidency. Sometimes these leaders are also shameless parasites. They failed at fulfilling their promises but try to hang on to their position for as long as possible despite many in the association opposing them. This is a prime example of shameless act of selfishness.
I heard Shahidan Kassim is offering his service to lead Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). He’s leading Malaysian Amateur Athletic Association (MAAU), Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM), Kabaddi Association of Malaysia (KAM), Perlis Football Association and now he plan to add OCM into his collection of presidencies. I suggest he should also try the presidency for Persatuan Guli Ulung Malaysia (PENGULUM). He got better chances there.
We were once number one in athletics in South East Asia. Where are we now? Have our swimmers progressed beyond SEA Games? I’m not sure about Kabbadi, but firstly he should at least make effort to popularize it before anything else. So, what plan he has for OCM?
I think he and other politicians should stop this at once. Let passionate individuals or former athletes handle their respective associations. They should know what’s best for the sports.
As for Shahidan Kassim, he should do something else to occupy his time. Maybe he should take up knitting or flower arrangement to kill time. He’s not bringing any good to any of these sports associations; there are others who can do much better. For the betterment of our sports, other politicians should also consider this frank advice. Leave sports associations alone. Concentrate on your constituents. The rakyats are the ones who need your tender loving care.
Politics and sports are what P.Ramlee described as ‘lagu dan irama’, song and melody. They can’t be separated. And this is what you see here in Malaysia.
Majorities of sports associations in Malaysia are led by politicians. If they’re not leading, you’ll either see them sitting in the exco or AJKs. Cast a stone at any sports association and you’ll definitely hit a politician. If you’re lucky you’ll hit them in the head and bring them back to reality that ‘politicians are not needed in sports administrations.’
I don’t see politicians as being anything special besides than their oratory, kiss ass and perhaps leadership skill. Some take their leadership skill a bit overboard. They have the notion that a leader can lead almost anything be it the rakyat, the nation or sports association. They think that they’re God’s gift to the rakyat, to lead them out of obscurity, and same goes with sports associations. They are to lead them out of oblivion. Yeah, right. Look at how far Malaysians have progressed in sports?
I don’t see them as bringing much benefits to the sports and the nation in general. Their politicking act is slowly killing the sports. Some politicians have too much on their plate that I find it hard to fathom how can they manage all these responsibilities?
First they’re ADUNS or Member of Parliament. Secondly, some of them are Ministers or Chief Ministers. Next, they’re also ‘Ketua Bahagian’ and also sit in the party supreme council. Lastly, they’re President of PENGULUM (Persatuan Guli Ulung Malaysia). And not forgetting their responsibility towards their wife and children, and their other wives too.
How can they give equal attention to all these responsibilities? Their argument is that they have assistants to help with all the responsibilities (I hope they didn’t ask the assistants to help with the wife). They need to be reminded that they were the one who was elected to the post, not their assistants. Might as well vote the assistants instead to lead, rite?
Lack of serious attention by the leadership caused many sports associations to suffer. Development programs weren’t implemented according what’ve agreed upon. Management in total chaos. Squabbles within the rank. Athletes being neglected. These are syndromes that are currently inflicted most of our sports associations. And this lead to our downfall. We can claim to be the 2nd best nation at SEA Games. But please, for how long SEA Games gonna be our benchmark? We should at least aim to be among the best in Asia.
There’s also another syndrome that being inflicted by politicians. Whenever a sports association led by passionate individuals managed to produce successful athletes, in short notice you’ll see politicians homing in on them (sports association). They’ll start throwing money or flexing their influence trying to convince members of the said association that they can do better once elected into the board or presidency. Sometimes these leaders are also shameless parasites. They failed at fulfilling their promises but try to hang on to their position for as long as possible despite many in the association opposing them. This is a prime example of shameless act of selfishness.
I heard Shahidan Kassim is offering his service to lead Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM). He’s leading Malaysian Amateur Athletic Association (MAAU), Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM), Kabaddi Association of Malaysia (KAM), Perlis Football Association and now he plan to add OCM into his collection of presidencies. I suggest he should also try the presidency for Persatuan Guli Ulung Malaysia (PENGULUM). He got better chances there.
We were once number one in athletics in South East Asia. Where are we now? Have our swimmers progressed beyond SEA Games? I’m not sure about Kabbadi, but firstly he should at least make effort to popularize it before anything else. So, what plan he has for OCM?
I think he and other politicians should stop this at once. Let passionate individuals or former athletes handle their respective associations. They should know what’s best for the sports.
As for Shahidan Kassim, he should do something else to occupy his time. Maybe he should take up knitting or flower arrangement to kill time. He’s not bringing any good to any of these sports associations; there are others who can do much better. For the betterment of our sports, other politicians should also consider this frank advice. Leave sports associations alone. Concentrate on your constituents. The rakyats are the ones who need your tender loving care.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A Note To Tan Sri Jins Samsudin
by INVISIBLEWRITER001In this trying time our film and broadcasting industry need a total makeover. It has been more than 10 years since 1997-98 economic crisis. Before then, the industry was at its most lucrative stage. Lucrative for everyone including the artist, producers and tv station.
If you ask any production crew then, they can afford to own a car. Free flowing job offers where they have to decline some. Everyone was enjoying as if good times gonna last forever. When 1997-98 hit, many was hard hit.
There were surplus of finished products. At the same time advertisers stopped spending on advertisement. When it happened no one was prepared for it. Many have to ‘cari makan’ elsewhere. There were some who defaulted on their loans, including automobile and property.
Many opted to take pay cut with whatever small production jobs that was offered just to stay afloat. Since then the scenario in film and broadcasting changed.
The thing is, when the industry has somewhat recovered from the economic crisis, things haven’t change in film and tv land. I’m not sure people in this industry are as slow as a slacking sloth or they simply couldn’t be bothered with the changes?
If you ask me has the salary and remuneration for those in this line have changed since then?
My answer would be “Not much”. What’s funny they use the word ‘gawat’ religiously to justify their lack of budget. I don’t agree with ‘gawat’ as a reasoning or lack of budget. The budget hasn’t changed much but the cost has risen with time. That’s the reason, not ‘gawat’ or ‘bajet ciput’.
The tv stations haven’t changed much when it comes to budget given to the production houses to produce dramas or tv programs. Because of stiff competition today, the stations haggle on pricing. You have to agree with their price or you stand to get nothing if they decided to give it to someone else.
This is also another problem for those in tv and film production, there’s no sense of solidarity between them. One will back stab another friend just to get a RM10k job. And today technologies are getting cheaper.
You can produce a tv program with RM7k DV camera. Gone were the days where Betacam was the industry standard. I can’t remember when was the last time I worked with Betacam? You can edit a tv program on your laptop or MAC/PC at home. No need for RM100k+ editing machine. A film graduate can set up a basic production house with RM10k! So, I guess you don’t need an increase in budgeting for your tv program? Not really, there are still other things that have increased like ‘artis jual mahal’.
Now we’re facing another economic crisis. Will this be another 1997-98? I’m not sure. The only thing got affected is the tv commercial productions. Not many tv commercials have been produced lately. You can see this during recent festive season. Not many new tv commercials for Hari Raya and Chinese New Year. I can only recall Petronas producing tv commercials consistently. It’s because they can afford it.
Besides than budget constraint in the part of advertisers, another element that contributed to the lack of tv commercials is Made In Malaysia (MIM) certificate. MIM is a protective mechanism employed to protect local tv production, especially tv commercial productions.
Under this ruling, any production to be aired locally must be made by Malaysian, in Malaysia with Malaysian talents. TV commercials made abroad with foreign talents are not allowed. There were a few cases where foreign talents and directors were used. But they somehow managed to get the necessary permits to go ahead with it. It helps to spur the economy specifically our local film and tv productions. Our creative industry was kept alive by this ruling.
In recent years this MIM ruling has somehow relaxed to the extend foreign tv commercials can easily be aired on our tv channels. The advertisers find no reason to produce tv commercials for Malaysian market.
Change the tagline and voice over, they can make do with 1 standard tv commercial for worldwide release. This is what killing the industry. Some might argue that protectionism will kill any industry when we don’t have competition from abroad. For this industry, the competition is within this country. We compete to increase our share of the sales pie. Our imagination is our limit. For as long we understand the products, the targeted consumers and others are doing abroad, we can compete ‘internally’.
Only RTM religiously ask for MIM. If RTM stop practicing it, the tv commercial production industry can collapse. What is the government doing about this?
What has Jins Shamsudin done about this?
FINAS was under him. Don’t tell me he doesn’t know about this? I don’t think he has done enough for the industry to merit National Arts Award. He was someone representing the industry in the senate. Looking at the predicaments facing the industry today, he has done nothing or probably not much!
WHINING BABY! IS THIS OUR FUTURE LEADER?
by INVISIBLEWRITER001
It seems this particular ‘future youth chief’ got nothing better to do. He is typical ‘Makcik Joyah’. Someone of a busy body kind.
I think what he’s doing is for show only. He had a few terms as Menteri Besar to show what he’s capable of doing. I guess he failed as the people of Selangor rejected him.
He’s doing this to show that he really cares for the rakyat and a responsible politician. And not forgetting, the show is for the upcoming UMNO Youth Election.
His favourite word today is ‘quit’! He wanted everyone to quit. I think he should stalk every single ADUNs, go to their house and ask them to quit. He doesn’t need any reason for doing that.
He’s giving negative impression to the rakyat that BN are sour grapes. As if BN can’t accept. What he’s doing is not being a good opposition. The rakyats are disgusted with this immature act.
Let the state government do their job. This is the chosen government. If the current government fail to perform, let the rakyat decide whether they wanna have a new government.
He got no right to talk about morality or sensitivity or whatever ‘ty’. So don’t ask anyone to quit. If he thinks he’s voicing what the rakyat wants, I guess he’s wrong.
If he can recall, ‘Semuanya OK!’ wasn’t something that comes from the rakyat. The land clearing act that was OK-ed by him is part of his downfall. Him being powerless to curb the act shows that he’s basically a puppet or someone who care-less about the rakyat’s sentiment.
So, why now the sudden change turning into a rakyat’s champion? What we need is a leader who works for the rakyat consistently, not seasonally. Him making all these noises shows he got nothing to do. Same when he was in power, he did nothing!
I think those in power right now regardless UMNO or BN should consider their strategy. They should advice someone like Khir Toyo to just shut up. What he’s doing is damaging. Nicely put, the rakyats are disgusted with his childish.
This patronizing and whining style of politicking is from the ancient civilization. The rakyats are not stupid. They don’t accept things easily. And you’re talking about people from Selangor, the most advanced state in Malaysia. Penang, Perak, Kelantan and this state of Selangor have the most difficult voters.
It’s not easy to please these voters. If you work for the rakyat, you’ll be rewarded come next election. If you’re whining 6 y/old, continue whining and you’ll be rewarded with a pacifier (putting).
What we can conclude, people like Khir Toyo are simply sour grapes. They can’t accept lost like a gentleman. What they should do now is reflect on their lost and make amend. When you’re no more in power, there’s no better time than now for them to forge closer ties with the rakyat.
Take this lost as an opportunity to reflect on their mistakes and do the necessary things to rectify it.
Is this whining baby our future youth leader who one day might lead this country? If the answer is positive, may God help this nation. With him in leadership, everything may not necessary be OK because he’ll close his eyes and says “Semuanya OK.” To all my fellow Malaysian, I rest my case!
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