Road to Developed Status

According to the warped logic of our (UMNO) politicians, to be a developed nation we must have huge, large, tall, beautiful buildings. The latest grand scheme planned to expedite us to developed status is the Warisan Merdeka Tower on Bukit Petaling.

Everyone except those instructed by the PM or benefiting from the project is against it. Reasons for the disagreement include wasting resources; glut in office space, commercial and high end residential properties; environmentally unfriendly due to the high density of the area; traffic congestion; and despite the sponsor’s (PNB) assurance that it will be able to source funding for the project independently, most people are still sceptical especially considering the huge amount (estimated at RM5 billion excluding cost overruns) involved. If the funding for the project is sourced onshore, I’m afraid we have misallocated our scarce resources.

The site earmarked for the tower was once a recreational park (in addition to a car park).

One of our Ministers says the project will generate 5,000 new jobs. I agree with the minister. However, what the Hon. Minister forgot to clarify was 5,000 new jobs for whom? New jobs for the (new) Indonesian and Bangladeshi labourers? New jobs for the foreign architects, engineers and consultants? New jobs for the Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Indian steel industry? The project will cost five billion units of our local currency but how much of these units will be retained and spent locally? Given the huge number of foreign participants in the project, one should not be surprised if new motorbikes, house renovations and weddings in Indonesia are funded by Malaysian money spent on the Warisan Merdeka Tower .

There is this school in KL built in the 1930s. For seventy odd years it trained and educated young Malaysian girls in its hallowed halls in Jalan Bukit Bintang. Over time, the city grew and the school’s location became unsuitable for a learning institution. The government did the right thing by moving the school away from the city to a more conducive location. The government however made a big mistake for tearing down the historical school building. The should have kept the (original) building intact and turned it into an area of say, fine dining restaurants or boutique hotel (if they wanted it to be high-end) or maybe a museum or a library, the possibilities are endless. The school had a small field, imagine eating in a restaurant in the middle of the city next to a nicely manicured garden or staying in a hotel surrounded by skyscrapers but facing a nice little park …

Another historic school sits next to the Warisan Merdeka Tower project site. For the next five years or so, the students and teachers will have to endure the noise and dust coming from the project site and traffic is going to be bad, roads will be riddled with potholes caused by the heavy vehicles (and poor/non-existent road maintenance). The school despite being in the middle-ish of the city, doesn’t face the problems of that other school in Bukit Bintang simply because Bukit Petaling is slightly elevated and hence is somewhat isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city. The WMT will change all that. I fear, the heritage status notwithstanding, for the future of my alma mater.

How do we ascertain if we are a developed nation? What do we need to be able to achieve developed status? I may not be smart enough to hold high positions in UMNO but I do have some inkling on how to drive the nation towards developed, high income status.

1) Improve the mentality and mindset via proper education.

This is where we need high quality, dedicated educationists. The crème de la crème of Malaysian youth must be encouraged to become educationists. If you’re a smart, straight ‘A’ student who is active in sports and/or co-curricular activities; we want you to be teachers. Of course some will have to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, bank officers but most should be encouraged to be teachers. The younger the children you teach, the higher your qualifications have to be. Only the best teachers will be allowed to teach the under 10s. Teachers must also have foreign training, be exposed to the methods and systems of the more developed nations. Above all, teachers must be amongst the best (if not the best) paid personnel in the civil service. The education policy must be consistent, systematic and designed to fulfil the current needs. It should be in the interests of the students and not at the whims and fancies of certain quarters or pressure groups. Schools regardless of location must be adequately equipped and class size must be kept to an optimum level.  

2) Improve the basic infrastructure.

Every corner of the country must be served by proper, well built, well maintained roads. Clean water must be available to everyone. All households must have access to electricity without disruptions. Sewerage system must be efficient and environmental friendly. Public transport must be efficient, commuter friendly and serve the right places. Town planning must not be done haphazardly but instead should be done with a long term view; care for the environment and preserving the beauty and history of the city. Quality healthcare must be easily accessible and affordable to everyone.

3) Allow freedom of information, thought and speech.

Once the mindset, mentality and intellectual capability is enhanced, the people will be able to manage the given freedom responsibly. There will still be a few bad apples but if the majority are sensible, accountable and reasonable, those bad apples won’t be able to influence the masses or create chaos.

4) Enforce laws and regulations without fear or favour

The reason why most of us break the law is because we know we can get away with it. This attitude stems from the fact that the law is hardly enforced or in some cases it is cheaper and easier to bribe you way out of trouble then going to court or paying a fine. As a result, our cities are filled with litter, illegal double parking is rampant, traffic rules are ignored, restaurants are free to set tables anywhere they want, toilets are dirty, the list goes on. If the authorities get down hard on the offenders, more people will start to toe the line and follow the rules. Laws on sedition are over zealously enforced, it’s about time we expand the scope of enforcement to other laws as well.

5) Improve the credibility of the judiciary, police force, MACC, EC and the civil service in general.

A lot negative things have been said about the judicial service, the crime and corruption busters and the civil service. Their reputation needs to be restored and it will be very painful. Whoever is ruling the country must have guts to overhaul the system.

Being developed is not about big buildings or mega projects. It is about having the right infrastructure with the right mentality. We cannot continue to be labelled as having first world infrastructure but with third world mentality.

Dreaming the impossible dream? I hope not.

Desirable Rides

Since its invention proper in the 1890s, the car has been worshipped like no other machine ... Today we find almost impossible to live without it. We fuss over it. Talk about it proudly in pubs. We build it little houses to live in. ... In motorshows worldwide, worshippers come in tens of thousands to pay homage to new gods ... otherwise healthy young women are strewn all but naked, like sacrificial victims, across the lovingly polished machines ... (Jonathan Glancey, 2003)

Well said. Some women may find these words revolting because they don't understand and cannot appreciate the love between boys and cars. To make them understand and appreciate, one only has to replace 'cars' with handbags or shoes ...

Every decade has its own icon; it was the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing in the 1950s, the E-Type in the swinging 60s. My pick for the 70s is the Datsun 240Z and the BMW CS. The 80s saw the creation of a new class by BMW in the form of the E30 3 series. The 90s were the era of the computer aided designs where cars look almost alike but beauties like the Supra, Efini RX-7 and TVR Chimeara were still produced. Ferrari never failed to make beautiful sexy cars; the 250GTO and 275GTB of the 60s, to the Dino 246GT and 308 of the 70s to the 288GTO and 328GTB of the 80s and my personal favourite, the 355.

I may one day be able to afford a Ferrari but for now I have to settle for the realistic and attainable dream cars. The current top three in my list (in no particular order) are; the Mini Cooper, Volkswagen Scirocco (the 1.4 will do) and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10. 
A certain Ms Shaliza calls them babe magnets. She wasn't agreeable to the 'project Mini Cooper' some months ago and she was vehemently against the 'project Scirocco' a few weeks back. I wonder what she'll say to the soon to be announced 'project Evo 10'? Maybe she shouldn't know, she has been giving too much bad automobile advice lately. She was however quite supportive of the idea of me getting the Fiesta ... hmmm 

Affordable Rides

Are car prices getting cheaper in Malaysia? Maybe but one thing for sure is we have more choices now compared to 10 years ago when the only choice of affordable cars available to middle class Malaysians were Protons, Perodua and a few Korean makes trying to break into the Malaysian market.


Cars sold in Malaysia are considered cheap if they are priced below RM100k. The cheapest decent sized family car, the Proton Persona, cost only RM47k. That is if you don't mind a Proton. If you can afford a little bit more, say RM52k, you can choose the Gen2, another Proton. If Protons are not your cup of tea and you want to be seen in a Honda or Toyota, be prepared to fork out at least 72k for the entry level Vios or 83k for the City. At 70+k to 80k, these cars cost as much as a middle manager's annual salary. A middle manager salary for an entry level car doesn't sound right. The middle manager has no choice but to settle for the Protons. Or if they want to drive anything other than a Proton, they would have to live beyond their means. 


Enough of depressing stuff. Let's look at some of the 'cheap' cars flooding our market in the past year or so. 

The best cheap car introduced this year would be the beautiful Peugeot 308 1.6VTI. At RM94k, a mid sized European model is finally affordable to some (middle managers working in reasonably large companies) Malaysians.
The 2 litre Naza Forte, at RM95k, will get you more toys than a RM110k Toyota Altis or Honda Civic, plus 200 additional cc.
Then we have the Mazda 2, priced between RM77-83k, it joins the City-Vios- (maybe)Latio groupie. The hatch looks good but the sedan is a bit wierd looking.
A few days ago, Ford Malaysia introduced the Fiesta. Identical twin of the Mazda 2 but cheaper, top of the line hatch is 'only' RM86k on the road. Sadly, the sedan is ugly.
At slightly above RM100k, the turbocharged Polo represents good value for money, for Malaysian standards that is. A car the same class as the Fiesta however should not cost more than 90k let alone 100k. Compared to the other 'cheap' cars in the Malaysian market, other than the turbo and the Volkswagen perceived quality, the Polo doesn't warrant it's six figure price tag.


Volkswagen introduced two entry level models; the 1.4TSI Golf and Scirocco. We'll talk about that next time. 

Billion Dollar Questions

If PM Najib goes ahead with his 100 storey Wawasan Merdeka Tower, I'll call him the 5 billion dollar man. Not only will he beat Dr M by 12 stories (Petronas Twin Towers has only 88 floors), Najib will also beat Lee Majors* by a lot of billion Ringgit multiplied by the prevailing USD/MYR exchange rate. 

I went to school at the location of Najib's dream tower. If I remember correctly, there isn't much space left for a row of shophouses let alone a skyscraper. Unless of course he's planning to tear down the iconic stadiums. These are sporting facilities which I presume are still usable and probably are still being used. Maybe he's planning to tear down my alma mater to make space for his fantasy and being a Johanian, I won't be surprised if he does. 

Najib also wants to build an international financial centre somewhere near RSGC/RHB Centre. I'm sure the final details have yet to be finalised but if it does go through, I wonder who is going to occupy the centre. CIMB and BIMB have spanking new HQs in the city, Maybank moved a large chunk of their non-commercial banking operations to Bangsar recently and RHB is already in the "KLIFD". Last I heard JP Morgan scaled down their KL office. Yes, we have a few new banking licences but their immediate effect will merely involve relocating bankers from other Malaysia based banks to their offices and disrupting the wage structure in the process.  I personally know a few Islamic banking professionals who have successfully transported themselves to the Middle East. So, I ask again, who is going to occupy KLIFD? 

Traffic in KL is already worse than bad. These projects will only make it even worse. 


Another question is, who is/are the lucky contractors who will be getting these projects? We all know the construction workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh are the major beneficiary of these projects. I'm not sure how the ordinary Malaysians will benefit though.


*Lee Majors = The 6 million Dollar Man, a 70s TV series

Budgetary Concerns

Has anyone noticed that every year when the budget is announced, the pro-BN mainstream newspapers will always have nothing but good things to say about the budget. Can't fault them for doing their job which requires them to say nice things about their political masters. 

This year's budget is as the years before, full of surprises, goodies and controversies. At first glance, we seem to be going back to the mega-project days of the 90s. Don't get me wrong, mega projects are good, they are necessary to upgrade the nation's infrastructure but the choice of projects must be made with that in mind - to improve infrastructure and not to improve someone's bank balance. 

My list for the good and the bad of Budget 2010 are;

'Good' and 'Good-ish'

MRT - long overdue. As a former user of public transport, I understand what commuters have to go through everyday. Let's hope the MRT will be a user friendly and integrated system. no more walking half a mile under the hot sun and buying another ticket to get a connecting train. Will the selection of the contractor be done in a proper, transparent way or do we resign to the fact that Gamuda-MMC will be getting the project? 

Freeze on PLUS highway toll increase for the next 5 years - the highways have not been identified but it is good news nonetheless. However, will the government be forced to compensate the highway operators for "loss of income/breach of contract"? If so, we have conned!

Shaded Walkways in the KLCC area (RM50m) - Finally! Like the MRT, this is also long overdue. While they are at it, why don't they fix the roads around KLCC too, they are probably the worst in the city, which explains why my rear absorber needs changing 5 months after replacing it. 

Abolishment of import duties - the import duties on approximately 300 items will be abolished. the items include lingerie, handbags, shoes, mobile phones, golf balls and perfumes. I welcome the move but I doubt it will benefit the masses because most of the listed goods are 'luxury goods' which are bought by those in the higher income bracket. Nevertheless, if it means 30-40% percent off my next bottle of perfume or iPhone4, I'm not going to complain. 

'Bad'

Warisan Merdeka Tower (RM5b) - WMT? More like WTF?! Do we need another skyscraper? Sounds like an ego boosting, bank balance fattening project to me. 

KLIFD (RM26b) - KL International Financial District, a Canary Wharf like project for KL. Will building a financial district turn KL into a global financial center? The policy makers seem to think that a few nice buildings surrounded by toll highways to the airport will transform KL into the NY of the east. Didn't it cross their mind that to be the preferred international financial center requires the full complement of business friendly policies and regulations; pool of able human resources; political maturity and stability; zero tolerance for corruption, cronyism and nepotism; safety and security; just and equitable judiciary and good public service and infrastructure. 

1pct rise in service tax - We are charged 5% service tax at restaurants and hotels and for parking as well as fast food. A 1% increase on a small bill is quite insignificant but on total expenditure it can be substantial. Will there be a reduction in income tax rates? Or maybe the 1% is required to pay compensation to PLUS? 

We will also have to pay a 6% tax for Astro services. 

I also noticed that the government operational budget has increased by RM10b. How come? 

New Yanks from New England

Liverpool FC have new owners from the same old country. New England Sports Ventures also owns the Boston Red Sox, who like LFC, has never won the baseball equivalent of the BPL for dog years until NESV came. The Red Sox tried for almost 100 years, which makes LFC's 20 year title drought nothing to whine about.

The former owners however have not yet given up the fight. They claimed to have spent GBP140mio and want it back. The players and coaches are relieved, the off field problems are affecting the on-field performance and now they can go back to playing football. 

Sports is now a big business. There is so much money involved in sports, it is dictating how sports is played. Back in the day, games in the English 1st Division (now known as the Premier League) were all played at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. There were limited, if any, live television coverage. We either had to go to the stadium (which was always full, unless you're a supporter of Man City) or listen to the game on radio. Failing both, we'll gather around the TV at 4.45pm waiting for the result. 'Darlington ... one ... Huddersfield ... two; Swindon Town ... nil ... Port Vale ... nil;' I was watching the result show in 2009 and realised that its the same voice I was listening to back in '92. Maybe the job requirement is you must sound like the guy before ...

Nowadays, big games hardly clash. TV wants to maximise the viewership because more viewers means more revenue so we can now watch Man U play Arsenal at 8pm, Liverpool play Chelsea at 11pm and end the football marathon watching Spurs lose to West Ham at 1am. The old system not only creates suspense but makes match fixing slightly more difficult. The new system opens the door to possible match fixing because after knowing result for the MU - Arsenal game, the bookies can attempt to manipulate the Liverpool game. 

Most top players are now paid obscene salaries. At an average of fifty thousand pounds a week,  each player on the pitch makes as much as two spectators in the stands earns in a year. When clubs pay that kind of salaries, they expect the players to put the club first before the country. Uli Hoeness, the Bayern President was so upset that Marc Van Bommel came back from the international duty with an injury, he told the player to remember who his employers are. At the end of the day, the national team suffers.

Money makes the world go round, thats why the Fed* is printing money all the time. Money may not be able to buy you happiness but it can buy you things (or people) that makes you happy. Everything is about money nowadays, everything is measured in monetary terms, which is quite sad really because I believe money is good, but its not God.

*Federal Reserve = Central Bank of USA

Letter to My Boss

Dear Tan Sri 'X',

You don't know me but I know you. I know you because I work for you. I'm sure you saw me at the open house we had last week, I'm the tall-ish guy with the goatee dressed in the blue Johor-style baju Melayu. 

In case you're wondering why I'm writing you this letter, let me reassure you that I'm not asking for a raise. Not that I don't want a raise, a raise would be good and while you're at it why not throw in a promotion as well. I would love to know how it feels to be an M2. Heck, why stop at M2, make me an M1 or a SM5 even, with a Camry thrown in. 

I digress. Any right thinking judge could see there was mens rea in my digression.

I digress. Again.

My real reason for writing this letter is to humbly request for a loan from you. I know you have a lot of cash lying around. Especially after you sold that company to the Singaporeans. I know you spent a bit of the sales proceeds on some stuff in the land of our former colonialist (yeah boss, show the gwailos who is boss!) but if my maths is right you still have a few truck loads of cash stuffed somewhere. 

Now that we have established that you have lotsa moola, can you spare me some loose change? I initially wanted to ask for three hundred million quid but that stockbroker guy from Singapore decided to spoil the party and come in with a 320 million bid so I need at least 330, maybe 350, tops. 

I was told you're a fan of Islamic banking so I would like to thank you in advance for granting this qardhul hassan loan to me. May you become richer and richer, especially after you buy that company and merges it with the company you already own.

You must be asking now why do I need so much money? Like you, I'm also a sports fan. maybe our sports differ but we share the same passion - sports. I'm sure you heard of the predicament faced by my beloved football club, Liverpool. If we don't pay RBS by the end of this week, they will put LFC under administration. How ironic! Wasn't RBS almost under administration a few years back? They needed the British taxpayers to bail them out. It's a funny world we live in eh, Tan Sri? 

With your money, LFC's debt will be wiped out and I will be appointed Chairman of the Board. If you're interested to sit on the Board with me, just tell me and you'll have a seat. We'll then go shopping for players and build a beautiful new stadium. I'll let you choose the contractor but you'll must promise to let me design the stadium. 

We don't really need that many players but we'll buy a partner for Torres, I'm thinking of Darren Bent or maybe Adebayor, since he hasn't got much to do at City. We need a good left-back and center-back, maybe Warnock, Kjaer or Hummels. The midfield needs some beef and flair, I like to see Marek Hamsik in our team.  

Until we get those players in January, this is the team I'll play (if I'm the manager, I have nothing against Uncle Woy):

4-4-2

Reina; 
RB - Johnson, CB - Carragher, CB - Skrtel, LB - Konchesky;

LM - Cole, CM - Gerrard, CM - Meireles, RM - Kuyt;

CF - Torres, CF - Jovanovic;

Subs:

Agger, Poulsen, Babel, Lucas, Jones (GK)

Please bank in the money into my account in Cayman Island. Your secretary knows my account number.

Thank you sir. God bless! 

G-Day 4th November

BN wants 4th November 2010 to be V-Day. They are so desparate to the point of suggesting Ku Li be their candidate. The UMNO top brass from the DPM to the Sec Gen as well as the Information Chief are singing praises for the man they wanted to be investigated for supporting PAS'/PR's demand for oil royalties. All this is happening while the man is in London and have yet to officially announce anything, not even his agreement to lead the election campaign. 

I really hope the respectable politician won't let himself be used by UMNO. It's a lose-lose situation for Ku Li. If UMNO loses, the blame will be put squarely on him and if UMNO wins, Ku Li will be seen (by me at least) as weak.

Note: VE-Day falls on 8 May 1945 where the Europeans celebrated the Allies victory over the (evil?) Axis in Europe. In Asia it's called VJ-Day. And no, it's not to honour Nadia Hutagalung, Jamie Aditya or any MTV VJs.

Ramblings of a Biological Malay (X-rated)

According to Pericles (Greek statesman, supporter of democracy, b. 500b.c.), just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. In other words, there is no escaping politics. Like it or not politics will affect our lives no matter how non-political we pretend to be. 

The Malaysian political landscape changed tremendously since the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998. I feel that historic event lowered the political entry age for most people. Maybe the pretty Nurul Izzah played a part in encouraging young Malaysians to be politically aware and active but mostly I think the advent of the internet coupled with the unique circumstances that brought to Anwar's dismissal played an equally big part. 

Anwar managed to do what Dato' Onn, Tengku Razaleigh and to a certain extent the Labour Party of the 1960s failed to do - create a viable alternative to the present ruling government. Power is dangerous in the wrong hands, more so if it is absolute and unchallenged, like what Lord Acton said, "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". A viable alternative is crucial for the purposes of check and balance for without check and balance, dictators flourish. Voltaire's view of the government is that it takes as much as possible from one (large) section of the population and gives to the other (chosen) section. Fahri Azzat echoes Voltaire's view and penned an interesting view on the mechanics of corruption, titled "The Mechanics of Corruption".

But is PR a viable alternative? The on-going PKR elections have shown the true colours of some party members, unprofessional attitudes of aspiring leaders and most of all showed their lack of unity. Maybe what they say about the party being all about Anwar is true? It would be sad if the party turns into a mere Anwar fan club because PKR has unearthed some very talented and dedicated  lawmakers. It would be a waste if these people are prevented from serving the people due to some petty tussle over the deputy president's post. 

DAP may have a sensible leader in Lim Guan Eng but the party may not be able to gain the full trust of the Malay/Muslim masses while PAS despite the large non-Muslim supporters wing (apparently membership is more than 20,000) still may not be able to gain the full trust of the non-Muslims. Their only option is to work together. 

Then there's PERKASA. An NGO who claims to have the powers of a king maker. An ultra racist NGO who defends every racist remark made by a Malay and makes police reports on everything else. PERKASA may think they are doing Malays a favour by fighting for their rights but I feel PERKASA is a huge liability to the Malays. Their actions will give the wrong impression of the Malays to the other races, both locally and internationally. PERKASA's Malay supremacy policies doesn't fit with how the world works. It is even against the words of Allah (Quran, 49:13). What PERKASA promotes and encourages are bigotry, racism, unfair practices, laziness and greed. PERKASA is also splitting UMNO into two factions, which Utusan Malaysia fails (refuses) to see.

What is a Malay? The biological and (Malaysian) constitutional definition of a Malay differs. In fact the ultra Malays are probably not 100% biological Malays like Mahathir, Riduan Tee and the PERKASA sec gen Syed Hassan (aren't Syed supposed to be Arabs? Rumour has it that Syeds are not allowed to buy Malay reserve land in a certain Malay state [I stand to be corrected] and we inferior Malays even address them as "Tuan" instead of the commonly used "Encik"). 

I am a Muslim first and a Malaysian second which makes me a Malay third. Before PERKASA asks me to bertaubat for being a traitor to the Malay race, let me present my case.

My rationale for having that stand is based on the fact that I cannot see myself leaving the Islamic faith. I however may, if circumstances requires me to, denounce my Malaysian citizenship. As far as being Malay, article 160(2) of the constitution may be amended and I may cease to be constitutionally defined as a Malay.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "stupidity is not a handicap in politics". PERKASA proved him right.