Quoting a Quote

From http://art-harun.blogspot.com/

The 1 Sentence Article Series: #1 - sports betting license

The irony about the sports betting license issued by the BN government lies in the fact that there was so much hoo-hahs generated by the BN during the Hulu Selangor by-election that Zaid Ibrahim was a gambler and a drinker - thus making him a sinner, I presume - and yet now the BN government has granted a license for sports betting to a Vincent Tan's company.

Subsidy or Responsibility?

The government’s calculation of subsidy figures should exclude services such as healthcare and education says the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca).

Fomca secretary general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah said he was given by government think tank Pemandu a breakdown of the RM74 billion that showed social services (health, welfare, education and scholarship) making up RM42.8 billion, fuel (petrol, gas and electricity) making up RM23.5 billion, infrastructure (toll, rural air services and rail) making up RM4.6 billion and food (sugar, flour, fisheries, rice and oil) making up RM3.1 billion.

What is a subsidy?

A grant made by a government to some individual or business in order to maintain an acceptable standard of living or to stimulate economic growth. - The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition

Monetary assistance granted by a government to a person or group in support of an enterprise regarded as being in the public interest -  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Given the dictionary definition of subsidies, I am disappointed that Pemandu grouped social services such as welfare, health and education under the category of subsidies. The public pays taxes and one of the uses of taxes is to provide basic necessities to the poorer segments of the society. The government is obligated to spend the tax revenue on welfare, education and health services. It should NOT be considered as a monetary assistance or grant. The public deserves those services, it’s their right and it is not right for the government to portray that they are doing the public, the taxpayer a favour by providing welfare, health and education services.

Somebody should tell Pemandu that subsidies are normally given to enterprises in order to enable a larger section of the society to maintain a decent standard of living. Health and education are public services provided by the government, so who gets the subsidies then? The provider of welfare, education and health services, i.e. the government. Who gives this so-called “subsidies”? The government. So, the government is subsidising itself? 

Who ‘drives’ this Pemandu think tank? Is he/she/they thinking?

About Pemandu [http://www.transformation.gov.my]

Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) was formally established on September 16, 2009 and is a unit under the Prime Minister’s Department. PEMANDU’s main role and objective is to oversee implementation and assess progress of the government transformation programme, facilitate as well as support delivery of both the NKRAs and MKRAs. Chairman of the PEMANDU board is YB Senator Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, in charge of National Unity and Performance Management. The post of Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PEMANDU is held by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, YB Senator Dato’ Sri Idris Jala.

While the responsibility for end-to-end delivery of NKRA and MKRA outcomes ultimately rests with the respective ministries, PEMANDU has been mandated to catalyse bold changes in public sector delivery, support the ministries in the delivery planning process and provide an independent view of performance and progress to the PM and ministers. To allow PEMANDU to carry out its responsibilities effectively, it combines the best talent from both the civil service and private sector.

Jack of All Trades

Does the conglomerate model work? Judging from the success of General Electric and Virgin, it seems that the model does work and it is somehow proven by the fact that GE is the second most profitable non-petroleum company in the world. However upon further scrutiny, we will see that those companies making the most money tend to be those focussed on one core business.

Fortune Global 500 2009 ranking by profits:

1        Exxon Mobil - USD45.22b

2        Gazprom - USD29.86b

3        Royal Dutch Shell - USD26.28b

4        Chevron - USD23.93b

5        BP - USD21.16b

6        Petrobras - USD18.88b

7        Microsoft - USD17.68b

8        General Electric - USD17.41

9        Nestlé - USD16.67

10      Industrial & Commercial Bank of China – USD15.95b

*non oil & gas companies in blue

Other than the banks and oil companies, the rest of the top 25 most profitable companies in 2009 are focussed on one core business. They include Wal-Mart (general merchandisers), Johnson & Johnson (pharmaceuticals), Procter & Gamble (household & personal products), BHP Billiton and CVRD (mining), International Business Machines (IT) and AT&T, China Mobile Communications and Telefónica (telecommunications).

Even in Malaysia, our biggest companies such as Petronas, Telekom, Tenaga, MISC, Genting, YTL and KLK are primarily engaged one sector. Sime Darby, Hong Leong, IOI and Berjaya are the conglomerates listed among the largest corporations in Malaysia. The stable of companies owned by tycoons Ananda Krishnan and Syed Mokhtar are not centrally managed like Sime Darby and thus may not qualify as a conglomerate per se.

Tobacco companies were ‘forced’ to diversify into other industries because of the uncertainty surrounding their industry. They had to search for other sources of income in case regulators decide to impose measures which could threaten their revenues.

So, does the conglomerate model really work?

According to management expert Roshan Thiran who had worked in GE before, the key to the success of GE and Virgin is a cohesive culture and brand name that is present throughout the group. He adds, “Everyone in the group knows the vision and mission and this is inculcated very strongly and across every single segment of the group”.

My personal view is not everyone can do a Jack Welch. It would be better for businesses to be focussed in one sector, diversification into a myriad of unrelated businesses could cause the board and management to lose focus and unable to effectively manage the company.

An overly diversified company could also see profitable units subsidising the less profitable divisions. This will affect the morale of those working in the profitable divisions because they will feel their efforts (and profits) are used to support their colleagues who are not making money for the group.

That’s why I feel Sime Darby should be broken up into individual, independent companies.

Btw, our Petronas is ranked the world’s 13th most profitable company in 2009!

Two Horse Race

Most of the European football leagues are two team leagues. Some are even one team leagues. Consider these facts;

1. The top two teams in the La Liga during the 2009/10 season; Barcelona and Real Madrid amassed 99 and 96 points respectively. Third placed Valencia scored a paltry 71 points. 13 of the last 17 titles were won by those two teams.
2. Since 1989, Bayern has won 12 of the 22 Bundesliga titles. A distant second is Borussia Dortmund with 3 titles.
3. Manchester United won 11 of the last 22 English titles.
4. Olympique Lyon won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles from 2002 to 2008.
5. PSV and Ajax won 11 and 7 Eredivisie titles respectively since 1989. Often, if one is champion, the other is likely to be the runners-up.
6. Only Celtic and Rangers have won the SPL since 1985. Like the Dutch league, the two Glasgow clubs occupy the top two positions of the league most of the time.
7. Serie A has three top teams, Juventus, Internazionale and Milan sharing 82% of the last 22 titles.

With the entry of foreign money, the English league appears to be the most competitive. This season saw Man City and Spurs competing for the forth Champion’s League spot, a position previously reserved for Liverpool. Aston Villa has shown it can last the whole season unlike previously when its challenge dies off in February.

For the other leagues, I doubt the success of Wolfsburg and FC Twente will be repeated. With David Villa in their team, Barcelona is expected to walk away with the Spanish title. Maybe Real can stop them if the self proclaimed ‘Special One’ becomes manager at the Bernabeu …

Power Play

The head of a OSK Research Sdn Bhd warned that the nation faces a possible power crunch in 2017 if gas subsidies are not removed (MI).

The Malaysian government has approved the construction of a nuclear power plant which is expected to start operation by 2021 to meet the country's power demand in the future (Xinhua).

Hasn’t anyone considered solar power, given that our country is blessed with 9-10 hours of scorching sunlight almost everyday? I’m no energy/power scientist but I’m assuming that it is possible for buildings to generate enough energy from the sun to power itself and maybe even produce enough electricity to on-sell to the national grid.

Solar power is emission free and environmental friendly. It does not require the building of billion dollar Ringgit power plants, no need for clearing rainforests or diverting rivers to build dams.

Why are we not going solar?

Dangerous Words

Can anyone confirm if PM Najib actually said this?

Making a last-minute pitch in a DAP stronghold, he announced an allocation of RM5 million for flood-mitigation projects in Rejang Park.

“I want to make a deal with you. Can we have an understanding or not?” Najib asked some 1,000 people who attended a public rally at the residential area.

“The understanding is quite simple. I help you, you help me,” said the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.

“If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask the cheque to be prepared,” Najib told the all-Chinese audience.

I’m not surprised that Ibrahim Ali made this statement wrt the May 13 gathering:

“Even Tun Mahathir himself had explained that the gathering was meant to inform, and that the gathering was peaceful, just as the Chinese also organise their own gatherings.

“If they do not feel safe with Malays having such gatherings, they can leave the country,” he quipped.

There is a saying (I don’t know from where, but definitely not Malay) “We take care to put clean things into our mouths but never bother about the dirty things coming out of our mouths”. No, things coming out from our mouth does not refer to puke. To enlighten the less informed, the saying simply says we should take care of what we say.  

History in Pictures?

I doubt KL has any proper town planning. Or any vision in its town planning. Whoever does the planning for KL obviously enjoys tearing down history. They allowed Bok House to be torn down and Pudu Jail will soon only remain in pictures. The historic Subang airport is gone and now they want to transform the Sg Besi airport into yet another commercial area.

Do we need another commercial area?

What KL needs are parks and more parks and recreational open spaces. The KLCC park is not really a park, we should have a park like London’s Hyde Park or New York’s Central Park or Melbourne’s Royal Park.

KL needs her historical buildings to be preserved. Those buildings add character to the city. We cannot keep demolishing old buildings just to make a quick buck. If we keep this up, the Sultan Abdul Samad building will soon be torn down and replaced with a mall with residential and commercial components, a few hotels, and a couple of office towers.

Low Wages Better Than No Wages

After reading many arguments for and against minimum wage, I am now against the imposition of a minimum wage.

Being a proponent of a welfare-ish state, I was initially a supporter of minimum wages. I was of the opinion that every worker deserves a decent amount of pay to fund a decent lifestyle.

So, why the change of tone? Its not a policy flip flop but more of a result of being enlightened. No doubt a minimum salary will ensure those in employment are not exploited. But a minimum wage will have the effect of giving fish instead of teaching to fish*.

Why do I say that?

A minimum wage doesn’t take into account the needs of the employee. An unmarried employee would be happy with 600 but an employee with 3 school going children might find 600 far from enough.

A minimum wage could lead to the corporation deciding to automate and eliminating unskilled jobs. The only reason unskilled lowly paid workers are working is because they are cheaper than machines, once they become more expensive than machines, the corporations will have no more need for them.

A minimum wage will kill incentive and effort. A worker previously earning 300 will now earn 600 and he/she will think hey, without doubling my efforts, I’ve doubled my earnings. They will maintain the same productivity and a few years down the road demand an increase in the minimum wage; citing inflation, rising cost of living as an excuse.

So, how do we ensure workers get higher (decent) pay? There may not be a short term solution but a longer term solution would be to increase the education level of the citizens. Improve the education system and make sure the nation produces a lot of engineers, doctors and scientists who are able to develop technological solutions and automate the nation. As a result, menial jobs will be naturally eliminated. We don’t need to pay low wages to the train driver because there won’t be any train drivers. Rubbish will be channelled direct from our homes to the incarcerator, no need for garbage collectors. Road sweepers will need to be highly skilled to operate the road sweeping machine; his wages will be higher by virtue of being highly skilled. Lowly paid security guards will be a thing of the past with the invention of high tech efficient security systems.

No doubt there will still be a need for low skilled office cleaners, roofers etc. but given that the rest of the society will be very well off, paying them a little higher won’t be such a problem …

* Give a man fish, he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, he’ll eat everyday … or something like that

(un)just Rewards?

Ezam Mohd Nor and G Palanivel are senators now. And Ezam will get his Dato’ship soon.

To be a Senator, one must fulfil one or more of the following criteria;
1) rendered distinguished public service or
2) have achieved distinction in the professions, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social service or
3) are representative of racial minorities or
4) are capable of representing the interests of aborigines (Orang Asli)”?

In the case of Palanivel, being an Indian, he qualifies under (3). Maybe this is also a reward for his sacrifice during the Hulu Selangor by-election. He is the no.2 man in the main Indian party in the BN so he’s appointment is not so unexpected given their minimal representation in the lower house.

But Ezam? His recent public service was limited to the BN public when he turned against his political allies. He may have done some public service during his time as an UMNO/PKR youth head but I doubt his appointment has anything to do with that. Like Palanivel, Ezam’s appointment is again a reward for turning over, the price for his principles.

There is something wrong when politicians switch sides. What happened to all the principles, ideals they used to promote and support? If Ezam feels that Anwar is so rotten, why go to jail and Kamunting for him? It would be a different story if PKR sacked him and he is forced to find an alternative platform to further his political ideas but in his case, he was pissed with Anwar and Azmin and decided to get back to them via UMNO.

The problem with PKR is that it is filled with frustrated ex BN members. Being from the fold of BN, they tend to have some baggage which could be used against them. They also have some BN habits which does not sync with PR ideals. To effectively move forward maybe PKR should stop relying on the ex BN politicians and let the younger, cleaner “political novices” run the show. They will trip and stumble along the way but at least their ideas and principles would not be influenced by the ways of BN, and we would probable see some changes, hopefully for the better.

Mantan Perdana Menteri

Former PM Mahathir says don’t trust Zaid Ibrahim because he is a frog with strong hind legs. [read it here]
But the former PM is super friendly and buddy-buddy with the real frog Ibrahim Ali
Maybe he got the wrong Ibrahim


Maybe he’s senile


Apparently he’s Indian


Fancy that, an Indian leading UMNO, a Malay party
An Indian who supports Ibrahim Ali's Malay supremacy mumbo jumbo


An example of a muhibbah 1Malaysia?

Yellow Submarine

I’m not a defense expert nor do I know what is in the Malaysian armed forces arsenal so I won’t comment on what is needed to defend our country. Having said that, I don’t think we need a submarine. Why? Because apparently our waters are shallow, because we should not be in the habit of attacking people and when we don’t attack people, other people won’t attack us. Simple logic. Maybe we should just be neutral like Switzerland.

So, when I found this article in the Asia Sentinel, I thought … since I’m too busy to write nowadays, why don’t I just copy and paste an article from somewhere else? Hmmm

Malaysia's Submarine Scandal Surfaces in France

A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court.

Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes.

Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year.

For two years, Parisian prosecutors, led by investigating judges Francoise Besset and Jean-Christophe Hullin, have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout.

The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries. All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect.

With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get any airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors.

The Malaysian allegations revolve around the payment of €114 million to a Malaysia-based company called Perimekar, for support services surrounding the sale of the submarines. Perimekar was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was controlled by Najib's best friend, Razak Baginda, whose wife Mazalinda, a lawyer and former magistrate, was the principal shareholder, according to the French lawyers.

In the current complaint in Paris, the issue revolves around what, if anything, Razak Baginda's Perimekar company did to deserve €114 million. Zainal Abidin, the deputy defense minister at the time of the sale, told parliament that Perimekar had received the amount – 11 percent of the sale price of the submarines – for "coordination and support services." The Paris filing alleges that there were neither support nor services.

Perimekar was registered in 2001, a few months before the signing of the contracts for the sale, the Paris complaint states. The company, it said flatly, "did not have the financial resources to complete the contract." A review of the accounts in 2001 and 2002, the complaint said, "makes it an obvious fact that this corporation had absolutely no capacity, or legal means or financial ability and/or expertise to support such a contract."

"None of the directors and shareholders of Perimekar have the slightest experience in the construction, maintenance or submarine logistics," the complaint adds. "Under the terms of the contract, €114 million were related to the different stages of construction of the submarines." The apparent consideration, supposedly on the part of Perimekar, "would be per diem and Malaysian crews and accommodation costs during their training. There is therefore no link between billing steps and stages of completion of the consideration."

As Asia Sentinel reported on April 1, services for the subs are being performed by a well-connected firm called Boustead DCNS, a joint venture between BHIC Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of publicly-listed Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, and DCNS SA, a subsidiary of DCN. Boustead's Heavy Industries Division now includes Perimekar as an "associate of the Group. PSB is involved in the marketing, upgrading, maintenance and related services for the Malaysian maritime defence industry," according to Boustead's annual report.

Originally Boustead told the Malaysian Stock Exchange that the service contract was for RM600 million (US$184.1 million) for six years, or US$30.68 million annually. However, the contract later ballooned to RM270 million per year. Boustead Holdings is partly owned by the government and has close connections with UMNO.

"There are good grounds to believe that [Perimekar] was created with a single objective: arrange payment of the commission and allocate the amount between different beneficiaries including Malaysian public officials and or Malaysian or foreign intermediaries," the complaint states.

Will the Real Ibrahim Ali Stand Up?

Ibrahim Ali is known by many names, the most popular being "frog" after his habit of constantly switching political parties at every election. His latest gimmick is "Perkasa", an NGO promoting and pushing for the protection of Malay rights. As if the Malays are not protected (and pampered) enough. According to Ibrahim and Perkasa, Malays are the rightful race of this land and therefore have the rights to 2/3 of the wealth in this country, regardless of whether they worked for it or not. Basically, Ibrahim says, "I'm a Malay so give me two thirds of your money because I allowed you (the other races) to stay here." Ibrahim says the Malays must be allowed to go to university even if they don't qualify, as long as 2/3 of the university population is Malay. Ibrahim says if UMNO doesn't protect and preserve the policies that makes Malays dependant on handouts, they (UMNO) will face the wrath of PERKASA. Basically if UMNO doesn't do as Perkasa says, it will be perkosa-ed by Perkasa.

By now, it is clear that this Ibrahim Ali guy is an ultra Malay racist. But surprisingly, in the upcoming Hulu Selangor by election, he is rooting for an Indian candidate in a Malay majority constituency. So I ask, where is your Malaya for Malays, Malays comes first, Malays own this land rhetoric? How could Ibrahim Ali after all that Perkasa bullshit support an Indian candidate in a Malay majority constituency?

Seriously, who are you Ibrahim?

How Low Can You Go?

Character assassination is the most effective way to kill someone, especially if you have the national media at your disposal. It is also the easiest way to kill a person. There is even no need for C4. Section 302 of the Penal code can’t prosecute character assassins. To assassinate characters is now even easier with the advent of technology. Images can be altered, doctored to fit the assassins’ needs. News can be spread across the globe in a matter of seconds.

Zaid Ibrahim is not the first victim of such dirty tactics and he won’t be the last. Everyone has some skeletons in the closet and it can be used by your enemies (or even friends) at any time convenient to them.

So he is an alcoholic? I doubt he is. He is probably a regular consumer of alcoholic beverages, which does not necessarily make him an alcoholic. So he says he has repented. Who are we to judge whether he’s telling the truth or was he merely making a political statement. Maybe it’s best we give him the benefit of the doubt. We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt, including BN politicians.

Morals?

If Zaid’s past drinking habit is such an issue, what about Chua Soi Lek’s admission of guilt? No one is criticising MCA for allowing such a person to lead them. We do not want a so-called homo to be a minister but we are okay with a person caught on camera having sex with someone who is not his wife being considered to be a minister? We are okay with having an ambassador who is fond of pinching ladies’ buttocks? We do not prosecute a chief minister who was caught remitting millions of ringgit to the UK via a money changer. Detaining people without trial is definitely morally wrong but the BN government is defending the existence of ISA. What about taking a second wife without the consent of the first? Isn’t money politics immoral? But yet we have a convicted money politician in the state assembly!

Nobody is perfect. If we look hard enough, we would probably find hard evidence of a lot of current (and past) cabinet members who are regular drinkers, regular womanisers and are frequent visitors of gambling establishments. Are the UMNO/BN supporters so sin-free to pass judgement on Zaid?

Mengetuk dulang, paku serpih …

Financial Management 101

Talam Corporation has accumulated a huge debt of almost MYR400million to Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd, Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd and Yayasan Pendidikan Selangor in connection with several joint property development projects carried out in the last 10 years. To resolve this bad debt issue, in November 2009, the Selangor state assembly agreed to approve an additional budget of RM392 million to Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) to buy the debts of Kumpulan Talam with the state government. Prior to this, the total amount owed was never acknowledged in full or recorded with details in the accounts of the state companies.

MB Khalid said, "The previous state government has never made any efforts to collect the debts and if immediate action is not taken, the debts could be written off." He said the state government will help Talam with its development projects to enable it to pay its debts to the state government but if it fails to do so, it can no longer be able to carry out development in the state.

This move was however criticised by the now ex PKR Secretary General Salehudin Hashim, who described the move as an old trick used by crooks in the corporate sector, and wanted the state PKR to seek an answer from Khalid. Charles Hector called it a bail out of Talam. Of course the biggest critic was dentist turned MB Khir Toyo. I don’t have a high regard for this man, so when he talks business and finance it is like me talking about root canals …

By mid-April 2010, Talam has fully settled its debts to MBI. The three state subsidiaries got their money back (from the state government) and the state government got their money back from Talam. It is a win-win situation for all parties, the lenders (Selangor) get their money back and the borrowers (Talam) get to reduce their gearing ratio.

The challenge now for the PR led state government is how to use the money wisely.

I bet this fact was never reported in Utusan Malaysia. Rumour has it that the PAS led Kelantan government has been gradually reducing the state debts (debts accumulated from the previous administration) over the past 20 years. Again, this kind of positive news will never get to fill the pages of Utusan Malaysia.

A Broken Record

Bernama reported what we already know. NEAC reiterated what we already know. The Ministry of Human Resources provided figures that we sort of expected. Everyone is starting to sound like a broken record but nobody seems to want to fix the record.

“We are not developing talent and what we have is leaving,” the NEAC says.

The scary statistics I found in the Bernama report:

• The most recent assessment by the World Bank suggests that firms have become increasingly concerned about information technology (IT) skills, technical and professional skills of Malaysian workers and complaints about inadequate creativity and proficiency in the English language.
• The Department of Statistics reports that in 2007, 80 per cent of Malaysia’s workforce received education only up to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
• Data from the Ministry of Higher Education show that about a quarter of graduates from local universities remained unemployed six months upon completion of study in 2008.
• According to an estimate by the Ministry of Human Resources, some 350,000 Malaysians were working abroad, over half of which had tertiary education (2008).

What does this all say? Are our wages too low? Taxes too high? Maybe. Then again, it’s probably not just about the money, what about the big picture? The living conditions, security, standard and quality of public utilities and amenities, quality of the education system, political stability (and maturity), equitable policies etc. These are the basic needs of society.

Living conditions in KL is quite good, better than the other (two actually) cities I’ve been to (I’m not a world traveller but KL is better than one of them but no where near the other). It also depends where you stay; Bukit Damansara, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Setia EcoPark residents would probably rate their neighbourhood nine out of ten but those living in Segambut Dalam, Jinjang, Sungai Buloh, Taman Sri Muda, Batu Caves or Bandar Tun Razak DBKL flats would cringe to give even a 2 out of 10.

Guarded and gated housing areas, both legal and ad-hoc are sprouting out across the Klang Valley. Most new houses (those priced in excess of RM300k) would probably have an alarm system thrown in. if you hit a snatch thief who three minutes earlier tried to rob you, you’ll be charged for GBH; if the thief dies, it’s murder under section 302 of the penal code for you. Now, you tell me if this country is a safe place to stay in.

Public utilities and amenities? Have you seen the colour of the tap water? The condition of the drains, roads and parks? Even the roads in and around the KLCC area are in an appalling state and that’s supposed to be ‘the’ part of KL! Has anyone been on a Metrobus lately? How many times have we heard stories about cabbies fleecing passengers?

The never ending, on-going debate on the education system is obviously a consequence of the system being far from perfect. If the education system is good, there won’t be that many complaints and having forty-five 7 year olds cramped in a hot and dusty classroom doesn’t equate with quality.

I shall not comment on the state of Malaysian politics except to say that Perkasa is a very dangerous organisation.

I’m sorry for saying this but equitable policies are non-existent in this country. Hopefully the recently announced NEM will change that. But at the moment, getting top grades would not guarantee you a place in institutions of higher learning; it’s all about race. So we should not be blaming these people for wanting to work elsewhere, they are driven to that because they feel unwelcome and unappreciated at home.

So how do we develop and retain talent?

• Maybe if our policies are more equitable less people would want to leave.
• Maybe we need our wages to be higher but this has to be coupled with an increase in productivity.
• Maybe we need better town planning, with more emphasis on the comfort of pedestrians.
• Maybe we need an education system that does not encourage memorising but instead cultivate understanding.
• Maybe we need better public amenities, utilities and services.

Maybe I’m beginning to sound like a broken record …