tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post5183676297860852770..comments2023-10-29T15:18:25.355+08:00Comments on de minimis: TO ALL MALAYSIANS: HAPPY 2014!de minimishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06478671079348612565noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-77892250221289311602014-01-01T10:18:26.194+08:002014-01-01T10:18:26.194+08:00Those who come out of the woods will say in Putraj...Those who come out of the woods will say in Putrajaya we have a wonderful progress. Yet those who have seen the world will ask whether such a complex has delivered any value or strategic achievement to country and society. <br /><br />You rush to a government department at four after a hard day's work only to be reprimanded for not coming earlier and then asked to come again the following day. All it would have taken is just 11 steps with the form submitted for the officer to walk from her counter to her head's office to ink his signature that requires no decision to be made. It doesn't go through the otak that the only reason people come at four is because they have been busy the whole day and also on the understanding each office works till five. It's a long journey to and fro the place. It's also an irrationally-tolled distance to get there. And the online site does not work for all browser versions. Apparently the charter is out of sight.<br /><br />Architects have also lamented how bad has been the designs of that place. Those who know will also say how overpriced has been its construction. Those who care will grate what the oil money sunk into that place without transparency and accountability of public funds and due tender process could have been used to instead solve the financial problems of past which in turn would have averted the mess of today that the very people working there was supposed to prevent.<br /><br />A good government would have done everything right all the time. Not try to make itself more important. In this world of online interactions, it would have made itself smaller, social objective of providing jobs to public workers notwithstanding. The money so saved could have been issued as cheaper loans through proper institutions for the private sector to create more jobs for the people who now are still working for a government that has become as white an elephant as the offices from which it operates on the pretext of democratic legality, stolen to boot.<br /><br />Feeling personally good about something publicly bad is bad for feeling publicly good about something personally bad.<br /><br />http://is.gd/MBEWN7wallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17580252352785040456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-62546852741272408162014-01-01T09:56:39.809+08:002014-01-01T09:56:39.809+08:00How we look at each situation depends on our own c...How we look at each situation depends on our own circumstances.<br /><br />If we are financially settled, the juxtaposition of socalled 'modern' Malaysia of today with the socalled 'rustic' Malaysia of yesteryear will give a certain catchy feeling that soothes the mind inasmuch balms the soul. Like reaching the old coffee shop in some suburban town after hours on the road.<br /><br />But if we are furrowed with worries everyday on how to make ends meet, neither modern nor rustic will make one iota of difference. <br /><br />In fact they will only heighten the personal and unspoken dilemmas faced by households all over the land as parents and children grapple with higher prices that don't come with higher quality or quantity.<br /><br />Piratisation of toll concessions has caused today's concessionaires to reap obscene profits out of motorists long after the cronies have already recouped their costs inclusive of maintenance charges. One would have thought those who work in the precincts of Putrajaya would be the first to realize privatisation was not meant to create a group of elitist profiteers but to provide new and more efficient vehicles to socialize better services. Apparently not.<br /><br />Likewise weak financial management made a mess of the utilities providers which lost billions holding onto the tailcoats of investment bankers ever-ready to offer juicy loans above whose size blinds the recipients from the small print below until they have have to be subsidized whose reduction today is what is raising tariffs.<br /><br />In either case, the consumer suffers. In both cases combined, the suffering is magnified. Right down to the prices of other things whose manufacture and delivery depend on electricity and tolled transport.<br /><br /><br />wallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17580252352785040456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-34308416878373418372014-01-01T09:37:02.205+08:002014-01-01T09:37:02.205+08:00Now that today ushers new toll and electricity rat...Now that today ushers new toll and electricity rates, more will have to sell wares at pasar malam's. <br /><br />One can therefore conclude price hikes are good for the depressurized sandals-shoed ambience of rustic Malaysia.<br /><br />And since sandals emblematic of such a persuasively comfortable environment are also called flip-flops, one can argue that wearing them in Putrajaya must also necessarily mean a flip-flop federal administration is good for the price hikes needed for the future well-being of the citizens who happen to ply their trade at the pasar malam's of today.<br /><br />But if people have to sell things at night, it could mean they are not making enough in the day, and if people are buying things at night markets, it could mean they are trying to find cheaper alternatives, having worn out their budget for the month.<br /><br />Which could mean the happy friendly attitudinal appraisals by and of both could have been forged on the anvil of common.......suffering?<br /><br /><br />wallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17580252352785040456noreply@blogger.com