Whenever there is an economic slowdown, the public will clamour for the reduction of the government's spending. pay cut for the government servants. However, government servants are not foc workers of the rakyat. People have to understand that. They deserve to be paid for their service. Similarly with other employees, they deserve their share of salary when they had put in a corresponding amount of work. If the public thinks that those who work in the government service is quasi volunteer, please think again. The public service absorbed officers into the service based on merit and they should be paid their rightful share. If the government wants to entice talents, be prepared to offer a good incentive/benefit package. If the public wants cheap service, they will get cheap labour. Those who are good will not stay in the service, for their salary does not go hand in hand with their performance. And the service will end up with those who are substandard (no offence) and please, by then, do not complaint of ineffciencies. For the price the public demand the government servants to be paid, only the nincompoop stays on.
Seriously... Please do not even think about reversing brain drain when this attitude remains.
The value for money principles should be etched in everbody's mind that cheap things are usually not good things. Cheap price, cheap service. That is the rule of the world. If the public wants pay cut for government servants during this economic downturn, the better ones will surely leave, (people are leaving anyways as the benefits as a government servants are but mere pittance) and those who have no choice but to stay will feel so exploited that this will bound to be reflected in their service.
Reservation: I do think that the people elected high rank executives msut have limited expense paid overseas trip and this privilege shall not be abused on behalf of the people's money. Will this perk enables them to work better? I am thinking in line of the General Manager of some MNC or very established firms. As all the rakyat wants is a value-for-money administration. High-cost good service, in turn good economy, people will not mind; High-cost bad service, in turn economic recessionand uncontrollable inflation etc, people will be angry.
Anyways, I think that the public service should be more transparent as the rakyat, who are akin to the shareholders of a company. They should be enlightened on how the company is operated and where their money go. And if the government has an AGM each year, and be made accountable to the policies they made, perhaps dissatisfaction of the people will not be as fiery as when they were left groping in the dark.
How ever, deep down inside, I wish we have a group of leaders who are able to lead, who are knowledegable, who have passion for the people, in the context of their welfare and not how much money they will put in their pockets. They should be a voracious reader. They should have a thirst for knowledge that is difficult to quench. They should go in time with the dynamic changes of the societies, and be ready to learn. Listen and learn.
I found that our current adminsitration lack knoledge and stance. irresponsible in coming out with policies and foolhardy in their implementation. Everything was done in an ad hoc manner. Running a country is not similar to building sand castles, a person or persons who lead a country should not see themselves in the shoes of a child who build sand castles. A child can build up an enormous castle one instance and ruin it the next instant; a country's leader can not, must not, should not. Unfortunately, that is what the leaders are doing now. Reversing policies in a blink of an eye, clearly reflects the manner these polices are come out with. Improperly thought out, with scant attention given to the consequence and its viability, ill prepared, seriously misinformed. The cabinet members play around with policy making, building their sand castles in the air in their nicely air-conditioned room and plush sofas, while drinking superb grade teh tarik. They fiddles around with decision making, adopting a test-drive approach to the implementation of policies they made and even have the guts to tell the nation that they took an excruciating 4 hours in coming out with a nation saving plan.
Wow.
I have a feeling that I am in a scene from 'Honey I Blow Up the Kid'. The big baby is so big that he creats havoc up there while poor us who can not do anything, but stay on the ground, watching in horror.
Somebody quick, give me the machine to deflate the baby (ego).
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Fuel Hike
This is an interesting article I obtained from a group chatroom which I would like to share with all. I personally think that the writer has a point. However, I conceded that fuel hike is inevitable. The most important thing is where will the amount of money spent on subsidies will be spent on? Public transport? Most unlikely because as a consequent of the fuel hike, bus fares increased radically. To cite an example, A ticket for a trip from KL to Alor Star was sold at a whopping RM40!
The increased fuel price is actually a good thing because it spurs the public to be more thrifty with petrol and cut down on unnecessary usage. However, for the middle working class (and below) who has to commute to work, the effect of the hike is debilitating, exacerbated by the lack of a good public transport system. Perhaps the government should address this issue directly, and with urgency?
As to the use of electricity, shouldn't us, the people, corporate bodies, S&T companies and the government work hand in hand in introducing alternative energy in view of the unsustainable fuel consumption in the generation of electricity whereby 45% of electricity generated was from petrol? Malaysia was endowed with ample sunlight, shouldn't we make good use of what mother nature blesses us with? Drawing example from European countries, their use of alternative energies are something which we should emulate.
We are going through a rough patch of time, especially when the aftermath of the petrol hike manifested itself into inflation and horror of horror, economic recession. Apart from incorporating eco-friendly and energy saving practises into our daily lives, we should be more proactive in advocating for radical changes in all areas, be it the power generation and energy consumption system, or simply, a mojor revamp of the transportation system.
Anyways, this is the article I was talking about. Please enjoy.
"This is the stupidest decision I have ever known in my entire life.
It shows the low calibre of the people in our Badawi's Cabinet.
1.A large number of those two cannot afford motorcycles and small cars take buses to go to work. When petrol price increases, it is a foregone conclusion that the bus owners will increase the fares. Instead of helping the poor, this category of people will be hit by a double whammy – increased bus fares and increase in prices of food, goods and services and everything else!
2.A new small car costs much more than a second hand car. For example, a small new 850cc Kancil cost $27,000 can carry about 4 persons albeit with some difficulty but a second hand 2500cc Volvo 850 costs about $15,000 could carry goods and 5-6 people easily without problem. In fact, we do find a lot of poor kampong folks driving big, old but cheap continental cars/vans/jeeps because it is more suitable for carrying farm produce as well for transporting their large families. Again they will be hit by a double whammy - increase in price of petrol and everything else!
3.In a poor family of 10 people, only one can afford a small car which is used to make 2 trips to transport everybody. Only one will receive a small petrol payment (for one trip) and the other 9 members will have to bear the increased prices of petrol (for 2nd trip), food and everything else.
4.The huge increase in price of petrol will cause a chain reaction on the increase in prices of other goods and services. Whatever small amounts received by the motorcyclist and small car owners will be largely negated by the more than disproportionate increase in prices of goods and services.
5.Which stupid idiot equates rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Robert Kuok's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250!
6.In Malaysia , the heavier burden is caused by cost of travelling to work. The cost of travelling will have to include:
1. toll charges,
2. amortisation of the vehicle's cost over the economic useful life of the vehicle, or, for those who have obtained loan financing, the monthly loan repayments,
3. the annual vehicle maintenance cost (tyres, brake pads, engine oil, spark plugs, etc)
4. road tax,
5. Parking; and
6. petrol
If you analyse above carefully a huge chunk of the expenses goes to car amortisation cost and toll charges. Everyone who has travelled overseas knows for a fact that Malaysia has one of the highest numbers of tolls in the country and very high excise duties on cars.
Take a real life example of a typical average worker in Malaysia earning a take home pay after deducting EPF of RM 2,000 a month. He drives a small 850cc Kancil (cost RM27,000) and travels to and from work each day from his home in Cheras averaging about 40 km.
His typical monthly travelling cost is: Amortisation of car for 10 years ($27,000/10/ 12)………….$225
Petrol (based on current price)……………………………………$200
Maintenance of car…………………………………………… ….……..$100
Road Tax ($50/ 12)…………………………………………… ……………….$4
Parking ……………………………………………… ………….………………$90
Total Travelling Cost per Month……………………………………$619
Percentage of Travelling Cost to Take-Home Pay………...31%
It simply does not make sense that the use of vehicle for travelling to work to earn revenue for the country would be a whopping 31% of his take home pay for a country that is a net exporter of oil. That does not even include his payment for the increased price of petrol and monthly expenditure for food, housing loan, medical expenses, children schooling expenses, etc, which are certain to increase if the prices of petrol increase. It makes stupid sense to make a small amount of cash repayments to a small portion of the citizens but the cost of tolls, utilities, food, goods and services keep on escalating. I don't know whether they are aware that not all registered owners are the actual users of the vehicle and how the repayments could go to the actual persons intended.
This way of abrupt petrol price increase would be disastrous to the nation and once the negative chain reactions (stock market slow down, run away inflation, economic slowdown, corporate under-budgets, etc) happen, the nation might not recover from it for a long time. It is haphazard decision hastily decided by a low calibre Badawi cabinet.
On TV3 Badawi prided that the cabinet took 4 long hours to deliberate on the issue! Only 4 hours of deliberation for such an important issue? An important decision of this nature which has a rippling effect on the whole nation should be studied by a competent team of economist, academicians and thinkers for months - not by shallow thinking cabinet ministers in 4 hours!
The present BN regime has hoodwinked the citizens long enough by just comparing the petrol price with selective non-oil producing countries without taking into consideration the related travelling cost and the cost of living!
* Logic will tell you that a fisherman cannot have a same cost of fish as his neighbour who is a farmer!
PS: TNB tariff up 18% from 1st July....syiok lah!"
The increased fuel price is actually a good thing because it spurs the public to be more thrifty with petrol and cut down on unnecessary usage. However, for the middle working class (and below) who has to commute to work, the effect of the hike is debilitating, exacerbated by the lack of a good public transport system. Perhaps the government should address this issue directly, and with urgency?
As to the use of electricity, shouldn't us, the people, corporate bodies, S&T companies and the government work hand in hand in introducing alternative energy in view of the unsustainable fuel consumption in the generation of electricity whereby 45% of electricity generated was from petrol? Malaysia was endowed with ample sunlight, shouldn't we make good use of what mother nature blesses us with? Drawing example from European countries, their use of alternative energies are something which we should emulate.
We are going through a rough patch of time, especially when the aftermath of the petrol hike manifested itself into inflation and horror of horror, economic recession. Apart from incorporating eco-friendly and energy saving practises into our daily lives, we should be more proactive in advocating for radical changes in all areas, be it the power generation and energy consumption system, or simply, a mojor revamp of the transportation system.
Anyways, this is the article I was talking about. Please enjoy.
"This is the stupidest decision I have ever known in my entire life.
It shows the low calibre of the people in our Badawi's Cabinet.
1.A large number of those two cannot afford motorcycles and small cars take buses to go to work. When petrol price increases, it is a foregone conclusion that the bus owners will increase the fares. Instead of helping the poor, this category of people will be hit by a double whammy – increased bus fares and increase in prices of food, goods and services and everything else!
2.A new small car costs much more than a second hand car. For example, a small new 850cc Kancil cost $27,000 can carry about 4 persons albeit with some difficulty but a second hand 2500cc Volvo 850 costs about $15,000 could carry goods and 5-6 people easily without problem. In fact, we do find a lot of poor kampong folks driving big, old but cheap continental cars/vans/jeeps because it is more suitable for carrying farm produce as well for transporting their large families. Again they will be hit by a double whammy - increase in price of petrol and everything else!
3.In a poor family of 10 people, only one can afford a small car which is used to make 2 trips to transport everybody. Only one will receive a small petrol payment (for one trip) and the other 9 members will have to bear the increased prices of petrol (for 2nd trip), food and everything else.
4.The huge increase in price of petrol will cause a chain reaction on the increase in prices of other goods and services. Whatever small amounts received by the motorcyclist and small car owners will be largely negated by the more than disproportionate increase in prices of goods and services.
5.Which stupid idiot equates rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Robert Kuok's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250!
6.In Malaysia , the heavier burden is caused by cost of travelling to work. The cost of travelling will have to include:
1. toll charges,
2. amortisation of the vehicle's cost over the economic useful life of the vehicle, or, for those who have obtained loan financing, the monthly loan repayments,
3. the annual vehicle maintenance cost (tyres, brake pads, engine oil, spark plugs, etc)
4. road tax,
5. Parking; and
6. petrol
If you analyse above carefully a huge chunk of the expenses goes to car amortisation cost and toll charges. Everyone who has travelled overseas knows for a fact that Malaysia has one of the highest numbers of tolls in the country and very high excise duties on cars.
Take a real life example of a typical average worker in Malaysia earning a take home pay after deducting EPF of RM 2,000 a month. He drives a small 850cc Kancil (cost RM27,000) and travels to and from work each day from his home in Cheras averaging about 40 km.
His typical monthly travelling cost is: Amortisation of car for 10 years ($27,000/10/ 12)………….$225
Petrol (based on current price)……………………………………$200
Maintenance of car…………………………………………… ….……..$100
Road Tax ($50/ 12)…………………………………………… ……………….$4
Parking ……………………………………………… ………….………………$90
Total Travelling Cost per Month……………………………………$619
Percentage of Travelling Cost to Take-Home Pay………...31%
It simply does not make sense that the use of vehicle for travelling to work to earn revenue for the country would be a whopping 31% of his take home pay for a country that is a net exporter of oil. That does not even include his payment for the increased price of petrol and monthly expenditure for food, housing loan, medical expenses, children schooling expenses, etc, which are certain to increase if the prices of petrol increase. It makes stupid sense to make a small amount of cash repayments to a small portion of the citizens but the cost of tolls, utilities, food, goods and services keep on escalating. I don't know whether they are aware that not all registered owners are the actual users of the vehicle and how the repayments could go to the actual persons intended.
This way of abrupt petrol price increase would be disastrous to the nation and once the negative chain reactions (stock market slow down, run away inflation, economic slowdown, corporate under-budgets, etc) happen, the nation might not recover from it for a long time. It is haphazard decision hastily decided by a low calibre Badawi cabinet.
On TV3 Badawi prided that the cabinet took 4 long hours to deliberate on the issue! Only 4 hours of deliberation for such an important issue? An important decision of this nature which has a rippling effect on the whole nation should be studied by a competent team of economist, academicians and thinkers for months - not by shallow thinking cabinet ministers in 4 hours!
The present BN regime has hoodwinked the citizens long enough by just comparing the petrol price with selective non-oil producing countries without taking into consideration the related travelling cost and the cost of living!
* Logic will tell you that a fisherman cannot have a same cost of fish as his neighbour who is a farmer!
PS: TNB tariff up 18% from 1st July....syiok lah!"
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Realisation
I have been an absent minded person throughout my whole life and there are various instances that reminds me the fact that I am a scatter brain.I have to learn to be mindful of what I am doing and what I have done so that I do not make a blunder of everything I do.
First lesson of being mindful: confirm everything TWICE before we press any button (or submit any work assignments). There might be mistakes which might be fatal to whatever we need to achieve.
Lesson two: Do not be dependent of others to finish off your responsibilities or work, it will back fired. The other person who was forced to shoulder that responsibilities might not be willing, and he/she will definitely pay scant attention to what they doing. There is a high possibilities that we will end up having the job unfinished or worst still, defective.
Lesson three: Do not ever blow up. Always keep ourselves cool, calm and collected, in the face of disaster.
I am going to dip my head in ice.
First lesson of being mindful: confirm everything TWICE before we press any button (or submit any work assignments). There might be mistakes which might be fatal to whatever we need to achieve.
Lesson two: Do not be dependent of others to finish off your responsibilities or work, it will back fired. The other person who was forced to shoulder that responsibilities might not be willing, and he/she will definitely pay scant attention to what they doing. There is a high possibilities that we will end up having the job unfinished or worst still, defective.
Lesson three: Do not ever blow up. Always keep ourselves cool, calm and collected, in the face of disaster.
I am going to dip my head in ice.
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