Top Five

of the developing countries

Voting By Proxy?

The Star newspaper reported today that the Election Commission is proposing to introduce proxy voting.

It chairman was quoted as saying "We are proposing new measures to increase votes although the average voter turnout is satisfactory. The average voter turnout of around 75% is satisfactory. But we would like to introduce new measures to have a higher turnout."

If the voter turnout is satisfactory and, in fact a 75% turnout is high even in developed democratic countries, why the eagerness to introduce proxy voting? Is something wrong?

And how are you going to ensure that a proxy votes according to your wish? Are there going to be laws to punish a proxy who does not vote according to your wish? How is this going to be done? Afterall, votes are supposed to be secret.

I am sure few countries, if any, in the world allow proxy voting as it is easily open to abuse and makes a mockery of a citizen's right to vote because you cannot ensure that the proxy votes according to your choice.

And sure enough, the chairman of the Election Commission was only able to cite one country, Canada allegedly, where proxy voting is allowed and even there it seems only in some provinces.

The Malaysian Election Commission is better off  looking into complaints of phantom voters and election offences than to waste precious time and the rakyat's money trying to introduce proxy voting.

Cina Bodoh Sombong?

Dear RPK, I can understand your frustration. But sometimes, you don't seem to be as wise as I thought you were.

In your recent post in Malaysia Today, you said that BN/UMNO will win the coming Tenang by-election because the cina and indian bodoh sombongs will continue to vote for them.

Dear RPK, you can't win over people by calling them names. You have to find out why people choose to vote the way they do.

Whether you like it or not, it is the Malays as a whole who have to wake up if there is to be a change, for they constitute the majority in many constituencies.

And remember, in the last general elections BN/UMNO did not win the majority of the peninsular votes. It was because of the Sabah and Sarawak votes that BN/UMNO were able to form the federal government.

Obviously a substantial number of Malays voters in peninsular Malaysia must have voted for BN/UMNO in the last GE, otherwise even with the Sabah and Sarawak votes BN/UMNO would not have the numbers to form the federal government.

Are the Malays bodoh sombong also? I think not. They must have had their own reasons, whatever these might be, to have had voted for BN/UMNO.

We have to find out the reasons and try to convince the voters why we need a change and not take the easy way out by calling them names.

So, RPK, dam your frustrations and soldier on.

Battles are not won or lost overnight.

Malaysian Politicians Say The Damnedest Thing

Move aside, Amir Muhammad (the author of the books " Malaysian Politicians Say The Darnedest Things" ).

Rumours were swirling recently, that a senior minister had raped his maid.

There were demands that the allegation be investigated

After a deafening silence, the minister came out to say that he was innocent and that he was willing to be investigated and that the rumours were all the work of the opposition in their desperate attempt to divert attention from their own problems and the ongoing sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim.

Obviously feeling some pressure, the PM himself came out to add his two cents worth.

After telling the rakyat not to prejudge the minister since the minister had said he was willing to be investigated, the PM was also quoted by online news portal Malaysia Chronicle as saying "In any case, what happened was in 2007. Why now?"

If what was reported is true, that statement must be the dumbest, damnedest thing Malaysian politicians say.

Go figure out that statement.

1. The rape did happen?
2. It happened in 2007?
3. Since it happened a few years ago, why bother?

It may even turn out to be the dumbest, damnedest statement of the year made by a Malaysian politician.

But given the history of the darnedest things Malaysian politicians say (read Amir Muhammad's books ) I won't bet my money on it.

Above Politics

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the Agong (the King) is a constitutional monarch. So are the Sultans who are the constitutional rulers of of the states.

Their roles and functions are mostly ceremonial, except where Islam and its administration are concerned.

They are above politics or are supposed to be.

By and large, this has been so.

But what happened in Perak recently where the Pakatan state government came to a premature and unceremonial end and what is happening in Selangor now following the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi by the chief secretary to the government to be the new state secretary of Selangor, clearly against the wish of the Selangor state government itself, has given rise in the minds of the people, rightly or wrongly, the question as to whether some parties are trying to use the palace for their own purposes.

This is rather unfortunate, as the rakyat have always looked to the rulers as their protectors.

    

A Case For Mr Mulder Himself?

The inquest into the death of Teoh Beng Hock (the former aide to Ean Yong Hian Wah, the state executive councillor of Selangor, following an investigation into alleged misuse of Selangor government allocations ) has come to a close and the verdict is an open one.

That is to say the coroner had found that the death was not suicide nor was it homicide but that Teoh Beng Hock had some prefall injuries and there were no evidence one way or another to conclude that the death was either suicide or homicide.

Honestly, the verdict is no more than what we jaded Malaysians have come to expect.

But of course the family of Teoh Beng Hock are not happy and they are seeking for a revision of the verdict and calling for a royal commission of inquiry into the cause of his death.

So poor Mr Teoh Beng Hock had prefall injuries after giving his statement to the Selangor branch of the MACC office on the 14th Floor of the Plaza Massalam, Shah Alam.

Then, what happened?

Then we found him dead from an alleged fall from the 5th Floor of Plaza Massalam, which was neither suicide nor homicide.

This looks like a case for Mr Mulder of the X-Files series himself!

Of course, we Malaysians and the family of the late Teoh Beng Hock would like some answers.

      

Something Funny.....

Star newspaper (4th January 2011) at page N10  "Cooking oil price stays the same for now, says Lian Hoe"

Comment: This means of course, the price will soon increase.

At page N18  "Prices of luxury items stay" and under subheadlines "They may be down in four months", which is self-explanatory.

Cooking oil without a doubt is a necessity.  By definition, luxury items are not.

The  Malaysian government is a caring government.

 

Year End

The Chinese Dang Yuan festival (22/12/2010) has come and gone.

Soon it will be Christmas.

Shopping malls, supermarkets and department stores are competing with each other to come up with the most imaginative christmas trees and decorations to attract customers.

One shopping centre even has "snowfalls".

                                               
                                                                        snow in K.L !


The Chinese believe that once you have eaten dang yuan you have become one year the older.

                                                                        dang yuan

But do we become one year the wiser?

After Christmas, the new year.

Time flies.

But what does the new year herald for us ordinary Malaysians?

For sure, more price increases.

Just recently, the Star newspapers reported that the price of a tin of evaporated milk is expected to increase by some 30 sens.

This, following so soon after the recent increase in the price of Ron 95 petrol of 5 sens per litre.

What is going to happen is both predictable and illogical.

Restaurants, mamak stalls and kopitiams will rush to assure us long-suffering consumers that they will try not to increase the price of your favourite cuppa of teh tarik.

Which promise, as we all know, is not going to be kept. And so, folks, we will just have to grind and gnash our sweet teeth to fork out an additional 10, 20 or even 30 sens per cuppa.

This is the illogical part.

The predictable part is that government will assure the public that stern action will be taken against would be profiteers who dare even to think of making a quick buck out of the impending price increase of evaporated milk.

After a few days of ho ha, everything quietens down and we are back and stuck with the familiar but nevertheless unpleasant sense of deja vu, viz, that we have gone through all this before, many times!

And stuck with the inevitable realisation that we have to tighten our already tightened-to-breaking-point belt that our kind and wise government has all this while been paternalistically enjoinig us to do to save our day!                                                                         


Q -  have you ever felt so helpless and hopeless like you are falling into a deep abyss and you cannot do anything about it as prices of goods continue to increase while your salary stagnates?

Knee-jerk Response

I am saddened by the senseless deaths of 25 Thais and 2 locals when a double-decker tour bus overturned at Cameron Highlands on its way back to Kuala Lumpur recently.

The Star newspapers reported today that an independent board of inquiry will be set up to investigate the bus crash.

This is the infamous knee-jerk approach to tackling problems that we have been adopting all these years.

We have seldom, if ever, been proactive. We only act after the fact.

A sad indictment. But true.

We want the government to be proactive in looking after the people's welfare.

We don't want the government to mouth beautiful sounding slogans lile 1Malaysia, people and performance first, when the reality may be otherwise.

After all, just a week or two ago, a prison bus plunged into a ravine in Sabah, killing 4 prison officials.

And in October of this year alone, there were 2 other bus crashes involving a total of 20 deaths and many injured!

It does not take a genuis to know that a double-decker bus is unstable because of its low center of gravity.

We should not try to emulate the famous London double-decker buses.

I believe that in London, the roads are better maintained and enforcement of the laws strict where even the Prime Minister's son or the Queen's children could and have been known to have been hauled up by the police for commiting traffic offences.

Here, even in the K.L city centre, the roads are often uneven and bumpy.

Try taking a drive along Jalan Ampang. You will be forgiven if you thought that you were taking a ride on old rickety bus because the road is that bad!

Here in Malaysia, some bus drivers, especially the inter-state bus drivers, have been known to be on drugs while driving !

What have we seriously done to resolve the problem?

Precious little, until the next tragedy when another board of  enquiry......

Ho, ho.....how nice!

I am also saddened to read of the Thai ambasssdor saying that he would leave it to the families and survivors of the bus crash as ot whether or not to sue the bus company.

Unfortunately here in Malaysia, life may not be worth very much especially if the deceased victims were not working at the time of the accident or were aged 55 and above.

The present state of the law in Malaysia is such that it has become known among the legal fraternity as the infamous 10 + 2 case! i.e Rm10k for bevereament and Rm2k for funeral expenses!

That's how much a life is worth in Malaysia sometimes!

Meanwhile, my heart grieves for the families and survivors of the bus tragedy which could have been avoided if the authorities had taken proactive steps to ensure that double-decker buses are not allowed on hilly terrains.

To the rest of us, the deaths are just stastistics.

To the families of the victims and survivors, the pain and sense of loss is real and immediate.