Malaysian Buses

A bus stuck right in the middle of a busy junction.

This is not an uncommon sight. Okay, not all buses make such a dramatic statement but this is typical of the Malaysian transportation industry. They run their vehicles - buses and lorries included - right to the ground. 

Unlike the Europeans, Malaysians dont really believe in preventive maintenance. We believe in maintenance only when the vehicle breaks down - not before that. This is just one of the many cases where buses fail. I have seen and read numerous stories where the long haul buses break down in the middle of the night, forcing passengers to wait in the dark for another bus, which usually takes around 1~2 hours to arrive. This is okay if it was a full load but what about those buses that only carry a few people. Imagine your daughter having to wait for a replacement bus in the middle of nowhere at midnight.

The bus industry complain that the fares, which are government controlled, are too low. The Malaysian government controls everything, to the point where competition is stifled, just so that the poor can survive. This is good. But the government should also allow new breed of buses that charge more for better service. The poor can still rely on the government subsidized buses while those who can afford can take the more expensive buses.

But the government will not do that because most people will take the new buses, if these buses can provide prompt, clean and fast service, and the government subsidized bus company will fail, as it always has been.

Once upon a time, there were the pink mini buses that were run mainly by the Chinese. While some of these bus drivers and conductors ran the roads like thugs, atleast things were moving - people got to where they wanted to, quickly and relatively safely. But once the government took control of everything, Malaysia slowed down.

And yet the government wonders why people use cars to get to work. Duh!

We have great trains and buses - but their all un-integrated. We have to literally come out of the train station to get to our connecting train. Go figure.

Why Are There Moron Drivers Like This One?

Why are there such stupid drivers like this moron lady on Jalan Kuching this morning?

She was going for a stroll this morning on the fast lane, busy on the handphone! Come on - you would think that such people are atleast educated enough to know that if you're on the fast lane, you drive fast. There were no cars in fron of her. The least she could do was to go to the middle lane and allow the fast moving cars to speed ahead.

But NO! She had to hog the fast lane  to everyone elses inconvenience. It's a wonder how people like these go through life - they must be bothersome to everyone they mix with.

I am done with today's ranting, what next? :)

Malaysia Down In The Drains

This is an excellent article by Farish Noor on how Malaysians are growing further and further apart, despite the government claiming that we're a united nation.

I wish that we're going closer but we arent.

15 years ago, before I went to the US to study, I could shake hands with my Malay female school mates. Coming back home after my 5 year course, I was so surprised to find out that I cant shake hands with them anymore. Apparently, Muslim women cannot shake the hands of non-Muslim men. Maybe its because someone becomes horny. I am fairly sure its not the non-Muslims.

Some blame it on Tun Mahathir. They say he was the cause of all this rotting in our country.

I dont know who is at fault. All I know is my country is going down the drain.

Malaysia will never grow as a developed country. Bickering by the majority narrow minded people is bringing this country to the dark ages.

Do A Little More...

"Do a little more than you're paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends."
-- Art Linkletter

Creating Man From a Petri Dish

We can now create man solely in the confines of a science lab. 

With the help of stem cells, scientist can now produce healthy sperms.

Hmm... I guess this is the start of the Amazon Women rule where man becomes secondary.

Joe Jackson - A Man After Fame

Joe Jackson, the father of the late superstar Michael Jackson, is lining up Michael Jackson's three young children to tour the country as the Jackson 3.

No wonder Michael Jackson hates his father so much. And no wonder he put his loving mother as the guardian of this children.

While credit should be given to Joe Jackson for making Michael famous, the lost childhood may have cost Michael his life.

How to Filter Through the Massive SPAM that comes through your Jaring and Streamyx Emails

I just found the perfect cure to all the SPAM message that comes through daily from my Jaring and Streamy emails - just run them through Gmail!

Gmail's spam filter is very, very good. Now I dont have to weed through a thousand spam emails per day.

Just go to your Account Settings in Gmail and add in your other email accounts. Gmail even offers the capability of sending emails through the other accounts. This helps when you have to be mobile. Now I can check my Jaring and Streamyx email from anywhere I wish, all through one interface.

Bye, Bye SPAMMY!!

Would You Get Upset at These Cleavages?

Would you get upset at work if your female colleague comes to work dressed in this attire?

I wouldnt!

But apparently South Korean men do!

Almost three-quarters of South Korean male office workers feel uncomfortable when female colleagues show too much leg or cleavage in the workplace, a survey has revealed. A poll of 1,254 employees by the job portal site CareerNet found that 74 percent of men felt upset with the attire of their female co-workers.

Would you get upset or distracted at work?

 

How To Get a High Salary in Malaysia

The opportunity for high salaried jobs remains high after the Malaysia's ruling Cabinet reversed its decision to teach Mathematics and Science subjects from English to Bahasa Malaysia.

This provide more opportunities for the Chinese and Indians to be employed with MNC's requiring people to be proficient in English.

Well done Malaysia! For a while there I thought that my children will have to compete with Malays who will be good in English!


<START OF QUOTE>
KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has decided that the medium of instruction for Maths and Science will revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards.

The reversal of the Teaching of Math and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be done in stages, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday.

He however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language.

English literature will be re-introduced, as will subjects on grammar and composition.

Beginning 2012, students in Year One and Year Four in primary schools, and Form One and Form Four in secondary schools, will learn Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.

The change will not affect those in Form Six and Matriculation.

The two subjects will be taught in two languages until 2014 for other students, he said.

"The gap between rural and urban students has widened since PPSMI started.

"Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English," he said, explaining the Government's decision to revert to the old system.

On efforts to emphasise the learning of English, the number of English teachers would be increased by 13,933 — retirees would be hired, as well as foreigners if need be.

Primary schools will also increase English classes by 90 minutes a week.

There have been calls from various groups for the policy to revert to before 2003, when the subjects were taught in Bahasa Malaysia in national schools, and either in Chinese or Tamil in national-type schools.

The issue has seen a rare alliance between Malay and Chinese educationists, who are against the switch, although there are also calls by many parents and entrepreneurs for English to be maintained.

<END OF QUOTE>

Google to Develop Own Computer Operating System

After the last post, Google heard my rambling and quickly said that it will have its own PC-based operating system soon, based on the slow Chrome browser.

Well done Google, its time someone applied the fundamental rule of Business 101 - money goes to those who offer superior servies.

Why We Should Punish Microsoft by Using Pirated Copies of Windows

Why?

Ask someone who has paid a premium to buy Windows Vista Ultimate and if he/she doesnt slap you, they will tell you about how Microsoft cheated them, promising them so much more if they were to get the Vista Ultimate version of the software. And what did they get? Nothing much!

Read this article and you will find out why exactly Microsoft created such a farce with Vista that they had to bring out Windows 7 in order to recoup the money they have been losing!

Basically, Microsoft conned the buyers of Windows Vista Ultimate big time. You would expect Microsoft to be humble enough to give these Ultimate users a discount to Windows 7 but NO, Windows Vista Premium (the equivalent to Vista Ultimate) is even more expensive! Talk about hitting someone when their down!

But how can you punish Microsoft. After all, you rely on their operating system and softwares. And yet, do they care about you? They are more concerned about increasing their revenue after their blunder with Vista. They couldnt care less about you because they know you're forced to buy their software anyway - you're trapped.

Unless you opt for the illegal version of Windows. This is the only way to punish Microsoft so that it will feel the pain. I hope they will feel enough pain to realize that we're not stupid.

Read PCMag's article.

Firefox Over Chrome

While Google can toot its Chrome as being the faster browser, I tried it and now am back with Firefox.

Tthis article supports my view that Firefox seems to be the better browser. If you're not sure, trying opening up 11 tabs in Chrome and in firefox and see which one becomes sluggish.

Being a die-hard Google supporter, I was one of the first to download Chrome when it was first launched and used it constantly until about a week ago when I decided that enough is enough - Chrome tends to not display pages when it runs out of memory - all opened tabs become white, blank pages. And it becomes very sluggish.

So, good bye Chrome and welcome back Firefox!

Latest Public Scam/Threat in Malaysia

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I drove to Maybank Seapark branch PJ last Friday evening at about 5.30pm, 29May09.  I was pleased to find a vacant bay just outside the bank.  I parked my car and went to do some banking at the machines, then I walked cross to Watson to get some toiletries.  I came back to my car and noticed that the front right tyre was almost flat.  Immediately I drove to the tyre shop nearby, which is about 100m away.

I told the shop keeper I had a flat tyre.  His prompt response: "Did you go to the bank?"  He told me a few similar cases happened.  It was a clean cut on the side of the tyre, about 1 cm long.  

I guess these evil-doers' tactic was to follow my car (if I had not noticed the flat tyre) until I could not go further with the flat tyre.  Then they would either rob me on the spot or force me to go back to the bank to withdraw money for them.  

This reminded me of another time when I also parked in front of a bank in Uptown, Damansara Utama.  I did not go to the bank that day.  I had lunch with a friend near the bank. I sent her back to Taman Tun and came back home.  One of the tyres was flat.  There was a brand new nail stuck to the tyre.  I suppose that evil person did not follow us as he noticed we did not go to the bank.

Please be extremely careful when you go to the bank.  DON'T PARK NEAR THE BANK YOU ARE GOING TO!!!  You don't know who is watching you!!!

I thank God for His protection.

Regards,

Tharani

Have Malaysians Become This In-Considerate?

This article was taken from a Star letter from a reader:

Foreigners, not M'sians, to the rescue

I WAS in KLCC with a friend on June 30 and we went to watch a movie which finished at 11.20pm. We then made our way to the car park.

At the Autopay station the bill came to RM8.

It didn't hit me yet that the Autopay machines does not accept RM50 notes.

We started asking people nearby if they had change. All the Malaysians approached said they did not have change and just left us there.

We then approached this foreign couple (Indian nationals).

The husband ever so pleasantly asked us the amount we needed to pay.

When we told him RM8, he took out a RM10 note and gave it to us!

His exact words were: "I've been in the same situation before and I know how it feels. Just take it."

To the kind couple, thank you so much.

K.K.,
Seremban.

PKR Self Destructing?

Is the Pakatan Rakyat (PKR) coalition self destructing?

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/1/nation/20090701190829&sec=nation