TwoSen

I TOOK a bus from LCCT to Ipoh on Feb 5, which is a normal working day, and the bus I took was a normal scheduled bus – not an additional bus.

I was charged an extra RM5 (from RM45 to RM50) in the bus fare.

The operator explained that the increase was due to the Chinese New Year.

Does the bus operator have permission from the relevant ministry to raise fare?

I don’t think their drivers are paid overtime on that particular day.

What is the rationale of increasing fares just because the Chinese New Year is coming?

A PASSENGER,

IPOH.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

THE Government has taken serious efforts to ban firecrackers since the past few years.

This year, the enforcement has been much better and we have to acknowledge the combined effort by the customs department and the police force, although there are still many who do not obey the law.

The public should be aware of the adverse effects of firecrackers.

There were a few reported cases of death due to toxic fumes from firecrackers in India.

Firecrackers are known to cause air pollution as well as noise pollution.

The Government should also lead by example by banning firework during all national celebrations.

PIARAPAKARAN SUBRAMANIAM,

Programme Manager,

Fomca.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

AS A Muslim, I can understand the need to re-instill the desire to establish an Islamic civilisation through Islam Hadhari, but I can’t understand the wisdom of wasting so much money on creating replicas of mosque around the world in Terengganu.

I am of the view that the money could have been better spent giving out homes to the poor and needy.

Whether it is cyrstal mosque or a date palm mosque or a set or replicas, it really makes no difference because it is totally out of reality with human needs or even tourism.

HAJI MOKHTAR STORK,

Batu Caves.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

Elected reps are servants not bosses THERE is a certain amount of power and prestige that goes along with being elected a member of parliament.

However, it is also important to remember that tied to this office are certain duties and obligations.

Integrity and commitment are the most important values politicians can bring to the public policy arena.

The political system today is wrought with the influence of special interest groups that control the system.

While the easy route is to support what the interest groups want, or political parties seek, a politician of integrity will cut across the grain for what is right for the people

Elected officials represent our interests and the best interests of the country.

Parliament is not only the most important forum for our people; it is also the last defender of the rights of all citizens.

Of late it has given the impression of no longer fulfilling this vital task.

Some politicians have begun to feel more important than the office and those they serve.

It seems loyalty to the party, not the people, is top priority.

Some act with arrogance and project a cavalier disregard for the very people who put them in office.

Some members of this august house seem to give the impression that they are bigger than the very House they sit in.

Let parliamentarians be reminded that in a real democracy, true power lies in the hands of the people. The people are the bosses; elected individuals work for them.

NOEL F. D’OLIVEIRO,

Ipoh.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

I REFER to letter “Let parents decide what is best for their children” (Feb 9). Usually, when the Censorship Board is mentioned, one would hear stories about how the board is overzealous in getting the job done. I, for one, quite agree.

I am a very much independent person, and this sometimes causes people to think I am rebellious.

However, my opinion of the Censorship Board turned 360° lately.

Firstly, it was the movie Babel. At the end of the movie, I was confronted with full frontal nudity of a teenage girl who was suffering from depression after the death of her mother.

My boyfriend, who wasn’t interested with the storyline of how people around the world can be connected to each other, suddenly sat up and took notice.

The scene lasted longer than I had hoped and while I appreciated the movie for its “intelligence”, I did not feel good leaving the cinema.

Walking through the tunnel behind the cinemas with guys all around me talking about the nude teenager made me cringe.

Three hours of wonderful acting and all you hear is how little pubic hair the girl had!

Then it was the movie Beowulf. The cinema was filled with awe and hushed whispers when Angelina Jolie appeared. Yes, she’s beautiful. And yes, its animated.

But to those around me, seeing Angelina Jolie in that movie was as near as you can get seeing her nude on the big screen.

Those two incidents happened sometime back, and I nearly forgot all about them till two days ago when my friend confided something hilarious to me.

She had gone to see the movie American Gangster, and told me how Denzel Washington was superb in his role. She felt the movie was worthy to be watched on the big screen.

“But,” she said “Don’t be surprised that your eyes stop focusing on Denzel in the forefront of the screen during scenes in the brothel.”

Because it seems that in the background you can see topless prostitutes walking around!

This friend of mine had also watched Unrest recently, and was baffled during the scene which showed the corpses. They were in the huge tank, floating naked.

Yes, she saw the same thing she saw in American Gangster, only this time it was corpses.

Even during autopsies, when the actors had to empty the rib cage, you see them pushing it here and there. My friend and I had a good laugh over these “bloopers.”

That’s when I told her to be wary of the movie Cloverfield.

Seeing her confusion, I explained that it makes people sick.

My boyfriend left the cinema 30 minutes into the movie to go to the toilet, citing headache.

As the movie continued, he became much worse till he had to close his eyes.

He didn’t want to leave, as he heard that the movie was only 75 minutes long, meaning it would end shortly.

I regretted not leaving the cinema when his condition worsened because right after we reached the car park, he vomited a bit. He hurled again when we reached my house.

The next morning at work, I spoke of my excitement of having watched Cloverfield when a colleague confessed that she vomited right after leaving the cinema, and so did a few girls in the toilet.

When I related my story, my other colleagues were surprised. None of us had heard about it making you sick, even when reading reviews of it in the papers.

We all knew that “Rambo” was off limits to under-18s, even under adult supervision due to violence because it was printed on the movie posters itself. But nothing about Cloverfield.

Maybe somewhere, it is written that Cloverfield makes you sick but the warning should have been prominent.

Yes, the Censor Board can be overzealous in doing its job. You can find people kissing in public but it gets chopped off right in the thick of a romantic scene onscreen.

You can also hear bus conductors swearing their heads off but onscreen, all you hear are silent squirts in between the frantic dialog.

If that’s the case, how is it that I have not seen a pair of breasts in public, except on nude mannequins, and yet I saw them in the cinemas? And pubic hair?

CELESTE,

Ampang, Selangor.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

“IT’S so cruel” that is my immediate reaction to the barbaric killing of minke whales in the southern oceans, what more if it is under the guise of scientific research.

I find it totally abhorrent the images both in the electronic and print media showing an adult minke whale and a calf thrashing in their death throes after being blasted by harpoons and being dragged on board the Japanese processing ship.

As more and more campaigners around the world are stating that the Japanese are not killing the whale for research, but for dinner plates, it is necessary, in my view, for an International Tribunal to deliberate and determine claims that the Japanese are not killing whales for scientific research.

What disturbs me most is an agency report that during the Antarctic summer, Japan plans to slaughter almost 1,000 minke and fin whales, on top of 7,000 An-tarctic minkes killed over the past 20 years.

I wish to applaud the Aus-tralian Government and in particular its Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd for sending a customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking, to shadow the Japanese whaling fleet in icy waters near the Antarctica and taking shots of the killing of the minke whales in a cruel way.

I am lending my voice of support to the Australian Govern-ment with the hope that it will be able to gather more evidence against Japan’s annual whaling programme and refer it to an international forum which will seek to bring an end to this barbaric killing of minke whales.

What is also interesting to note is that not all Japanese are in favour of whale hunting as ac-cording to the Asahi newspaper 21% of respondents said they were opposed to it.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE,

Kuala Lumpur.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

I REFER to Ganendra Inparajah’s letter “Let Parents decide what is best for their children” (The Star, Feb 9).

In the letter, she claims that she is an overseas professional who could not take her young relatives to watch a movie due to the 18PL rating of the movie.

I would like to point out that even overseas, movies are rated by each country’s censorship board.

For example, in the US, NC17 rated movies mean that a child under 17 years of age is not allowed, even with parental or adult supervision.

One should be able to appreciate the fact that laws and regulations differ from country to country.

If Ganendra is a law-abiding professional in the country she is working in, then it should not be a problem for her to follow the rules here.

In this case, 18PL movies are strictly for person aged 18 and over only, and thus her young relatives are not allowed to view the movie at the cinema.

I am writing not to discuss how our Censorship Board executes their duties.

Instead, I would like to address Ganendra’s seeming lack of ability to appreciate the fact that things are done differently in different places.

Being a professional overseas does not make her above the law when she comes back to Malaysia, her birthplace.

As for whether the authority has the moral authority to overrule her in deciding what’s best for her children.

Perhaps not. But in this case, the Censorship Board does have the responsibility and the authority as mandated by the Government to not allow young children watch the movie.

NIK SHAZWAN NIK AZAM,

Kuala Lumpur.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

WE ARE qualified pharmacists mainly from India who have not been able to get registered with the Pharmacy Board of Malaysia.

Many, if not all of us, are nearing retirement and it is close to 25 years that our appeal to the Pharmacy Board has not been heard.

The fact that most of us were from un-recognised albeit good standing Indian universities and the abolishment of the assessment exam at USM, Malaysia caught us off-guard and eventually left us in this un-favourable circumstances.

I would like to appeal to the Health Ministry to give us a fair chance in making ourselves worthy of our education and profession.

KATHERESAN,

Klang, Selangor.

Source: The Star – February 12, 2008

THE relevant ministries, teachers and parents must appreciate and take note of the remarks made by Petaling Jaya police chief Assistant Commissioner Arjunaidi Mohamed when he said: “The tidak apa attitude should stop. Take the safety of your children seriously.”

He was expressing his concern over the lack of safety at schools and kindergartens.

Police observed that schools did not switch on the lights in the compound early in the morning when the children started arriving.

On a similar note, a 6-year-old girl from a kindergarten was allowed to leave the premises and go to a classmate’s house without questions asked, causing panic and anxiety for the parents (”Parents, schools still rash about child safety” — NST, Feb 9).

Security at schools and kindergartens must be tightened. Security guards must be hired in sufficient numbers and trained to ensure that school compounds and buildings are safe at all times.

They must look out for undesirable elements before students start arriving at school.

As for kindergartens, matters are less complex: teachers must be at the gate to receive the children in the morning and hand them over to the parents when the session is over.

I am positive that in spite of mounting work pressure, the police are willing to meet parties concerned to discuss security and safety-related matters, and perhaps draft security and safety instructions as a guidance.

W.M. RAMLI, Hulu Klang

Source: NST – February 12, 2008

HOW uncomfortable one feels when there is a power failure or water-supply cut, even if it is for a short while.

In this case, financial or property loss does not occur. But that doesn’t keep one from grumbling about the inconvenience.

Just imagine the magnitude of mental, physical and financial suffering experienced by flood victims.

The floods last year in several states had all the elements of fear, anxiety, discomfort and inconvenience. Then there was the loss of income, property and the lives of loved ones.

Government agencies were doing everything to help those affected.

Despite this, I feel the public could also help the victims.

Over the years, I had suggested that a permanent relief fund be set up to help people affected by floods, fires and earthquakes (”Time for a permanent relief fund” — NST, Feb 4, 2005, and “Set up fund on permanent basis” — NST, Jan 12, 2007) .

Malaysia has 27 million people.

Arithmetically, a minimum sum of RM27 million can be collected monthly if a person contributes RM1.

Managing the fund is an exercise in building national integration as it shows that Malaysians will always be thinking of fellow Malaysians.

ABDUL AZIZ SAAD, Shah Alam

Source: NST – February 12, 2008