TwoSen

IT IS heartening to read that the Election Commission will introduce indelible ink to ensure no one can vote twice in the forthcoming general election.

However, there is still the nagging issue of secrecy of votes as guaranteed by the Constitution. I once objected when the polling clerk noted my IC number on the polling ticket butt in pencil.

She said she was directed to do so. That was when I lost faith in the system. I hope that the EC can do away with this practice to ensure our votes are really secret.

DATUK MOHD HANAFIAH OMAR,
Kuala Lumpur.

Source: The Star – February 9, 2008

THE general election is in the air. Already we are witnessing various political parties, especially those from Barisan Nasional, beginning to set up their booths and operation rooms’ across the country.

Soon, as the D-day approaches with the PM announcing the dissolution of parliament, we can expect all the political parties to shift into overdrive as they fill every nook and corner with their party flags, buntings, banners and posters.

Every lamppost and even traffic lights, culverts, and trees may eventually not be spared.

All politicians and their respective parties must be reminded to take responsibility in ensuring that all these election paraphernalia are taken off within the week after the conclusion of the elections.

In past general elections, many of these pin-ups and banners were not removed but left to the elements of nature to wear off, thus creating terrible eyesores and adding to the rubbish across the nation.

In fact, despite calls by senior politicians and many reminders, we would still see that some divisions were showing total disregard to clean up the mess.

Perhaps this year the Govern-ment should exercise greater responsibility by punishing those who fail to clean up after the elections.

Rather than blaming each other, each party head should be held responsible for any failure anywhere in the country.

Imposing compulsory community service on those who fail to clean up might just do the trick in getting politicians to walk-the-talk.

In this regard, it may even be wiser to come up with strict guidelines as to where such election paraphernalia can be displayed.

Trees and traffic lights should be spared in the interest of safety.

Likewise, setting up unsightly cabins and even make-shift tents at road junctions and playgrounds should be strictly prohibited.

Instead, such centres should be restricted to shop lots or community halls. After all, if we are on our way to being a developed nation by 2020, then we should also be capable of holding a general election with an acceptable level of safety and cleanliness.

J.D. L0VRENCIEAR,
Semenyih, Selangor.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

WITH four mega development corridors already launched to date, this is truly the best time for us to move forward and achieve success in any field.

The abundant opportunities offered will help to tackle the issue of poverty and bring much needed development and modernisation to the places involved.

No other country in the world has managed to come out with such development policies whether in terms of numbers or its comprehensiveness and excellence.

The Government stands out as undeniably the most caring and compassionate one for its unending aid and programmes that are designed to lift the poor out of the poverty cycle and the various subsidies given to enlighten our burden in almost any areas in our life.

It is now time for us to move forward and work together to bring successes and fame to our nation.

There is no time and space for unpleasant attitudes and procrastination, as that will slow down growth.

Any weaknesses and hurdles that stand in the way of development must be seriously looked into and rectified.

There is nothing more important than to see the nation develop and stand out.

The Government has laid out a very clear path to achieve Vision 2020 and to create a bright future for all of us and also the generations to come with all the exceptional policies and agendas.

The rest would be in our very own hands to decide and to see them becoming a huge success.

The seeds of unity, cooperation, tolerance and spirit of togetherness must be planted in the mind and soul of everyone under the Malaysian sun.

We are undergoing a massive transformation to thrust the nation and all of us to greater heights and let us be committed and devoted to give our very best to make all the dreams, aspirations and visions a reality.

COLLINS CHONG,
Malacca

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

LAST weekend, in the vicinity of the Pavilion in KL, just outside Wisma Cosway, I witnessed a disturbing incident.

A group of young boys, aged between 13 and18, were running around in a mob. While running, if they saw someone who looked like a Bangladeshi, they would push and punch the person and quickly run away before the victim could react! I saw this happen five times within a few minutes.

Most people would brush it off as just a bunch of young punks “having fun” but the consequences can be catastrophic.

This is in the vicinity of KLCC and the Golden Triangle! What kind of international publicity would that provoke? Even worse, what if it was a local mistaken for a foreigner? Then, it would be racial time bomb!

I hope that the authorities and especially the police realise that these “minor” incidents and bad behaviour may be small to bother about now but what about the long-term effects.

What I witnessed is just the tip of an iceberg.

BAFFLED LOCAL BORN,
Subang Jaya

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

IT IS alarming to see that detained migrant workers are being sent home without screening due to overcrowded detention centres.

The screening process is an essential tool as it identifies detainees whether they are undocumented migrant workers, trafficked victims, asylum seekers, refugees and migrant children.

These detained migrant workers do not have the chance to pursue a legal action against their employers, thus enabling these employers to escape justice.

Migrant workers also are not allowed to work during their trial and must pay a fee of RM100 per month for a special pass to remain in the country.

Even when a migrant worker is fortunate to have the Special Pass fee waived, the length of these cases can be worrying.

A case in point is of a migrant domestic worker who is currently receiving assistance from Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) whose case has now entered its fourth year.

The worker was abused and raped by her employer during the course of her employment and was rescued by the police who then brought her to WAO.

Imagine the psychological effect of having to stay for four years in a shelter without work and the trauma she endures each time she recalls her tragic experiences.

Although far from home, she is fortunate to have the support of WAO social workers and volunteers though many are not as fortunate.

To save whatever money they have and escape the trauma of years of pursuing a case, many migrant workers often choose to go home.

Employers, who are aware of this, take advantage of the situation and drag the case longer to escape liability.

We urgently need a change in our policy in regards to mi-grants.

Migrant workers should be able to easily seek redress for labour and criminal matters and to have the conditions around the special pass reviewed.

The workers should also be allowed to work and support themselves during their stay here and their cases must not be allowed to drag on.

In addition to this, the Government should also in-crease funding for the Immigra-tion Department to help them set up an efficient screening process to identify detained migrants.

This will ensure that those in need of protection will not be tormented nor have their rights violated any further.

KERINA FRANCIS,
Women’s Aid Organisation,
Petaling Jaya.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

My PREVIOUS experience living in Britain tells me that the Penang bus strike could have been better planned and managed by the bus drivers.

I have no objections to the drivers wanting to strike if they feel unfairly treated by their management.

The right to strike is enshrined in the labour relations practices of most developed economies.

Britain, for example, regularly experiences industrial action by employees in various lines of work, including train drivers, subway workers and civil servants, to name but a few.

Nevertheless, the Rapid Penang drivers should have given at least 24 hours’ public notice of their intentions.

In developed countries, labour unions usually inform the public of their plan to strike well in advance of their action.

For the Rapid Penang drivers to do likewise would have been the right thing for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the public would not have been caught unawares and been entirely inconvenienced, as they would have had the time to work out alternatives like car-pooling or working from home.

Secondly, if the drivers had had the courtesy to inform the public, and justified why they were striking, there could have been a higher probability of public sympathy for their cause, unlike the public fury they have now brought upon themselves.

The lesson for future strikers is this:

Do think of innocent parties who will be affected by your actions, and carry out your strike in a more civilised and civic-minded fashion.

CHUNG CHEE HOONG,
Oxford University, UK.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

A CONSENSUS must be taken among the general public as what should be the appropriate fees for the various categories of tution- primary, secondary and college.

Teachers then should adhere to these guidelines or face the music.

Group tuition should be limited to ideally seven students at a time. Most teachers have around 15 or even more at one session. The lowest rate in the market for house group tuition that I have come across is RM60.

These groups comprise of at least 15 students at one time. Multiply RM60 by 15 and add two more groups in the same day and then multiply by six (Mon-Sat). This comes to about over RM10,000 per month.

By the way these are at the bottom of the lot.

Then there are the holiday camps that mushroom during the school holidays. Most of these are money-making schemes.

Parents in their need to keep children out of the way send their children to these camps much to the amusement of these centres.

Some have the audacity to rent the upper floors of vacant shop lots just for the duration of the camps that run anything from a day onwards.

One such camp was conducted in some remote area, as the rent must have been peanuts. A retired prominent teacher ran this camp, with about 20 students at one time.

Parents wake up, money and time should be used to help the needy, not feed the rich!

CONCERNED CITIZEN,
Subang Jaya.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

EVER since the Nurin Jazlin case and now Sharlinie, I have been very careful with kids, especially my little cousins when I take them out.

But I have noticed that some people don’t even bother. I was in a shop the other day when I saw a bunch of children walking in.

They were led by their eldest sibling whom I suspect was between the age of nine and 10.

They were paying for their goods and didn’t have enough money. So one of them ran all the way across the road where their mother was waiting in the car.

Some of us Malaysians have what we call the tidak apa attitude which by far the worst habit that we have.

They don’t seem to care about all the bad things happening around and take things for granted.

Everyday there is a case involving children. Kids are being mistreated, they run away, they get kidnapped and raped and some parents still can think nothing bad can happen to them.

NICOLE ANNE PERREAU,
Petaling Jaya.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

I REFER to the report ‘Residents of Sri Bukit Persekutuan say no to new development‘ (The Star, Jan 31). This article mentioned that institution land belonging to the Government might be converted to commercial use in return for building a three-storey police station and a nine-storey police quarters.

It also mentioned that approval had been given in principle for the land development. This raises a few pertinent questions. Who gave the approval? What are the reasons for the approval? Who will develop the land? What were the due processes to ensure that such a move is above board and will benefit all Malaysians?

As a government that has been voted in by the people, it is very important that the Government does not allow such a move to protect the peoples’ interests.

Changing the land to commercial use means that only a small group of people will benefit from a deal which could be worth billions of ringgit.

ALL FOR ONE,
Kuala Lumpur.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008

SURFING the Internet in Malaysia is not a pleasant thing to do at all, so say many of my foreign friends who work or study here in Malaysia.

I am utterly disgusted by the so-called broadband of Malaysia – Streamyx. I think they might as well just call it the narrowband of Malaysia.

Today’s Internet connection speed is so reminiscent of the good old 56K days, when it took several minutes to load a web page, or an hour or two to download a small file was acceptable, if not, considered fast.

This is our broadband – a 56K Internet connection, branded as the premier “broadband” provider for the netizens of Malaysia.

Take a ride on the Internet surfboard in Malaysia, and expect to just tumble over and fall. The waves simply aren’t there at all!

Spend some agonising minutes at the popular Lowyat.NET forums, and you’d be surprised to see just how many threads there are, ranting and complaining about how slow the Internet is.

Topics such as “Today’s internet is soooo slow”,”Streamyx is down AGAIN”, are seen all over the forum.

What happened to all the promises of blazing speeds as seen on TV advertisements, billboards, and the newspapers?

Were they just empty promises? Promises simply made to attract people into signing up for the so-called broadband of Malaysia in order to increase the broadband penetration?

I admit, we do need to increase the penetration, but not at the cost of sacrificing bandwidth, and providing such low quality Internet.

We are simply not getting what we’ve paid for.

For example, a 1Mbps Unlimited Broadband plan should offer a decent download speed of at least 90Kilobytes/sec (KB/s), which is after considering a 30% cut from the theoretical maximum of 128KB/s.

However, most customers on such Broadband contracts are downloading at speeds ranging from as slow as 5KB/s to 30KB/s, for normal web page loading or downloading attachments from emails, and this is simply not acceptable.

I am not complaining about slow speeds on file sharing services such as Bittorrent as I understand such services are a major hog on bandwidth, and I know ISPs around the world throttle such connections. So that is acceptable.

But slow web surfing and slow downloading of email attachments is ridiculous.

I am studying in Singapore as an undergraduate student, and thus have the chance to experience the Internet provided by the ISPs in the republic.

I subscribe to a 3Mbps unlimited plan, and I get consistent downloads of 330KB/s for all my activities online.

You work the math, and see what the efficiency is.

It may be unfair to make such comparisons, but it is necessary, as our ISPs are not anywhere near those of Singaporean ISPs.

Yes, there are other ISPs out there, but their rates are significantly more expensive, and the technology used is mostly wireless, simply because these ISPs cannot use Telekom’s landlines.

Furthermore, due to the small size of such companies, their area of provision is not large, and can only satisfy small and concentrated areas.

Quality of Internet for such ISPs are relatively good compared to Streamyx, but penetration is low, and those not residing in the above-mentioned area of provision are out of luck.

What we need is a bigger playground, and a restriction-free one at that, to enable more players to enter the Internet Service Provision industry, and try to stir up competition. Competition is good, as we all know.

Prices will be cheaper; service will be better; speeds will improve.

JEFF YEOH,
Kuala Lumpur.

Source: The Star – February 7, 2008