TwoSen

RECENTLY, I bought a packet of mamak mee goreng at a popular stall in Lebuh Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

As usual, I watched the man preparing the mee and was appalled to see him using his hands to handle it and other ingredients.

Then, while frying the mee, he used his hands to wipe the surface around the kuali with a dirty rag.

Worse still, he grabbed a broom to sweep the floor where he was standing while stirring the mee.

This was when I asked him how he could use his hands to prepare the mee and clean at the same time.

Although I was angry, I cooled down when he admitted his mistake.

I hope he does not repeat it.

A lot depends on the attitude of customers.

They must not hesitate to tell off food vendors who handle raw food like mee with their hands in such an unhygienic manner.

But, more often than not, young adult customers dare not tick off errant food handlers as I did.

S. RAGUNATHAN, Petaling Jaya

Source: NST – January 22, 2008

WE are a group of pensioners who since 2004 have submitted three memorandums, signed by more than 500 pensioners, to the government asking it to help resolve our plight.

We are living on fixed pensions that were calculated 20 to 25 years ago (since retirement is based on a maximum of 25 years of service, although we retired after serving the government for 30 years or more).

Based on the above calculation, more than 70 per cent of us receive less than RM500 a month, which is below the poverty line.

And some of us receive between RM200 and RM300 a month before deduction for housing loans.

In the Pension Ordinance 1951, there was no service limit for the calculation of pensions. The pension and gratuity were calculated based on full service.

In 1995, a gratuity-and-pension calculation scheme without limiting the full period of service was approved by the government and subsequently RM943 million was allocated and approved for pension adjustments.

Although, the gratuity formula was implemented with effect from Jan 1, 1995, the revised pension formula was withheld due to the economic downturn.

Today, more than 13 years later, the revised pension formula has not been implemented, although the economy has improved.

The allocated amount of RM943 million was distributed to serving civil servants for adjustment of their salaries at the expense of pensioners.

On Sept 28, we submitted another appeal letter to the prime minister through the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, to grant us a dialogue to resolve our problem.

We also sent another letter on Jan 9 to Mohd Sidek on the above matter.

We are not asking for anything new. We are asking for what was approved by the government years ago.

We have been waiting for the past 13 years because we have faith in the government.

MOHD JAMIL ISMAIL, S. MYLVAGANAM and S. SANTHANASAMY, Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – January 22, 2008

THERE is a danger that contributors who can access money from the Employees’ Provident Fund for an increasing number of reasons may not have sufficient funds for their retirement.

EPF-sourced funds to finance the purchase of home or education are a good investment and will contribute to building a long-term wealth base.

However, being able to withdraw funds to cover emergencies as medical costs are short-term expenses that should be covered from the wage earner’s budget.

The government should look at the role of the EPF in the context of other national policies such as healthcare and education.

A national healthcare scheme to cover hospitalisation and post-operative medication, and a loan scheme to fund higher education are two initiatives that could be funded through the taxpayer’s salary.

Poverty in old age is a personal and national tragedy. Every effort must be made to keep retirement funds intact to avoid hardship.

IAN MACKECHNIE, Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – January 22, 2008

WE refer to the article on Malaysia Airlines by Dr Muhammad Izanee Mohamed Mydin, of Kingston-upon-Hull (”Revise strategy or lose out” — NST, Jan 14).

The business turnaround plan (BTP) of Malaysia Airlines, launched in 2006, clearly articulates the sequence of the objective from financial survival to profitability and then to profitable growth in the final year.

We have come a long way from our loss of RM1.3 billion in 2006 to a record profit of RM610 million in 2007 (January-September only).

As we enter the final stretch of the BTP, we have exceeded the original targets of the plan by selectively expanding our network, offering newer, better and more frequent connections to our passengers.

Despite the rationalisation in 2006, we remain a dominant force in the domestic market, having moved ahead to build our network.

Ever since we took back the domestic operations, this segment of our business has been profitable and we have, in fact, increased frequencies to Miri, Sibu and Tawau as well as maintained our services to other cities in Malaysia.

We have been aggressively expanding through Firefly from Penang and Subang as well as through MASwings in Sabah and Sarawak.

In less than three months of operation, Firefly now offers from Subang, thrice daily flights to Penang, twice daily flights to Langkawi, a daily flight to Kuala Terengganu and Kota Baru with more destinations in the pipeline.

In the Asean region, we have increased our frequencies to Bangkok and Jakarta from three to five times daily.

In addition, we provide a double daily service to Phuket, progressively adding services to Singapore and Ho Chi Minh as well as increasing capacity on the Manila route.

We constantly monitor all our routes and redeploy our aircraft to destinations with stronger passenger demand.

For example, due to weaker demand, we reduced our weekly frequencies to Surabaya but in turn, redeployed aircraft to Yogyakarta.

The decision to increase or decrease flights on a specific route is primarily driven by the economics of operating that service.

We have adopted a hub-and-spoke strategy for our European operations. Together with our code-share partners — KLM, Alitalia and BMI — we offer our passengers more than 50 connections across Europe from our hubs in Amsterdam, Rome and London.

During this BTP phase, we have implemented many initiatives to turn around unprofitable routes. As a result, many routes are now profitable and we have increased frequencies to some European destinations such as Paris and Rome. However, once we have exhausted all options, we will suspend operations on unprofitable routes such as Kuala Lumpur-Zurich.

Our London route is profitable and we operate double daily B747 flights. By mid- 2008, two additional weekly frequencies will be mounted.

Dr Izanee is right in pointing out that carriers are scrambling for “valuable” slots. However, these slots are only “valuable” during the peak morning and evening periods, and Malaysia Airlines possesses slots for both these periods.

Slots during non-peak periods in London are not difficult to obtain but are not aligned to our customer requirements.

Our network also grew in the Australia and New Zealand markets as well as in the Indian sub-continent region.

Last year, we launched additional weekly flights to Perth and Auckland during peak periods to meet increased demand. Likewise, we also increased weekly frequencies to New Delhi and Chennai.

While we recognise that Emirates offers a strong schedule between Europe and the Middle East to Asean, Australia and New Zealand, we will continue to optimise our schedule and pricing to ensure that we match effectively with not only Emirates but other carriers as well.

Dr Izanee rightly pointed out that business passengers value good connectivity and frequency. As outlined above, we have been adding frequencies as well as establishing code-sharing agreements and partnerships for destinations that we cannot serve alone.

Beyond an improved schedule, we have improved our product by retrofitting both our first and business class cabins with new seats.

Ultimately, we are guided by what our customers want and not by what our competitors pursue. Continuous building of customer loyalty is critical as it ensures that our current profitable growth strategy is sustainable. Our customers are our number one priority.

At the end of this month, we will announce our Business Transformation Plan which will provide more clarity on our five-year strategy and we will make this document available in the public domain.

DATUK RASHID KHAN Commercial director Malaysia Airlines

Source: NST – January 21, 2008

THERE are some two million foreign workers, of whom half are believed to be illegal immigrants.

Male workers are involved in the construction, plantation and services sectors while female workers are usually brought in as maids.

These foreign workers are willing to perform tasks which, in many instances, are dangerous, demeaning and dirty.

In most cases, foreign workers would have paid hefty sums to agents back home to get permits to work in Malaysia.

They also pay for their own air tickets. They arrive with heavy debts. At the airport, many unscrupulous agents and employers take advantage of their naivety and ignorance.

Many workers find themselves stranded at the KLIA because the agents or their employers absconded with their money.

Last year, a floor of the car park in the airport terminal was converted to a place of refuge for these stranded workers.

The fortunate ones are picked up by their agents at the airport on arrival and sent to their employers.

Some employers provide them with decent accommodation, food and working conditions. Some foreign workers, however, are not so lucky.

The media has highlighted the plight of some foreign workers who have been subjected to abuse.

A few years ago, the nation was shocked over a foreign worker who starved to death.

There have also been cases of foreign workers who were physically and emotionally abused.

In some extreme cases, workers have been found chained, locked up and starving.

It is cruel and inhuman to deny any man his wages. Unfortunately, there are employers who cheat these workers of their hard- earned money. There have been many reports of wages not being paid to these workers for months. Maybe that’s why some foreign workers resort to crime.

When foreign workers demand for their wages, drastic action is taken by the employers, as in the incident involving 30 Bangladeshi workers in Juru recently (”Bangladeshi workers locked out of their hostel” — NST, Jan 11).

Even professional workers have not been spared, as in the case of the two professional dancers from India (”Abused dance teachers get their money, returning home” — NST, Jan 8).

There have been many cases of foreign maids who have been abused by their employers. Many have run away or risked life and limb by jumping from buildings to escape.

On the other hand, there are families who treat their maids well, regarding them as part of the family, giving them days off and paying them good allowances.

Yet, some run away.

This is no surprise as a live-in maid’s work in this country often entails 24 hours of work a day, seven days a week, involving everything from taking care of children to washing cars for a mere RM400 a month. We are paying them a pittance compared with what maids get in Singapore and Hong Kong. It is no wonder that local girls do not opt to be maids.

Knowingly or unknowingly, some of us have subjected these foreign workers to injustice, pain and misery.

Though these incidents do not happen often, they occur often enough to warrant concern about our attitudes and values towards lowly-paid foreign workers.

Source: NST – January 21, 2008

SEGARAN, of Shah Alam, wants to know why he was charged for photocopying services at the Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor office in Klang.

He says an attendant had asked him to pay RM1 to make copies of his identity card and a sales and purchase agreement when he processed a new agreement at the Syabas counter recently.

When he asked why he had to pay RM1, the counter attendant ignored his question.

A SYABAS spokesman says a notice had been put up about the RM1 charge.

“We charged him 20 sen for a copy of his identity card and 20 sen each for four pages of the sales and purchase agreement, hence the RM1,” says the spokesman.

Source: Malay Mail – January 21, 2008

RAJAN, of Petaling Jaya, is up set that his 17-year-old nephew is unable to connect to the In ternet through the Streamyx service.

”For 12 days, he made almost 50 calls to complain about the matter but only four calls were answered by Telekom Malaysia staff.”

He says the staff told his neph ew that there was nothing wrong with his modem and that the problem was caused by their faulty server.

”He waited for a week for the problem to be rectified but to no avail. He went to the TM centre in Petaling Jaya but the staff couldn’t help him,” he says.

RAJAN says his nephew has spent a lot of money using the Internet cafe for his school work ever since.

A TMNet spokesman says investigations found that the cus tomer’s Streamyx connection was working.

“RAJAN’s nephew was advised to apply to transfer the account to his house.
“He has acknowledged the problem and will apply for the relocation of the Streamyx ac count at TMpoint.”

Source: Malay Mail – January 21, 2008

ADAM, from Kuala Lumpur, claims to have discovered sev eral discrepancies in his Maxis bills.

He claims that for the past few months, he had been charged RM10 extra and he was also charged multiple times for text messages.

ADAM also claims that he was not given the rebate for calls promised under the family pack age which he had signed up for.

Instead, he says he was charged the full amount for all calls.

“Under the family package, I am entitled to 20 free hours of talk time. But when I checked my bill, the amount was not deducted.

“When I called Maxis, their representative promised to look into the matter.

“The next day, I received a letter from Maxis which stated that the additional amount was for the five per cent tax which they had to charge and that RM6 would be deducted from my bill.”

However, ADAM was not happy with the explanation as he felt that he was billed more than he should have. He did not under stand why RM6 was deducted.

If there was an error in his bills, ADAM fears that other Maxis users may also be affected.

A MAXIS Communications Berhad corporate communications department spokesman says: “We make it a practice to investigate all our customers’ complaints.

“In ADAM’s case, we have looked into his claims and have detected no error in his billing. It was a misunderstanding.”

The spokesman says that Max is has since contacted ADAM to explain the matter and that, “he has graciously accepted our explanation.”

Regarding ADAM’s issue on multiple SMS charging, the spokesman clarifies that the matter had never been brought up to them before his enquiry to The Malay Mail.

“We will have to revert to past bill statements to clarify this with ADAM. He has agreed to have us conduct the necessary verification.” ADAM confirms that a Maxis personnel had contacted him to explain the charges.

Source: Malay Mail – January 21, 2008

THE new police chief in Muar, Assistant Commisioner Muhammad Nasir Ramli, his senior officers and about 30 policemen paid a courtesy visit to Taman Sri Maharani, Muar, under the Rakancop and community policing concept on Jan 18.

In a short but meaningful talk to the residents, he expressed appreciation for the good response of the residents to the Rakancop and other policing programmes aimed at creating and nurturing a good working relationship between the police and the public.

He assured the residents that any initiative in crime prevention would receive his full support. In return the residents were grateful to the Muar police for its gesture of concern.

It is not every day that a busy chief police officer will take time off to visit ordinary citizens, making house-to-house calls to get to know them better, and at a time (9pm-11pm) when most people would be resting after a hard day’s work.

This goes to show that he takes the community policing concept seriously. The residents are thankful for the list of names and telephone numbers of members of the Crime Prevention Unit.

It is pertinent to emphasise that crime prevention and public safety is a shared responsibility. It is real commitment to be pro-active about it. Syabas, Muar police!

TAM YONG YUEE,
Muar, Johor.

Source: The Star – January 21, 2008

I REFER to “Get moving on public transport” (The Star, Jan 19) and am glad that the poor state of our public transport has come to the attention of the Deputy Prime Minister.

However, this is not the first time we have heard of initiatives to improve the public transport system in the city.

Despite RM4bil having been allocated to improve the public transport system in Kuala Lumpur, I doubt that we can see any improvement in the system in the near future.

The reason is that the lead time taken by the relevant authorities and the services providers to respond to the woes in the public transport system is too long, and the delays have now taken a toll on the KL city road system.

For example, the ticketing system at Rapid LRT stations is a total disaster. The common woes are frequent breakdown of ticket vending machines and Touch n Go points, non-user friendly ticket vending machines (accept coins only), and merely one or two ticket counters open during peak periods.

These woes are decades old and had been raised and forwarded to the Rapid LRT operators for years. The situation has not improved, but rather has turned from bad to worse.

It has been more than a year since the Government announced the allocation to improve the public transport system but I do not see any follow-up other than more Rapid KL buses being put on the road.

In the meantime, I have no choice but to contribute to the congestion in the city until I find that taking public transport is more convenient than driving into the city.

FRUSTRATED LRT USER,
Sungai Buloh, Selangor.

Source: The Star – January 21, 2008