How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Thursday, September 05, 2013

This could have been Seri Perdana


Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Government House.  One is from Cabramatta, another is from Marrickville, and the third is from Lane Cove.

All three go with an official to examine the fence.

The Cabramatta contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil.
"Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900, $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Marrickville contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,
"I can do this job for $700. That's $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Lane Cove contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the government official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Lane Cove contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Marrickville to fix the fence."

"Done!" Replies the government official.

And that, my fellow tax payers, is how a Government Stimulus plan works.

NOTHING NEW.
THIS KIND OF BUSINESS WAS PRACTICED IN MALAYSIA LONG TIME AGO.

If my fading memory serves me right (I can still remember the gist of things), when Seri Perdana was being built secretly in Putrajaya and was discovered, then PM, Dr Mahathir said it was going to cost only Rm17 million. As it turned out, that incredulous amount could not have paid for the fencing alone!

With the usual padding on costs, some people estimated the eventual cost was easily Rm100 million.

When 'Mr Clean' Pak Lah took over, just upgrading the security system costed over Rm10 million.

When the husband of our First Lady took over, it had to be renovated at over Rm50 million.

The most ludicrous part was the fact that the building is rented property and the rental, as usual, exceptionally high too.

With all the grandiose schemes at highly inflated costs and our ministers living it up and enriching themselves in the process, sooner or later, we will be in dire straits. But not to worry, the burden can easily be passed to the public, in the form of higher fuel prices and soon, GST.



PKR's Rafizi suggested that ministers forego their free petrol and minister Nazri was quick to respond that his was a stupid idea. But come to think of it, small gestures like that could have been good public relations exercise by the ministers. A few years ago, Najib's 'change your lifestyle' was condemned. This time round, a minister's statement that the 20 sen increase per litre of fuel is not going to hurt much and another even calculated that the price increase to consumers should be '0.1% only'were similarly ridiculed with disdain.

Update:



While we are still able to do so, can we shelve the proposed 118-storey Menara Warisan Merdeka project for now?
Link

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Government air travel ticketing is a good example. Officer's entitlement is economy class but upgraded to business class. Reason, pay Full Fare as of Listed price in the airline schedule and get upgraded to business class. All parties happy, the airline, the ticketing agent and the officer in definitely not going to complain.
For example, economy/business class full fare KL-London is RM18,000/RM36,000 repectively. Market price is just RM4,000/RM12,000 respectively.
If you buy at market price, look at the amount of savings possible, not even eliminating unnecessary trips.
Just check out the MAS circular at:
http://weechookeong.com/2012/04/27/is-shane-nollan-ripping-off-the-government/