AES.. Malaysian Traffic Management System

When I read this business report, AES poised to make drivers toe the line and the statement that, " SOON Malaysians might be driving like Singaporeans.." I can't help myself but ROFLOL {rolled on floor, laughing out loud} ! Why, you may ask. In a properly functioning and efficiently enforced system, this may well happen, and we may see "drivers conforming to speed limits on their roads....driving in unison, keeping to the speed limit in constant flow of traffic, afraid of being nabbed for breaking the law."
In Malaysia, this maybe too much to expect, and certain answers need to be given by the authorities before we can dream of an orderly traffic on our roads and highways. The questions are as follows:

1. Will the AES system be maintained in proper working order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
2. Who vets the photos?
3. Who issues the tickets?
4. Who will collect the fines?
5. What happens when fines are persistently ignored? Will discounts be given, or will the offenders be taken to courts, no mitigation allowed?
6. Will the Operator of the AEC system be paid based on the amount of fines ISSUED, or on the amount of fines COLLECTED?
   
7. How will the Police and/or the AES system operator deal with motorcyclists who cannot be found, or have invalid addresses, as we know a significant number of these motorcyclists are foreigners, many of them staying in the country illegally?
   
8. Besides sharing the "spoils" or parking fines {issued or collected?}, do the AES operator get any other maintenance or "consultancy" fee, for example ?

I am praying for the system to succeed, as too long, we law abiding road users have been hounded and harassed by the hooligans of the road. But, until the questions that I have raised can be properly answered for public consumption, I am afraid this project will join the ranks of those high sounding projects that the Government has implemented, and naively thought will work out.

We need to transform our traffic management system, but that means hard work like boring maintenance and enforcement, 7 days a week, 365 days in a year, 366 in a leap year!
Are we up to it?

4 Revisions of MAS organisation in one year! Messy!

First of all let me say that I am just a retired ex sometime Govt servant  and also Corporate Manager with no experience in anything at all, but reading your report, MAS has new organisation chart for staff still raises a few questions in my mind, which I hope to be enlightened. You mentioned that MAS has  "released a revised organisation chart to its employees yesterday and from the middle of next week, all division heads will be known as directors. This could be the third or fourth revision to the organisation chart over the past one year. " This statement conjures up so many images in my mind, which I feel can be confusing to the public who takes the trouble to read everything in The Star, like I do. They are 'bulleted' below for ease of reference:

• Three or Four revisions of of an organisation chart within a year would seem to me, the management do not know what they are doing, or there is such a tumultuous power struggle in the company that no productive work can be done
• Change of name titles from division heads to directors. What is so important about a name that it so delays and disrupts the important work of an organisation. I also noticed this seems to be a Malaysian "disease". From experience, I realise that Malaysian corporations like big titles like directors, Group ED/CEOs and all that egoistical stuff, and a title like General Manager is held with a little disdain. While in the Philippines for example, they tend to get on with the job, and just call any head of an organisation the GM. 
• Looking at some of the names holding the high sounding posts also gave me a small shock! I know MAS is a so called GLC, but does it have to staff it like a Government department? This makes me wonder if MAS promotes people according to strict meritocracy or does it think that it's just another Government corporation? 

I am beginning to understand why MAS, once the exemplary flagship corporation in Malaysia is struggling, and struggling badly. It is beginning to be very embarrassing. Let's hope there will not be another review of the organisation in 6 months' time ! :(

Malaysia destroys forest reserves..

Reading your report, Logging intensifies in Pedu it would seem to me that politicians of all stripes will ride roughshod over environmental issues, and will do anything to skirt laws that protect and preserve our precious environment. In this instance I find it ludicrous that there is such an useless law that requires a State Government to file an EIA report only if logging is approved for land in excess of 500 hectares! What is to prevent the wayward authority from awarding logging concessions in 'parcels' of 500 ha or less each time it deems that more royalty is needed to fill State Coffers? .

Forest reserves, especially those that form part of a crucial catchment area of the State, is essential for the continuous supply of drinking water to the State, and these areas should be placed above narrow parochial interests. A progressive Government, whether it be the State or Federal Authority, should protect it as part of our national Treasure,and anyone breaching the area should be considered as having committed a treasonous offence punishable by a life sentence, or death.

In Brazil, it has been just agreed by the government there that any project affecting the Amazon will only be implemented after due consultation with all the stakeholders involved.

It can be seen in the recent catastrophic events caused by seasonal rains in China, Japan, and the Philippines, and the terrifying drought in the Midwest of USA have been caused by decades of over development, with scant attention given to preserve the Earth's dwindling natural assets.

Are Malaysians learning from this?
Protect forests as national treasure

Malaysian politics: Wising up to fragile situation

This is such a timely interview, >> Wising up to fragile situation I think Star should forward this straight to the Government, and the Opposition, and then pray they will read and ponder....

Some of his keen observations:

• It is a fragile situation because anyone who is a bit of a populist and knows how to play with emotions can play the identity politics in a very bad way and drive this country into division.
• He sees contradictions as parties try to be inclusive and open up to society (especially non-Muslims) as this can attract voters for the election but at the same time, there is an opposing move which is the “narrowing down of the religion” and “reducing it to symbols”.
• He says when people play with such symbols, the media is quick to jump on it and create controversy on the issue of whether we can use the word “Allah” or not and this is not a good thing for the country.
• Another problem Dr Tariq has noticed is that when Malaysian students study Islam in Arab countries where there are literalists, they “come back with not only Islamic principles but also an Arab way to deal with the Islamic principles” and they try to project that culture here.“It is important for Malaysia to celebrate their culture and not to think that because you are an Arab, you are a better Muslim. It should come from something which is within

The whole column is worth reading slowly, and Dr Tariq who is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, one of the founder members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, says that Malaysia is in  a fragile situation given its religious and ethnic mix, and the nation needs WISE politicians, courageous religious leaders and a dose of good luck to continue its path of stability and peace.

If only our politicians will understand.

Malaysian drivers can be likened to cavemen in cars

I am sending this to friends who don't read The Star, or who don't read The Star like I do, ie every page, and every word,  {hahahaha}  Click here>>>> Malaysian drivers can be likened to cavemen in cars as I find myself reading this twice, and nodding my head in agreement many many times.

We Malaysians are really pathetic!

I also hope the police will read this thoroughly, and maybe use this as reference to draft their SOPs and to achieve their KRAs under "Traffic Management"

Some quotes from the column :

• Clearly, most drivers long ago concluded that the authorities are not serious about enforcing traffic regulations. Cars are, for example, illegally parked right in front of the pondok police in Bangsar but the cops don’t seem to notice or mind.
• if you are unfortunate enough to get ticketed whenever officialdom stirs, a few dollars should settle it; more if it’s near a festive season. It’s called an out of court settlement.
• It makes no sense to stop at a red light when there is no traffic,”
• Pedestrian crossings, as everyone knows, are actually kill zones;
• Motorcyclists, for their part, don’t think that traffic lights (or any rules for that matter) apply to them.
• owners of those expensive and flashy cars with fancy number plates and windscreens covered with club stickers. They seem to think that they are entitled to special privileges including parking in front of hotel lobbies, mall entrances or restaurants.
• Orang putih and diplomats, of course, get a free pass when it comes to traffic rules; the old tuan mentality is apparently alive and well despite over five decades of independence and constant reminders by our politicians that we are now masters of the universe.
• We grumble about what’s wrong but won’t do our part to help make things better.

And Finally, " It’s about time we cultivated a healthy respect for the law and learn to take our obligations as citizens and drivers more seriously. As Gandhi once said: “We must be the change we want to see.  Until we do, we will be little better than cavemen in cars.
Now you know why I had to read this twice.. Thanks Dennis