Toll Hike III
… continued discussion…
ayheng:
I agree that we, as Malaysians, sometimes don’t take responsibility for their actions and don’t make decisions responsibly based on hard solid facts. Worse, we have that ‘tidak apa’ and ‘mudah lupa’ attitude.
For me, who have not voted yet, I am part of the PROBLEM of how the state of the country is in right now.
However, in reference to the highway issue, I will say that the opposition parties have made known their facts and the highway concesssionaire, Gamuda, have also came out on paper to make known their side of the story. I’m sure the audited accounts of Litrak will prove the concessionaire’s side of the story that they are not earning mountains of money off the hard work of the common people.
I feel that the issue at hand here is whether "The toll hike is burdening the common people unreasonably and hence a need for the government to use the public’s tax money to pay it off?".
LoStBoYz:
I’m surprise you guys can take this sittting down, and give excuses like "this is a problem with developing countries" or "We vote with our dollars. We either take the highway, or we don’t".
This has NOTHING to do with developing country, it has everything to do with GREED and SELFISHNESS. Even matured country like USA has financial scandals that become part of the text books as case studies (Enron?? Remember?).
I agree that "it has everything to do with GREED and SELFISHNESS". Corruption is GREED and SELFISHNESS. We see politicians everywhere driving big cars and live in big houses. Inflation is GREED and SELFISHNESS. We see traders raising prices of RM1.00 PER BOWL of mee when it’s only an extra RM0.10 PER BOWL of mee for petrol price increase. Why? They want to drive big cars and live in big houses as well.
However, I want to change all that starting with myself. I feel that it’s one thing to be ‘tidak apa’ with the increase and another thing to understand the rationale behind the increase and to accept the decision responsibly as part of the community. I hope that I am part of the group that understands and accepts.
"We vote with our dollars." Sound goods isn’t it? So, you’re suggesting we don’t take the highway, take the trunk road to escape the toll? That sound more like a workaround than and actual solution to the problem. As I said in my earlier posts, I don’t mind paying for the service, but I mind paying more for the same service. Did you read the link I posted, do you know WHY you’re paying more for the tolls? So by voting with your dollar, you can change all that? This is 30 years of toll hike that we’re talking about. There is no escape clause for the government.
I don’t suggest we take the trunk roads as we can afford the toll comfortably. The only thing we are concerned about is how we got less money to spend on luxury items. I am concerned that I have to spend more money on tolls as well. Like I mentioned earlier, I am all about greed and selfishness as well.
However, in reading the article and the concessionaire’s point of view in the papers, I believe the concessioanire’s presented facts that we are paying more for the toll in order for the concessionaire to finance the long term loans taken, rather than milking money out of the public for all its worth. Again, our guide will be the concessionaire’s accounts and what our friends in the anti toll hike coalition finds there. I feel that the concessionaire is ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Again, conspiracy theory does not interest me. Show me cold hard facts, Gamuda made coverup, or Gamuda shareholders making 100% returns on earnings?
With the increase in petrol and tolls, all other stuff will slowly go up eventually, is your personal finances on par with the inflation rate? Is your projected saving seeing a dip? Kiyosaki books will tell you a lot on this.
Don’t remind me of my savings, you’ll trigger the Greed and Selfishness in me.
"confidence in our system of governmance", ugh. Malaysian cepat lupa, this is fact. Remember 9th Malaysia Plan? The multi-billion $$ package that is suppose to be execute last year? Where is it? Some goverment sector is still waiting for their 8th MP package.
I rather wait for the correct implementation rather than a botched attempt and hurried decisions which probably led to the poorly screened highway concession document that the government signed. (the government’s hands are not tied anyway… they can still negotiate, how else will Gamuda/Litrak get future projects with the government? but that’s another issue)
Carefully and accountably is the correct way to do things. Did I mention building a library extension takes 3 years in Australia where it only takes 6 months in Malaysia? Drawing from my experience in the Malaysian building industry, I can surmise that 90% of contracts are NOT READ at all due to the short time between planning and implementation. That, and shortage of manpower to do the job properly due to our culture of doing things as cheaply and quickly as possible. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself.
Give Abdullah some time. His policies now are to buildup the ‘non-polluting’ industries like tourism and the tech industry by upgrading our schools. I like that he upgrades our police and justice system by luring better quality candidates (can you imagine our police system can only lure thugs and corrupted people due to its low pay of RM1,000? Unprofessional!). As much as I would like our dear PM to inject money into the economy and build us some mega projects, I rather he tackle the fundamentals which are plaguing our community.
I do agree with ONE thing, the choice is ours. Vote with our heart and mind come election day (being political here, sorry) don’t bring $$$ into the picture.
I’ll still give Abdullah a vote until proven otherwise.
Another interesting site for you to look into "the other side of the coin", an alternative news apart from the newspaper you’re been reading.www.malaysia-today.net
Hard to give the site any sort of credibility when the editor himself admit in The Star newspaper that a lot of things in his website are sensational, controversial news which appeals to the masses despite being hearsay and have no backing facts whatsoever. Not to say everything is false, but the inability to differentiate truths and lies makes the whole thing hard to swallow anyway.
We all like to say certain factions in Umno Youth makes Chinese the scapegoat for everything. Is there any truth in that? This website makes the government the scapegoat for everything as well. Is there any truth in that?
At the end of the day, these discussions and so called ‘alternative’ news serves to raise my/our awareness of the Malaysian political situation. How we act on it depends on us. I will try to vote next time and continue to take my stand against corruption. I am proud to say that I did not bribe in the driving exam despite having to take it twice. It might be a difficult way, but I will do my part in my way.
So, is the toll hike burdening the people? Some study might be in order, but I am not one of the people burdened.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I couldn’t agree more. I always believe that the people shape the government and not the other way round even with the barisan’s overwhelming majority in the dewan rakyat. The core of the problem(corruption) comes from the attitude and the behavior(greed included) of the general public in giving and receiving, not only the MPs and their way up, from awarding contracts, settling compounds and court action, to simply buying their way out.
I have been challenging the government’s critics for years that if you say the government is corrupt, prove that you are not. If the core, the rakyat are ‘polluted like hell’, what you expect of the government which consisted of people like us as well, you and me one day who knows.
Anyone can protest and disagree and talk big in the coffee shop(and now online forum), but when they hit the street, they are the same one who ask ‘boleh tolong ka, encik, saya tarak wang’ when they are stopped by the men in white for a blatant traffic offence they committed.
What’s the point? I rather they shut up and learn to accept and change the very nature of their thinking and show that they are not a burden to the rakyet’s complaint and disatisfaction(their own included).
January 29th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Amen to that, brother.
Any IDIOTS, FOOLS and TANJUNG RAMBUTAN CANDIDATES can do finger pointing.
It takes a GANDHI or a MOTHER THERESA to say, “screw this! I’ll going to make a change and I don’t care if other people take advantage of me. I’m going to rise above this cycle of life and death and going to make the world a better place for the future generation.)