Hitting Palace’s Fan

Money is everywhere to spend but almost none for the taxpayers…

(The current palace is already looking majestic and we have already spent millions on it but we went ahead to construct a new palace. We end up looking like dungus but what the heck, we been in that situation before. The new palace looks good on paper but the volume of abuse and mismanagement of funds to build it makes the whole affair end up looking too ugly. Image source: Tok Ey Ai)

Hong Kong based Asia Sentinel reports

….there is the matter of the cost of building a new national palace for the country’s sultans, which has doubled from RM400 million (US$124.2 million) to RM811 million since the contract was let – without bid — in 2006 under the premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and may well triple, according to government insiders.

And whilst this has been happening, theStar reports:-

Many foreign workers hired to build the RM800mil Istana Negara claim that they have not received three months’ wages from some project sub-contractors. There are over 1,000 migrant workers hired by 130 sub-contractors working at the project site.

By using migrant workers, the contractors already maximising their profit margin. So, who been pocketing the money meant for the workers? But the increased cost of construction of the new palace was not a big surprise – especially in Malaysia. Certainly in time, the shit will hit the (palace’s) fan and the responsible people are going to wash their hands – just wait and see.

We have a very bad record of management of public funds – there are plenty leakages that is yet to be plugged by the government of the day. We already heard of paying above the market price for military hardware just because someone decided to make huge sum of money through “commissions” (in lay person term – bribery). Another example is PKFZ – that mess is yet to be entangled and it is likely that the public is going to made to pay for that mess (whilst the greedy ones escape with millions in their bank).

Anyway, that is not what disturbs me because unless we kick the Government of day into the wilderness, mismanagement of public funds is just going to continue (just look at the “rape” in Sarawak).

What disturbs me is this:-

“Syed Mokhtar got the original contract at RM400 million. Then the Raja of Perlis was given a gratuity and his brother, Syed Anwar Jamallulail, became Syed Mokhtar’s 30 percent partner and costs escalated,” said a source. “When the current king came in – the Sultan of Terengganu — he asked for a piece of the action and costs went up again.

It was brought up in cabinet in December by an MCA minister. [Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, minister in the prime minister's department for parliamentary affairs] replied: “So what? It’s the house of a Malay King, not a Chinese contractor.” Needless to say, no one has brought it up since.”

(Source Asia Sentinel)

First disturbing part – that our royalties been “accused” as being the factor for the increase of the construction cost. Are we going to keep quiet on this? If it is not true, then what we are doing to clear our names? But if it is true, then the question – are we going to investigate further?

Second disturbing part - If it is true, what Nazri is trying to say? That corruption and blatant increase of cost is acceptable just because the construction is being done for a Malay King? Isn’t that an insult to the King and Malaysians as whole? Nazri missed the whole point! It is nothing to do with constructing a new palace for the King, but the underlying reasons for the increase of the construction cost.

A reader in Malaysia Today rightfully commented:-

As I was just saying, in Sweden, recent royal wedding caused a massive public revolt over public footing half the bill (10 million kronor or RM4.25 million ringgit) while M’sians are constantly being FLEECED left right and centre for this palace, that palace and god knows what else.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against the institution, Raja-Raja Melayu and the rotating Agong BUT dead set against the blatant stealing that takes place. Already, cost overrun on this latest palace in Jln Duta and mind you all, the palace hasn’t been completed so we can’t ascertain the total ‘damage’ just yet but it would be more than current and revise estimate – that I’m sure.

If the escalation of cost was due to increase of cost of raw materials or major changes to the layout of the palace (perhaps new security and facilities) – we would have been more than happy to foot the bill. After all, Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the head of state and deserves the rightful respect and honour. And we would have been proud of the new palace.

But what is not acceptable is that the escalation of cost was due to someone wanted to make money for no valid reasons. Why should the taxpayers foot the extra money so that someone could go laughing all the way to the bank? Who are these people and what they done for the taxpayers? In developed countries, such act is known by many names – “daylight robbery”, “stealing”, “corruption”, “fraud”, “breach of trust”, etc. But in Malaysia, it is known simply as “escalation of construction cost”.

If this continues, forget about Malaysia being a developed country in the near future. Najib says 2020 but with wastages and mismanagement of public funds still riding high and fast, “developed by 2020” deadline is going to be a one steep hill to climb.

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The Perfect Scam?

Being Polite Part 2

Read Part 1 here

(Customer – does it sounds familiar? Cartoon source: http://www.whalecottage.com)

I still recall stand-up comedian Kumar’s joke – when he walked into a high class boutique, the salesgirl looked at him from head to toe with a puzzled face that asked “do you have money to buy things?” He of course got annoyed with the treatment that he got from the salesgirl that he proceeded to buy something very expensive and paid for it with coins.

Kumar’s joke may sound funny but it is reality in some places. Just how many of the business places that you been to (say a restaurant, shopping complex, workshop, etc) have been very polite and treated you like a real customer? Have you been to places where you were treated like a stray dog from the street and as if you owe the business the money? Where the very clothes you wear – colourful flip-flops, short pants (with torn edges) and dirty looking T-shirt is looked at rather suspiciously (despite you are paying for the items with hard cold cash)? Where words like “thanks” and “please” are looked up as it is some kind of forbidden words?

I have been to restaurants where you have to wait for a long time before somebody comes along to attend you (and in case you were wondering, the restaurant is almost empty). There is one time, I went with couple of my friends (one was too drunk to say anything, others just sober enough to be decent) to a restaurant. We were so hungry and this was one of the places that were still opened at time of the hour. We tried calling the staff to take our orders but no one came. My friend who was too drunk say anything earlier immediately got annoyed and started to shout vulgar words at the restaurant staff. That brought 2 – 3 staffs rushing to our place to take our orders but we had enough of this nonsense and we walked out (RM50 – RM70 of potential business lost).

Sometimes the staffs get the orders wrong but do nothing to apologise for the mistake. They even insist you eating the wrong dish and pay for it. And when you go up to the counter to pay, you end up facing an arrogant looking man who take your bill and your money (some even counter check the note several times in front of you – as if you have given them some counterfeit notes) without a smile and without even looking at your face and then double, triple count the balance to return (as if we are trying to cheat the shop for couple of cents) and put it on the counter for you to take it (try going to some of the mamak restaurant counters and you will see what I mean).

Sometimes, the problem with staff is not that they are rude people by nature (some looked too nervous to smile) but the problem is there may be a lack of training or supervision or lead by example to get these lowly ranked staff to be polite and courteous to the customers. Like the example of the Chinese restaurant in Part 1 – I gathered that because the owner is always try his best to be very polite to the customers, that somehow got stuck with his staff as well – a classic case of leadership by example.

For those places where we are not treated with some respect and where words like “thanks”, “please”, “sorry” are considered “forbidden”, we often say “screw them” – we do not go back to the same place twice and we even tell others on our bad experience with the business. It is not like we are asking for items or services for free. We are paying for it with our hard earned money and we deserve some respect. So, sorry to say this but for those places where they are simply rude to the customers, we just hope that these businesses lose more customers and end up closing shop permanently.

Being Polite Part 1

(How often you have people behind the counter treating you like you owe them something? – Cartoon source: http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/)

Just the other day, I watched the movie “Invictus” and noticed that Nelson Mandela (excellently acted by Morgan Freeman) was a very polite man. He was courteous and well mannered even to his “ex-enemies”. In case you missed Invictus, the movie was about a leader who was trying to get his country united – bringing people from various background, culture and race as one nation (this movie should be watched by some so-called leaders in Malaysia – they can learn a thing or two if their ego is not bigger than their brain) through the game of rugby (played by a majority white).

Somehow after watching the movie, something about Nelson Mandela being polite stuck with me. And I start to reflect on my daily encounters with people. No need to look at how some people behave on the road – using the emergency lane, cutting queues, changing lanes without proper signal, hogging the road, using no-entry lanes, etc – they are nothing but selfish filthy bastards. No, I am not talking about them – for them, we need the strong hand of the law to deal with them (either increased in traffic fines – screw that for now or one hard whack on their bare buttocks once caught red-handed).

No, I am talking about the people who provide goods and services. How they treat us, the end purchasers or users? Do we get to hear the all important “please”, “sorry” and “thanks”?

2 weeks ago, I took my family out for dinner – we decided to go for the Chinese Restaurant near our house (we love this place – the food is good and reasonably priced and if we order takeaways, we get free drinks). Unfortunately when we arrived, there were no empty tables. The restaurant was so pack with large families. We were about to leave when we noticed one large group had finished their dinner and was leaving. We quickly took over the table. On the table, it was a mess, left by the earlier group – we wanted the restaurant staff to quickly clear the table.

However due to the crowd, the restaurant staff was busy but the owner had noticed us and came apologising to us and explained on the situation and asked us to be patient. He said he will get someone to clear the table as soon as possible. He apologised again. Soon after one staff came over, apologising for being late to clear the table and immediately cleared our table. Another came down and took our orders and we did not really need to wait long for dinner to be cooked. We did not mind waiting for our dinner as we understood that the kitchen had to cope with large orders for the night. We did not mind because we felt appreciated.

A week earlier, I took my car for service to my usual workshop (the place where I am usually known as the boss). After I had parked my car, I came out and told the mechanic that I wanted to service my car. The mechanic looked back at the number of cars at the shop and asked whether I was willing to wait for my turn. I said I had no problem. The workshop owner came in and decided to help out to clear the cars – soon he was working on my car. Advice and suggestions were given promptly and he even pointed out to my tires which was almost bald. I wanted to also add the fuel booster and I informed him and he thanked me. Service was done up fast and during that time and until I left the shop, I lost count of the “thanks” that I got from the owner.

The above is two simple examples where the businesses are simply being polite to its customers and in return get customers who wishes to go back to the same place in the future (even if at times, the cost of items in these places can be more expensive from other places).

To be continued…

Tamil Movie Review: Raavanan

(The poster looks impressive and the trailer somehow entices us to go to the cinema and get the whole “picture” but that is about it. Poster source: Wikipedia)

This has to be one of the most anticipated Tamil movies for the year but there is a big problem…

The problem is, despite having plenty of stars in it (Vikram, the beautiful Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj, Prabhu and “good to see again” Karthik) and music by an Oscar winner, AR Rahman, the movie is directed by Mani Ratnam. That is biggest problem with this movie.

Everyone knows that when Mani Ratnam sits on the director’s seat, the movie is going to be very technical. Just look at his previous movies – Roja, Dil Se, Yuva, Kannathil Muthamittal and Guru and you will realised that having a good plot is secondary in priority for Mani Ratnam (although there are some exceptions like Mouna Ragam and Thalapathi). For this very reason, I was not keen to watch his latest movie – Raavanan (Toy Story 3 looked even more promising).

Despite the name, it is not a remake of the ancient story of Raavanan – the bad guy who kidnapped the wife of the policeman turns out to be a hero sort of and the good guy, the policeman is actually no angel either.

Simple plot – bad guy kidnaps the wife of policeman, policeman goes after the bad guy, wife learns about the bad guy, the bad guy dies in the end. That is pretty much all we have to say about the plot. But what makes a Mani Ratnam movies stand out is how he makes the other things looking brilliant – the location, the background, the acting expressions, music and scenes.

(Hey, forget about the 2 characters and the story – just look at the background – Mani Ratnam seems to say. Image source: Indiaglitz)

OneIndia reports:-

Mani Ratnam, one of the film maker, who enjoys the top spot from three decades in Indian cinema, has disappointed the neutral viewers with his newly released film Raavanan. Yes, comparing with his previous Blockbusters like Thalapathy, Nayakan and Mouna Ragam, this modern Raavanan is no where and a boring experience!

It seems that the director has completely lost his midas touch and just presented the film with excellent Indian aquatic and forest locations like a documentary video of ‘Incredible India campaign’!

In fact there is no perfect story in the film. It looks like Mani has just collected all the news paper cuttings and made his script. It seems that he has simply copied the outlines of the epic Raamayan and mixed it with the modern day Robinhood Veerappan’s story.

IndiaGlitz on the other hand reports:-

‘Raavanan’ is for those who appreciate quality cinema ingredients. Director’s touch, camera, art, etc are prominent yet something is missing. Don’t look for the plot; it is quite obvious (from the trailers).

Watch it for Mani Ratnam’s direction expertise, Vikram’s performance, Aishwarya’s beauty and the beautiful locations!

This was branded Mani’s best movie by a few but on second thought, the master’s best is yet to come.

As I said, he makes very good technical movies and Raavanan is no exception to this. But then again, does it means making a very technical movie means one cannot have a very good plot? For some die-hard Mani Ratnam fans, the answer may be an affirmative yes but I beg to differ. Anjathey is also a technical movie but is also backed by one superb plot making it one neat package.

It is difficult for ordinary movie goers (like me) to judge plot-less technical movies – they can come to watch the movie, cuci-mata watching the actresses (or actors), listen to “sometimes technical as well” AR Rahman music and then go back looking like they are missing something. Unless you are student, learning the fine aspect of movie making, you may not be able to appreciate this latest offering by Mani Ratnam.

Final say

The plus points: Good enough to be used as teaching material for future movie makers

The negative points: Don’t bother to look for a story in this movie – there is almost none

(Click here for other movie reviews)

Doing Up Series

(Steve Job’s same style of shirt, jeans and shoes over the years – this looks like a series too. Image source: http://www.fastcompany.com)

Well, sometimes I am full of creativity juice that I can write a lot – simple “yes or no” email ends up becoming one page detail analysis. I do try to keep things simple and easy but once I get too excited, I do tend to forget to limit my words.

Same thing happens in my blog especially I have come back from a recent overseas trip or some important even have taken place or when I am feeling really, really angry, words comes to my mind very naturally.

Instead of writing one long post, I do tend to break it into several parts for reasons – 1. It is easier to read because it is “shorter” 2. It keeps up the anticipation (there are readers who ask me when Part 2 is coming up) and 3. It covers me when I faced with writer’s block (I don’t have to think of a new post)

Since there are times, I need to continue with the next part of the “long” post or I need to talk about the next version of the same post, I need to do plenty of searches in my blog.

Considering that it will be helpful for me and the readers, I consolidated the series under separate page titled “Read the Series!”

Please do enjoy them…