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.)

Friday, November 26, 2010

Acronym 'SYABAS' seems self-congratulatory...

for self-enrichment!

It is a wonder how the previous Selangor State government could get itself (and by extension, the taxpayers) into a lose-lose situation in favour of a crony and all his hangers-on, as we would perceive there must be. The oft-quoted 'Win-win' formula is dependent on which side you are: decision maker and crony, or the taxpayers.

We have come across, much too often, cases of political leaders misusing their powers to sign agreements which put us, the taxpayers, at the mercy of concessionaires. We cannot abrogate the agreements for fear of losing investors' trust in our country. The North-South Expressway, PKFZ, the Selangor Water privatization, and so on, come to mind. That the Federal Government is ever so keen on its implementation seems to suggest its complicity in the whole mess. Peter Chin had been warning of impending water shortage too!

The following is what Nathaniel Tan make of it as simply as possible:

"Here’s how I would distill the decidedly murky waters surrounding the Selangor water scandal.

If I were the Selangor government, I would hammer these points and these points alone (or maybe even whittle it down even more). The facts are gleaned from a (slightly over wordy) brochure produced by the Selangor State Government.

To recap, the Selangor government is seeking to reacquire previously privatised water concessionaire companies. The Federal Government is offering to do the same, but at a much, much higher price, and under a different set of circumstances.

The long and short of it, if you believe us, is that BN is looking to spend hundreds of millions more of our money in a plan that will only further enrich cronies at the expense of the rakyat.

Here’s how:

1 . Under the federal plan: there will be a *31% INCREASE in water tariffs*, as opposed to a 25% decrease in tariffs under the Selangor plan.

- the Federal Government (ie, us) will take on *RM 6.4 billion of debt*,
currently owed by the water concessionaires.

- there will no longer be 20 cubic meters of free water every month.

2. Here’s what privatised water concessionaire companies like Syabas have been up to:

- Syabas CEO *Rozali Ismail’s salary is a whooping RM 5.1 million a year*(RM 425,000 a month).

- Pipe purchases worth *RM 600 million* were made from an Indonesian company, *also owned
by Rozali Ismail*.

- No open tenders for *RM 600 million worth of contracts* (over 72% of the total awarded).

- *RM 51.2 million* spent on renovations of the Syabas head office (JKAS,
the water regulatory body for Selangor approved expenditures of only RM 23.2 million)

- Between 2005 - 2007, Syabas exceeded its contract value limit by *RM 200 million*.

The brochure contains much, much more information and numbers, but I think
the above says enough.

Clearly, some enormously fat cat cronies are getting paid off like there was no tomorrow - all this at the expense of a rakyat that is suffering and having their backs broken by an economic crisis of epic proportions.

Again, I really think Selangor and Pakatan should focus on this information, put it in a common package, and reiterate it again, again and again via every single medium (including say, billboards) at its disposal.

I’ve likened it before to a number of submarine commission scandals happening right under our noses, only this time, we still have the chance to stop it, if only we work hard enough.

Link

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