Constituents should have a sense of balance

I am prompted by the following letter:
theSun: Speak Up: Give Perak PR govt time

WHY all the fuss about the Pakatan Rakyat government in Perak, "Wake-up call for Perak govt" (Dec 17)? They have four years and let them do things their way and let us analyse their performance at the next election. As for the developments in Ipoh and Perak as a state, I would say the real development in Perak stopped many years ago during Tan Sri Ramli Ngah’s time. No one complained then, no one made a fuss then, no one voiced their dissatisfaction then and no one wrote letters to papers then. Why now? Lets give them time and I’m sure they will fare better than the previous state government.

I’m from Ipoh but work in Kuala Lumpur. I long for the day when I can get a decent job in Ipoh and move there permanently. Most people from Ipoh who are working elsewhere have the same longing. This will only change with a more prudent and intelligent state government. The previous state government proved its intelligence when it moved the Medan Kidd bus terminal to Medan Gopeng.

During the last election, most Perakians wanted change and we did it. I rushed back to Ipoh after work to put in my vote for the change. Many did the same. Many rushed back from North and South to Perak. The highway was jammed with cars on the eve of election. All our hardship paid off when PR won.

It’s not even a year since the PR came to power, so be patient. We kept quiet for umpteen years during the previous state government seeing things turning from bad to worse.

Lastly, so what if the state executive councillors want to drive a Camry? They deserve it. I for one would love to see my choice of councillors come and go in style.
JasonKuala Lumpur


Sometimes, we need to have a sense of balance in our perception of what is going on. Some people complained that once elected, their MP or State Assemblyman does not visit their constituency frequent enough, did not inform them earlier and they got to know about their visit from the newspapers, or did not answer their calls to his mobile phone. Some would insist on dealing only with the MP or ADUN personally, not his or her assistant.

We should imagine ourselves in his position and think whether it is possible to do all the official work, attend to all the complaints (some really petty) yet socialise with the constituents.

YB Nga Kor Ming gave a convincing rebuttal to all such complaints when he said that during the morning of DAP state convention, his handphone showed 27 missed calls and over 300 messages! Could he have done anything if he were to answer all the calls and reply to all the messages? He said he wished he could just socialise and have tea with them everyday without having to attend to official matters!

I will try to be objective on the question of replacing Proton Perdanas with Toyota Camrys.

Just this morning, my friend complained about his new Proton Saga which had both front power windows out of order, after only a few months. I could not believe that in spite of all the criticisms and promises to rectify, this problem persisted. But it was true. The other common complaint about Proton is their gearboxes which cannot last as expected, like other cars. Service was not as good compared with Toyota or Nissan, for example, where their personnel actually call up to ask for their feedback.

If we think about it, if a car is troublesome, even if the service is good, it still requires time and money to repair. How many of us, if given the choice, would opt for a troublesome car? To add to it, poor attention and service is double jeopardy.

One of the reasons cited by the present Perak state government for replacing Proton with Toyota is unreliability of the cars. In the case of Terengganu’s Proton cars, abnormally high repair costs were attributed to not sending the cars to the authorised service centres while still under warranty, which was open to abuse. Someone even suggested that some private cars could have been serviced and charged under official cars. Nevertheless, a good internal control system should have detected unusual repair costs and not allowed it to reach ludicrous extent.

One of the complaints of Perak state’s decision is why Toyota Camry 2.4 instead of 2.0. Perhaps if it is not too late, a compromise, say, only senior excos are allowed 2.4 model should be considered. But, come to think of it, prior to the Protons, Excos were using Mercedes 124 models! What about the luxurious Mercedes E Class used by Terengganu now?

Anyway, with proper control over the use and service of the cars, much lower repair costs over the years would prove the critics wrong and justify the decision to change.

One big difference between the Pakatan and BN elected representatives is that the former had been through hard times and cost saving is likely to be one of their attributes.

As far as DAP representatives are concerned, I can vouch for a fact that I have seen YB Thomas Su alone personally arrange chairs prior to a party meeting. YB Sivakumar, who is presently the State Assembly Speaker is known to be the only Speaker who inspects clogged drains and uncollected rubbish and so on.

MP for Batu Gajah, YB Fong Po Kuan is well known for attending to constituency matters though she had lamented before that it seems a waste for her to look into clogged drains and uncollected rubbish. Fortunately for her, now that her party is in the state government, such responsibilities are greatly reduced as the respective State Assemblymen have correspondingly increased theirs.

I tip my hat to YB Lim Kit Siang, at his age, for his ability to criss-cross the country, sometimes at a moment’s notice. He was at the candlelight vigil in Ipoh recently, and when informed of the arrest of some people in PJ, rushed there to show his support.