Samy…a sexist, an ageist, and an utter disgrace !!!

This was what Samy Vellu, the honourable Minister of the Public Works Department had to say about Parliament being in a shoddy state….read the part in red !! Gosh am i seeing RED !!!. … What a statement from one of the most senior members of Parliament !

Quote The Star 21/05/2007

Team to identify what needs to be fixed at Parliament House  (The Star, 21st May)
By ROYCE CHEAH and TAN KARR WEI

KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Works Department (PWD) will take a week to identify what needs to be fixed at Parliament House before a “to-do list” is submitted to the Cabinet.

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said he had directed the department’s director-general to assemble a team of engineers and architects to look into the roofing, wiring and other problems plaguing the 43-year-old building.

He reiterated that the leaking roof and wiring problems were a result of Parliament House being an old building and not because the RM90mil renovation works in 2005 was incomplete.

When Parliament House was first built “it was a very beautiful building” but it needed maintenance and renovations.

“A woman 50 years ago, she looks beautiful, but today she won’t look so beautiful,” he said, adding that work under the RM90mil renovations was complete. 

“Electrical rewiring was done for the two dewans and the public gallery while the renovations included things like the carpets, toilets and floors.

“Anyone can see the difference between the interior of Parliament House before and what it is now,” he said, adding that he could not talk about the cost of the upcoming repair works.

On Saturday, Speaker Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib had said faulty electrical wiring in the house needed immediate attention.

Samy Vellu said it would be looked into but added that the PWD could not fulfil the Speaker’s request to have an engineer stationed at Parliament permanently.

“We do not normally do that because we only go when there are problems.
“We are like doctors, we only go when someone is sick and not wait for someone to get sick. However, if Parliament requests it, I will ask the department to start a unit to carry out maintenance for that building all the time.”

To a question about completely demolishing Parliament House and building a new one, Samy Vellu said the cost would be in the range of RM1.5bil-RM2bil, a whopping sum.

*****************

Lets get a couple of thing straight here…. It is utterly disgusting, that in defending his Ministry’s non-performance and shoddy upkeep of buildings, he turns it into a comment about women. Well maybe thats an indication of how he treats his women !! But i think most men would agree that is shameful to equate such an occurence with women. Especially in this day and age…. I do hope Sharizat, gets this one sorted out. Sometimes i really feel sorry her, cos of the “lot” that she has to put up with!!!

 I still haven’t heard an apology ?? !! ….Have you ?

 

 

 

 

The Unfairness of the CLP. . . .

The Certificate of Legal Practice or better know as the CLP, is a once a year,   government examination that all foreign law grads are required to pass in order to be called to the M’sian bar. One wonders at the current passrate of (~15%) what degrees the foreign grads carry…. and they actually possess validated degrees from University of London , Bristol, Australia, …even Oxford and Cambridge.

Then the question arises that if, the Malaysian legal board, accepts graduates from these universities, why then do they ostracize and discriminate against them in the CLP exam ??? Is there some other ulterior motive of not wanting foreign grads in the market, because they seem to be more marketable than the local grads from UM, USM , and IIU ..etc??

When time permits i will post some short points on where the CLP has gone so so wrong….but before that enjoy this short letter that was printed in THESUN 21/5/2007

 CLP candidates seek transparency
I write this letter not only for myself but also the numerous other candidates who will be sitting for the Legal Qualifying Board Examination, or commonly referred to as the CLP Examination, in July.

Some may wonder what is wrong with the Legal Qualifying Board to warrant such a letter?

Last year saw an influx of letters to the editor complaining and more importantly, seeking an answer for the low passing rate in the examination and the difference of standards applied for foreign and local graduates. Many candidates requested to see and review the examiners’ report to their answer sheets, only to have their request rejected.

A lot of us sitting for the examination this year, myself included, are resitting for the umpteenth time, not knowing where we went wrong previously.

As CLP students, we work hard, day and night, to memorise cases, to understand and apply the principles of law and this mammoth task has to be done in about nine months. We take this unfair burden in our stride because we know that this is what it takes to be a good and employable lawyer.

Permit me to highlight some of the “unfairness” we are put through in the examination:

• Firstly, a Statement of Claim is the foremost document that has to be prepared by any practising lawyer when starting a case. This important piece of document sometimes takes weeks to prepare. We, however, are required to prepare it in under 20 minutes.
• Secondly, we sit for five papers in the examination- the Criminal Procedure Code, Civil Procedure, General Paper, Professional Practice and Law of Evidence. If we were to fail one paper, we are allowed to resit that one paper in the following two weeks after the release of our results. However, if we were to fail two or more subjects, we are considered to have failed the examination, regardless of our other results and we have to wait to resit the examination the following year.

I have always believed that the whole concept of “unfairness” is a subjective issue to be determined by each individual. Some may say that we are sore losers while others may sympathise with our situation.

Regardless of all that has been said, this letter is in no way meant to ridicule or criticise the Legal Qualifying Board. We, the candidates and hopefully lawyers someday, hope that the board will be a little bit forthcoming with our request to view the examiners’ report so that we can better prepare ourselves for the examination.

Hopeful candidate
Kuala Lumpur

Building leaks, delays and disasters…….pt 1 of 2

The past couple of weeks, have seen the predominance of building and construction disasters on our headlines…. BUT IS THIS SOMETHING NEW ??

• Highland Towers (Dec, 1993) – 48 deaths

· Navy Recruit Training Centre (PULAREK), Johor

            Cost – RM198m; extra RM13m needed, 7,032 defects

· MATRADE building delay (RM 120m extra)

· MRR2

· NKVE-Meru highway collapse

· Immigration Department Putrajaya (floods from 7th floor to 2nd floor)

· Entrepreneurial Department Putrajaya (plaster of paris ceiling collapses)

· KL Court Complex (lift jams, blackout, cracks in wall, ceiling crashes)

· Parliament (leaks after repairs of RM 100m)

· Airport runway – blackout (Agong can’t fly back to KL !!)

Then the honourable Prime Minister says :-

“..first-world facility but third-world mentality in maintenance….”

“I have said repeatedly, ‘maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.’ But people, as long as nothing happens, couldn’t be bothered,”

“We have to check all (government) buildings because of what has happened.”

Following this statement the Public Works Department (PWD), says it needs
RM 22 million to inspect all the buildings in Putrajaya ALONE !!

From the Public Accounts Committee – Deputy Auditor-General Anwari Suri.

• “Some of the contractors could not even hire skilled and technical workers due to lack of funds and this has many a time resulted in shoddy work.

• “The plans for the projects were also sub-standard and their workers were not trained to do what they did.”Anwari said some contractors used inferior quality construction materials, such as adulterated cement and low quality wood, to cut costs.”There have been cases where the construction materials used were not according to that stated in the contract specifications. The use of such materials could eventually affect the entire structure.”
  article, Monitoring Construction Projects,
  
  
• “(Under such circumstances) You can monitor and audit the project for all you want but if these aspects are not looked into, the end-result could be embarrassing.”

So considering the fact that the government already knows what is going on, that there is actually a failure in the system of planning the project and giving out tenders, as well as a failure to monitor the on-going progress of the development projects…. why does this keep happening….??

It has come to a point, where the public just shakes its head and doesn’t bother about the fact that these things are happening, ….WHY….because it happens so very often !!! and human beings being creatures of habit…its become a regular “Malaysian occurence” so to speak.

Nevermind the fact that the government has corrupt practices in place, in the way they award contracts, nevermind the fact that its the ‘rakyat’s’ hard earned money that is going towards repairing their failures and shortcomings,,,neverming the fact that they aren’t even sorry !! about it…… but it is actually very very dangerous as well…to you and to me!!

The next picture, i scanned out of a National Geographic map that i believe came sometime last year….and the map (in the red and orange) indicated the areas that are prone or high-risk to earthquakes post Dec 2004. Have a look ….

 

Kuala Lumpur is right in the middle of that bright orange section covering parts of the Malaysian Peninsular……start thinking folks…..

Question : What are our standards ?? Are our construction standards up to the level needed to protect us when an earthquake hits??? Or even strong enough to withstand the aftershocks ??

Answer : I do not feel safe…..and unfortunately the worst is yet to come……

pt 2 coming soon….

BBC : Anwar shakes up Malaysia politics

(This is a commentary written by Jonathan Kent, BBC Correspondent)

2007/05/01 13:06:22 GMT

Malaysia is picking over the results of a key by-election that saw the opposition People’s Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) defeated by a three to two margin.

The by-election was called because of the death of a pro-governing party incumbent.

But it gained importance outside Ijok, a semi-rural seat near the capital, because it was Keadilan’s first electoral test since Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former deputy leader, was released from jail in September 2004.

The by-election became as much about the possible return to prominence of Mr Anwar – seen as the opposition’s “leader in waiting” – as it had to do with the people of Ijok.

For almost two weeks the little backwater of small towns and oil palm plantations was awash with Malaysia’s orang besar, or big people, as it prepared to deliver what was almost certainly the last test of public opinion before the whole country goes to the polls, possibly as soon as early next year.

“[Anwar] still has presence… a lot of political pull. And he’s a rarity in Malaysia; a politician who has real cross-cultural appeal Dr Johan Saravanamuttu Malaysian political scientist

The campaign was described as one of the nastiest in living memory.

There were sporadic reports of violence, and the police are investigating 28 different incidents relating to the campaign.

Both the governing party and the opposition traded insults rather than policy ideas.

But in the end most of the area drifted towards Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ruling party.

Political battle-front

The declaration of the result did little to silence the opposition, which immediately levelled allegations of vote rigging and bribery at the governing party.

“This is not a defeat for our party,” declared Mr Anwar. “This is an insult to our democratic system.”

For its part, the government used the result to declare Mr Anwar’s return to politics stillborn.

“[The opposition] did everything… and Anwar Ibrahim was there every day… they resorted to all sorts of tactics, including hurling accusations,” said Mr Abdullah.

Others, though, point to that fact that Mr Anwar’s reappearance on the campaign trail after an absence of almost 10 years still sparked a lot of interest.

“He still has presence, he still has a lot of political pull,” said Dr Johan Saravanamuttu, a Malaysian political scientist currently with the Institute for South East Asian Studies in Singapore.

“And he’s a rarity in Malaysia; a politician who has real cross-cultural appeal.”

And that seems to have been the reason why Malaysia’s governing National Front was determined not to lose.

Ten million dollars were spent in the district to woo just 12,000 voters.

Three tarmac-laying crews were hard at work throughout the campaign patching up local roads. Schools were repainted, street lighting installed and drains repaired.

One village reportedly even received a surprise gift of 200 sewing machines.

“Ten years of development in 10 days,” was the comment of one cabinet minister, begging the question of why it took a by-election for the district to finally get its dues.

That it did at all owed a great deal to the ruling National Front’s fear of Mr Anwar.

Inter-ethnic balance

The National Front has in one form or another governed Malaysia uninterrupted since independence in 1957 and, despite allegations that it has routinely manipulated the democratic process, its legitimacy stems from one fact above all others.

Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-religious society; just over half the population is Malay, a little more than a quarter is Chinese, 7-8% is Indian, and a host of minorities, mostly from Malaysian Borneo, make up the balance.

Anwar has always been obsessed with the notion of becoming prime minister Chandra Muzaffar Former Keadilan member

“The government has forged an inclusive coalition that, though imperfect, tries to balance the interests of all Malaysia’s races,” said political analyst James Wong.

“The opposition has never managed to do the same. The government’s real worry is that Mr Anwar might change that.”

Chandra Muzaffar, one of Malaysia’s leading thinkers and a former member of Keadilan does not think he will.

“The National Front has always been good at maintaining an inter-ethnic arrangement to make sure all races are represented,” Dr Chandra told the BBC.

He believes that Mr Anwar’s inclusive rhetoric, calling for the abolition of racial quotas and handouts to Malays is merely a cynical means to an end.

“Anwar has always been obsessed with the notion of becoming prime minister,” he said and points to Keadilan’s decision to field an ethnic Malay candidate in Ijok where the community is in a majority.

“There’s no Indian majority constituency in the country, but the government always fielded an Indian in Ijok because they form a large minority there. Anwar’s party didn’t respect that and they paid the price.”

But both Mr Chandra and Mr Wong agree that Malaysia needs a better opposition if it is to get better government, and that the opposition will not be effective until it is united.

And few believe the election result has condemned Mr Anwar to oblivion.

Meanwhile back in Ijok many locals are simply laughing off the politics and point to the windfall that the campaign brought them.

As one wag told the BBC: “All it proves is the biggest favour a Malaysian politician can do for his district is to die in office!”

It would be a less damning comment on Malaysian politics if there were not a certain measure of truth in that.

A video showing police bias & unwillingness to act – Ijok

We’ve talked so much this week about an unfair election, dirty tactics and money throwing. This short video shows that the police, not only take sides, but they don’t even know the law, or what they are supposed to be doing during election times.

On the 27th April, 5pm, a large group of UMNO-BN members, refused to allow, Dr Xavier and Dr Hatta with other PKR members to enter Kg Rantau Panjang to campaign. The police and the FRU were eventually called in to assist the situation, but that situation was only made worse, when one of the police officers suggested to PKR members that they go get a permit !! to enter the area.

There is another video that will follow shortly of the police telling PKR to make a police report with regards to their wanting to enter Kg Rantau Panjang. Any person with 2 cents worth of logic would know that making a police report would be a futile effort if the election campaign was to close by midnight that same day.

Eventually only 5 ppl were allowed to enter the housing estate, and even that the police said its up to PKR to negotiate with the UMNO-BN supporters. The police refused to intervene and uphold the law.