I've been waiting for reactions. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Nothing happened.

So, it is confirmed that nobody gives a damn about us Malaysians.

I am talking about The Star's report on 21 October 2009 titled 'Operators Fail To Follow Clean-Up Schedule'. Many people I spoke to had no idea what that article was all about. Many missed it because it was carried in the Metro section. But, this is a shocking revelation.

Dear People of Selangor, SYABAS did not wash our reservoirs a single time last year! And a particular treatment plant in Sungai Sireh has not been washed for 10 years. Click here to read more.

And SYABAS had this to say on another report on 23 October 2009, '40 Of 307 Reservoirs Cleaned':

"SYARIKAT Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd. (Syabas) said it had cleaned 40 of the 307 reservoirs in the cleaning programme in 2008 while the rest were rescheduled as the water quality in the reservoirs complied with minimum standards after scheduled inspections."

"He said based on the inspection carried out by the company, only 40 reservoirs needed to be cleaned urgently due to the poor water quality."

"With regard to the other reservoirs, the Government decided to put the programme on hold because in early 2008, the decisions was made to restructure the water sector in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which led to the freeze of all Capex (capital expenditure) works."

Click here to read more.

Seriously, why do we have to live with this kind of nonsense? SYABAS is contracted to supply us with continuous supply of clean water.

And what? You only clean the reservoir when it is in bad shape? Hello... this is water! A key component of human life. And our health. What on earth are you talking about? Do you take a shower only when you are covered in mud? You have a cleaning program and you stick to it. That is the agreement. We do not want compliance with minimum standards. We want the best quality water money can buy. And that's why we pay you for water usage. And government delays the programme because there is a restructuring exercise? What bullshit is this? And what has capital expenditure got to do with cleaning the reservoirs? Capex is a balance sheet item. Cleaning is an income statement item. You don't have money to buy cleaning equipment? But you've signed up the water supply agreement aeons ago. Are you saying you had never been cleaning the reservoirs from day 1?

How many of us have had to deal with brown water from our tap over and over again? How many of us have had to deal with smelly water from our tap over and over again? How many of us have had to spend money to purchase water filters? Mind you, a good water filter costs a few thousand ringgit. And there's your maintenance costs as well. And we do not even know of the long term impact such filters of sand and charcoal may cause to our health in the long term.

For crying out loud, clean water is a 'given' item. It is one of the most basic of basic human rights. Look at the developed countries. They literally drink right from their tap. Where are we?

What has the Selangor government been doing? What happened to monitoring? The previous state BN government was only interested in taking from us. The present PR government is 'still new', 'inexperienced' and is nothing but a whole load incompetent squabbling fools.

Fellow Malaysians, nobody gives a damn about us. We are like orphans. We are on our own. And I say it is time we all stand up and be counted. They are our servants, not the other way around.

I am toying with this idea. Remember Erin Brockovich? Yes, class suit. Can the rakyat of Selangor who are (obviously) directly affected sue the daylight out of SYABAS? If this can be done, forget about the Selangor government having to buy them out. There will be nothing left by then.

Is there any good lawyer out there who wants to take this up? Can we agree to a success fee of say 10% of compensation? And talking about compensation, I am talking about every ringgit of water charges paid by every water user in Selangor for the past, say, 5 years. Plus, damages and compensation. SYABAS has failed in their duty of care and from the angle I see it, they have breached their contractual agreement to provide continuous supply of clean usable water.

Here is a suggested game plan:

1. Get a lawyer who has the balls to fight against the big boys. Some one who can stand up and live with the potential backlash from those in power.

2. Get a team of professional managers to oversee this project.

3. Start a fund-raising exercise. People of Selangor, this is your fight. And the people of Selangor are the richest in this country (no offense to the others). And in particular the Klang Valley-ites. I am confident we can raise a good few million bucks to keep things rolling. Heck, why not appoint professional fund managers to raise this money. We Selangorians can definitely afford this. The fund raisers get paid on success fee basis. I think a 10% cut is fair. And we will ensure that a Big 4 accounting firm audits the fund. I know for sure that they do many 'community service' audit for free (or a token sum).

4. With this mobilisation fund, engage subject matter experts to study the water system and quality. Don't worry, this will not be a futile exercise. Chances of them returning with nothing to report is as likely as the sun rising from the west.

5. With evidence and studies in hand, it's game on.

6. Our public relations chaps have work to do again. Spread the issue to every corner of the world. Make sure it causes a big hoohah. Make sure it rocks the country. Make sure it reaches the United Nations. With global scrutiny, the issue cannot be buried.

7. We can even hire the Queen's Counsel to advise us. Malaysian law is written based upon the English. And many laws have been in existence pre-1957. Can we have the case heard in some international court? I don't trust our judicial system.

8. Who are the plaintiffs? The rakyat of Selangor. Everyone with a water bill. The lawyers will be given a mobilisation fee from the fund raised to start a signature drive. Sign up and you stand to share the compensation pool (net of expenses).

This is an exercise much practised in developed nations. Why not here? Why are we so fearful to defend ourselves? Why must we continue to live on crumbs thrown out by the government. No, don't wait for Pakatan Rakyat. They are politicians as well at the end of the day. Why can't we start to stand up for ourselves?

I really hope something to this effect can be taken. I am fed up with having to live like a beggar in this country. Why should I compare myself to the Ethiopians or Somalians? Why can't I compare myself to the Swedes or Germans? I deserve more. You deserve more. We the orphans of Malaysia deserve more than this.

There are so much more that we can do. We can take Proton down for selling us suicide mobiles. We can take on PLUS for building killer highways with inferior raw materials. The list goes on. GLCs must be smacked hard right down where it hurts them most, or they will never wake up. It's not easy being a government. Being the CEO of a GLC is much more than pocketing large paychecks. You affect the lives of everyone in this country. We must deliver a strong message to these very people who are making our lives a misery. And they will have to learn it the hard way.

.

Who has tried to get an overdraft facility from a local bank only to be told to place a fixed deposit of similar amount with the bank?

How often have we heard of stories of small time entrepreneurs who needed bank loans to help their businesses only to be turned away because they do not have strong collaterals?

Has anyone who has a business idea but no capital tried approaching our local banks for a start-up loan only to be turned away for having no past track record?

The above are common knowledge among laymen Malaysians. Not to our political leaders though because they are never interested in our welfare and neither are they in touch with reality on the ground. And do not be fooled into believing that only non-bumiputras are faced with the above problems. The available government schemes are not that easily disbursed even to the bumiputra entrepreneurs. Not connected kot...

Malaysian banks are rubbish. From the ridiculously stupid requirement of requiring an introducer to open an account (what the hell for, seriously) to their level of service to the very objective of running a bank.

What are the main objectives of a bank? I will say to accept deposits, and to lend those deposits out for a gain via charging interests.

Are our banks meeting these objectives? Very partially. Accepting deposits - yes. Disbursing loans - no. But yet they are making vulgar profits. Huh?

Our local banks are no longer interested in making money from interests on loan. That's too risky as the loans may go bad. Over a business lunch recently, I took the opportunity to whack a couple of bankers that their bank should cease their operations and look for a new business if they are no longer interested in giving out business loans. (No I was not asking them for a loan). They are simply being overly cautious with their credit assessment. And those 2 idiot bankers had the cheek to ask me how I would feel if I am the one being asked to lend money out. For heaven's sake, I am not in the business of lending money - you are, jackass!

The truth is our banks have no clue what credit assessment is all about. Credit assessment is a difficult task as it requires the assessor to be somewhat of a Nostradamus. But poor skills and lack of capabilities have resulted in lazy approaches to be adopted based on 'policies' created by 'upper management'. It would seem that anybody can do credit application assessment nowadays. Forms have been created. If you meet enough ticks, you get your loan. The bad news is there are no 2 businesses that are the same. 1 simple form is not going to be able to cater for a 'living' entity like a business. How good are these jokers sitting behind the computers in interpreting the profit and cash flow forecasts and projections presented by businesses to the banks? How sound is their understanding of the hundreds of industries out there? Too much effort involved, too much skills required.

Fortunately for our banks, and unfortunately for us, they found a new source of income - service charges. Malaysians are complaining that banks are charging for everything but Bank Negara will not give a damn. After all, they want to keep the banks afloat.

Malaysians are charged like no tomorrow just to use their own money. Your bank charges start the moment you open a savings or current account - admin fee, search fee. Then you get charged an annual fee. Further fees will be charged if you don't maintain a minimum amount. Why? It's my money, why can't I spend it? Farking hell, you even get charged if your account is dormant. If you withdraw money from an ATM of another bank, you get charged RM1. And RM1.50 for internet banking fund transfer. Hello! Didn't I just save you some human effort for going techie? Why RM1.50 per transaction? And a hell lot of other transactions downright to the moment you close your god damn account. Click on any bank's website and look at their long list of service charges.

I really cannot begin to estimate how much our banks make every year from stealing this money from us. Yes, stealing. It is blardie legalised daylight robbery. But what I am sure is that this service charging is a multi-billion ringgit industry. Mind you, corporate accounts get charged much more than individuals. Multi-billion bucks of free income.

The Star reported on 16 October 2009 in the article titled "Public Bank Posts Higher Q3 Net Profit" that:

1. For the 9 months ended 30 September 2009, Public Bank made a net profit of RM1.84 billion
2. Other operating income increased by 10% to RM1.03 billion

What does the above tell you? More than 50% of Public Bank's profit came from non-core business. If that is the case, shouldn't the non-core business of the bank now be called it's core business? After all, Public Bank is no longer earning the bulk of its income from its lending activities.

And I am curious as to how much of this RM1.05 billion is earned from charging service charges.

Something is just not right with the way Malaysian banks are running their business. Consumers cannot be ripped off per the banks' wishes.

Banks have a social responsibility too. That is to move money around the economy. Giving out loans is one important aspect. I understand that giving out loans is risky business. The country's loan system was so poor pre the Asian Financial Crisis that the banks were hard hit. And oh don't we all know of the current Credit Crisis. But understand that these are the results of greedy and unscrupulous banking decisions. In both crises, money was given out like a running tap. There was pretty little credit assessment. And now we have the opposite.

There has to be prudent and sensible credit assessment and not form ticking like what we have now. Seriously, if banks are not willing to put in the effort to earn interest income and yet be able to balance the risks of lending, don't run a bank.

Money has to be earned. If it has to be earned the hard way, then so be it. Our banks are living on free for taking money via imposing never ending service charges. Go back to your core objectives of money lending. If the risks are too much to stomach, then I suggest that the banks look into other lines of businesses. There will be some others who are willing to earn money the hard way.

.

Everyone's talking about how our local medias spin stories, propagandas and what is and what not. How many of you actually understand what a spin is?

Malaysians are a gullible lot. Most buy into anything as long as it is presented in a way which they think carry weight. Which is why professional conmen love Malaysia.

Malaysians are major suckers - skim cepat kaya, MLMs, pyramid schemes, bomoh tipu duit, feng shui master scams etc. are aplenty in Malaysia. (Embarrassingly I form the statistics too). We are so easy that we must be internationally known because even Africans from the most remote part of Africa are making big bucks right here.

Our local medias know us Malaysians best. They put up whatever serves the purposes of their political masters and chances are some Malaysians will fall for it. I have had enough of Utusan - so let us not even give them any form of coverage here. Let us look at Malaysia's best selling newspaper - The Star.

This is what I picked from The Star on their 9 October 2009 edition.












It reads:



There we have it - a super spin! A spin may not be a lie but is it the ultimate truth?

Page 6 of the country's most read newspaper shouting and rallying for their political master, Ong Tee Keat, that he is the 'preferred' man to lead MCA.

But preferred by whom? One look and you would have thought that the Merdeka Centre has done their survey from all of Malaysia. Before you read any further, be known that I am not challenging the survey or method adopted by Merdeka Centre. The point I am trying to make is on the way The Star spins the survey results. After all, the country's No. 1 newspaper is reporting it.

Now if you read the article, you will find that only 846 people responded to the survey and only 32.2% of the 273 Chinese respondents agreed that OTK is the preferred choice.

We do not know how the 846 respondents responded to OTK being the preferred choice but logic tells me that it is not too good else The Star would have gone to town with it. So, their survey did not turn out to be as what they wanted it to be. What do you do? Look for corners that favor you of course.

The Star decided to show only the portion of the Chinese who responded. It some what achieved some favourable statistics. But what kind of a sample size is 273 respondents? I am pretty sure that it fails all sampling tests requirements. 273 respondents! The country has a population of about 27 million. And they say about 25% are Chinese. That works out to be 273 out of 6.75 million Chinese?

You call that a sampling? Is that good enough data to shout and propagate the way The Star did?

And there was the specific mention of 64% of respondents who didn't feel too much for a sex scandal tainted leader. To report this figure is alright. But what are the other questions posed in the survey? Why not list them all. Is this not called selective reporting?

I don't give a shit about OTK and CSL. And I am not writing about any one of them. My point here is the spin that The Star makes. The above news article is but an example of what The Star is capable of. And I think that this is a bloody good example of a spin.

Please la Wong Chun Wai. Have a bit of dignity and pride la. Some Malaysians may get fooled, but not all Malaysians are idiots. You have turned this newspaper into rubbish. Do you decide what goes on in this paper or is it a collective decision with Clement Hii?

Spinning is dangerous journalism. You cannot say that The Star has broken any law. Neither can you say that they have cheated on the survey. Everything they reported were quite likely to be true. But it is what they choose to report and the manner in which they choose to present them that is morally incorrect.

We Malaysians are a pitiful lot. What is real and what is not in this country? Which is fact, which is a spin and which are wayang kulits?

Come Christmas, I am going to ask Santa for a new laptop. I'll leave him some extra-large cookies from Mrs. Fields to please him. Damn. Better start working on a chimney at home. Not too narrow, I heard Santa is really fat.

.

Now that the MCA EGM is done and dusted, it is clear who won; Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy. Even the aunties at the morning market will tell you that they are the 2 behind the '3rd force' who caused the 2 egoistic fools, who challenged each other in a do-or-die battle, to both lose.

I call them fools because they placed their egos above everything else. They have miscalculated their moves. They both thought too highly of themselves. One thought that being President and all he gets the upperhand and can call the shots and play the game from the inside. The other thought that he had nothing to lose and might as well go for broke.

In a game of high stake Baccarat, one placed all his chips on Banker while the other went all-in on Player. But the dealer won with a Tie. None of them are unlucky. The cards have simply been 'fixed'.

I am most pleased that MCA is now in shambles. And what this episode taught us is that Malaysian politicians have again shown that their personal interests are of much more importance than that of the party, party members and the interested general public.

I tell you these 2 jokers really played a bad hand. And they played straight into the hands of Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy at that. It doesn't take much effort to know why the 2 former MCA taikos would want to kill off Ong Tee Keat using Chua Soi Lek as the bait.

Answer: PKFZ, Ling Liong Sik and UMNO. I will not elaborate on why these 3 put in so much effort to prepare the stage because the answer cannot get any more obvious.

By the way, did you really think that Ong Tee Keat is on leave now to sort out his MCA presidency? He is on leave now to sort out Transport Ministry (and other ministries where he has influence) contracts which he has promised and of which he is a beneficiary. That is why MCA's central committe is only meeting on Thursday. Why would anyone let the party be on auto cruise drift for 6 days? This is Malaysia. Personal interests must be taken care of. Cronies' interests must be taken care of. UMNO's contracts must be taken care of. It will be too late to handle these by the time OTK resigns as MCA President and hence his ministerial position. UMNO and MCA have been working round the clock since Saturday evening to sort out all contracts and have them signed off this few days.

So, what's left for MCA now? Najib, Ling Liong Sik, Ong Ka Ting and Chan Kong Choy need to put a puppet on the pedestal now. But is there still anybody left?

I don't quite believe in reincarnation. I know many of you do but not being a very religious person myself, I still pretty much believe in Stephen Hawking. Anyways, say you believe in reincarnation. Who decides where you get reincarnated? There's the karma system isn't it? Do good this life and you will get a better life in the next. If that is true, then we know that bad people get reincarnated at Indians in Malaysia. If you are born into Malaysia via an Indian womb, you are screwed I tell you. Screwed big time.

It sucks to be an Indian in this country. If you are born an Indian in India, you stand a chance of being born in the north where you may one day be the richest man in the world or you may be born in the south where you will be just... poor. (Ok, that's a generalisation but you get the drift). But if you are born an Indian in Malaysia... aiyoyo...

Look at this article, (Indian) Lady Arrested While Making (Police) Report. For those who are too lazy to read... Plain clothes anti-narcotics police raided Indian lady's house for no reason. Coppers took her pawn papers and her son's PS2. Coppers made the 14 year old son sit in the police van and poked fun at him telling him they will arrest him when he grows up. Indian lady then went to police station to make report and claim back belongings, but they nabbed her because her report will get the coppers in trouble.

That's Malaysia. It doesn't matter if the above story is true or not. It doesn't matter if the woman has some untold stories. The point I am trying to make is if you are an Indian, you are heavily discriminated in Malaysia. Everyone knows that. You know that, I know that.

If you are an Indian, and you kena tangkap masuk balai, your chances of dying in there is higher than any other races. Innocence not important. Type of offence also not important. And the chances are extremely high that you will get bashed up by the coppers if you are an Indian.

1 Malay, 1 Chinese and 1 Indian run out of 7-11. If someone shouts pencuri, the coppers will go after the Indian fella. Guaranteed.

A young Malay drives a Honda with super mods, a young Chinese drives a Honda with blue lights all over and a young Indian drives a plain Honda. The police on a road block will stop the Indian chap and ask for his identification.

A group of 5 Malays travel in a Myvi. A group of 5 Chinese travel in a Myvi. A group of 5 Indians travel in a Myvi. The police at the road block will stop the Indians, make them alight the car, and check all their identifications.

The Indians have a special status in this country - the least respectable category. Nobody gives a hoot about the Indians. Now Samy Vellu is even claiming that MIC's education arm belongs to him personally. Hahahaha... brilliant.

What is so different about the Indians that they deserve this? I have many Indian friends. I have many Indian relatives. Heck, I don't care if they are Indians, they are just my friends and relatives. Some are really intelligent, some are brilliant in the office, some are super polite and soft-spoken, some love to drink (a lot), some are just downright lazy, some are out to make a quick buck out of you, some are perpetual trouble makers, some are religious to the core, some are... I know many Malays and Chinese who are just like that too! Why pick on the Indians?

Just because many of them are poor does not make all of them thieves. Come on, it is no secret that the Indians are the poorest among the lot of 3 although some of them have made in big. But look at the majority. Just because Ananda Krishnan is rich doesn't mean that the Indians are all doing well.

And why are the Indians the poorest of the 3 races in the very first place? Why are they always treated as the anak tiri? The government just could not give a damn about them and many continue to get stuck in a vicious cycle. The Brits brought them over as estate workers. Many are still stuck there. Why? Because they have been continuously denied proper education. Without proper education, how are they going to break out from poverty? But that is exactly what the BN government does not want to do - keep them in the trap. I am willing to put 500 bucks on the table that the poorest kampung of the 3 races belong to the Indians. (For discussion sake, lets exclude the Orang Asli).

How are the Indians going to break away from stereotyping? They can't. It is not them who stereotype themselves, but the society who stereotype the Indians. Unfortunately, racism in Malaysia is getting worse. The real Malaysia is a horrible place to live in. Back in school, nobody gave a flying fark what color your skin is. We were simply classmates, friends.

For now, our Indians comrades will just have to 'just take it all in'. Nobody influential is fighting for them. The Indians are unable to rise in numbers because of fear and lack of knowledge. I guess they will just have to wait for a messiah.

Here's a little for you stereotyping Malaysians out there. According to The Malaysian Society Guide Book:

If you are a Malay, you are lazy, stupid and benefits from lopsided preferences.
If you are a Chinese, you are a gambler and you'll do anything for money.
If you are an Indian, you are an alcoholic and a trouble maker.

This is the Malaysia we live in. 1Malaysia my farking arse!

.......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Author's Note:

There seem to be some misunderstanding on the use of the term 'pariah'. Certain people may have different understanding of this term. For the purpose of this posting, I am using the generally 'understood' version.

Wikionary has this to say:

From Tamil paraiyar. Parai refers in Tamil to a type of large drum designed to announce king's notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste ridden society they were in lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah. Now, the term is used to describe an outcast in English.

...