1. Malaysia is a truly multiracial country. It is truly so because Malaysians retain their identification with their countries of origin.

2. Multiracial countries are almost never peaceful. More so if the races follow different religions, speak different languages and adhere to different cultures as in Malaysia.

3. But contrary to general expectations, Malaysia is relatively peaceful and stable. It is accordingly more prosperous than can be expected of countries which gained independence recently.

4. The reason for Malaysia’s peace and prosperity is because the people believe in sharing, sharing political power and economic wealth.

5. Unfortunately there are in this country people who wish to end this sharing concept. They see a possibility of dominating not just economic wealth but political power as well.

6. They dangle this bait before the Chinese in the 2013 elections. And this resulted in wholesale desertion of Chinese voters from the BN coalition to basically the DAP.

7. Fortunately the majority of Malays adhered to the sharing concept espoused by the BN. And so, despite this desertion the BN won, but won with a much thinner majority. The fact that the contribution to this victory is largely by Malays and other indigenous people reflects a rejection of the concept of inter-racial sharing by non-Malays.

8. I think the parties in the BN should be reminded that this is a multiracial country and it can only remain peaceful and prosperous if they uphold this ideal of sharing between the races.

9. The Malays must remember that they cannot rule and prosper this country on their own.

10. They need the dynamism and business skills of the Chinese. They need also the professional skills of the Indians.

Continue reading MULTIRACIAL MALAYSIA →

1. Every year the east coast states would suffer from floods, with loss of property and lives. In Kuala Lumpur and other cities and towns flash floods following heavy downpours occur regularly several times a year.

2. We accept these floods as a climatic feature of Malaysia, as something which must happen. It is God’s will. There is no way we can stop them. And so we make preparation for the victims – food and evacuation centers. We commiserate with those who lost their loved ones.

3. The architects of Malaysia are not satisfied with just repairing the damage by the floods. In particular they want to prevent motor vehicles parked in underground car parks from being “drowned” as water pours down and fills up the multi-storied underground parking lots.

4. So now they build six-storeyed car parks above the ground. The residences and hotels have their first floor seven storey above the ground.

5. The cars are saved from the flood waters. But the buildings look ugly especially when no attempt is made to decorate architecturally the bare openings around the car parks to the outside.

6. A better and more attractive design would be to maintain the underground car parks but with the first floor of the building, (lobby or entrance hall) raised to about 12 feet or more above the level of the street or the road.

7. The building’s first floor must be about 12 feet plus from the road level with concrete walls surrounding the space below the first floor extending down to surround the car park bellow the building. The space between the wall and the road can be filled with earth and grown with grass and flowering plants.

8. A ramp must be built from the road to the entrance of the building at the first floor. Another ramp must be built for the cars to drive down into the multi-storeyed car park below. The car park must be enclosed by solid walls and floor. There must be good lighting and security.

9. The road or street will become virtual drains during floods due to rain or tide. This will help the flood waters to drain quickly into the canals or rivers as soon as tide goes down or rain stops.

10. On the east coast where floods regularly occur during the monsoon rain, the simplest solution is to go back to building houses on stilts like the old Malay houses. The first floor of the houses must be above the highest flood water mark.

Continue reading FLOODS →

Saya dan isteri saya mengucapkan Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru 2014 kepada semua rakyat Malaysia, khususnya pembaca blog ini. Semoga kedatangan tahun baru ini akan memberi kita semangat dan iltizam untuk terus menerus berusaha menjayakan diri kita sebagai rakyat Malaysia yang bertuah.

1. Saya amat tertarik dengan komen terhadap tulisan saya berkenaan tajuk di atas. Ada yang cuba takrifkan iblis, syaitan dan jin sebagai orang halus. Sebenarnya kita tidak diberitahu dalam Al-Quran besar atau kecilnya iblis, syaitan dan jin. Yang kita diberitahu ialah iblis dan syaitan cuba memengaruhi pemikiran kita supaya membelakangkan ajaran Islam, melakukan yang dilarang, yang tidak baik. Untuk menghalang pengaruh mereka kita membaca ayat-ayat Al-Quran supaya dikukuhkan iman kita semula.

2. Tetapi orang yang percaya kepada orang halus ini meminta izin daripada mereka ini apabila masuk hutan atau tempat-tempat tertentu. Air jampi disimbah kesana-sini. Ini bermakna kita memberi kuasa kepada makhluk ghaib ini. Al-Quran tidak menyuruh kita meminta perlindungan daripada iblis dan syaitan yang kononnya adalah orang halus dan makhluk ghaib.

3. Antara makhluk yang ghaib dengan ghaib terdapat perbezaan yang banyak. Kita tidak dapat lihat tuhan kita Allah s.w.t., malaikat, syurga dan neraka. Tetapi sebagai orang Islam kita terima adanya semua ini. Tetapi dalam fahaman orang Melayu ada pula makhluk lain yang kita tidak nampak tetapi berkuasa keatas kita. Janganlah cuba menyamakan hantu jembalang, pelesit dan orang halus dengan malaikat. Jangan cuba samakan orang halus dengan kuman bakteria yang membawa penyakit. Kuman memang halus tetapi bukan ghaib. Kita tahu penyakit tertentu yang dibawa oleh kuman tertentu. Kita boleh baca doa apabila diserang penyakit-penyakit ini tetapi Al-Quran menyebut bahawa Allah s.w.t. tidak akan memperbaiki nasib kita (menyembuh penyakit kita) melainkan kita berusaha memperbaikinya. Dan percubaan kita adalah dengan makan ubat atau bedah. Kita juga terima walaupun kita berusaha, tidak semestinya kita sembuh jika tidak diizinkan Tuhan.

4. Saya ingin cerita sedikit berkenaan kepercayaan orang Melayu.

Continue reading ORANG HALUS DAN HANTU JEMBALANG II →

1. Governments need money. It cannot function without money. It has to pay the people who work for it. It has to provide services and infrastructures. And now it has to provide more and more social amenities such as education, medical care etc. And of course it must defend the country and maintain law and order.

2. The funds are mostly raised through taxes on the activities of the people, on incomes, on profits, on the services provided by the government such as transportations, sewerage, water and power, ports and airports, approval processes and oversights etc.

3. Although there are many countries where people avoid paying taxes and rates, the people of Malaysia generally pay their taxes and other charges for services rendered by the Government. But as the cost of Government increase over time, the taxes and rates will need to be increased. Naturally tax and rate-payers do not like to pay more taxes and other charges. But they admit to a need for higher tax rates if for nothing else the rise in the cost of living when the wages and salaries of government servants need to be raised as well as the higher cost of Government procurements.

4. But the tax payers cannot suddenly come up with the money to pay the new taxes and charges. Lately Malaysian individuals and businesses have to come up with more money because of the many increases in cost due to Government policy decisions. Firstly the increase in minimum wage to RM900/-. This increase cannot be limited to those earning less than RM900/-. Those already earning RM900/- and above will also need to be paid higher wages. With this the costs of doing business and producing goods and services have increased and in turn the cost of living for everyone has increased.

5. Over and above this the Government decided to reduce subsidies on petroleum products. Then the electricity charges are going to be raised. For the people of Kuala Lumpur new rates, some increasing by 2000 % are to be charged.

6. In 2015 the GST (Goods and Services Tax) will replace the sales tax. Obviously the Government wants to collect more than the revenue from sales tax, and this must add to the cost of goods and services.

7. We must accept that the Government needs more money with the passage of time. But should the increase be as big as the Government says. Should the taxes and rates come all at the same time?

8. In business there is a thing called “cost down”. When a business is faced with competition or its cost of production reduces its profits, it can either increase prices or reduce cost. To a certain extent the price can be increased. This might cause a reduction in sale and also profits. It is far better to reduce cost and maintain or minimise the increase in price.

9. When a business exercises cost down, what it does is to examine everything that it does which contributes to the cost of doing business. It examines the efficiency of the process, the material cost, the reduction of wastage, the speed and volume of production. Invariably some cost can be reduced.

10. The same can be done by Government. All its cost can be examined to determine which are truly necessary, which cost can be reduced, which service can be curtailed or modified etc. etc.

Continue reading The Cost of Government →

1. Filem dan T.V. cerita yang paling popular di kalangan orang Melayu ialah berkenaan dengan hantu, pelesit, orang halus dan berbagai-bagai makhluk ghaib. Mereka bukan sahaja suka lihat dan dengar cerita-cerita berkenaan makhluk ghaib ini tetapi mereka amat mempercayai adanya makhluk ini dan kuasa luar biasa mereka ke atas manusia. Mereka diberi kuasa yang kadang-kadang menyamai Tuhan yang mereka sembah. Mereka mencari jalan supaya dilindungi dari makhluk ghaib. Dalam usaha ini mereka kerap mengguna doa dari agama Islam yang mereka anuti. Walaupun mereka percaya Allah S.W.T. boleh melindungi mereka tetapi kepercayaan bahawa makhluk ini juga memiliki kuasa ke atas mereka bertentangan dengan ajaran Islam yang menekankan bahawa hanya Allah S.W.T sahaja yang berkuasa ke atas segala-gala yang ada di dunia dan akhirat.

2. Kerana percaya akan kuasa makhluk ghaib ini mereka sering mengadakan acara yang dicampur aduk dengan agama yang kononnya boleh melindungi mereka daripada diserang oleh hantu jembalang dan orang halus.

Continue reading Orang Halus dan Hantu Jembalang →

1. Someone suggested Proton produce electric cars. It is a good idea. Electric cars cause less pollution because the electricity to drive the cars is ultimately provided by electric power plants. These use fuel oil, coal, gas water-power and nuclear power. The pollution is still there but minimised.

2. Electric cars need batteries, specifically lithium-ion batteries. They cost RM1,000 per cell currently. Tesla needs between 36 to 48 cells, adding to the cost of the cars.

3. Mitsubishi MIEV and Nissan Leaf use slightly less number of batteries but are still quite expensive, certainly more expensive than Proton’s internal combustion engine cars.

4. Charging the batteries take 8-hours. The batteries would be fully discharged after running from 70 to 130 kilometres. Some run further but needs more batteries, increasing the price.

5. The batteries are said to last 10 years. This is by computer simulation. Replacing the batteries would be costly.

6. Toyota and Honda produce hybrid cars i.e. petrol engines together with batteries. They don’t seem to have faith in electric cars. Chevrolet produce the Volt which is also a hybrid and not electric. They are all more expensive than ordinary cars.

Continue reading ELECTRIC CARS →

1. Malaysians are perpetually complaining about car prices being too high in Malaysia. Yet we should know that on a per head basis, there are more cars in Malaysia than all the other Asean countries.2. Already there are traffic jams all over K.L., many half a kilo long!

3. It takes half an hour to move just one kilometre. If we lower the car prices, more vehicles will be on the road. And of course more and longer traffic jams. The jams also contribute much to pollution in K.L. as the engines run but the cars are going nowhere.

4. Actually the price of cars is high because we want to limit the consumption of fossil fuel. The big-engined luxury models are taxed 300%. Otherwise the rich owners would enjoy the subsidy more than the owners of small cars.

5. I believe these rich people will still buy big cars even if the tax is higher.

6. There was a time when Government protection of Proton was high that it won 80% of market share. Today it has only 26% of the market.

7. If it goes down further we may have to shut down Proton.

8. This will not lower the prices for foreign cars. The Government would still have to recover subsidy cost. But some 150,000 jobs generated by the national car industry will be lost.

9. There will be a big outflow of foreign exchange to purchase imports. We will lose much of our engineering capability which in turn would lead to more job losses as engineering-based industries cannot fund skilled workers. There will be more outflow of funds.

Continue reading CAR PRICES →

1.​Two reports in the local papers attracted my attention. They are about love – the irresistible emotion which drives us to do great things.

2.​Remember Romeo and Juliet. Their love for each other is as well remembered today as at the time of William Shakespeare.

3.​Fans of Hindustani films will never forget the love story of Laila and Majnun. In Malay history there are many love affairs.

4.​The first article which attracted my attention is the question by a man as to why he cannot marry the man he loves. Marriage is of course about lovers marrying each other.

5.​It has nothing to do about procreation of the species by man and woman. If a woman loves a woman, that is enough for them to marry. And the same when a man marries a man.

6.​Imagine when this becomes the culture and practice of the human race. We will not need family planning; no condoms, no birth-control pills and no human race before the century is out. Man’s will be done.

7.​Another report on love caught my eye. It’s about a daughter’s love for her father. She had been having sex with her father willingly for the past three years. So she asks why cannot she have sex with someone she loves. Yes. Why not?

Continue reading Love →

1.​When the idea of a national car was mooted, it was met with widespread criticisms and cynical comments. We were a third world country and we know nothing about motorcar manufacturing. Our market was tiny. It would be a waste of our money.

2.​It was easier to simply buy imported foreign-made cars. At best we could import CKD (Completely Knock-down packs) and assemble the cars here. That was as much as our agriculture-based economy could do.

3.​But we did talk even at that time of industrialisation, of being an industrial nation. How do we become an industrialised nation if we have no industry other than assembling electronic components.

4.​Malaysia has always been and it still is a trading nation. Buying things from foreign countries must result in outflow of funds. This would be bad for our balance of payment. Our trade would be in deficit. Trade deficits are not sustainable. We cannot generate enough wealth internally to pay for our imports. Our raw materials, such as rubber, tin and palm oil exports cannot earn us enough to pay for imports. We will be in deficit.

5.​To prevent this we can do two things. We can limit imports or we can increase exports. Among the items which absorb funds in large amounts is the import of cars. The purchase of cars involves large sums of money. When we buy foreign cars there would be a big outflow of funds.

6.​In those days we could not think of exporting Malaysian made cars in order to increase the inflow of funds and have a healthy trade balance. Still if we produce our own cars and our people buy them then much of the money would stay in the country. There would be less outflow, less tendency to have deficits.

7.​But could Malaysian made cars compete in the domestic market against foreign imports? They could if the price is right. To ensure right prices the Government had to tax imports at a higher rate.

8.​This was not going to be welcome by Malaysian consumers. But all countries wishing to promote local automotive industry had no choice but to make imported cars costly. Japan and Korea had done this. Other countries simply make it bureaucratically difficult for cars to be imported. Apart from taxes on foreign cars, standards were raised in foreign countries so that imports find difficulty to qualify. The standards were raised periodically so that foreign cars wishing to enter the market have to be upgraded continuously.

9.​Any nation wishing to go into an industry dominated by foreign imports will not be able to match the imports immediately. When, after World War II Japan decided to build cars, the design was atrocious and the quality inferior. The Datsun Bluebird seemed to be an inferior copy of the British Hillman. The car was imported into Malaysia but was not well accepted despite the low price.

10.​But we all know how much the Japanese cars have improved. They not only meet the standards of European cars but are often superior to many of these cars. Today no one questions the quality of Japanese cars. Even though the price is no longer low they are able to penetrate foreign markets. Clearly it takes time to improve locally produced manufactured goods to match imported goods. To have an industry, especially automotive, time is required to achieve world standards and to be competitive.

Continue reading SHAPING A NATIONAL AUTO INDUSTRY : HOW NATIONAL CARS CAN CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPEMENT →