Archive for June 1st, 2009

‘Political Crisis . . . What’s next?’

DAP Ipoh Barat proudly present English Speaking Dinner on “Political Crisis . . . What’s next?”

Date : 11 June 2009, Thursday
Time : 7pm – 11pm
Venue : Florex Restaurant Ipoh
Ticket : RM 100
For tickets kindly contact : P. Sugumaran 017-5677276

13 Comments

Streamyx in Malaysia really sucks

On Saturday, I blogged “Streamyx in Penang sucks. What do you say?”

There were 32 responses.

Conclusion – Streamyx in Malaysia really sucks.

Until recently, Streamyx service in Green Lane area in Penang had been fairly reliable. But not now, as disruptions have become quite common.

What do you say when not only Streamyx went down, Maxis 3G and Celcom 3G were also down, all at the same time, in the same place and for quite a period!

I do not know how often this happens in Penang as I am all over the country most of the time.

But from responses, Malaysians have universal internet complaints rather than universal internet service.

Other countries are leapfrogging into super-fast broadband networks while Malaysia is still bogged down with super-slow broadband service. Read the rest of this entry »

36 Comments

Policy changes to be made to expand and strengthen Malaysian-China relationship

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life advisor

From a poor communist country has been transformed into the fourth richest country in the world after USA, Japan and Germany, the man who started the phenomenal change was Deng Xiao Peng who introduced liberal and modernisation policies.

Although it still keep its communist ideology, China now intend to be friends with the whole world. She has won friends with the West, the developed countries and has given large financial handouts to the poor countries of the world. Her diplomacy offensive as a friend of the world has won tremendous appeal.

Malaysia ostensibly also adopt a policy of being a friend to the whole world, and PM Najib’s visit to China tomorrow is meant to expand and strengthen Malaysia-China relationship.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Higher Education Minister should ensure that new university intake by UPU to be announced on June 19 provide places for the 4,574 student-victims of the USM Apex University fiasco

The fiasco of 4,574 students being wrongly informed that they had obtained places at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) cannot be a worse start for USM as the Apex University – a bungle and blunder which should not have happened at all and completely inexcusable.

In keeping with its status as an Apex University, USM was for the first time exercising the freedom to choose the best students before the University Admission Unit’s (UPU) selection of students for the other public universities.

But the USM chancellory yesterday was the venue for emotional havoc for hundreds of students and their parents when they found that they had been wrongly informed about being accepted as students in USM, with lost tempers and heart-rending scenes of tears and frustration.
Read the rest of this entry »

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PKFZ questions – why Transport Ministry should not cut losses instead of continuing to throw good money after bad to create a RM12.5 billion PKFZ “white elephant”?

In less than two days, MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has forgotten the directive of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to “provide answers on every question raised by any party” on the PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) audit report on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) and has started to be abusive and refused to answer the many queries raised by the Malaysian public in the past three days.

Ong even refused to answer the six questions I have posed on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal in the past two days, but I will pose another three questions today, as this is what the Prime Minister had promised – that he had directed Ong to respond to “every question raised by any party” on the PKFZ.

Ong seems to be “on the run” from these questions, like his predecessor as Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy in November 2007. Why is this?

At the media conference at Port Klang Authority (PKA) on Friday, after a DAP team had spent five hours leafing through the three-and-a-half-inch high documentary annexure to the PwC audit report on PKFZ, containing 20 appendices, I had asked the government to consider the option to cut losses in PKFZ instead of continuing to incur further losses in view of the PWC warning that the cost of the ill-advised project could skyrocket by another RM5 billion to reach the astronomical total of RM12.453 billion.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Abolish Overseas Undergraduate Scholarships

by M. Bakri Musa

Every year at this time the nation goes through its regular spasms of indignation over perceived unfair distribution of scholarships for studies abroad for those with the Sijil Persekutuan Malaysia (SPM). This being Malaysia, such controversies inevitably and quickly acquire ugly racial overtones, no matter how ‘objective’ or ‘sophisticated’ the arguments put forth.

I suggest that we abolish all public scholarships for undergraduate studies abroad. That would at least remove yet another source of racial disagreement. The fewer such contentious issues we have, the better it would be for Malaysia.

Public scholarships for studies abroad should only be given to those pursuing higher degrees. As for the handful of our brightest who secured undergraduate slots at the world’s most competitive universities, rest assured that there will be no shortage of sponsors outside of government if these students were truly in need of financial aid.

Whatever money left over after funding those pursuing higher degrees abroad should then be diverted to strengthening our local universities, which desperately need the support.

A candidate with only the SPM regardless of the number of A’s obtained could secure a place only at a third-rate institution in America. We do not need to send our students there. Even when on the rare occasions that they do end up at a respectable university, these students have to spend a semester or two doing preparatory courses (essentially Sixth Form). Read the rest of this entry »

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