Polie chief laments: Not enough police to protect the churches

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan today urged all churches to beef up security on their own because the police has its own desired limitations and thus unable to ensure security of the churches.

“I would like to advise the churches to have their own security because I don’t have enough policemen," Musa Hassan said.

SOURCES: THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

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In fact there are so many jobless people including those VCD & DVD peddlers who are now jobless. The churches can help themselves as well as provide employment for those people.

I'm not sure whether the churches may have considered employing thugs and secret society members though their members have shrink drastically over the last decades. If they do, I suppose they must get Musa Hassan's and Hishamuddin's approval; otherwise they can be indicted for criminal offenses.

From case studies conducted in Sibu some years back, the thugs and gangsters have proven to be effective. Many years ago, Sibu faced much difficulty to control vandalism of public amenities and the town was dirty where we can see pigs and chicken running around. It was observed that the authorities were unable to control the situation. It was ultimately resolved by those unlicensed security supermen who were engaged by the local warlord. Sibu becomes clean and the pigs and chicken were placed in proper settlements.

Anyway, it is not a good idea. But there's no idea too!

Halimah M. Sadique: The Superwoman of CVLB

What she said makes me sit up and feel good. We now have a person who would put the CVLB right and upright. She is Datuk Halimah Mohamad Sidique. She is the newly appointed chaorman of Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB)

Could the public transportation woes be resolved?

"Yes, I think we can," she said.

I believed her! I think she can. I'm sure it is not a mere puff nor is she a braggart. She has a lot of determination and the will.

"I am here not because I am a woman but because it is expected of me to get the job done. When the minister called me, I knew this was one challenge I could not say no to, neither could I fail."

After taking over from Datuk Markiman Kobiran on June 15, Halimah's first move was to draft an action plan to ensure the board meets the Key Performance Indicator set.

"First, I have to study the CVLB Act 1987, its functions and role. Then we will seek expert advice and solutions to public transportation issues.

"KPI is all about delivering the best to the people.

"To be successful means to satisfy the needs of the people and that will be CVLB's very own KPI."

"CVLB has to serve the people from both sides of the fence -- the operators as well as the passengers.

Unfortunately, the reality is far removed from the ideal. The operators have a long list of complaints and the users suffer poor and unreliable service.

"We have to come up with solutions to end, once and for all, these woes. With a proper system and workable action plan, we can," says Halimah.

Halimah said some of the complaints were about city taxis charging exorbitant fares, refusing to use the meter or sub-letting the taxi to foreigners.

"We will proceed with refresher courses for both taxi and bus drivers while increasing the enforcement operations to nab errant drivers."

There is an urgent need to re-educate the drivers on delivering good service.

CVLB hopes to get 50 express bus companies to have online-ticketing systems and their own web portal for easy access and 20 companies to use the global positioning system on their buses, by the end of the year.

"The GPS system will allow us to monitor the movement of the buses and whether the drivers stick to their routes and if they are speeding."

Halimah said she also hoped to make the headquarters and the regional offices more conducive for staff and clients.

"Do not imagine I'm ordering bouquets for the side tables. Conducive here would mean serving our clients better by providing them more useful information and assistance."

Her goal before the end of the two-year contract is to see a change of mindset of public transport operators.

"I want to see a day when we get into the taxi and be greeted by the cab driver with 'Yes Encik, where would you like to go?'

Yes, Halimah, I have high hope on you that it will happen and we are resting our hope on you. It's being a long time since I heard of such intellectually sound management processes and action plans. I hope she will get it right soonest.

Source: NST

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Politically-directed Town Planners

Constant political inferences are stopping the execution of well executed townships and its surroundings, claimed a town planner and consultant.

"There is always potential interference as a town planner when I was a civil servant and even now as a consultant," said Khairiah Talha at a forum last night.

"I'm always caught. I can tell you, I don't like it. I am not pleased with such interferences because I'm a religious person and I want to be answerable to God one day.

"There are political interferences whether they are from the outside or inside. We can have a perfect plan drawn up but someone with personal interest will call someone with political backing to make us change it," Khairiah said.

Khairiah is also a consultant with the Kuala Lumpur Draft City Plan 2020 (KLDCP).

According to Khairiah, town-planning was difficult in Malaysia because there were too many ministries involved in dealing with similar matters.

"It's all political because historically, we have so many ministries, because they were awarded to different parties.

At the forum, Khairiah was speaking alongside Centre for Environment, Technology and Development, Malaysia (Cetdem) chairperson Gurmit Singh, town planner Goh Bok Yen and Bukit Bandaraya Residents' vice president Mumtaz Ali.

Meanwhile, Gurmit opined that the public transport system in the country has failed because of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the national car policy which promoted Proton.

According to him, policies passed by the government has prioritised the national car over proper town planning and public transportation system. "The government always go for the expensive solutions and options first."

Source: Political meddling spoiling good town planning

**

It's all about politicians personal interest. "I am not pleased with such interferences because I'm a religious person and I want to be answerable to God one day," Khairiah said. Did she had to pay some kind of fees too? Kau-tim???

Civil Servants ask to get 2nd job to meet rising costs

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator Tan Sri Amirsham A. Aziz says Civil Servants and any other Malaysians who now faced financial problems as a result of high inflation and the rising cost of food and fuel must now get after-office or weekend jobs to supplement their income.

He said the government is now encouraging civil servants to work part-time, after office hours and on weekends.

They can work as taxi drivers after office hours, telemarketeers, insurance agents, newspaper vendors, sell nasi lemak, or in the worst case scenario, as beggars.

For the Chinese girls, they can work as nightclub hostess, public relation officers (GRO) at karaokes, or as sleeping partners in unconventional organizations (non sendirian and non berhad).

For Chinese men, they can work as security officers with Ah Loong, work as bouncers at karaokes, or work as VCD/DVD peddlers or even as OKT.

Read more here

For the benefit of some, who disputed the fact that Petronas did not subsidize, of course not directly, but factually.

Shahrir said Petronas money is used to subsidize petrol, agriculture, education, welfare, and now part of the money is also used to subsidize food.

“Ever since the fuel price increase was announced, people have been demanding to know why Petronas is not helping out. What they don’t know is that the company has been helping out all this while.

“The Government, on the other hand, pays from its coffers to petrol companies as fuel subsidy. This is also being enjoyed by Petronas,” Shahrir told reporters.

"Let me assure you of that it was important to lift or reduce subsidy so as to discourage wastage and to give higher value to the assets or commodity," Shahrir said.

“I am of the opinion the public is not appreciative of the value of goods because they need not pay the actual price. Subsidy has led to wastage. Now, with lesser subsidy, people will tend to be more careful about how they use goods like petrol because they have to pay more.”

Source: Shahrir: Petrol money used as subsidy in many areas

Malay Regiment 'Invades' England's Palaces

Malaysians can hold their heads high!

Our soldiers have the distinguish role to perform the public duties as guards for the Queen of England at Windsor Palace and Buckingham which has a ceremonial and historic significance.

Basically, Public Duties are divided into two tasks. The first is the “Queen’s Guard” where the regiment will guard the Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Tower of London. The second is “Windsor Castle Guard,” where the regiment will guard Windsor Castle, one of the Queen Elizabeth II residences.


It is some kind of pride of place and an honour of sort of which the government of Malaysia holds in high esteem.

Today NST proudly declared:

"Malay Regiment 'INVADES' the Palace"

It is the first time in history that our decorated soldiers are invited for public duties as guards for the Queen and her other palaces of her children and grand children.

Tourists in London will now be able to view our smart soldiers at the gate of the palace standing upright and unmovable.

The Americans and Europeans will never had a chance to do that.

Malaysia Boleh!

Read more here and here and here

Royal Malay Regiment now guards Buckingham Palaces

The Royal Malay Regiment will now be sent to England to provide protection services and to perform what was classified as the prestigious "London Public Duties for her Majesty the Queen of England.

Army director Kol Fadzlette Othman Merican said 122 personnel from the royal ceremonial team had been selected for the assignment.

Basically, Public Duties are divided into two tasks. The first is the “Queen’s Guard” where the regiment will guard the Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Tower of London.

The second is “Windsor Castle Guard,” where the regiment will guard Windsor Castle, one of the Queen Elizabeth II residences.

Kol Fadzlette said the regiment would be involved in regimental tasks with other battalions in the Household division along their placement in Buckingham Palace.

The team will depart for London on April 16 and are expected to start their duty on April 18 and end on June 12. – Bernama

Source: Royal Malay Regiment to guard Queen Elizabeth II

It can be observed that Malaysia had no more use for its army. It probably stems from the fact that the cost of maintaining the soldiers are running high and to par down the cost one of the solution is to second these soldiers to work in London as security guards for palaces.

We are not sure whether the government is trying to reduce the number of Istana guards and whether this is due to any other reasons but we sure have Malaysian soldiers standing at the gate of Buckingham Palace and other minor palaces in United Kingdom. Malaysian soldiers can now look forward to work in London and earn British Pounds.

DBKL earns $2.45 billion yearly

Datuk Tan Chai Ho says: "City Hall earns RM2.45 billion yearly."

Street fines have increased from RM30 to RM100. This further increases their revenue. So, more 'lawatan sambil belajar'.

Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng said City Hall had failed to provide multi-storied car-parks. "There are so many high-rise buildings but not enough public parking."

"The high fines led to our defeat," Lee said.

So, now we know that Federal Territories defeat by BN and MCA was due to the DBKL summonses and high fines. So, DBKL is to take the blame for BN losses in FT.

Self-declared World-class Civil Service

I nearly puke when I read the headlines:

Najib is all praise for world-class civil service

This is what we call, Malaysia Boleh, Mudah Lupa, Mudah, sangat mudah.

There's no shame in self-praise. It's election time, and the massive votes from the civil services are necessary to ensure Barisan Nasional wins with 2/3 majority.

World-class civil service? Does Najib knows what's world-class civil service?

Does he knows what's the evaluation criteria to be world-class? And does he knows what's the key performance index of each criteria?

Take the JKR (PWD) as an example. Can all my JKR friends and engineers claim that they are competent in project management, sufficiently understands the full nine knowledge areas and the 5-process groupings interactions? Do the engineers knows what is Critical Path Management and how to monitor and track project schedule using the CPM? If they claim they know, then why are the progress reports submitted using early-start and early-finish, and JKR had not corrected them over the decades? Do the engineers know what is contract administration and understands the rights and obligations of all the parties to the contract including the roles and responsibilities of the consultants within the contractual context? Do they know what are the duties and responsibilities of the S.O. and S.O. representatives which is to supervise the Works (note, it's capital letter which means it's not activities but the contract itself), and that the S.O. representatives are to test and examine the workmanship, materials and goods in accordance with Clause 2 and Clause 9 of PWD203 Contract Form? Did they have the structural framework in a process-flow format to test and examine the workmanship and certify the skills of the trade workers, segregating them into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled and then draw up a monitoring and tracking system to ensure that only those certified skilled workers are allowed to perform specific tasks, that there avails a structured Quality Assurance Plan submitted by the contractor that provides adequate confidence to the S.O. and which give adequate assurance that the planned quality processes would deliver the specified outcome as per the contract specification. Does the engineer understands what is Extension of Time (EOT), that the duty of the contractor is only to serve notice of the events of delay, and that it is the S.O.'s fiduciary duty and responsibility to analyze those delay events, form his opinion (based on facts and evidence) and then grant appropriate and timely EOT within the power of Clause 43, applying the appropriate sub-clauses (and not abusing his power ,in an unreasonable way, by applying illusory sub-clause to avoid paying loss and expense which tantamount to a breach of duty) to avoid time-at-large? Do they understand variation orders and how Clause 5(d) comes into play when instructions caused contractors to suffer loss and/or expense of which it could not be contemplated at the time of tender and for which it would not be reimbursed by a payment made under any other provision in the contract? Does JKR engineer knows the implication of progress/interim payment delay by the government of which Article 4 of PWD203 states that the Government covenants to pay at the times and in the manners specified in the Conditions of Contract, and do they know what's the meaning of "Covenant" in the legal sense.

Can JKR claim that they had 80% projects completed on time, within budget and with the right quality, or 80% behind schedule, grossly overbudget because the design was inadequate and did not anticipate so many things during design stage, and upon completion there are massive defects and rectification works. Add to the woes, we have government buildings that do not have a structured maintainance framework. Apart from that, you can also observe their project performance reporting system which contains huge amount of information that are not informative. The only exception is Cawangan Jalan where Dr Wahid had developed a somewhat effective progress reporting system but which lacks continuous improvement.

We can also observe other departments such as DID, DBKL, State Council and District Offices, to see our world-class snail-pace system with lots of inefficiencies and inadequacies.

If I was to name a somewhat nearness to "world-class" government-related institution, I would pick EPF as one of them. EPF have improved much since Datuk Azlan Zainol took over the CEOship. He is a banker by profession and he certainly have changed EPF to be more prudent in their investments, introducing risk managements and crisis management, and upgrading the customer service sectors. At EPF, you can get a copy of your latest statements from a machine without the previous hassles of cuing up behind a long lines of people. You can apply for withdrawal and get paid within a week. To me, that's efficiency and improvements observed.

Do we have world-class civil service? uh! Long way to go... but we are Malaysia Boleh; so it doesn't matter for so long as our ministers said so, therefore we are.

Judge will decide ties you wear

Midway through the proceedings, a case at the magistrate court in Johor Bahru had to be postponed and the magistrate retired to her chambers. At this point, the interpreter instructed the lawyer to remove his red necktie as the magistrate did not like red ties - she did not like the color.

When the lawyer refused to do so, he was called into the magistrate’s chambers. The magistrate repeated her instruction to the lawyer and said that she did not mind any other tie except those that were red.

The lawyer replied that he would would not wear a red tie the next time he appeared in her court. The magistrate was still not satisfied and said:

"It is my instruction to you now to change your tie, if not you can't appear in front of me in open court later".

The magistrate also told him to borrow a tie. When the lawyer refused, the magistrate repeated the order and gave him until 2.30pm to comply.

She also warned the lawyer that the case would proceed without him if he refused to comply.

What has happen to our courts? What had happen to the Judicial System? Some says there are kangaroo courts; but we can't call this kangaroo... it's more like monyet...

Does a judge have a special rights to chose what color of tie lawyers wear? What happen if we have judges who prefer sarongs? What about judges who prefer sexiness and a few cup of beers, a round of Gasing spinning and a game of chess with the lawyers, all before a hearing? The essence is no more about dispensing justice; it's more about dispensing morality, individual moral ideology and belief system.

Did they graduate from MU or UiTM?

Indecency or Impudence?

Look at the photo - is this indecent?

Mum stops wearing sleeveless tops to daughter's school

This woman, who declined to be named, had been wearing tank tops when she took her 8-year-old daughter to school daily.

Her child is studying in a primary school in Sungei Petani, Kedah, reported China Press.

This young mother, a beautician, recently received two warning SMSes from the principal, prohibiting her from wearing such 'sexy and revealing' clothes in the school.

The mother said: 'My usual attire is spaghetti-strap tops and the school never had any problems with it previously.

'But after the new principal took over, I was barred from wearing such clothes if I wanted to enter the school.'

She said he warned her to 'dress appropriately'.

'The principal also told my daughter to tell me not to wear clothes that are too sexy.

'I should be free to wear what I want. How can the school tell me what to wear? I do not think my clothes are revealing.'

But to prevent the principal from harassing her daughter, the mother said she would comply with the request.

She said: 'Now, when I send my daughter to school, I wear clothes with sleeves.'

The mother alleged that just last week, her daughter was slapped on the hand by her form teacher because she forgot her textbook.

'My daughter's hand was swollen and red, and she was crying,' she said.

When approached by China Press, the principal declined to comment and would only say that the matter had been settled.

Is this what Najib referred to as "Standing few inches taller?"

Is the nation suffering from womanmania or phobiamaniacism?

What is the code of conduct for mothers' dresses when they sent their children to school? Has religion or moral decayed to a state of impotence?

I don't know but I know that "few inches do stand".

(Note: Thanks to Hasilox the news and the link)

Dr Judin, the new PWD D-G

Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency

Five Senior Officers Promoted At Two Works Ministry Agencies
General
May 09, 2007 22:02 PM

Samy Vellu announced yesterday that Datuk Dr Judin Abdul Karim has been made Director-General of the Public Works Department (JKR) succeeding Datuk Seri Professor Dr Wahid Omar who retired in April. Datuk Ir Mohamad Razali Othman who many had expected to be the successor to Wahid is now made the Director-General of the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM).

"The appointments are effective from May 3," Samy Vellu told reporters after a post-Cabinet meeting at the ministry, here.

Dr. Judin was the former JKR deputy director-general I and Mohamad Razali the JKR deputy director-general III during the reign of Datuk Seri Wahid Omar (Deputy D-G II at that time was the QS chief who retired around the same time with Wahid).

Upon the retirement of Wahid, Razali was made the acting D-G till the announcement yesterday.

Samy Vellu also announced the other three Deputy Directors-General.

Datuk Ir Mohammad Husin was made deputy director-general I, Datuk Ir Mohd Noor Yaakob deputy director-general II and Ir Selvanayagam P. Nagalingam deputy director-general III.

The new line-up was expected; it was predictable...

Datuk Md Husin was the former Trengganu State JKR Pengarah before he was promoted to be the Ketua Pengarah Cawangan Jalan and now further promoted to be the Deputy D-G (I). His rise was phenomenal and quick; double promotion in a space of less than 3 years. Mohd Noor Yaakob was the LLM D-G where Datuk Razali will now be heading (puzzled???). Ir. Selvanayagam was the former Pengarah Cawangan Pakar dan Kejuruteraan Awam.

Congratulations to Dr Judin! I hope he will continue the "change management process" in JKR. There is certainly a lack of project management skills and competencies within the system. Dr Judin is still young (I believe he is less than 53) and will have a few years to rule. Md Husin may not have the time on his side to be the next successor.

P/S: Datuk Mohd Adib, was my prediction right? You didn't believe in my theory, did you?

Civil Servants to be Blamed

Prime Minister Pak Lah said his government had created a strong economy and now it is up to the civil servants to ensure that it is sustained.

Pak Lah said even his critics admitted that they could see the change. This is what he had to pronounce:

"So far, we had done well and practised good stewardship of the government's fund. I (we) had spent where it was only needed and I (we) had reduced the budget deficit (created by Mahathir). Everyone is enjoying it as a result."

To Pak Lah, it is now up to the various agencies and the civil servants to allocate and disburse the funds as well as vetting the project. The people should not blame any failures or attribute any deficiencies to him or his ministry, the Ministry of Finance.

"The MoF is not the only one making decisions. We acknowledge the roles and responsibilities of other key agencies.

Why blame the civil servants?

Everybody knows that the civil servants had a boss who is the Minister himself, a politician from the ruling party whose decisions and attitudes are dictated and directed towards one direction - rent seeking and wealth enhancement for self and their family. Every JKR director-general knows that only, and only, Tan Sri Zaini can work so closely with Samy Vellu. Tan Sri Omar could not, Datuk Seri Wahid could not. I am not sure whether Datuk Razali, the current newly appointed D-G could or not. It is similar to other departments too. The political masters call the shot and issue directive on a personal basis regardless of efficiency and competency. The KPI for project awards are based on "what can that guy pay", not what is his competency. Other than this, it's connectivity and cronyism, pay-back to political supporters who had assisted those in the corridor of power.

Civil servants pay rise based on Productivity?

DPM Najib said any salary increase in the civil service will hinge on increased productivity and improvement in the delivery system.

This is a fantastic idea but how do the govt implement such a system? Using KPI and Balance Scorecard? But how was the KPI developed?

I remembered the EPF used the balance scordecard and KPI system and at the end of the year, almost all the staff achieved more than 0.8KPI (1.0 is the maximum). The subject issue becomes, how do EPF grant promotion to every staff who had achieved more than 0.8 as stipulated? The answer was: the management decided to use the 80:20 rule; throw out 80% of those who achieved and finally, only 20% was given promotion and adjustments. But that defeat the very purpose of the KPI system which has an integral sub-system called Reward System.

The KPI was needed to guage and measure performance and it states that those who achieve the required score will get rewarded accordingly. Ultimately, it was still discretionary and arbitrary decisions of top management wins the day.

The fact remains that the KPI was in itself arbitrary and the measurement terms were so subjective and discretionary. Millions was paid to the consultants to develop these KPI only to find that it will not work in our cultural environment. In the civil services and quasi-govt organizations, the superior who append those KPIs would usually give high scores to their subordinates. This can be due to the fact that the superiors themselves are also lazy, or the fact that almost all their staffs are lazy and if they scored them low, their department would collapse as a whole. KPI? ya, it can work provided that the working culture is in itself based on merits.

Would the Govt really listen or merely hearing?

Government wants suggestions on improving delivery system

The Government is inviting Malaysians from all walks of life to give suggestions on how to improve the public service delivery system.

You can e-mail your suggestions to improve@mampu.gov.my from now until Monday.

The Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), under the Prime Minister’s Department, will compile your feedback and submit it to the department.

Mampu said it was drawing up a plan to produce a “modern, responsive and effective” public service.

“Mampu invites all Malaysians to submit proposals or suggest improvements which can be implemented in the short, medium and long term.

“The civil service should redouble efforts to elevate the nation’s position to the Top 10 in any global competency report, as suggested by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,”Mampu said.

This news is heartening and received as good news but not new. The govt wanted to improve the efficiency and quality of service of the police force and a commission was setup to study and made recommendations. Till today, that plan was meant for the shelve - archived - for good.

The government had on various occasions instructed the treasury to ensure that contractors be paid on time, and this was repeated so many times over the 3 years since Pak Lah became PM. The situation is analogous of the imminent past.

The 880 projects to be awarded as promised...most of it is still in the drawing table, for various reasons - could not be implemented, primarily because the project funds had yet to be made available. Cakap Tak Boleh Serupa Bikin.

9th Malaysia Plan and RM200bil projects - plan done, published and spinned, most of it is under negotiation and the primary issue is still political charitable transactions unfulfilled.

When Pak Lah came into power, he had assured that projects will be awarded on an open tender basis. So far, almost all, if not all the projects are negotiated-DBT/Turnkeyed, except for some Class D, E and Class F contracts. I even had seen a letter of intent for a project that is only worth RM5mil and is also negotiated contract. Where is the open-transparent tender system. Ask JKR if they are honest enough to tell the truth: how many projects had they awarded by open tender system as compared to negotiated ones.

BTW I would like to make a suggestion on the delivery system affecting the construction industry. CIDB is collecting hundreds of millions each year from the contractors; what had these contributing contractors gained apart from the few cronies who got some jobs in India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam?

Thousands of contractors are small and medium size who are not eyeing overseas project; what do they get from CIDB? Isn't CIDB the construction industry development board that is suppose to promote the level of competency and knowledge in construction management? Why is it that they are only drawing up seminars and issuing greencards?

That's all they can do? I mean: promotion of the construction industry as a whole is all about issuing greencard, organizing seminars and certifying project managers? A great shame!

The construction industry needed commercial databases such as the prices of materials at the various district and states nationwide, the cost of labour for each of the various trade for each state and district throughout the country, the productivity indexes, for example: a skilled carpenter will do 10ms/manday, skilled bricklayer productivity is about 9ms/manday, all of which would assist the industry to formulate a tracking system to monitor and control the project schedule. Other informations needed by the industry players are such as Cost databases, Quality Assurance Plan and Project Quality Plan (templates and best practices) Risk Registers templates: Risk identification, quantification and risk response planning and industry best practices on construction risk management ----- contractors don't need seminars from CIDB; there are plenty being organized by private institutions and most organizations have in-house training and workshops for their technical personnels. Contractors must have competent project managers but for CIDB to certify them, they, the certifiers from CIDB, must themselves be competent and accredited project managers, and had been certified and accredited by a recognized international accredited institution such as PMI, USA or APM, UK.

I won't write to Mampu; if anyone from Mampu read this, you may pick it up as a sign of your readiness to accept criticism and suggestions for improvement.

Councils No Money for CCTV

Municipal Councils have no money to install CCTVs?

According to Housing and Local Government Minister, Ong Ka Ting, more than half of the 38 municipal councils in the country have not installed CCTV cameras at crime prone areas as required by his Ministry in line with the Safe City Concept implemented by the government 18 months ago.

Ong Ka Ting said the councils should not claim lack of funds to install the cameras because the revenue collected by them was more than RM10 million annually. “There were even Councils with an annual revenue of more than RM20 million, thus there is no justification for them to claim they have inadequate allocation to install CCTVs,” Ong said.

10 decorative clocks costing the Sungei Petani Municipal Council RM390,000 are not working.

The Sun had reported on page one on Feb 6, 2006, that the Selayang Municipal Council paid RM240,000 for 14 Selayang Municipal Councillors and 10 Departmental Heads to go for a study trip to Mauritius and to the Indian Ocean islands, as well as to Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa. This is despite the fact that the council has not paid its dues to contractors servicing the municipality, citing "lack of funds". The council had also recently raised its assessment rate by between 6% and 8.5%. The group led by MPS president Zainal Abidin Azim left on Jan 31, 2006, and will return on Feb 8, 2006. Sources told theSun that the trip which cost RM10,000 per head includes five-star accommodation and leisure activities such as golf and fishing.

Read more from our Amoiblog:

Turning the Heat on Selayang councilmen

The Honourable Toilet Inspectors (Selayang pt 2)

No Let Up (Selayang Pt 3)

On 12th November 2004, The Star reported that the Perlis Government has short-listed former gangsters and village bullies for temporary job with Kangar Municipal Council enforcement unit. Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the 20, included ex-servicemen, would be called for interview soon.

“Nowadays, people do not heed the council’s by-laws, that’s why we see squatter area mushrooming, land encroachment and assessment arrears accumulating. With a more physical presence in the enforcement unit, the council may be able to get more ratepayers to settle their dues promptly,” Shahidan said.

17th June 2005, The Star Reports:

RM51.5 million for landscaping and RM1.5 million for poverty eradication. This is what the Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council requested under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz was puzzled why the council allocated RM11.2 million to landscape its Sayong river front, RM8 million to set up a pocket park, RM3.6 million to upgrade housing areas and RM1.8 million for "greening" the roads.

"Tourists won’t come into housing areas to see the flowers. They have better flowers back where they come from," she said. She said that the council should focus on basic amenities, schools, infrastructure and socio-economic activities. During a meeting with Chinese community leaders today, she was told that the National Landscape Department paid RM300,000 in consultancy fees to a company owned by a university lecturer to propose landscaping ideas for Kuala Kangsar.

"Even to plant flowers, we need consultants?“ She noted that the allocations requested for landscaping and beautification projects made up almost half the RM118 million requested by the council under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The council requested only RM7 million for schools, RM7.6 million for socio-economic purposes, RM13.5 million for city services and RM32 million for infrastructure development.

Boleh? :Lagi Boleh ka? Mesti Boleh!

Most Municipal councils are contemplating raising assessement tax, parking fees, licence fees, etc, to improve their revenue due to the cost of inflation and the high fuel price increase.