New MB

We now have a new Mentri Besar in Selangor.

Congratulations and all my best wishes YAB.

I sincerely hope you can steer the Selangor administration to focus on improving services and infrastructure maintenance for the benefit of the rakyat as opposed to feeding the political frenzy that has been taking centre stage in Selangor ever since Pakatan took over the State administration.

It is not about commanding respect from the people but about carrying the burden of the job for the betterment of the rakyat in good faith and integrity of conduct.

Neither is being MB about agitating the public by taking politics to the streets or about making tons of money to be hoarded away or to justify huge salaries, allowances and bonuses.

It is about making sure that service to the rakyat and economic development of the state through the state machinery continue to be of paramount importance when making decisions.

I hereby pledge to lay off posting about Selangor governance until end of the year to see how you can improve our situation including road maintenance, water supply and of course environmental cleanliness.

That would more or less come to about 100 days, so there should be plenty of time for you to assess the situation and take the necessary steps.

If things improve, at least in my neighborhood and my usual haunts here in Selangor, then I would say so.

Truth Be Told

The email that Annie received and published here about Golongan Melayu Bangsat touched me because I kind of agree with the writer's point of view.

I have heard and read about many of the excesses of this kind of Melayu lately that I share the writer's despair sometimes.

Truth be told, I find it difficult to write about these things, not because of the possibility of my getting in trouble because of it, but because I find it so incredibly sad for my people.

It is difficult to face the truth when the very people whom we put our hopes and trust to protect and preserve our pride and heritage are the very ones destroying them, squandering what little we have to feed their rapacious need for material wealth.

I tend to take the cowardly route of writing about the little things that happen around me rather than touch on this subject of abhorrent betrayal by people in positions of power simply because it is much easier to handle the occasional petty detractors with their shallow snipes at my person than write about a difficult subject that borders on being seditious.

But the matter will not go away, because the rampant plundering is continuing unchecked and people who have been bought are now the ones making all the decisions that exacerbate the corruption that will destroy the very foundation of our political power - the only power we have in this land of our ancestors.

And the people at the helm of our ever declining political power are not doing anything about it, continuing to further destroy our power base in their effort to retain whatever tenuous hold they have on power without considering the generations to come.

The helpless despair is overwhelming whenever I try to tackle the subject, as I have not been able to detach myself enough to be able to write about it without being personal.

I guess all I am left with at the moment is my faith that the Almighty Knows best, and if the people I love were to gradually be reduced to an ignoble community living in pockets of poverty to serve the interest of the powerful elites of various creeds - then maybe there is a reason for it.

For every beginning, there is an end.  Only Allah is eternal.

Toll

Apparently Singapore LTA has decided to increase their toll charges at the Causeway because, according to them, Malaysia revised the toll charges at the Causeway and according to their (newly created) matching policy, they are obliged to do so.

So if you are angry, be angry at Malaysia, not at them, because even (an idiot) MP from Johor said so too.

In a statement today, the Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the new rates were in tandem with the republic’s long-standing policy of matching toll charges at the Causeway and Second Link to those set by Malaysia.

“In view of Malaysia’s recent revision in toll charges at the Causeway, from 1 October 2014, Singapore’s toll charges for all vehicles (except motorcycles) leaving Singapore through the Causeway will be increased to match the new Malaysian toll.

“A new matching Causeway toll will also be implemented for all vehicles (except motorcycles) entering Singapore. There are no changes to the toll charges at the Second Link,” the statement read.

Read the rest here at NST and here is a short brief at Berita Harian and here at CNA.

Eh Madam Teo ma'am, I checked with my friend and he told me that as far as he knew the toll remains RM2.90 at the causeway.

This is his message to me "There is no increase in the toll, the toll remain at RM2.90 at the causeway. if Singapore want to go on the matching policy as per said by Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Transport, Josephine Teo, there's no reason to increase."

What is this matching policy crap?  When was this signed?  Which agreement?  I have never heard of this policy and the people I asked told "never heard of such a policy until recently".

You people so hard up for the cash or what?

Or is this some obscure way to punish vehicles using the Causeway, but blaming it on Malaysia instead of owning up?

Eh, what's that?  The new toll at CIQ?

Aiyo, Madam Teo, those charges are for the infrastructure, you know, the routes and the inner ring road leading to CIQ and also for the EDL highway, nothing to do with charging vehicles using the Causeway or entry and exit to and from Singapore.

It is even run by different people.

Somebody has to pay for all that new facilities, you know, why not the people who use the facilities?

Besides, from my point of view, those working in Singapore and not paying taxes to the Malaysian Government shouldn't make noise about paying for such facilities because they pay their taxes in Singapore, so don't expect Malaysian tax payers to pay for their convenience to work in Singapore.

Madam Teo, care to tell me what new infrastructure Singapore built to justify the toll hike and added cost per exit?

Why, you don't have a reason to raise toll, but must blame it on something or someone because Singapore Authorities are so efficient, so good, so wonderful that anything bad must be because of someone else?

Suka-suka hati blame other people for you own cekik darah moves eh?

Just like Malaysian opposition politicians and political activists lah you Singaporean authorities, dump all the dirt at other people's door while you eat all the cake.

This art of blaming the Malaysian Government for everything bad, you learned from our politicians or our politicians learned from you?

Or is this pointing fingers mentality something that they teach at that "School for Classy People" that classy urbanites in Malaysia and Singapore go to?

First World Singapore mentality is not that different from our own brand of political loonies that created the current mess in Selangor after all.

While I was Away

I have been offline these last few days and thus out of touch with current happenings back at home.

On the Selangor political front, it seems that PAS finally grew a backbone, Tuanku Sultan expressed his "disappointment" with PKR and DAP publicly, and indeed went beyond stating that PKR and DAP were rude but also treasonous.

There was a commenter here who objected to my description of PKR and DAP as biadap (rude) and besar kepala (big-headed) in their dealings with the Istana and titah Tuanku, but I think that particular anon failed to understand the language of Raja-Raja Melayu and the etiquette of Istana Melayu.

"Titah" was not a request, it was an order.

I guess only a Melayu would understand how insulting the actions of PKR and DAP leaders were when they defied the Istana.

I also learned that Tunku Jalil is ill.

I pray that he remains strong in the face of such an ordeal and with Allah's blessing, will recover his health.

He is one of the nicest people I have ever met and I wish him well.

Then of course there is all that talk about various statements and writings of former Chief Judge Tun Hamid Omar.

I also read Helen Ang's writing on the subject.

Besides being inspired by Helen to actually write about my thoughts, I have great respect for her thorough determination to write about what she feels is right, no matter what.

I find all the posturings of the MCA and Gerakan lately not only annoying but also despicable.

My own personal view is, MCA should really shut up when it comes to Cina interests in Malaysia including anything related with historical facts.

You people only represent less than 10% of the Cina in this country, and your meager seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies are courtesy of the Malay voters, which means you are actually representing the Malays there.

Let the DAP speak for the Cina who voted for them en masse.

Be careful about whom you disparage as you may not survive as a political entity with you dignity intact in the next rounds of elections, and you will join Gerakan as BN's almost-dead coalition member, shamefully hanging on to Umno's coattails in order to be relevant and yet bashing the very party that gave it any semblance of life.

MCA and Gerakan betul-betul muka tak malu.

Oh, another thing, my sister was offended by the expletive-riddled comments in my blog, so I have decided to prune any comment I deem as excessively offensive to the viewing public.

My blog, my right.