Tuesday 29 October 2013

KALAU BIL BUKAN SENDIRI YANG BAYOR

Jawapan bertulis daripada menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, menunjukkan bahawa rakyat Malaysia mengeluarkan RM 6,134 sehari atau RM 2.237 juta setahun untuk membayar bil elektrik kediaman rasmi PM kita dan RM 852.53 sehari atau RM 0.99 juta setahun untuk bil air. Untuk kediaman rasmi Timbalan PM pula, rakyat mengeluarkan wang sebanyak RM 2,371 sehari atau 865,458.56 setahun untuk bil TNB dan RM 271 sehari atau 99,264.03 setahun untuk bil Syabas.

Saya pasti bil elektrik dan air yang agak tinggi ini adalah wajar dan berpatutan kerana apa yang dibuat oleh PM dan T/PM kita di kediaman rasmi mereka adalah kerana urusan rasmi negara demi kebajikan dan kesejahteraan rakyat semata-mata.

Penggunaan elektrik dan air yang agak berlebihan ini, mungkin kerana kedua-dua kediaman rasmi ini, terutama yang No.1 punya,  mempunyai kawasan yang luas berbanding rumah kita, rakyat jelata, yang besar sekangkang kera. Kediaman pemimpin No.1 kita, dibina dalam keluasan tanah 42.5 hectares. Tiga kali lebih luas daripada White House.  Kawasan kediaman seluas ini, semestinya mempunyai taman yang luas juga, ada kolam renang, ada tasik, ada mini petting zoo untuk cucu-cucu, ada garaj untuk simpan koleksi kereta, ada store untuk simpan hadiah-hadiah yang diterima, dll. Taman kena siram air, kolam renang dan tasik kena pakai air, kandang binatang, garaj kereta, store barang kena air cond, takut kereta dan barang simpanan panas dan terbakar. Mudah cerita, seluruh rumah kena diaircondkan termasuk tandas dan loteng. Jangan merungut atau cemburu atau sakit hati dengan perbelanjaan bil elektrik atau air yang sedemikian. Kalau nak guna utilities secara semberono dan bilnya ditanggung oleh rakyat, bertanding dan jadi menteri. Kalau tidak, diam.
 
Bajet negara 2014 dibentangkan di parlimen, Jumaat 24 October 2013 lalu. Saya tidak ambil pot lansung tentang bajet negara ini. Pendedahan di atas menjelaskan dengan sepenuhnya kecuali fakta bahawa sejak 2 tahun kebelakangan ini, kos utilities bagi kedua-dua kediaman rasmi ini telah meningkat 40%. Jadi untuk apa saya nak ambil pusing fasal bajet kerana as far as Malaysia is concern, yang dibuat sentiasa tidak serupa dengan yang dirancang i.e. bertambah teruk. Rakyat disuruh berhemah berbelanja tapi …….

But then, bak kata orang Perak, “Bior pape asal bergaye, bukan harta kite, harta dema”.

Hingga jumpa lagi, mari renung bersama, jenis pemimpin yang kita ada. Salam sayang dari Uncle B, yang terfikir. Berapa agaknya bil elektrik dan air, Perdana Menteri Singapura. 
Bye!!!!!!!!

Thursday 24 October 2013

HE MUST BE JOKING

Praise be to Allah Almighty, I finally managed to save some spare coins. Enough to get myself a new laptop but of course not enough to get me a Myvi unlike some one who managed to save pocket money from school days to purchase a diamond ring.  I am not a gadget freak but my old and trusted Vaio laptop from 2003,  finally breathed  its last 2 weeks ago,  after almost 11 years of faithful service. Wish I can say the same for some modern wives  that I know of.  
To start my first posting with my brand new HP Pavilion notebook, below is an excerpt of a speech given by the prime minister of Malaysia at the Commonwealth TH Club Lecture, in San Francisco, USA, on 22 September 2013.

“This policy package is accompanied by government and political transformation programmes, designed to reduce crime and corruption; improve education, infrastructure and public transport; and also to remove outdated and repressive laws, some of which date back to colonial times.

The work starts at home. Many Asian economies are affected by corruption, which crushes individual endeavour and harms social cohesion. Corruption not only suppresses meritocratic opportunity, but eats away at people's confidence in the institutions and power of the state; it should come as no surprise that it was mentioned so often as a factor behind the Arab Spring.

I want to make corruption part of Malaysia's past, not its future. And that means changing organisational as well as business cultures. I have created a new governance and integrity minister role in the cabinet; it is held by the former president of the Malaysian chapter of Transparency International. And we have elevated our anti-corruption agency - which answers annually to a parliamentary special committee on corruption, an independent advisory board, and a complaints committee - to self-regulated, independent commission status.

It is our hope that the commission may serve as an example for other countries looking to build the institutional capacity to combat corruption. After all, for governance and commerce alike, the most vital currency is trust. If we deliver what we have promised to the people - in this instance, a concerted fight against corruption - and deliver consistently over time, that currency will appreciate. The reward is not just a more open and transparent business environment, with more vibrant markets and greater opportunity, but also a renewed faith in the ability of governments to change things for the better.

I simply do not know how to respond to the above statements  I could take it seriously, along with a lb of salt or I could take it as a joke, which I am prone to think  it is.  Judging by the way the finances of this country is being managed by those being entrusted to manage the rakyat’s money, I guess we do  need a joke or two, every now and then, to keep ourselves sane. Otherwise we, or at least my goodself, would have gone bananas a long time ago.

Syukur Alhamdullillah, I was not at that venue in San Francisco when such pronouncements were made. Otherwise, the American security personnel at the venue would have a hard time to restrain me from rolling around on the floor and the Malaysian ambassador to the US, too,  would have a very difficult time to find an American bomoh to cure me of my hysterical fits of laughter.

As promised in my earlier postings, I will not comment on the malaysian state of governance, as in the end  it will just become an exercise in futility, I reserved my comments. However at the very least, I now know that whenever I am feeling blue, all I have to do is scan the local mainstream newspapers to see what our ministers are saying. So if you want to have a really good laugh, just listen to the tabling of the 2014 budget in parliament,  tomorrow 25 October 2013.  Just remember not to throw away the tissue papers that you use to wipe away your tears of laughter. You might need it again to wipe away your tears of pain when your pocket hurts after the budget announcements.

Until the next posting,  lots of hugs from Uncle B, who now knows why smart  Malaysians calls our parliament a circus. Because it's full of clowns.

Ta! ta! and cheerio!!