Wednesday, December 28, 2005

MAS and ITS LOSSES

Lo and behold, now everybody is talking about MAS and the amount of losses it makes in the last financial year alone. Mind you, when you are a National Air Carrier and have a financial losses amounted to RM384 million, you are bound to make a lot of ATTENTION.

What irked me so much is the way it is being discussed. All the brouhaha about the purchase of paintings valued over RM 1.55M is for me is dumbfounded and somehow missing the point altogether.

Okay lets put two and two together…MAS is losing RM 384 milion and that purchase of paintings doesn’t actually balance the books la friend. Even when MAS sold the painting that wouldn’t make any difference. The trouble is deeper but none of the “OUR” appointed minister are willing to talk about it because they probably part of the problem. In fact, probably that is the root of the problem!

Most GLCs be it Telekom Malaysia, TNB, Proton & MAS, the procurement methods is not transparent. Why? Politicians intervene as they wanted the slice of the pie themselves. How the hell do you know? I was a procurement officer at one of these GLCs. Another buddy of mine works with another and ex-boss works with another but the story is the same.

When a big tender is up, there are bounds to be information leaks. While the upper management is talking about information secrecy and need to keep tight lip about it, they themselves will dine and wine when their selected vendors at karaoke bars or golf clubs.

These vendors are usually helmed by some Datuk or Tan Sri or even Persatuan Peniaga Pulau Pinang or Perlis to make their presence felt and the political powers to boot. Monies will be thrown and mention and commission will be mooted.

When the tenders are evaluated, you are bound to see that normally even the lowest price offered will not win the tenders! Why?? because the company offered the lowest price is not the Political company. The evaluation committee usually helmed by the top management in these GLCs that have dine with the vendors will used criteria such as experiences, high capital amount, and the ability to deliver to swing the tenders to the favoured vendors.

I know some of you will say this is normal …but look at the bigger picture, if a simple meals offered in a flight can cost triple the amount than its nearest competitor, what does that tell you? In my own personal experiences, there have been too many instances where the cheapest offered good with the same specs., sama capability and sama distributor tak menang tender kerana pelbagai alasan pihak atasan. Company yg ada political power juga menang biarpun harganya mahal lebih RM 250 per unit.

Mungkin ada yang berkata, ala lu kecoh…RM 250 aje, asal dia deliver cukup…okay, tapi RM 250 seunit for a delivery of 1500 unit, tak jadik RM 375,000.00 mahal dari the lowest quotation??

Ini baru satu comparison, banyak lagi …in fact terlalu banyak jika hendak dinyatakan dalam satu entry ini tapi hakikatnya tetap nyata, penyalahgunaan kuasa oleh sesetengah pihak especially those, who have the necessary cable.

Minister sendiri juga bersalah kerana dengan menggunakan pangkat Datuk dan Tan Si mereka, mereka buka company, mereka jadik chairman company sana sini, dan melalui ini juga mereka menggunakan cabme mereka utk masuk tender2 besar mahupun kecil.

Only in Malaysia and in the world itself, the government party is also one of the richest parties in the world. Because elsewhere, no minister is allowed to do business or associated themselves to one. They are forbidden to do so because it clouded their judgment and reaons.

This, in my personal opinion, is the main reason why MAS have such a heavy losses and Proton today announced a lost of RM 150M, what does this tell you? Mismanagement or just a simple fact that the business is not allowed to run properly as it should??

MAS and its GLCs need not change its MD or CEO every so often because the problem is not with one person, the root of all this evil is the culture or ways we do business in Malaysia where those who are backed by Political powers will always triumphed over those who are the really the genuine article.



Think hard about this because afterall, it is your taxes money that allowed some of these Datuk to drive their brand new Mercedez or BMWs. You pay for the car you never get to drive!!

P/S now, everybody forget about the AP issue altogether.....typical Malaysian eh??

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

POLICE and ITS State

All the brouhaha over the squatting incident in a police cell in Petaling Jaya has caused awkward moments and embarrassment for the police.

The alleged “Chinese National” was sought after and come forward to present their stories. Heads are bound to roll….and many minister will lose sleep over it. Azmi Khalid flew to China on a PR exercise to exorcise the ghost of this incident.

Police were quick to deny that retaliation will take place. An independent inquiry were initiated and many Malaysians especially Chinese were up in arms over the treatments given to their kin mans.

I personally was not too engrossed over it because as always we Malaysian always make a hill out of a mole. Yes whatever the police did in jail cell I do not condone..i had my grievances over their service but did you know that squatting is a standard police procedure to see whether the woman hid any drug substances in her vagina??

Hey don’t look at me that way dude because it has been proven and well documented. The uproar was caused by Theresa Kok, DAP member of Parliament saying that this is no way to treat a Chinese tourist.

Lo and behold, the “ Chinese National” turns out to be a Malay afterall.

So apa nak cakap sekarang? Dulu duk kecoh kata police mistreat chinese national laa, police brutality laa, kena paper depan suratkhabar kerana memalukan pelancong laa, rupa2nya org melayu yg kena ketuk ketampi.

So claim Azmi Khalid pie China melutut depan Chinese government officials tu sapa nak bayar? Mudahnya kita tunduk dengan org lain semata2 kita takut org benci kita, takut org tak melabur negara kita, takut org tak melancong negara kita, takut org hentam kita di international media, takut…takut.

Cuba kita anjakkan paradigma kita sedikit….Amerika Syarikat serang Afghanistan tanpa segan silu, serang Iraq tanpa kelulusan PBB, hina rakyat Iraq dengan bogelkan tawanan di Kem Abu Gharib.

Ade kita nampak George Bush buat lawatan PR ke Iraq memohon maaf kepada Hamid Kazrai? Ader kita nampak Donald Rumsfield pergi ke PBB membuat kenyataan bahawa mereka memohon maaf, berjuta maaf ??

Well what they say was it was an isolated incident and they do not condone it.

Basically, it is kinna saying that we make mistake ..but so what? What the fuck are you going to do? You hate us but that is nothing new…do your worst laa…we US do give a damn!!!!!

Now that is the kind of attitude that will send shivers do anyone spine. Tak payah US laa…Myanmar tahan Aung San Su Kyi dekat 10 tahun dah, manage Myanmar thru dictatorship….tak kisah la Asean kata apa pun…mampus laa korang semua.

Ini juga bermakna mereka adalah org yang benar2 merdeka! They are no longer bounded by the fear that we cannot stand alone, the fear that others will hate us, the fear that we cannot go far without your assistance.

In fact, we are still being colonize, not by foreign powers but by our own fears. The fact that the PM makes a hasty comments also didn’t appeal much to me.

Since we got an independent inquiry, Pak Lah should has said “ I cannot comments much, not until the independent reports from the inquiry comes out”.

Perhaps the lonely nights has taken the toll on him….

Well, your daughter is a member of Sisters in Islam, a group which fight for woman equality above anything else including Al-Quran and Hadiths. A group, believe that woman can and should be an imam during Friday prayer.

You know what sad about it, while they say they are sisters in Islam and all, the majority tak pakai tudung. Mungkin ini personal tapi itu menunjukkan awak baca kitab tak habis. So macamana nak ajar org lain pasal Islam? Pie la mabuk…

Tapi personally, I believe that the Police should charge Theresa Kok for making a false accusation against the police and the government. Since it was a Malay woman, let UMNO fight amongst themselves.

You should be charge for creating unrest and unnecessary ripples in bilateral relationships between Malaysian and China. Perhaps since you like them so much, may be you should migrate there.

Pardon me, I am just quoting Datuk Noh Omar which says something along the lines…heh..heh..heh

Far and between

Been neglecting my blog for quite some time now….

Not becoz I wanted to…but damn too tired to do anything about it.

A lot has been happening…one of my friend got married, so good luck !

One of my ex-office colleague has passed away due to asthma.

My brother got married again after his painful divorce three years ago and…

I still yet to complete my project at Wisma Genting. Things sometimes move slowly when you lack the necessary funds.

In business, the moment you kinna missed the payment from your paymaster is very painful for the business.

I am not destitute yet but the worries takes away your peaceful, you heart pounding non-stop, you are unsure about what lies….many bad thoughts attacked your mind.

I know that everything will be fine in due time but in the meantime, only god knows laa..

Well you know what cannot destroy you…can only give you countless headache and prone to suicidal behaviour..muahahhah

Friday, December 02, 2005

DOUBLE STANDARD

I read interesting on the ongoing saga on Mr Nguyen impending date with the gallows in Singapore. Mr Nguyen was sentenced to death by hanging in a Singapore court for trying to smuggle 400 gram of heroin from Vietnam via Singapore.

Being an Australian, it bound to be an international crisis.

So one wise minister from Australia, who happen to be the Foreign Minister , said “ Singapore should not hang Mr Nguyen! Any first world country would have forgo death penalties because it is uncivilized”

He also said the same thing when we hang two Australian for the same offence back in the late 90s.

Somehow, I am amused by all these statements la.

Australian have this unshakeable believe that everyone of their citizen is a model citizen. Leslie Michelle, who has just been release from a Bali prison was also given superior treatment. She was acquitted on drug offences as well.

I donno la…first, the statement that any first world country should forgo death penalty is totally oxymoron. US obviously a first world country( a term to divide used by the so called “ wise man”) still practices death penalty. Takkan la tak pernah tengok “ Dead Man walking”. Texas still have death penalty….George Bush is from Texas ..so he must have decided “ well, I executed all these criminals legally in Texas…why not I continue the good work in Afghanistan and Iraq?”

Kalau ader Australian citizen arrested for any crimes in any Asian countries, Australian government is bound to make waves. This is a nation build by criminals from Great Britain and castaways from their home land. That fact alone is somehow ironic because they believe that every citizen of theirs is goody two shoes defies logic for me. Isn’t there a saying that what goes around…comes around. Or Once a thief…forever a thief?

Haiya …double standard laa…we have no qualms in having Malaysian committing high tech fraud in Austrakia. That Chinese guy amassed almost AUSD 1.8 million cheating banks and casinos. Well, you go dude!! At least we Malaysian know that in true spirit of Malaysia Boleh, we can be world beaters if we focus.

So…take it on a chin la aussies! Tak payah guna media to create sympathy to any of your citizen that happen to commit a crime. He did it so face the consequences laa.

Work and more work

I have been too busy lately.

But being self employed I should count that as blessing rather than a curse.

Yesterday was a long day at a site…from 11am to 2am the next day.

I remember one of closest friend once asked me as to why I choose to work in this line. I used to have my own room , a good perk and should I continue selling my soul to the devil and forgo my own principle, I should be earning a whooper of a salary.

But then again, I have to wade the traffic every morning just to clock 8 am every morning, smile when I don’t wanna to….it is too much of a job than a career. A lot of people often confuse the term “job” as similar to a “career”. A job is something you have to do, forcing yourself to do it….because there is no alternative. A career is something you love and looking forward to it…..totally reverse compared to a job.

That’s why the term married to a job is totally different as to committed to a career.

Well, I have yet to complained for I choose this path but the ability to wake up at 10 am in the morning and no qualm of staying awake to watch the current European Champion Liverpool played at 3.30 am, is priceless!

Mind you, I am in no way propagating that working on your own is better, this path is a very hard path. No security…no guarantee. Even if you are back with a million ringgit, if you don’t have a solid business plan….you are 90% bound to fail.

On the other hand, if you have a good job that pays well, happy with the environment …carry on. If you have a budding career and the ability to reach the apex of an organization….soldier on!!

But do so ethically and on merit….in your working life and social life.

Because what goes around…comes around. So be careful…..