malaysiakini's Latest Article on Highway Robbery...An Overview

(please click on diagram to enlarge)
The spreadsheet is based on figure given in the malaysiakini article and if you compare some of the highway deals, there appears to be some discrepancies that can be investigated further.
If you look at the right most column, you will find that the construction costs vary quite a bit from the very expensive Penang Bridge (~RM70mil/km) to the reasonable (RM7.7mil/km) for the NSH. The NSH is an exception as the project was done over a long period like about 10 years but if you consider the other 2 highlighted projects - Grand Saga and LDP, the costs are relatively high-more than 3 times higher than the Karak Highway that was built during the same period.
Since the toll agreements are now available to the public at the PWD, I suggest someone from malaysiakini ashould get the full details of the highways; especially those that have received significant compensation from the government.
I find it absurd that for some toll companies,after receiving almost 60% back of the construction costs they still have 22 years to collect tolls.
The other major assistance to the toll companies is that the government extended the concession period for major improvements to Penang Bridge and also the NSH. Making improvements should have been part and parcel of the company's duties and the government should have included a KPI like average speed of tolled road 60kph.
If you look at the details of the Penang Bridge, the tolls should have stopped in 2009(according to Wikipedia) but because of the extra lane built later, they are still collecting tolls.
Don't you think this is highway robbery?

A WARNING for Parents! Don't Let This Happen to Your Son or Daughter....

This a another tragedy that could have been prevented.
The 3 trainee nurses were killed in a dawn accident in a car driven by the 22-year old driver who must have made an error in judgement. Tragically she was killed in the accident and so were two other passengers.
My warning to parents is please make sure you supervise your child's driving ability after passing the driving test before you allow them to drive independently.
I suggest the driving test should also include an overtaking exercise on a single-lane road. It seems that the accident occurred at a place where the road had an unbroken line - not an ideal place to overtake.
Also cars with auto-transmission are slower to respond to accelerating as compared to a car with manual gear where you can engage a lower gear quickly.

Instead of DESPERATE Moves like 15% tax for Returning Citizens, Better Schools would Help

This article shows why the Talent Corp has an impossible task to achieve.
Land for La Salle school seems to indicate that the government has been very generous to provide 1.3ha of land to build the school.
Now if you read the article, you will note that an existing school of 2000 pupils is being relocated from Brickfields to Sri Petaling.
I would guess that the land value in Brickfields is probably twice that in Sri Petaling and the Brickfields land area is probably larger than the land for the new school.
To cut a long article short, the company that is taking over the Brickfields site should pay for the construction of the new school and not burden the parents more as most are already paying taxes.
Can do for 1Malaysia?

Sarawak State Elections....The PM and his Cabinet Have Abused their Official Positions

Okay, the state elections are important for BN but that does not give the PM and his Ministers the right to go electioneering as they hold important posts in government.
In the meantime, even the weekly Cabinet meetings have been cancelled or maybe that really is not so important; more like just an excuse to have coffee and snacks.
Unfortunately the Elections Commission has become like the 3 monkeys of "see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil".
You can read the malaysiakini article Najib saving Taib or seeking his ouster?
For me, I hope Sarawakians will decide that both leaders are not good for Malaysia in general and Sarawak in particular.
When they vote for a change in government, they will "kill 2 birds with 1 stone".

photo:thanks to http://www.mysticunicorn.com/monk29586.html

Do We NEED Elections before this Problem is SOLVED?

We know the PM is busy these days trying to shore up a crumbling regime in Sarawak.
That's why he feels justified to spend 6 days campaigning in the buy elections.
The whole Cabinet is over in Sarawak and nobody is taking care of more mundane issues.
Like the case of young Malaysians who are being denied the basic right of education as in the article Future looks bleak for eight pupils.
Why are young children being marginalised through no fault of their own? In the case of the orphans the Welfare Department should have taken steps to ensure they obtained the birth certificates.
There have been cases before where the kids were not able to attend school and when they grow up and cannot find jobs, they may become gangsters or prostitutes to survive.
Is this what we can expect under 1Malaysia?


photo: thanks to the Star.

Another Death in MACC Custody....A fatal combination of Negligence and Incompetence?

I suggest the guidelines provided by the IPCMC could be applied to the MACC so that all Malaysians will know there is a properly established commission to discipline errant officers.
This latest incident, even if there is no concrete evidence that the Customs guy was murdered or committed suicide, shows that the MACC is negligent or incompetent or both as after the TBH killing, the new HQ should have a functioning CCTV system to cover entry points, corridors, interview rooms, lifts and stairwells.
It is astonishing that it seems these basic security equipment is lacking or not working or switched off.
Everyone watching porn videos during official duties?
malaysiakini's story 'MACC hasn't learnt its lesson'indicates that many feel the MACC is responsible again as in the case of Teoh Beng Hock.
It is possible that members of the powerful syndicate responsible for the loss of billions in underdeclared imports wanted to silence this Customs officer as he could have revealed more details of their operations.
The MACC comes under the PM's Department - I suggest it should directly to Parliament to have a more effective supervision and control.