Singaporean Bloggers To Be Monitored

Blogging in Singapore has taken a new twist.

Singaporean bloggers seated in front of their own desktop PC / laptop will be monitored on how and what they blog about (besides those people who urinates in the public toilets).

Singapore's Media Development Authority is looking at rules to ensure that bloggers do not simply endorse, review, advertise, recommend or promote products & services. The main issue here is that some bloggers are being paid to do so where conflict of interest may arise.

If you are being paid, most likely you are obligated to write positive remarks, right?

One of the rules being looked into is that bloggers would be required to state whether gifts were presented / money was paid / products & services were provided for free - prior to putting up that blog post.

I'm all for this new ruling so that consumers won't be duped into obtaining products & services that could be fake/below standards via blogs.

I do lots of reviews and recommendations but they were my own opinions / experiences while using those products & services. If I do get an opportunity where a party requires me to blog about their products & services, I'll certainly be transparent about it. I won't promote the products & services which are lousy or one that fails even my own standards knowing that I'm to be paid or given benefit-in-kind to write about it. In other words, if I have nothing better to say, I'll just keep quiet.

One thing that disturbs me most is where some bloggers do post about products & services not known to them. Such bloggers will be assigned certain products & services to blog about and will be paid once that's done. The best thing, the products & services do not even exist in Malaysia. There's no blogging ethics at all and money is all they think about.

What's your stand on this issue? Malaysia gahmen should impose this too.

Reading: Bloggers who get gifts or money may have to own up - ytlcommunity
Tags: Blogger, Bloggers Monitored, Singapore, Media Development Authority, Blogging Ethics

Request Made to Reduce Coverage on Auditor-General's Report

There you go ............ as predicted. The Auditor-General's annual report has opened up so many cans that are full of worms in it and a MP,Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah, from the ruling party is now suggesting to reduce the media coverage that the annual report is getting now.

Reasons given -
* gives a very bad impression and it is meloyakan (nauseating)
* embarrassing perception which would cause our competitiveness to drop

Trying to cover up something?

The people who caused all this bad impression and embarrassing situations didn't even think of such as long as someone's pocket is filled. And this MP is worried about it instead.

If it was done right from the beginning, we need not come to this stage of shameful reporting. Anyhow, all these years, there were no improvements being made despite many shocking revelations that were exposed.

But that doesn't mean we should just keep it behind closed doors. We still need to publicise such deplorable actions by the respective federal / state government departments. This report is meant for the public's consumption as taxpayers have the right to know how their tax contributions are being managed.

As for this MP, I really wonder about his knowledge on an audit exercise. He said that the auditors should also "teach” and “guide” especially for those who might have done wrong.

Hello MP, if those people had committed those acts, they should be sacked or jailed if any criminal offence existed. The auditors' job is not to teach or guide people.

This MP suggested that prior to the release of the annual report to the public, the auditors should have asked the department head to explain on those irregularities. What if those department head took ages to respond? Wait till the cow comes home?

He also questioned on who should audit the auditors. So, whistle blowers are always the guilty parties, not those who committed the 'sin'.

I think he's very ignorant of what an audit is all about but yet he brought this topic up in the parliament.

Reading: Parliament: 'Filter AG’s report' - Star
Tags: Auditor-General Annual Report, Auditors, Audit

1TooMany

Nothing wrong with the title ....... it's correct ........ 1TooMany.

The Prime Minister launched the 1Malaysia concept, back in April 2009, to foster closer relationship amongst the multi ethnic/racial society in Malaysia.

The Prime Minister is looking towards the 'One Dream, One People, One nation' and was glad that this has brought much positiveness to the nation. He has claimed that Malaysians are accepting the 1Malaysia concept which brought about the win in the recent Bagan Pinang by-election.

But I think he got carried away till the concepts of 1Region and 1World were mentioned when he addressed the 35th Unesco general conference’s opening plenary session. Not saying that it's impossible to achieve this two concepts but it's way too big. The United Nations is still experiencing certain difficulties in bringing nations to agree on grave issues all these years.

I'm sure that the concepts of 1Region and 1World can't beat the following 1 ....... 1Toilet!

What 1Toilet?

The state of Terengganu's Education, Higher Learning, Human Resource, Science and Technology Committee mooted the 1Toilet concept. Now how is this 1Toilet going to work along with 1Malaysia?

The 1Toilet was to get teachers and principals to share the same toilets with their students. Just by the virtue of sharing the same toilet will bring much transfer of wisdom from the teachers and principals to the students ?!??!?!?!??!??!

This is really getting 1TooMany now. Can we stop abusing the "1" thingy?

I think we should encourage all government-linked-companies to adopt this 1Toilet as well. I want to see all the Tun, Tan Sri and Datuk to share the same toilets with their managers, executives, clerks and office boys. I'm sure this will enhance the corporate mentality and thus, increase the productivity and effectiveness of each company.

What about 1Race? Bangsa Malaysia?

What other 1 should we have?

Reading: ‘1Toilet’ plan to let teachers and students mingle freely - Star
Tags: 1Malaysia, Malaysia, 1Toilet, 1Region, 1World, Unesco General Conference

Do We Pay When Contract is Breached?

It's sickening to read a newspaper article stating that "not a single reservoir in Selangor was cleaned or washed for the whole of last year". Not only that, even the Sungai Sireh water treatment plant in Kuala Selangor had not been washed for over 10 years.

What's happening? Who's in charge of it?

Let's see:-
* Raw water - State government of Selangor
* Water treatment - Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd (ABASS)
* Distribution of clean, treated water to consumers - Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas)

Our monthly water bill would have included all the above services - provision of raw water, water treatment and distribution of consumable water to us. Failure on one part of the services would have considered a breach of contract?

If they had not done / completed their works, why do we still need to pay the full amount? It's always at the expense of the consumers. What choice or say do we have when such things happen?

If we protest by not paying, we would be penalised.

If they didn't do their works, how should they be penalised?

Reading: Operators fail to follow clean-up schedule - Star
Tags: Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, Splash, Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd, ABASS, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, Syabas, Water Treatment Plant, Reservoir

Will Our Buildings Withstand Earthquake?

After experiencing those earthquake shakes at my condo and office building before, it's really not comforting to have read about a Bernama news report that Malaysian buildings cannot withstand a strong earthquake even if it happens at a neighbouring country.

Indonesia's many earthquakes have caused many tremors in Malaysia and a 6.0 Richter Scale shake in Indonesia could be felt in Malaysia easily.

A professor from the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Disaster Research Unit has commented that less than 1% of Malaysia's buildings have constructed the buildings factoring in the earthquake situation. My my.

Which of the buildings in Malaysia then?
Answer: Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers, Penang Bridge and Komtar. Only three structures? That's even less than 0.1%. For those of you whose buildings that are not mentioned .......... ahhh you know what to do.

My office building shook on 30 Sept 2009 when a strong earthquake hit Padang in Indonesia. It was a correct decision to evacuate the building no matter what.

I did hear from friends that not all their colleagues evacuated their offices on that day with some saying that it's just a tremor from Indonesia (if it was an earthquake) and some said that there's no earthquake in Malaysia. Some people really take things for granted.

A structural engineer has told me before that even if it was just a tremor due to an earthquake that has happened faraway, a building may not collapse immediately. Structural damage may have occured but we don't know. If there was a damage and if the structure was built according to actual designs, the structure could withstand the damage temporarily up to say thirty minutes. That's enough time to evacuate and walk faraway from the building.

What about you? Will you evacuate or you are more worried about what others may say about you being the first person to run away?

Reading: Less Than One Per Cent Of Buildings In Malaysia Have Earthquake Preventive Measures - Bernama

Related post - Earthquake Shook My Office Building
Tags: Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers, Penang Bridge, Komtar, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Disaster Research Unit, Earthquake, Richter Scale, Structural Engineer

Sorry State of Public Asset

Going to certain government offices (I can say that this applies to any part of the world) is something that many people do not look forward to. The queues would be long, waiting period for the processing of documents may be hours and the worst of all would be the waiting area are congested.

But it won't beat the situation as shown below -
Tags: Government Office

Barred From Leaving Malaysia

Recently, there were some Malaysians that were barred from leaving Malaysia. Who are they? Wanted criminals? Tax evaders?

It seems that the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) are conducting such checks in collaboration with the Immigration Dept and managed to catch up with many income tax and loan defaulters.

Those badly affected were Malaysia Airlines employees who have to travel frequently in their line of duty. It was affecting the cabin crews and can you imagine that you are trying to board your plane (or report for duty in the airplane) and you were stopped at the Immigration check point.

The last minute replacement crew would have been rushed from somewhere to replace that crew that was barred from leaving Malaysia.

In a way, I can't pity such people as they have a duty to settle their income tax or loans. If you have taxes or loans to be paid, do pay first because you are obliged to do so. It could also be a chicken and egg story where a cabin crew needs to 'fly' to earn their income in order to pay for the taxes or loans.

Unfortunately, I have also heard from someone that even though you had made payments to PTPTN, the people working there were slow in updating the files. In due time, info on bad loan accounts were sent to the Immigration Dept to nab such culprits.

In this case, I agree that income tax defaulters/evaders should be barred for they were supposed to pay taxes based on preceding year's income. They have earned the income but failed to remit the required amount. It's their bad financial management then. They chose to default.

Some are really innocent. Some acted as if they were innocent. Why did it happen in the first place? It happened because these people took it for granted.

The Malaysian Airlines System Employees' Union (MASEU) is calling for a review on the travel ban on income tax and study loan defaulters. What for? To protect people who flout the laws?

Unless these staff had agreed on settlement plans with IRB or PTPTN in advance, they should barred. Well, you were barred because you failed to do something properly. Whose fault in the first place?

If it was IRB or PTPTN that didn't update their files even though settlement agreements/payments were made, then we should get those fellas in IRB or PTPTN to compensate for the loss of income of those that were barred from travelling for no reasons. Fair?

It works in both ways, cannot be just penalising the defaulters but also the bad performers.

Reading: MAS employees want review of travel ban on tax, loan defaulters - Star
Tags: Inland Revenue Board, IRB, National Higher Education Fund Corporation, PTPTN, Immigration Dept, Malaysian Airlines System Employees' Union, MASEU, Malaysia Airlines