Sunday, February 04, 2007
Illegal Moneylenders
At the same time, borrowers-to-be have been advised to check with the police or the ministry to see if the moneylenders were legal. At times, people who needs money urgently have no time to wait for the government staff's response time. All this talk in the newspapers lead to nowhere. How are they helping?
On the contrary, Malaysia's no. 1 cop, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, stated that the priority in the fight against loan sharks should be to educate the public against such borrowings, instead of prosecuting the borrowers. Meaning to say, that Ramli's statement is now redundant? (source: 2 Feb, The Star)
And then the Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting made the following statement (source: 3 Feb, The Star)
"The Cabinet has rejected a recent suggestion to prosecute those who borrow from loan sharks"
I agreed that actions should be taken against the loan sharks instead and not the borrowers. The above really shows how bad is the communication between the police force and the federal government as was in the case of increasing traffic fines previously.
On one hand the borrowers would be in deep shit if they had defaulted on the re-payment which will incur the wrath of the loan sharks known for being ruthlesss in obtaining the capital amount plus the high interest rates. Then the borrowers will wander around as they can't even report to the police for fear of being arrested even though there was property damage, assault and in some cases murder. Only way out of this deep shit - suicide. This will be the scenario if the new act was implemented.
Hopefully in future, people who wants to suggest something to the public at large will think through before opening that big mouth.
(Extracted from 4 Feb, The Star) MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Michael Chong noted that hawkers and farmers were sometimes left with no choice but to borrow from loan sharks due to the requirements imposed by banks.
“How could you expect a hawker or farmer, for example to produce all the necessary documents required by banks?” he asked. “Furthermore they have to be subject to Bank Negara’s Central Credit Reference Information System and private credit reference agencies. “In addition to this, they would have to wait for a long time before their loan is approved,” he said.
Michael Chong is just playing politics here as he agreed with the prosecution of borrowers earlier: (source: 30 Jan, The Star) "Michael Chong agrees with the police proposal to penalise people who borrow from Ah Longs. “This is the best way to teach the public a lesson. They know it is illegal to borrow money from loan sharks but they still do it,” he said."
Tags: Loan Shark, Ah Long, Illegal Moneylender, Moneylender, Police, Malaysia, Borrow, MCA, Michael Chong
Friday, February 02, 2007
Whale Hunting
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Jail For Parents
In California, USA, it has taken even a bigger turn where if a child is being spanked excessively, the parents could face jail and a fine under a new legislation to be enacted in the state. Weird? The lawmakers have the idea that spanking may victimise a child and develops violence in their mindset. Huh????? What school of taught is this?
The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger (the tough muscled man), has not objected to the proposed legislation. What is excessive? Who is to measure the excessiveness in spanking a child? Does it allow a tiny weeny cane? This must be tough on the court of law to decide. (source: Yahoo! News)
Tags: California, USA, Spank, Legislation
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Statement By Bloggers United
BLOGGERS UNITED CONDEMN ACTION AGAINST ROCKY & JEFF
& DEMAND LEVEL PLAYING FIELD in ALL ACTION AGAINST BLOGGERS
We, Malaysian bloggers, who believe in justice and right to free speech, we, who endorse the Bloggers United movement, unanimously condemn the action taken by media conglomerate NST against bloggers Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi. The action by the newspaper against the duo is an action against all bloggers who believe in their right to free speech, freedom of expression and justice.
The recent event may seem like a grave development in the path of bloggers, but it can never and must never impede or stop us from defending our right to speak, to express, to write and to tell the truth, to be the watchdog, eyes and ears of the people, or simply to share our view, and give fair comment on any subject which involves and affects us as humans, as rightful citizens of this country.
The recent event may very well give the government owned media the opportunity to dictate the so-called 'truth" but such actions only prove that bloggers must unite, continue to uphold the right to free speech and freedom of expression, fight for justice, even if it is not our own, be more alert, committed to the cause of free speech, relentless and persistence in the face of such persecution like the one which had befallen on the two of us.
What YOU do to any of US, is what YOU do to ALL.
As responsible bloggers, we demand and claim our space on the blogosphere for free and fair comment, where important national issues and prominent personalities are discussed.
Although it may seem as if the NSTP defamation suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers, as litigation can be expensive and may jeorpadise a blogger's economic position, we will not be cowed or silenced by those who have no regard for free speech.
If you find our post offensive, you may refute us with correct facts and figures and fair comment, in the spirit of free speech.
The first two cases will have grave impact not only on the internet, but country as a whole as the country celebrates VMY2007. The healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression in our midst is at stake. The reputation of the nation as it strives to promote our multimedia supercorridor and love for IT will be a national joke for all the world to feast on.
We demand for a level playing field in all action meted out to bloggers and in particular in the defamation proceedings particularly in terms of financial resources and capabilities, and secondly, that the legal rights of bloggers et al are properly protected in keeping with the imperatives of an information society and knowledge economy which Malaysia aspires to become.
For further information, please contact blogger susan loone at susanloone@gmail.com and sheih at kickdefella@yahoo.com
Tags: Bloggers United, Malaysian Bloggers, Freedom of Speech, Defamation, Jeff Ooi, Screenshots, Ahirudin Attan, RockyBru, NST
Friday, January 19, 2007
Malaysian Bloggers Sued
Friday, January 12, 2007
Maybank2u.com website
Since I'm based faraway, only way to control my finance is via the bank's online banking service, Maybank2u, which I have been using it for more than 2 years now. No problem faced before. Just this morning around 11am here. I keyed in my username and password as usual. The page will of course change to the main page of the internet banking page. But no! It showed the log-in page again. Naturally, I keyed in again and submit. It repeated the same thing. It happened for 5 times and by the 6th time, after keying in and hitting the button, a message came out like this:-
You have reached the maximum number of password tries. Your Maybank2u.com account has been blocked. For assistance, please contact Maybank Group Customer Care at 1-300-88-6688 or 603-7844 3696 (overseas).
Man, what's this nonsense? I have to make some payments and this is happening to me now at this stage??????? Contacted a friend who's wife is working with one the bank's branches where she said I have to call the bank no matter what. Call from Sudan???
My KL colleagues found out for me that our Petronas office (next cabin) should have some satellite phones around. Yeah, in the desert, what do you expect......so Maybank's instruction to request their customers to call their office is really ridiculous. Found the phone and called them. Spoke to a lady at the call centre and related my incident. She verified whether I'm the accountholder before she proceeded to anything. She asked for my identity card number, where do I stay in Kuala Lumpur and then my banking account numbers. I told her that the account numbers are in the website where I'm trying to access. She got what I meant.
Next, she asked for my ATM card no. (cash card). Told her it's back home in Kuala Lumpur. Lastly, she said that she can help me by refreshing the password and then I can use it PROVIDED ...............yeah there's something else to it............ PROVIDED I can recall my initial password from day one (which was a computer generated password given to us when we first applied for the internet banking). HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER THAT PASSWORD (the bank will also advise that such password should be changed after keying in for the first time) ????? And if not mistaken, last year or so, Maybank has sent another email to their online customers to change their passwords again for safety reason. I can't even remember that previous password, so don't talk about the first one.
I was so angry and I asked her back the same question. She said that's the only way. ONLY WAY???? Then I told her that was not a solution at all. You are throwing the situation back at me. So I told her, your website asked a customer to call back not having the mind to think where could the customer be and after calling in, such an answer is ok for Maybank to give to their customer. Really absurd..........so 'STUPIDEST BANK IN THE WORLD' stands!
And I'm still stucked in the middle of the Sudanese desert with no internet banking!!!!!!!!!
Tags: Malayan Banking Berhad, Maybank, Maybank2u.com, Bank, Internet Banking, Frustrated, Absurd, Stupid, Call Centre, Online Banking, Malaysia
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Ethiopia - Somalia War
The next thing that came to my mind is that the conflict is exactly at the south-east of Sudan only. Not far away.
Tags: Ethiopia, Somalia, Conflict, Dispute, War, Union of Islamic Courts, Africa
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Chris Evert's Divorce
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Interior Decoration
However, the husband believes that his good fortunes were due to the fengshui in this apartment and therefore he continues to live there. Due to the estrangement, the couple live in separate rooms. The husband lives in room A while the wife lives in room E. Previously, both shared the living room (D), the bathroom (C) and the kitchen (B). The wife has her own living room (F). There is an entrance area (G) right behind the front door.
The husband then initiated interior decoration project #1. He hired a contractor to seal the door from Room E to the living room, restroom and kitchen. The wife was mad, but she could not make the contractor stop.
So the wife then initiated interior decoration project #2. She hired a contractor to seal the door from the entrance area G to areas A, B, C, D. So this means that the husband has no access to his own room. Furthermore, nobody had access to the living room, restroom or kitchen.
As said, the fight was inevitable with their children taking different sides. The police was summoned and they came and hauled everyone down to the police station. (source: ZoneEuropa)
Tags: Hong Kong, Interior Design, Humour
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Football Coach Threatened By Parent
The father of a young football player pulled a gun on his son's coach because he didn't think the boy was getting enough playing time, Philadelphia police said on Monday. Wayne Derkotch, 40, was charged with aggravated assault after getting in a fight with the coach over the amount of time the boy was getting on the field at a game for 6- and 7-year-olds on Sunday morning, said police spokesman Officer Raul Malveiro.
"There was a physical altercation about what child should play or not play and then he pulled the gun," Malveiro said. There were no injuries and Derkotch fled before being arrested after a complaint was made by the coach, whose name was not released, Malveiro said (source: Reuters).
Is it an abundant of parent's love for the son or pride/ego was dented when his son couldn't play in the game?
Tags: Family, Football Coach, Philadelphia, Fight
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Austrian removes 'sexist' urinals
Maybe they can re-renovate the toilet as per earlier blog here.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Tunisia moves against headscarves
Human rights groups describe the move as unconstitutional. Police in Tunisia have been stopping women on the streets and asking them to remove their headscarves and sign pledges that they will not go back to wearing them. Under a ban introduced in 1981, women in Tunisia are not allowed to wear Islamic dress in schools or government offices. Those who insist on it face losing their jobs. Strong call indeed. (source: BBC News)
Tags: Headscarf, Morocco, Tunisia, Veil, Islamic, Religious
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Villagers Attacked Local Police Station
Several police officers were injured - 1 was stabbed in the stomach by a dagger, while 2 others were injured in the chest and back.
What happened here? Before you say "human rights violation," you should read the description. On the evening of 3 October, about 20 youths from Changshatian village had an arugment with youths from Zhonghuo village at a dance hall. This turned into a mass brawl, in which the youths from Changshatian village used iron bars, rocks and machetes to fight with Zhonghuo village youth in the middle of the "triangle street" During the fight, Zhonghuo resident Zhong Guangshen sustained serious injuries and died. The Zhonghuo villagers blamed the police for not taking action against the perpetrators, and that was why they laid siege to the police station. (source: Nanguo Metropolis Daily and EastSouthWestNorth)
Worse than terrorists!!
Tags: Zhonghuo, Danzhou, Hainan, China, Police, Changshatian
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Military Junta in Myanmar
Tags: Myanmar, Military Junta, Thailand
Monday, September 25, 2006
Coup d'etat in Philippines
Tags: Philippines, Thailand, Gloria Arroyo, Malacanang Palace
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Traffic Fines Reduced?????
The best part was that the Transport Ministry said it was not consulted over the reduction of traffic fines. One of Transport Ministry's functions is to coordinate with the various government departments and agencies, including the police, to implement measures to reduce road accidents. Simple co-ordination but ended up like this?????
* Latest update - The Cabinet has decided to postpone the reduction of traffic fines by the police (read more in 6 Sept, STAR)
Tags: Traffic Fine, Police, Transport Ministry, Government, Cabinet
SME Bank Loans
Though opened to all races, these are the following requirements on potential borrowers (as reported on 5 Sept, STAR):-
- must be a degree holder;
- must have at least a 51% bumiputra ownership; or
- provide collateral and have fixed deposits.
By imposing item 2, business owners of other races may have to relinquish 51% of their ownership to the bumiputra race in the end making that business becoming bumiputra-owned. Where are we heading to right now? On the front page, the story seems so nice and accommodative to all races but when it comes to the nitty gritty of the application, the real picture unfolds. Anyone has the right scenario now?
Tags: SME Bank Berhad, Loans, Malaysia, Small & Medium Enterprise
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Petronas & ChevronTexaco chased out of Chad
The Chad government has given a 24 hours ultimatum to both Petronas of Malaysia and ChevronTexaco of USA to move its staff out of the country and close their offices. It's a real blow to both companies. Reason for the immediate clearance as mentioned was due to non-compliance to tax obligation matters. Other sources claimed that the removal was to make way for the entrance of China companies into the picture as reported in BBC News/Africa & CNN News.
In Sudan itself, China companies are making headways too. China's top government officials recent visits to a number of African countries are actually paving ways for China companies' path into the largely untapped markets. Apparently, Chad just resumed its international tie with China 3 weeks ago.
Tags: Chad, Petronas, ChevronTexaco, China, Oil
Scomi's Involvement in Nuclear Instrument Resurfaces
An earlier investigation by the Malaysian police has cleared Scomi (police report released in 2004).
Tags: Scomi, Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd, Japan Times, Nuclear Instrument, Investigation
Pattaya International Fireworks Festival
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