Tun M says quit your job ?!

  Yesterday, Tun Mahathir said Malaysians "will not die if they do not use the US goods. I hope Starbucks and McDonald's employees will stop working there”. He told this to a crowd holding a protest against US for supporting Israel in fighting Palestine. He also said “they will become a bankrupt country and will not be able to produce weapons for Israel”.

  I’m not going to discuss the USA-Palestine-Israel issue. However, although I have much respect for Tun Mahathir, I disagree with his statement. C’mon la Tun, telling people to quit their jobs ?…in times of a global economic crisis ?? That’s not practical la Tun.

  People should be lucky to have jobs now. Besides, it’s already estimated that the economic crisis is only going to get worse & Malaysia will really feel the pinch this year. On December 22 2008, the government announced that 30,000 people had already lost their jobs…& Tun is still asking them to quit ??

  In times of an economic crisis, people need whatever job they have to support themselves & their family. I doubt anybody is going to quit their job in these times just because of a cruel battle going on thousands of miles away. Our well-being comes first. Besides Tun, just because they quit their jobs, USA will definitely not turn bankrupt.

  C’mon la Tun, you should know better. Their filthy rich!! . From September 11 2001 to December 2007, USA had spent USD 1 trillion on the war on terror (bad spending, I know)…and now Obama is planning a USD 850 billion stimulus package plan. That’s a lot of money. A small country like Malaysia boycotting USA will hardly even pinch them.

Imagine if USA boycott us....we're dead !!

Don't "Proton-ize" Local Movies

Recently, the Malaysian Film Producers Association (MFPA) gave a proposition…one that I find to be very stupid. They suggested that the ticket prices at cinemas to watch Hollywood films be raised to RM20 & local films maintain the current price which is at RM9-RM12 (current ticket prices for all movies).

This was suggested because local films don’t get many viewers in cinemas. Hence, they don’t make much money at all…unlike Hollywood movies. So their hoping this “genius” idea of theirs will encourage more people to watch local movies.

This is like increasing the government tax of McDonalds…hence increasing their food prices, to increase the number of people to buy Ramly Burger. Or a better example, increasing & adding silly taxes on foreign cars to make them more expensive, hence giving consumers no choice but to buy Proton !!

When are these guys going to learn…if you want to increase the sales of your product, increase the quality…not wipe out your competitors !! Besides, don’t they know how common it is nowadays for people to download movies from the internet or people buying pirated films ??

Here are reasons why local films will probably never do as well here as Hollywood films :-

1. The budget of local films is way lower than Hollywood films.

2. Hollywood actors & actresses are known worldwide. How many people haven’t heard of Will Smith or Angelina Jolie ? How many foreigners have heard of Saiful Apek ?

3. Malaysians don’t live under a rock. We’re all familiar with the Western culture.

4. English is the world’s most common language.

5. Special effects of Hollywood films beat the crap out of local films.

6. Storylines of Hollywood films are way better…and here we have Cicak Man (not that bad a movie) who is similar to Spiderman…where is the originality ?

7. Hollywood films are shot in many locations worldwide…unlike local films. I can see more places of the world watching Quantum of Solace than Cicak Man…or any other local film for the matter.

8. Local films & actors/actresses just don’t have the storyline, quality, acting skills, substance & effects like Hollywood films & actors/actresses.

9. Local film makers can’t afford to advertise & market their films like Hollywood films. It’s always a foreign film on a local billboard.

10. Cinemas make way more money from screening Hollywood films than local films.

11. Malaysia is diversified with different cultures & languages….& 99% of local films are Malay films. Hence, a smaller market…& not many Malays themselves watch local films.

To improve the local film industry, I suggest :-

1. Local film producers must drastically improve their storylines & special effects.

2. Local film makers should get a bigger budget from whomever.

3. Make more local Chinese & Indian movies…increase the target audience.

In conclusion, the MFPA should improve their films instead of wiping out their competitors. Don’t “Proton-ise” the local film industry too. Even if the prices are increased, it makes no difference as many folks can just download the movie or just buy the pirated DVD for RM 8-RM10…that’s cheaper than going to the theater.

The Buried Idea of the Brickendonbury Sports Complex

  I know that this is old news , but I'd like to talk about our government's proposed and rejected idea of building a sports complex called the High-Performance Training Centre (HPTC) at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury,London . This was proposed by the government early last year ...and all I have to say is...what a dumbass idea it was .

  The government was willing to spend RM 68 million on this project . Let me remind you again that this is the public's money . It was planned that this sports centre would have a football field , swimming pool , cricket pitch , canteen and all that stuff . Why on earth do we need that ? The government has already spent many millions of ringgit on the Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex , Bukit Jalil Sports School , PKNS Sports Centre and other places which already has the exact same facilities as the centre proposed to be built in London .

  As you know , the standards of Malaysian sports has dropped drastically over the years . This is simply because of the selection and mindset of our sports players . It is without a doubt that Malaysia has excellent sports centres for the players to train . What makes the government think that the players can improve if their sent to London ? Even with all our superb facilites , Malaysia still lost last year in football 2-0 to Iran and 5-0 to Uzbekhistan .That's just embarrassing . These countries are having a political turmoil , are at war , barely have any sports centres or fields to play on , mostly consist of desserts...yet they can beat us flat .

  Just shows how spirited and determined their players are unlike us . Every year in Malaysian football there will surely be a player arrested for possessing drugs , fighting and so on . What our players need is discipline and less pampering . Only then will they be able to paly their game better . We have all the facilities right here already . It's just the players that need to change themselves .

Billions of Ringgit...Gone to Waste

I don't know if you realise it , but our government has wasted many billions of ringgit over the years on unnecessary projects which have not really gained much profit in any way since their construction . Lets not forget that the billions of ringgit is the money of tax payers ( your money ) .

For example , last year we sent the first Malaysian into outer space . Just into outer space . Not even to the moon which was done by Neil Armstrong in 1966 . Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was sent into outer space to just 'lepak' (hang around) there for ten days . This "feat" was not even done with our own technology . We had to pay the Russians to send him to space . Moreover , many countries before us has achieved this such as America , Russia , China , France , Germany , India , Afghanistan , Japan , Israel & the list goes on and on . You can see the full list on http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/nation_names.htm . Malaysia is just another country added to that long list . Our prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that this feat would put Malaysia on the world map..but he forgot that Malaysia was already famous thanks to our former prime minister Tun Mahathir . After the "great feat" , what have we gained ?...just some headlines in the local newspapers & small articles in the foreign newspapers under the world news section . Has Malaysia done any other further space research development of any kind after the "feat" ?...No...There goes RM95 million of our hard earned money . The bad news..we lost big bucks..The good news..Russia earned big bucks & Dr Muszaphar got a free trip to space .

Another precious project of ours is the Petronas Twin Towers . It was the world's tallest building from 1998-2004..a mere 6 years . This record was beaten by the Taipei 101 which is in Taiwan . The Taipei 101 also lost that record and that record was held by a few other buildings over the years...& today our twin towers is the 6th tallest building in the world . Now the Petronas Twins Towers is just another 'lepak' spot & a shopping mall specifically for the filthy rich & has a few offices of not-so-famous companies . Yet hardly anybody shops there as the prices are sky-high & most people do their shopping in supermarkets like Carrefour , Jusco & Tesco . Even for the expensive stuff , most people buy them in places like Megamall , One Utama , Sunway Pyramid & Berjaya Times Square . Hardly any tourists go there either . I don't think many of them would want to see the 6th tallest building in the world...do you ?..Well , it's only RM 1.8 billion down the drain .

Then there is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) . It might be very high tech & a very nice building to look at from the outside...but inside , it's half empty . This airport was built to replace the Subang Airport . There was nothing wrong with the Subang Airport in the first place . It was only a bit smaller...but it was way more convenient for the public to access as it was way nearer then the KLIA..The KLIA is ironically not even in KL , it's in Sepang which is under the state of Selangor . Today KLIA is the main international airport of Malaysia while a small part of the Subang airport is handling a few local flights , the rest of the building has been left to rot . Was a airport so huge , so high tech & so far away from KL necessary while the Subang airport was doing so well ? I guess we can kiss the RM 8.8 billion spent on constructing it goodbye .

Many billions of Ringgit were also wasted on Putrajaya and Cyberjaya . Putrajaya is just a big piece of land where all the government administrative buildings were transfered to from KL . Whereas Cyberjaya is the "silicon valley" of Malaysia . These two places are actually ghost cities . There are hardly any people there . So much of land has been wasted due to the buildings built so far apart from each other as if one is if one is in a dessert . One of the reasons these two places ended up as failed projects was because they lack schools or colleges to pursue their education . The prices of houses there are also very high..but the main reason is because these places do not have access to public transport..which means its impossible to take public transport like trains or buses to travel to and from KL . Therefore hardly anybody goes to Putajaya or Cyberjaya except the ministers . With all the tolls and high fuel prices..who would want to go there anyway ? There goes RM 60 billion .

Another waste is Proton and the almost built High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury, Britain..but I'll write about that in a separate article . All this money flushed down the toilet could have been used for so many other better purposes..such as improving public transport and healthcare facilities , upgrading and renovating highly populated places like Chow Kit , Petaling Street and Brickfields , helping the poor , provide better facilities for the disabled , reduce crime crates , used the money to give out more scholarships to deserving students and even t0 subsidise the price of fuel..maybe then Malaysians would have been able to enjoy cheaper fuel prices for a little while longer .

I hope the government will not waste the money of the people on useless projects anymore and realise that it's unnecessary to create the biggest , tallest or most expensive projects in the world unless they are really beneficial and needed by the public . No doubt that these projects has made Malaysia famous , but they didn't have to be built on such a extravagant scale . To bad these projects were not planned out properly . Or else Malaysia could have saved quite a bit of money .