Proton and Government Contract

Tun Mahathir said today in the newspaper, Proton might as well “close shop” if there’s so much criticism on its competitiveness level. Several days ago, the local car manufacturer was among the bottom dwellers compared to other car manufacturer. For me the comment was made in a sulking mode. You know the usual old man kind of answer. Like the answer given by our fathers when you didn’t do something for him or whenever we say no to him. That is the approach taken by Tun Mahathir now.

But I’d like to comment on the statement itself. I mean, if a critic comes and say you are not up to the level you’re supposed to be, then you should work towards enhancing your product quality etc. etc. Not sulk and say never mind we close shop. Is that the “advise” given from the adviser of Proton? If that is the case, you don’t need him as the adviser, you can appoint me (a 30 year old lawyer) as the adviser. I mean other measures can be taken to answer to criticism and prove to the critic that they are wrong. Proton can in one way find solution to make their car a better product as compared to imported cars or at least be competitive with Perodua (a much younger company compared to Proton).

Proton says in their reply to the criticism that they are responsible towards the development of local vendors. Ironically, Proton seems to accept all kind of part. Didn’t they have certain measures to ensure that the local vendors comply with Proton’s specifications? Proton should take the stand and say that those who are not able to comply to the specification and requirement set by Proton, then these local vendors should have been given the axe. Not Proton itself “close shop”.

I think this is where Datuk Sharir was coming from. Then to better enhance the productivity, Proton can look into joint ventures with other car manufacturers like what has been done by Perodua. I mean real joint ventures and not the situation where Proton buys old technology from other car manufacturers. This way Proton can send their “engineers” to take part in the design, development and the making of the car. Hopefully, after certain time, Proton is able to stand on its own in the real sense and produce quality cars and may be other products like engines for other car companies. That is the vision I think. Not sulk when people bombarded you with criticism.

I think the issue of Proton is much politicized. I know it is the brainchild of Tun Mahathir but if you keep defending Proton all the time and save them every time they are in trouble. Then I can assure everybody that Proton will need to undergo a massive company restructuring exercise due to too much intervention.

Then the second reporting in the newspaper which caught my attention today was the issue on the contract between the Government and a developer for the proposed police quarters in Kedah. The project was somehow or rather delayed and I don’t know what happed, the Government cannot take action against the developer. The Member of Parliament for Yan, Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin alleged that there are loopholes in the contract where the Government interest was not protected in the agreement. How can these happen? I thought all those in the Attorney General Chamber are smart people or they are just as “sheepish” as the Government MP’s in the Parliament. Yes Sir I have no other question. For you who like to play command and conquer, that is the best example of the structure of the Malaysian Government now. Yes Master, as you wish. Why I say sheepish? Because none of the Government legal adviser from the AG to the state legal adviser saw the loophole. Come on, I am a young lawyer and I can see a “glitch” in an agreement what more a legal adviser and the AG.

But nobody realised that it’ll cost the Government quite a chuck of money which can be given to those who eat snails. That is my money. Tax payers’ money. LHDN come after those who didn’t pay taxes but if we pay, the Government make an ass out of themselves. Remember another contract issue with Spanco? The Government is supposed to pay several million to terminate the contract. Another glitch from the AG Chamber and the Legal Adviser. Didn’t see the exit clause saying if the government terminates the agreement before the expiry then the Government have to pay several millions as liquidated damages. It makes you wonder, whether those in the AG Chamber and the Legal Advisory Department were doing their job or they are just plain “incapacitated” (I’m just being polite here).

(Important Message to the AG and State Legal Advisers: “If you are not capable of doing your job, then give up the post and let other people fill the post otherwise let me do the job. Don’t make this kind of idiotic mistake. It is a waste of the taxpayers’ money)

So with one issue or another, we ask ourselves one question and one question only. “Is this real?” I mean we let these people run our country? For the contract issue the police undertakes to investigate thoroughly and take the mastermind to face justice. But why bother because you know those so called mastermind is only the scapegoat. If we want to see justice in the real sense, then bring the “big fish” in then we see from there what kind of society we are living in today.

I did a test and...

the result shows that...

You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor)

You're logical, driven, and ruthless.You'd make a mighty fine lawyer.

Moderation is the target

Today is the second day of fasting (in Malaysia). Mine goes well so far. No boobs to look at yet (hope don’t have to look at any unnecessary boobs for the rest of the month) and no empty talk for the time being. Yesterday’s menu for berbuka was “ayam masak kicap”, fried fatt choy, telur dadar and of course (original recipe) acar limau. Nothing from the pasar ramadhan and nothing lavish. No murtabak on the table (may be I get some today) or some fancy kuih. Just a simple berbuka meal but we do have fruit cocktail pudding in the refrigerator and not forgetting some tapai (fermented rice) from Sg Petani. I had dinner with my wife and of course my two-year-old daughter who will not stop at eating only. You should see the war zone (I wonder how my mother cope with all of us. All four (4) boys).

Right after dinner, I had shower and I started thinking of some other things. So, I took my wife to the mall (yeah we are there everyday) again to get some dates and some other stuff. Once we were at the mall, I tried to put my daughter in the trolley to prevent her from running here and there. However she protested to the act and threw herself on the floor and started screaming as if I wallop her ass or something. Nothing like that of course and she kept quiet after a while.

We went to get the dates at one of the “gerai” and later we went to the hypermarket to get some eggs. That was the original plan. Only eggs. But it turn out that I filled my trolley with some apples, lemon and ice cream. There goes my plan to be moderate in Ramadhan. I thought that was it. Then I walked in front another shop and guess what, I got us two bars of chocolate. So, I had ice cream, chocolate and tapai after tarawikh. So much for being moderate…

Are we allowed to say anything at all?

Some say the fundamental human liberties originated from the Magna Carta 1215 and to some other the fundamental human liberties have been around us even before the year 1215. We are able to see this from the Charter of Madinah which was enacted during Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. time in the City of Madinah (let save the debate and continue with what I wanted to say here). To me the latter comes first and as a Believer of Islam, I hold the view that fundamental human liberties were revealed in the Holy Quran more than 1426 years ago.

One of the fundamental rights is the freedom of speech. Thus according to the right given to us we are allowed to voice out our concern to any matters. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia states, “…every citizen have the freedom to right of speech and expression…”

Thus the notion shall allow a person to voice out his ideas etc. etc. but when I read the news paper yesterday and today, I found out that two Member of Parliament from the Coalition Front (“Barisan Nasional” or “BN”) will face some kind of disciplinary action because the allegedly stood up and support the Opposition Leader when he proposed a motion to refer a cabinet minister to the privilege committee of the parliament.

I recalled the words said by the former Prime Minister in the one of the general election some years back. He says, “… we don’t need opposition in the parliament because our MP’s are able to “grill” the cabinets and ask questions…”

From the news reported and event which had happened, I believe that this is not the situation where the BN MP’s are allowed to question certain things done by the govenrment. Comparatively, we often see in the mass media that the cabinet members in the British Parliament have been “grilled” even by the member of their own party and the Prime Minister is not spared or excluded from being questioned. I like to see that happen in our parliament because each member of parliament are responsible to bring out the “problems” which normal citizen like me are facing or need to know and the cabinet shall answer the questions and be transparent in all matters especially matter which involved tax payers money and matters which would directly affect the citizen.

The last time that happens, one deputy minister was suspended from his post. Is this what democracy is all about? The MPs from BN have to say yes all the time and the executive awaits for people to say yes to all matters. I know the MPs which will be whipped are from the backbenchers and they have been supporting the government and its policies all the time but once in a while the government has to learn how to take criticism. We can’t say yes all the time to the executive. The MPs are supposed to represent the people not the executive. So, if they deviate once in a while, it basically mean that the executive needs to look into their own self once in a while and see whether the policies recommended are right, beneficial and protect the citizen interest.

So, I’d say that the act of punishing these MPs (if any or if there is some kind of punishment) if they deviate from the government point of view is not first of all democratic and it is a perversion of the fundamental right enshrined in the Federal Constitution. This need to stop because the act of questioning the cabinet will provide in a way or another “check and balance” mechanism in the branches of the government which comprises of the parliament, the executive (cabinets) and the courts. If the member of parliament are not allowed to voice out their opinion, therefore the mechanism of “check and balance” will be inoperative and subsequently make our executives no better than those in the 3rd world countries or some communist or socialist country. So, where is freedom? No wonder William Wallace and clan showed their “arse” to the King’s army.

What a service...

I told my boss today that I’m taking half day but at the time of this post I’m still at the office doing some stuff apart from typing down this post. There goes my plan to take couple of swings and practice on my irons. But I’d rather stay instead of going and let me tell you my day yesterday.

I reached the office at around 9.30 a.m. switch on my laptop and found that several things to be done. So I started typing away and in the middle of it, I realised the thing I was supposed to do will turn into something weird. So, I stopped and waited for my boss to come so that we can discus the matter and the way to proceed. Then I tried posting another post on Bloggers.

After completing the whole post yesterday, I tried posting it on Bloggers but a bit of magic happened and the whole post vanished and I can’t remember what I typed so nothing was posted yesterday. Later my boss came in and we did discuss on the matter and guess what. I was right. The deal I was trying to do will come out weird. So I pushed the deal back to the drawing paper and the client is supposed to discus with his counterpart and see what is the best solution to be taken. I was left with minimal work again and tried to write another post. But since then, my head was blocked already and I ended up doing research of things which are not related to me.

Later in the evening, I took my wife to the mall and for dinner I suggested pizza. We went to the pizza place. Somebody greeted us at the door and we “helped” ourselves to the table. One of the employees was concern enough to bring us a baby chair (don’t know whether they are concern about my daughter or they are concern about the chairs at the place). For a while, no menus were given to us or at least somebody should have come to us saying that they don’t have enough staff and at least apologized to us for the delay. I started counting and nobody came. Surprisingly nobody was alert enough to see us at the table with nothing on it. No orders were taken etc. etc. I mean what does it takes to get attention here for us to place our order. Are they waiting for my daughter to drop on the floor and start screaming? Believe me I am able to induce that.

Somehow or rather I noticed that the employees are busy shoving bills and receiving payment from other customers. I’d like to ask one question here. Was that correct? As far I can remember, during my “hospitality class” I was taught that if you are involved in the service industry especially serving food to people, the first principal is never lose any customer. So, those who have finished can wait to pay their bills but the employees should have come to us first instead of going to collect money. I mean the customers who have finished their dinner can wait while you serve those who just came in. Those who just came in should have been given priority. Didn’t they learn that in the training center?

After a while, we (me and my wife) decided that it is not worth it to waste our time in that pizza place and we left. We went to a nice cozy place. We had dinner there. But what I’m stressing here is how we were treated at the pizza place. Well, the least the employees there can offer us is the menu and tell us to wait for a while due to this and that. But that was not the case. I wonder if that’s what happened in the Board meeting for the company running the pizza place as well…

So. Let me tell you, I know that there are other people who will go to that place to chomp but I would rather die not eating pizza than to crawl back to the place and ask them to serve me.