fabrique en malaisie

where's our hero now?

2009-04-03T00:20:00.003+08:00

Tuesday March 31, 2009
Losing battle against cabbies
PUTRAJAYA: The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has admitted that it was out of solutions in its war against rogue taxi drivers.

Board chairman Datuk Markiman Kobiran has likened the situation as a “war with no ending like the war between Israel and the Palestinians” despite continued measures to curb the menace.

“Until today, there is no absolute formula to solve this problem. Do we cancel their permits, step up on enforcement and urge passengers to be more proactive in making complaints? We have done all that. You tell me,” he told a press conference at the CVLB office yesterday.

Despite the increase in the number of errant taxi drivers, Markiman said the board was not giving up because it involved the country’s reputation.

In an undercover operation conducted by the board, only 15 of 627 taxis were found to be following regulations.

“Media reports on ‘samseng’ (rogue) taxis, drivers who refused to pick up passengers and those who overcharged were quite disappointing. Upon investigation, we found them all to be true,” he said.

Sixty JPJ (Road Transport Department) officers boarded 627 taxis in the Klang Valley this month and 612 taxi drivers were found guilty of various offences.
The operation also showed that a taxi driver committed on an average of three offences.

“An enforcement officer boarded a taxi from Pudu to a hotel early one morning. He was overcharged and at the end of the trip, the taxi driver told the officer that he ‘dah agak pegawai’ (could guess he was an officer). But yet, he overcharged the officer,” said Markiman.

During the operation, 432 taxi drivers did not use meters, 192 did not display their driver cards, 144 overcharged their passengers and 103 refused to pick up passengers.

A total of 502 taxi drivers were caught for not having driving licences, not wearing seat belts and driving recklessly.

“Five Pakistanis were found to be driving the taxis. We view this matter seriously as foreign nationals are not allowed to drive taxis. We will be calling the taxi operators to explain,” he said, Markiman said it was important for the passengers to be more pro-active in reporting errant taxi drivers as it would help with enforcement.

Meanwhile, a taxi operator said undisciplined taxi drivers would not only tarnish their company’s name but also cause losses in income. “The CVLB may cancel or suspend the licence of our taxi drivers if they keep committing offences,” she said.

She also said the company would seize the taxi or forfeit the driver’s deposit if it received too many complaints from passengers.

******

The piece of news above was reported in the Star on 31st March 2009. That shows how strong our 'enforcements' are....so sad....being in the hospitality industry, I witness so many incidents where passengers, especially tourists are conned and being 'taken for a ride' by these so called Rogue Drivers....it such a pity as it reflects so BADLY on us all Malaysians....and even sadder, the people who we hope can do something about it has admitted defeat.....

So what shall we do now??? Just give in to all these rogue drivers, just like how we give in to those illegal 'jaga kereta' boys???

Teenage Angst Have Paid-off Well...

2009-03-03T18:50:00.006+08:00

The Melamines on http://www.web-iac.nokia-asia.com/

Late last nite I just couldn't sleep. This is what technology does to you. In the early days, with the invention of the Radio, our fore fathers would stay up late, some even risking their lives to listen to the radio. Then came the idiot tube - the television. A cult, a must-have item in all households- now one can even watch tv programmes on the move, on buses, in cars, and even on their mobile phones.

And then came the INTERNET. This is what kept me up the whole night! No! Not just the social networking sites, but also the free sites and programmes where you are able to download almost EVERYTHING! For FREE! So what kept me up? Downloading of songs...not just any songs - but songs I grew up to....the ones that kononnya was a symbol of our teenage angst during our high school days....It was really a surprise that you can still find such songs on the net! What songs you're asking? Underground songs from the mostly now-defunct local underground bands of the 90's such as Spiral Kinetik Circus, The Pilgrims, Subculture, Dead Mushrooms and even the Carburetor Dung! Playing back all these songs brought back memories of us trying to fit into the cool gang....going for gigs...visiting one of the biggest supporters of our underground scene (she should get a Datuk-ship or something!) Auntie Campbell who selflessly sold all the latest underground both known and unknown bands' demos....the times where CDs were considered a luxury and walkmans and cassettes were the IN thing

This was a time when everyone wanted to form a band....and proudly I and my buddies did....gosh I really missed those days....

Geng - Jom jam, JOM!

Check your Bill before you leave the cashier!!

2009-03-02T23:35:00.004+08:00

This happened to me just this weekend. It was one of those rare opportunities where I got to go on leave for the whole weekend. And being a modern Malaysian, with a bit of extra cash in hand (final distribution of last year end's bonus - Alhamdulillah...) we decided to spend one evening shopping for the monthly groceries. This time, we wanted to try some place new to us, which was a famous hypermarket on the way to Batu Caves....it's so hyper that it even had the word 'extra' added to it's famous name....hint...hint...

So there we were, jostling with the crowd, cris-crossing through a sea of just-got-their-pay families, walking down the endless aisles all full of the "buy me" signs, eyes wide open looking for a good bargain which is just actually a few ringgits cheaper than your normal neighbourhood kedai runcit....actually, we didn't buy much, as our main aim was just to get a fresh supply of baby diapers and baby formula. In the end, we ended up lining yup with just 8 items, among them a Barbie doll toy and an RM2.90 children swimming arm floats (Now that was a bargain!)

So when we finally got to the cashier, we were stalled for a while as the seemingly busy cashier was busy gossiping with her fellow cashier about some cute supervisor who she missed having lunch with. Only when I 'ehem-ed' did she automatically smiled at me and said "you have the (storename) member card?" I handed over the card and she began to 'beep' all my eight items. "RM172.00, please" she said. All was normal till I instinctly started to review the final receipt after she said the automatic "thank you and come again!" I found there was an item 'beeped' in that was not in my list of items but cost RM49.90! I questioned her and she tried to tally up all the items I bought with the receipt but still could not figure what was the item marked as "6ft bla-bla" on the receipt. Then she apologised and ushered me to customer service on the ground floor. So when I went down, the so-called expert took a look at my receipt, and the items that I bought. Guess what - the RM49.90 turned out to be the price of the RM2.90 swimming arm band! Apparently there were 2 bar codes on it, and the 'beeper' accidentally scanned the old bar code! Of course later they refunded me my RM47.00 and said a simple "sorry, ya?"

So guys and gals, the next time you go hypermarketing or any market - just DO double check your receipt.....you'd never know when such simple mistakes may occur! - It almost cost me RM47.00!! So beware!!!

remember to say PLEASE!

2009-02-26T01:30:00.003+08:00

So many things have passed and happened to our beautiful Malaisie....
Nude photo scandal (again?) and a re-opening of an old case by a former Minister who was also involved in a err...sexy scandal....oh my! It's more interesting to read the newspaper nowadays than to watch tv! The Drama!

Oh well...whatever it is....life goes on....just recently I read an interesting book while lepakking in a big bookstore downtown (surprisingly I HAD the time to do such a thing!) It was more of a guide book actually, but written so full of wit and humor. It was a book on etiquette for men. I forgot the exact title - 'Mr Jones guide for men' or sumthing like that....It had a lot of advice such as How to suck up to your boss' , How to be a good boss and also How to go through a business lunch etc....I read it till there and then had to leave as my kids started to get bored of the place and kept whining to go elsewhere....But I truly enjoyed it and will definitely buy when I have an extra RM45 in my wallet to spend...

Etiquette lessons....that is what we ALL need nowadays...how to BEHAVE socially....with proper etiquette awarenes, we can relief our society from a lot of current ills such as:

talking ever so loudly on the mobile phone in public, as if the other person is in China and you are not using a phone to talk to him.
spitting everywhere so freely
whistling or making chirping sounds when calling for a waiter
cutting queues, be it on the roads or even to pay at a mamak stall
walking into a lift or LRT before the passengers get out first
and the line goes on and on..............

obviously people will say - this all depends on upbringing....I disagree, as naturally, humans like to immitate....especially among their peers.....so if the huge number of people in one society does the same thing or acts the same way, it is regarded as cool and unconciously it becomes a habit.....so if etiquette knowledge is added in, imagine how a calm and polite society we'll have?

well, that's just my humble, tiny little opinion.....now waiting for payday so I could go buy the book.....

Happy 2009!!??

2009-01-01T03:56:00.003+08:00

The beauty of the Petronas Twin Towers on the eve of 2009...sememangnya satu mercu tanda yang indah, yang di pandang tinggi oleh seluruh dunia....bangga bila melihat pelawat2 asing or tourists from all over the world mendongak tinggi untuk melihat keindahannya...seolah-olah tidak lagi memandang rendah kita, bangsa Malaysia....

Tapi sayangnya..masih ada yang menjadikan rosak susu sebelanga....just after the countdown for 2009, I saw with my own eyes a young tourist with his face all full of blood....a local citizen beat him up, just to get his handphone....then, another middle eastern tourist had his head stitched up with 9 stitches...yes - a local citizen beat him too....happy new year? takkan happy sakan sampai pukul orang kot????

anyways....

Happy New Year 20o9!!!

Kagum / Impressed

2008-12-31T03:17:00.003+08:00

Kagum...Impressed....

the exact words that came to mind when the house door bell rung around lunch time earlier today..sapa kat pintu? Dari segi uniform merahnya, macam McD punya delivery boy, tapi takde la pulak sesapa dlm household yang ada place an order...Rupa-rupanya, delivery dari MyEG.com...

Yes..recently...to be exact, pada tanggal 28 Dec (Ahad) kita telah me-renew drivers licence online via portal MyEg.com linked through JPJ punya website...paid through credit card and requested for it to be sent to house address...dalam website tu dia mention, delivery dalam masa 5 hari bekerja....so aku click laa ok...dalam hati calculate, Ahad, pas tu, ada Awal Muharram, new Year...kira-kira more than 5 hari la kot, baru dapat slip renewal driver's licence tu.....TAPI! today, 30 Dec, dua hari lepas aku click 'SEND'...dah sampai!!! WAAAAH!!! Cayalaaaa!!! My faith towards the government services have been restored!!

SYABAS!!! Memang 'hassle free' and mudah....keep it up!!!

a tribute to melamines....

2008-12-08T22:29:00.003+08:00

Sejak dua menjak ni, kita sekeluarga sibuk pindah rumah....yup...Alhamdulillah, the apartment that we bought around 2 years ago dah siap, and now slowly kita dalam proses pindah rumah....tapi belum official....pindah sikit-sikit...nanti bila dah betul confident, baru lah duduk permanently...

Dalam proses packing and unpacking ni, tetiba, terjumpa la pulak satu kotak penuh ngan cassette lagu-lagu...semua hasil kumpul masa zaman skolah dulu....time tu, mana laa ada download2 lagu from internet...mp3 lagi laa belum pernah wujud lagi....so, kalau nak layan lagu, kenalaa beli cassette. CD bukannya takde time tu, tapi masa tu tak mampu!!!

Tengah seronok belek cassette album2 band-band macam soundgarden, smashing pumpkins (melloncollie - 2 cassette in a set!), Nirvana nevermind, foo fighters...tiba2 terjumpa la pulak beberapa cassette TDK and Sony....terus slot into the player and layan.....guess what I found? my old cassette recordings time jamming masa zaman after form 5 dulu!!!! PERHHH!!!

I sat down in the hall, lying on my front, facing the hi-fi speakers, and was brought back to the good ol' jamming days, with my buddies Arman, Is, Lan, occasionally Ja'a, my bro Mickey...and all those gang who used to follow us ke mana saja kitorang jam.....sambil dengar all the 'beautiful noises' we were making, teringat zaman kitorag naik turun tangga studio. Almost every week, tak kira kat Ampanglaaa, Melawati laaa, Setapak laaa...even right up to Shah Alam!!! memang macam addicted time tu....and macam dah jadi lumrah, kalau jam aje, mesti bawak walkman and at least 2 cassette kosong for recording....

dengar balik cassette2 tu, terasa bangga la pulak....walaupun taklaa orang kata perfect soundnya, tapi taklaa lari beat and at times, kira boleh dikatakan best la jugak...walaupun most of it lagu2 cover b bands like Nirvana, butterfingers, weezer, etc, tapi yg bangganya, ada jugak lagu-lagu yg kitorang wrote sendiri....

bila dengar balik, macam tak caya lak lagu tu kitorang punya....heheheh...masa tu punya la bangga sampai siap buat demo bagai..under our band name: the melamines

well...now sejak memasing dah kahwin, beranak pinak, ber kareer, dah sangat JARANG kitorang jam....sayang rasanya....but that's the way life is....unfortunately...

lately nama melamines di sebut2 di seluruh dunia - tapi malangnya, bukan band kitorang, but isu susu dan makan yang di cemari oleh substance with the same name....but still, whenever I read or hear that word mentioned, my memory always wanders back to all those late night 2 hour jam sessions, making beautiful music with my buddies, the melamines.....long live the melamines!!! you guys rock!!!

Situasi GILA

2008-11-30T00:35:00.003+08:00

Uih....last week we were shocked by the news of the terror in Mumbai...lebih-lebih lagi bila dengar yang terlibat adalah antara hotel yang agak ternama jugak laa dalam industri perhotelan ni....gila siot diorang ni....kalau betul marah ngan kerajaan...pi la attack kerajaan depa terus....why go attack civilians? In the end, apa pun tak dapat....

Suspen jugak bila dengar isu-isu cam ni....no matter how many trainings you go through to face such crisis (yes, my hotel has all this trainings on how to handle fire, death, bomb threats, terrorism etc) tapi bila fikir balik, kalau betul-betul jadi kat kita, whatever trainings we had sure tak terpakai nye....maybe as guidelines, but mostly will have to use common sense and berserah pada takdir....skang ni ramai orang gila kat dunia ni.....bukan gila sewel....tapi gila kuasa, gila sebab fahaman masing2 dan sebagainya....

moga2 malaisie tercinta ni kekal laa keamanannya.....harap2 tak laaa jadi situasi gila macam kat negara2 lain tuh...amin.....

Eco-NO-money

2008-11-18T04:36:00.003+08:00

The big news that has been on everyone's lips lately is about the current or expected Economy crisis and depression. Tetiba aje, every tom, dick and harry in and around town dah jadi 'Pakar Ekonomi', 'Menteri Kewangan' and even a 'Financial Controller'.....words like 'Credit Crunch', 'US Dollars' 'Harga Barang Naik' terngiang-ngiang di sana sini.....sekarang ni most companies dah mula putting in strategies for cost reductions, budgetting, and even freezing employments....semua utk mempersiapkan diri dan keluarga mereka bagi mengharungi krisis ekonomi yg dijangka akan melanda sekitar 1st quarter next year....

For me, I have lived through one recession so far, but that was in 1997, at a time where I had no care about all this economic issues, as then I had a constant income through 'FAMA' sponsorships (FAther- MAma) and was busy studying...kononnya,laaa

But now I am very much intrigued with the whole issue, as I have been earning plus nak kena suap makan anak bini, bayar rumah, petrol...etc....

It doesn't help also when just recently ada news keluar pasal almost 11,000 workers in Macau may be retrenched due the close down of many Casinos and hotels over there....being a hotelier myself, this is a SCARY thing to hear....as sebelum ni, Macau was like having a MAJOR boom where hotels business was mushrooming and most jobs offered in Macau came with quite attractive packages etc...and ramai memember from various hotels in KL yg dah merantau cari makan di sana.....hopefully they are ok....

Anyway, I was very happy to hear harga minyak dah turun and also ura-ura harga barang2 kat hypermarket nak diturunkan....hopefully all will be well on our side, in lovely Malaisie....

2008-11-13T12:47:00.002+08:00

Topic hangat masakini...

Roti canai went down 10 cents....and petrol also went down 15 cents...Yeay!
Malaysia football team won against Vietnam....wow....
Our Astronaut accused of raking in profits through his talks.....sigh...
AirAsia not charging for fuel surcharge....double YEAY!!!

Time Management and Excuses...

2008-11-02T02:48:00.004+08:00

Just the other day I overheard a big sized mat salleh who was on the phone walking pass me telling the person on the other line, "Mate, I'm just 2 seconds away from you mate. Just need to drop by the supermarket to get some...bla...bla..." Two SECONDS? biar benar!!! What an excuse!!! kalau iye pun dah lambat, takkan bagi reason 2 seconds kot? Orang pakai la excuse 'Malaysian-style' macam:

On the way - Universal excuse kalau dah lambat.....sebenarnya, most of the time, baru bangun atau baru nak keluar rumah....
Tengah cari parking/ just at the traffic light or roundabout (assumed nearest to destination) - standard for those late for work...
5 minutes more - Ini kira samalaaa macam kes 'two seconds' kat atas....tapi kononnya sounds more reasonable....but always wonder why it's 5 minutes, not 10 ke, 15 ke.....
Kejaaaap lagi/Almost done - Yang ni biasanya diulang beberapa kali dalam tempoh masa menunggu tu untuk melengah-lengahkan si penunggu setia (yg dah mula mundar-mandir macam laki tunggu bini bersalin)
Dah tengah buat/masak dah/tengah masak - ini usually by mamak, gerai or restoran biasa2 during times kalau mamat/minah yg ambil order terlupa nak fire the order, and the pelanggan punya muka dah hampir sama macam corak meja formica restoran tu itself....
Kereta rosak/tayar pancit/eksos jatuh/traffic jam/takde bas atau teksi - another standard for latecomers to work...
Lambat bangun/alarm tak bunyi/lupa nak set alarm - This is a standard for the career kamikazes....selambaaa aje...
Lost my way/sesat jalan/tak jumpa jalan (!) /takde parking - usually used when late for attending a function i.e wedding, open house, official events (and the latecomer is THE VIP) etc...
Hujan - A standard excuse for almost all the above
Couldn't find my car keys - Also quite common....

Public Etiquette

2008-11-02T02:03:00.005+08:00

There was a piece of news I chanced upon recently in Yahoo, reported through BERNAMA where the headline read: BEIJING CITIZENS SPIT LESS, QUEUE MORE THANKS TO OLYMPICS

It was said that as reported by the China Daily, a Renmin University poll of 13200 people including 1200 foreigners living in Beijing, showed that the politeness index (there is such a thing???!) has risen 10 points to 82.68 on a scale of 0 to 100. Apparently, it was found that lesser people spat "wherever and whenever" compared to last year and the percentage of queue jumpers also dropped!! This was all due to the great efforts by the city that had distributed 2.8milliom papmhlets on etiquette and polite behavior to prepare its citizen to welcome the world for the games.

taken from: http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/bnm/20081031/tts-beijing-manners-993ba14.html

Wonder how something like this could be applied here in Malaysia....to lessen our on road queue jumpers, rude taxi drivers, litter bugs, 'loud speakers' while on the handphone in public, vandals, mat rempits, poor timekeepers and others....

Titles of honour.....

2008-10-20T22:49:00.005+08:00

Topic pasal kita punya Wira 'Silver Medal' Badminton dapat 'Datuk' belum lagi habis diperbahaskan di kedai-kedai kopi dan kopitiam2 seantero negara, sekarang timbul pulak isu hero Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan bakal dapat pangkat Datuk dari Kerajaan Melaka....hmm...it's definitely not my business or any layman's business to debate who gets what honours from a state or federal rulers, but lately it seems like the 'Datuk' title is so easily given away.....takde ke dah pingat-pingat lain nak diberi? mesti ke bagi sampai peringkat 'Datuk'?

In my humble opinion, yes, the Olympic is a big sporting event and all.....but Datukship for a silver medal? And if the reason for Mr Shah Rukh to get a Datuk because he has been so called promoting the state through his film....was it solely his decision for the shoot location? Kalau macam tu, Jackie Chan pun should get 'Datuk' for his film 'Police Story 3' where he promoted Kuala Lumpur by risking his life doing stunts all over the city....and perhaps we should also see a Datuk Sean Connery and Datuk Catherine Zeta-Jones for promoting both Kuala Lumpur and Melaka in their 1999 movie 'The Entrapment'.

Just imagining one day if a Malaysian football team actually makes it to the World Cup Final, would there be 11 Datuks on the field?

Intro

2008-10-18T00:26:00.001+08:00

Testing-testing....

assalamu'alaikum and salam sejahtera kepada sesapa yang happened to visit this new blogpage....

This is not the first time i've ever blogged....been blogging for years now....dah lama daaah....but my other blogs were mainly about myself, and the other was about my career....since both areas tu macam tengah tak happening sangat, so I decided to create this blog entitled 'fabrique en malaisie' which actually means 'made in malaysia'....NO! Bukan niat utk mengikut jejal RPK or other controversial bloggers....but merely to express and share my observations, hope, grouses, comment dan sebagainya....kadang tu, bila terjadi sesuatu, kita macam cakap sorang-sorang, or cakap dalam hati....so- I thought of blogging about it..

to the blog police out there, if any - please note yang niat di hati bukannya politikal atau nak mengutuk sesapa....cuma nak meluahkan hati dan perasaan....kalau tersinggung, harap di ampun....

So to all readers (if any) enjoy and read with an open mind......

salamz...

boo-tofu