STUPID DRIVERS WHO THINK THEY ARE SMART DUMBASS ON OUR ROADS

Maybe I because I seldom watch News broadcasted over TV. I don’t read the mainstream newspapers except those online and alternative medias. Is there Ops Sikap this festive season? Every year when there is Ops Sikap, many people like to keep track on the statistics piously just like keeping tab on the medal tally in major sporting events. Whether it will be a new record or the ‘performance’ drops. Like it or not we have to swallow those stats.

I bring out this issue because I want to voice out my disappointment plus anger plus stress driving in Malaysia. Reason: STUPID DRIVERS WHO THINK THEY ARE SMART ASS ON THE ROAD.

Who are those STUPID DRIVERS WHO THINK THEY ARE SMART ASS behaving like wild boars driving on our roads? Wild boars don’t have any rule and when they come out on the road, they don’t have any rules to observe. This is my observation.

Q BEATERS : Once I saw this car sticker sometimes ago; OVERTAKERS WILL BE TAKEN CARE BY UNDERTAKERS. These Q beaters are people who create unnecessary jams. They are just selfish dumbass who think only of themselves. They usually bypass the law, taking wrong lanes just beat the Q and sometimes create unnecessary problem for other road users.

ROAD HOGGERS: If you want to makan angin, the road and highways is not the place for you. It is already a rule of thumb that fast lanes are for those people who drives like F1 drivers. People who are rushing to find the nearest toilet to pee. People who think that his car is powered by the latest Pratt & Whitney jet engines. If you want to hog, talk over the phone Be considerate and take the hogging left lanes la u.

BUSY DRIVERS : Those busy drivers who have to rely on their mobilephone to make calls or send SMS while driving. You watch this.

or this

REMPITEERS : These are not those Mat Rempits who race out their heart in the middle of the night and think that they are invincible and will not die racing. These are two wheelers who speeds and weaving in and out  between lines of crawling cars stuck in jams.

BATTERY SAVERS : These are drivers who saves their battery by not giving signals when turning. How many times do we experience, stopping and wait for the oncoming car to clear at junctions and suddenly the driver turns into the junction without giving any signals. Don’t you think this is just plain stupid of the driver. He definitely sees you stops to give him/her way and suddenly just ‘make donno’ and turn. These people think by not giving signals can save their battery life for another decade.

1 2 PANGSAI DRIVERS : They will use the emergency lane on highways when other obedient drivers crawling in the heavy traffic. It is breaking the traffic law in broad daylight and the authority is not there to book them.

HORN TESTER :  They are fond of honking drivers in front of them, usually at traffic lights when the the right or left arrow is still red and there is no Give Way signage.

LANE IGNORANT DRIVERS : How many times you face drivers who stop on the wrong lane, usually on left or right (usually left) at traffic light, when it is green and the straight ahead light is red, just to be in front. They think the traffic light belongs to their grandfather.  

THE GRANDFATHER OWN THE ROAD DRIVERS:  All the above.

You can add in the comments if you think there are other type of drivers on our road that can be labelled.

DRIVE SAFELY. OTHER USER PAY ROAD TAX AND INSURANCE TOO.

No plastic rule may cost jobs

Read this report on TheStar online today that 1,580 people may eventually lose their job due to Penang's Government intended ruling of no plastic bag ruling from 1st January 2011. We all know that finding job these days is not easy but lets look into a broader dimension of the ruling. All over the world are calling for Save Nature and at one time or another something has to be done to answer that call. Chloroflourocarbon (CFC) has been one of the cause of the depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere and steps are taken to reduce the rate of depletion and one of them is reducing CFC usage and maybe production too. Do you think reducing this will affect people who work in factory that produces such chemicals?

Plastics will take years to disintegrate and might not disintegrate at all. The more plastic we use and throw away will be additional years of disintegration of plastics which will add more problem to nature. Maybe we have been very comfortable of plastic bags for its light, easy and practical usage and we don't seem want to part away with it. But looking into the consequences and after effect of usage we must get out of this comfort zone at one time or another. The faster the better to conserve nature and our future generations. Campaign of proper disposal will not work because most of these campaign falls into deaf ears.

The action taken by two state government Selangor and Penang should be praised for they are looking towards the future and not present. We can't do anything now regarding damages caused by the use of non degradable materials but we can do something to reduce the impact and steps has to be taken now. It might be a harsh ruling but we have to accept it for the future of nature and our generations.

The concern of Malaysian Plastic Manufacturers Association (Northern Branch) do have some basis on loss of employment but the time frame given by the Penang Government gives ample time for these 1,580 people to look for another job. Are we going to save jobs of 1,580 people or our kids and millions of future generations of human lives, flora and fauna? These 1,580 people can start looking for alternatives of venturing into the biodegradable material market as a replacement of plastic. Please be more open to changes.

The article as published in The Star.

By ANN TAN
anntan@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Some 1,580 people may eventually lose their jobs as a result of the expansion of the no plastic bag ruling in Penang from Jan 1.

Malaysian Plastic Manufac turers Association northern branch chairman Willy Tan said he expected those employed in the plastic bag manufacturing line by its members to lose their jobs.

“When consumers are not using our plastic bags every day next year, these jobs will vanish,” Tan said during a dialogue between 12 association representatives and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at the latter’s office in Komtar yesterday.

Merit Industries Sdn Bhd director E.E. Lim, whose company is a major plastic bag producer in Kamunting, said her sales to three hypermarkets in Penang had dropped from six million bags monthly to only three million.

“What are we going to eat when Penangites are no longer using plastic bags? The 20 sen penalty may be a small amount but it is not cheap to some people,” she said, referring to the amount shoppers had to pay for a plastic bag.

Association president Lim Kok Boon said the ruling would only burden the poor as they would have to pay 40 sen for each garbage bag to discard their rubbish.

“A shopping bag costs four sen each and they used to get it for free from hypermarkets and supermarkets. In the absence of plastic carrier bags, consumers will have to pay for bin liners and this will increase the usage of garbage bags.

“A study in Ireland, the first country to stop giving out free plastic bags, found a 90% drop in plastic bag usage in one month but the usage of garbage bags increased by 400% instead,” he said.

Kok Boon said plastic shopping bags were also more convenient for consumers to tie up their garbage.

Guan Eng asked the association for a report on the possible impact of the ruling to the industry, adding that Penang wanted to know the amount of reduction in revenue and job losses.

“We are not banning plastic bags but we want Penangites to reduce their usage. This is a policy we must undertake and I don’t deny it’ll be a political cost to us,” he said, adding that consumers would take as many shopping bags as they pleased when they were free but being charged for it would make them think of the costs involved.

All hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, pharmacies, fast food restaurants, nasi kandar outlets and convenience stores, including chain stores and those at petrol kiosks, in Penang will have to adhere to the ruling daily from Jan 1 next year.

Oh No! Our Corruption index Score Down The Chute?

When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over the helm of the Malaysian Government, one of his mission is to fight graft. However to the perception of the people, he failed even though the agency responsible has been re branded and given a new name. The new MACC seems not speeding ahead at the expected pace and the late Teo Beng Hock case has been plagueing the Commission's name. Free Malaysia Today Online newspaper reported on the home page Corruption index Score down the chute by Stephanie Sta Maria who reported;

KUALA LUMPUR: Transparency International (TI) has slapped Malaysia with a historically low Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score of 4.4 for 2010.

The CPI score indicates the perceived level of corruption in a country Its scale is set from 0 to 10, with 0 being the most corrupt and 10 being the least.

Malaysia's CPI score plummeted to 4.5 last year from 5.1 in 2008. Its 2010 score has maintained its current ranking at 56 out of 176 countries. Read more.......

Transparency International release the index today by secretary-general Ngooi Chiu-Ing and listed a number of reasons that TI-Malaysia believed earned Malaysia its 2010 score.

• the perception of little progress in combating corruption
• the lack of political will in implementing anti-corruption measures and the perennial example here is no 'big fish' being brought to book.
• poor progress in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) fiasco, no further action by the attorney-general in judicial appointment tampering, the practice of awarding mega projects and contracts without open tenders and no integrity pacts implemented to date.

Under Najib “Integrity is one of the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) with the target of improvement of the CPI score as a KPI.

“But overall the government must show stronger political will in fighting corruption and walk the talk,” Ngooi added.

Go HERE  and HERE for the 2010 Corruption Perceptions index 2010 results of the world.

Now that the Galas election has been flagged off, among the voters in the constituencies are the Orang asli has 1,889 voters.  Is it a coincidence that the Orang Asli voice out their frustrations and reported on the day of Galas by election nomination day this has to be published  Orang Asli seething at uncaring government and definitely NOT in the mainstream media. Will the Orang asli in Galas be able to read this?

Najib must kill graft to keep his goal alive. 

In Memory of Pudu Jail

Pudu Jail wall was demolished at 10.20 p.m on 21 Jun 2010 to make way for development. A historical site within the city centre of Kuala Lumpur has to bow for more development surrounding the 'gold mine' of metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. There goes down another historical landmark amidst voice of protest to save her. 

Malaysiakini posted a video on youtube about her and I love to share it here with my readers.