Thursday, March 16, 2006



UNTUK SIAPA TABUNG PENGANGKUTAN?

A Kadir Jasin

TAPI apa halnya dengan penduduk negeri-negeri lain, penduduk luar bandar, penduduk Sabah dan Sarawak?

Itulah yang menjadi pertanyaan apabila membaca berita muka satu Utusan Malaysia (UM) hari ini (16 Mar) yang memetik kenyataan Jabatan Perdana Menteri mengenai penubuhan tabung Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pengangkutan Awam.

Apakah wang RM4.4 bilion hasil daripada kenaikan harga minyak pada 28 Februari lalu itu akan dibelanjakan di Kuala Lumpur dan sekitarnya sahaja?

Menurut UM, tabung itu akan digunakan untuk mengintegrasikan dan memperluaskan sistem bas, LRT, monorel dan komuter yang buat masa ini hanya ada di Kuala Lumpur dan sekitarnya sahaja.

Kalau betullah laporan UM itu, jelaslah majoriti rakyat yang dibebankan dengan harga minyak petrol, diesel dan gas cecair petroleum (LPG) yang lebih tinggi itu tidak akan mendapat apa-apa pulangan, kecuali jikalau mereka berkunjung ke Kuala Lumpur atau sekitarnya.

Di mana Faedah Luar Bandar?

Apa halnya dengan pengangkutan awam di bandar-bandar lain dan di kawasan-kawasan luar bandar? Apa halnya dengan Sarawak dan Sabah di mana masih banyak rakyat jelata yang tidak ada jalan raya atau masih bersampan dan berakit?

Bercakap tentang Bumiputera yang berupa penduduk majoriti negara kita ini, sebarang dasar yang berbentuk Kuala Lumpur-centric atau urban-centric tidak akan menguntungkan mereka kerana majoriti daripada mereka tinggal di luar bandar – di Pekan, Kepala Batas, Pagoh, Kanowit dan Kinabatangan.

Kalau sebahagian jumlah ini dibelanjakan di luar bandar, bukan sahaja Bumiputera akan mendapat faedah, malah lebih banyak kontraktor Bumiputera berpeluang mendapat kontrak.

Dengan itu, berlakulah pengagihan kekayaan dan peluang ekonomi yang lebih baik yang berupa falsafah pokok Dasar Ekonomi Baru yang diilhamkan oleh Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak.

Kalau inilah gambaran mengenai apa yang akan datang, kita bimbang Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan mungkin tidak menjanjikan keadilan kepada rakyat terbanyak.

Cukuplah kita membangunkan Kuala Lumpur dengan projek-projek meganya. Kuala Lumpur sudah cukup sesak. Sudah menjurus ke arah urban ghetto. Eloklah beri keutamaan kepada kawasan luar bandar dan negeri-negeri miskin macam Sabah, Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu dan Perlis (lihat carta di bawah).

( Sumber: Dewan Masyarakat )

To Gag or Not To Gag

NO gag order on MPs, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (The Star, March 14). The MPs, he said, were free to debate all issues, including hot topics.

And what can be hotter than the 18.52 per cent fuel price increase!

But, in the first place, does it require the Prime Minister’s go-ahead for MPs to exercise their legitimate democratic right to speak up on behalf of their constituents?

There have been conflicting signals in recent past. In a number of instances and over some issues, the Barisan Nasional MPs were limited in their ability to debate openly.

They were even more restricted when it came to voting on critical bills like the recent amendments to the Federal Territory Islamic Family Law. Now the PM is sending another signal – debate openly.

I have always thought that people formed political parties to fight for common good. They fielded candidates in elections to win seats in the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.

In those chambers, the MPs and State Assemblymen and women would speak freely in defence of the people they represent – the voters and the rakyat in general.

But more often than not in our Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, they tend to represent the party they belong to and speak in defence of the party and its leaders.

When they are not doing that, they’re either in the canteen having teh tarik or making monkey of the august chambers.

Oh, how I miss the debate involving Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the late Tan Sri Ja’afar Albar aka The Lion of Umno and the late C.V. Devan Nair in the Malaysian Parliament in the late 1970s!

Listen To The King

No wonder we now need the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Sultans to remind our elected representatives of their duties to the people and about the country’s sagging global rating, like the King did when opening the new session of Parliament on March 13.

Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail said serious attention must be given to reports that Malaysia’s global competitiveness was declining.

He said he was concerned about such reports. One issue highlighted in the reports, the King said, was the decline in the public service delivery system and its effects on the country’s competitiveness.

(Ironically, a major pro-government English newspaper decided to give the story a miss. It said not a word about the King opening the new Parliament session – not even a caption story.)

Source: The Star

Death of Idealism and Fire in the Belly

Not all our MPs and State Assemblymen and women hailed from the circus. Many are highly qualified men and women who excelled in their previous occupations. Some entered politics with a lot of idealism and fire in their bellies.

But once in the Parliament and the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN), many lost their idealism and the fire in their bellies died. Some degenerated to become circus clowns.

Yet, when by chance, I met and spoke to them, I found, to my surprise, that they are intelligent and serious. That sets me thinking. There must be something about the Parliament and the DUN that makes these good men and women lose their intelligence and idealism.

Could it be mortal fear of the Whips? Could it be their dreams of becoming Ministers, Menteris Besar and Exco Members? Or could it be the prospects of bidding for prized contracts?

So I don’t know if the green light given by the Prime Minister would rekindle their idealism and relit the fire in their bellies. We’ll have to wait and see.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish the amendments on the approval of bills and the requirement for king's approval be reverted to back to the old days. No bill can't pass without the King's consent.at current status, our BN MPs will take us to the cleaners. The King and the Sultans, can play a reat role in this country like the Thai King. They must love the country nad the people and the people will do the same.

I really hope the monarchy system will help this country. We need them.

Daulat tuanku!!!

Unknown said...

1. Kelihatan kerajaan tiada visi dan misi. Suatu ketika mereka menangguh projek pengangkutan terpenting -landasan berkembar. Sekarang mereka ini pun menumpukan kepada pembangunan insfrastruktur pengangkutan secara besar-besaran.

2. anoynymous tulis,
"I wish the amendments on the approval of bills and the requirement for king's approval be reverted to back to the old days. No bill can't pass without the King's consent.at current status, our BN MPs will take us to the cleaners. The King and the Sultans, can play a reat role in this country like the Thai King. They must love the country nad the people and the people will do the same.

I really hope the monarchy system will help this country. We need them."

saya fikir pendapat ini tidak tepat kerana monarki tidak dipilih dan tidak mempunyai sistem pertanggungjawaban awam seperti parti politik.

Jika monarki berkuasa menolak keputusan pemerintah yang dipilih oleh rakyat maka kerajaan pilihan rakyat tidak akan dapat bertindak dengan tanpa restu Istana. Ini akan membawa kita kembali ke masa dahulu.

Anonymous said...

Banyak yang tidak tahu betapa projek Pengangkutan untuk rakyat seperti projek Keretapi @ komuter dua laluan dari KL ke Ipoh sepatutnya siap pada tahun 2004. Jangan tanya saya apa dah jadi.Tapi tanya Orang kementerian Pengangkutan apa yang dah jadi.Apakah projek ini sudah kekeringan Wang? Apa hal pulak? Datuk boleh korek dari kementerian Pengangkutan.

warrior2 said...

When people are ignorant, they say the darndest of things!

When people have an agenda, they will see and say all the wrong things only!

suhaimi sulaiman said...

The "Selected Spin Doctors" have not been advising them well. It should have been, "we are short of 4.4 bil, and we need the money for various 'projects' -- not narrow it to public transportation -- because public transportation is not a short term thing and it's very KL Centric. And it appeared more like "common, we need to tell them something.. any ideas?"

mokciknab said...

Dear Datuk,
Your move to join the blogosphere has totally eliminated any reason for me to buy newspaper (but I'll still buy MB, just to have something between my fingers)

Why should I be made to pay for spin? How clever, to make money out of what is essentially just marcomm for The Administration. And worse, the marketing strategies seem uncoordinated and reactionary, of which the conflicting signals and outburst-like policies are the symptoms. It's almost like everyone has forgotten that there are such things as 5-Year Development Plans and OPPs.

Politics is no longer the art of the possible. Most of us are enabling ourselves and avoiding it altogether.

Anonymous said...

Agreed with rocky's bru..it's an afterthought, thought only after the hoo..haa! Why oil is associated only with transportation? How about the cheap and quality foods, education and medicines, better hospitals, schools, cleaner water etc? Dont they think these areas also need attention?

Better still, spend the money developing alternative energy sources for the country and the world. Who knows, our wind, our sand, our sunlight, our rubber trees or kelapa sawit or our batik and songket can produce something valuable, as alternatives to oil as our new sources of energy?

Salam

Anonymous said...

Datuk,

I'm confused.

The PM says, "Dont delay 9th Plan projects. Don't just sit there and take three to four months to think of ways to implement projects".The 9th Malaysia Plan is to be tabled in Parliment in 11 days time. " I hope to be able to explain to you (civil servants) after I have tabled it (the Plan).

Now, do you believe less than 3 to 4 months to plan for implementation is reasonable? I guess, less than 3 months to plan the construction of a bus stop is
reasonable. But to plan for something as big as the MRR or the Matrade tower...I dont know!

Is this how they work?

lentera said...

Dear Datuk,

Tabung Kumpulan Wang Pengangkutan Awam (KWPA) should have been introduced long time ago. We hope this set-up is not just another initiative to temporarily ward off people's criticisms. Nonetheless, at least we can take comfort that such fund will be closely monitored for its utilisation.

One thing that we find rather elusive is the calls for more transparency in GLCs. What it takes for these GLCs to do for them to be recognised as transparent companies? Should these GLCs be so transparent that they have to disclose their business strategies in such a way that this might disadvantage them in the competitive marketplace?

lentera

Anonymous said...

Terima kasih atas inforamasi yang tuan berikan. tidak pernah terlintas di kepala saya bahawa wakil-wakil rakyat kita tidak dapat menjalankan tugas dengan berkesan atas sebab-sebab rintangan "tertentu" di Parlimen. Kepada wakil rakyat saya...tuan telah dipilih oleh 'saya' dan semestinya kena bekerja untuk 'saya'. jangan kerana habuan dunia tuan membelakangkan amanah yang telah 'saya' berikan.....

About Me

My photo
I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).