Monday, July 20, 2009

After the 100th day...

Guong

It's old news even though it happen just a week ago. Our PM have dishes out 11 goodies for us right before the Manek Urai by-election. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Now people are more interested in an 'accident' that took place at the MACC building. It's a sad incident indeed. But that's another topic.

How about the 11 'goodies'?

1. a 20% discount for motorists who pay toll 80 times a month via Smart Tag or Touch ’n Go from Sept 1.
I don't see this as feasible. 80 times a month? Only via Smart Tag or Touch 'n Go? Only a bunch of the whole highway users will benefit from this and most likely these 'bunch' are a wealthy bunch. And this measure is actually aimed at the low income motorist? How many of these low income motorists actually use the highway 80 times a month? So impractical I would say.

2. some 44,000 low-cost houses in Kuala Lumpur to be sold to existing tenants.
How about the loan procedures, the interest rate, eligibility..?

3. a 50% discount on licences for petty traders in the Federal Territory.
Hmm..Ok, I have to give credit on this one.

4. a RM150mil allocation for entrepreneurs, and another RM15mil specifically for young Indian businessmen.
Sounds good...just wondering, where do they get the allocation from?

5. another 3,000 taxi permits to be approved soon.
3,000 more blood sucker in the making. No offense to taxi drivers but I'm yet to find a single taxi driver who are not a 'blood sucker'. I hope the recent increase on taxi fare would reduce their blood sucker-ness.

6. expediting birth registrations in Sabah and Sarawak.
Now this is serious. How will they differentiate illegal immigrants from Sabahan or Sarawakian? It happens before and this would be seen as an opportunity by these 'alien' to become citizen. I smell another population boom in Sabah. Damn!

7. clearing the backlog of citizenship applications.
This also bears the same problem as point 6. And isn't Sabah and Sarawak state government has full authority on its state NRD? How come the federal government can say 'clear the backlog of your citizenship applications'? Double Damn!!

8. improving access to basic utilities in rural areas.
This also focused on Sabah and Sarawak. And the sad part is, this was already promised way back after they took (read 'stole') Sabah in 1994. What with this re-promised promise? Triple Damn!!!

9. reducing the cost to obtain a B2 motorcycle licence (under 250cc).
More Mat Rempit in the making.

10. setting up a new trust fund, Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, for investors aged above 18.
Where will the money be invested? Will there be any race quota since it's called Amanah Saham 1Malaysia? Who are eligible to invest in this fund, the rich, the poor? I see a long queue up ahead..

11. various measures to be announced soon to curb crime and corruption.
Ironically, the MACC incident happens. Crime and corruption complete in one package. And it's a big one too.

Populist? I wonder what's installed in the next 100th day.

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