Tuesday 3 June 2008

My two cents.

The PM has asked us civil servants for ideas on ways to tackle the subsidy problem amidst the rise in the price of fuel and food. How thoughtful of him. I wonder why he didn't ask for our ideas when he was initiating all those corridors, North, South, East and West. If he had asked us for ideas then, now he wouldn't have needed to ask for ideas any longer.

Well anyway here are some ideas from a layman, common civil servant who is not an economist, who has no experience running a country but all the same someone who is not blind to what is going on in this country.

Hey I am not blaming you for the increase in the price of crude and food for you are not that important so as to have an impact on the price of crude and food in this world. I feel sorry for you to have been cornered such that you have to ask us for ideas. I am sure you would get many ideas from us civil servants and I am more sure you are not going to pay any heed to them because any idea coming from us would involve prudence, something considered a sin to be even whispered in your circle of people.

Nationalise Petronas which should have been the case in the first place. By this I mean, all income from Petronas goes straight into the treasury's coffers. Heck, Petronas doesn't even have to pay tax. All profit goes straight into the governments bank account.

If a road costs a million a mile than pay only a million a mile for it. The present trend of paying 3 million a mile so that some UMNO bigwigs and some well connected businessman could enjoy a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the people should stop immediately. The same goes to buildings and whatever that needs to be built. You save billions here.

Stop centralised contracts for the supply of stuffs to all government agencies. All government agencies should be allowed to buy stuffs at current market price rather than wait for them to be supplied by a central contractor who charges 2 to 3 times the market rate. More billions saved here.

Negotiate directly if there is a need to procure military hardware so that we don't have to bear hundreds of millions of ringgit in payment of commissions. It doesn't matter who pays the commission because once commission is payed that amount is factored in the purchase price. It doesn't matter if the party who receives the commission is local or foreign. Don't be stupid and don't pretend to be stupid.

Do away with PLKN which serves no other purpose but to enrich cronies and kill young ones who could otherwise be productive in later years.

Get your people to go after all tax evaders. Many highly connected businessmen are not paying the amount of tax that they should be paying. They are fooling the government left right and centre and you just take it because these people are important to you to maintain your lavish lifestyle and also they supply you the much needed funds come election.

Please for god sake do away with money and time wasting official ceremonies where canopies are rented at exorbitant prices; food given out free to people who are not actually hungry but because some officials could make a bundle by negotiating for it; halls or convention centers need to be rented out at very high price and the giving out of expensive gifts. We seem to have a ceremony for everything and when Ministers are invited lots of time is wasted not to mention the expense.

Be business friendly by having a clean government with a clean and trustworthy judiciary. This will definitely attract foreign investments, which creates jobs and with jobs, more taxes collected.

Be self reliant in food production. Do away with BERNAS once and for all. Encouraged padi planting even in states controlled by the oppositions. If there is still a need to import rice, no monopoly should be given to any party to import this item. No permit should be needed to import.

These are some of the suggestions that this stupid government servant could think of right now but maybe some of my friends could come out with some more. Yes, I know they are not going to listen but then at least we have done our part.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are our civil servants known to be cost efficient and cost effective? In my office building which houses plenty of government offices, I see with my own eyes the way they splurge the rakyat's money of fancy SUVs, renting huge renovated offices (>5000sft) for less than 8 employees with high monthly rental. And remember the last salary increase and bonuses for the civil servants, within few months, there were rows of new cars in the car park. What I am saying the civil servants are generally used to the lavish government spending and asking them for ideas to reduce subsidies and tackle high cost of living is non workable.

The situation we are in and going to be in not something happened overnight. Malaysia are blessed with hardworking brilliant rakyat and plenty of natural resources. It is the fucking government who plundered the country for decades and now we are in deep shit, the government come back to the rakyat and ask for ideals.

Oh fuck, we are in some real deep shit!

Anonymous said...

Actually KTN, those are some good two cents worth coming from a stupid civil servant. Now if only someone up there would really read this. Why not send it to that Warkah to PM thingie or something and get heard. Because seriously, boleh tahan jugak idea2 anda ni!

Unknown said...

Frankie,
Imagine just to approve claims for invigilating an exams, officers and clerks and penyelia kawasans go to resorts for a week, all expenses paid of course. Why not just go to a school with a meeting room and house yourself from 8 to 5 for a week. No need to claim for meals, no hotel claims, only mileage claim of about 10 to km a day which works out to only RM7.00 to RM14.00 per day per person for the whole week. No, they must go to resorts, book plenty of rooms with 6 meals a day. Such wastage should not be tolerated any more.

Unknown said...

Farzain,
I have said what I want to say and I am sure they have heard what I have said before. They know whats going on. If there is really a will then they should have started. This is what happens when politicians who are powerful go into business, they control everything.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

ahh yes, these are good suggestions that ought to put all the ministers to shame.

and cikgu, you should have ended this by reminding those up above when the rakyat were asked to change our lifestyle, the ministers should start the ball rolling first.

Anonymous said...

salam chegu,
wah!invigilate saja dapat pi resort ka. amboi, bestnya. orang kat umah ni tak boleh claim apa pon. itu pun jadi examiner, bukan invigilate.

Unknown said...

Kerp,
Brilliant kerp, real brilliant.

Unknown said...

accia,
Bukan invigilators. Pegawau unit peperiksaan kena approve invigilators punya claim. You bayangkan berapa kali exam setahun, upsr, pmr, spm, stp.

phillix-starscreamer said...

ah, u've always been one of my fav blogs around, katataknak. awesome insight. impressive much =) i havent been here for awhile now due to exams and such. the new makeover is looking good too!

Anonymous said...

dear kata tak nak

at rm45 billion for the fiscal 2008, our subsidy must be among the highest in the world, if not the highest. subsidy is something distinctive in the umno/bn led government. it has been around for a long time. they want to show you, how nice the govt is so you can keep on voting for the same party. thats why they ask you to thank them. now when the amount is so unbearable, the subsidies are starting to eat them up. and with all kinds of unnecessary projects, the tide is turning on them. asking the civil servants or the rakyat to come with suggestions is just no more than a political strategy. its like they are saying, hey we care. But we all know that now.

Unknown said...

phillix,
Thanks. do come over. Best of luck in your exams.

Unknown said...

shirzad,
Oh yes I know they are not serious when they ask for suggestions but by asking for them it provides me with an avenue to come out with some suggestions, not that it matters any way. Yes, they are responsible in this subsidy business so that no one can say anything about them being subsidised by business people.

Maverick SM said...

If Pak Lah accept all your suggestions and acted accordingly, he will be sacked the next day by his own party.

If the cabinet carry it out as suggested by you, Umno members and leaders goes bankrupt within 3 months and all those Chinese Towkay also goes bankrupt.

We have a clean govt - sapu sampai bersih; and it's surely clean; you can't get any more cleaner than clean.

Nationalized Petronas? Even billionaires goes bankrupt. Hassan Merican will get a stroke and hypertension by tomorrow if it is announced.

But, your suggestions have much greater insights than economists and monetarists. How the hell did you stay as a teacher? You should be the Finance Minister and Malaysia will be richer than Japan. I am serious.

Unknown said...

Maverick,
Please don't say that. I fear that tomorrow they come knocking at my door and ask me to join them and be put in the same department as Ezam.

cakapaje said...

Salam Cikgu,

Earlier today, I went to the Pejabat Serahan Pos in sungai buloh to collect a package, and had to wait for more than 15 minutes for the Postal staff to search for it. I mean, one would have thought:
1. All such packages are registered letters are kept in a serialised order to facilitate collection.
2. After Pos Malaysia was privatised, it would be more efficient. Sadly, it is not.

To me, nationalising Petronas and other money making machineries alone is not sufficient so long as the mentality of such incompetency lingers. The best thing is to purge the whole system and get back to the basics. And it definitely will not be a popular move.

Anonymous said...

The point i see here is, its not the government can't afford the billions of subsidies, but the mismanagement of the money and corruptions and cronies that really make us the people suffer.

Unknown said...

Shah,
This government although manned by humans, has no soul.

Unknown said...

Don,
Exactly, mismanagement is the cause of the leaks of billions of ringgit. This can't be allowed to go on. Even the richest country in the world would eventually collapse.

Asil said...

Chegu,

You 2 cents suggestions, are 2 billion loss to them...

Anonymous said...

Cikgu,
I want to share my experience.
Believe it or not, a friend of mine have to go to Penang for 4 days just for a meeting to set up a whole year meeting for their Department. and they come up with a book about 10mm thick for all avenues which most of them are of course outstation at hotels etc.
It cost a few millions for the whole year and they want us to start eating ubi kayu?!

Unknown said...

Asil,
Yes, 2 billion loss to them but only if the were to look at it the other way, 2 billion gain by the people.

Unknown said...

apaka66,
I believe you. All this wastage started in the Mahathir time. I remember when I first started teaching, there was no way anyone could get to go for courses in hotels, then they started this precedent of getting teachers to go for course somewhere far to justify the hotel stay. A typical day at the course would be breakfast at 7.30. The course starts at 8, break at 10, resumes at 10.30 then lunch at 12.30 resumes at 2 to 4. Tea at 4. Break, dinner at about 7.00. Classes again at 8.00 to 10.00. The 8 to 10 classes at night are usually a big waste, they have it just to justify having a hotel stay.
Then you here that the officer in charge of the course would be going for a holiday at the same hotel with his family later on in the year.

tokasid said...

Salam Che'gu:

Pak Mentua(PM):

Adoi...penin pala daddy....harga barang makin naik dan daddy pun susah nak control fuel price ni...

Menantu: Aisaymen daddy...you jgn risau la....

PM: Tak risau apa. daddy kena serang kiri kanan ataih bawah depan belakang.Ni bila harga essentials nak kena naik mesti la daddy risau...tak boleh tidoq

Menantu: Daddy...I tau macamana nak naikkan rating daddy semu;a...

PM: Lagu mana?
Menantu: Daddy bagi tau rakyat yang daddy nak pendapat rakyat how to handle this problem lah...Saikolojikally rakyat akan rasa di hargai esp civil servants.Some will come up with ideas which is good.I know ada sorang che'gu di Penang tu idea dia bagus2 daddy....tapi kita tak perlu guna idea dia orang

PM: Jadi just ambil hati saja la..

Menantu: Exactly daddy...

PM:Okay..okay...lets call a press conference.Tapi you kenan bagi tau security....jangan panggil Samy Velu datang.

Unknown said...

Doc,
Memang depa nak saiko orang tapi dengan menyaiko orang depa tunjuk sangat depa tu psycho.

Samy: Saya ingin cadangan dari rakyat jelate macam mana mau kasi itu toll turun. Saya manyak kisian sama rakyat jelate.

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