Improving Public Transportation – Getting to the Bottomline

Improving Public Transportation – Getting to the Bottomline 

By Stephen Ng 

While writing this piece, hundreds of stage buses are left to rot in the junk yards after the consortium formed, and supposed to manage the public transportation system in the Klang Valley, failed to deliver. 

We have also seen the implementation of all three railtrack systems – the monorail, the light rail train and the KTM Commuters – and now, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, but despite huge public spending, our public transportation is nowhere as efficient as even the neighbouring country, Singapore. 

As pointed out by a friend, most of the urban transport planners in Singapore are in fact Malaysians, so why is it that these brains that we have produced over the years not been able to benefit the country where they were born?

Several years ago, I did a study on the public transportation system in the Klang Valley. Like it or not, we have one of the best network of train tracks available. 

With the existing commuter network, one can get as far as Seremban, Port Klang and Rawang. This has since been extended. 

Weaknesses

However, the greatest weakness is connectivity between the different systems. For example, Sentul has two terminal stations – KTM Komuter and the LRT, however, both stations are nowhere near to each other. Why?

The KTM Komuter trains on the Sentul-Port Klang route crisscross the other trains on the Rawang-Seremban routes at one of the stations. This causes a delay to the schedule. 

Assuming a commuter rides on the train from Kepong to Sentul. It is fine to hop off from one train and immediately step into another train en route to Sentul. However, on arrival to Sentul, how does one expect to go to the wet market from there? 

Taxis are supposed to provide the much-needed short distances, but try taking a taxi during peak hours, and see if you can find any taxi willing to pick you up without charging an exorbitant fee! 

Their reason? Because they have to pay an exorbitant fee for a taxi license, which could have been issued for just a nominal fee to encourage even single mothers or unemployed retirees to take up taxi services the way how retired Singaporeans have been recruited to be gainfully self-employed.

We can understand that taxis provide a different level of comfort for those who can afford to pay. However, for the ordinary Malaysian wage earner, other forms of public transport would have to be the shuttle buses. 

Why is it that we cannot organise our public transport system in such a way that there will only be a few depots for both long-haul buses and trains. 

One reason why buses are inefficient to cater to the needs for public transport is because they have to stop at nearly every bus stop to pick up passengers. There is also the massive traffic jams that hold the buses up that they are unable to circulate on their routes frequently enough. 

Why can’t these stage buses be used as express buses to ferry people from one town to one or two major bus stations near the city of Kuala Lumpur? From there, let the shuttle buses pick up their passengers and ferry them to their destinations based on fixed routes. 

Perhaps, the Government should consider reviving the Mini Buses which used to serve the people well, except for a few incidents caused by some bad drivers, a phenomenon that never cease to haunt us despite one consortium after another taking over the public transportation system in the Klang Valley.

As long as we have enough shuttle buses to reduce waiting time, people would not mind parking their cars at the train or bus station, hop on the train or bus to a depot in Kuala Lumpur. After all, no one wants to get caught in a traffic jam! 

Four Major Selling Points

Throughout the research I carried out, I decided that there were at least four major selling points if we want to convert daily commuters from driving their own vehicles to work, to become users of public transport. 

Firstly, it is comfort. People want to feel comfortable when they are taking public transport. This is where our public transport system has failed badly. 

Secondly, the trains or the buses must always be reliable. This means they have to follow strictly the timetable. I used to give thumbs-up to the LRT and the Monorail but not the KTM Komuter trains. There were times when I was grumbling because it was either too packed to even get in, or it was delayed due to some faulty engines.

Thirdly, and I think is the key, is the frequency of trains and buses. People dread taking public transport because they know that if they miss the bus or train, they would be delayed by at least an hour or so before the next train gets them to their destination. 

By having higher frequencies (or reduced waiting time), you automatically solve the congestion problem in a sardine-packed train and make travelling more comfortable and predictable for most passengers. 

I bet, coupled with economical bus or train fares, which I consider as the fourth selling point, we will be able to lure more people to take public transport.  

END

National language does not lead to national unity

By Stephen Ng

There is too much fad over the idea of national language leading to national unity.

After reading an article in Free Malaysia Today by one Moaz Nair, I decided to write this piece to prove that this is nothing but a figment of one's imagination.

I am not against the learning of Bahasa Malaysia. Like any other languages, we ought to master the language if we do not want to be left behind in nation building.

However, one has to just look at countries where there is only one language used. The people in Ireland and those living in Britain both speak English, but they have been divided for many years.

The Arabs speak one language, but they are hardly united. North Koreans speak English like the Americans, but both nations are at odd with one another.

The Chinese in Malaysia speak Chinese but we can hardly say we are united as one people with the people in China.

Malays in this country are also divided because of their political ideology. In the last general election, we know that they voted in three different directions.

Do they not all speak in Malay? So, why are they not united despite having the same mother tongue?


I recall many years ago, there was one Chinese sitcom acted by four adults. Ah Chek spoke in Hokkien, while Wong Ho spoke in Cantonese. Lai Meng was Cantonese, but in the show, she spoke in Hakka, while Hon Ying spoke in Cantonese.

What amazes me is that, despite having different dialects, they were all friends. Hence, the sitcom was known as Empat Sekawan.

There can be national unity amidst diversity.


END.

Backbenchers have a big role to play

By Stephen Ng


In Malaysia Baru, the backbenchers have an important role to play to ensure that there is check-and-balance in the way how the government runs the country.

We have seen too many excesses in the previous regime, no thanks to all the yes men in the backbenchers.

Don’t think everything has changed overnight after May 9 general election when Malaysians from all walks of life united together to overthrow the corrupt regime under former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

I was therefore surprised when a lawmaker told me recently that, as a backbencher, he does not have the freedom to speak in the august house until he gets the greenlight to speak.

And, who decides who to speak as a member of the backbenchers? Why is the people’s elected representatives controlled from making their speeches?

While I can understand that time is limited and everyone has issues that need to be brought up but to allow one person to decide what and who can speak is simply incomprehensible.

I learnt from the lawmaker that the Backbenchers' Chairman, Johari Abdul is the one who decides who and what subject that can be brought up.

This goes against the spirit of democracy. Lawmakers are elected to speak up on behalf of their constituents. They should have the democratic space to speak up in parliament.

Even within the Backbenchers there are different camps. Who gets to speak and who does not is in the hands of the Backbenchers chairman.

It goes without saying that parliamentarians who are voted by the people would not be able to vote according to their conscience.

This is something as an ordinary rakyat, I hope to see reforms in our parliament to allow members of the august house, including members of the Opposition, to speak up.

Will we see this happening especially since our prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim has promised reforms in parliament once he returns, perhaps this time as the MP of Port Dickson?

I know I have to be vocal for the good of this nation. Being vindictive towards me for writing this piece is surely not democratic, especially since I am both a voter and an independent keyboard soldier who fought for Pakatan Harapan when it was still in the Opposition.

End

Expect criticisms from even friends in the New Malaysia

Credit: https://says.com/my/news/international-headlines-ge14

By Stephen Ng

Do not expect Malaysians to be stupid.

This message has been ringing loud and clear since Malaysia was under the old regime.

Post GE14, we now have a new government at Putrajaya, helmed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which comprises both newbies, with a few more seasoned politicians.

Imperfect as it may be, the new cabinet has certainly brought about some much desired and progressive changes compared to the 61 years of rule under the BN regime.

At least we now have the world’s oldest prime minister, a woman as deputy prime minister, an Indian constitutional expert who is Attorney-General and a Kadazandusun who has risen to the highest judicial post in the country.

Malaysians have also waited a long time to see both former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor charged in court. Others who were involved in the 1MDB scandal have also been hauled up by both the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

We should also celebrate a first female president of Seberang Perai Municipal Council, and later mayor of Penang Island City Council, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, who became the first Asian woman and Malaysian to be appointed as the executive director and under-secretary-general of the UN Human Settlements Programme.

This is New Malaysia.

On record, Lim Guan Eng may not be the first Malaysian Chinese finance minister, but his experience in turning around Penang has certainly boost the confidence of Malaysians in the new Pakatan government in moving Malaysia forward albeit challenging economic conditions.

However, not everything is rosy. Lim will surely receive a lot of brickbats when he comes up with a shoestring budget. Even those who voted for Pakatan Harapan would also feel disappointed. This is all part of life.

All things said, the Pakatan government is not perfect. To ensure that it is kept in check and balance, its leaders even to be prepared to receive brickbats from the voters, including its most ardent supporters. Any explanation that does not appear plausible will surely be ostracised.

This is a fact in today’s political landscape.

For that reason, newly-minted ministers cannot expect Malaysians to buy excuses as justifications for the wrong decisions. After all, Malaysians are not stupid.

Of late, I have also been critical of the new government for some very good reasons. Perhaps, for the state election, I may vote for the Opposition, but where I am concerned, Putrajaya still needs to remain under the Pakatan government.

If tomorrow Putrajaya falls into the hands of Barisan Nasional, all the efforts to go after the culprits in the 1MDB scandal would have gone to waste. Public funds will continue to be plundered. In my opinion, the Opposition with its current batch of leaders, is not ready yet to take over the federal government.

Therefore, whatever criticisms that I make does not necessarily mean that I want the PH government to be overthrown. As rakyat, we have an obligation to speak up and keep the country’s leaders in check.

I quote two examples.

The first one is about Dr Mahathir’s decision not to deport controversial fugitive Muslim preacher Zakir Naik back to India to face charges of spreading terrorism and money laundering.

Dr Mahathir said that as long as Zakir behaves himself, he can remain in Malaysia. But did Zakir not advise Muslim voters to vote for “a corrupt Muslim leader” than one that joins hands with non-Muslim kafirs? We heard him loud and clear.

Now that Dr Mahathir’s cabinet is made up of several kafirs, when Zakir actually said that Allah would not be pleased with a Muslim leader, who in the context of new Malaysia, is referring to Dr Mahathir.

Since Dr Mahathir’s cabinet comprises of non-Muslim kafirs to run the nation, can we therefore afford to have such a hypocrite who now tells us that he is indebted to the Dr Mahathir’s government?

Even Anwar Ibrahim had to face the sodomy charges and despite knowing that he would not get a fair trial, Anwar did not apply for political asylum. There is no reason for Zakir to be treated differently, especially when he has hurt the feelings of non-Muslim religious groups by running down on their scriptures.

As Minister in the Prime Minister's Department P Waythamoorthy puts it, “I agree with Mujahid's statement on Zakir, as it can affect the racial unity and harmony in the country.”

Mujahid Yusof Rawa has said that “the combative style of propagating Islam, which puts down other beliefs, as practised by Dr Zakir Naik, is not suitable for Malaysia.”

Malaysians are waiting to see what actions the Pakatan Government would take after the two cabinet ministers agreed that someone like Naik should not be allowed to destroy our social fabrics. Would the government decide to deport Naik, or would it just close an eye on Naik’s style of preaching until some untoward incident happened?

The other observation that I made is the flip flop decision by the Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik in recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC). After his deputy, Teo Nie Ching announced that the UEC would be recognised by November this year, Maszlee made the U-turn, saying that more studies have to be carried out before the UEC is recognised.

What study is required? Hasn’t the former government already conducted its study and was willing to recognise the UEC? Barisan Nasional in its election manifesto promised that the UEC would be recognised. I wonder why Maszlee does not have the gut to make the right decision.

Didn’t the election manifesto promise recognition for UEC? Why the need to drag his feet? When over 1000 international universities and local private universities have no qualms in recognising the qualification as equivalent to a pre-university programme, why does it take so long for the UEC to be officially recognised?

All it takes is to learn how these international universities assess the UEC qualification and adopt it for Malaysian public universities. Period.

Where English is the medium of instruction for these universities, the students only have to sit for English competency tests such as IELTS or TOEF as compared to doing Bahasa Malaysia as a subject for UEC students to qualify for entry into public universities.

The same arguments used by Umno in the past are still being used to delay the UEC recognition. If the Chinese private schools do not emphasise enough of the national language and the national curriculum, then, why allow international schools to be set up? Maszlee might as well close these schools down.

Fellow Malaysians who read my articles in Malaysiakini for the past five years, you should take my views as constructive criticisms, not as an effort to derail the PH Government’s efforts to bring the country together again.

My criticisms written from the heart may be hard-hitting but they are meant to put the government in check. We want a government that performs even better for the sake of the nation.

Until Barisan Nasional can put its act together again, we do not want to be under Pakatan Harapan for another 61 years. For this same reason, we are watching BN component parties to see if  they will undergo reforms and prove themselves to be a better alternative, or else there is no turning back to the old regime.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. Now, he is contributing towards nation building.

Dear Gina

By Mandeep Singh

Dear Gina,

I saw your lengthy instagram post about how you feel about your mum’s detention. You seem to feel extremely sad and angry over her detention by MACC. But Gina, it's too late to be angry at this moment.

Where were you when your mum was shopping around the world? Where were you when your mum was buying those handbags?

Did you ever ask your mum, how did your family manage to get millions of ringgit for your wedding ceremony, a luxurious celebration that lasted 3 to 4days?

Also, did you know how many mothers went through the same feeling, or even worse, after they were unjustly detained by your dad's regime... they were sent to lock-ups for simply calling out the excesses and greed of your parents, they were denied of their rights simply for fighting for a better Malaysia.

Some were detained under solitary confinement for eleven days. Again, where were you at that time? Did you question your dad about it? Let me tell you, Maria Chin is also a mum of three kids. You can go and ask her kids, how they felt when during those eleven days.

And let me tell you here, all of us who were detained back then, were always handcuffed. We were asked to wear the orange uniform... innocent people treated like criminals!

So, stop trying to get sympathy. At the end of the day, this is what you call karma... or better yet, justice.

(Mandeep Singh was formerly part of Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee. He was detained together with Bersih chairman Maria Chin Abdullah under the draconian law by disgraced former prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak).

Where there is a will, there is a way...

By Stephen Ng

After a letter to Education Minister, Maszlee Malik and two other persons in the Ministry of Education dated August 14, 2018, I find it hard to understand that the minister fails to give consideration to my appeal on behalf of the Royal Rangers.

Like the Boys and Girls Brigade, the Rangers is a uniformed group that is registered under the Assemblies of God Council. As a church-based group, we view the activities as being comprehensive in much the same way the Muslim parents want their children to attend their own mosque-based activities.

According to one of the minister's assistants, the minister would not intervene with the decision made by the Co-curriculum Unit. Autonomy was the word used. According to her, the unit has the right to make its own decision, and the minister would not intervene.

But what is a letter of appeal to the minister for, especially when I, a member of the public and a parent (therefore, a stakeholder), write officially to the minister for his consideration.

I feel that the points given by the two officers at the Co-curriculum Unit were unreasonable; hence, the need to bring the appeal to the person overall responsible for the ministry -- Maszlee Malik.

My support of him has waned since then, as many of the decisions he made appear to be coming from someone inexperienced in running an organisation, what's more, a ministry that affects the future generation of Malaysians.

I do not want to go into the other reasons why I feel he is not delivering the Pakatan Harapan's promises after winning the general election. You can read it all in another blogpost. This blog has hit over 5000 readers within a short period.

I have also written a letter to the editor of The Star which appeared recently. This will continue on for a number of years, as I do not see why just asking for exemption is so difficult for the minister to accept.

If autonomy is the explanation, I think I have very little faith in the ministry that he is helming. They gave the explanation that children who are already attending the Royal Rangers cannot be exempted from attending other uniformed groups.

They pointed out that unless the Rangers activities are held in schools and Bible lessons are removed from its activities, it cannot be recognised by the Ministry of Education.

Their comment is insensible as the Rangers had never asked to run the activities on school compound during school hours and this is a uniformed group meant for children of Christian parents.

My argument is that the children are already attending the uniformed group from 1pm to 4pm every Sunday. This should meet the requirement under the "1Sukan, 1Murid" policy. It is certainly better than having the children participate in a scouts activity from 11.30am - 12.30pm.

The objective of having "1Sukan,1Murid" is to encourage an all-rounder education. Therefore, the ministry should not create a bigger burden for children who are already attending the Royal Rangers on Sundays.

I have also posted video clips of parents who asked for the exemption on behalf of their children and others who are already attending the Rangers in a number of outposts. Some of these video clips had also been sent to the minister's officer.

In one of the video clip, a parent even disclosed that her son has to attend a scouts group activities in school but for the past two years, the school had never asked the children to buy their uniforms. This is happening under the supervision of the two officers at the Co-Curriculum Unit.

But sadly, either the minister has no guts to override the decision by his officers at the Co-Curriculum Unit or he simply chooses to ignore the appeal by parents.

If I have a complaint that is not properly handled by an organisation, my next line of action would be to write to the chief executive officer of the organisation.

This reminds me that when I had a complaint against Standard Chartered Bank and the manager did not do a good job, I wrote to the CEO. He chose to ignore my letter.

As a result, I decided to write directly to the Group CEO in United Kingdom. Within less than 24 hours, the Group CEO responded with a positive note that the matter would be taken care of. This restored my confidence in the bank.

Even when Fadillah Yusof was Works Minister and I told him about a big sinkhole in my child's school, he only needed to press the button and JKR officers came to the school with the officers from Ministry of Education. After 18 months of silence, the ministry officers told the principal that there is money, but under a different category. Before long, the sink hole was covered up.

However, with Maszlee not willing to listen to parents' appeal, I have only one thing to say: I have no confidence in him solving issues related to schools. Neither have I any confidence in the way how the Ministry of Education is run.

What difference does it make when Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya when its minister is incapable of making a good decision after reading our appeal?

Where there a will, there is a way. But, in this case, I can only say that there is no will to solve issues, but only excuses. There is not even a response to the letter that I wrote in August and now is October.

What difference is this new minister compared to previous ministers under the old regime?


END.