Jheeva Prakaash

One of the hottest topic is the refusal of the Singapore government to let AirAsia land in their airport. I hate this myself because I do hope to fly cheaply to Singapore. BUT, before you think Singapore is selfish, do you know Malaysia is doing the exact same thing in MANY MANY ways?

Malaysia is building the double-track train system that connect the whole peninsular. Johor government refused to let the double-track to be connected to Singapore. They want it terminated at Johor Bahru. They are afraid that most people will actually ride directly to Singapore and will not stop at Johor, thus reducing the money flow to Johor and at the same time benefit their ‘enemy’ Singapore!

Isn’t that selfish? Isn’t that the same as Singapore refusing the landing or AirAsia?

We are so patriotic that almost all Malaysia families that own a car will own a PROTON! We are so patriotic that we actually need to pay a lot more money to buy a lousy car just because it is ‘Made In Malaysia’. We can’t own a better Toyota at cheaper price like Thailand citizens because we have to subsidize Proton. We have to ‘love’ our country because ‘Malaysia Boleh‘ Make Car. (Proton still lose money after 20 years of operation while Mitsubishi make a lot of money by selling engines to Proton. And we still can’t make our own engine. So technically we don’t make our own car, we make our own car cover only.)

There are lots of Nissan Sentra in Malaysia. Do you know there is a model called Nissan Sunny? You can’t find one here because if it is allowed to be sold in Malaysia, it will be too cheap!

Our government has disallowed other car manufacturers to compete equally with Proton. And who pay the price? We! The drivers!

Isn’t this the same as Singapore protecting their own airline company?

Digi is the most well run mobile company in Malaysia, their marketing and growth outperform Maxis and Celcom (run by TM). But because they are 60% foreign owned, they are not awarded the 3G license and the WIMAX license. If you are standing as a mobile user and internet user perspective, do you wish Digi could have won both licenses so we can benefit from this great company? Or you want your service provided by Telekom Malaysia that also provide your STREAMYX connection?

Isn’t this the same as what Singapore is doing to AirAsia? While AirAsia can benefit even Singaporeans, they choose to protect Singapore Airline instead of benefiting their own people. Our government want to make our own national car and we have to drive lousy car that is more expensive and yet more dangerous on the road because it is made by recycled Coca-Cola tin.

(At least Singapore is launching a new budget airline call Tiger Airline to benefit their people)

Most of us will have a Maybank account because it is the largest bank in Malaysia. So probably you must have dealt with a Maybank staff before. What kind of treatment do you get? How long do you need to wait just to place a Fixed Deposit? How long do you need to wait to apply for an ATM card?

The last time I close an FD, it took the staff 30 minutes just to serve me alone! It took me another 30 minutes to reapply my lost ATM card. And that time doesn’t include waiting for my turn! It is just the time the staff took to do my work alone while letting a lot of other customers waiting!

If you have been to a Singapore bank, you will actually thought you are in a Hotel! The bank staffs will wait for you at the entrance! They will do anything you need while you sit on the sofa reading your favorite newspaper. In Singapore, customers is the boss. In Malaysia, customers is the slave.

This is happening because Malaysia banks are over protected by the Government. Only until recently Citibank are allowed to setup a few more branches. Before this, Citibank only have 3 branches in the whole Malaysia. So again, why Government choose to protect local business, we pay the price.

Isn’t that what the Singapore government is doing to AirAsia?

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If Singapore Government is selfish, what about our Government? While Singapore Government might have been selfish, they have actually done a lot of great things fortheir people which we can only dream of! They are SELFISH but they are SMART too!

I used Streamyx. You probably use Streamyx too. TM has a monopoly of the last mile connections. Unlike other countries, Malaysia has not passed any legislation for the unbundling of last mile connections. This gives little chance for other third party companies to compete with TMNet and has thus created an unhealthy business environment.

Look at our crime rates! We have tons of notebook thieves wandering around KL. We have tons of snatchers planning to snatch your mum’s handbag. We have tons of robbers that want to break into our house everyday.

Compare our Internet connection with Singapore!

Compare our crime rates with Singapore!

Compare our public transportation system with Singapore!

Compare our local universities with Singapore!

Compare our Ringgit Malaysia with Singapore!

Compare our Police with Singapore!

WE ARE FAR FAR BEHIND! WAKE UP MALAYSIANS! WAKE UP! We both started at the same time! We can’t blame our population and size because we will then need to compare ourself with Japan and Korea, which is even more scary!

(Japan need to recover from World War II and they don’t even speak English. Koreahave to fight Communism and have their country split into half and they don’t speak English as well.)

WAKE UP MALAYSIA! Just talking ‘Malaysia Boleh’ is not enough, we have to work hard and PROOF IT!