Undersea cables still holding up

Japan is a hub for trans-Pacific undersea cables that provide Internet access between many regions of the world. About 20 submarine cables land in Japan, giving Friday’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake the potential to disrupt communications around the globe. Luckily, so far, reports of cable damage have been low, according to TeleGeography. Full report here.

Internet's still quite fast over the past 2 days- I guess things are ok for now.

National debts : this is getting a bit serious now

While many of us are focusing on some diplomats' coffee shop gossip over-emphasized just because it was from WikiLeak, I notice something more serious then which asshole is the real asshole.


Now almost 6 months ago, I have been alarmed by the level of national debts and wrote this. According to Singapore's Today, Dow Jones reported that 21 more government bonds auctions (really it means rakyat debts committed by temporary administrators on their behalf without getting rakyat's consent), 1/3 more than this year, to raise money to spend on 131 "key projects" (which should include the much objected Menara Warisan Merdeka).

Malaysians are expected to owe another RM90 billion from debts raised in 2011 alone; the years and years of accumulated debts as at 2008 alone was already RM213 billion.

In 2011, Najib's administration will almost double our debts and subject us to more foreign exchange risks. The loans are for infrastructure and property projects - not a whimper about healthcare, human capital development, education .... the soft skills so vital nowadays and Malaysians so lack of it nowadays.

When Najib gleefully announced his election budget for 2011, I wondered where the heck the money is going to come from, given the declining oil revenue and foreign as well as local investments; the apparent answer now, bluntly and without apology, shrinks my balls.

I do not know if the "projects" will generate enough revenue to repay the principals and interest and have enough crumbs for the rakyat to feed on. Who are going to rent the Menara Warisan Merdeka? Will KLCC become another Menara Dayabumi ghost building? Will the other commercial buildings owned by Malaysians be deprived of its existing tenants? Simple questions and no answers.

What I do know is that tax payers' money which could be used for hospitals, subsidy on food and medical supply, schools, street lighting, flood preventation, crime fighting, living expenses assistance to the handicap and aged will be forgone.

What I do not know is who are the financial service professionals that will earn a lot of fees from organising the loans?
What will the rakyat get? According to Dr Kua Kia Soong in his writing entitled "Defence Ministry on a spending spree", RM1 billion can built 100 hospitals or 1,000 new schools or 10,000 new homes. So next year when the government borrows on average almost twice a month to raise RM90 billion, we will forgo 9,000 hospitals, 90,000 new schools or just 900,000 new homes. And we have people waiting for months just to have an appointment with public hospitals.

I know Najib did some lab studies on the ETP, NEM and what not. I did a low budget lab on my own. I asked a kindly old lady who should be more knowledgeable than me.

I asked her, "madam, what would you say to me if I were to borrow in your name without your consent, spend it on something that would not benefit you but you will just spend years and years of your life paying the debt off and not getting your medicines, better quality food and other necessitites of life."

The result of my lab study is as follows:

INI BUDAYA SIAPA?!

Presiden Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou mengadakan dua sidang akhbar untuk memohon maaf kepada semua rakyat Taiwan kerana pihak pentadbirannya telah terdapat kelemahan dalam usaha kerajaan menyelamatkan mangsa Typhoon Morakot.




Menurut beliau lagi, akibat gangguan cuaca, kerja penyelamatan telah dilambatkan dan menyebabkan para mangsa menganggap terdapat keculasan dalam usaha memberi bantuan kepada mangsa. Beliau telah menyuruh pihak eksekutifnya membuat siasatan teliti dan jika terdapat kelemahan, tindakan akan diambil terhadap pihak yang bertanggungjawab. Laporan terperinci akan diumumkan pada bulan September selepas redanya kerja penyelamatan.


Berbanding dengan "apology" daripada Dato Seri Hishammuddin mengenai peristiwa keris itu di mana beliau telah mempertahankan dan mengulangi perbuatan tersebut, tetapi selepas pengajaran Pilihanraya Umum ke-12 baru beliau sudi memohon maaf "jika terdapat pihak yang tersinggung".


Pada hemat anda sekalian, peristiwa yang manakah yang lebih menampakkan keikhlasan serta fahaman bahawa Wakil Rakyat adalah Yang Berkhidmat dan bukan sahaja Yang Berhormat sahaja?


Bagaimana pula dengan tindak balas pihak berkuasa yang berkenaan semasa krises dan bencana melandai Malaysia? Bagaimanakah keupayaan dan budaya kerja yang diberi kepada mangsa dan pembayar cukai sewaktu peristiwa Highland Towers, tanah runtuh Bukit Antarabangsa, kebakaran feri ke Pulau Tioman, wabak H1N1 dan JE, tsunami (bukan March 8 2008 itu) dan sebagainya.


Sebaik-baiknya, para Wakil Rakyat di Malaysia yang berpendapatan agak baik harus menghayati fahaman bahawa peranan utama mereka adalah berkhidmat untuk rakyat dan rakyatlah yang merupakan tuan kepada mereka dan bukan sebaliknya.