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Survey shows political blogs unpopular

November 14th, 2007
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Minister: Survey shows political blogs unpopular
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/74789
Yoges Palaniappan
Nov 14, 07 5:43pm

A survey conducted by Microsoft has shown that most bloggers in the country operate blogs for entertainment and to communicate with family members.

The survey, titled 'A Windows Live Report' in August last year, discovered that 63 percent of respondents blog for entertainment and 49 percent blog to communicate with family and friends.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik, in a parliamentary written reply, said the survey showed that only three percent of bloggers are into citizen journalism.

"The survey also concluded that political blogs are the least preferred, where only two percent of respondents visit these blogs. On the other hand, 81 percent said they prefer to frequent blogs operated by family and friends," he said.

Lim, referring to the statistics derived from a survey conducted by a website based in the US in April, said that out of the three billion websites in cyberspace, 70 million are blogs.

"The high number of blogs is the result of technological advancement, which enables anyone with an Internet access to form a blog through various blog hosts," said Lim.

He said it is difficult for the authorities to monitor all the blogs to identify those that spread lies.

Thus, the government relies on the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to conduct random supervision based on complaints received from the public.

Jail, fine or both

He was responding to a query from Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) who asked the minister to state whether the government has identified Malaysian based blogs that spread lies.

On the actions that could be taken against bloggers, Lim said: "Section 211 and 233 of the MCMC Act allows actions to be taken against bloggers who misuse the Internet to spread lies and false information."

"If convicted, the person can be fined not more than RM50,000 and jailed for more than a year or both," he said, adding that bloggers can also be charged under the Sedition Act and Penal Code.

However, Lim said that the authorities have not identified any Malaysian-based websites that publish lies and false information.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia, TechStuff

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assemblyman proposes bill for selangor officials to declare assets

November 14th, 2007
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can the debate and passing of this motion be called a moment of truth for the selangor govt? let us wait and see on November 19.

Get all S’gor officials to declare assets

source

By DHARMENDER SINGH

KLANG: Sungai Pinang state assemblyman Teng Chang Khim wants to push a bill that would require all selected representatives and appointed politicians in Selangor to declare their family assets. 

He has submitted a notice to the State Secretary for a motion to table the proposed Declaration of Family Income and Asset Bill 2007 to make this compulsory. 

Teng said the proposed Bill would cover the mentri besar, state executive councillors, state assemblymen, state senators and local government councillors as well as their spouses. 

The declaration, he said, would then have to be gazetted and made public, adding that anyone with information on assets or income that had not been declared could report to the authorities. 

He said the notice was submitted on Nov 5, giving the state government ample time to discuss it at the state executive council meeting and to decide if it would be tabled at the next state assembly sitting, which begins on Nov 19. 

“The need to make it compulsory for all politicians to declare their income and assets has been discussed for a long time and it is time to finally implement it," he told a press conference here on Wednesday. 

Under the proposal, anyone making a fraudulent declaration would face a minimum jail term of one year and one day or a minimum fine of RM3,000 which is enough to make an assemblyman lose his seat.

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MAS e-ticketing problem

November 14th, 2007
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Received this from a friend about two weeks back, but was shelved due to the temple issues (here,here and here).

I trawled through MAS website and managed to find their Communications Division email and forwarded this to them as well.

Delivered-To: mpoobalan@XXXXXXXXXXX
X-Sender: g.shamalah@XXXXXXXXXXXX
X-Originating-IP: XXXXXXXXXXXX
From: “Medusa”
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:03:58 -0000
Subject: [www.umic.org.my] Mana Ada System!

I logged into a few airline’s websites today looking for the price of air tickets to Europe. To name a few, Qantas, BA, Emirates SIA and of coz MAS to make fare comparisons.

Before I go on, I would like to tell you checking flight rates and availability on all the other websites has been a breeze except for MAS.

Let me share with you what I have experienced:

If the date is unavailable for the destination you choose, it immediately gives you a default message mentioning the obvious: “sorry the flight on the date either unavailable”. Mind you this is not always the case. There are times you don’t get any message. You are re-routed to the same selection page.

This resets the Date column back to present date. I believe this is a glitch in the website. This forces you to re-select the “To/from” cities and “Dep/arr” dates all over again (I think you can picture how troublesome this is). So once you re-select your choices, try to find the next available date by trial and error hoping you will strike. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack! Imagine doing this on the year end period – chances of finding an available ticket is soooo low.

In other airlines, for eg Qantas, they would give you option of the nearest available date so you could consider other option.

After trying for about 15 times, I am told my session time is out that I have to “re-login”. Lol! After this no matter how many times you login you still keep getting
kicked to Session time out page.

Looks like MAS doesn’t want you to consider other options, and if you want they expect you to re-do and keep trying till you strike a date that is available.

Btw, just for your info, MAS apparently doesn’t deal with travel agents. A few agents I have approached told me that MAS only allows direct booking as they have not been licensed to sell the tickets! I’m not sure if this is for all agents however.

Now can someone explain to me why a company who is doing so badly would make it as difficult as possible for customers to buy their tickets!

Never mind, I still wanted to give it a try thru phone booking. But alas! I was kept on hold till I gave up!

No wonder MAS is in deep ****. Perhaps someone working for MAS can forward my feedback to Mr Idris Jala. It’s about time he stops looking at his pretty paintings in his office and start concentrating on e-ticketing business!

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Posted in BornInMalaysia

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eye witness comment on Padang Jawa temple demolition

November 14th, 2007
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Another email regarding the Padang Jawa temple demolition by MBSA by a reader sent to a forum. I’m unable to contact the author again, so if he/she is able to read this, do get back to me.

Delivered-To: mpoobalan@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Received: by 10.142.79.1 with SMTP id c1cs74041wfb;
Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:24:28 -0700 (PDT)
X-Sender: arthi_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X-Apparently-To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
In-Reply-To: <441963.30273.qm@web36406.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <532421.86700.qm@web33711.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
From: arthi arthi
Sender: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:18:16 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: shah alam temple demolished and media blackout

Dear Sirs,

MIC people did came but it was too late, we have waited for them since morning. We are tired of calling politician to help us since morning. Why when election time they are punctual in visiting us to have our votes.

Can you imagine our children studying in the kindergarten and MBSA started to bring in machines to demolish the kindergarten which is apart of the temple. Can you feel our pain when you see our children and women praying in the temple, chanting and singing theyvaram from morning till evening, so that someone helps us to rescue our temple from being demolish.

The temple is apart of Padang Jawa peoples life. The temple has helped us; provides shelter, food, education guidance, career guidance, motivation for us to improve ourselves, even sponsoring youngster’s motivation club, teaching us theyvaram, Indian cultural, and so many activities that has benefited us. In return we are helpless to save our temple. Can you feel how disappointed we are?

The temple was not given any notice to vacant, only the surrounding areas were given notice to move out. In fact we were told that politician is in the negotiating to avoid the temple from being demolished until the temple is given another place. That’s the reason we were against MBSA.

We are grateful to people that came over from Klang, Kg Jawa, Sri Muda and Shah Alam that had helped and protected us from MBSA and police.

As for uncle Sam and other politicians this is a good lesson for them. Please do something to improve the situation the soonest.

Our worries are on those who have been arrested, including the lawyers. Please help us to rescue them, some of them are innocent that tried to helped to transfer the temples belongings and had helped rescuing women and children.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian

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rounding mechanism to remove use of 1 sen coin

November 13th, 2007
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So, can expect products to be priced at RMXX.X3, RMXX.X4, RMXX.X8 or RMXX.X9 so that can earn extra 1 or 2 sen. Good if the prices go down, but in reality, the prices will go up. Anything costing RM29.99 (for example), you can expect to get the 1 sen balance, but with the new ruling, you won’t get anything back. The good thing is that business can stop advertising the XX.99 sales gimmicks!

UPDATE: according to NST, the rounding off is for the total bill and not individual item. So it may even out in the end, or you may even gain a sen or two!

Bye-bye, 1sen coin

source

By WONG SAI WAN AND ROYCE CHEAH

KUALA LUMPUR: It is no joke but by April 1 next year, you would not have to use the one-sen coin anymore thanks to a "rounding mechanism" that would be used for all over-the-counter transactions. 

The mechanism, which will be fully implemented by April 1, means all payment totals will either be rounded up or down to the nearest five sen. 

For example, if the total amount to be paid is RM82.01 or RM82.02, it would be rounded down to RM82; if the total is RM82.03 or RM82.04, it would be rounded up to RM82.05. 

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal announced details of the mechanism on Tuesday, saying it would benefit both businesses and consumers. 

"It will be more convenient for both parties. Businesses will no longer have to handle the coins or ensure they have a ready supply, while consumers would also not have to worry about carrying them," he said. 

Shafie said the Government would also be able to reduce its minting costs as it was anticipated that the demand for the coin would reduce drastically once the mechanism was implemented. 

"It will also not affect the current price structure. Businesses can continue to charge RM29.99 or other odd numbers they are currently using," he said.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia

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