JPA overseas scholarships are meant for who?

What are the selection criteria for the awarding of such scholarships? How much weightings are given to academic results, interview performance, family income, extra-mural, race, courses chosen?
Can the authority provide a definite guidelines to the selection criteria?

I came across a girl who scored 9A+ in all the core subjects and a A- in Mandarin. Even though she studies in a Chinese independent school, she sat for the SPM.

She came from a single parent, lower income family. Her father was a government servant who died in an accident while on official duties. She was also active in her school
activities.

Despite all these remarkable background, her application for a JPA overseas scholarship to study biotechnology was rejected.

Why was her application rejected? I hate to say that co-curriculum activities and interview performance are all very subjective. According to her, many of her school mates who had similar or better results were rejected too. Is it because they all came from the Chinese independent schools?

I came across kids from rich parents who were offered the scholarships. Shouldn’t kids from rich families be excluded? What are the objectives of JPA scholarships?

With so much controversies and mysteries shrouding the awarding the scholarship, Can the authority publish the lists of JPA scholarship students, their academy results and the courses they have been offered?

TNB Rip -Off? Part 2

Malaysiakini today reported on the unhappiness of residents in Perak over the controversial billing method by TNB. Residents of Subang Jaya was one of the earlier places where TNB had implemented such billing system and we had made numerous complaints but to no avail. Over the last several months, TNB had rolled out the same billing system to other parts of the country.

It is about time TNB comes out with a clear explanation on the changeover and the actual method and calculation to arrive at the electricity usage.

Over to you, TNB

Back to Kiwiland!

After an absence of nearly 18 years from the country, I am finally back at New Zealand.

My return trip to NZ is very emotional. It was my late wife's wish (she passed away last June) to have our son pursue his tertiary education in NZ, a country of his birth.

So here I am, at Dunedin, where University of Otago is located.

Things have been very hectic and stressful for me in the last few months. Being a single parent has changed my lifestyle and taking on new responsibilities. Routines which I have previously taken for granted like children's healthcare, education and general well being suddenly takes up at lot of my time.

Having a full time job as a professional does not leave much time for my kids. I am fortunate that my 2 kids have been relatively well behaved and cooperative.

Preparation for my son's trip has been time absorbing. Shopping for his winter clothing, booking air ticket and prior to that, follow up on his university applications.

Accommodation for my son's stay in NZ has been one big headache for me. It has been bothering me for days.

My son left NZ when he was only 2 years old. He has always stays with us all these years and have not been away for long period at all, except during his school trips. The preferred option would be to put him up at one of the halls of residence (university hostels) without him to worry about meal preparations and other house chores.

Not realising that local NZ students started their accommodation application way back in Oct last year, he only submitted his application early this month, as soon as he has been offered a place at the university.

Since our arrival at Dunedin on the nite of 14/2, we have been staying at one of the backpackers hostels.

Today, we went to see the University accommodation officer and the international student advisor to sort out the accommodation matter. The staff have been extremely helpful. We were told that due to our late applications, there aren't any more vacancy. Anyhow, we were advised to go and see the head of one of the College Halls. We couldn't believe our luck when she told us that one of the students had just withdrawn his acceptance. She conducted an instant interview on my son and immediately offered a place. Today must have been one lucky day for us. Tomorrow I am going to buy a Lotto ticket.

I will be busy in the next few days to sort out his banking matters, course approval and a whole host of things.

Chinese Schools Under Siege ?

In the last few weeks, the government has come out with a series of pronoucements which might stymie the growth of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan China (SJKC) and SJKT ( Tamil Primiary Schools) in the country.

Amongst these are:
1. Minimum 80% building fund ready before any construction work can begin. Not only does the government does not come out with the allocations to fund the construction (which till today it still cannot give a satisfactory answer) , it is now placing restrictions on school expansion. As it is already burdensome enough for SJKC to seek public donations to fund the constructions costs, the new policy will further hinder SJKC development. Most of the time, construction and public donations are being carried out simultateously. Contractors are also willing to provide extended credit term to the Board of Governors.

Demands for places in SJKC are at record high, especially at new suburbs where hundreds of applicants have been rejected due to insuffucient places. By imposing a minimum funds must be available, constructions of new buildings and new relocated schools will be delayed, thus depriving thousands the opportunity to study in the school of their choice.

2. A capping of 10 subjects for SPM examiniations for credit recogntion. After much oppsition by the Indian & Chinese community, the Education Ministry finally agreed to allow students the choice of 2 additional optional subjects, ie Chinese/Tamil Language and vernacular literature subjects. However these optional subjects will not be given merit points and hence due recogntion for scholarships. This definitely run against the Federal Constitution which guarantees the existence and usage of vernacular languages in the country.

3. The reduced intake for schools holiday temporary teacher training program. There aren’t enough qualified teachers for SJKCs and temporary teachers are being recruited in large numbers to fill in the void. These teachers subsequently attend training program to upgrade their skills and are converted to permanent teachers once conditions are fulfilled. Government has not been able to resolve teacher shortages in SJKCs, depsite the many promises made by the government, especially past and present MCA deputy Education Minster. The lower intake will further aggravate the dire situations.

Apart from these unwelcome policies, then we have earlier on the stupid remarks made by Prof Khoo Kay Kim, a historian, who advocated a single school stream system and further infuriated the Chinese community by commenting that teaching methods in SJKC only produced copy cat students.

9 Storey Telekom Project at USJ 6

Wednesday (28/9/09)brought cheers to the residents of USJ 6 as MPSJ has decided to revoke the development order granting permission to Telekom Malaysia (TM) to build a 9 storey commercial building on land designated for public utilities.

The residents have battled with the authorities for more than a year to have the project scrapped. The vacant land is sited right among the residential houses.

The crux of the issue is that the land was originally designated for public utilities (telecommunication purposes) and along the way, the status was changed to commercial. How did the change happen and shouldn't the residents have a say in the change?

Many other issues and controversies have also irked the residents.At the first public hearing in MPSJ held in June 2008, the deputy YDP who chaired the meeting has denied that there was any previous applications to develop the land commercially. The residents later found out that 2 previous applications in 2006 to split the plot for commercial development were rejected outright, on the basis that the land was reserved for telecommunication purposes only. How could the Chairman of the hearing lied to the residents? What kind of nonsence and transparency are we talking about?

It is also interesting to note that Telekom Malaysia (through its subsidiary Telekom Facilities Sdn Bhd) had signed a S & P agreement with the developer on the same day as the public hearing? Was it a mere co-incidence?

The One Stop Centre (OSC)held its meeting to consider the application during the transition period whereby there wasn't any councillor as the new Pakatan Rakyat Councillors were not sworn in yet. Again was it a mere co-incidence?

Has MPSJ fully disclosed all pertinent information (especially with regards to previous rejections) to the Selangor State Planning Committee ?

The time is right for MPSJ and other Majlis in the country to seriously strike a balance between overdevelopment and quality of life of the residents.

Let this case be the beginning of an era where residents will have more says in the development of their neighbourhood.

TNB Bill Rip-Off?

I have been monitoring my monthly electric bills. I noticed my last 2 bills were much higher than my normal bills. I thought TNB issued the bill based on "estimate" but it wasn't the case. I have in fact relocated my TNB meter to face directly my front gate.

I noted that my latest bill was done 36 days from the previous reading. My previous bill was read 40 days from the bill early.

What does it mean to you if TNB reads your bill much later than the normal 30 day cycle? You would definitely pay higher than normal due to 2 factors:
(1) Higher kWhs consumed (More days involved and thus higher consumptions)
(2) Higher tariff rate

I want to highlight factor(2) due to the tariff rate structure as follows:

For the first 500kWh (1-500kWh) per month 28.6 sen/kWh
For the next 100 kWh (501-600kWh) per month 37.8 sen/kWh
For the next 100 kWh (601-700kWh) per month 38.7 sen/kWh
For the next 100 kWh (701-800kWh) per month 39.7 sen/kWh
For the next 100 kWh (801-900kWh) per month 41.7 sen/kWh
For the next kWh (901 kWh onwards)per month 44.6 sen/kWh

Say my monthly consumption is usually at about 500 kWh (500 * RM 0.286=RM 143.00). However when the TNB guy comes and does the reading on the 40th day, my electric consumption will be around 667 kWh (500 X 40 days/30 days). My bill for that month would end up(500 * RM 0.286+ 167*RM 0.0378= RM 206.00). Because TNB came late by 10 days, by virtue of the staggered tariff structure, I ended up paying at a higher tariff for the additional 167 kw (normal rate of RM 0.286/kWh against RM 0.378/kWh). The extra amounted to (RM 0.378-RM 0.286)*167Kw = RM 15.00, or about 8% higher than the normal bill had TNB read my meter every 30 days.

If TNB does this to every user (household/industrial/commercial), can you imagine how much extra revenue it would garner annually? Is this a case of consumer rip-off?

MCA aka Mired in Crisis Association

Delegates at the EGM on 10/10/09 dealt a near fatal blow to both the President (OKT) and the Deputy (CSL). The result was a shock to most delegates. Not only it did not resolve the original crisis but instead drove the party deeper into crisis.

During the campaign leading up to the EGM, OKT did mention that the Presidential Council and the Central Committee would resign en block if a vote of no confidence against him was passed. CSL's camp countered it by saying that it was not fair for OKT to hold the delegates at ransom. OKT later announced that he would take sole reponsibility and resign should the no confidence vote is passed.

The aftershocks of the EGM were far reaching. First, OTK refused to step down after the EGM. Instead he blamed that some of his so called loyal liutenants had back stabbed him by not voting him during the EGM which he lost narrowly. These same group of people were later acccused of power crazy and were behind the plot to force him to resign from the president's post after the EGM. He further revealed that the sacking of CSL as deputy President and the suspension of his party membership were recommended by these same lietenants. He felt utterly betrayed.

In response, he has decided to call for a second EGM! At the same time, CSL has written to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for an reinstalment of his deputy president's position in the party! Meantime, Liow Tiong Lai, who was appointed as the deputy President to replace CSL was himself defending an allegation over a MPV gift to his wife by a company often invloved in his Health Ministry's projects!The latest development(20/10/09)in MCA is that OTK has removed its legal bureau chief!

What has happened in MCA has parallels in UMNO and MIC as well. The No 1 and No 2 in these 3 parties do not always get along well and are forever at each other's throats!

The MCA crisis has dragged on for a while and the party's Ministers and Deputy Ministers are practically involved full time in the party's affairs. Is it fair for the taxpayers to continue to pay them full time salary for doing nothing?