Creating world class cities: a prerequisite

Sydney: a world class city. But where is Malaysia's world class city?

A large proportion of the Malaysian population now resides within urban areas. As Malaysian cities grow bigger, issues relating to urban management become more complex and a host of new problems also start to set in. Traffic congestion, ineffective public transport, environmental degradation, and waste management are just some of the problems that the local authorities in Malaysia have to grapple with.

The local authorities are often made accountable for these matters that receive a great deal of public interest. Yet, the challenge has always been the overlapping roles of various government agencies, as well as, the lack of empowerment and limitation of authority vested upon them.

In more developed countries, local authorities are given more authority over matters that could be delivered more effectively at the local level by the local government themselves. It makes sense. After all, the local authorities being the “third-tier of government”, should have a clearer and fairer understanding of issues and problems within their areas of jurisdiction.

In the UK, Japan, and Australia for example, public transportation are within the jurisdiction of the local authorities to control and manage. Thus, services are able to be tailor-made to meet local needs more effectively.

In contrast, local authorities in Malaysia have no say what so ever in planning for public transportation. Instead they are controlled and decided elsewhere by some Federal ministry or agencies in Putarajaya or Kuala Lumpur. Why, even the routing of buses within their areas are decided for them by Federal agencies! And we are not even talking about approvals for rail-based transport like LRT or monorail yet here.

Ironically, whilst people all over the world are talking about “decentralization of power” and “empowerment of local governments” here we are bucking the trend. Because if recent developments are to be any indication, the Federal Government and its ministries are intent on usurping more powers from our local governments. Even traditional functions of local authorities like picking up of rubbish are being controlled from KL!

Hard to believe yes. But that’s Malaysia for you.

If this trend continues then we can just dream on about creating global and world class cities. Major, successful cities world over are given the trust and mandate to deal with local issues. In that way, they are able to discharge their duties effectively and meet the aspirations of the local population which they directly serve and are accountable to.

What we need in Malaysia right now is nothing short of a paradigm shift and a change in mindset. The management and organization of local authorities need to be enhanced. For that, the Federal Government and its battery of Ministries and agencies have just got to let go some of their functions. And local authorities have got to be given the necessary resources – jurisdiction, manpower and financial.

Only then can we talk about creating world class cities.

PC kaput

It's been very quite on this blog latety, yes. My PC has gone kaput. It just refuses to be switched on!

Steps have been taken to revive it. In the meantime this blog shall continue to hibernate. After all, it is winter (well almost)...

I'll be back soon, once the PC is OK.

Barack Obama: the time for change is here?

Barack Hussein Obama has done it. After two, long years of campaigning he has triumphed to be the 44th President of the United States

What in the world hit this first term senator in the first place to make him fancy his chances as the Democratic Party candidate beats me. After all he was up against Democrat heavyweight Hillary Clinton - and her hubby Bill, too, if I may add!

But against all odds, Hillary the undisputed favourite, was pushed aside.

And the campaign against McCain was no walk in the park either. Everything was thrown at him to derail his march to the White House.

But his sincerity and seemingly willingness to sit down and listen to all parties - "rogue nation" Iran included - has endeared him to many foreigners, and Americans alike, it seems.

After the promises of change, expectation will be running high that a new era of a fairer America shall emerge. We wait and see. Only time will tell.

Hj. Ahmad Termizi bin Mat Nor

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My dear beloved Father – Apak, to all his children – passed away last Sunday.

Al-Fatihah

buat

HJ. AHMAD TERMIZI BIN MAT NOR

Lahir 1.3.1936
Kembali ke rahmatullah 26.10.2008

Kembalilah ke sisi Penciptamu duhai Ayahandaku
Sesungguhnya kami akan mengikutimu
Engkau adalah orang yang terdahulu dari kami
Dan kami pasti akan menyusuli

Engkau sentiasa di dalam ingatan kami
Dalam ingatan anakanda, cucu serta semua keturunanmu

Diiringi do’a

Ya ALlah, Ya Tuhanku
Muliakanlah kedudukan Ayahanda kami
Gandakanlah pahala amalan-amalan beliau
Ampunilah segala dosa-dosa beliau

Ya ALlah, Ya Tuhanku
Cucuri rahmat ke atas roh beliau
Tempatkan beliau di kalangan orang-orang yang Engkau kasihi
Dan di kalangan orang-orang yang Soleh.

Amiin

Pesta Bola Merdeka: Lawak antarabangsa

The good old days

In case you hadn’t noticed yet, this year’s edition of Pesta Bola Merdeka kicked off last Wednesday, 15th of October.

And have you looked at the list of countries that the FAM has invited to participate? If you ask me, quite honestly, it’s a disgrace to the name and memory attached to this (formerly) grand dame of Asian football tournament which was mooted to commemorate the birth of our nation.

The countries that made it to the FAM list are nothing but minnows of footballing nations ranked below 100 in the official FIFA ranking. The highest ranked is Mozambique at 100. The rest are as follows: Sierra Leone (133), Myanmar (157), Vietnam (165), Nepal (175), Bangladesh (179) and Afghanistan (179).

Its a joke!

But with Malaysia being at number 160, I guess one could see where this list is coming from. The FAM is desperate for wins. After all aren’t we the defending champions?

FAM, did you know that Abraham Lincoln once said: You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time?

Malaysian football fans are more knowledgeable nowadays. If you want our support then be more professional in managing our football and bring it to a higher level. You cannot gain respect and support by us beating nations like war-torn Afghanistan in a football match.

Come on la FAM, get real will ya’.

Raya open house

Hari Raya open house, they say, is a Malaysian tradition. I guess its true. In Arab countries the celebration is decidedly very low key. Except for a small family feast, it more or less ends after the solat Aidil Fitri. My brother-in-law, Latif, who is working in Saudi Arabia told me over the phone that they only get one day official holiday there.

I held my open house yesterday. Just a small one, and nothing too fancy. For me, my priority for holding an open house is mainly friendship and silaturrahim.

Of course the food is there to be enjoyed too. Now, that's very important. After all, one wouldn't want a large group of guests with rumbling, empty stomach to congregate in one's house for too long. They might get riotous and take over the house !

But, most of all, the open house is a means for me to say thank you to my office colleagues for all their help and support at work, a chance meet up with old friends, as well as, an opportunity for me to have long chats with neighbours - a luxury for us (supposedly very busy) town people.

Alhamdulillah many turned up, and the event went without too much glitches. My only concern was that - at the peak of the event - I couldn't manage to speak for long with everybody. And secondly, at one point, my small house LOOKED just like it, i.e. a very small house which cannot hold that many people at one time.

But these are small matters which might be rectified with a little bit more planning.

Thank you to all those who attended and helped made it a memorable experience.

Of wet Raya and new biras

Alhamdulillah my family and I are safely back home from Raya celebration at the kampong.

My two sons, Syafiq and Anas, have also been sent back to their boarding schools today. But not after an arduous eight hour journey through heavy traffic jams and rain. They could have taken the public transport, or take a lift with some of their friend's parents. But, a man's got to do what a man's got to do. And their safe journey back to school is the most important thing to me. So I shall endure even worst challenges if necessary.

This year's Hari Raya celebration has been low-key, but a joyful and happy one nevertheless.

The first day of Raya we were in Sungai Petani, the Mem Besar's kampong. It rained and rained till water seeped through into my old car and wet the carpet inside - must be leaking somewhere!

But right after solat Aidil Fitri the rain stopped and out came the sunshine with all its glory. Subhanallah.

It has been quite sometime since we last celebrated first day of Raya in Sungai Petani. So it's a nice change. Plus, this year I got to celebrate it with two new "biras" (two of three that I shall have by end of this year).

One of them is a fan of English soccer, although not a Liverpool supporter I must say. Mamat told me that he supports Arsenal. Okay...I can live with that. As long as its not another one of those Man United guys, we'll get along fine :-)

On the second day of Raya I was in Ipoh with my parents and siblings.

We did not travel much because Apak is not doing too well. He can't walk that much due to his weakening legs and he also tires easily. So we stayed at home and received visitors instead, including one from a Pakistani friend of mine now teaching at the Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh.

But on the third day of Raya my siblings and I managed to make a convoy to six houses in and around Ipoh. These were visits to close relatives, some of whom we have not met for almost a decade.

To me, nowadays, this is what Aidil Fitri is all about. It is the occasion and opportunity to visit relatives and strengthen the bonds that exist between family and friends. Long gone are the days when Aidil Fitri is the time when I would don my new baju raya and make the rounds kutip duit Raya. That I leave it to my children now.

But I hope and pray that when their time come, my children too will hold up this tradition of visiting relatives - and friends of mine - in the name of establishing and strengthening silaturrahim.

Selamat Hari Raya and do not forget to start your Puasa Enam.