Saturday, March 31, 2007

Parliamentarian snouts in public trough

The expression “sticking their snouts in the trough” means those people (with the snouts) are enjoying free goodies, made available to them through privileged access (to the ‘trough’).

And “sticking their snouts in the public trough” means the same thing, but with the long suffering taxpayers footing the bill.

Examples of “sticking their snouts in the public trough” would be having a jolly good all-expense paid outing to an exotic place like the North Pole, or Mount Everest, etc, or members of vaious municipal councillors going on all-expense paid ‘study tours’ to examine public housing projects and achievements in European countries (with a totally different weather condition or environment for housing) or China (which has bloody useless public housing) but not to neighbouring Singapore which has probably the best record for public housing.


Then, you could also have state Excos on an all-expense paid trip to study parliamentary procedures in undemocratic dictatorships like, say Egypt, which could include a look at the Egyptian unique culture of belly dancing. I am just waiting to hear about a proposed trip to Tahiti to study coconut and taro (ubi kayu) agriculture while taking in the local culture of Tahitian hula hula grass skirt gyrations.

All paid for by you and me, who have been told to tighten our belts in order to cope with the increased fuel, oil, sugar, toll, you-name-it prices.

Well, according to a Sin Chew Daily report yesterday, since the opening of the new Parliament session last week, a series of ministerial briefings have been held at luxurious 5-star hotels in KL, all complete with door gifts.

For example, each participant to the ministerial briefing by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry received a free mobile phone.

While it is a common practice for ministries and departments to brief BN MPs (eat your hearts out, DAP, PAS and Dr Wan Azizah) when there is a new bill being tabled in Parliament, such events were mostly held in the Parliament House.

But I suppose with so much tax and toll collected in recent times, the government must have decided to upgrade the process of such mundane duties, facilitating those ‘hard working’ BN MPs to stick their snouts further in the public trough.


Afterall it’s all bloody hard work, as demonstrated by the monkey who fatigued himself through posing sexist questions to DAP MP Miss Chong Eng, like asking her whether she would like it ‘hard or soft’ – see my posting Cyclops in Monkey House.

However, to be fair to some other BN backbenchers, who wisely prefer to remain anonymous, they have criticised sub rosa the recent ‘phenomenon’ of holding ministerial briefings in hotels complete with door gifts.

Does ‘recent phenomenon’ mean it’s all happening under the current administration? Damn, now we can’t get to blame Dr Mahathir.

The Sin Chew report which quoted those ‘unnamed’ BN MPs stated the bloody obvious, that the extravagant troughs for greedy snouts were a waste of public money.

They provided examples of our Boleh extravaganza.

A ministry booked 10 tables for the briefing, each of which cost at least RM 1,000. Sometimes at such briegings only a handful of MP turned up. Maybe that’s why door gifts were added to motivate attendance?

Those backbencher whistle-blowers pointed out that the door gifts could have been sponsored by the corporate sector, but the practice was nevertheless ‘inappropriate’, meaning it’s bloody corruption!

The Sin Chew report also featured a letter dated March 21 signed by BN Backbenchers Club acting chief Ahmad Zainuddin Omar informing backbenchers to attend a briefing held at the Seri Pacific Hotel on Tuesday.

The briefing was organised by the Employees Provident Fund (EFP) to explain its move to buy the debt-ridden RHB Bank.

But defiant (and couldn’t care a stuff) BN MP for Pontian Hasni Mohamed
defended the move to hold briefings in hotels:

“After a whole day in Parliament, it is important we get a small break and change of environment. I don’t think it involves exorbitant spending.”

“It (the cost) is a small amount compared to the benefit we gain from it (the briefings) because the MPs get a comfortable place to listen to the briefings and gather their thoughts.”

… meaning Parliament was uncomfy, which was not what I heard, about the lavish kueh-mueh's and hot steaming kari kambing kurma with ayam kunyit goreng and various other delicious dishes readily available for more sticking of snouts in the public trough.

But c'mon lah, let’s be fair, Parliament House may not have the char kuat facilities that 5-star hotels have, certainly much needed after “after a whole [damn tiring] day in Parliament” of ‘hard and soft’ issues.

Puchong MP Lau Yen Pheng also averred that the briefings were necessary because they helped backbenchers prepare for their debates in the House. He didn’t explain why that couldn’t be done in a briefing room in Parliament House itself. He advised us that the door gifts were “nothing to worry about.”


Maybe he meant that part wasn’t part of the public trough?

Hmmm, I visualise someone preparing and rehearsing for the parliamentary debate at one of those 5-star hotel (of course after the essential briefings):

Kawan, olang Malaysia dan
saudara (kelas 1 dan ke-2)
oi, pinjam lu punya telinga
boleh ah? Saya ... er ... ah
kiri sedikit, sayang... oooh
ya, ya, itu dia .. uuuh ... best
BEST, amboi sedap lah ... er...
mana saya tadi ... ya ...
aku,
ahhhh ya ... aku .. cum ..
cummin' ... ahhhhhhhhhh
...
ya ........ sokong menteri,
ya sokong, memang sokong

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I’ve edited just two words of what:

    vesewe said...

    No surprising with such emotion running high: More person to emigrate. This is brain drain. Bolehland has no vision for its all people except for the Umno malays.

    Who not afraid of the keris waving politician? Even my malay classmate emigrated to New Zealand recently, sick of the polemics and the politicising of religion here, good thing got money shall travel, no money no talk.

    Should have left 10 years ago when I saw that we have no equal opportunities. But I hesitated and said there will be a change when Badawi takes over. Well! Guess that was not the case. It got worse and the future of Malaysia is bleak!

    Pack my back and left the place to look for better opportunities and fight on merits. I am better off in Australia than the "Dark Hole" of Malaysia. At least you get respected for your recognition and skill. In Malaysia, how good you are is always a second class citizen. No promotion for us but their own kind.

    NEP to malays is like drug to drug addicts. Once they started to taste it, they will never let go till they die. Tough they all know very well NEP is just like drug, not good for them in the long run, but they can't resist the short term temptation and fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of NEP.

    Since now, the NEP had become Never Ending Policy, the little hope of getting out of the NEP drug will dismiss and leading to the destruction of the malays. By then maybe all the able non-malays had already emigrated to greener pasture in overseas. I forecast 2020 year is the doom day. Thanks to selfish Umno malays.

    We are at our own liberty not to live in this controversial country. The government does not discourage us to leave this country. For Chinese and Indians, Malaysia perhaps is not a good place to stay because your mother countries to with China and India are now thriving. Just leave malays to manage their own country. Let Malaysia ruin with the malays.

    The Chinese culture is compatible to other cultures in the world. The Chinese will have no problem adapt to other cultures in the world. There are many China Towns in overseas countries. So the Malaysian Chinese will feel at home wherever they go.

    Real sick and tired of all these Umno xxxxputras, the sob in Malaysia Umno xxxxputras!

    Yes, the only realistic proposition is encourage all Chinese to emigrate to Singapore and leave Malaysia for the malays. Trouble is Singapore is so small, its land mass will not allow a huge population to live in the island.

    So next choice for the Chinese to emigrate is to Australia and New Zealand. The exodus has begun. Those who can afford now have started to go. The signs are already there.

    There is no future in this country anymore. In a few years time this country will be in ruins when the oil money runs dry. FDI has already dry up and gone to other countries like Thailand and Vietnam. Foreign factories have closed shop migrated to China and India.

    Chinese planning to emigrate should also consider option to return to China. Some of my friends when to invest there and within a few years become millionaires. There is much more opportunities and being Chinese there shouldn't be any problem.

    By my own experience I can tell you that it is great being a new citizen in Singapore. You are judged by what you can contribute and not but some NEP policies.

    The education in Singapore is also about the best in the world. Yes, even the educators from the native English-speaking countries adopt how mathematics and science are taught here.

    Best of all, every time you cross the causeway to visit Malaysia you are rewarded by at least 2 or 3 times in your spending capability.

    Oops……….now that this is happening, in the next 5 - 10 years, Malaysia will end up looking like the Philippines, where their main export is maids. Lack of income from tax, will see economy melt down. Skilled professionals all fled from the country.

    Yes and having lived overseas, I have a nice bird's eye view of how Malaysia is heading towards the sewers.

    Malaysia has spent the last 3 decades focusing on physical infrastructure without developing the human capital. Never mind the restrictions and stifling of independent minds - let us not even go there yet.

    Let us start with basic education and providing of higher education opportunities for the best and brightest. We have cultivated at least 2 generations of dumbass.

    Too many unqualified malays have been force fed into colleges and universities and the end result is you have the same bunch of witless village idiots, except now they are holding a piece of paper they don't know what to do with. A minority is absorbed back into the tertiary education system……….no prizes for guessing what that has caused over the last 30 years.

    For the majority remaining, real world corporations wouldn't even hire them if they offered to work for free. So you have a bunch of jobless numbskulls who think they are too good for the common labor jobs, which they would have ended up in anyways given their aptitude and qualification, and desire a pen-pushing corporate position (if they could push that pen to string one coherent sentence in English, that would be another thing).

    So we bring in all sorts of foreign labors to do our work for us, and we have a youth bulge of unemployable (and grossly unqualified) graduates walking around with a sense of entitlement.

    Sounds familiar? It should. This is what is happening in the Middle East.

    This trend towards greater Islamic extremism is also no coincidence. It is merely the natural path of development that a failed society embarks upon.

    The malays have failed. Plain and simple. Their policies stink, they have screwed themselves more than they have others, in fact. The only reason the shit hasn't hit the fan sooner is because, like their desert co-religionists, they have petroleum propping them up.

    That will go soon……….not totally, but it won't be at the present rate it props the country up. And it is closer than you think.

    Those who can should emigrate and get the hell out - and that includes our malay brothers and sisters who have the means to. When the dust settles, no amount of cyber cities, longest bridges and tallest buildings, are going to save you from the disaster of a fourth world country that is being developed.

    I am one of the cows applying for migration. How do I feel? I feel that the world is my home. If I am not treated well here, I will go to another country.

    It is not about fighting for the country or fighting for the world. I am fighting for a better life and that is what everyone craves for.

    Anyway why limit ourselves to one country when we can explore to other places. We only leave once, make the best out of it.

    Well, the most popular countries to emigrate are Australia, New Zealand and USA. For those who wanted to emigrate to any of these countries and not prepare to pay the extra migration agent fees should consider apply themselves, it is not difficult as long as you meet the respective country criteria.

    I know because I am an migrant myself and I helped my friends to emigrate to all those countries in the past three years.

    ReplyDelete
  3. while I understand vesewe's sentiments ad frustrations, I find it disconcerting as his posting moved from attacking UMNOputras to Malays and then to Islamic co-religionists to .....

    While I'm certain that vesewe's attacks were directed at UMNOputras, his gradual loss of control of the uni-directional blast may be offending to Malays in general because of his attacks metamorphosing into shotgun-like spraying.

    ReplyDelete
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