Star Sunday June 15 2008
PETALING JAYA: Motorists lined up as early as 7am to get their fuel rebates at post offices throughout the country.
Apart from minor hiccups when there were too many customers at once claiming their cash rebates, Pos Malaysia has won praises for an efficient service.
A check by The Star at post offices here revealed that most customers were happy with the payment system that went well on its first day.
Many came early and by noon, the queues had shortened.
Retiree Wong On, 72, said he waited just 30 minutes to get his rebate at the post office in Section 17.
In Johor Baru, hundreds of people turned up at post offices.
Retiree Lee Beng Ho, 68, said he was glad that he only waited for several minutes to get his rebate .
Azlini Zakariah, 46, was relieved after collecting the RM625 as she was facing difficulty paying her son’s university fee.
“Now, I can afford to pay the semester fee of RM608,” she said.
In Muar, the crowd started to fill the post office compound as early as 7am for the application forms and by noon more than 700 applications have been processed.
Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa, who was at the post office to monitor the crowd, said he received about 50 complaints from the people and came to check the crowd.
He said the Government could just post the forms to vehicle owners.
“The forms should also be simplified as many do not know how to fill them,” he said.
In Malacca, the queues built up early and proceeded smoothly except for some cases of queue jumping and other minor grouses.
At the main Pos Malaysia Berhad in Bukit Baru, Siti Nur Jayhan Begam, 24, from Taman Desa Molek was disappointed when she was told, after waiting for two hours, that she could not get her cash rebate, as her name was not found in the Road Transport Department (JPJ) system database.
She was told to take up the matter with the JPJ.
Does anyone here know if Gwee Tong Hiang, our ‘beloved’ Bentayan assemblyman, has a blog? I wanna lambast him for not respecting assembly attire rules. Just what is wrong with him? Dr. Boo (Skudai assemblyman) and other Johor DAP assemblymen have adhered to the rule. Why can’t he? If cannot lead by example by respecting Johor assembly attire rules, he might as well resign being Bentayan assemblyman. He’s totally disappointed many who elected him, including my mum! He needs to be reminded that the songkok is a Malay headgear, not a Muslim headgear! If our Chinese girls can wear baju kurung and sari, I don’t see any problem with Chinese men wearing baju Melayu, songkok and dhoti. Can’t he distinguish between race and religion? We have Muslim Chinese in Malaysia, is he saying that Muslim Chinese wearing the songkok is betraying the race? We asked him to bring issues facing Bentayan constituents to the assembly, not defying a simple rule like this and shaming Bentayan!
ReplyDeleteHis blog site is http://gweetonghiang.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteCaiWeiJie, just imagine, after you graduate, you got a job in a bumi company, and the management of the company restrict you to wear Malay costume + Songkok. Remember, you must wear everyday without fail. So, how would you feel? Would you follow? If you will follow, congratulations, you got the job but.....
ReplyDeletebigworm, pls make clear that working in a corporation and being a representative in an asesmbly are 2 different things. The assembly's tradition has been deep-rooted for 50 years and is not going to be easily uprooted. Traditional wear in office on the other hand makes it more difficult to move about and is less practical, especially when an employee needs to be on the move all the time, and therefore can be debated.
ReplyDeleteOn top of that, the songkok is not a Muslim headgear, it's only a Malay headgear. Race and religion are two entirely different things. Do the Arabs wear songkok? Do the Chinese Muslims in China wear songkok? Do American Muslims wear songkok? It is obvious that the songkok does not even symbolize Islam!
Malaysians have been wearing dresses of other races for a long time. Chinese girls wear baju kurung and sari, which are Malay and Indian wear respectively. Are they not Chinese then? Why have not the Chinese community criticize these Chinese girls then? What matters is one's soul, heart and spirit. Clothing is only physical stuff. Wearing songkok doesn't make one lose his cultural identity. And besides, the usual songkok is entirely black with no decorations on it. The one worn at the assembly has a stripe across it, so we can just view it part of the assembly uniform, not necessarily a songkok. I have worn baju Melayu before, thank you very much.
Mr. Gwee really needs to differentiate things properly. We expect him to execute his duties smoothly without any disturbances as possible. Now he has caused the Sultan's displeasure and His Highness is challenging him to have an audience with him. I wouldn't be surprised that if he really does seek audience there and gets smacked by the Sultan himself. We all know that Sultan Iskandar has a bit of temperament when he's displeased. U think to be criticized by the Sultan 很爽啊？本来可以没事好好做文打烟的代义士，现在热蚂蚁上身，很好玩吗？
Nobody asked Mr. Gwee to promise Bentayan ppl that he'll not wear songkok. He made that promise himself. But sometimes ppl need to learn to be flexible. Just only need to wear once also cannot. DAP's Central Committee didnt object to the uniform. Perak DAP assemblymen have worn it. So did those from Selangor. Teng Chang Khim even needs to wear that headgear each time he chairs the assembly. By all means, ask every single DAP assemblyman not to wear the uniform and get ticked off by the Rulers. Ask the constituents and u bound to have someone to say, "Do your job and dun create problems! We oledi have enuf problems as it is!"
For the first time, hopefully not the last, i do agree with you caiweijie. you are quite right on that matter of attire rules in state assembly. it is only required when Sultan is present. on other days, it's not necessary.
ReplyDeletesongkok is indeed malay headgear and not a symbol of islam. during most inter government meetings of various sort, they normally would wear costume of that country. i can recall US president wearing chinese costume in china and batik in our country. none of the presidents protested on that and threatened to hurt bilateral relationship.
by the way, business suit is western. if one really feels so strongly about race or religion, try putting on something like the equivalent of cheongsan for man. that will be chinese.
that said, wearing of attires are purely of taste and personal preference. but when certain protocol is required. u either wear or dont attend. but if u are elected to represent and you cannot attend due to matter of principle then may be one should have considered that fact before allowing oneself to be elected.
lastly, may be weijie would like to further discuss this issue in the relevant blog instead of this one.
Well, u won't know how hurt it is if u are not the one who being hurt. Don't complaint if one day your children been force to follow some some bullshit rules. Think bout it !! I think i shall stop the argument here...
ReplyDeletesomehow or rather, the older generation of politicians really need to re-think again in adapting to the reality of the current situation. and i'm satisfied to say that among the ppl who have successfully done that includes the perak and selangor assemblymen. really, which one is more important, the essence of the job or the physical attire? if nobody is aware yet, any non-Muslim lady visitor to the Masjid Putra needs to don the headscarf as respect to the customs there. my mum was disappointed wif Mr. Gwee's refusal to don the attire (and thereby incurring the Sultan's wrath) when she was one of them who had voted for him. the DAP representatives should at least emulate after the MCA guys in really getting down to the job and not causing ruckus over this issue. nobody is going to force us by assimilating into other cultures cos UMNO and PAS for one thing are well aware of the consequences if they dare to put force on it. we have opposed heavily on the issue of graduates wearing that kind of attire at graduation ceremonies b4 and it worked. but as far as protocol of an institution that concerns the Malay Sultanates whose history lasted until as long as 600 yrs back is concerned, u think it is easily amendable? the supreme heads of each state are still the Malay Rulers, guardians of the Malay Sultanate traditions. we want representatives who do their job properly, not to behave in a way that can cause other political foes who can create issues out of their behaviour. wearing the uniform is only once in a while, not everyday, not that it's gonna kill him! did Boo Cheng Hau, Teng Chang Khim and Ngeh Koo Ham become Malays or Muslims? no. which society are we in now? a Malaysian society, one that has been championed by DAP all along. but instead all these opposition towards merely attire actually comes from the ego of old-generation Chinese-centric thinking.
ReplyDeleteMr. Bigworm, no use defending ur stand here. u might wanna try and seek the opinion of the constituents, the rakyat themselves, best by seeking opinion from those who are not members of any political party as they are the most neutral ones.
麻坡人的心声, thanks for seeing eye to eye on this one. i posted it here bcos i couldnt find Mr Gwee's blog in the first place. and on top of that, it might be a bit useless to even discuss this issue in his blog cos any posting in his blog requires his consent to be displayed.