We have a sickness, where the body protects the few at the expense of the many.  When world petrol price goes up, the government says life’s like that, adjust the life style.  And when the petrol price goes down, the government says, wait, changing of petrol price will impact the economy.  Isn’t it the same when the petrol price goes up.  This leaves the people suffering with high cost of living.  When the petrol prices reduces a little, the cost of goods did not follow suit.  The government cannot force the retailers to reduce price.  The only thing they can do is get the big hypermarket to reduce the prices of essential goods.  And even with this, restaurateurs explains why the food price will not go down

Today, the government says, we should not reduce further than RM1.92/liter, because the person selling the petrol will make a huge loss.  I dont see the same complaint when the petrol goes up.  Worst, what has going cheaper got to do with the loss over the pump station.  If the government want to stagger the price reduction to like 15cent/liter is fine.  But what has it got to do with a minimum? The staggering of price reduction will help to cushion the pump operators loss, no doubt, and if it is executed well, everyone can be happy.  Now, a minimum, just does not make sense.  The price reduction staggering is already making the people / rakyat suffer.  When the price goes up, it goes up with a bank, ~40%, but when it goes down, it staggers.  Already this is unfair to the people, and it seams like the government are trying to protect the few (pump operators) over the many (the people). Isn’t this sick?

Rotten rotten rotten!

As we all settle down for lunch, my colleague burp out on if the car was already here. I sprang out the phone and called Jeffery, the sales agent. I had to say the detail description of the car that I ordered before my name rang any bells. He has just too many customers. “Is the car here yet?” I noted in the northern Hokkien slang, and the reply was wait wait, I’ll check. Assuring me that he will shortly called back, I continue to pick up my spoon and started to chow in the rubbery vegetarian fried rice noodle that the cafeteria serve. The phone rang just before I had the third bite, ‘Jeffery Viva’ flashes across the screen. “The car is here!” in hokkien. “Sui” I replied and asked him when I can get the car. “If I pay on Wednesday, I can get it on Friday!” was the reply. I gave him the condition to have the car out before this weekend so that I can bring the car back for my father to get used to it a few days before the Chinese New Year traffic starts to hit Taiping. Paid him on Wednesday, with 2 cheques, as i did not have that much money in one account. Little that I realize, I have grab the wrong cheque book. On Thursay, ‘Jeffery Viva’ flashes across the phone again. “Keong Hee Huat Chai, taukay!” (in this context means congratulations!) was the reply to my hello, Perodua Feb promo give RM1k discount for the model of your car he continued. A wait worth while. Knowing perodua renew their promotion monthly, I specifically told Jeffery to register the car in Feb 1 onwards so that I could reap the February promotion.

A surprise phone call this morning, when I saw ‘Jeffery Viva’ flashing across the screen, I was excited to find out what time I could get the car today. I had plans with my wife to have lunch and collect the car. “Taukay, your cheque return!” my eyes open wide, “huh?” I exclaimed. My horror was not that I could not get the car today, but more to the fact that this would be strike 2 for a bounce cheque in the eyes of bank negara. This means I only have 1 strike left before they start to band me from opening any more chequeing account. Don’t worry, he explain, you can still collect the car today, just bring the cash, which is just in the order of a few hundred ringgit. Little did he know, I was more worried about my bounce cheque that anything else. The car has not been registered yet, even though he told me a couple of days before that the car would be registered on Friday morning. During lunch, I went to the bank and withdraw the cash and dine across the street from the car showroom. I invited Jeffery for lunch, but he was shy to accept, he was shock that I wanted to pay so fast. I told him that I didn’t want to carry cash around so much, and the minute I pass the money to him, it is his problem if he looses it and not mine, he soon accepted the reason, and the car has still yet to be registered. by 3 something, the phone rang, “Taukay, do you mind the number starts with 4?”, “Of course not la, I bought the car for my father, sure don’t want any 4 4 business”, then he said the running number is now starting with 4 and if dont want this number have to wait for Monday to register, I was ok with that, and my phone went dead from low bat. I was a little distrauted with this news, I was so excited to get the new car today, and the very thought of waiting for another couple of days just wipe the mood away. An hour later, when I powered up the phone, there were 22 miscall from ‘Jeffery Viva’. I called back, and he excitedly said “your number is 402!” I was stunned, “402 quite nice ar! he said, trying to play down the issue. I ddidn’t know what to make of this. I thought it was some kind of a joke, because I always joke with him that I want 8888 for the number plate. “JPJ already issue the number and the runner could not pull back in time he heard this”. My heart totally sank to an ultra low. What a luck I exclaim.

When ever meeting old friends, they never fail to ask 2 things, first is if my dad still smokes a pipe, and second if my dad still drives his Red Daihatsu Charade around in Town. Well, the next time they ask, I will have a “no” answer for the later. We went shopping for a small car today. Viva, Myvi, Suria, Forza and Savvy. After half a day knocking here and there, test drive and negotiating, Viva turn out to be the champion. It was just that my dad like the care more, and for me, Airbag, ABS & EBD were the reason. I have to say, this car is not cheap. A fully automated version sells at RM44k, which is much more than what I paid for 10 years back for my Wira Aeroback. I only paid RM42k then. Nevertheless, my dad seams to like the car alot and why not. The color choices also made the family go back and fourth the entire day and we finally settle for Green.

The red charade was the family car for almost 20 years, and the car seams to be living to it’s life expectancy. It has been giving so much trouble lately, and the money spent on it just screams for a better judgment. Furthermore, my dad is already >70 years old, and an automatic car will allow him to drive more easily. Anyway, it was not difficult for me to let the charade go, though there were many memories, it was after all, the family transport, and we have spent a great deal of time in the car as well. I just wonder when will the new car come? hehe..

This is going to be an exciting year. Not that long ago I blog about the recent Toll Rates Increase and looks like no one is taking this one quietly. The opposition started an Anti-Toll hike Coalition and exposed the contract signed between the Government and Litrak, and….. sad sad… check out the highlights at Screenshots. Looks like there’s going to be lots of ‘Wayang’ to be seen this year.

One of the best part of driving from West to East Malaysia through the northern Grik Pass, is driving through the curvy mountainous and most outrageously dangerous road. And, if you drive during the rainy season, an exciting cloud of fog awaits you. This is just what I encountered a week back on the journey to Kuala Trengganu from Penang. A whole down hill stretch filled with thick cloud, with visibility only 20 meters ahead. There were corners where my legs just wimp out and let go the accelerator and let the car engine slows down. The best part of the drive was when I asked my wife where we are, she whip out the map, and shows me the part of the map which is white in color and say, “darlin, I believe we are here!”.