Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Was it worth RM1.8 million?
- Christian leader wants Putrajaya tested over Alkitab vows
- The silliness of claiming ownership on wrongs
- The Failure of Our Institutions
| Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:44 PM PDT DAP Member of Parliament Loke claimed "six-year-olds could develop the ministry's Facebook properties", which the Tourism Minister has responded angrily to. "For DAP to say this, I laugh and feel so sad for them, they use their DAP platform to compare our professional and globally run well-monitored social network," she said, speaking to reporters after announcing local singer Fish Leong had been appointed as the country's Tourism Ambassador for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on Tuesday. With public backlash over Tourism Malaysia spending RM1.8 million on six Facebook properties rising, A+M asked digital practitioners in the industry for their take on the issue. David Lian, APAC Social Media Practice Lead, Text 100 said that increasing digital spending for the tourism sector is the right way to go, as the audience profile has shown that when people want to travel, they get most of their information online. "So if Tourism Malaysia got one thing right, it's that they need to focus on digital," Lian said. Roberto Cumaraswamy, country head (Malaysia) of digital agency Vocanic agreed, adding that spending on digital and social media is still very much inversely proportionate with the media consumption habits of Malaysians, who are amongst the most digitally active users worldwide. "It always worries me when clients resort to social media marketing because they see it as a cheap alternative, because that is the wrong reason to use it. The reality is that building the page is just the first baby step in the journey of successful user engagement," he added. Kelvin Lim, digital strategist at Burson-Marsteller noted that with no clear visibility into the exact scope of work and length of engagement, no one is in any position at this point to say whether the figures are reasonable or otherwise. However, the amount stated is certainly possible, depending on project complexity, consultant management requirements and marketing spread. "Let's be clear, creating a Facebook page is not the same thing as managing a Facebook campaign," he said. "When you consider that designers, coders, marketers and engagement crews (all of which contribute to a good Facebook campaign success formula) need to be hired, the appropriate budget has to be allocated," he added. Lian agreed, adding people assume that social media is "free" because the tools appear to be "free", but this discounts the time creatives need to put in to design assets, the technical work needed to ensure proper tracking is done (though Facebook Insights is free), monitoring and community management, advertising, and other costs such as contest prizes which can sometimes go up to RM 1 million. Cumaraswamy added that only if engagement occurs that any true value can be obtained from social media efforts: "Sure a simple FB Page using the standard tools can be built by anyone for free, including a 6 year old as the DAP MP has commented. But will anyone visit the page? Will anyone 'like' it? And most importantly will anyone engage with the page?" On the view held by some commentators the bulk of the money was channelled towards Facebook advertising, Cumaraswamy noted given the cost effectiveness of the Facebook Ad model, it seems a very large amount of money to spend on advertising on Facebook in such a short amount of time.
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| Christian leader wants Putrajaya tested over Alkitab vows Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:07 PM PDT "Go and import more Bibles and see if the [Home Ministry] stops us. Print the Bibles and see if the [Home Ministry] harasses us again. Being polite and positive does not mean we are naive," National Evangelical Christian Fellowship chairman Rev Dr Eu Hong Seng wrote in the umbrella body's quarterly newsletter published this week. The import of the Alkitab — as the Malay-language bible is called — is among a laundry list of Christian woes that have piled up over the years "The government has said they want to work towards the religious aspirations of all. Find out what that means. Can our Bibles be declassified as they are now considered 'prejudicial to the security of the country'? Be proactive. Saying 'thank you' does not mean we have accepted the 10-point resolution in totality," wrote Rev Eu. He pointed out that ultimately "we all want the same thing — religious freedom we all enjoyed when Tunku shouted the first Merdeka." "Let's do another common sense thing. Hold our government accountable. If the offer was indeed an election ploy, the government can expect to face an angrier and more unforgiving electorate. So, the sensible thing to do is to prepare for the next GE today!" Faced with an unyielding Christian community ahead of the April 16Sarawakelection, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, on behalf of the government, offered a 10-point solution to the Alkitab impasse, which allowed the bible to be freely distributed across the country in all languages. Jala, who is from Sarawak, offered a new list of suggestions to put an end to the month-long stand-off in a bid to head-off a possible backlash against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition by Christians who make up half the population in the state. However, the government insisted that the front cover of Malay-language bibles in the peninsula be marked with a cross and the words "Christian Publication."
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| The silliness of claiming ownership on wrongs Posted: 14 Jun 2011 01:35 PM PDT When someone criticizes the scandalous payments to IPPs, their criticisms were taken as attacks on UMNO? So what does UMNO support? UMNO supports some dubious arrangements to pay the IPPS horrendous prices when the same can be produced cheaper by TNB? UMNO stands for cavorting with the robber barons of today? The Anandas, the YTLS, The Berjayas, the Genting Lims- all friends of Mahathir. Mahathir isn't infallible. Why should UMNO claim ownership on malpractices or claim ownership on possible corrupt practices? They should disown not own up. This kind of stupidity will cost UMNO dearly in later years. UMNO should NOT take attacks on policies and on some issues of public concerns as attacks against the Malays or a Malay government. Perkasa doesn't speak for the Malays. It's not the only voice. Ibrahim Ali is no more Malay than I am or I am no less Malay than Ibrahim Ali. Here is the problem with the IPP issue. People are questioning why the government finds it easy to withdraw subsidies from ordinary people but not that are paid to IPPs. This double standard raises the concern that the government protects the IPPs, coincidentally most created during Dr Mahathir's watch. People can argue, IPPS get subsidies so that they can charge the public lower. Otherwise they will charge the public higher rates. The next real question is if IPPs have contracts agreed by the Mahathir administration that protect them from price fluctuations, is why were they given preferential treatment. Why protect them from price fluctuations? Essentially, IPP's are protected from fuel price fluctuations. If the Government cuts fuel subsidy, then, the cost will be passed to the IPP's who in turn will pass it on to Tenaga and who in turn will need to raise electricity tariffs. So, in a sense, IPP's do not really benefit from the fuel subsidies. The real issue is not why not take away subsidies from IPPs, but rather why did Tenaga and the government then agree to the price Tenaga pays to these IPP's and the "take or pay" conditions. The robber barons are holding the government at ransom and Mahathir who was the PM then, agreed to be squeezed by the balls. Isn't Tenaga capable of generating electricity at a much lower cost than the IPP's (economy of scale, lower cost of capital, etc) I read somewhere that some think tankers say that subsidies cause IPPS to be inefficient. Nope, I think subsidy causes not the IPPs but Tenaga to be inefficient or cause Tenaga to operate at sub-optimal level. Tenaga is forced to cater for daily peak and off peak demands and the broader economic cycles which means that Tenaga will have to shut off its own lower cost power stations when demand goes down because those IPP's are on a "take or pay" contract. Why should we be forced to pay the rates in the first place? Because we are forced to do so, would suggest that really, those responsible at that time, the bankers and the IPPS are screwing us big time. How so? |
| The Failure of Our Institutions Posted: 14 Jun 2011 01:23 PM PDT
When MACC opened a Twitter account some months ago, I was actually pleasantly surprised that it chose to follow my twitter account. I promptly decided to return the compliment by following MACC on Twitter. From then on, I could read MACC's instant reports of the Teoh Beng Hock RCI proceedings on Twitter. I must say it was a good initiative by MACC. Kudos to whoever that was in MACC who decided to utilise the social-networking facility by engaging the cyber-society through Twitter. During the height of the Sarawak election campaign, I decided that it was about time that I had a two-way communication with MACC over Twitter. Conscious of the fact that the biggest election issue for that election was the alleged wealth – which were not rebutted and categorically denied – of Taib Mahmud and his family members, I decided to tickle MACC's feet with a question. My question to MACC over Twitter was "why doesn't MACC investigate the wealth of Taib Mahmud?" I did that because from what I gathered over various reports – which I must say were unconfirmed but were not met by firm denials – Taib Mahmud and his family members own vast properties in Sarawak, Canada and other countries. The wealth imputed to him and his family would, if proven to be true, far exceed the amount of his salaries, allowances, bonuses and perks as a Chief Minister, even if it is assumed that he spent all those income on acquiring properties and nothing else throughout his tenure as the Chief Minister of Sarawak. To my simple mind, surely Taib Mahmud has a lot to explain on how he managed to acquire such vast properties during his tenure as the Chief Minister. If he said that he was a good businessman who manage to accumulate such wealth, then the next question would be where did he find the time to undertake such businesses when he should really be managing Sarawak on full time basis. So I asked MACC the above question on Twitter. The reply which I got from MACC was disappointing, to say the least. It was either a sign that MACC did not fully understand its functions as an agency or was reflective of an institution which exists just as a Christmas decoration on a very colourful street in GagaLand. The reply was "we need proof, we will investigate only when there is proof." Or something to that effect. And so I shot back, "isn't the function of investigation to find proof?" I did not get any reply to that one till today. My public engagement with MACC thus met with an early termination. MACC perhaps does not really understand what its functions as an investigative agency are. May I put it in simple term. When there are any report of alleged corruption or abuse of power, MACC is supposed to investigate. If the reports are clear enough, MACC does not even have to wait for the public to lodge a report. Any of its officers can lodge a report to start the ball rolling. MACC does not wait for proof. MACC is supposed to find the proof by investigating into the matter. The purpose of investigation is to get proof. If there are proof, there is no real necessity for and investigation. Get it, MACC? In any event, the real purpose of an investigation is not to get proof. It is to get information and evidence. It is not for MACC to proof anything at all. When MACC completes the investigation, it has to compile all the information and evidence and send it to the Attorney General Chambers. The AGC is then supposed to decide whether all the information and evidence gathered by MACC constitute sufficient proof to prosecute the person being investigated. It is not then for MACC top proof anything. The burden of proving guilt is on the AGC if and when it decides go prosecute. Get it, MACC? Or do you want me to spell that out in Bahasa Melayu? Read more at: http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2011/06/failure-of-our-institutions.html |
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