Some more down to earth issues.

9.7.2008.

What a week ! Maybe we should re examine more earthly problems facing us daily. 

1. Traffic. I moved to Seremban 13 years ago because of the traffic. For 17 years I watched the KL-PJ conurbation rapidly growing without the roads keeping pace, until it was faster to commute from Seremban to KL than to drive from PJ to KL. Now the Seremban-Senawang conurbation has produced traffic that is  just as bad, and being in Ampangan, I'm caught right in the middle. The main problem is again growth without equal expansion of the roads. 

But to make matters worse, the previous State Government was blind to the problem, and deaf to suggestions thereof. The present Government seems in no hurry to solve the immediate inner-town traffic problem. It seems to concentrate on the  intra-town highways.  What is required is to disperse traffic from Seremban town.  What happens now is everybody is forced to go through town even if he wants to go to Paroi, Pantai, PD or Tampin. 

2. Road maintainence. After GE12  it's unbelieveable that this is still an issue, especially in the housing estates. In the area I'm staying several stretches of the heavily used road  have been left in really bad condition for the last 3 months. 

3. The utilities. Again in the area I'm staying, well within the Municipality, the frequency of taps running dry and power being cut, and not uncommonly both simultaneously, has to be endured to be believed. In June alone there were a total of 8 days of water supply disruptions, and 2 power cuts, one simultaneous with the water cut.

4. Govenment bureaucracy. If only we can avoid going to the government offices. And they proudly claim to be soon going paperless. I took my youngest daughter, who was on university vacation, last month to the Seremban District Office, the Seremban Road Transport Department, the Ampang Health Clinic and the Kuala Pilah Police HQ. We also went to an Insurance company in Seremban 2. My daughter has ambitions of joining Government Services because of her legal studies, and I wanted her to see for herself how the "Gomin" serve the people away from the Ministers, the Chief Secretaries and the Deparmental Directors. The District Office visit was necessitated because by some stroke of genius "they" had this year unilaterally decided to issue a bill for quit rent that is double the old rate because the house I have being living in since 1995 has now been re-registered as "business use". I went armed with my property "grant" and my quit rent receipts for the last three years. So they said they would sort things out. But for the obvious mistake of their own making, I still had to fill in about 6 pages of A4 size report. We went to the RTD to cancel the claim by the bank that financed my daughter's third-hand car, which had been fully settled. Since I started working in 1969 I had of necessity bought and sold several cars, all before the computer age, but I don't remember of having to fill any form to get the rubber stamp "Di Batalkan" on the ownership claim on the car registeration card. This time we were required not only to fill in capital letters a 4-page A4 form, but also to attach a photocopy of her Mykad, both sides. And we had to que twice because of the new procedure. We went to the Government Clinic because of my prior fundoscopy appointment. The staff had a day earlier telephoned ( the number is on my Hospital card ) reminding me to come on time (2.30 p.m.) I duly arrived at 2.15 (this was a Friday, so I rushed over after prayers, neglecting even the "doa"). The Clinic doors were locked, and opened at 2.45 sharp. When I left after the procedure my watch said 4 p.m. We went to the Police HQ to renew my gun licence. This was my 14th. visit, normally involving the examination of the weapon by the armouror, submission of a current medical report, filling in the renewal form and paying RM25 in fees. Not this time. The simple 1-page form has been replaced. It's now, yes, an A4 size 4-page form that requires full details of the land titles that were submitted in the original new application 15 years ago. Finally we went to the insurance company to get fresh insurance cover for my daughter's car. We were asked to go to the first floor and see a particular female clerk, whom we found talking on the telephone. On seeing us, we could hear her say " .. I've customers" and put the telephone down and on hearing out the purpose of the visit, went to her pc, pored over the information, and gave us the amount due. I signed my cheque, confirmed RTD on-line acceptance, and left the office. I think it took all of 10 minutes. Moral of story? It takes will. But it can be done.

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