In the news...

There have been some pretty strange news reports since the price of fuel in Malaysia was raised overnight from RM1.90 to RM2.70.

The first one was that bus companies want to increase their fares to cover the increased cost of running their vehicles. Like, hello! Economies of scale?! The number of people taking public transport has increased quite dramatically in the last 3 weeks, it would more than cover the difference in operating costs of the buses. If they were proposing to introduce better, cleaner, environmentally-friendly buses, that would be a different story. But they're not. They'll keep running the same, smog-emitting sardine tins.

The second baffling news report was that civil servants would be paid their salaries in 2 installments every month 'to help them manage their finances better'. Never mind that it would cost something like an extra RM600k a month or RM7.2m per year to administer an extra round of payments every month, who is it gonna benefit? How is that gonna help them manage better? It doesn't take a genius to figure that such action would merely be a metaphorical band-aid that shields a wound from the harsh environment. It doesn't actually help the wound heal (unless it happens to be a silver band-aid or some other fancy new plaster on the market). This submission to The Star newspaper by a reader provides further argument about the lack of sense in this suggested move.

Another suggestion that has been made in a supposed attempt to reduce the financial woes of Malaysians is to give senior and top-ranking officials of government-linked companies (GLCs) a 100% pay rise. Hang on, did I miss something here? You're suggesting paying people who get drivers, meal allowances, and many other benefits, and who are already on a decent salary, double? If the government or GLCs really want to help their employees, how about giving the lower ranking officers more than the suggested 3% salary increase that has been proposed?? Are they not the ones who are much harder hit, on RM2000 per month as opposed to senior officers who are probably on at least RM5000? Luckily, our PM, who is also the Finance Minister, has announced that the Government has rejected the proposal of the 100% increase. At least someone showed some sense.

On a brighter note, here are some quotes that were in the newspaper today:

If your wife went out with Brad Pitt, you'd want to prove yourself, you know what I mean? - Chris Martin

Cause my dad always said, "The more you stomp in poop, the more it stinks" - Billy Ray Cyrus