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Posts Tagged DAP

Dear DAP Penang Webmaster

Jul 30

Posted by khensthoth in Computers, Internet, Operating System, Technology, Toot! | No Comments

Dear DAP Penang Webmaster,

Firstly, as one of your strong state you are governing as at today, your website is, in my honest opinion, totally inedequate. Apart from  a few photographs, a few YouTube videos, and some online polls, it is essentially only a blog, with a lot of the content originating from blogs of other Penang DAP leaders. Honestly, if you want to be a blog aggregator, you would be better off utilising a “planet” software like this, this or this. In fact, you should implement a Planet Penang DAP to aggregate all the blogs from the different politician together in one place.

Anyway, I digress too much.  This post is not about the content on your website per se. If you want inspiration on what to do with your state website, just refer to the many websites of political parties around the world. I do, however, want to talk about my freedom. You see, this is what I see on your website:

Firefox 3.0.12 on Ubuntu 9.04

Firefox 3.0.12 on Ubuntu 9.04

Being in the minority who chose to use a totally free (both gratis and libre) browser (Firefox 3) and operating system (Ubuntu 9.04), I thought it might just be my particular system. Thus, I decided to use a more mainstream browser in a more mainstream operating system to see what I presume you want your visitors to see when they visit your website:

Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP SP3

Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP SP3

Everything seems to be in order, which is why I decide to see how well other browsers in Windows XP would do. To my disappointment, this is what I see:

Firefox 2.0.0.20 on Windows XP SP3

Firefox 2.0.0.20 on Windows XP SP3

I then decided to conduct a series of test, and the following result is as such:

Firefox 3.5.1 on Ubuntu 9.04

Firefox 3.5.1 on Ubuntu 9.04

Safari Browser on iPhone OS 2.0

Safari Browser on iPhone OS 2.0

Opera 9.64 on Ubuntu 9.04

Opera 9.64 on Ubuntu 9.04

If you have not noticed a pattern, let me inform you. You see, both Internet Explorer and Opera browsers are proprietary software, which means they do not release their source code to the general public for inspection. They both use proprietary layout engine. Safari browser is proprietary as well, but they use the open source WebKit layout engine. Similarly, open source browser Firefox uses open source layout engine Gecko. I consider myself a open source movement supporter, and a proponent of open source software. While I do not have a deep hatred for proprietary softwares and companies, I do avoid them whenever I can.

It dawns upon me that a party who champions social freedom and equal rights requires me to use a proprietary browser and a proprietary layout engine just to view the website. This seems like a huge irony to me. Thus, DAP Penang Webmaster, please fix your website!

Sincerely,
WhatTheToot!

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Stupid Quotes

Nov 23

Posted by khensthoth in Government, Malaysia, Penang, Religion, Toot! | No Comments

Let’s talk about some stupid quotes by some politicians, and generally, people in power in Malaysia.

Stupid Idiot

Stupid Idiot

The original news piece can be read in full here. If anyone wants any clarification, here’s the quote:

You should not use these at your whim and fancy.Are you qualified to speak about the caliph? Even the phrase “amar ma’ruf nahi mungkar” has been used in your posters all over the place.It has not been ascertained if you or even Professor P. Ramasamy is qualified to use them.The matter should be referred for clarification with the mufti who has to determine if you can use the caliph’s name and the phrase, - Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya (Teluk Bahang-BN)

Who the heck gave Muslims or anyone the monopoly to talk about a single caliph or any Arabic verses. No doubt, it’s from the Quran, but it’s just like any verse in any language. So is the caliph’s name. Anyone has the right to use it, at one’s “whim and fancy”. Just like when I used Dr. Hilmi Yahaya’s name by calling him a stupid idiot.

Next up, another politician. This time, he is from the ruling party:

An assemblymen has urged the state to impose a RM10 tax on each foreign tourist visiting Penang to help improve public facilities which would lure more tourists to the state. “This proposal would help the state increase its earnings by RM10mil a year if a million foreign tourists visited Penang,’’ he said when debating the Budget 2009.

I know Penang is tight on money, but this is just ridiculous. Firstly, who constitute a foreign tourist? If Lau Keng Ee (DAP – Pengkalan Kota) meant international tourist, their numbers are estimated to be 1.4 million yearly. That’s just RM 14 million annually, provided that such stupid plans do not reduce the number of tourist. The whole state of Penang has a budget of over RM300 million, and RM14 million just does not seem significant anymore. Furthermore, who wants to visit Penang if it has an “entry fee”, and it’s perpetually dirty?

Finally, a fatwa has been issued on yoga, after one was issued on tomboy recently. This is the worst of all.

Only the physical aspect of yoga without the mantras and elements of worshipping outwardly was not wrong (in Islam). However, yoga was not to be encouraged among Muslims for fear that it could erode their Islamic faith since the physical part was a component of yoga practice as a whole.  – Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, Chairman of National Fatwa Council of Malaysia

Fark. Fark on so many levels! I guess they fail to realise most yoga centres just teach the physical exercise without any mantras. Next, how are they going to implement it? Raid yoga centres, raid private homes? Prevent muslims from buying yoga books? Fark! If a Muslim’s faith can so be eroded so easily, clearly he doesn’t deserve to be one.

Sometimes I do wonder about the intellectual capabilities of the politicians in Malaysia, ruling or not.

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Penang State Assemblymen Emailing Experiment – Part III

Jun 20

Posted by khensthoth in Government, Penang, Toot! | No Comments

Well, we know that 57.5% of state assemblyperson in Penang publish their email address online, and we also know that only 30.4% of that bothered to reply. We have also seen those emails from assemblymen who apparently forgot to reply my email. Now I have to give credit where credit is due and praise some assemblymen for their reply, with some quality. Not just some oh-I-don’t-know-why-don’t-you-check-the-state-treasury-office.

Honorary Mr. Ng Wei Aik (DAP) from N28 Komtar wrote this to me on May 25. He was the first to notify me of the status of the tender (ongoing) and thus the first who gave satisfactory reply. However, his tone in the email could have been better.:

The tender process is still on going. Anyone can bid the tender provided the company offer the lowest price. All these will be decided by a tender committee, which the government will not interfere its decision making. If you are interested, then you can bid for the tender.

Non of us can give you the answer on the status of tender because we are not involved in the tender committee. However, we will ensure the whole process is complying with the CAT – Competency, Accountability and Transparency principles.

Ng Wei Aik

Political Secretary to Penang Chief Minister

State Assemblyman for Komtar

Credits to him for publishing his mobile phone number in his reply, as well as 3 blogs and 1 alternate email to contact him. He also didn’t call himself a Y.B. (Honorary). Good Job!

Honorary Mr. Wong Hon Wai (DAP) from N33 Air Itam replied on May 26. His reply was swift – the first saying he will check it out, and the second letting me know of the status of the tender:

Dear (My Name),
1. As of now, No company has been awarded for the tender.

2. You are invited to observe the Dewan Negeri proceeding which will be held sometime in July.

Regards,
Wong Hon Wai

Again, professional-looking, formal and simple. Just what an email ought to be, especially from an assemblyman. Oh hey, no Y.B. too.

Honorary Mr. Chow Kon Yeow (DAP) from N26 Padang Kota replied on June 2. His reply came late, as I received it after the arbitrary two-week limit I set for them to reply the email. I figure two weeks is enough to find out about the status of the tender, and write a reply to me. Nevertheless, he took the liberty and the effort to write to me. He’s what he wrote:

Dear Sir,
The State Financial Office is still trying to source for the notebooks and printers with the required specs at the most reasonable price. TQ.

Simple, acceptable, but I don’t like using TQ as “Thank You.” That is just my perspective though. No calling oneself Y.B. too.

It just came to me that those who gave satisfactory reply didn’t address themselves as Y.B. That’s a good thing.

No toot material in this post, but I just have to do it to give credits to the 3 assemblymen. Next up, last reply from an assemblyman. Good stuff.

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Penang State Assemblymen Emailing Experiment – Part I

Jun 14

Posted by khensthoth in Internet, Penang, Toot! | No Comments

I am having my exam right now, so I can only make a short post. Previously I have said that Penang has 40 state assemblyperson, 17 of which did not provide correct email addresses. That leaves 23 assemblyperson that I assume got their email. Out of this 23, how many have actually responded to me? I shall let the graph speak:

As you can see, only a few replied. Specifically, only 7 replied. The quality and content of their reply is, however, another story. Surprisingly, even one from BN responded to me.

Here’s a list of all the Penang State assemblyperson that have replied me (arranged by date of reply):

  1. N14 Machang Bubuk – Honorary Mr. Tan Hock Leong (PKR) – May 18
  2. N10 Seberang Jaya – Honorary Datuk Arif Shah Bin Haji Omar Shah (BN) – May 20
  3. N24 Kebun Bunga – Honorary Mr. Ong Khan Lee (PKR) – May 24
  4. N28 Komtar – Honorary Mr. Ng Wei Aik (DAP) – May 25
  5. N33 Air Itam – Honorary Mr. Wong Hon Wai (DAP) – May 26
  6. N29 Datok Keramat – Honorary Mr. Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP) – May 28
  7. N26 Padang Kota – Honorary Mr. Chow Kon Yeow (DAP) – June 2

I have to mention that Mr. Chow Kon Yeow replied after the arbitrary one-week limit I set for the assemblyperson to reply. The first two person replied only to the first email that I mentioned, and I never heard from them since. The next 5 assemblyperson all replied to the second email, which served as a friendly reminder that they haven’t replied my first mail.

It is appalling that only 30.4% of assemblymen who presumably got my mail bothered to give some form of reply. That’s only 17.5% of all the assemblymen we have in Penang. If they can’t reply to a simple email, how can they claim to represent us?

I also have to say that the issue has now become a non-issue, as Honorary Mr. Lim Guan Eng, the Chief Minister of Penang has decided to suspend the buying of laptop for the assemblymen temporarily.

Next up, we shall see the content of the emails. =)

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Efficiency of Penang DAP

May 17

Posted by khensthoth in Government, Malaysia, Penang, Toot! | 2 Comments

Recently, there’s a news report in one of the Chinese daily in Malaysia, Guang Ming Daily saying the following (if you read mandarin):

Translation of first paragraph:
Lim Guan Eng said that he is a Chief Minister from “Rocket” (Democratic Action Party) and as such, he will demand speed and efficiency when he does anything. If his City Councillors, EXCO, State Assemblymen and Parliamentary Representatives are slow in doing things, he will shoot (scold) them.

Sure. Let’s refer to another news report by another Chinese daily, Kwong Wah Newspaper.

Translation of Title and Date:
DAP Penang Official Website – Relaunch by Mid-Month
2008-04-02 11.35 P.M.

Basically the news says that the website have been facing unknown problems, and Teh Yee Cheu, the webmaster for the website hopes that it will be functional again by the middle of the month. The report was written in April.

May 15 has come and passed. Here’s how the website look like:

DAPPenang.org as of Monday May 12, 2008 8.53 A.M.

Unfortunately the webmaster, also the State Assemblyman for Tanjung Bungah, has embarked on a journey to Xiamen to (hopefully) raise RM500,000 for charity.

Speed and Efficiency my new Chief Minister of Penang? I beg to differ. The fact that your party can’t even maintain an official local party website online, and can’t relaunch it in more than one month speaks a lot about your party.

Penang DAP is TOOT, and by extension so is Penang Government. It disappoints me a whole lot.

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