Public transport in Malaysia and subsidy reductions.

Below is a letter I sent to the editor of a newspaper in Malaysia. Now, I have had two other letters to the editor published in the past few months, so I thought that it would be no problem to publish this one. However, they have decided not to publish it. I am left to wonder what elements of my proposal or suggestion they thought worthy of censoring. There are other writers to the letters pages here, who are published regularly. They are, however, local (both the ones I know are, in fact, Indian). It is possible that they don't wish to publish my work, too often, because I am a foreigner. Or perhaps, my ideas this time, impinge too much on what should be policy in Malaysia. Whatever the case, I think the letter I have written is of importance, for Malaysians, for the fact is that real incomes here, are quite low and the coming subsidy changes will affect many here, badly.

I agree, however, that the subsidies need to be phased out, for the sake of the nation's finances. However, I suggest, below, a painless way to do so with reference to the fuel subsidies. Without my proposal being taken up, it would be very hard on many people, to suddenly forego the fuel subsidy.

Please read the letter below, then link to it, from your own sites and tell your friends about it. That is the only way I can get these views out since the news organizations here, don't want these views known - otherwise they would publish it.

Thank you, in advance, for your help in spreading the word.


Don't forget public transport

Malaysia is a nation in love with the car. The question is: is this love affair one of passionate choice, or one enforced by circumstances? Would Malaysians still love the car, if they had an alternative?

It is timely to ask these questions, for soon the fuel subsidies that have made car ownership and usage so affordable in Malaysia, may be at an end. The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) has proposed that this and other subsidies, would be better spent on education. Were this change enacted, many Malaysians would soon face a stark reality: they would be unable to afford the petrol for their cars.

It is a probable truth that car ownership in Malaysia is so prevalent for two reasons: the first is that public transport is so relatively underdeveloped – and the second is that subsidies have made the per kilometre cost of driving modest, by global standards.

However, should the price of petrol rise to normal global prices, many fewer Malaysians would be able to afford such casual use of cars, as is now customary. They would be stuck in their own driveways, reluctant to drive on all but the most important journeys. Thus, we can see that the admirable intention to support education, through shifting the subsidies to it, would create an undesirable problem: many people wouldn’t be able to afford to travel.

There is a clear solution to this dilemma. As the subsidy on fuel is diminished, investment in public transport should rise. Thus, as cars became more expensive to run, public transport would become more widespread, more available, and more effective. People would still be able to travel but in a bus or on a train, and not in their own car.

The benefits for Malaysia would be considerable. The present car-clogged streets would run smoothly, as the number of cars on the roads, fell. Malaysia’s environmental impact would be reduced, too, since public transport is immensely greener than any car could be. Malaysia would become a more pleasant place to live – and all because people would have a choice that they don’t presently have: to travel other than by car.

I am a foreigner. Thus, I, along with, I suppose, more widely travelled Malaysians, see Malaysia with eyes informed by how other places, all over the world, are. I see a country of great potential that is, however, hampering itself and stymieing its own development. An effective transport system is key to a country that actually works, as an integrated nation. Malaysia is not really at that stage, yet. The reason is simple and clear: there is too much reliance on cars and so there are too many cars. Thus, the car becomes less useful than it should be, since traffic jams are so common. Ironically, fewer cars, would make each car much more effective. What Malaysia needs, as much as any improvements it might need in the education system, is a better public transport system. One of my first thoughts, on seeing Kuala Lumpur, was “Where are all the buses?” Every other major city I have lived in, has plentiful buses. It seemed strange to see a major city essentially without them. That has to change, if Malaysia is to reach its full potential.

The first use of any subsidy money saved, should be to establish a comprehensive bus network in all major cities of Malaysia – and between those cities. The buses should be affordable to all, regular, reliable, clean and safe. They should also be family and child friendly and be accessible by the elderly and infirm. It is important that everyone should be able to use them.

In the longer term, the train network should be expanded, first with more trains, to relieve overcrowding and increase capacity – and secondly with more lines, to connect more places to the network.

Were Malaysia to do this, no-one would suffer from a lack of means to travel, once cars become too expensive, for many.

If Malaysia is ever to be a fully developed nation it needs an effective public transport system, since all developed nations I am aware of, have very good ones. Malaysia should set about developing one, too. That would be a life-changing – and nation changing – use of subsidies saved. Who knows, perhaps one day, Malaysians will come to love their buses and trains, as much as they do their cars, today.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
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Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

It's a mad, mad, world.

Yesterday, I was on the MRT with Tiarnan. The MRT, for those who don't know, is the train: the Mass Rapid Transit, of Singapore. The nearest equivalent would be the London Underground, though the MRT is mostly overground, as far as I can see.

Anyway, there I was, carrying Tiarnan, three, for the whole journey, because no-one would give up a seat and Tiarnan was unwilling to stand on the floor, in such a crowded train. Now, there is nothing unusual, in Singapore, with no-one giving up a seat for someone more in need of one: this is the tradition here, so that didn't surprise me (though it was unpleasant to have to carry him for the whole, quite lengthy journey, on two different trains). Were it not for the entertainment of talking to Tiarnan, the journey would have seemed a long one, encumbered as I was.

After we had been travelling about half an hour, Tiarnan remarked, in some irritation:

"Many people are talking!"

Sure enough, they were. Everyone was trying to talk at once, each competing with all the others to be heard: it was a cacophony of voices in different tongues: English, Malay and Chinese. It was pretty loud, actually.

"Why are they talking, Tiarnan?"

I wanted his views, you see, because they are often interesting.

He looked around him then, in stupefaction at his fellow travellers and said, with an intensity worthy of Hamlet:

"It's madness, madness, madness, ALL MADNESS!"

He was so intent, so focussed, so impassioned, in his view of how his fellow travellers were, that I did not laugh, I thought it, instead, sweet and typically Tiarnan.

We finished our journey together in mutual agreement that everyone around us was utterly bonkers. Any three year old can see that.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

More buses please.

Could we have more buses in Singapore, please? My thinking is that if I put it as a polite request, it is more likely to be listened to, than if I put it as a criticism. However, I must explain why we need more buses in Singapore.

If you have ever taken a bus quite early, in the morning, in Singapore...say 7.15, up to town, you would have noticed an interesting phenomenon: it is possible to squeeze a surprising number of people on a bus, if you don't care how comfortable they are. This morning, I was on one such bus. I was travelling earlier than usual and was unable to find a seat. Indeed, I found myself standing, alongside what seemed like most of the other people on the bus. It was most uncomfortable. At one point, in fact, the doors of the bus were having trouble closing, because there were simply too many people squeezed on the bus. It was only possible to close the doors after a little more shuffling and greater squeezing of the people deep in the interior of the bus. After that, the bus was completely full. It wasn't a fun journey.

Now, the number of buses on a route is not an immutable number. If there were a willingness to improve the lot of commuters, more buses could be put on the route. I would think that at least 50% more buses are needed in peak hours, on many routes, to save most people from an uncomfortable journey. Perhaps on some routes a doubling of bus numbers would be necessary.

The word "bus" is usually accompanied by the word "service". Now, if it is truly intended to provide a bus service, then scheduling more buses would seem the obvious thing to do. I shouldn't even have to be writing about it. However, if the intention is to maximize profit at the expense of the comfort of the passengers then the present situation is what the operators will choose to create: deliberately schedule too few buses to maximize the revenue per bus, by maximizing the "human packing" per bus.

If nothing is done to increase the numbers of buses (and their frequency) on routes in the morning, one can assume that maximum profit of this supposedly public service, is the goal. If, however, I find myself able to get a seat at 7.15 in the morning, I will understand that service is truly the goal of the bus service.

I hope for change for the better.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)