MCA and UMNO is at bottom an aristocra-tic model in which the political elite,one could just as well convert them into doles, except the system is so corrupt that doles would surely be diverted to line amounted to the promotion of patronage politics, populist giveaways, expensive but leaky social welfare programmes, subsidies and farm loan waivers. The solution for poverty was thought to be the pockets of its apparatchiks. through acts of noblesse oblige, reaches out to the poor through acts of charity, while dissing upstart social groups who happen to be wedged in bet-ween. You would be paid lip service to if you lay at the bottom of the social heap, but ignored if you stood up and attempted to rise.We were eager to see MCA chucked out.They have been. We wanted MCAin sackcloth and ashes. That too has happened, perhaps not exactly as much as we expected. But internal dissent in MCA is growing louder by the day and, who knows, we may yet see the end of dynastic politics. We were dying for a strong leader. Now we have one now. We wanted him to lead from the front. Najib looks quite happy to do that he wanted coalition politics out and single party rule do not want to listen to anyone and Najib is very clear as to what he wants. He is not exactly looking for second opinions.
The reality is that liberalization — along with growing literacy and the global communications revolution caused by the spread of satellite television, mobile phones and the internet — has not only sent aspirations soaring, these trends have also propagated the middle class mindset. Most Malaysians , if they haven’t become middle class, at least aspire to be. They are very far from Rousseau’s conception of noble savages. If you patronize them they might sting you —Much of the political class has yet to wake up to this shift in terrain. But Anwar cottoned on to it earlier than most — that is the real key to the stunning success of his election campaign. With anwar’s rise, MCA has come unstuck and a new market of ideas could come up as they did in Mahathir’s heyday. One can only hope that politics will move beyond the sterile UMNO, MCA and GERAKAN— of which are past their sell-by date — and ideas more relevant to a 21st century Malaysiacan come into play.
Chew Mei Fun dismisses claims that chickened out of the Bukit Gelugor by-election. has dismissed claims that it steered clear of the Bukit Gelugor by-election because of fear, stressing that it is not even afraid of Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, let alone a political debutante like Ramkarpal Singh.
Chew Mei Fun said we remain profoundly wedded toUMNO’s concern for the weakest section of our society.” The language is a giveaway, because people are not inherently ‘weak’. Neither is the middle class a tiny minority whose cantankerous views remain a noisy distraction from a ‘pro-people’ government’s real task — as much of the political class still believes.
Chow Mei Fan, you are so thick pig skin.They put you up in Kajang not because they are not afraid of Kak Wan, but just to allow you to make a fool of yourself since you have a proven track record of losing. You are a specialist at losing. So let you have fun lor. In Penang, you did not qualify as you have been nominated for Kajang. No one from MCA was as stupid as you so they are not specialist at losing. So MCA could not find any stupid enough, so they were frighten lor. I did not wish to tell you this, but you asked for it. I hope that Chow Mei Fan, you will ask MCA to leave BN and close shop. Do something right for once.
The reality is that liberalization — along with growing literacy and the global communications revolution caused by the spread of satellite television, mobile phones and the internet — has not only sent aspirations soaring, these trends have also propagated the middle class mindset. Most Malaysians , if they haven’t become middle class, at least aspire to be. They are very far from Rousseau’s conception of noble savages. If you patronize them they might sting you —Much of the political class has yet to wake up to this shift in terrain. But Anwar cottoned on to it earlier than most — that is the real key to the stunning success of his election campaign. With anwar’s rise, MCA has come unstuck and a new market of ideas could come up as they did in Mahathir’s heyday. One can only hope that politics will move beyond the sterile UMNO, MCA and GERAKAN— of which are past their sell-by date — and ideas more relevant to a 21st century Malaysiacan come into play.
Chew Mei Fun dismisses claims that chickened out of the Bukit Gelugor by-election. has dismissed claims that it steered clear of the Bukit Gelugor by-election because of fear, stressing that it is not even afraid of Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, let alone a political debutante like Ramkarpal Singh.
Chew Mei Fun said we remain profoundly wedded toUMNO’s concern for the weakest section of our society.” The language is a giveaway, because people are not inherently ‘weak’. Neither is the middle class a tiny minority whose cantankerous views remain a noisy distraction from a ‘pro-people’ government’s real task — as much of the political class still believes.
Chow Mei Fan, you are so thick pig skin.They put you up in Kajang not because they are not afraid of Kak Wan, but just to allow you to make a fool of yourself since you have a proven track record of losing. You are a specialist at losing. So let you have fun lor. In Penang, you did not qualify as you have been nominated for Kajang. No one from MCA was as stupid as you so they are not specialist at losing. So MCA could not find any stupid enough, so they were frighten lor. I did not wish to tell you this, but you asked for it. I hope that Chow Mei Fan, you will ask MCA to leave BN and close shop. Do something right for once.
Last week, Google revealed a prototype of its driverless cars. But it is hardly a car. Like other cars, this one has no steering wheel, no brake pedal and no accelerator. It doesn’t need them. Instead of holding the steering, the passengers in this vehicle are supposed to click a button at the start of the journey. The car then drives itself, expertly negotiating traffic on the roads. Passengers can look out of their windows, read a book, check Facebook status message, shoot a few emails or sleep while they travel to their destination.
The design is also different. The car doesn’t have the machismo that conventional vehicles reflect. Unlike the sharp and masculine curves, the prototype of the driverless car is like a pudgy pod. It has a cartoonish face in front of it. It looks cute. Though some call it wimpy, which a nerd may not mind, but one that will never appeal to mainstream consumers. Unlike the conventional cars that take pride in opulence, even if much of it is exaggerated, Google’s driverless car is extremely utilitarian.
This is just a prototype. It is not the actual car. But then it also shows what sort of idea Google has when it envisions a driverless car.
And a lot of people are not happy with this idea. The complaints range from the lack of control – “what, I can’t press the pedal to metal and run over someone” – to the design of the car – “it looks like a pod from joyrides”.
Here is a sample of what detractors or sceptics say about the driverless car:
The Google team has pointed out, correctly, that driving can be dangerous, frustrating, toxic and inherently unfair to those, such as the disabled, who can’t drive. What they don’t mention is how much fun it can be, and how liberating. A successful drive – and most of them are – is a dance between you and the other drivers on the road, give and take, decisions that are made quickly and efficiently, all to the sound of Led Zeppelin on the radio – Elizabeth Renzetti in a piece in Globe and Mail
Elizabeth is right. Technology journalists in the US who rode in Google’s driverless cars describe the experience unremarkable, even boring. There is no dancing with other drivers. Nothing really happens on the road. The car drives, with a perfection that only a machine can achieve. Turns are flawless. Acceleration and slowing down is smooth. Lane changing is smooth and so is the braking. Nothing is abrupt. Everything is well calculated.
But then that is how the commuting has to be. The alternative, and which the world continues to cling to because the automobile industry can’t think beyond the steering wheels and accelerators, is too dangerous.
Some people have this romantic notion of cars. For many a car is something that defines them, and often not in a good way. Remember the advertisement of the Maruti Swift car, in which the car maker tried to appeal to the “manly” instincts of a driver?
But I believe I speak for most people when I say that commuting is one of the low points in my everyday life. Even though I don’t drive – I can’t and I don’t feel any need to – the number of times I find lazy, tired (sometime even sleepy), reckless, and poorly-skilled drivers in taxis is not funny. Even when the drivers are alert and skilled, I find they make mistakes on the road. They make these mistakes all the time. If nothing else, they honk unnecessarily. Or show bravado, depending on how big is the car they are driving, just for the heck of it.
Even people who drive often say that driving every morning to the office is an energy-sapping task. Driving through traffic jams stresses them, which in turn reflects in the way they drive. Every morning the roads are full of stressed out drivers, frantically trying to outdo each other in a bid to cut down two minutes from their journey time.
Driverless cars, whether made by Google or someone else, can solve it all. Driverless cars can make commuting more efficient. They can cut down drastically on traffic. They can bring order to the chaotic roads. They can free up the four hours that you may waste on haggling with your fellow drivers on the road. You can use these four hours to do something productive or just relax. Through efficient driving, they can cut down on fuel consumption and reduce pollution. Paired with electrical technology in a car like Tesla Model S, they can almost completely eliminate sound pollution.
Thousands of people die on the roads every year because of human drivers. Fuel worth millions of dollars is wasted and countless hours are lost in traffic jams because most humans are incredibly inefficient at driving. There is no reason why we can’t move beyond human drivers for public transport to save lives and resources. The thrill seekers can still drive their mean machines on race tracks. But for the everyday commuting, it is time to throw away the inefficient cars of yesterday and push for driverless cars.
The technology that enables driverless cars is still a few years away before it can be used on city roads. It is probably decades away from a country like India. But it is something we ought to welcome. We already have trains and airplanes that run on auto pilot. It’s time cars go the same way.
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