BINTULU 9

Bintulu 9 – February 19th to March 23rd 2005.

Bintulu March 16, 2005.

I ponder. Another day goes by. I was told by my sisters that their respective functions went well. The proper function for a newborn was held and was well attended while another nephew of mine is married now. My other sister must be enjoying herself in the glory of her school producing the best student in the recent examinations, with lunch and dinner functions and meeting up with royalty and dignitaries alike as reported by the local newspapers. It must have been a hectic period for them. For us here its hectic in a different way. With the two boys constantly noisy and attracting attention its difficult to concentrate in what one wants to do. Their playful antics however wipe off any disappointment in that respect.

Sita eMailed some recent pictures of Najla and two of these are posted here. Najla is six months old now.

A few days ago there was an article in the local newspaper on the Malaysian postal service. The article more or less described the transformation of the service provider from its early beginnings as a government department to what it is now, a corporate entity. All the good that they do are highlighted, the increase in the number of mails and parcels handled, number of staff, offices and sub-offices and so on mentioned, such that I get the feeling they are trying to portray something, justify something to the public. Many many years ago, mails were delivered quite haphazardly. They were either late, delayed or mislaid. Post was not regarded as a service provider but an enforcer. You want to send mail, come to us and we will deliver for you when we are able to!! Then came the courier service. This was in the early or mid seventies. In late sixties there were already small or private concerns providing such courier service but they were rather crude and not well organized. When they were organized properly, they became a threat to the Post services. I think its was DHL that first set up the services in a big way. So Post had to buck up and face the competition. They have to increase efficiency. They have to service the public as a true service provider. They have to deliver on time. They finally decided to corporatise to increase efficiency. But is that the only way to increase efficiency? A corporate entity has to prove profitable besides being efficient. They have to answer to their shareholders. So which comes first? Shareholders or client? Profit for the shareholders or efficient service to the public, their clients. If you consider what has transpired recently my vote is their responsibility to shareholders comes first and service to clients second or is it last!! What has become apparent is that rates are increasing. It is a lot more expensive to use their services now. Will they be more efficient? I wonder. They are setting stricter rules before they can provide their service, as example, no more brown envelopes. Envelopes must be white. But white envelopes are more expensive!! All envelopes must be sealed when previously you can send open envelopes, open-ended parcels of magazines, periodicals and other printed matters and so on which was at a cheaper rate, compared to sealed envelopes. There are many more new rules and regulations being introduced. In addition they use all sorts of justification to increase rates. One, which I always fail to understand is, the rates in our country is currently the lowest in the region, or the lowest amongst so and so and similar reasons. (You also hear this reason for the increase in toll, electricity tariff, public transport fares and others!!). Must we increase our rates just because other countries charge higher rates? Other countries use our services as a dumping ground to enjoy the cheaper rates they say so we have to increase rate. So, we, the general public, having enjoyed cheaper rates have to suffer by paying higher rates to prevent others from using our country’s services as a dump? That is not right is it? Why can’t they handle the dumping by the few instead of ‘buggering’ the masses?

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Bintulu