w Syed Akbar. KL Mayor, Pasar Ramadan Reform, Illegal Temples, & Other Useless Issues

Hi everyone, welcome to the gutshot podcast. I'm your host Shamsul Sam and with me my friend Sik Aka. Good morning. Good morning everybody. Today join us for a conversation on a myriad of issues over the last week. Uh we really want to talk about these things from our original perspectives as you all know. Uh for example, the mayor election proposal uh the useless stuff that are being talked in parliament. Alhamdulillah inshallah up to you guys whichever you guys want I don't really don't care um hayo on the bazaar Ramadan uh issues that she has brought up and

another illegal temple story let's just start with that say uh before before we start the the conversation uh please subscribe if you have not or tell your friends about gutshot and get them to join in and subscribe. Let us build a thinking movement um with with uh with our citizens um that uh can shape our thinking our society and so that our citizen don't act like she ships to politicians. Let's do that. Say all right say um let's start. This is going to be like shooting fishes in a barrel. Okay, buddy. Um let's uh start with the first one. You want to go with

the mayor mayoral elections. Yeah, let's go there. Yeah, come on. This uh this topic has suddenly popped up. Yep. Uh it's been around for a while but uh it is take is it has got some traction

after the uh DAP wlaya or KL DAP had their convention or something last year, right? And then they proposed and adopted the proposal that there should be amendments to the laws whereby the mayor of Koala Lumpuro is elected becomes a elected uh position. This is the old uh local council elections uh debate which has been in the country for a long time. You see so uh of course it has uh it has elicited various kinds of responses from various parties. Basically the the the the view on this is split in two between uh Malay politicians and Chinese uh politicians. Uh and uh they are the DAPs I

think spoke about the mayoral election in Koala Lumpuro. Okay. The reasons are obvious. There are 13 parliamentary seats in Koala Lumpur and of which 11 are held by DAP and friends. You know it has it has always been like that for a long time. So Koala Lumpo is mostly a non-Chinese uh electoral area. Non-Chinese vote predominates in Koala Lumpo. Huh?

Non-Mlay non-Chinese uh non non-MA I'm sorry Chinese vote. Yeah, you're right. So the non-Malay predominates. Uh okay. So there there are many facets to this uh to this discussion. very simply the the non-Malay vote by numbers Malay's uh majority in Koala Lumpur and the Clang Valley I think by numbers but by voters uh uh Chinese vote uh predominates because many Malays are not naturalb born citizens of Koala Lumpur Clang Valley or even Slango they are from outside the state so many of them maintain their their voter registration in their the their own states. So you have people who Malay

people who may be living in K for tens of years but they go back to Perah or Clantan or Joho to vote. So they registered in their hometowns or where they were born in their statesh as a result of which the voter profile in Koala Lumpuro is very much those who are registered here. This is where the Chinese vote is substantial. So if you're going to have a mayoral election, local council elections in Koala Lumpuro, uh it is most likely that the Chinese vote will again dominate. Okay. So that's why the Malay politicians uh you know they are wary about this losing political power in

Koala Lumpo. There are there are numerous reasons and this is one of them. Okay. Uh to me the more basic one is Koala Lumpo is a big budget um city council. They want budget runs into the billions of ringit. It's it's big business.

Tens of billions. It's big business, you know. So, uh people always they want a piece of the pie, a slice of the cake, their finger in the cookie jar, whatever. There's a lot of money in Koala Lumpo

and those who hold it don't want to let it go. So, not only Koala Lumpo DBKL's own budget, but this is Koala Lumpo. You have a lot of federal projects, you know, here. You know the MRTs the the second MRT from somewhere to Kajjang the one that Naji built for 40 billion that runs through Koala Lumpo it's not a DBKL project but it goes through Koala Lumpo there's land approvals land issues project approval issues all this adds up to ring it and send for somebody somewhere you know

so you know it's a lot of power and influence if you manage KL so of course a lot of people want to get their fingers or hands on it so So these are the the motivating factors behind uh why they would like to have mayoral elections in Koala Lumpur. I let's call it local council elections.

Sure. But I find this uh a little bit off because uh we have been arguing local council elections for a long time. Uh you know for for agesh local council elections generic universal throughout the country. I find it strange that anybody want to have local council elections just for one local council the

you want to do it why don't you do it for the whole country and well you know yeah and uh using the same logic DAP has ruled Pinang since 208 why why not start in Pinang first

right okay I'll go back to Pinang there you go so you see you can see that the argument is not uh maybe not well well thought through you can see that there are there are intentions and other issues behind here which are pushing this this kind of uh dialogue coming out at so late.

The other the other thing is uh this is a bit of the to me it's wag the dog tail wag the dog. Yeah. DAP just got their butts kicked 80 in the Sabah state elections.

Uh they right now their popularity is quite low especially among their traditional Chinese voter base right. So you know this is a new issue can stir up the passions and stir up the supporters again all this

love that so wag the dog is going on too the way I look at it of course you will not agree but there are many ways of looking at this uh yesterday I listened to these guys the parikata national guys takudin

of pass he gave a pretty good uh you know uh reasoning and reply more or less what I just said because I I listened to him last night which which is which is uh fair fair fair points he raised uh the other the other issue is which Takudin said we've not had local

they say that in parliament I'm just curious outside parliament every Thursday they have a press conference the prekatan boys have a press conference in parliament but outside the I mean not during parliament session you know uh outside of parliament session they have a they call it the Thursday press conference so they went through all these points the other thing that Takudin raised was that we have not had local council elections for over 60 years. The country has done just fine.

50 years country has done okay. Other countries don't have like like Singapore does not have local council relations. I don't think so. And then uh the issue is do we really need it? You see uh as we said just now if you're going to go local council you should go the whole country.

Yeah. Why pick and choose? Huh? Yeah. Why didn't we start with Pinang like you rightly put they've been in control of that place for donkey years you know I mean if you're going to pick and choose I would rather pick and choose where I'm already entrenched now which is Pinang the AAP is

Pinang but then hey we both can go there and and and and and actually stand for election you know I'm from Pinang I I born in Pinang but you know if it's a rainy day DAP could lose a risk isn't it

uh the other thing is you know like in the US they have local council They used to it. They even elect their their sheriff. You know the sheriff in the town. They are they even elect judges

and judges they call district judges or circuit judges are elected. So at at what level do you want to go down to you know in these local council elections? You want to limit it to your your mayor. You know the US does their judges and sheriffs and all that. So what I'm trying to say is that it's not written in stone. It depends on you know whatever system you want to have. Well, if the people really want to have local council elections, put it to parliament.

And uh so this is what they proposing though, they want to put it in parliament and and and have that law passed. But but also exercise uh wisdom and caution because our country has its own dynamics, you know, uh which we have to bear in mind. So sometimes it's not just you can't just simply say democracy allows for it, so we're going to do it. You can do that but if you're going to create unnecessary uh anxieties anxiety and concern which concerns which may lead to unhappiness and things like that then uh you have to think carefully about it site I have this point of view actually when I when

this news came about uh number one I I I thought as you I agree with you that you know we've been at least more than 50 plus years of uh of of no council elections, right? And whether it's been good or bad uh that is debatable. Uh but again, my question is why now? And it goes back to this issue about um to me it is a crystal ball that you brought up, you know, shiny crystal ball. Hey, don't look at my problem here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here's a new problem.

It's a deflection exercise. Exactly. Um and um and that one stirs up some honeypot, right? But I I was actually quite insense about it in the sense that I said you have we talk spoke about IT Kasim was here the other day and I said I asked her do we need a law for the UEC to be passed so that it is certified as acceptable for a university or for uh government service or whatever

civil service right civil service or whatever and her answer was very adamant they said you don't need to pass a law for that. The minister can pass it. It's all acceptable. Which means that if you need a bit of backing, you say the cabinet passes it. Right? So you have been DAP PH has been in government for how long now? That is the easiest thing for you to do with a stroke pen. You don't need to go to parliament, right? Why all of a sudden bring up this issue that you have to go to parliament? You got a new shiny toy you're showing people that distract people from looking at the things you

cannot deliver which is easy. Okay. Huh? Right. So that is my point about it. The other point I said about it is about things being delivered. Okay. I I I digress slightly. Why is the government appealing to the award given to the family or wife of Pastor Cole? They've been awarded and the judge, our court has concluded that you are at fault and you are liable for this. Sort that out. Why you go and appeal? That to me is a failure of moral compass. All right? So don't show me this mayor politics to deflect from your inability to actually deliver real change that is in

your hands to deliver even not acting. Think about it. I saw family having to pay back money to the government. I saw the government having to uh uh no not having to the government appealing Indra Gandhi's children uh puna case how morally bankrupt are we this is if we cannot even deliver moral compass don't don't talk to me about the mayoral election I'm I'm fed up

so so this thing is uh there is no real urgency on this issue uh uh with visa v the amount of attention and uh the hype that is being

blown up blown up a bit out of proportion it is it is actually falls into the category of uh shrug worthy you can just shrug it off the public doesn't really doesn't really affect the public

it doesn't give us anything more no so it's just point to me it's just like point pointless talk you know pointless so that being said that being pointless as it is shall we stop this pointless discussion on this

no problem blinking thing let's go to the next let's go to another another another part that I think uh talking about pointless discussions and actually for me is actually also pointless coverage by the media you know this whole bruhaha about uh one of our YBS uh our representative using u uh uh uh u what was it uh alhamdulillah in parliament

oh I yeah I heard something about that you heard something about that right and then a past MP coming up and uh and making an issue of it right it's quite useless discussion such this ladies and gentlemen is the caliber of your uh representative number one and also is the caliber of your media coverage. All right, that's why you come to gutshot so that you don't have to hear this kind of coverage. We won't even talk about this. We hope that actually media doesn't cover this Okay. But they do because why? They love it.

I uh Yeah, I have some points on this. Please do brother. I mean always the discussions among the politicians, the parliamentarians Uhhuh. A lot of it is uh I don't know it's just a waste of time.

Correct. Uh I just want to sidetrack a little bit to you know Sabah Saba state elections. Just a couple of minutes on that. Uh it was held in late November last year right and now it's been uh what three three months in the third fourth month.

Uh what are the changes we are seeing in Sabah after all elections? The people are all back to square one. Nothing has uh nothing has changed. There's been no major structural change. Life goes on. If life sucked before, it still sucks now. If you were if you were the rich and the wealthy before, you are the rich and the wealthy uh today also. So, nothing much has changed. And but the the pointless useless discussion keeps going on. You know, this may election there's this discussion about this one character,

right? uh whether should he join this party or that party you know and uh the the another discussion was he should run for mayor I mean the mayor election is just being discussed now oh

that he should run for mayor and when he wins it all right he'll become mayor of Lumpuro and after a certain amount of time as mayor he should run for prime minister he'll become prime minister

so this is a kind of really useless discussion we have in this country people waste time uh real issue are not being discussed as I said in Sabah nothing has changed uh their lives have just same as square one back to square one as before

uh but they just distract us we were just we it's just all these discussions and debates that pop up here and there they are just like distractions you know from real issues real problems that are going on in the country

it it seems to be as if it's coming from both sides yeah both sides all parties all parties one side if if one side doesn't create that issue and then the other side responds okay the other side create an issue that that the other side respond and none of these thing that they talk about actually make a difference to our life

because because uh our country is the only country in the world I did some checking where although the government has changed five times the policies have not you talk about new economic policy everybody was against it five prime ministers ago It's more set in concrete now than ever before. It's still there. Everything is nothing has changed. And now the opposition, you know, is in power. The the so-called Yeah. Let's put it this way. The opposition is in power.

You know, there's a joke, you know, the country is well, the country is sort of peaceful now. There are there are less demonstrations on the streets. You know why? All those people who used to demonstrate, they're now in power. So, we're out of uh people who are used to demonstrating in the streets. They're in power now, but nothing has changed. Nothing absolutely nothing has changed. I'd like to repeat this in almost every podcast because I hope that the the the listeners will sort of have have this ingrained in your thinking. 208 the BN lost 2/3 majority.

Did they have a postmortem to find out what went wrong? No. Two 10 years later 2018 they got kicked out. Did they sit down and discuss why we got kicked out? No. 2022 they all got kicked out. They couldn't form a simple majority. It was a hung parliament. Did they make any changes? No. 2023, the six states, the ruling coalition got their butts kicked. Sabah elections, the ruling coalition got their butts kicked. Has anyone sat down and thought, why are we losing the elections? What should we do differently? Instead, now

they have what I would call I want to finish a point. They have what is called calculator politics. Now, they're using a calculator. They're thinking that in the next election if my party let's say can get 25 parliamentary seats the next party whom I can be friendly with let's say they get 30 you know and then let's say the the the party from before the agenda party loses badly but they get 15 seats so 25 15 30 40 another 30 70 we can get 70 75 seats and then we can get the Saba Saw boys we can get 112 and then we can form the government again and then we give it to the people for

another five for another 5 years you know you know you This is what this is what they're talking about now. No, the funny thing is I've been looking at uh podcasts uh in the country, right? I mean what what we have in the domestics even on the so-cal alternative media

uh landscape that we have those kind of discussion that that that political uh calculator the the calculator politics politics I use the calculator to attract a lot of views

and that shows also in in a way how our people are being led by these dummus you know yeah Right. So that's why I keep appealing to our audience. Let's grow this kind of different way of thinking, you know, so that we don't get become ships to these politicians.

Yeah. Even the as you said, even the social media, they're talking about how uh this party should reinvent itself. No, I think you you you ask you just ask me I'm a regular person. I'm a voter. I'm a citizen. You ask me what can I do for you? That's how you reform yourself.

You know, you ask the public, you ask the voters, where do we go wrong? Tell us what can we do for you? Instead, people are talking how they should reinvent themselves, how they should restructure their this that, you know, this guy wants to be mayor and after he becomes mayor, he can be prime minister.

I want to see five manifest two item. All right. And you deliver that five. I've not seen any of that being delivered for as long as I can remember by anybody. Okay. So, uh now I mean obviously we've got uh an uh a previous ex minm of ours you know who who I think he he practically said many manifestos doesn't matter you know

it's just a manifesto anyway guys. So he I mean let let's I just want to touch also another thing you know I mean that's that's the thing you've got the media covering so much of this why don't the media play their role in actually highlighting things that we talk about right which is actually more towards what the people want so with that uh you know I mean this whole thing about you know whatever You want to a Chinese want to speak in Arabic using Arabic language using Quranic language that come on I go and I mean every time I see my non-Mlay friends you know what I do

all right and they properly reply to me and we all smile right so shut up about that anyway we I I think there's another thing that has come up in the uh in the I guess the the that seems to be popping up non-stop. I think every every other half a year this uh illegal uh place of worship uh temple or whatever will come up in in our in in our stories. What the hell is going on? Say go please.

Yeah. Let's move to that block again. this uh to me I've listened to some of these uh so-called NOS's uh they are not being very honest about it

no mostly mostly all all of them are Malay Muslim NOS's they are now they some of these NOS's I was listening to their press conference very emotional uh you know trying to pull on the basically the two R things like are

uh the royalties are involved based in religion and sometimes they pull in on the royalty as well. They are playing sentiment you know which I think it is unnecessary and it should be nipped in the bud because why make it such a emotive issue race and religion. So they are saying that uh well basically they're targeting uh Hindu temples because a lot of the mention was quail is referring to the Hindu temple. Maybe there are other temples also. The the the accusation is that um some of them are sitting on land that does not belong to them. Either it is state land or it

is other people's private land. Granted this issue is very old issue in uh in the country. uh you know the recent issue I think was last year about that temple in Jalam Mazjas India.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one is over about 100 years old or something. So these things have been there for a long time. The important thing is when they were built, these temples were located there whatever about 100 years ago or whatever uh for a long time it was not done out of malice you know it is they just put their temples there you know and you know for certain communities it's very easy to set up a place of worship they just build a small structure with uh some kind of you know their incense and all that it becomes a temple and over time people you know add to it and it

becomes a bigger a temple. Uh there is no malicious thought that you know this land it belongs to somebody else. I'm going to put a temple there on purpose. I don't think so. You know, so you must see there was no malice in the from the very beginning

in this society. But we know how the temples might everywhere. But but okay, but then it is a real issue. We I mean we cannot ignore the other side of the argument. Right. They do occupy land that does not belong to them.

But is there such an urgency that you need to make it a national issue and whip up people's emotions and passions and people's anger basically when it's not really an issue. Do you know any temples that are sitting on illegal land near your house or near your place?

I have no I don't I don't think so. Does it affect you in any way as a person? Even if there is I I don't I do not know which temple near my house it's is legal or illegal.

Uh there are temples near my area and uh neither does it affect me in any way. So I really do not know what is the urgency of this issue other than it being a platform for certain people just to you know pro promote themselves their own agenda.

It is wag the dog again. So I see that this is unnecessary. Now the other thing is uh whether temple or whatever these are land issues. Land issue is state. Yeah.

It's not a it's not a federal issue. And if it's land is involved if the land belongs to the state then it's state land. If it's a private land it's a it's a private matter. Private matter. So the private land holder has got he's got avenues under the law to protect his rights. If somebody builds a temple on let's say land that belongs to me, I have avenues according to the law to to protect my rights, it's a private matter. The same thing if the state has got uh land which where someone has built a temple, the state has got the avenues under the law and under state uh

authority jurisdiction to solve the problem. It is a case case by case basis they have to sort it out. Excuse me. Why do you have to uh you know uh what do they call it in Malay? We say keep

Why do you have to uh fan the flames? Fan the flames and make it a national issue. I'll tell I'll tell you a reason. Can I give you a reason? And they are threatening to organize a demonstration a large scale demonstration. What for?

Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. No, no, no. I I I'll tell you what for. It also helps the political party that is using the R you know religion and race to actually say oh look look look if we you know we are uh the one uh championing the race and religion that's one thing you f that that that we have to keep in mind you know it's it's their selling point

also the other point I would like to make is that if you really want to make this an issue then please do an audit of all the all the religious uh houses of worship in the country, not just the Hindu temple.

Let's do the Chinese temples, the Christian churches, the Muslim suras, the madrasas, madrasas and the moss, you know. I'm sure if you go from PL to Sabah, they all have more or less they may have this kind of issues, you know, where something is built on land that does not belong to them.

I know for a fact that in a lot of the old estates as run by the British. They did build churches especially Tamil churches. Yeah. Because they were also into convert converting people into Christianity. You find churches built in uh some of the very historical made of wood churches uh in Perah. I've seen some. So they exist inside the estates where you know they build churches for Tamil Christians to go and worship. It is basically built on land that belongs to the plantation. The British have left. some of these companies have been sold to other new ownership in Malaysia.

So what is this the the the status of those uh churches? Are you going to go after them also? The same thing goes for suras and masjids and madrasas as you say I'm sure if you go and dig up all these things there will be issues like this.

So what do you want to make an issue out of it? You want to create a public demonstration? I mean what is the purpose of this kind of thing or are you just saying that no we are the majority we have the right to show our muscles that's what it is

it boils down to like might is right you know so I would advise his people lay off this issue uh if somebody if if there someone build a temple on my land there are avenues open to me under the law

you negotiate you go to court you know because it is a private matter you don't you don't create an some sort of a national nationwide right protest movement. Yeah. To over an issue that really does not exist. I think partly the problem also is because when one when uh when the majority side uh whether it's race or religion that brought up the issue whe you know they um uh there's the the government just let them be you know uh but uh if on the minority side it becomes an issue they clamp it down. So when that happens um you know when that that that uh imbalance is happening uh

it it makes these people feels that they are untouchable and they can do whatever they want to do uh to stock up flames. Yeah. I think they have nothing better to do. Too much free time on their hands.

Too much free time and not smart enough. I think they can they they they make money by by actually stoking uh all these sentiments. But uh it it can be dangerous because you are playing with emotions and religious uh basically religious fears.

Yeah. The the the the three are the two hour thing. Yeah. But having said that I mean we we we we are running towards uh I think we are coming to the Ramadan period already.

Uh yes. Yeah. Uh it starts on the 18th or 19th. Yeah. So we'll we'll celebrate Chinese New Year first, you know. Um so and after that we'll have uh Ramadan. Um and the old good stories of Ramadan bazaar has been brought up by our uh web hayo.

Yeah. Minister the minister. Um you have uh you have any uh any points of view on that on what she has brought up and the issues involved. Just a few podcasts ago we spoke we spoke about the bazaar Ramadan. Y

so I hope our discussion had some uh you know some input into uh whatever has been uh done. Now the minister in the PM's department in charge of Kkutan before it used to be minister of villaykuan now she's minister in the PM's department but she's in charge of federal territory and she came up with a statement on this handling of this bazar Ramadan. So uh basically uh Wii Hana yo has said that they have reduced they have reduced the fees to get this trading lot the lots for these hawkers and traders basically to for one month to sell their their goods and items um by the

roadside. These are all hawkers you know. So uh because uh bazaar Ramadan has become you know contentious over the years especially in KL especially in the Masid India area because these cartels they were involved in cornering this the licenses through corruption through abuse of power and corruption. They will get they will corner these licenses and permits for these trading lots and then they on sell it to the real traders for a much higher higher price. Uh I think Hanayo says that now the feesh for the trading license in one for each spot is about 4 to 500 ringit for one month but

I can tell you like in places like Mazid India that license can be sold to a second party. So we you you get a resale market for it 5,000 10,000 they have been like 15,000 even higher in the old days you know

so uh there is a very lucrative market there and so that's where this cartels come in and cartels uh they are invariably they are connected to the to the people who are in charge of issuing these these permits and licenses the local authority guys corruption so they corner the market then then they on sell it to the genuine tradersh. So, uh, YB Hana has come up with a method this year which she thinks is quite foolproof, meaning that when people apply, they only need to pay 4 500 ringgit and then they will get the license and they can trade. So, she says she's removing the

the middleman guys and the cartels overcoming that. Let me give some advice to yhana. Yo, I used to be I used to be uh the deputy chairman

of something called the Majl Bertinda Kawasan Mazjid India which was basically a uh traders I mean the business businessman's organization in Mazjid India in the old days

from the time of Abdullah Bawi uh the chairman was uh Dato Amir Ali Maiden and we spent a lot of time uh you know taking up this issue with the government basically with DBKL there were some successes. So over the years uh different ministers, ministers of uh fellow territory, Wlaya, Mantri, WAutwan came up with various schemes you know to uh to be more transparent you know things like that to cut out the same issue to cut out the middleman to cut out the cartels things like that but uh not all of them worked very well at one time they even had this system called where

you know the people who apply for the trading permit they are given a photo ID, a photo ID and the photo ID will hang in the the place where they are trading. So that the person who actually got the license to trade

is the one in the picture. Yeah. But you will be surprised. Uh one of the pictures was uh at that time the wife of a deputy minister. Yeah. I took a picture of it at that time. Things like this happen. So they just put the picture there and then of course she won't be there to run the business. somebody else is doing it. It's already been sold many times though meaning there's no enforcement. So what you hang a picture there if there's no enforcement then it doesn't it doesn't work isn't it? Nobody cares. Then after the first week that all the pictures disappear so because in Malaysia

enforcement is very very weak. Very weak. You're not going to you're not going to cancel a permit after one week. The guy has paid whatever he has paid money and then you come here and say hey your not the guy in the picture. I'm going to cancel your permit. I I think that it's not going to happen. Uh bottom line is like this in Mazjid India at that time well we've left Mazid India a few years now but at that time every year in Mazid India the ground zero of the Bazar Ramadan uh certain certain slots are very sought after and they will be occupied by the same people

every year the same faces. So there was these people the most expensive uh lots they sell these paper flowers and the plastic flowers which is a very popular item during the for the haraya people buy plastic flowers paper flowers for decoration and all that. So the guys who sold these paper flowers and these plastic flowers they occupied a particular spot in Jalamas India and every year no matter what system you had no matter what transparent you know drawing the lots to make sure people are uh they are very random and very transparent method of of choosing the

lots. The same fellows no matter what system they use the same fellow will end up at that slot at that particular slot you know. So how does that happen? meaning that the cartels are still in business. So my advice to YB Hayo is uh you should ask the people on the street uh if the same fellow gets the same slot this year as they did last year that means your system is not working. That means the cartels are still in place. How can the same guy get the same slot every year?

And then you had other guys selling uh certain kinds of you know da cookies and all that. the same guys uh I'm talking about Mazjid India in those days they will appear in the same slot every year

meaning that no matter what system they had the the same guy that means the same guy he paid for it so the cartels are still there so the acid test for YB Hayo the acid test

if the same person appears in the same slot this year as they did last year your system is not it's not working of course you wouldn't know because she's just minister uh this here. I don't think she knows what went on in Mazid India last year but if you ask the local people they will tell you. So that's the acid test. Uh this game is a bit difficult to overcome because uh the the thing is quite corrupted all the way. Uh the rot is inside you know the termites are inside the house. That's why you have to fix that's those are the issues you have to fix which have not been fixed. M

uh this talk about the mayoral election it's maybe it's related but you see the thing about the DBKL for example DBKL DBKL has got its own they call it their own service it's not part of the larger civil service it doesn't come under JPA they have their own loop they call it you know because the mayor is appointed directly by the by the king by the aong and uh so the entire DBKL has got its own system of this um they're not part of the larger uh civil service in the sense that I mean the the salary schemes all pretty much I think the same but they have their own authority so it's

very you cannot transfer somebody out or fire people or you know inside the DBKL uh I it's a bit more complicated so these are the things that uh need to be changed we have to make the DBKL more answerable and uh you have to be able to take uh action especially in changing people around, transferring people around which may be more effective in fixing things uh in the DBKL. I I want to just a thought run through my mind is that um uh one of the biggest problem to start off with is that if you want to find a solution since this is going to be maybe a couple of weeks to go before before Damada.

Yeah, I think by now they would have awarded the Yeah, they would have done the they call it the chabot they would have done it. I mean, you think about it, right? Why you have one photo? You're going to have four. You're going to have at least probably two shifts or even four shift. Well, that's what that's my idea. What happened before I do not know if they're doing it now. So, it's not fair to to say that they're going to have the photo system. I don't think so. But this what I'm saying is what they had last time. It didn't work.

Well, I mean, if you have let's put it this way. Uh I think the the it should be a lottery system that is open to public. There's even the submission right I almost feel like this right the the submission also has to be public and it cannot be done behind the closed doors anymore because when it's done behind closed doors then actually it's going to be manipulated behind closed doors. In the past the from what I hear this is from the street the street talk

the cartel allegedly the cartel people they can fill up hundreds of applications overnight they have people they can collect names and IC numbers they can have dubious what traders associations this Bumutra traders association that association and then coming as legitimate uh traders and they have names real names with IC numbers and everything and applying for licenses, hundreds of them. They they they can mobilize their resources because it's too lucrative.

It's too lucrative and you can't find these people to do all these things. So, it's a bit of a long haul. What are you wish is only talked about in less than two weeks in about two weeks before it doesn't give me much confidence to be honest. If you're going to talk about it, you talk about it six months before this happens and then you tell us what exactly are you going to do. Lowering prices is not is is not the answer because why low whilst lowering prices is uh uh uh uh uh uh is one step but um low lowering prices does not um does does not stop reselling of actually you know

okay there there are a couple of things here you see last time when I was uh when my wife and I were doing business in Masid India the the most popular places are at the foot of the escalator going into the Maiden uh department store cuz that's a very popular department store. A lot of people will come there for shopping. That's where these bazaar Ramadan traders want to put their their stall to capture the people coming out of Maiden. So that particular spot would go for like more than 10,000 15,000 ringit for that one month and very popular. And then you also have

that one one portion in front of the Hanifa uh department store where the five foot way is quite wide also popular extremely popular. So there are these different spots that are you know which we command higher higher premiums rental. My suggestion is

take out the bazaar Ramadan from all these shopping areas and you create a new area there. I mean it's just that within the same area there are so many other roads and so many locations and you cordon off an area and then you set it up there away from all these you know highly sought after locations which leads to all this wrongdoing and buying and selling of the licenses and permits and all that you know I have suggested before when I was uh with the majis bertinda why don't for one month you decorate the dataran mika you know datan mika you know you decorate the whole place

put up proper like very attractive kind of things you know and then put the stalls there for a month with lights and maybe some music although in the fasting month I don't know that's a good suggestion but make it something nice so that even the tourists can come and then you're not obstructing anybody you see you know you know the datan mka the huge padang there not only the paddang okay if you don't want to kill the grass there's enough concrete space on all sides you know if you set it up properly you can have a nice bazaar Ramadan there without causing so much havoc and

without creating so much of this corruption you know so there are many ways to skin this cat but if you insist that no we got to have the the bazaar Ramadan right outside the major supermarkets located there then you're looking for trouble

well actually you ask me I said to be honest with you I I'm I'm I'm think no matter where you put it okay because just the event itself that is only going to happen once a here all right is already going to be a lucrative uh a lucrative situation

no matter where you put it right so it's not just in uh uh in in in Mazjid India itself it's also in Tamanton it's also in shahalam bangi everywhere so many places now so many places

we know that whenever there is honey there's going to be ants right yep and the ants will resell it to others because I I we don't know how many hands that that so the system I would I I would have loved actually if the minister had already come out and say these are my plans one two three four in order to actually make sure that there is no corruption and the the real traders actually gets it

okay the minister and her friends they all politicians and the DAP is losing elections and you just lost 80 in Sabah I'm telling you in this bazaar Ramadan the traders get taken for a ride. I've known so many fellas, you know, I you know, we used to be neighbors. I mean, they're trading right in front of my shop. We'll talk to them. I say at the end of the month, I'll ask them, "How did you do the guy will say, I barely made my got back my modal. I just barely got back my capital." And because there's so many of them, it's competition.

So, at the end of the day, the traders become they are the suckers. Yeah. They get taken for a ride. there's a bitter taste in their mouth because they paid so much 5,000 10,000 and you may not make that amount of money from a roadside business you know so uh not everybody makes money and people end up with a bitter taste and then you find that every year there are those faces that disappear they tried their luck they couldn't make the money because they had to pay so much to these middleman cartels so they lost money and of course when they lose money

photo is still the same and they lost money and of course when they lose money they don't vote for you anymore. They they become bitter. So who benefits? The cartel holders who are all poor politically connected at that time. I can mention the party but maybe no names that agenda party the party full of agendas. Uh that was a cartel at that time. So you you so you lose votes because the traders end up getting the short end of the stick.

Yeah. you know, so I think it all goes down back and for back back this way. I I I I want to end this podcast in one in one thing actually that is uh when we talk about all these nonsense issues and even this bazar Ramadan if you ask me the only uh issue that I think is worth talking about today to be honest. All right, we talk about the other issues because we want to point out um the the ludicrousness of the issues that is happening and that is being highlighted in our mainstream media and that's been talked about nonstop in other you know in other avenues but the only ones that

actually I would have felt worthwhile talking is this bad bazaar Ramadan and what could have done been done for it because it not only affect attack uh DBKL Bazar Ramadan but also everywhere across throughout and there is a a huge uh uh a huge not just uh corruption opportunity but also uh it impacts daily it impacts the people who truly wants to do business and and how uh citizens are impacted right so I think um this is my frustration and why to some extent some people ask me why am I doing this is because I see that um uh real important issues are not being discussed

and instead we have to deal with you know uh issues that are I want to be mayor yeah you know let's do the mayor thing here you know when um important things like hey we've got uh children that can or or youth that can go because they are qualified but are not allowed to go in because they are of a different race and they go through a different certification process which actually if you get somebody from overseas let's say we are importing a lot of foreign students does any of them take SPM

you're talking about the UC yeah so the real issues are not being discussed instead what is being discussed uh some uh poor s uh you know uh uh using Arabic So you know,

so to cap the discussion. Yeah. My point is kept the discussion. My point is I'm going to tell people kick them out. That's it. We are a democracy now. Whatever the next election comes, I just kick them out. They're not delivering. They're talking rubbish. They're wasting time. The politicians are the cause of a lot of the problems in the country.

And uh many of them are in it for themselves. They're not they're not in it for you or for me. They absolutely they have absolutely no concerns about you or me. They are in it only for themselves. that is why the problems don't get solved. Uh so this is a problem in the country and it boils at the end of the day it's our fault. It's our fault. We are a democracy.

If after 50 years 60 years this crap is still going on then it's our fault. We are not using our rights our uh all the the avenues that we have mo mostly through the polls uh to do to set things right. 50 years 60 years we are still not able to set things right in this country. That is the purpose of a democracy.

If we cannot do things right, then we only have no one else to blame except ourselves. So please be informed. Please be well informed about what is going on around us. We have to really get over this racial identities and silo thinking and tunnel thinking. We there are issues that will affect all of us

like it or not equally. As long as you have two arms and two legs, you live in this country, the same problems will affect all of us. And many of these problems are caused by the politics and the politicians. So the sooner we realize this and overcome this and start thinking as people, as human beings, as Malaysians, the sooner we will get over our problems. If we do not, they will divide and rule us stand on our shoulders and piss on our heads.

Yeah. Which is what they're doing now. I I I I would add one thing. Um I almost want to think I don't know what you feel about it is that I feel like I think we should demand five items from our elected elected representative. Five concrete items that that um they want to achieve very simple five concrete items that are achievable specific within 12 months. All right. So if you have a if you have we should be asking and I think the mainstream media the media when they interview the prime minister interview the minister they should ask from right now give me five

items you want to achieve this year. five items that the people are going to get impacted immediately and benefit and then let's see whether they can do it or not or at the very least try to get it done otherwise they keep pissing like what say was saying they keep pissing on our heads because they don't care thank you so much we'll see you again

thank