Bouquets and Brickbats For Time Limit Parking

Cars parked illegally in front of the Johor Baru City Council. Pic by Nur Aisyah Mazalan.

by Chuah Bee Kim

sourced from NST online

This is My Say on the matter. What is yours?

THE Johor Baru City Council’s proposal to introduce time-limit parking has received praises and criticisms.

Those who are working in Singapore and have to park their cars near the Sultan Iskandar building before heading for the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex to take a bus to work in the republic, are of course, unhappy with the proposal.

They would need to make alternative plans, should such a law be implemented.

The local council came up with this proposal to emulate cities like Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia and Vancouver, Canada.

The cosmopolitan cities have to introduce this system to free up parking bays for others.

In a city like London, for instance, it is common to pay £40 (about RM210), a day to park their vehicles.

In Malaysia, people are unhappy when they have to pay RM20 for parking their car for a day.

It is not only an inconvenience to those who work in Singapore, even reporters will find it burdensome if there is a time limit.

If we were assigned to cover court cases, we do not know when a session will end.

Sometimes, a case is scheduled for 9am, but if the magistrate or judge is not available or the accused or witness is late, the case will be delayed.

Unforseen circumstances often crops up. A hearing can drag on until 3pm.

If would be a problem for us if time-limit parking were imposed.

Nevertheless, it will not affect me because I seldom drive to the city anyway. It is more convenient to hop onto a bus which will take me to the city, so why should I drive and worry about parking?

For those who do need to drive to Johor Baru, or the occasional shopper for instance, will welcome the idea of time-limit zones as it will be easier to find a parking spot.

A shopper will not spend the entire day in a shopping mall, or their purse will soon become very thin.

So having a time limit is good for a spendthrift shopaholic.

Like everything else, there will always be those who like the idea and those who are against it. You cannot please everyone.

But now the question is, does the local council have the manpower to enforce it?

For a long time, there have been complaints about business operators who place chairs, tables and cones on the roads, yet nothing has changed, except for the occasional raids.

There are endless complaints of of rampant double parking and other forms of illegal parking in the city, yet the problems persist.

If you complain about an overgrown tree, it will take some time before any action is taken.

How many skylifts does MBJB have? How many workers?

All these need to be looked into and carefully considered if Johor Baru wants to look anything like Melbourne.

It is common practice for cars to park on double yellow lines.

Pas "wild card" Candidate

Pas to submit third name to Selangor palace

by Shahrum Sayuthi

A NST exclusive sourced from NST online
 
SHAH ALAM: Pas will defy its Pakatan allies and nominate a third person to replace Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

A high-ranking party official told the New Straits Times yesterday that the party would submit three names, including  that of PKR president Datuk  Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her deputy, Azmin Ali, to the Selangor palace for consideration.

The official said Pas would obey Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s decree on Aug 26 for the Islamist party, PKR and DAP to nominate at least three candidates for the menteri besar’s post by tomorrow.

“It is better to have the third name anyway as it could be the solution in case something goes wrong with the other two names.” Khalid was sacked from PKR on Aug 9 as part of the party’s attempt to replace him with Dr Wan Azizah, the wife of de facto party leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The move had been met with fierce criticism, with Pas leading the charge in insisting that Khalid be retained.

It then changed its stance and supported the move to remove Khalid, but remained steadfast in complying with the palace’s decree.

Two assemblymen from PKR — Dr Idris Ahmad of Ijok and Dr Yaakob Sapari of Kota Anggerik — are thought to be the front runners to be the third Pas “wild card” candidate.

The Pas official said a decision on the matter would be made in a meeting before the deadline.
“However, I have not yet been notified of the date and time of the meeting, but it should be held before Wednesday (tomorrow).”

The official said the Selangor leadership crisis would likely be discussed during debates at the party’s upcoming muktamar (annual general assembly) from Sept 18 to 20 in Johor.

The venue of the assembly, initially set to be in Johor Baru but would likely to be changed to “somewhere outside the state capital”, will be decided after a party leadership meeting on Sept 7.

On efforts by certain quarters to “persuade” Selangor Pas assemblymen to sign a statutory declaration (SD) in support of Dr Wan Azizah’s candidacy, the official said the matter was being handled by the Selangor party leaders.

The party’s patience has been pushed to the limit, with  Selangor Pas secretary Mohd Khairuddin Othman declaring on Sunday that the party would expose “the lobbyists” if this continued.

The move has widened rifts in the loose opposition pact, with two Pas assemblymen, Saari Sungib (Hulu Klang) and Hasnul Baharuddin (Morib), along with their DAP and PKR counterparts, signing a SD on Aug 14 in support of Dr Wan Azizah. The remaining 13 Selangor Pas assemblymen did not sign the SD.

This did not sit well with the Selangor Pas ulama wing, which passed a motion on Saturday condemning Saari and Hasnul. The motion will be forwarded to the party’s disciplinary committee for action to be taken against the two.

Meanwhile, Pas Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat said the party’s wing was concerned with the developments in Selangor, particularly the tussle in Pakatan over the choice of the new menteri besar.

On the wish by certain quarters in Pas, particularly from Kelantan, to field a candidate for the upcoming Pengkalan Kubor by-election on Sept 25, Suhaizan said the matter should be “amicably discussed” with PKR, which had also insisted on contesting the seat despite losing there in the last two general elections

No Hogging

Time Limit To Free Up More Bays

sourced from NST online

by Chuah Bee Kim

JOHOR BARU: THE Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) may introduce a time-limit parking zone in a bid to free up more bays in the city and lessen congestion.

MBJB public relations officer Abdul Aziz Ithnin told Johor Streets here yesterday that a proposal is being drawn up.

He said some residents park their vehicles in public lots in areas under the jurisdiction of the MBJB, and go to work in Singapore.

“These people pay 60 sen per hour, and park their vehicles there for more than eight hours.

“They are hogging the parking spaces, leaving none for the other motorists who then have to park their cars in front of fire hydrants or double park.

“In places like Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia, the authorities there set limits on how long a vehicle can park in a space. If the driver exceeds the time limit, they will face a fine.”

He said that because there is no time limit, people who work in Singapore can leave their cars in the same spot until they return from the republic.

He said that there is congestion in the city because motorists are too lazy to walk a few extra steps.

“There are parking spaces but many people are in the habit of parking in a spot which is closest to the shop or bank they want to drop in, obstructing traffic and causing inconvenience to other motorists. They are too lazy to park and walk even though the distance is not far,” Aziz said.

Mable Tan, 40, a fitness instructor shared Aziz’s sentiment.

“Sometimes, I am afraid to park my car in a parking lot. You know why? Because when I want to leave, often I will find a car blocking mine. I look around and there are empty spaces. They want to park “depan mata” (a habit of indiscriminate parking),” Tan said.

Tan added that these inconsiderate motorists will not think twice about parking in front of fire hydrants or bay for the disabled.

“Not only do they park indiscriminately, they don’t even have the courtesy of apologising if they have blocked your vehicle and kept you waiting for them to move. People today are getting more selfish.”

 

pic by Ben Tan

pic by Nur Aisyah Mazalan

Feedjit, Oh Feedjit

Updated

Hah! I finally got the location setting right. Now the widget shows me as visitor from JB instead of Kedah.

All for the fun of it ...

Original Post

I just installed the Feedjit Live Feed.  I was curious to know where my visitors were coming from, what do they like to read, etcetera.

But I think the widget isn't very accurate.  It guessed my location as Alor Setar, Kedah.  I went to the menu found at the bottom of the widget and tried to correct it.  It then registered me as coming from somewhere else instead of Johor.

And if you don't want the widget to detect you, you can choose the "ignore browser" option.

So, adding the widget is just for the fun of it.  At least people are reading my writings, my thoughts even though I don't know where and who they are. Well, thanks for reading.

Tomorrow, in the Johor Streets, I have a story about time-limit parking in the city of Johor Bahru.  This proposal by the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) is going to ruffle some feathers, namely, those who go across the Causeway to work.

Read about it in tomorrow's Johor Streets, ok?  It's going to be something like what the city of Melbourne is doing to free parking spaces.  Anyway, it's only a proposal by the MBJB.

If you think it shouldn't be introduced, then perhaps you can drop in some suggestions as to how to ease the congestion in some areas in the city of JB?
  
Ok, going to have my dinner now.  Hungry!

No Compromise For Quality

In the Johor Streets today

an Interview with Chef Long Thean Liang

at Lotus Desaru Beach Resort

Long Thean Liang, 46, is the executive chef of Lotus Desaru Beach Resort. He also owns the Magic 1 restaurant in Jalan 5/51, Penang.

The recipe for my Penang assam laksa is a gift from my mother who is a very good cook. She is 63 this year and lives in Batu Ferringhi, Penang.

My father passed away when I was five years old, and my mother single-handedly brought me up. I have no other siblings.

Though I am based in Johor now, I make frequent trips home to visit my mother, get my favourite prawn paste, and check on my restaurant in my hometown.

I can get prawn paste from a supplier in Johor but I have to be careful that it is made at the original factory.

Several years ago, I bought, what I thought was my preferred brand of prawn paste here. The packaging looked the same. When I used it to cook, I found it tasted different.

I read the label and discovered that it was not made at the original factory.

It was a genuine product except that it was made in another factory by the same manufacturer.

That is why I am particular about the ingredients that I use.

Although I am the executive chef of a resort, I try to go to the market myself to buy the ingredients that I need.

I am very fussy when it comes to certain ingredients, such as lemongrass, for instance.

Lemon grass is grown at the resort, but it is not enough for my kitchen, so I buy the rest from the market.

Recently I made another discovery and that is water also plays a part in the taste of a dish.

I discovered this when I got together with some friends from the northern states.

They decided to cook a dish that they specialise in.

We went to the market to get the freshest ingredients that we could find. After the meal was done, we found that the distinct taste from the north was not there.

No matter what we did, the flavour eluded us. We were dumbfounded.

Then I remembered having done an experiment once where I made a cup of Nescafe, and used water from a tap in Johor, and another cup using water from a tap in another state.

There was a distinct difference in the tastes of the two cups coffee.

You can try the same experiment, if you don’t believe me.

My mother worked hard to make ends meet when I was growing up. So I decided to leave school at a young age.

At the age of 16, I was already helping out in the kitchen of an eatery. It was different in those days. A kitchen helper had to peel the prawns and prepare the vegetables for the cook.

Being a kitchen helper nowadays is not as tough as the old days as many items are readily available in the frozen section of a supermarket.

My mentors were quick to reject any item that did not meet their standards. I think their mentality have rubbed off on me, and it is something to be thankful for because it is a chef’s pride and joy to serve the best to a diner.

I also learnt that I had to fine tune a recipe to suit the taste buds of local diners. What works in the north may not work in the south.

The different ethnic groups in the same local community have different preferences.

So, these are some of the things an executive chef has to bear in mind when drawing up the menu.

sourced from NST online

Johor Is The Top Investment Hub In Malaysia

according to Malaysian Investment Development Authority

sourced from NST online

By Rudy Fazrunisyam Samarudin

JOHOR BARU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong did not discuss the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) issue during the latter’s visit to the republic last Wednesday.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the issue was not raised when Najib and Lee jointly launched the Agrobazaar, a one-stop centre for Malaysian agro-based products from the Federal Agricultural and Marketing Authority, in the republic.

“The Federal government has a stand on the issue, and this will be announced in the near future,” he said at the opening of the state-level Exporters Forum organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) on Thursday.

On July 16, the government had given the green light for a VEP fee to be imposed on foreign-registered vehicles entering Johor. However, the rate and date of implementation have yet to be announced.

Collection from the VEP will be shared by the Federal and state governments.

In his speech at the forum, Khaled said Johor was on the right track to become the preferred investment destination with RM14.9 billion in investment recorded from January to May this year in the state.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) statistics place Johor as the top investment hub in the country followed by Pahang and Sarawak.