Current things that bug me

I am amazed to watch TV and see that the Malaysian Police has allowed people who were fined, to take their own sweet time (6 months grace period), before .. at the very last minute come and pay their fine, and then have the audacity to complain of the long lines and that there was not enough time to pay. LOL. Just now I heard that they (the offenders) now can question their fine and not pay... LOL.

My view on this is that our police are actually not doing much. I know the old story of not having enough manpower, overworked, etc... (and I am aware of it and sympathize with the police, as I also have friends who are policemen), but in Kuching, I rarely see the police fining someone. The last time I saw that (well, actually I didn't see any fine being given) was the police having a long conversation with the driver.. my wife was buying her medicine and I was in the car (parked properly) and I could see the police stopping a car and having a conversation with the driver. Even as I left with my wife, the conversation was still going on.

Very different from what I have seen in New Zealand. You are stopped, issued a traffic summons, and the police leaves. You pay! Thats it!

On another note, why not use modern technology (cameras at traffic lights, speed camera etc)? Oh ya, that is to catch.. not to get them to pay!

But that still doesn't explain the 6 months grace period to pay a summons!

What message is being told to the law breakers.

The message that I can gather from the newspapers and TV is, in Malaysia, you can break the law (and there may be no police even to see it, so no summons)

and if you are unlucky enough to get caught, you can have long conversations,

and if you are unlucky enough to get fined, you can wait for a long time before even considering to pay,

and if you are unlucky enough to pay, you can ask for a discount!

I don't know... I think our police is doing a very good job under the circumstances that they are placed in, but come on.. how can I tell my daughter that if you do wrong there will be punishment when the police doesn't even do that now.. you can negotiate to pay less for what you did wrong..

Thats what the public is seeing, all I hear from people when they break the traffic law (when I am in someone else car) is "mana ada polis" or "kalau kena tangkap pun tak perlu bayar saman." This happens to the point that when you do not break the law (i.e. cross the road when the traffic light is red), the people in the car behind you horns you ..

Its a sad reflection of our society...

Ernest