The reality of life...

Is SMS voting the most popular thing going on right now? I mean its everywhere in almost every contest recent reality television show such as Malaysian Idol, Fantasia Akademi and others. In true honesty it is out of sheer brilliance that this concept was thought up because not only does the voters get to be part of the contest but the amount of cash generated by these votes provide a hefty profit to the creators.

Recently in the newspapers, there is talk that there will be a voting competition to decide the next Malaysian up in space. Already receiving sarcastic remarks from the media regarding sending our favourite "roti canai" into space, this will definitely grab the headlines of every major media company by offering a SMS vote-in for the first Malaysian astronaut.

I think it is absolutely absurd that such a thing should occur because in reality, SMS voting is largely dependent on popularity and money. Even the guys at Rudy and JJ of the Hitz.fm morning crew agree on that. Whoever has more money can afford to send in more text votes for himself/herself. I don't want a Malaysian to make a fool of himself in space because of he/she won a popularity contest, I want one that will do this nation proud, someone who is qualified, humble and willing to do anything to make his/her country proud. That is who we should send into space, not some bozo who can smile great in front of a camera and spends thousands of dollars on SMSes. I am sure either Maxis, Celcom or Digi will be glad because of all the business that bozo is giving to them.

Anyhow, recently after all the AP issue being brought up all over Malaysia, Miss Rafidah is back again but this time I am for her. This time it is about power issues and how a lot of companies have been complaining to her regarding losses incurred by these companies due to power failures and blackouts. Despite paying all their bills and settling any monetary issues, why is it that us consumers are receiving sub-standard services?

I particular like this bit. (source: Thestar.com.my)

This came about when Bruce Anson, chief operating officer of Quantum Structural Membranes Sdn Bhd, told her that his factory in Ayer Keroh Industrial Area was still without

power supply despite paying RM36,200 in deposits and other required costs.

“The answer given to us by TNB is that they have no budget for pipes,” Anson told Rafidah.

The minister immediately asked a TNB officer for an explanation.

However, he was from Johor, so he could not provide an answer.

When Rafidah asked how much profit Tenaga made last year, the officer replied: “RM1.4bil.”

Wow, a profit of RM1.4bil and no budget to layout pipes. I won't say anything else. I leave it all for Malaysians to decide. It is so evident that these kind of things happen, if that is so how are we suppose to attract foreign investors into our country? Maybe we should use this sort of advertisement since we are trying to establish more research here in Malaysia.

WANTED: R&D Investors

Field of study:
To research on the power networks set up in Malaysia, to figure out why the circuit breakers do not function in time and why backups are not reliable and that certain areas do not receive any electricity.

Resources:
Plenty of unreliable power networks with plenty of real life situations to research on.

This will definitely bring in those investors!

Maybe now we can see what happens when companies are allowed to monopolize the market. So much so that I am afraid that the resultant of that would lead to sub-standard customer service and preferrence and all concentration would be focused on profits rather than us consumers. There should never be a single monopoly in any market, competition is healthy and beneficial for everyone in the long run. Without wars and competition, the human race would never have advanced this much technologically, and thats true.