KLIA Taxi - Scam or not?

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

KLIA Taxi - Scam or not?

I would like to alert travellers to an issue with taxi’s at KLIA.

The taxi system at KLIA is pretty confusing for most people unless you are a regular traveller to Malaysia and the very poorly design website www.klia.com.my doesn't offer any information regarding taxi services at the airport.

The main taxi company at KLIA who until recently held a monopoly is Airport Limo. This company provides a multi tired limo service by way of stating your destination, class of taxi and then purchasing a coupon for the journey.

The other system is what’s known as a city cab which is basically a standard meter taxi service which operates from level 1.

One of the frustrating problems with Airport Limo is the regular shortage of taxi’s especially at peak periods or owing to traffic congestion in KL. It is quite common for the coupon counter staff to tell you that there are no taxi’s or that there is a big queue.

I usually take a premier taxi which is between the budget and limo for a more comfortable ride and the fact that most of the drivers know the location of my condo.



The taxi coupons sold are valid for a month and owing to my weekly trips to and from Singapore I always have an option to use it another week if I change my mind and take the train or city cab.



Over the past few months I’ve noticed a trend whereby I’ve been told time and time again that there were no taxi’s and that I must get a limo or mini bus which costs significantly more than a premier taxi.

When I’m told that there are no taxi’s and I must get a limo/mini bus I simply request that they sell me a ticket. The counter staff look confused and usually don’t want to sell me one. When I firmly request a coupon the behaviour of the staff usually follows a similar pattern whereby a lot of time is spent on the radio chit chatting (about me) and generally ignoring me.

When I force the issue the staff act very sheepishly and begrudgingly sell me a coupon. Now the strange thing is that 9.9 times out of 10 when this happens I find little or no queue and at least several taxi’s available at the premier car area outside door 5.

The behavior of the staff and the fact that there isn’t usually more than one or two people queuing for the premiere taxi’s makes it appear that there is a scam taking place to rip off unfamiliar travellers. I have witnessed several other people encounter similar experiences at both the budget and premier services.

So is it a scam or are the unwelcoming counter staff simply out of touch with what is happening in the queue even though they have a radio?

The taxi service at the LCCT operated by a different company also tries this from time to time, however I haven’t found it quite so prevalent.

Perhaps it’s time raise a report to the authorities, not that SPAD will take any real action. 

http://www.maninseat12a.com/

Cyber crime a ticking bomb in Malaysia

Posted on August 29, 2013, Thursday

CYBERJAYA: Cyber crime is considered a ticking bomb as the Malaysian police recorded RM1 billion in losses from victims of such crime from January to July this year.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said Malaysia was ranked sixth globally in terms of cyber crime threat risks by US-based IT security developer, Sophos, in its three-month Security Threat report this year.
“It (cyber crime) is serious and we must educate the public in preventing it,” he told a press conference after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Royal Malaysian Police and Limkokwing University, here, yesterday.
The MoU was signed by Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director, Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan, and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology senior vice-president, Datuk Raja Aznil Raja Hashim.
It provides the university with a five-year contract to provide contents such as posters, video clips and animations to the police in cyber crime-prevention campaigns.
Mohd Bakri said out of the RM1 billion in losses from cyber crime in the first six months of this year, 9,857 cases were reported with 7,801 of these solved and 3,385 people detained.
He said last year, the losses amounted to RM1.115 billion with 8,920 of the 11,543 reported cases solved and 3,712 people arrested.
Meanwhile, Syed Ismail said most of the cyber crime committed in the country were through parcel scams, selling goods via the Internet, and masquerading.
“Cyber crime in the country has yet to reach a level, where a syndicate would steal an information or intellectual property from a person or organisation and sell it to other parties or a rival for a price,” he said.
Therefore, Raja Aznil said the collaboration with the police in the campaign was vital to educate the public on the prevention measures so that they would not easily fall prey to cyber crime.
“This campaign mainly targets the young generation as they are tech-savy in using computers and mobile devices. They are also prone to be influenced by what is posted on the Internet, making them easy prey,” he said. — Bernama

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/08/29/cyber-crime-a-ticking-bomb-in-malaysia/#ixzz2lKjMsoJQ

Unsexy, effective therapy

Brintnell speaks on a different form of social rehabilitation

Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 15:32

by Sophia Halim

IN today’s ageing society, Malaysians are living longer but as they live longer they live with activity limitations. “There was one time if you have a spinal cord injury, you die very quickly. If you survived, you ended up with bed sores or in an unpleasant longterm hospital setting,” according to Professor Sharon Brintnell, president of the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT).

“When people acquire a disability, there is no reason for them to be dependent or isolated which are two key things that affect their health. “Through cognitive-based rehabilitation and with adaptive equipment, you can regain your independence and ability to go back to work,” she said.

Professor Brintnell from the University of Alberta, Canada, has earned an international reputation in her more than 40 years in occupational therapy and recently became the inaugural winner of the prestigious WFOT Lectureship Award, honouring her international work in the research, teaching and practice of occupational therapy.

Brintnell was in Kuala Lumpur recently to speak on occupational therapy (OT) in Malaysia which she claimed doesn’t sound very sexy. “But it’s very effective,” she said.

In an interview with The Malay Mail, Brintnell, together with Prof. Nathan Vytialingam, president of Asia Pacific Regional Group of Occupational Therapists and Professor in Occupational Therapy from Perdana University, speak about the development of OT in Malaysia and worldwide.

What exactly is OT?

Often, rehabilitation is thought of as physical but it’s a combination of physical and mental.

“With OT, you get two for one,” said Brintnell. OT is the use of treatments to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living of patients with a physical, mental or developmental condition.

“Although you are different, you’re out in community and continuing with your life. The strengths that you have are the assets that motivate you to meet the challenge of participating in a different way,” she explained.

The aim of OT is ‘de-medicalise’ — to enable those with disabilities to re-engage and participate in the activities of everyday life by working with people and communities by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement. It may sound invasive but it is not your stereotypical closeted therapy session.

“We could be having a cup o f tea and at the same time, having a therapy session to, for example, help you get through your social anxiety. It doesn’t look like therapy but this is the therapy session,” according to Brintnell.

“There’s a high level of interaction with the patient. It’s not by doing a workbook, it’s doing it. If you’re suffering from anxiety and perhaps not thinking clearly, the therapist will help you go through the procedures of things you need to do.”

Additionally OT involves making changes to the environment to help you adapt to your surroundings. “We work that system in getting you to reengage or participate in what you have to do and we do it by practicing the actual skill,” said Brintnell.

OT in Malaysia Looking at statistics, mental health will be the largest burden on health care.

“Currently depression and anxiety is the third largest burden worldwide. Mental health is going to replace some of the cardiovascular issues,” according to Britnell.

In Malaysia and regionally, there is a big demand for professionals in OT.

“Malaysia has an ageing population. People are living longer and becoming aware of health disabilities. There is a need for mental health daycare centres and community day centres for the elderly” said Prof. Nathan.

Currently, there are over 1,200 professionals in the field while only two universities — Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia — offer a degree programme in OT.

“We started a diploma programme by the MOH in 1970. Today, we are looking into upgrading it to a degree status to move on with the rest of the world,” said Nathan.

“If you keep the programmes at a diploma level, you will not attract the brightest students. You want to have a career that is recognised and a diploma is a dead-end,” added Brintnell.

According to Brintnell, the current diploma educational model is very passive learning. “Our healthcare system has change radically that you are now not just teaching students the answers but teaching them how to problem solve, to deal with critical thinking.

This is reflective of the reality in a knowledge-based world,” she said. “Providing these services will cut down a tremendous cost for the government and take out a huge burden off the family,” added Nathan.

http://manage.mmail.com.my/story/unsexy-effective-therapy-59589

Warga emas melampau, kegiatan terbongkar

on August 1, 2013

SUBANG JAYA – Tidak padan dengan usia mereka yang sudah layak bergelar datuk, tiga lelaki lingkungan umur 50 hingga 60 tahun leka mendapatkan khidmat urutan batin di sebuah rumah urut di SS15, dekat sini.
Aktiviti tidak bermoral terbabit bagaimanapun terbantut apabila Jabatan Penguatkuasaan Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya (MPSJ) menyerbu premis itu, malam kelmarin.
Ketika diserbu, pengunjung tua berkenaan sedang leka diurut dalam keadaan berbogel oleh tukang urut warga China berusia lingkungan 30-an.
Pengarah Jabatan Penguatkuasaan MPSJ, Mejar (B) Mohd Rasip Rasul berkata, bertindak atas aduan pihaknya kemudian melakukan pemantauan dan pemeriksaan ke rumah urut berkenaan.
Menurutnya, premis didapati mempunyai lesen sah daripada pihak majlis bagi menjalankan perniagaan bekam namun pengusaha melanggar syarat-syarat ditetapkan.
Katanya, pengusaha premis menawarkan khidmat seks dan urutan batin kepada pelanggan.
“Sebaik diserbu, anggota mendapati beberapa pelanggan sedang berbogel dan kesemua mereka berlari untuk memakai pakaian semula,” katanya.
Beliau berkata, majlis merampas peralatan urut dan menutup premis di bawah UUK 13(k) Undang-undang Kecil Pusat Kecantikan dan Penjagaan Kesihatan MPSJ 2007 kerana melanggar syarat-syarat sekatan lesen dikeluarkan MPSJ.
Sementara itu, ketika serbuan dilakukan, seorang pelanggan pusat urut berkenaan didapati cuba menimbulkan kekecohan dengan bertindak memarahi pegawai MPSJ yang mengambil tindakan.
Kekecohan itu kemudian beransur reda apabila anggota penguat kuasa dan penjaga premis cuba menenangkan pelanggan berkenaan. Operasi berkenaan diketuai Penolong Pegawai Penguat Kuasa MPSJ, R Ravinthran bersama 16 anggota. -Sh

 http://www.kualalumpurpost.net/warga-emas-melampau-kegiatan-terbongkar/

KAMI: Anwar Didn't Listen To Us Earlier About the Chartered Flights

By SM AMIN (shaik@malaysiandigest.com)

Friday, 03 May 2013 05:03

An activist group claims Anwar was had been made known of the chartered flights earlier in the year, but he didn't do anything about it.SHAH ALAM: Kumpulan Aktivis Mahasiswa Independen (KAMI) yesterday claimed they are in the possession of documents that indicate flight details of dubious voters coming into Malaysia right until the day before polling date. KAMI President, Khalid Ismath claimed that information obtained from a pilot, revealed a flight schedule of AirAsia's AK9798 carrying 180 passengers, free of charge, from Johor to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. He said there were obvious irregularities in the passenger list of the said flight as it contained no personal data. "The flight leaves at 9.20am and arrives at 11.20am," he told Malaysian Digest on Thursday. He also claimed to have obtained information from airline staff that at least three other airlines were involved in ferrying such passengers, predominantly from Bangladesh and Nepal. Khalid (below) said, they had alerted Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of this matter earlier in the year but their pleas for action they were not entertained. "Only last night did a PKR officer call us to obtain more information on the issue," he said. Earlier yesterday, Anwar told a news conference that the Prime Minister's department was involved in ferrying in 40,500 dubious voters from Sabah and Sarawak beginning April 25. The Opposition leader claimed that apart from using Jumbo jets, the army's C130 Hercules was also chartered, involving as many as 16 flights in a day from Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Miri and Sibu. "By our calculations, 4,500 people have been arriving in KLIA every day. Flights have been coming in from April 25, except on May 1. "This means there are 40,000 dubious individuals who are already here and still coming through via KLIA, not including foreigners who come in via land, ports and the Low-Cost carrier terminal (LCCT)," he claimed. Apart from private companies like AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines, Anwar claimed that the National Registration Department (NRD), Immigration Department and the Malaysian Armed Forces were also involved. But Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad denied the allegation that foreigners from East Malaysia have been sent to the immigration depot in Selangor to vote this Sunday. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has also denied any involvement in the allegation. In a short statement, a spokesman said, "The PMO denies involvement in the claims that have been made about such flights. The Election Commission (EC) has been hard at work, ensuring that the election system is better than it was before and to guarantee this upcoming general election is free and fair." The 'proof' of documentation of the chartered flight that Khalid claimed he has . . http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/36-local2/334242-kami-anwar-didnt-listen-to-us-earlier-about-the-chartered-flights.html - mD