Foul!

Being Frank by Frankie D'Cruz, as published in Malay Mail today. AIMING for goal, the Land Public Transport Commission has hit the crossbar. The sudden and sharp increase in public transport fares is so out of touch, it’s untrue about the impact of government austerity measures on consumers. In probably the most depressing story of the week, the commission (SPAD) unleashed a triple whammy on the same day by sanctioning steep increases in budget taxi, express bus and commuter train fares. One thing’s for sure: The people get overrun and this sort of price hike frenzy will help no one. In what other society would such wide scale failure be tolerated? Failure - because Malaysian policy makers seem to have lost touch with the man on the street. Consider the whole issue that is becoming increasingly radioactive: The fare increases come before and after the implementation of the poorly explained goods and services tax (GST) on April 1. It wasn’t sensible of SPAD to anno...

Voice of the Valley by Pearl Lee, as published in Malay Mail today. FEAR, uncertainty and doubt have left the future of guide dogs for the blind in this country in uncertainty. From fear of being attacked by a dog, who will pick up the dog’s droppings in a bus, to Islam prohibiting believers not to keep dogs are some of the issues hindering the services of our four-legged friends trained to lead the visually impaired. The article ‘ Man’s best friend not loved by everyone ’ in Malay Mail recently was a test the public’s response towards Stevens Chan, a blind man and his guide dog Lashawn. Stevens and his guide dog were unwelcomed in a shopping mall and found it difficult to hail a taxi or even a bus. The simple study showed how unfriendly our ecosystem is when it comes to guide dogs and dogs in general. It also revealed many do not know the difference between a guide dog and a pet. The article, which went viral online with more than 34,000 “share...