Sybreon Ones Nought

Reading about what happened in the DAP CEC elections, I can only laugh at what happened. I like to take what people say, at face value, and so I don’t think that there are any conspiracies involved. But it still beggars belief that they could screw up so royally.

Incidents like this just make me feel sad. It makes me think that our country is being run by a bunch of untrained monkeys – untrained, because a trained monkey would not make the kind of mistakes that they did.

Due to an unfortunate administrative tabulation error, the results which were announced on the evening of the 15th were not accurate. As a result of an error in the Excel spreadsheet, the votes for Candidates number 31 to 38 were exactly the same as those of Candidates number 61 to 68. The obvious error shown above was, however, not discovered before the official results were announced by the Speaker of the Congress.

As they themselves put it, it was an obvious error. The way that the DAP ran their CEC elections, was pretty well done from initial reports. But they obviously failed to double check the election results before announcing it.

The fact that they got an amateur to prepare the Excel worksheet is bad enough. The fact that they kept silent about it while they conducted an internal audit was worse. And the fact that they’re not annulling the results is even worst.

The error should not have happened in the first place. Everything should have been double checked. The Excel sheet should have been double checked, tested with random data, debugged etc. The results of the Excel sheet should have been checked with manual results.

The error was discovered after the Congress and I then notified the DAP Secretary General, Lim Guan Eng. Sdr Lim immediately instructed that the correct results must be made public subject to an internal audit to be carried out by Dr Ong Kian Ming and verification by an external auditor. The internal audit team re-tabulated the election tally sheet results to arrive at the correct figures.

Once the error was discovered, the first thing that they should have done was to announce that the error was discovered – and to announce an immediate audit by both internal and external auditors. This would’ve been the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, they didn’t do the right thing. Of course, they didn’t do the wrong thing either. They did what political parties do best – walk the grey.

Amateurs. Kids. Babies.

A PAS leader has come out to clarify that, the recent bouts of fines on non-Muslims for various indecent acts were not under the jurisdiction of Syariah Law but are local by-laws that encompass all including non-Muslims. He is trying to clarify things as they are under attack by the MCA for trying to enforce Islamic Law on non-Muslims.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t serve to quell fires but rather serves to confuse the matter further. People need to understand that these indecency laws are not just found in PAS-run states but also in the Federal Territory. However, the justification of such laws is flawed as it raises the question of what is indecent under whose values.

Rule 3 of the Parks (Federal Territory) By-Laws actually makes it an offence to do a whole bunch of things in public parks including, climbing trees (R.3(g)), riding bikes (R.3(h)), tossing frisbees (R.3(l)), kite-flying (R.3(q)), and any acts may bring public discomfort or that may lead to sexual activity (R.3(w)) god forbid!

So you see, the by-laws don’t just exist in Kelantan but also exist right here in KL. In fact, if we were to climb trees or ride bikes in any park in KL, we’re actually committing an offence punishable by up to a year in jail or RM2,000 fine.

Sounds downright silly, does it not? Well, that’s the Law for you.

The trouble is, nobody has bothered to challenge these By-Laws. We must realise that By-Laws are the lowest form of life in our legal system. It can and should be challenged by the people. If someone gets a summon for flying a kite in a park, they should rightfully seek clarification at the High Court on whether kite-flying is unlawful.

Now, then the issue becomes whether or not holding hands, kissing, hugging, or piggy-back riding is unlawful either.

Personally, I feel that such morality Laws are just down-right wrong. If the purpose of which is to prevent public indecency, then the problem becomes, what is indecent and by whose judgement. While I can understand that things in Kelantan may be different from things in KL, but if you tried to fine every kissing couple in KL, you’d get into a whole load of trouble.

This is where PAS has some problems with it’s Islamic image. It is really difficult for the party to ride on a religious ticket while trying to maintain that it’s not trying to impose Islamic Laws on non-Muslims. It cannot be helped that the value system adopted by PAS would be based on Islam and that by enacting Laws that rely on those values, they are indirectly imposing Islamic values on non-Muslims, even if they are not explicitly Syariah Laws.

I would argue that this is an attack on my fundamental right to freedom of religion and also my right to life. One cannot argue that it is public indecency because while it is indecent to one group, may not be to another group. Sneaking such morality laws in through the back-door of local by-laws is cheating.

Personally, I would encourage everyone to kiss in public, more often. Let’s shower the world in Love, not hate.

If you attack my value system, I will attack back.

Quid-pro-quo.

I’m not even going to bother with them anymore. They still don’t address the main issue that I have raised, and are now washing their hands off the matter.

Dear Mr Shawn,

We write further to your comments on Twitter. We are sorry to learn that you are disappointed and dissatisfied with our answer to your previous email.

Technically, names on tickets must match the passenger’s passport. The name you enter on the Traveller Details Screen must be the same as on your passport. Tickets cannot be transferred to another traveller. Therefore, name changes are not permitted.

Please be advised that KLM as well as most airlines treat a name change as a cancellation, to which standard conditions and charges would apply.

KLM accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions made by a passenger. As such, we shall not be responsible for any consequences of you being refused boarding or immigration control.

However, for minor errors made (wrong spelling) and need to minor name change, KLM will change for you with a fee to change, as per our website.
”If your name or other personal details have been misspelled, please contact us within 24 hours of booking. ”

How can I change the name on my ticket?
If your name or other personal details in your booking have been misspelt, please contact the KLM Service Centre. You may need to pay a fee to change your name.

As per the above, ”you may need to pay a fee to change your name”, if you need to add a second middle name, the name change fee applies. As such, we wish to advise that KLM is not in a position to waive the name change fee in question.

We understand that this experience has left you with a less than good impression. However, we hope that it will not deter you from using KLM on your future travels.

Yours sincerely,
Jessie Y.
Asia Pacific Customer Care
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Please do not reply directly to this e-mail. This e-mail address is unable to receive incoming messages so your new communication will not be delivered to us.

Should you need to contact us again, please do so via our webform which you can find on our internet site. Please mention your reference number 6140549001 in the designated field at the bottom of the form.

Notice that while she raised the fact that there exists a 24-hour name-change policy, there is no mention of charges there. In fact, if I was willing to pay those charges, I can make the name-change at any time, not just within the 24-hours. I could even make the name change today.

Like I have said before this. Just fucking tell me that I was wrong and that there is no such policy that a name-change within 24-hours is waived of the fee – because this is what I was made to understand when I called in and asked the customer service.

You all be your own judge on how KLM treats its customers. I have produced their replies ad-verbatim. I have already decided to never fly KLM again for the rest of my life and will encourage others in my circles to never do so either.

PS: At least they’ve gotten rid of the broken link instead of asking me to open it up in a new browser. Idiots.