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Absolutely hilarious. I expect no less from SNAFU-ridden Malaysia and its incompetent ministries. I guess the Singaporeans are keeling over, dying from hard laughter.

But the worst thing is no one will ever receive even a slap on the wrist for this. Er, does the Govt still need to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the decision to call off our crooked bridge? Just ask them to demolish the ICQ and build it from ground up. Pay the bill twice. Man...we got a bunch of court jesters for ministers.

Why cry over spilt milk? Do we want to see the CIQ turning into a white elephant? We have to learn to cut our loses. Scrapping the bridge project is a wise move. It's like chopping off part of a limb infected by gangrene. Afterall the government is not throwing good money after bad. It is clear that whatever they are doing in JB, they are going to make sure that the CIQ will be utilised fully.

And for the "rumah siap, pahat berbunyi", well... I can endure another few weeks of construction din for a life time of peaceful living in a comfortable home.

In the first place, had the Govt done their due diligence, there wouldn't be any need to fork out so much money. However, due to their haste in proceeding regardless of the consequences, a contract was awarded to Gerbang Perdana with ridiculous clauses. This is what irks the rakyat. When will the Govt learn that prevention is better than cure? In this case, using your analogy, gangrene could have been prevented and there would have been no loss of limb or life, had proper care been given.

So seen in this light, do you still think that our Govt had been competent? Do you still think that the Govt deserve pats on the back and thunderous applause for being 'so decisive', for 'defending national pride' and for 'protecting national interests'? If so, these things certainly don't come cheap.

And they tell me I got to pay my f**king taxes! What the f**ks for? So that f**kers can go on making these kinds of f**ked up decisions and still proudly display their titles like Tan Sris and Datuk Seris ...better still they change it all to F**king Sris! Sorry Jeff for that verbal diarriheoa! But don't you think they earned this more than their Datuk Seris?

expect more surprises from the previous administration.At that time, if you dare go against Napolean, be prepared to pay the price. The previous Menteri besar of Selangor was also a victim if I am not mistaken, for rejecting proposals to annexe Putrajaya as federal territory. FYI there were numerous other contracts awarded by negotiations that are costly to the present administration. These contracts have hefty cancellation clauses attached.Nobody dared to speak out then. Maybe it is too late to speak about these now.We shall just have grin and bear the consequences and hope that somebody will lead us out from this predicament.

YgArif, I guess your logic only works if the government is not the one who insist/persist/propose/execute the plan to build the scenic bridge. But heck, they did all these things without considering overall factors. I doubt I can accept your lego-playing logic for the governence of this beloved country.

Truly, we would applause (ultimately) if the government take good measurement to prevent any white elephant. But, who create the elephant first in place? ;)

You don't label a suicider rescued from an attempted murder as a hero. You just don't.

I am really confused. How big is the CIQ? Are they in one big structure or they are 2 separate structures and aparted like few km away?

What the hell does he meant need to demolish part of the CIQ to make way for a very straight road. The very straight part is from the causeway to the CIQ or from part of the CIQ to another part of CIQ??

I am just totally speechless with such idiots suggestion..and it is going to be approved this wednesday in the cabinet by another bunch of idiots.. Probably he will be praised for coming up such an good idea.. OMG.. please help this country.

I am really confused. How big is the CIQ? Are they in one big structure or they are 2 separate structures and aparted like few km away?

What the hell does he meant need to demolish part of the CIQ to make way for a very straight road. The very straight part is from the causeway to the CIQ or from part of the CIQ to another part of CIQ??

I am just totally speechless with such idiots suggestion..and it is going to be approved this wednesday in the cabinet by another bunch of idiots.. Probably he will be praised for coming up such an good idea.. OMG.. please help this country.

kiawin,
i can understand your anger and anguish over the whole issue. Looking at the present situation, what other optuions do you have in mind?
Renegotiate with S'pore to jointly build the straight bridge? No way. Knowing the hardheadedness of it's leaders, they will ask you for the world before agreeing. To continue with the building of the
'Scenic' bridge with all the legal implications? It will be like gambling away more good money. It will be good if we win. But what about if we were to lose?
Making sure that the CIQ is fully utilised is the only option that we have even if it means spending a fraction of the cost of the 'Scenic' bridge.

IF THEY CAN BUILD A CROOKED BRIDGE TO SINGAPORE...WHY CAN'T THEY BUILD A CROOKED ROAD TO CIQ COMPLEX...what a bunch of idiots we have!

And we can call it the "scenic road" to CIQ..We can even promote it as the next/additonal tourist attraction for visitors to Johore

they can build crooked road but tell me whether it can earn these ppl more money? i guess a new CIQ is worth much more for their pockets. u see, these ppl are not fools, there are so smart that they are able to absorb chiding and ppl calling them numbskulls. end of the day who cares? got money cukuplah. isnt this what msia is all abt? heads wont roll. pockets get fatter. we ridicule them online but they care no less. perhaps they r laughing at us for sponsoring them.

joejak,

To answer your question the CIQ building is absolutely huge. It must be at least 3 times the size of Singapore's current Woodlands checkpoint and about 10 times the size of the current Malaysian facility.

Big contracts + big facility = bigger white elephant

This is probably off the track but goes to show what our "leaders" are doing for us..The tax money we contribute to their pockets is obviously not enough appeasement for them these days..so why not put market us as laboratory rats...multi-racial ones at that too!!

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=190949

This is probably off the track but goes to show what our "leaders" are doing for us..The tax money we contribute to their pockets is obviously not enough appeasement for them these days..so why not market us as laboratory rats...multi-racial ones at that too!!

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=190949

Why no one said, "I TOLD YOU SO!" Go figure what I mean!

To be fair, Pak Lah did the right thing by cutting losses fast. On the other hand, some oldhands are still trying to find ways to pursue the project - obviously for the $ame reason you and I are thinking. So what better than to dig where there is still gold - just like the MRR2?

So, they hit the jackpot twice.

Contracts, people, this is all about contracts. Those who control the contracts control the purse strings. How else is Johor UMNO going to get its promised funding if the crooked bridge is scrapped and nothing replaces the original contract? In fact, it'll even be better if the replacement contract(s) is bigger in value than the original crooked bridge contract. Then more money can be promised.

Yg Arif: Yes, we should not cry over spilt milk, but if somebody persistently spills the milk, which is what this administration is all about, are we to remain silent, and tell ourselves that it's OK to spill ? Or maybe we should all sing Que Sera Sera ?

I have known the previous JKR to dig up a newly laid road to put in water pipes. I guess nothing much has changed. Demolish part of a new building to accomodate a road!. With these third world ministerial "planners" and their sycophantic advisors, taxpayers will continue to pay the price for world class incompetence. Things are only going to get worse.

"The Keynesian economic theory -- (read: You get someone to dig up the road after the same new road has been laid) -- came in only much later in history."

This happens very often in Malaysia. I have seen one company laying a beautiful side-walk only to be dug up 3 months later by another because some smarter alex suggested a wider road.

Money, crooked or otherwise, must anyhow continue to flow to enrich those "fortunate enough" to earn from the incompetence or greed of others.

and who gets these road laying contracts every year? go figure out.

How the "crooked bridge" began....memories...

Bridge Contract Signing - Gerbang Selatan Bersepadu Project Friday, 1st August, 2003

The Government of Malaysia (represented by JKR) and Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd signed the contract for the Design, Completion and Commissioning of Gerbang Selatan Bersepadu Road Bridge, Rail Bridge and Associated works, Johor Bahru, Johor.

The Ceremony which was witnessed by the Honourable Prime Minister, Dato Seri Dr.Mahathir Mohamad was held at Putrajaya. Signing on behalf of the Government was the Director General of JKR, Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Dato' Zaini bin Omar and his deputy Y.Bhg. Dato' Ir. Ng Chong Yuen. Gerbang Perdana was represented by the Chairman, Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Razali Ismail and the Managing Director, YB Dato' Yahya A. Jalil. Also in attendance to witness the signing was the Minister of Works, YB Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, Second Finance Minister YB Dato' Dr. Jamaluddin Jarjis, Deputy Minister of Works YB Dato' Mohamad Khaled Nordin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs YB Dato' Dr. Leo Michael Toyad, Chief Minister of Johor YAB Dato' Hj Abdul Ghani Othman and other senior government officials.

In his speech, Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Zaini bin Omar expressed his satisfaction with the progress of works for the CIQ complex undertaken by Gerbang Perdana. He also stated his confidence that the Gerbang Team would be able to achieve completion of the Gerbang Selatan Bersepadu project according to schedule.

Tan Sri Zaini also thanked the Government for appointing JKR as the Project Director for the GSB project and pledged to undertake the assignment with full dedication and commitment.

The idea to replace the causeway with a bridge was initiated by the Prime Minister in July 1996 and this was acknowledged by both Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Zaini Omar and Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Razali in their speeches.

A project presentation was followed by a presentation on JKR's auto access system, SKALA project monitoring system and i-supervision.

During the Press conference, YAB Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad expressed his hope that the bridge would be completed in time by December 31, 2005 and the contractor does a good job.

What Arif says is arif. Only thing I like to add is we've almost cut off all our limbs and will be begging soon in coming years.

Again and again I wonder at all these facts that I read in this blog and it just blew my mind everytime the dirt just keep coming up similar to the chain e-mails years ago BUT our 'friends' keep getting elected.

We, as the rakyat, still cannot overcome the 'sepang' card and this is where, our 'friends' will still be there in future. So the whole list of 'heroes' above will come out again and again.

Divide and Conquer.

a malaysian hero

thanks for the piece of history on the beginning of the non existent bridge.

As one international journalist put it: The blunder by the Malaysian side is the lack of "due diligence", when involving a loss of RM 100 million. Anyway, given the UMNO's penchant for giving CLOSE TENDERS to undeserving contractor-cronies, the term "due diligence" is a foreign phrase.

When it comes to dealing with Singapore, our Umno-led Govt, supported by UMNO-cronies, proves one thing:

One point is true: That our UMNO-led Malaysian Govt is very CLEVER...... ...BY HALF

FYI,

Land reclamation, building a bridge and causeway are different.

Land reclamation will prevent water, ships and etc. from passing through it.

Bridge (a crooked one) will allow water, ships and etc. to pass through it without much obstacles. Our side of bridge is designed to rise high enough for the ships to go beneath it. Hence it is crooked, because nobody likes driving up at 45 degrees straight up and going straight down 45 degrees. When the road is bent, the going up and down is more pleasant i.e. not so steep.
For example, the Second-Link is a bridge (see picture via link below).

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=second+link+picture+malaysia&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-img-t&x=wrt

Causeway. Why is it called a causeway? This is because nothing can pass underneath it, except water and the water current is greatly affected (see picture via link below).

http://patrickweb.com/gallery/photos/travel_asia_singapore_2003/singapore_012.jpg

it is better to build something half-baked and sucker the rakyat's money than to build nothing at all and get suckered.

hedonism

Malaysian side maybe correct and clever with all the technical designs of water going under the bridge, or what-have-you, and in its decision to go ahead arrogantly with the non-existent bridge without prior agreement from Singapore.... it only confirms the Umno-led Malaysian Govt got hammered with a technical knockout by the PAP-led Singapore. Don't forget, it was the PAP who was running Singapore when the UMNO-led Govt in Kuala Lumpir threw out Singapore in 1965.

The PAP leaders in Singapore know that under international law,if Singapore disagrees, the bridge will still be HALF-A-BRIDGE.

Whatever smart arguments our UMNO-led Malaysian Govt and its cronies side make to justify on the non existent bridge, at the end of the day, our UMNO-led Malaysian Govt is still only clever... by half.

hmm...too many white elephants lying around in JB already and they are located in the city area. Waterfront city was plagued by bad feng-shui (they fished a dead body out from the sea and somebody jumped from the 4th floor in the complex), Best World plaza was shut down due to it is inaccesibilty, Pacific mall was also shut down due to its inaccesibility and now we have to contend with another white elephant? Somebody help us please..

Best world plaza built before the g-men decided to expand the existing JB-skudai and stulang-lido stretch. The moment the complex was built the g-men started digging and blocking most of the roads leading up to the shopping complex therefore it was useless to go there after awhile. Pacific mall had the same fate when they re-directed the traffic flow.

businesses have been uprooted, some has shut down, people have moved out all because of this CIQ thingy. it is not only monetary terms at stake here, most of the chinese, malay and indian middle income folks have been living in that area all their lives.

we got a so-called wakil rakyat in our area yet nothing seems to be done. Another project that is going to be a white-elephant is the hawker center in serene park. The place is completed but the selling area is too small, lousy parking system and there is insufficient space for customers.

So ladies and gentlemen, all i can deduce is JB is indeed a land of very very prominent white elephants. More are coming soon in the future i think... :P will keep u guyz posted.

Juz my 2 senz worth,

kacang_inc

Folks

Poor Pak Lah. He had to carry the stigma of a PM who paid RM 100 million of tax payers money to a contractor for a non-existent bridge.

Imaging what RM100 million can do to the poor Malay kampung farmers, slogging out in the padi fields in the Muda scheme area in Kedah, Kemubu scheme in Kelantan and Krian-Sg Manik in Perak or in Pahang.Never mind about not giving the RM 100 million of taxpayers money to the the Chinese padi farmes in Sekinchan.

One would have thought would be smarter than Dr. M.

People wonder, how come Pak Lah can be so dumb to not call off this non-existent bridge, negotiate with Gerbang Perdana on the RM 100 millon instead of making the already millionaires Gerbang Perdana running Gerbang Perdana into multimillionaires?

Pak Lah encased himself in mediocity as a PM when he made his famous son-in-law as his closest advisor. How smart can a young upstart, with years in politics you can count within your 10 fingers, advise a Prime Minister?

As a PM, aaving a young son-in-law to be your closet adviser??

To paraphrase a biologist's terminology, it is called INBRED KNOWLEDGE.

And you know what inbreeding does to human intelligence.

Folks

Here is another take on the story why tax payers had to pay RM 100 million to make the bridge into a non-existent bridge.

A Must read article (below) :

Yet another Red Herring by Raja Petra Kamarudin

The talks between Malaysia and Singapore stalled because the Island Republic set two conditions -- the sale of sand to the republic and the use of Malaysian air space by its air force -- to be agreed to by Malaysia before it would give its consent to the bridge plan, said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Abdullah also said the government would pay Gerbang Perdana Sdn Bhd, the bridge contractor, about RM100 million as compensation for scrapping the project.

Now, which is it? Is the abortion of the crooked or scenic bridge (‘cynic bridge’ according to Dr Mahathir Mohamad) because we refuse to allow Singapore planes to fly over our air space or because we want to pay the bridge contractor RM100 million for doing nothing? Is the ‘defence’ of the ‘kedaulatan’ of our air space really that important? I think not if you go by what Defence Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak said in his 2002 speech at the Heritage Foundation in the US entitled ‘US-Malaysia Defence Cooperation: A Solid Success Story’.

The US and Malaysia have in fact for many years now engaged in a secret deal that allows US planes more than 1,000 flights over Malaysian air space every year. That is roughly an average of three flights a day. And, since 911, this has been drastically increased in the interest of battling ‘international Islamic terrorism’.

According to Najib, Malaysian security forces regularly conduct joint military training with its United States counterparts and the United States routinely enjoys access to Malaysian airfields and ports. Also, Malaysia provides one of the few bases outside the United States for US military jungle-warfare training. US troops are warmly welcomed in Malaysia and enjoy training here, reiterated Najib.

Further to that:

1. There have been more than 75 US military ship visits in the two and a half years since 911. We do not know how many visits were made since 2002.

2. The United States conducts training exercises with the Royal Malaysian Air Force, flying with and against them in mock battles.

3. US Navy SEALs conduct training in Malaysia twice a year.

4. The US Army does field exercises with the Malaysian army.

5. The United States has excellent access to Malaysian intelligence services (and Malaysia’s intelligence agencies send its people to the US for training).

6. Since 911, Malaysian security forces have been protecting US ships plying the Straits of Melaka.

7. Malaysia has a considerable number of troops and military assets on our islands to thwart the threat of Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Southern Philippines.

8. In addition to that, Malaysia is actively identifying assets of terrorists and teaching Indonesia and other ASEAN countries how to freeze assets of suspected financiers of ‘Islamic terrorists’ (the suspect list of course supplied by the United States).

Well, that was what Najib said in his speech in the US in 2002. So is this issue of Singapore planes flying over Malaysian air space for real when we grant the US more than that, plus the fact that Singapore is clearly a US ally? I think the excuse about Singapore wanting more flights and Malaysia not agreeing to this is a Red Herring.

Hey, I am not opposed to Malaysia having secret military alliances with the US! In fact, if Malaysia wants to hand over one of its military bases to the US so that it can set up a US military base on Malaysian soil, I am even okay with that. But why is it we grant the US so much concessions but when it comes to Singapore we are so uncompromising? Or is this thingy with Singapore just a sandiwara (staged) meant to fan the sentiments of the Malay nationalists and unite the Malays under Umno (while Singapore does the same thing to unite the Chinese in Singapore under PAP; especially since the general election is coming)?

Anyway, whatever game Malaysia and Singapore are playing, read the full text of Najib’s speech below and see whether it makes sense:

I considered titling my talk today: "Malaysia-US Defense Cooperation: The Untold Story”. The reason is that for many years US and Malaysian forces have cooperated on a wide range of missions with virtually no fanfare or public acknowledgement. And, in spite of its success, our bilateral defence relationship seems to be an all too well-kept secret.

TO CONTINURE READING MORE ON NAJIB'S SPEECH, click here : http://www.malaysia-today.net/loonyMY/index.htm

I am surprised no minister rationalise the cancellation of the bridge this way.

The RM1.8 billion saved from the construction of the bridge will be put in a trust fund/pool together with the RM4 billion saved from the petrol hike to improve public transport in Malaysia.

In no time we'll have many more billions in our coffers.

Malaysia Boleh !

The irony of it all... they are still in control, and 'we' chose them. The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

If Raja Petra Kamarudin's article can be believed, then the difference must be that the US military are very discreet about their military moves in this country whereas the Singaporeans are making a bang with every military privilege they enjoy.

Eyes of the young......

30 sen price hike and building of white elephantine bridge. Sounds like the Malaysian government is trying to subtly discourage us from going to Singapore or vice versa.

Oh well...Malysians with brains are rare enough so we should thank the gods that Pak Lah's super slow brain actually managed to process the effects during the entire period. Let's just thank the gods that Malaysia isn't getting worse.

Integrity
Sincerity
Accountability
=Kamunting (??Kempetai??)

Courtesy of Malaysiakini's service, Cartoonkini.