Ban on Mobile Phones in School a Downright Silly Policy

We want our kids to become savvy in the ways of the 21st century. So, our schools have computer labs that teach them how to source for information on the fly, compile research data and write reports based on that data.

But then, the schools have a ban on - of all things - the mobile phone!

I don't know whose silly idea it was and, with all due respect, it's a downright silly idea.

Mobile phones these days are more than just for voice communications. They are extensions of the laptop or desktop computer.

And a nation that's behind in the use of such technology is a nation that does not want to encourage innovation in the use of such technology. Yet, we all know that for Malaysia to break out of its "middle income nation" trap, it needs innovations.

This means the up and coming younger generation of Malaysians need to have mindsets that are open to innovation.

So, why the hell are mobile phones banned in school? Among the reasons given is that it's a distraction, which is a disciplinary issue. Another reason is that it can be used to as a means for covert bullying - through text messaging.

Yet another reason is that it would divide the haves from the have-nots.

As the world progresses, these and similar others reasons hold less and less water, to the point where they become downright silly.

Take the distraction excuse. It's a disciplinary issue. Well, are the teachers in school so inept that they cannot stop the kids in their classes from distracting themselves with the mobile phone? If so, it's not the kids who should be punished but the teachers.

As for covert bullying, bullies are very creative. Stop them from using one means, they'll resort to another. It's something all kids have to deal with in one way or another. Banning mobile phones in school won't stop bullies from bullying. Bullying is stopped through proper enforcement of school regulations or disciplinary action, or parental or even police intervention.

As for dividing the haves from the have-nots, when I was growing up, my parents couldn't afford electronic gadgets or computers till I was nearly 17 years old. So, was I ostracised by my friends who did? No. I made friends with those who were happy to share and I learned the value of working hard so that I could own my own gadgets and computers (I now own several at once).

It's time for the silly mobile phone ban to be lifted from school. Children should be taught the responsibility of owning and using mobile phones because they are becoming more integral in children's lives now and in the future. At the very least, during emergencies, parents would be able to contact their children directly. And with mobile phones, our children would learn what it means to be creative or innovative, what with the future of our nation in their hands.

New Saga is the Best Selling Malaysian Small Car - But Not by Much

Based on the data on car sales published by the Malaysian Automotive Association for June 2010, Proton's New Saga is the best selling Malaysian car. Among the reasons why this is so is Proton's smart pricing placement, beginning with the slightly under RM40,000 baseline New Saga models.

This, in a way, justifies Proton's decision to not bother putting in additional safety features into the New Saga, like anti-brake locking system (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD) and curtain air-bags.

Also, time and again, data shows that motorists tend to prefer sedans over hatchbacks, most likely because of the extra boot space sedans provide. For June 2010, as many as 6,649 New Sagas were sold, whereas only 6,495 Perodua MyVis were sold for the same period.

However, the fact that the New Saga managed to outsell the MyVi by only 154 units goes to show that smartly pricing a sedan like the New Saga cannot be relied on too heavily. It could be that many car buyers still consider MyVis as offering better quality and come with better after-sale service. If this were true, then it shows Proton as continuing to suffer from the problem of poor quality image (imagined or otherwise).

This could be the reason why Perodua's Alza outsold Proton's Exora by 721 units for June 2010, which is far more than the figure for the New Saga outselling the MyVi - the Alza is smaller than the Exora but cheaper.

There is really nothing more Proton can do about its poor quality image problem other than to continue producing good cars and providing good after-sale services. What it can do to make the New Saga sell even better, apart from introducing the SE variant, is to introduce New Saga variants that come with ABS with EBD, and even those that come with curtain airbags. This would help Proton expand the New Saga's market share in the small car segment for Malaysia, which is currently dominated by Perodua.

Yes, Malaysians in general don't mind going without ABS or EBD, as the June 2010 figures show. But now that Proton's New Saga is leading in that segment of the small car market, Proton should really look into getting a chunk out of the small-car-equipped-with-ABS segment where MyVis and Vivas dominate.

Suzuki Alto - Surprisingly Good and Refreshing

For a thing that comes from India, you'd expect it to be quirky in design like a Mahindra Scorpio or basic-utilitarian like Tata's pickups. But the Suzuki Alto isn't anything like that.

It's a future-proof car designed by Suzuki, incorporating European styling preferences, money-saving features and environmental considerations.

Slightly smaller than the ever popular Perodua Myvi but lighter, the Alto looks refreshingly stylish and promises to get you from point A to point B in safety and comfort while saving on fuel.

Say what you may about an eco-friendly, fuel saving car, but if looks butt-ugly, no one's going to want to buy it unless he or she really doesn't care about looking silly in a butt-ugly car. So, for a car to sell, it needs to be stylish and eye-catching.

As style preferences go, European style preferences tend to help cars sell better than those that adopt other style preferences. Hence, it is smart of Suzuki to adopt contemporary design elements found in popular European small cars epitomised by the Fiat 500.

More than that, the Alto has a very low drag coefficient of 0.30 and its body is strong enough to earn a 4-star Euro NCAP rating (according to Suzuki). At the same time, the body uses a lot of high-tensile steel, resulting in a good weight-to-power ratio, which makes the Alto feel nippy and sip (instead of guzzle) fuel.

Most important of all, the Alto comes with airbags (including curtain airbags for side-impact) as well as anti-brake lock system (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD) and brake assist - these are crucial for you to avoid accidents.

All this and more for about RM51,000+, which is about RM6,000 more than the smaller Viva Elite of comparable specifications and about RM5,000 cheaper than the Myvi of similar specifications.

Personally, if I were in the market for a small new car, the Alto is probably what I'd go for.

Saman Ekor, a Double Edge Sword

Almost every motorist in Malaysia has been caught. The reasons vary from reckless disregard, to emergency, to simple practicality.

Whatever the reason, Malaysians have been given a reprieve to settle their speeding summons or "saman ekor" by the end of February 2011, thus allowing Malaysians to renew their driving licences, insurances and road taxes.

The reprieve was given as a result of a public outcry over the injustice of saman ekor as well as its sheer inconvenience. It could also signal the doing away of saman ekor almost entirely if there were enough popular pressure.

Among the reasons given by the Federal Government that saman ekor is preferable to on-the-spot interaction between traffic police and traffic offenders is that it reduces the incidence of bribery.

On the flip-side, the sheer inconvenience of appearing in court to defend oneself means that one would be more inclined to simply settle a saman ekor despite the fact that one had a reasonable excuse for speeding.

So, the fact of the matter is, there needs to be balance between saman ekor and the actual pulling over of traffic offenders by the traffic police.

Avoidance of bribery should not be an excuse to not allow traffic offenders to plead their case with traffic police officers, simply because people may have a valid reason for going over the speed limit, such as emergencies and pressing matters related to their jobs, e.g. journalism and broadcasting.

Also, if the Government does not want the police to be tempted to accept bribes, it should not merely try to limit the public's interaction with traffic police personnel, but instead pay those police officers well enough, such that they would not be easily tempted to take bribes.

At the same time, one can appreciate saman ekor as a disciplining tool that helps to reduce traffic accidents, especially during festive seasons. It would be simply impractical to pull over traffic offenders by the hundreds during balik kampung season.

Whatever the case, the Government must not appear to be opportunistically increasing its income through the collection of saman ekor payments. This cannot be the objective of saman ekor to begin with because it would be a form of indirect tax applied randomly to tax payers, which goes against the principles of natural justice.

In that regard, speed limits on highways and byways must be realistically set according to scientific research on the relationship between speed and road accidents on particular types of roads. As it is, there appears to be too many roads in Malaysia with unrealistic speed limits, e.g. 80 Kph on 4-lane highways that are mostly straights or 60 Kph on well-constructed byways that gently meanders.

In short, it's time to revisit the proper uses of saman ekor as well as the proper speed limits of highways and byways. As the recent outcry against saman ekor shows, the current system is broken and it won't help the Federal Government win votes.

Sick & Tired of Jams in KL

I hate jams. I know everyone does, but I think I'm especially hateful of jams, particularly those in KL. That's because they ruin my ability to cruise at high speeds.

As a result, I find myself leaving my home early to work and going home late most of the time, just so I'd be able to avoid jams.

Unfortunately, these days, leaving home early and going home late doesn't quite cut it. It would seem that many people have wised up to the benefits of doing what I'm doing and causing the roads to be, well, congested early in the mornings and late in the evenings too!

So, really, a solution must be found so that our lives don't involve spending close to 5 hrs on commuting to work from home and back, five days a week, every week.

What might it be? Believe it or not, it involves increasing fuel prices. That's right. The best way to get rid of productivity reducing road congestion is to increase fuel prices.

You see, when former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi increased fuel prices drastically, the number of cars plying the roads fell drastically as well. This made commuting more efficient.

More than that, more people began using public transport. Yes, Malaysia's public transport system is generally in a sorry state. But with more people using public transport, the revenue generated by companies that run public transport would rise, allowing them to provide better buses, trains and cabs, as well as services.

So, while I know that my income would take a hit as a result of fuel price hikes, I'm actually looking forward to the day when Malaysia's roads are less congested and public transport is better and more efficient. While I may be one of those who would be forced to take public transport most of the time, I would have the option to take the car and cruise at high speeds when I need to.

Nissan X-Trail - Putting the Rear Lights at the Front

Nissan makes good cars. Don't believe me? Check out the Nissan GTR, which is one of the best super cars in the world.

So, it really boggles the mind when Nissan comes out with funny cars that don't quite cut it like how the Nissan GTR does. One of them is the Nissan X-Trail.

Boxy and retro looking, the X-Trail is probably one of the weirdest looking sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in existence, next to the Suzuki Jimny. And it just got weirder, in that the latest variant comes with headlights that look like they should have been in the rear.

It's almost as if Nissan's designers loved how some of their tail-light designs looked so much that they just couldn't resist putting one of them on the new X-Trail. And since the design wouldn't fit in the rear, they thought, "Hey! Lets put them in the front!"

So, now, not only does the X-Trail look terribly boxy, it looks butt-ugly at the front, too.

Note that the new X-Trail being sold in Malaysia is the 2-wheel drive version. Hence, its tyres are more suited for highways and byways, and not for off-roading or for sandy/muddy terrain.

So, why the heck are the wheel wells so damn big? They look like they're meant for accommodating super-sized tyres that are used for off-roading.

Sigh!

To be fair, the new X-Trail has some extras thrown in to keep it contemporary, such as key-less entry and start-up, MP3 player, rear air-con ventilation and drinks cooler, as well as six-speed auto-transmission.

Still, with all of the new X-Trail's design oversights and a whopping price of RM149,000+ on the road, it would be one of the last things I would consider buying if ever I were in the market for a new SUV, especially when there are newer and far more interesting alternatives around like the contemporary looking Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage.

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Addendum: Not many car manufacturers can carry through boxy designs with real style. Rover is one and Kia is another (see the Kia Soul). Looking at the X-Trail, Nissan in not among those that can.

Also, with great looking competition around to trump the X-Trail in terms of design, you really would do better to consider such alternatives.

A good example is the new Hyundai Tucson. Check out the chic curves and slanted lines. At about RM140,000 for its high-spec version, it looks to be a much better buy than the boxy-ass, butt-face X-Trail.

Cheeky Little Mazda 2 Hatchback

Cruising along the highway at about 140 Kph, I saw something bright green come up the rear. Curious, I let it catch up.

As I thought, it was a new Mazda 2 hatchback with an enthusiastic driver behind the wheel.

Easily, I could have outrun the green thing, but I moved over to let it pass. "Ooh! Not bad," I thought, as it zoomed pass.

And then the chase was on.

It wasn't my intention to race with it. I just wanted to know how quickly it could go.

As I suspected, the Mazda 2 hatchback wasn't all that quick, because it only has a 1.5L engine under the hood. I could have left it behind in my exhaust trail, but I chose not too.

Instead, I found myself admiring the cheeky little thing.

I consider it cheeky because it has all the 'blings' of a sports car - low profile tyres on 16-inch sport rims, sporty colour (bright green) and highly contemporary looks, as well as irresistible "smile" of an intake grill at the front.

Yes, it's pricey for a little thing like that. For about RM85,000+ on the road price, the Mazda 2 hatchback is not for your average Joe or Jane. Still, if you're in the market for something other than a Toyota Vios, a Honda City or even Kia Forte, then the Mazda 2 is really worth considering.

So what if it's not really a sports car?

The cheeky little Mazda 2 I trailed pushed all the way to 160 Kmh before I overtook it at 170 Kmh.

No, I wasn't showing off... oh, well, maybe just a little. But I really enjoyed looking at the Mazda 2 while trailing it.

And if I had the money, I wouldn't mind owning one either.

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Addendum: The inside of the Mazda 2 hatchback is a little cramp, but that simply adds to its charm. When in it, I don't feel like I'm in a Proton or some other common car. Rather, I feel like I'm in a Mazda quality car that's light and spirited.

The Mazda 2 hatchback doesn't have the kind of accessories you'd find in a Kia Forte, such as push button start and keyless entry (which are standard for the Forte). Still, if you know how reliable and sturdy Mazda cars are, you wouldn't mind going without a few of such accessories.