AN OPEN LETTER TO YB Chor Chee Heong,
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Malaysia
The State of Public Transport
in Malaysia

We beg to differ with you on this view of the future, and wish to share with you our frustration of the present serious gap between vision and reality.  There are a number of issues, which we believe have not received adequate attention from your ministry, and government leaders seem only interested in talking about grandeur plans, than devoting time and effort to ensuring the system works efficiently.

We would like to highlight two urgent problems the Rakyat experienced for your attention:

1. Management is more Important

Waving the latest state of the art physical infrastructure is one thing, making them work is another.  Undoubtedly the infrastructure in the country has improved tremendously after billions of dollars of investments have gone into these projects.

However, these investments -- built by the people's hard-earned savings -- had not optimized conveniences and help to improve productivity.  At the core of this is a MANAGEMENT issue.

You mentioned the Ministry's effort in getting ISO 9000 certification. What is the point if the mentality is to get an ISO certification, and not walking the talk, i.e. actually delivering first class service?

We suggest a more realistic and practical barometer of gauging efficiency by a weekly people's opinion poll.  Aferall the projects are funded by the people, it is only natural that the people expect good service.  For now, the impression one gets is the authorities seem only too interested in building the infrastructure and NOT to make sure they work.

For example, a road user would tell you there is tremendous confusion on road signs along the highways.  The Ministry will find out for itself if officers are sent out onto the roads to survey these signs.  These signs are confusing and do not serve their intended purpose for Malaysians, not to mention tourists and foreigners.
 
 

You said that the transportation system has become sophisticated. With all the gleaming infrastructure, the reality is KL-ites find the transportation links worse and more expensive than before.

For example, someone in Kepong who goes to work could rely on the mini buses in the past, now she has to take a taxi everyday.  A student woke up on a public holiday having to go back to school for extra-curricular practices has to wait hours for the INTRAKOTA buses.  These are very real problems, which caused stress and frustration, not to mention money and reduced productivity.

That picture-perfect situation you mentioned in your article is too far from reality.  Serious and disciplined efforts are required to rectify the management problems of the entire infrastructure.  As one reads your article, one only get a sense of cynicism and an impression that the Ministry is so out of touch with reality.

The priorities of the moment may be building less but work the existing system to its maximum, and pay more attention to ensuring that these infrastructure actually help the people in their lives.

Kuala Lumpur, January 24 1999

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