Too Little Too Late Too Often

No apologies for the lack of updates. Ain't gonna justify the absence, so there. By the way, I hit level 50 with my troll Shaman in World of Warcraft...

The hot news nowadays is the recent hoopla and brouhaha over the land clearings, hill cuttings and tree fellings all over Malaysia.

Suddenly everybody is sitting up and paying attention at the ecological damage done in the name of development.

I find it all very amusing to read about the surprise and outrage felt by the politicians and authorities in charge.

Come on, it's not as if entire areas were cleared over night. Did magic bulldozers and workers appear in the dead of the night and *poof*, the forest is gone?

What took them so long to notice the damage being done? Why was it happening in the first place?

Now every one with a title before and/or after their names are pointing fingers at each other and making vague statements about national development, promissing to get to the bottom of the matter.

You got to be kidding me.

This is Malaysia, land of bureaucracy. Have you ever tried to apply for a new Identity Card or doing a Land Transfer? It's ridiculous. "Paperless government" my ass. In this digital age, everything is still pen and paper, stamped and signed. Oh, don't forget, photocopies in triplicate and endorsed by the relevant authorities. By the way, wait at least two weeks before a reply is given. Note, it's a reply, it might not be an approval. Oh, remember keep extra copies for yourself, who knows if we might lose the documents and need you to submit them again. Have a nice day.

With so many red tape to go through it's a miracle that permits, approvals and letters of support for the land clearings and massive projects are given. What, nobody realized boxing in the forest with residential and industrial areas at all sides and then continuing to expand is a bad thing?

I wonder how many cups of late-night coffee those men in charge had with the people who benefitted from the projects.

It's not just this problem. Look in the news, how many issues came up because people and the government failed to nip them in the bud? There was the issue of snatch thieves, which then caused a sensation and thereafter promises of harsher punishment. Then there's the issue of students defaulting on their study loans. And who can forget the outrageously rude idea of banging the doors of people who did not pay their traffic summons?

It seems like we always act after the fact.