Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Bizarro

Diablo 3 Eternal Collection

Bizarro — Sun, 23 Sep 2018 10:23:56 +0800

Good news for Diablo 3 gamers that have Nintendo Switch console. Mark your calendar 02/11/2018 (Friday).

Pakatan Harapan Won 122 seats or 121 seats?

Bizarro — Fri, 11 May 2018 22:28:28 +0800

!FORUM ANNOUNCEMENT!

LIVE GE14 RESULTS (official results in brackets) - BN 79 (79) | PH 121 (121) | PAS 18 (18)
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4578481

When I search Malaysian General Election 2018 Wikipedia through Google,

PH 122 | BN 79 | PAS 18

PH 121 seats or 122 seats?

Do you know your phone battery drains faster

Bizarro — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 14:04:51 +0800

Mobile data consumes more power compared to WiFi. It also depends on the network settings and mobile connectivity with network. That means your phone is working twice as hard to maintain a connection, and therefore using twice as much power to maintain a connection. Whenever you make calls or send and recieve a text messages, the 3G radio has to pause. This changing of radio states causes an extreme strain on the battery. When you are traveling, your wireless device has to constantly switch towers to keep you connected to the network. This is called “handover”. Based on network configurations (LTE to 3G/2G) the handover drains your battery faster than it would with a 4G/LTE only connection.However, if your device is not connected to a Wi-Fi network, it’s best that Wi-Fi be disabled and that you utilize a data connection from your wireless network. Otherwise your device will constantly search for a Wi-Fi connection and kill your battery in the process. If your device is not in range of Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G, it’s best you put your phone into Airplane Mode until you have coverage again. The constant searching your device does for a signal is what drains power the most. So summing up, for conserving battery power do the following:Try to stay connected to a Wi-Fi network for best results.When you can’t connect via Wi-Fi, disable it. When you can’t connect to anything, enable Airplane Mode.

Marvel Comic movies vs DC movie

Bizarro — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 10:12:04 +0800

Marvel Comic Movies
1. Black Panther
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Deadpool 2
4. Ant-man & the Wasp
5. Venom
6. X-Men: Dark Phoenix

DC Movie
1. Aquaman

This year 2018 Marvel Comic Movies release 6 movies. DC movie only 1.

Seven, including a woman freed of murdering

Bizarro — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 14:52:35 +0800

Seven, including a woman freed of murdering real estate agent

KHAIRAH N. KARIM,New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: Six men and a woman have been freed by the High Court today for the murder of real estate agent Datin Wong Siew Ling last year.

Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah acquitted and discharged M. Pal Ganapathy, 27, S.Vijendran, 30, K. Sri Kanapathy, 35, Chen Yuen Ming, 42, Chin Kok Leong, 45, Liew Lai Chen, 48, and K. Sattiyarao, 30, after prosecutors failed to build a prima facie case against them.

He also said that failure of the deceased's husband to present himself as a witness had broken the chain of evidence.

"His (deceased's husband) absence in the trial could mean two things... the first one being that he knows about the murder and afraid to come forward and secondly, maybe he is involved in the case.

"However, he might not be involved as looking at the deceased's sister's testimony, the deceased had told her sister to handover all of the documents to the husband should anything happen to her (the deceased)," the judge said.

The verdict was made this morning after a seven-month trial.

The courtroom was filled with joy when the verdict was delivered. Family and friends of the accused hugged them as soon as the court adjourned.

The accused, Pal Ganapathy and Vijendran were jointly charged with murder while Kanapathy, Chen, Chin, Liew and Sattiyarao were charged with abetting the two in the murder.

All seven were accused of committing the offence at Jalan Hujan Emas 4, Overseas Union Garden, Off Jalan Klang Lama in Brickfields here between 2pm and 2.30pm on July 6, 2016.

Deputy public prosecutor Aznika Mohd Anas prosecuted while Ganapathy and Vijendran were represented by counsel E. Vijey and Loh Suk Hwa.

The other accused were represented by counsel Nur Hayati Omar, Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent, Datuk Sivananthan, Low Huey Theng, Datin Freda Sabapathy, Datuk Simon Sabapathy and M. Rajakumaran.

Police had previously said that Wong’s murder was masterminded by a businessman who owed her RM13 million.

Investigations revealed that the killing took place after Wong had enlisted a private investigator to get the money back from the businessman and his wife, after the business venture failed to take off. © New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

China's space station crashing to earth

Bizarro — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 12:03:12 +0800

DEBRIS from China’s de-orbiting space station Tiangong-1 might hit the capital here and other cities when it enters into its fiery final plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere sometime early next year.

China’s first space station, which means Heavenly Palace, was launched in September 2011, and had hosted a number of Chinese astronauts, called “taikonauts” during its two-year operational career. It has been unmanned since 2013.

Reports by local dailies said that the space station’s orbit is decaying and the 8.5-tonne spacecraft is expected to re-enter the atmosphere, between January and March. Reports say that Kuala Lumpur lies smack in the space station’s orbital trajectory and is a potential crash zone.

Experts have also said that the space station is suffering from a host of mechanical and technical problems.

As a result, ground control has no real control over how it will be de-orbited. China’s manned space agency’s deputy director Wu Ping confirmed that Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere.

He said while the bulk of the space station would burn up during re-entry, some components that were built to withstand extremes in temperature might survive the plunge.

“During re-entry, a huge chunk of the space station will most likely disintegrate,” he was quoted in a report.

Chinese officials have been working with other international space agencies and will release a forecast of the projected impact points, if possible.

However, reports quoting Harvard astrophysicists Jonathan McDowell said since the space station was no longer under ground control, there was no way to positively determine the exact impact points and when the space station would come down.

“We will only be aware of the landing time six or seven hours before it actually happens.

“This also means that we cannot pinpoint the exact impact zones,” he was quoted as saying.

McDowell said components that survived the descent could weigh as much as 100kg. Damage caused by components at that mass and velocity could be considerable.

Tiangong-1 was the first prototype space station launched by China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) from its launch complex in Jiuquan, Gansu Province.

Prior to this, there were other cases of space debris falling to Earth, notably the Kosmos 954, Skylab, and Mir, but no casualties were reported. © New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

HDMI converter (TV) & VGA cable (PC) for PS2

Bizarro — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 14:31:26 +0800

Electronic shop, PC shop or Game shop?

George A. Romero Dies At 77

Bizarro — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 12:04:52 +0800

It was the night of April 4, 1968, and George A. Romero was driving to New York City from Pittsburgh on a mission: In the days to come he was to meet with film studios in hopes that one might buy the horror film he was lugging in his trunk, “Night of the Flesh Eaters.”

None of the studios was interested, but Romero still managed to get his $114,000 film in front of audiences that year. And though critics panned the picture, retitled “Night of the Living Dead,” moviegoers were mesmerized — packing theaters, hitting the drive-ins in droves and making Romero the father of the modern movie zombie. Romero’s “Living Dead” franchise went on to create a subgenre of horror movie whose influence across the decades has endured, seen in movies like “The Purge” and TV shows like “The Walking Dead.”

Romero died Sunday in his sleep after a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” according to a family statement to The Times provided by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. He was 77.

Romero died while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s “The Quiet Man,” with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side, the family said.

Romero will be remembered best for co-writing (with John A. Russo) and directing “Night of the Living Dead,” which showed later generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. “Living Dead” spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s own sequels were 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead,” 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” 2005’s “Land of the Dead,” 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” and 2009’s “George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead.”

To get that first film made, however, Romero turned to a resourceful team of Pittsburgh TV-commercial producers. For distribution, the rookie filmmaker turned to the Walter Reade Organization, the parent of Continental Releasing, which specialized in artsy movies like John Cassavetes’ “Faces.” The director and his team got 14 prints made, handled their own promotion and opened the picture at 14 local theaters. They financed a world premiere on Halloween night.

Most critics trashed the movie, with Daily Variety citing “unrelieved sadism … which casts serious aspersions on the integrity of its makers.” But audiences loved it, and drive-in operators took out newspaper ads to apologize for turning away so many customers.

Romero once told The Times that he was surprised at critics’ reactions; he said Roger Ebert's review all but called “Living Dead” a movie spawned by the devil.

Over time, however, fans have pointed out that, setting aside the graphic violence that made Romero’s work so distinct, there were sociopolitical messages that made his movies noteworthy, starting with the casting of that first “Living Dead” picture.

“I think the reason it got noticed was the fact that we used an African American actor in a role that didn’t need to be played by an African American actor, and then he gets gunned down by this posse,” Romero said, noting that the role was originally written for a white man. On the night of that drive to New York City, he said, “we heard on the radio that [the Rev. Martin Luther] King had been assassinated. So now all of a sudden the power of the film was ratcheted up that much more.”

“Living Dead” went on to gross upward of $50 million.

“He took the image of the zombie, which up to that point was rooted in the Caribbean and part of a black Caribbean culture, and turned it into a metaphor for all sorts of things in American culture,” said Leo Braudy, a USC professor who last year published “Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds.”

Up to this point, Braudy said, horror movies focused on individuals like Frankenstein’s monster, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “The zombie is unique because it’s part of a group representing the potential threat of a mass mind,” he said.

Romero solidified his reputation as a master of the genre with the sequel “Dawn of the Dead,” which premiered in the U.S. in 1979 and became one of the most profitable independent productions in film history. The franchise would eventually encompass six films — the first four, released decades apart, are one storyline.

“‘Night of the Living Dead,’ then ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is a few weeks later, ‘Day of the Dead’ months later and ‘Land of the Dead’ is three years later,” Romero said. “Each one spoke about a different decade and was stylistically different. After ‘Land,’ I wanted to do something about emerging media and citizen journalism.”

“Night of the Living Dead” evoked Vietnam-era bloodshed and, with its black male lead trapped in a farmhouse, echoed some of the hysteria in the civil rights era. “Dawn of the Dead” poked fun at soul-deadening consumerism, and “Day of the Dead” addressed ethics in science. In “Land of the Dead,” Romero tackled safety and boundaries, showing a community fortifying itself against a murderous horde while its wealthiest citizens keep alive class divisions.

But part of what made Romero’s films so distinctive, no doubt, was their unbridled gore, which caused many of the movies to go unrated.

“I just don’t shy away from it,” he said in a 2010 interview with The Times, noting that “the old DC comic books were very, very graphic before the old Comics Code cleaned them up.

“Hard-core horror fans would like to see more and more of it. It’s the fun part. It’s the payoff. It’s the downhill dip on the roller coaster.”

Romero did, however, draw a difference between his gore-for-purpose approach and new movies that he categorized as “torture porn things.”

“They’re just mean-spirited and Grand Guignol all the way,” he said referencing an infamous Parisian theater that specialized in naturalistic horror shows. “I don’t find any substance underlying it. I like to use horror as allegory.”

George Andrew Romero was born in the Bronx in New York City on Feb. 4, 1940. He attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, graduating in 1961 from the university’s College of Fine Arts. He stayed in Pittsburgh for much of his feature film career.

In the years immediately after “Night of the Living Dead,” he made films that were less popular, including 1971’s “There’s Always Vanilla,” 1973’s “The Crazies” and 1978’s “Martin.”

Between other “Dead” films he directed the 1981 film “Knightriders,” starring Ed Harris; the 1988 movie “Monkey Shines,” his first studio-produced film, which introduced him to Grunwald; and “Two Evil Eyes,” a 1990 horror film he made with Italian filmmaker Dario Argento inspired by Edgar Allan Poe short stories. His last credit as a writer was for his characters’ appearance in 2017’s “Day of the Dead” from director Hèctor Hernández Vicens.

The movies and TV shows that have taken their cues from Romero’s work — “World War Z,” “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead” — seem almost too numerous to count. And though the popularity of something like “The Walking Dead” would seem to be a compliment to Romero, he once called that juggernaut “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally.

“I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism, and I find that missing in what’s happening now,” he said in 2013.

But therein lies what set Romero apart, Braudy said.

“He remained true to his outside Hollywood roots,” he said, calling the filmmaker a “tremendous influence on the independent film industry because he didn’t have to be in Hollywood to make films that attracted wide audiences. He continues to be a lasting example of the idea that Hollywood needs to be reenergized from outside, independent perspectives.”

Romero is survived by his wife, his daughter, his son Andrew Romero and, from his earlier marriage to Christine Romero, his son Cam Romero.

After watching Red Dawn & Olympus Has Fallen

Bizarro — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 14:49:47 +0800

I think we should take serious consideration to protect our beloved country.

New TV Series

Bizarro — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 07:50:23 +0800

Consisting of 12 episodes, the show follows the life of war hero Eric Carter, played by Corey Hawkins, using real time method of narration.[3] Miranda Otto plays Rebecca Ingram, the former head of the now revived Counter Terrorist Unit in Washington, D.C.[4] It begins with Carter, an ex–Army Ranger who has returned to America, and the trouble that follows him back, compelling him to ask CTU to save his life, and potentially stopping the largest terrorist attacks on American soil.

Synopsis
After leading a mission to eliminate terrorist leader Sheik Ibrahim Bin-Khalid, Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins), returns to the U.S. and finds out that he and his squad mates are targeted for assassination in retaliation for Bin-Khalid's death. With nowhere else to turn, Carter asks CTU to help him save his life while also stopping one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil. The events will take place three years after the events in 24: Live Another Day and is set in Washington, D.C.

No more Jack Bauer?

Man Sentenced To 5 Years' Jail, Rotan,

Bizarro — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 12:04:02 +0800

AMPANG: A 23-year-old man was sentenced to five years’ jail and two strokes of the cane by the Sessions court here for snatch theft.

Judge Azrul Darus handed down the sentence on Haryanto Arsah after he pleaded guilty to the charge today.

Haryanto was charged with snatching an iPhone 7 Plus worth RM4,500 belonging to Foh Chee Wai, 17, at the Pandan Indah light rail transit (LRT) station near here at about 11.30pm on Monday.

Azrul ordered Haryanto to serve the jail sentence from the date of arrest on Dec 27.

He was charged under Section 380 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 14 years, a fine, and whipping upon conviction.

The accused, who was unrepresented, asked for a lenient sentence as his wife is expecting their second child on Jan 12.

“I work as an odd-job worker and had not received my salary for the past two months,” he said while trying to hold back tears.

Deputy public prosecutor Norhashimah Hashim, however, said apt punishment must be handed down to curb the snatch theft problem.

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

Spain vs Italy

Bizarro — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:36:40 +0800

Final Euro 2012, Spain vs Italy. Spain won 4 - 0. Tonight Euro 2016, Italy will revenge their defeat 4 years ago.

19 kinds of food items placed under Festive Season

Bizarro — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 14:24:50 +0800

JELEBU: In conjunction with Aidilfitri this year, the Negeri Sembilan office of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) will place 19 kinds of food items under the 2016 Festive Season Price Control Scheme (SKHMP) from June 16 to July 6.

State Public Utilities, Environment, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee Chairman Datuk Abu Ubaidah Redza said the 19 items are live chicken, standard chicken, super chicken, local beef, imported buffalo meat (India).

Also listed are grade A, B and C chicken eggs, red chillies, tomatoes, coconuts, grated coconut, imported round cabbage (Indonesia and China), shallots (India), imported big onions, garlic (China), potato imports (China), mackerel (ikan kembung) including ‘ikan mabung’ and ‘ikan selayang’.

“SKHMP proves the government is serious in addressing the rising cost of living and prices. We always strive to take measures to stabilise the prices of essential goods, especially during the festive season.

“The implementation period for the scheme is 21 days compared with 17 days last year and it is under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011,” he told reporters after launching the 2016 SKHMP at the Pasar Awam, Kuala Klawang near here, today.

Abu said traders are required to make sure the price-controlled items do not exceed the maximum price determined by the government and that they need to put a special pink price tag on these items.

Failure to comply will result in the trader being dealt with severely and be charged a penalty.

If found guilty an individual can be fined up to RM100,000 or imprisoned not exceeding three years or both or compounded up to RM50,000 while a company can be fined up to RM500,000 or compounded up to RM250,000.

For failing to display the pink price tags on controlled items, a trader can be fined up to RM10,000 or compounded up to RM5,000, whereas the company can be fined up to RM20,000 or compounded up to RM10,000.

“Our aim in implementing the scheme is not to frustrate traders, but to ensure that people are not burdened by unreasonable price hikes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan KPDNKK deputy director, Saifulbahri Abdul Kadir said in previous years the scheme had a good compliance record.

Saifulbahri said about 3,000 enforcement officers and KPDNKK officials monitoring prices will be in locations frequented by people throughout the state to carry out inspections. -- Bernama

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

Not So Uber Experience

Bizarro — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:04:12 +0800

PETALING JAYA: Uber Malaysia has suspended its driver in Johor Baru for allegedly ditching a passenger and causing him to miss a flight to Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday.

"We are investigating the driver in question. He has been suspended from the platform until further notice," said Uber Malaysia in a statement to theSun.

The statement also stated that Uber takes the safety of both riders and drivers "extremely seriously".

The incident was related by yoga enthusiast LC Loh via a Facebook posting which went viral.

He related the unpleasant Uber ride heading to Sultan Ismail International Airport in Senai to catch the 7pm flight.

Apparently, the Uber driver was unfamiliar with the route and lost his way to the airport after picking up Loh at 5pm at Aeon Tebrau City.

Loh claimed the Uber car that he was travelling in ran out of fuel and ironically, the Uber driver couldn't afford to pay the RM10 petrol cost provided by the highway patrol personnel of Senai-Desaru Highway.

"At this point, I was more than eager to get out of his car. Plus, it was already 6.30pm and there was no way I could make it to the airport before 7pm," he said in his Facebook post.

Loh also claimed that he was left stranded on the highway.

"I then told the driver that I am not going to continue the ride and asked him to cancel the trip," he wrote.

"He left me behind alone by the highway."

Later, Loh was picked up by his friend's sister and he took the 10.15pm flight to the capital city.

Uber Malaysia stressed that it has contacted Loh and the Uber fare was already refunded to him.

However, it is unknown whether Uber compensated Loh's flight ticket and other costs due to the driver's incompetency.

Free Screening Of Independence Day

Bizarro — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 09:23:48 +0800

http://thesun-epaper.com/thu/09062016/file...es/page0023.jpg

Break time reduced by 30 mins for civil servants

Bizarro — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 09:27:38 +0800

PUTRAJAYA: The government has agreed to reduce the break time for public servants by half an hour during the month of Ramadan, said Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.

"This step was taken to allow them to take advantage of the holy month of Ramadan and perform their religious obligations," he said in a statement today.

To implement the directive, Ali said the government had agreed to add the new staggered working hours (WBB) into the current timetable at all federal government agencies.

Ali in the statement also provided the guide on the implementation of WBB during Ramadan in the Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya), Perlis, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Pahang, where Saturday and Sunday are the official rest days.

The office hours for these states would be from 7.30am to 5pm, while the break would be from 1pm to 1.30pm (Monday to Thursday) and 12.30pm to 2.30pm (Friday).

For other states, namely Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Sabah, Labuan and Sarawak, Ali said the WBB during Ramadan could be checked through Circular No.1 of 2016.

He said the circular would be uploaded on the Public Service Department (PSD) portal at http://www.jpa.gov.my.

"The implementation of the reduction of break time will not affect the activities and operations of the public service delivery system throughout the month of Ramadan, because it does not change the existing working hours of civil servants," he said.

Ali also hoped civil servants would continue to provide excellent service and remain dedicated to ensure efficient and effective service to meet the expectations of the people. --Bernama

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

KLIA taxi touts increasingly brazen, says JPJ

Bizarro — Tue, 24 May 2016 08:29:16 +0800

PETALING JAYA: Illegal taxis at Kuala Lumpur's International Airports are getting more brazen, according to the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

It has already caught 31 suspects this year, compared with a total of 19 in 2015.

"This figure is worrying as it shows illegal taxis active here are increasing," said Selangor JPJ director Nazli Md Taib at a press conference on their latest operation to combat illegal taxis at KLIA and KLIA2 in Sepang.

According to Nazli, the majority of these illegal taxis were operating within the vicinity of KLIA2 , which accounted for 23 of the arrests.

He said foreigners were also getting into the game, with a Bangladeshi and Pakistani suspect among the 31 arrested.

"We found one driver who made RM1,800 from a single return trip to Johor Baru from KLIA. That's why despite the very heavy punishment, there are still those who dare to flout the law," he said.

According to Nazli, the touts preferred to target foreigners as locals were more familiar with the pricing system here.

"Tourists are much easier to cheat, as they don't know the average price for trips. Arabs are a favourite target as they are seen to be more generous," said Nazli.

Nazli also urged the public to only use legalised forms of public transport for their own safety.

"These illegal cars are normally not insured to carry passengers. Also the risk of being robbed – or worse, raped – is much higher," said Nazli.

The 31 suspects were charged under Section 205(1) of the Public Transport Act 2010, which carries a fine up to RM50,000, imprisonment for no more than five years, or both.

Straight to court for unlicensed motorists

Bizarro — Wed, 11 May 2016 08:26:26 +0800

KUALA LUMPUR: Drivers and motorcyclists caught without a driving licence will no longer be let off the hook with mere compound summonses as in the past, but will be hauled to court to face charges for the offence.

With the new rule enforced by traffic police since the middle of last month, thousands of unlicensed motorists and motorcyclists have been reprimanded and summoned to face court action.

The drastic move by the authorities to come down hard on unlicensed drivers and motorcyclists is timely as the number of such offenders had soared to astronomical figures in the past years.

Police revealed that in 2014 and last year, more than 630,000 motorists and motorcyclists were issued summonses for not possessing a driver’s licence.

Such offenders were also among the main contributors to the high road accident statistics recorded each year.

Under Section 26 of the Road Transport Act, those found guilty of the offence face a fine of up to RM1,000 or a year’s jail or both.

The offender may also face additional charges under Section 90 of the same act for driving without insurance coverage which carries a fine of up to RM2,000 or three months’ jail, or both.

Federal traffic police chief SAC Mahamad Akhir Darus (pix) told theSun that the aim of implementing the new policy was to educate offenders on the dangers of driving without a valid licence.

“A driver or rider without a licence has not undergone formal training or tests. They may not know anything about traffic laws, road signs or defensive driving. Hence, they are not just a a danger to other road users but to themselves as well. We intend to send out a strong message that we do not condone the actions of such offenders.

“It is neither to burden them nor to collect revenue. It’s to educate them. The police force is an enforcement agency and not one that collects revenue,” he said.

Mahamad Akhir said under the new rule, police would no longer issue compound summonses but seize the vehicle of the offender and issue them with a order to show up in court.

“Since they do not have a licence, it would be unlawful to allow them to continue using the vehicle. Hence, we will bar the offender from driving it and seize the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will then be summoned to show up to collect it. The vehicle owner will also be issued with a RM300 fine for allowing an unlicensed driver to use the vehicle,” he said.

In February, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had announced that police intended to go all out to resolve the issue of unlicensed drivers and would propose to the government to allow police to haul offenders to court instead of letting them off with a compound summons that carries a RM300 fine.

GrabCar touts novel insurance scheme

Bizarro — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:16:09 +0800

KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Accused of endangering both drivers and passengers in its ride-sharing service, GrabCar has come up with an insurance protection plan that covers the occupants in countries where it has a presence.

Its Malaysia country manager Jaygan Fu touted the company’s novel insurance scheme that protects both driver and rider up with a compensation payment of up to RM64,000 should a road accident happen during the journey.

“As an organisation with a social mission to provide safe, convenient and reliable transportation option while improving the livelihood of drivers in Malaysia, GrabCar drivers and passengers are covered by insurance.

“In fact, GrabCar has the first-of-its-kind largest (in terms of coverage) insurance policy in South-east Asia which covers both parties in the countries the service is available in,” he told Malay Mail Online in an email interview last week.

Applicable to all 28 cities in the six countries that Grab operates in, the group personal accident insurance policy covers any events such as accidental death, permanent dismemberment and bodily injuries in the event of accidents for drivers and passengers.

Fu, however, said each incident will be evaluated individually by the insurance providers.

Taxi firms and associations have constantly slammed GrabCar and Uber, another ride-sharing service, for not having insurance coverage for the people that chose to ride on these services.

They also claimed because the services were not registered with the transport ministry and Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), it would make it hard for the authorities to act on them should there be an accident or death.

The most recent allegation, different from the rests, came last week when Big Blue Taxi Services founder and adviser Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail said GrabCar and Uber were running what he deemed to be a money-laundering scheme.

He pointed out that both Uber and GrabCar are currently not registered as public transport firms and as such cannot accept payments from passengers for the services they provide.

He added that the cash-to-driver system that both companies now use also puts drivers at risk should accidents happen.

In response, Fu said the main function of its application was to provide a match for the supply and demand for transportation options especially during peak period in high traffic areas.

“As such, GrabCar drivers are not recruited to collect any form of income on behalf of the company, however, fare collected by the drivers are for their service rendered to transport commuters to their desired location,” he said.

Fu said his organisation was an application-based firm and hence it was not necessary to be registered with the ministry or SPAD.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi reportedly said that his ministry was studying the viability to make it mandatory for Uber and Grabcar drivers to obtain the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence.

He also said last January that ride-sharing services would soon be required to purchase the same commercial insurance as regular taxis, but that this would only be implemented later in the year once SPAD obtains public feedback.

On December 30 last year, the group of taxi drivers filed a lawsuit against SPAD to force the authority to ban Uber and GrabCar.

Several taxi groups have accused SPAD of failing to act against the two ride-sharing services, which they insist have been operating illegally.

The acrimony has resulted in occasionally violent altercations involving irate taxi drivers and Uber and GrabCar drivers.

Uber and GrabCar are competing firms that operate ride-sharing services in which private vehicle owners may offer transport services for hire without the permits and licences needed to operate a commercial taxi.

The Transport Ministry was contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of writing.

Water disruption for customers

Bizarro — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:08:33 +0800

KUALA LUMPUR: Customers of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) who use JomPay online payment facility to pay their bills will face water disruption from May 16-20.

Kumpulan Air Selangor Corporate Communications head Amin Lin Abdullah said the disruption was due to the changes in account numbers for Syabas and JomPay.

“Throughout the disruption period, customers can pay their bills at Syabas counters, via appointed agents, e-pay facilities at selected outlets, including MOL at 7-Eleven convenience shops,” he said in a statement.

Customers with bank accounts can pay their water bills online via JomPay. -- Bernama

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd