LCCT Ditolak vs Decision On LCCT Soon

By Syed Akbar Ali

The Star is read mostly by Chinese readers. The Utusan is read mostly by Malay readers. Here is the news about the LCCT in both newspapers today. Note the different headlines:

Utusan Malaysia 31 Januari 2009 / 4 Safar 1430

Projek LCCT Labu ditolak

KUALA LUMPUR 30 Jan. – Kerajaan hari ini menolak cadangan AirAsia Bhd. untuk membina sebuah lapangan terbang baru berharga RM1.6 bilion di Labu, Negeri Sembilan.

Here is The Star Saturday January 31, 2009

Decision on Labu LCCT plan soon

KUALA LUMPUR: The decision on AirAsia’s proposal to build a new low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) costing RM1.6bil in Labu, Negri Sembilan will be known in two to three weeks’ time, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

‘Ditolak’ versus ‘decision soon’. As they say, different strokes for different folks. Here is the Star’s version (truncated)

KUALA LUMPUR: The decision on AirAsia’s proposal to build a new low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) costing RM1.6bil in Labu, Negri Sembilan will be known in two to three weeks’ time, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

“Actually, the Government has not made a decision on the matter. What is important is that all the fact-finding and details arising will be scrutinised,” he told Bernama after attending a Chinese New Year dinner function organised by the MCA, here, last night.

Ong said the Government needed time to decide on the matter as it involved many parties.

“The Transport Ministry, Economic Planning Unit, Finance Ministry, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and AirAsia are meeting for the good of all parties concerned,” he said.

Bernama had earlier yesterday reported that the Government had rejected the proposal for a new LCCT in Labu, but the low-cost carrier was said to have several concessions, according to sources.

It was reported that MAHB would be given the responsibility to build a new LCCT near the existing terminal, which is next to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang.

The sources were also quoted as saying that the decision to cancel the proposed project was conveyed to AirAsia at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and was attended by Finance Ministry, MAHB and AirAsia officials.

At the meeting, AirAsia was led by its group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Tony said AirAsia regarded the outcome of the meeting as very positive and that it was now awaiting the details.

He said AirAsia was committed to providing its guests with world-class, five-star service via a purpose-built LCCT.

He said AirAsia was also committed to making Kuala Lumpur a regional hub for low-cost carriers and contributing significantly to the growth of Malaysian economy.

Financially, it is also good news for AirAsia, he said.

It already has a high gearing, and with this it does not have to seek funding for the new LCCT, he added. — Bernama

So the Labu LCCT may be off. As a trade off, in lieu thereof, to compensate, as an alternative, to resolve the matter the Government will now use taxpayers funds to build an LCCT terminal at the KLIA to serve Tony’s needs.

According to Tony this should be a profitable proposition for Air Asia because (the Star quotes Tony) ‘Financially, it is also good news for AirAsia’.

Well good for Air Asia then. The whole world runs on making profit. Making profit should be the end result of running things on sound, business principles. Honesty is also important. Dishonesty ultimately leads to disaster, even war. Since Air Asia is already heavily in debt, they are relieved that they do not have to pay for the LCCT terminal.

Well taxpayers have long been paying for bus stations, ferry terminals, airports and ports around the country. But most buses, ferry boats, ships and even airlines which operate from these terminals are owned by private corporations. In other words the building of terminals is part of providing required infrastructure.

I hope that with the new LCCT addition at the KLIA to be built by Malaysian Airports, the passenger volume through the KLIA will multiply. This will increase Malaysian Airports (Government) revenue and help recoup the investment in the KLIA. That is how business should work.

Perhaps KLIA will also emerge as the new low cost carrier hub in Asia and provide linkages and opportunities for other airlines, including MAS of course, to further leverage on this development. Lets all grab the opportunities offered, for the good of business in the country.

What is good for business must be good for Malaysians.

But this episode does bring to the fore the extremely poor track record of Government departments and Government organizations in undertaking business negotiations with private companies. Despite decades of five year plans, decades of development projects and privatization they still don’t know how to think like businessmen or be realistic.

Accepted business practices or the time value of money are still vague notions among many Government negotiators.

The IPPs (Independent Power Stations) were mooted after the disastrous four day country wide power outage in the early 90s. The blackout was a terrible failure on TNB’s part.

The first kid off the IPP block was YTL Power. YTL is an efficiently run business organization. But they ran into severe roadblocks when they had to negotiate the first PPAs (Power Purchase Agreement) with TNB.

Decisions had been made by the Government that IPPs would be allowed. But TNB got emotional and egoistic. They were quite determined to drag their feet over the IPPs. To them it became a case of ‘face saving’. Their monopoly was being broken.

The public is seldom made aware of the numerous rounds of time wasting ‘mesyuarat’ and negotiations with the Government which private companies have to suffer. I have personal knowledge of such negotiations and it can really cause stomach ulcers.

Despite what the public may say of YTL, Air Asia etc, I am positive they have suffered tons of time wasted – wasted time which costs money. Ultimately it is the economy and the man in the street (the ordinary Pak Hashim, Sundram and Mrs Lee who shoulder these costs)

To digress a little, I designed and taught a Project Finance course to Bank Officers in Maybank many years ago. (After 14 years I believe my module is still being used). In the most exciting era of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed where hundred million Ringgit projects were the norm, I always asked the junior officers at the Bank to calculate quickly in their heads : what is 1% of RM1.0 million? Answer: RM10,000. 1% of RM10.0 million? Answer : RM100,000. 1% of RM100.0 million? Answer: RM1.0 million.

At that time the BLR was running at around 7%. Plus say a 1.5% margin the interest rates suffered by a Borrower could be 8.5% per annum.

For a RM100.0 million loan, that would work out to RM8.5 million in annual interest payments alone. This works out to RM708,000 a month or RM177,000 a week or RM25,000 a day (including Sundays and public holidays) or RM3,000 per working hour (of an eight hour day).

But even then projects were already running into the multi billion Ringgits. A RM1.0 billion loan could suffer RM85.0 million interest payments per year or RM1.6 million per week!! This is a lot of money. Delay a billion Ringgit project by one week and about RM1.6 million is lost!!

Whether the planes are taking off or not, whether the power station is generating power or not, the Bank’s will charge interest according to time elapsed. Hence the ‘time value of money’.

But I have attended meetings with the Government where they may just say ‘OK let’s meet again next month and get updates on the issues’ etc. No closing on the matter. So what if the interest payments are piling up? Its not their funeral. They are Civil Servants, they get paid every month.

What choices will the Promoter have? Crying is not an option. If they are well connected, eventually the Promoter has to call upon political muscle to sort things out. If they have no connections their projects will die unnatural deaths. These things happen too. And few return from the dead.

I believe some intransigence is being faced by Tony Fernandez and Air Asia with the Government people too. Of course compounding the matter is Air Asia’s own reputation. Air Asia does not seem to make itself too loved by stakeholders in the airline business.

It will be much easier if Government can think in straight forward practical terms like businessmen. One simple way of achieving this if more seasoned, honest businessmen are appointed to Government. People who really have the interests of Pak Hashim, Sundram and Mrs Lee at heart.

Perak Discovery Pushes Back Anthropology

By Syed Akbar Ali

Here is a very interesting news report from The Star today:

GEORGE TOWN: Evidence of human existence dating back 1.83 million years was uncovered at Bukit Bunuh in Lenggong, Perak recently.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia director Associate Prof Dr Mokhtar Saidin said hand-axes which were unearthed showed evidence of the early existence of Homo erectus in the South-East Asia region.

He said the previous prehistoric hand-axes found in Africa dated back 1.6 million years.

“We found one of the hand-axes, made of quartzite rock, embedded in layers of suevite caused by meteorite impact.

“We sent part of the suevite to the Japan Geochronology Lab in Tokyo for fission track dating and the results showed that it dated about 1.83 million years,” he told a press conference.

Dr Mokhtar said it was possible that the findings challenged the prevailing “Out of Africa” theory, which holds that anatomically modern man first arose from one point in Africa and spread out around the globe.

He said the Bukit Bunuh archaeological site covered about four sq km, and the meteorite crater was about 4km in diameter.

USM Vice-Chancellor Tan Sri Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak described the discovery as “important and pertinent”, which could change the understanding about the mobility of early human beings in this region.

Having watched enough Mary Leakey, Peking Man and other documentaries and having read some about Mary Leakey before, yes this is a major discovery.

Mary Leakey was a famous British anthropologist who made a series of discoveries in the Olduvai Gorge in Africa. But I believe she has discovered some hominid skulls going back beyond 1.5 million years.

Hominids refers to apes and humans. We are also classed as homo sapiens. Anthropologists say homo sapiens evolved about 400,000 years ago.

Earlier than that they say was the age of homo erectus - still ape like (evolution and all that).

The comment by the VC of the USM that this discovery is 'pertinent' is putting it mildly.

What is significant to me is that there are few sites around the world where ancient traces of human activity, like this hand axe, are found. The four square kilometres of Bukit Bunuh must be carefully studied and excavated. It should lead to finding traces of human remains.

What happened to Kota Gelanggi or something in Johor? That is reputed to be more recent, about 1400 years old.

Pope Reinstates Holocaust Denier

By Syed Akbar Ali

First the news (truncated)

JERUSALEM – Israel's chief rabbinate severed ties with the Vatican on Wednesday to protest a papal decision to reinstate a bishop who publicly denied 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Jews (are) angered by the Pope’s decision to rehabilitate bishop Richard Williamson, who told Swedish TV in an interview broadcast last week that evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews being deliberately gassed." He said 300,000 Jews were killed at most, "but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."

Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Israel's quasi-governmental Jewish Agency, denounced the Vatican for bringing a Holocaust denier back into the fold.

I first read about Holocaust denial many years ago. It is also called Holocaust Revisionism and seems to be gaining popularity among some Holocaust researchers in the West.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews were indeed murdered by the Nazis in WW2 but the main argument presented by most of the Holocaust deniers is what they say is a lack of proof that the German’s killed 6.0 million Jews in the gas chambers and then cremated most of the bodies (since not enough human remains were found in graves, mass graves, dumpsites etc).

I recall reading one document where the Holocaust deniers take pains to trace the amount of fuel (coal) which was shipped to the Concentration Camps in Poland and Austria throughout the period of WW2.

Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau were the more famous among the Nazi extermination camps quoted by the Holocaust supporters.

The Germans being Germans kept careful records of everything. They were also in the habit of filming and photographing everything. The Holocaust deniers say that there are no records of the amounts of coal that would have been required to cremate the reported 6.0 million Jews.

They also say that there is no evidence of poison gases being used at these camps. Use of poison gas by the Nazis is the main thesis behind the Holocaust supporters.

The Holocaust denial seems to pick on technical feasibility and the demand for solid evidence.

Good News For The World Economy.

Well here is today's news:

House OKs $819B stimulus bill with GOP opposition

WASHINGTON – In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge US$819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy.

The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama's frequent pleas for bipartisan support.

"This recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years," the president said in a written statement released moments after the House voted.

Earlier, Obama declared, "We don't have a moment to spare" as congressional allies hastened to do his bidding in the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The US is off to a kick start under their new President Obama. The US$819 Billion spending bill is very good for the world economy. Plus the U$586 billion being spent by the Chinese there is a better chance now for the global economy to be put back on track for growth.

However what interests me most is the last line from Obama : "We don't have a moment to spare".

They have understood the sense of urgency. This type of decisiveness in the leadership inspires confidence in the economy. There is a steady hand guiding their country.

This is where we are still groping in the dark. After 22 years of clear focus, we were suddenly thrown into darkness. We need light. We need a completely new team. Somehow I don’t see light at the end of the tunnel here.

Gems From Marina And Anas.

By Syed Akbar Ali

Folks continuing with our Let's Read The Quran campaign, there are two little gems today from Anas Zubedy and Marina Mahathir on their respective Blogs.

Do read them. Marina speaks of what the Quran says about charity. It is short and very relevant.

If I may summarise, charity is meant for all human beings, without reservation. The non Muslims may think that I am stating the obvious. Indeed I am.

But unfortunately I have seen some Muslims (not all though) limit their charity to Muslims only. This prejudice is because of a misunderstanding of what our obligations really are.

Here is an example. Recently, an Islamic oriented magazine wanted to do a write up on my wife – as a business personality. They also asked if she was involved in any charitable works as they could include it in the write up.

For over 10 years my wife and I have spent time with disadvantaged kids. With my wife though, its a passion. She maintains close links with some childrens’ shelters in Kuala Lumpur (close means she drops by almost everyday). But these homes are run by non Muslims, usually Christians. Then when she told the Islamic magazine people about it, they cancelled the write up. They said it was their ‘dasar’ to only highlight Islamic orphanages. What a bummer.

My wife and I were not surprised at all with this type of remark. We have heard it before. That is why Marina’s comments about what the Quran says about charity are so relevant.

More than the non Muslims, I hope the Muslims will read Marina’s views carefully to know what the Quran says about charity.

The other article about the Quran is by Anas Zubedy. Anas has stated marvelously how the Quran helps him connect with all human beings around him. Ek Ongkar, Anas. Ek Ongkar. Do read what he has found out from the Quran.

Ye Shall Work Like An Ox!

By Syed Akbar Ali

When said in English it sounds quite good. But try translating "Ye Shall Work Like An Ox" into Malay. Somehow it may not sound right. Perhaps somethings can or should only be said in English or Malay or Chinese – as the case may be.

First here are three irrelevant things that happened in the country to usher in the Chinese Year of the Ox. These are news items (truncated).

i. Murugiah seeks apology from police over mortuary incident

PUTRAJAYA: Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah will seek an apo­logy from police for insinuating that he was part of the group that barged into a hospital mortuary to check on the body of a suspected car thief.

Murugiah said he would send a letter to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok explaining what transpired and that Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar should apologise to him.

That was what one Government leader said. Here is another Government leader on the same matter:

ii. Deputy ministers likely to face action: Syed Hamid

JOHOR BARU: Two deputy ministers are likely to face action if they are found to have broken the law in the incident where a crowd entered the mortuary of Serdang Hospital in Selangor on Tuesday, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

“No minister or member of the administration is above the law and if you have committed an offence then you have to face the consequences,” Syed Hamid told reporters

There seems to be some incoherence here. In the meantime an UMNO man from Perak has decided to throw in the towel (or shoes).

iii. Umno man joins PKR in Perak

PETALING JAYA: Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim is quitting Umno to join PKR, bringing the total number of state seats held by the Pakatan Rakyat alliance here to 32, versus Barisan Nasional’s 27.

Nasarudin, 58, said his decision was based on the people’s growing support for Pakatan, and the current situation within Umno and with its leaders.

“I am confident PKR will continue to uphold and respect the Constitution with regards to the position of Bahasa Melayu (sic) as the official national language, the position of the Rulers and Islam as the federal religion,” he said.

UMNO/BN better watch i, ii and iii carefully. These are the things that make UMNO/BN irrelevant. A lot of Malays are beginning to speak like Datuk Nasaruddin too.

Today I actually would like to discuss the “Ye shall work like an Ox”. The DPM has set up a listening post Blog http://www.1malaysia.com.my where he is soliciting ideas from Malaysians on how to move the economy forward. I think it is a good idea for him to set up this listening post. I hope it is a serious attempt and not just lip service.

Nowadays, if it is just lip service, the people will be on to it like a shot. And Nasaruddin from Perak is not the only UMNO guy who is fed up.

To stimulate the economy the Government is planning to spend at least RM7.0 billion Ringgit. I don’t think this is enough.

But whatever money is spent must be spent wisely and expediently. Wisely means we should not be paying for overpriced or useless or crony friendly pork barrel projects. I will give some examples here.

Exepediently means the money has to start flowing quickly into tangible projects providing tangible goods (I fear to include “services”, because of what I heard recently. Do read on).

But we need not always spend money to stimulate the economy. This is where the reminder ‘Ye shall work like an Ox’ comes in. It’s a good idea. If the Government learns to work like an Ox, that itself will stimulate the economy and we can also save taxpayers’ money.

The Government must expedite ‘Work like an Ox’ RULES in frontline Government departments.

Frontline means those departments that are directly connected to economic stimulus. For example the department which issues taxi permits, land office approvals, town council approvals, factory licenses, business approvals etc.

The problem is these frontline Government departments take ages to approve the simplest things. All this delay costs the economy huge losses and wasted time, money and job opportunities.

(Other departments like the Jabatan Hasil Dalam Negeri which has recently made public one of the most bungled up ideas in Malaysian Government history, need not be so expedient with their inexpedience.)

Let me quote a specific example of Government delaying things which is costing the economy lost opportunity. Its about my project. I am a small time developer, I build single homes (bungalows) and sell them.

Last year I started another project. First it took months for the DBKL to vet the building plans. They ask you to submit soft copies of architectural drawings in a CD. Done.

Then after a couple of months they say they cannot process the application because ‘Encik belum hantar CD’.

What? Kita dah hantar dah, ini dia surat ‘akuan terima’. “Tapi CD itu tak ada Encik” is their reply. Do I have a choice? No. So we have to submit the CD again.

Actually the simple truth is the requirement for CDs is still new but they don’t have a proper system or a place to store the CDs. Hence the CDs get lost or damaged.

Then after more months, my architect calls me and says, ‘Syed you wont believe this but you have to sign the sewerage drawings again. They have lost it.’ This happened just last month. (This is where we must have faith in God and have the high blood pressure medication on standby)

Also horror of horrors we found out that the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur had to take back five feet of my land for future road expansion (stipulated by the DBKL).

This meant that I have to pay money, survey the land again, ask the surveyor to redraw the new boundary (less by five feet) and submit it back to the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian, WP Kuala Lumpur – its called a Permohonan Meminda Syarat Nyata & Menyerah Balik Sebahagian Tanah.

Without this approval by the Pejabat Tanah WP, the DBKL will not give me the go ahead to begin construction.

Also done. And I am a few thousand Ringgit poorer too. Everything costs money.

Actually it is just a tiny little amendment where I have most happily given up five feet of my land frontage to the Government for road expansion works. All the specifications and all the Borang were diligently adhered to.

The Pejabat Tanah must have handled this a million times in their almost 200 years of existence (since the British came here or earlier). Then (from last November) I started hearing this: Maaf Encik, permohonan Encik belum masuk mesyuarat. Mesyuarat kita sebulan sekali saja.'

OK lets try for December – its monsoon season anyway, we cant do much construction. Then December came and went. Same answer.

Then they were kind. They said, pending my application 'belum masuk mesyuarat' they could give me a No Objection letter which I could show the DBKL and get an approval to start construction.

But when I gave the letter to DBKL, the DBKL said sorry, no way. One Government Department rejecting another Government Department’s explanation (much like Murugiah and Syed Hamid Albar above)

So I rushed back to the Pejabat Tanah WP Kuala Lumpur, hopefully to make it for the January meeting. January has now almost gone. Again 'Maaf Encik. Belum masuk mesyuarat lagi'. Now they say 'Kita akan cuba untuk mesyuarat bulan Februari'.

I have paid the architect and the contractor hefty sums as deposits. Both my architect and contractor are hardworking bumiputras – the more successful products of the New Economic Policy. Their construction crews are waiting to start work.

But without the approvals they cannot work. And they only get paid when work starts. So they don’t get paid too. The construction materials suppliers also cannot earn anything from not supplying the materials.

Nothing can go on legally if it is still 'belum masuk mesyuarat' over my little application to the Pejabat Tanah Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur.

This is just one example. I am just one tiny guy. Just multiply my case by a thousand, by ten thousand times and we can get the idea of how much of the economy is NOT being stimulated. Billions of Ringgits worth of economic activity are being wasted or delayed by too slow Government procedures.

Now this is where BN/UMNO must also listen closely. Now people can compare things. Things are changing over in Pakatan Rakyat land. For example in Kajang and Shah Alam, the Majlis Perbandaran etc can approve building plans in as little as one day. Ok lah, this may be exceptional.

What is the average you may ask? Hold on to your seats – its within seven days!! This is fantastic. And they use the same manpower and the same isi Borang procedures.

The Majlis Bandaran Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) is a bit slower. It can take three months or slightly more. But this is still better than the DBKL which can take forever.

As for land matters the Pakatan Government in Selangor has appointed special officers to assist the District Officers to expedite Land Title issues. This is new thinking. It is a major step forward. It also means that they are serious about wiping out corruption in the Pejabat Tanah, about which the ‘patronage oriented’ BN Government really did not do much.

It will surely expedite applications relating to land (pecah tanah (subdivision), serah balik (surrender), tukar syarat (conversion) and other things which are essential to move the economy.

Now my product-of-the-NEP, university educated bumiputra contractor is telling me ‘Syed kalau nak buat projek, do it in Selangor lah. KL ni leceh lah.’ UMNO folks, better listen to this carefully. These are bumiputra professionals who need to earn a living. If the Government is sloppy, they get fed up because their cari makan is at stake. More importantly they can now compare BN/UMNO with Pakatan. So wake up.

To overcome ALL these delays my suggestion is extremely very simple, painless and can be implemented immediately : the Government must freeze all leave or cuti of the Ketua Setiausaha Negara (KSN), the Director Generals of all Ministries and the Ketua Pengarah (ONLY) for all such frontline departments until all applications are cleared or at least until a substantial % of backlog cases are cleared.

I believe it will do wonders for the economy if the top cats in the Civil Service cannot go for their holidays with the wife and mum-in-law, go to Medan or take the kids down to S'pore, London etc if their work files are not cleared.

I say this from past experience. Remember the humongous delays at the Immigration Department in Kuala Lumpur for passport renewals. Then one day some bright spark DG came up with the idea that people can just walk into the Jabatan Imigresen and take a number. But once a number had been issued, the Immigrantion staff could not go home for the day until all the numbers had been attended to.

This really speeded up the Immigration Department for some time. It was only after this that the Imigration Department reengineered its passport application procedures. There is less paperwork, you don’t need to talk to any pegawai, you just have your picture taken, drop the Borang in the plastic box and your new passport is ready within days.

However the Immigration Department still bullies the non-Malaysian citizens. They have to get in line by 6 a.m, they have to put up with ‘nombor sudah habis’ and other such crap to get their visas and so on. Its still Third World, on both sides of the counters.

Then over lunch my consultant friends also tell me the latest ‘cap duit’ stories. Some connected people were bidding for a Government project – worth about RM50.0 to RM60.0 million. After working on it for some time, things went cold. Nothing happens for six months. Then suddenly after the Government announced the RM7.0 billion stimulus package, the ‘project promoter’ calls the consultant at home at 8 a.m. in the morning on a Friday. “Please prepare the drawings urgently, we have to submit them by Monday.”

So they work through the weekend and get the drawings ready. Then on Monday they also discover that the project has now become a ‘direct negotiation’ project and the price tag has gone up, it is now close to a RM100.0 million! Unbelievable.

I have yet to talk about ‘services’. The Government stimulus package also includes budgets for retraining. I have another friend who is also a consultant and conducts training courses. Recenly he was approached by a small time but ‘connected person’. The guy with a RM2.00 company had been awarded a retraining contract by the Government. The contract was to train unemployed graduates, laid off workers etc. Could my friend help out?

What does this mean? It means the RM2.00 company had been given the training contract without checking if the company can deliver the job or not. Anyway my friend designed a training module (entrepreneurship, project management, etc) and started teaching class. It was held in rented premises. The ‘promoter’ guy and his girl hung around playing Solitaire on the computer. After a couple of days they left early and told my friend to lock up the rented premises and hold on to the key!

If this is what the Government has in mind by stimulating the economy through retraining programs, its just not going to do the job.