TM, HSBB and NBI

So yet "another" high-profile multi-billion ICT project - with live TV telecast and personal attendance by the PM no less - by the government to "boast" competitiveness was launched last week..

Biasedly, I think all these expensive infrastructure projects are a big waste of public funds.. why? well, they (here I mean both the private companies involved and the government) can't even manage the existing not-so-high end infrastructure properly..

I don't stay anywhere near KL, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, Bangsar, Damansara or Petaling Jaya area.. hell, I don't even stay near Penang, Ipoh or any of the state capitals.. and maybe that is why my TM Streamyx connection gets cut off EVERYTIME a storm approaches.. EVERY SINGLE TIME it rains somewhere nearby (not even in my area), my connection drops.. Maybe to those high-level officials, people NOT living in city are NOT worth the effort to appease.. Even as I am writing this entry, my connection dropped more than 4 times within the last half an hour! why? cos it is raining!!

I am beyond embarrassment when my friends (from overseas) whom I was chatting online asked me why was I going on and off-line while we were in the mist of an online conversation.. How can I tell them that the rain and/or thunder in my area is causing my internet connection to drop?!? It is such a big joke.. As much as I wanna tell my oversea friends about my country's progress and achievements in ICT, the simple fact that my ISP (the MAIN and ONLY telecommunication infrastructure provider in the country) cannot even guarantee STABLE connectivity negates everything.

Every time a huge multi-billion project (of any kind) is launched, the officials like to boast about the tangible targets that this project is going to achieve, in terms of percentage and time line.. "It is going to boast the so-n-so industry with penetration rate of X% within Y years..", "We will be seeing an increase of X% in so-so sector within Y years because of this project.." Impressive numbers are thrown around and grandeur pictures are painted for the public..

Yet, when the time (the Y years mentioned) has arrived, NO ONE is there to VERIFY those claims and CONFIRM that the money was indeed well-spent.. No report is given or published.. No one is held responsible or accountable for its success (which is very rare) or failure (which is the common outcome).. No heads will roll as everyone suffers from amnesia ("cannot remember lar.." "did I say that?" "I never say that, the media misquoted me..", "it was the previous minister's responsibility/portfolio.." ) and then the government will launch yet ANOTHER multi-billion project to compensate/remedy and the charade will start all over again..

I don't know what the public in general thinks about such mega-projects, but I for one would just treat these projects as reckless wastage of public money.. and unless the authorities take up its share of accountability and responsibility, no matter how much money the government has invested or are going to invest in these projects, they will, in the end, become either a white elephant, a laughing stock or something that failed to live up to its full potential..