Penangites are utterly fed up and disgusted with the pathetic ferry service that the privatised Penang Port Sdn Bhd is providing. For this the Transport Minister must take full responsibility.
Former PPC chairman Chua Soi Lek and his replacement from 15 December 2015, another political appointee, Tan Teik Cheng, the Penang MCA deputy chairman, also share the responsibility – not to mention Sea Terminal (Johore) Sdn Bhd, linked to Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, which has a stake in PPSB, and PPSB CEO Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman. These are the players responsible for the daily misery inflicted on ferry commuters.
PPSB has FAILED in the very first point of its four-point mission statement, which is “to provide maximum value to customers through superior quality services”. The torturous ferry service is anything but. (They must have a warped sense of humour.)
The Penang state government has written to Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai saying it vehemently opposes the impending reduction in the number of ferries from four to three and the shorter operating hours from 1 January 2016, which it describes as a “breach of trust”. Instead, it calls for more ferries and longer operating hours. I dare say most Penang residents and other visiting Malaysians and tourists would back this call.
Get your act together, Liow, and do something pronto!
This is the letter from the Penang chief minister:
PSUKPP/21/0353/3 klt.2 (4)
14 Disember 2015
YB Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai
Menteri Pengangkutan
Kementerian Pengangkutan Malaysia
No. 26, Jalan Tun Hussein, Presint 4,
62100 W.P. Putrajaya
Tel: 03-8000 8000 Fax: 03-8888 0158
Yang Berhormat Dato’ Sri,
BANTAHAN KE ATAS PENGURANGAN BILANGAN FERI YANG BEROPERASI DI NEGERI PULAU PINANG
1. Adalah saya merujuk kepada kenyataan media Suruhanjaya Pelabuhan Pulau Pinang (SPPP) melalui The Star Online bertarikh 3 Disember 2015 (Khamis) bertajuk “Penang to run only three ferries from 1 January 2016”.
2. Kerajaan Negeri dukacita dengan kenyataan media tersebut dan membantah sekeras-kerasnya pengurangan bilangan feri yang beroperasi setiap hari dari empat buah feri sekarang kepada tiga buah feri pada tahun 2016. Pengurangan bilangan feri tidak memberi manfaat kepada pengguna dan kepada Penang Port sendiri kerana bilangan penumpang akan terus menurun sejajar dengan pengurangan bilangan feri.
3. Tidak ada alasan kukuh diberikan untuk pengurangan ini kecuali mungkin disebabkan oleh kos operasi yang meningkat sehingga kerugian tahunan mencecah sebanyak RM25 juta! Ini adalah dalam jangkaan kerana macam mana boleh mengurangkan kerugian sekiranya perkhidmatan feri dikurangkan dan tidak ditambah. Hanya dengan menerima pakai konsep “scale” dengan memperbanyakkan perkhidmatan feri barulah kos operasi boleh dikurangkan.
4. Kerajaan Negeri turut membantah perubahan jadual waktu baru pelepasan feri yang pertama pada jam 6.30 pagi berbanding jadual lama yang mana feri yang pertama berlepas pada jam 5.20 pagi sebelum ini. Pelepasan waktu yang lewat akan menyukarkan pengguna dan seterusnya pengguna terpaksa mencari alternatif lain dan tidak menggunakan perkhidmatan feri lagi. Penambahan selang masa juga tidak wajar dilaksanakan kerana perkara ini akan menjadikan waktu menunggu (waiting time) lebih lama.
5. Perkhidmatan feri adalah satu tanggungjawab Kerajaan Persekutuan yang diamanahkan oleh rakyat Pulau Pinang. Pengurangan perkhidmatan feri boleh dianggap sebagai tindakan yang “pecah amanah” yang diberikan oleh rakyat. Sehubungan itu, Kerajaan Negeri ingin menegaskan bahawa Kerajaan Negeri tidak bersetuju dengan pengurangan bilangan feri dari empat buah feri kepada tiga buah feri yang beroperasi setiap hari bermula pada 1 Januari 2016. Penang Port Sdn. Bhd. sewajarnya mencari jalan penyelesaian atau cadangan penambahbaikan agar bilangan penumpang dapat ditingkatkan bukannya dengan mengurangkan bilangan feri atau tempoh masa perkhidmatan yang hanya akan memberi impak yang lebih negatif kelak.
Sekian, terima kasih.
“CEKAP, AKAUNTABILITI, TELUS”
“BERKHIDMAT UNTUK NEGARA”
Yang ikhlas,
LIM GUAN ENG
Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang
s.k
Pengerusi,
Penang Port Sdn. Bhd.,
No. 1, Pesara King Edward,
10300 George Town,
Pulau Pinang
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Azmi Yang Abdullah, may you unveil bravely in 2016.
Happy 2016 to all readers and commenters whichever sides you are!
“Kang Tao” head of job opportunities; eg Penang Port Kang Tao was under Ah Lek until left with 3 in service; now “kang Tao” passed over to another MCA guy still not aware of the rakyat problems with ferry service.
Please note that the first ferry departure time in the morning has been brought later since 20 December:
Departure from Prai is now 6am, no longer 5.20am;
Departure from Penang island is now 6.45am, no more at 5.40am.
http://www.chinapress.com.my/20151227/檳威渡輪服務時間更動-首趟班次最早6am/
How are Penang Island passengers supposed to catch the 7.00am electric train from Butterworth on mainland Penang to KL Sentral? Think, Penang Port management/owners, think! Or quit and hand the ferries over.
Hi from Adelaide. 🙂
Bring your kids to make a wish and enjoy ‘The Path’ (旧关仔角”海角球道”) in Penang:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B2xWrsJBiow
Merry Christmas to all!
TMJ: Why so afraid of respecting each other?
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/12/25/tmj-why-so-afraid-of-respecting-each-other/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreeMalaysiaToday+%28FMT+News%29
Go back to the times of P Ramlee & you will understand more of what it took to live in harmony & tolerance in a land of diversity without the influence of the camel riders of Middle East.
They are so afraid of P.Ramli’s ” Nombor Ekor” .
“Mintak Nombor Ekor” is a short film by P.Ramli is banned from screening.
Is there a need to hide the truth?
Thank You to youtube, it is available online.
*sorry that this comment is not related to Penang’s ferry.
Hi Johan, unrelated comments may go under the Readers’ Alerts section.
Merry Christmas to all Malaysian and Happy New Year.
Thanks.
rajraman.May God Bless Malaysia Malaysian and rest of worlds human and living things ( To the believer ).
When you write to the believer, are you asking your God not to bless the non believer or believer of other religion. When you again talk of living thing which may means animal, creature etc do they have the intelligence to believe.
May God bless all whether you are the non believer, incorrigible, sinners etc.in order that it will make our world and country a better place
Azmi, I don’t believed in God so i am asking whoever believed in God Bless them.*Their God*The Believer of God believed all living thing created by God and the living thing also have feeling.May the God created the living thing be bless by God.*Still subject to the Believer of God* Meanwhile some peoples use religion as tools to divide and rules should be punish by their own God. rajraman. I don’t practise any religion but respect every human religion.If they say the tree they pray is represent their God then i respect their believed as long they respect others believed.I… Read more »
Religious bigotry is the main hideous cause of mankind’s extinction in the future. Look around & you see terrorism, rapes & murders, beheading, ransoms (in the name of God), burning of religious houses, primitive laws (like stoning), civilian executions (for incest, datings, etc), ostracises, blowing off of religious artefacts, looting of archives from museums (see Iraq), intolerances at the sight of cartoons, boycotting of businesses, raping of foreign maids (see Middle East), sponsorship of terrorists, the list go on & on. Until no man will be left standing to call out the name of God. God be merciful & Karma,… Read more »
All believers of any religion should focus on the core values which are usually common and binding, instead of the practices as manifested as different rituals, prohibitions, man-made laws (propagating blind faith), proclamation as the exclusive one and only etc that divide the people.
God blessed Yang who is now a reincarnation as Azmi!
Welcome back if I am not wrong with a 6th sense intuition from discerning Shieny.
Hello Anil
Merry Christmas…Cheers!
Thanks! And you too.
Today Penangite who see the 5.30 tv news would have seen only just how incompetent the Dap Pakatan Cat govt is, you will notice how stupid the Cat govt is.
A narrow walking path for the people with bicycle coming in both direction. How.inconvenient the walking people and bicycle will be. How so dangerous for the walking people.
SO DONT COMPLAIN OF LTL OR THE FERRY. If the ferry is to be handed over to the Cat Dap govt hell will.surely break lose
Go and see the AG’s report on how the BN regime has wasted money on buying overpriced items and abandoned projects.
Ya we should be very afraid that if the ferry go into the Cats hand, it may be used by him to further enrich the developers with more reclamation or more favourable conditions like Spice
Azmi is Yang in disguise.
You got sixth sense!
Usually women have that wonderful gift that men seldom get wired to it.
Cheers Kopi-O kau kau!
Dap and Cat senior and the opposition Pkr, Amanah including Ngo have been coming out with lies and deception that they have 95% Chinese support while Umno and Najib has only 30% support If that is really the case why should they be so afraid. Instead it should be.a landslide for them. Mca and Gerakan including Um no Bn parties have been working behind the scene with many of the undecided and silent majority that will be the force. What did Lks say. We can never win Purrs. HOW CAN IT BE WHEN YOU HAVE 95% Chinese And 70% Malays… Read more »
If getting less passengers or not profitable then the logical way is for the company to wind up. Let other company or management try.
The State Gov. have stated a few times of its interest to take over the sinking BN’s management.
Wonder why an adult film star have a stake in marine transport business.
As for the MCA , it could be turned into a highly successful Mahjong Club.
Getting Chairman fees, Director fees, CEO salaries BUT cannot do a good job except seeing the compulsory blue ink in the ledgers as main cause + concern for self-enrichment.
Then better give somebody like Penang CAT government to do a better social-responsible job (which I bet on).
Why still sit on it until no more ferry to serve the public?
This is a classic case of kia-su, be cho, be pang ho lang cho.
What does the last bit mean?
kia-su, be cho, be pang ho lang cho means:
One who cannot do a good job yet won’t let others who are more capable to take over the job. The kia-su in this case defines a fear of own apparent failure in the public eyes.
In the end the public are the ones who will suffer the ‘deeds’ of these kia-sus.
May Karma proceed.
Soiled leg Lan sai Lang bey cho kang, a hiau chiat lui!
What does that mean?
Anil, chiok lu Seng-Tan Khuai-Lok (Merry Christmas)
May 2016 & onwards keep us all afloat & sail forward pushed by the winds of UBAH.
Note: Penang’s ferries are not solely for transportation. A heritage icon can be creatively mobilised for other recreational uses like sunset dinner & wine parties, wedding anniversary celebrations, birthday parties, Baba Nyonya Chap Goh Meh Blind-Dating rendezvous, sea pirate parties & of course the annual count-down parties.
Not to mention cruises up and down the channel. Or new routes like Bagan Ajam to Tanjung Bungah.
With less passenger now, the only logical way is to streamline and cut unnecessary expenses to ensure that it is profitable. You don’t simply put extra in when it’s not necessary. Anyway the ferry is going on a 20-25 minutes interval. That’s not a long wait. Just because some idiot cheap minister write in does mean that we have to concur
Cheap Minister can do it cheaply at a profit. Why not give it a try?
Economic wise it depend on demand and supply. No, Penangite are not angry with the exception of Dap sycophants and Cat who want the ferry at all cost for their political mileage. At three ferry running it’s only a 25 minutes wait and passengers and vehicle are not many if you care to notice. The first bridge is normal utilise while second bridge is under utilised. Do we really need a tunnel that not only destroy our environment but our precious land will also be hijacked for the tunnel which may become a white elephant but currently being politicize for… Read more »
Useless LTL. When tear gas was fired into the compound of Tung Shin hospital, as a health minister that time, he not only did not stand out to protect the interests of the hospital and patients, he went to tell lie and blamed the angle.
I don’t know what the Chinese in Malaysia have done wrong… Someone with such capability, or rather lack of it can become MCA chairman!
MCA can never gain the confidence of Penangites if they cannot even resolve the ferries issue.
Cronied business do not care for the people who need the ferries to be timely, frequent and regularly efficient in service.
Chew Mei Fun cannot turn around the salted fish if MCA cannot address this matter.
It was michievios for MCA and its chief to sell off an important landmark and essential service to a crony company instead of a government elected by Penang people. Now this company is trying all it can to kill off this service because it is a burden to higher profit. I am a user of ferry but all the steps taken by the management were aimed the discourage me to use the ferry, from long and tedious walk to uncertain wait and miss connection to the train service at Prai and now reduce daily trip in the excuse that less… Read more »