Every Chinese New Year, I am unable to rest without fidgeting around and worrying about my cars. You see, I happen to live in a neighbourhood where most of my neighbours are young parents with little kids. They play lots of firecrackers. While I am not against this, there has been an occasion in the past where fire crackers hit my Nissan Sunny. No compensation was given, and when advised to go play their fire crackers in a playground just down the road, the advice was ignored. Now I am constantly reparking my Proton Perdana and a press car BMW 130i M Sport, especially the latter, further down the road and inside my house whenever I hear firecrackers.

Has any of you had this problem? Has fireworks and firecrackers damaged your car? Do you have the same fears that I do, or am I just weird? I think my paranoia is justified, as it HAS happened before. What do you do with these kind of neighbours?

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 10:08:15 +0800.

I just got back from an extremely tiring day at work thanks to Dell.

My company does system integration and development as well as provide IT support services. A client of ours just ordered a new Dell laptop with us helping in the purchase process. The order was worth more than RM10,000 and included a 19″ LCD monitor, a Dell D410 notebook and a docking station. (I recommended IBM but the client insisted on Dell!)

The first problem came when somehow the sales personnel forgot the order included a docking station.

“Oh you want a docking station ah?”

“Yes, it says right here on the order.”

“Oh okay.”

After the sales personnel finally “believed” we ordered and paid for a docking station, the item was built. We requested that the goods be shipped before Friday as the country manager wanted to take the laptop on a trip. He was flying off on Friday morning to visit remote sites. Normal lah, oil and gas industry.

This was a week ago. The days passed by and it was Wednesday. The next problem. The notebook is ready and has been shipped to the depot in Shah Alam. But the delivery person might not be able to deliver on time. Fine, we said we’ll collect it from Shah Alam ourselves.

On Thursday morning, we find out the notebook has already been shipped out and will reach the client’s office at Jalan Tun Razak at around 4:30. We were told we would be called when they arrive.

4:30 came, still no call. No sign of the delivery person. 5pm. 6pm. Still no sign. We were getting pissed off. We had to setup the laptop and they were wasting our time.

Suddenly we got a call. The courier company told us that there was something wrong with the delivery truck driver and the notebook could only be delivered tomorrow. We insisted that we needed the notebook today. Then the courier company told us the truck driver just admitted himself into General Hospital because he had a heart attack or something. The courier company said if it was really urgent we could go over to the GH and take the goods from the truck.

At this moment, I was thinking could things get any worse? Life shoved the answer in my face later.

So we left the office at 6:30pm from Jalan Tun Razak and struggled through the jam to General Hospital which was actually not too far away.

We were trying to call the delivery person throughout our journey there. His phone seemed turned off. The courier company could not contact him either. Once we reached GH, he finally picked up the phone. Not bad for a guy who just got a heart attack. He sounded fine!

“Where are you? We’re at GH now.”

“Oh, I just left GH.”

“WTF? You left GH? Where are you now?”

“I’m on the highway.”

“Stop wherever you are, we’ll come and get the notebook.”

“Oh oh, cannot I didn’t drive the truck. I’m in my car.”

“In the car? Where are you? Where’s the truck? Hello? Hello?”

The bastard cut our line off.

We called the courier company. None of them knew what was happening. Both the courier company and Dell were very apologetic but none of them knew what was happening and how to contact the guy who was driving the truck.

The courier company that Dell had outsourced the delivery to had apparently outsourced delivery to another smaller courier company. Communication between all three parties were terrible. The only people who knew the big picture was us, the dudes who were suffering waiting around for nothing and driving through all the jams on a wild goose chase.

Dell said they would speak to the courier company.

The courier company said someone was coming over to open the truck and pass the goods to us. They gave us the contact of the seconded courier company. We gave them a call.

The seconded courier company said no one was coming.

We called the courier company again and told them the seconded courier company said no one was coming. They said they would sort it out for us.

We were waiting at the mamak. Making alot of phone calls. Maxis must be happy.

Anyway time passed and we got fed up. At 8pm when we were about to leave, the courier company called and told us don’t leave as someone was coming over. They gave us contacts to call. We called the contact.

They said they were already at GH for quite some time and were looking for the truck. WTF? I thought you said no one was coming over?

They said they couldn’t find the truck. They described the truck to us and we helped them search. We drove all around the General Hospital trying to find the truck. Searched the sides of the roads and every parking lot. Nope. Nothing. Did the truck driver drive off with the truck? Who knows how much worth of notebooks and computers were in there.

We got fed up. Went back to the client’s office around 830pm. We admitted defeat, and the country manager said he would have to make do with an old laptop that was a hand-me-down for his business trip. We considered the case closed for today.

At roughly 10pm, the courier company called. They found the truck. Delivered it to my partner’s house as no one was at the client’s office.

Apparently the truck driver never got a heart attack, and never went to GH. The courier company went around searching his known addresses and found him. Since the truck left the depot in Shah Alam in the morning, he has been at his aunty’s house somewhere. He did not deliver any of the Dell goods.

Basically because one person didn’t feel like working and curi tulang, we spent the whole day on a wild goose chase. Wasted plenty of petrol. Wasted alot of money on phone bills. It also costed the client support fees for after-office hours work. Gave Dell a headache and a big mess to clean up. We were not the only ones who didn’t get our order. Like a big screwed up domino effect.

I was told there was about 20 orders in that truck and none of them got delivered. Not sure as I wasn’t there. That should be around 100-150K ringgit worth of Dell products. Some of them were big long-term clients of Dell.

I suppose Dell has alot of patching up to do with the affected corporate clients after today’s mess. Apparently this is not the first time it’s happened… why are they still using the troublesome seconded courier companies? But I have to admit Dell and the courier company was trying their best to sort out the mess that the courier company made. The courier company should compensate appropriately.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 10:08:15 +0800.

Even luxury car importers must get approval from JPJ if their cars have HID installed straight from the factory.

How exactly do you get approval and what are the criteria are not mentioned.

HID lights are much brighter than normal lights and it helps the driver alot as visibility is much better. The xenon bulbs also use less energy, generate less heat and have a longer lifespan than halogen bulbs.

RTD technical department director Zahamail Omar cites the following rule as to why HID lights have been made illegal.

Any modifications made by the car owner that can cause accidents, interference or danger to other road users can be penalised under the Motor Vehicle Rules (Construction and Use) 1959

Blame all the people who have HIDs installed but have them intentionally pointed wrongly so that they appear extra bright. If the HID beam are pointed properly it would not blind oncoming drivers and would not cause so-called interference.

Notice the car with the HID lights has the beam pointed low and on the road. Instead of straight and onto incoming traffic. This is a responsible driver who has HID lights.

I travel along the Connaught highway from Mid Valley towards Cheras everyday and there is this long stretch near the Taman Desa bridge without any streetlights at all. As I work till late hours most of the time, when I pass that stretch I am in almost pitch darkness as there are not much other cars on the road so that I could make use of their headlamp light.

I have been thinking of getting HID lights at the end of this month but looks like now I can’t, unless I go through “procedures” to get them approved. Looks like the runners now have an additional source of income.

Source: The Star

Resources:
Glare from Headlamps and other Front Mounted Lamps – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, USA

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 10:08:15 +0800.

Karamjit will not be participating in the current round, Round 3, which is in Rotorua, New Zealand on the 17th and 19th. Round 4 would be in Hokkaido Japan. But guess where is Round 5s venue? No where else but MALAYSIA! (19-21 August 2005) It would be a shame to see that our own Flying Sikh (Karamjits nickname) cannot even compete in his home grounds because he could not secure sponsorship!

That was back in June. Two months has passed and he still has not been able to get sponsorship for the Malaysian leg of the championship.

He also has to miss the Britain rally because he could not find ANY sponsorship by the closing date on 10th August 2005.

So far in this year’s rally, Karamjit only managed to complete 3 stages with private sponsorship funds as a temporary measure while trying to secure long term sponsorship. Private sponsorship funds don’t really amount to much.

Karamjit is last year’s defending champion and this year he does not even have enough sponsorship to come back and defend his title.

He won the title last year with sponsorship from Proton but they did not even give enough funds to complete the whole championship. The Ministry of Youth and Sports had to give an additional RM500,000 sponsorship. But with this cash he went on and won the championship in both the drivers and manufacturer’s title.

Now that he has missed 4 out of 8 races, there is no more possibility of him defending his title.

Because of all his absense from races due to lack of funds, teh FIA has slapped a USD20,000 fine on him. That’s roughly RM76,000.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 10:08:15 +0800.

Together with his co-driver Allen Oh, Karamjit had won the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) last year, as well as in 2001 and 2002. Because of him, Proton had also snagged the Manufacturer’s title in 2002 and 2004. Karamjit also took the Group N (Production car) titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001. (Source)

Isn’t this a proven track record for success? How come he is unable to get sponsorship from anyone?

Do you need more proof?

Career Highlights:
2004 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2002 FIA Production Car World Rally Champion
2002 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2001 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2001 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2000 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
1998 Thailand National Rally Champion
1997 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
1990 – 1997 Malaysian Rally Champion

He won the WRC’s Production car championship on his FIRST TRY! He is also the first Asian to win the title.

Karamjit and his Proton PERT

This year, Karamjit Singh drives with co-driver Jagdev Singh in a Proton PERT which is basically a Proton re-label of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7. Karamjit shipped his Proton PERT to New Caledonia in last month in hopes of competing in the rally but was forced to pull out last minute because he could not secure enough sponsors for the event. Even the FIA was understanding in this matter, because they knew Karamjit’s team was facing financial difficulties, they had subsidised the participation fees for the rally. After all, last year’s defending champion had to defend his title right? That was what FIA was thinking. But Karamjit was still short of cash for mechanics and tyres.

Karamjit will not be participating in the current round, Round 3, which is in Rotorua, New Zealand on the 17th and 19th. Round 4 would be in Hokkaido Japan. But guess where is Round 5’s venue? No where else but MALAYSIA! (19-21 August 2005) It would be a shame to see that our own Flying Sikh (Karamjit’s nickname) cannot even compete in his home grounds because he could not secure sponsorship!

This is what happens when you try to remain patriotic. Karamjit had put his faith in being able to get local corporate sponsorship for the 2005 APRC season. Why doesn’t the government step up and help him? They certainly have for other individuals competing in motorsports, who once obtained sponsorship completely disappointed us and vanished from the news. But this is a champion here. Karamjit has put Malaysia on the rallying map. Why not Proton help him? After all, he has Proton’s logos all over his Proton PERT. Proton is definitely cash-rich enough.

There are another 2 Malaysians participating in the APRC with driver Chee Hong Kan and co-driver Bernard Chin U-Min. They are driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR but they belong to Wan Yu Rally Team which comes from China, thus they are not a Malaysian team. Karamjit had actually been contemplating to race for an overseas-based factory team this season but he did not, for reasons which I will assume to be patriotism. Bad decision.

It’s not just about defending the APRC title. Even his career is in jeopardy now. FIA APRC’s rules state that he has to finish 6 out of the 8 races, otherwise he could be fined up to USD3000 per race. Last year he got first place for 4 out of the 6 rounds. This time, he can’t even participate in the 6 rounds. He has only been able to get enough money to run 3 rounds this year so far. In addition to the fear of the USD9000 fine (3 remaining races), the FIA could suspend his license. “They can suspend my licence. If I am under suspension, how am I going to earn a living?” said Karamjit.

Karamjit is also participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and he managed to get his best finish so far in the last race in New Zealand where he and his co-driver John Bennie finished fifth. Even in the WRC, a world-class event, he has not been able to secure enough sponsorships to enable him to finish his campaign.

Perhaps it’s just that rally isn’t hot in Malaysia as other motorsports such as Formula One. What a pity. I am really really really sad about Karamjit’s predicament.

Now, Karamjit has already had offers from two foreign manufacturer teams for him to drive for them. He is seriously considering the options now since his own country seems uninterested in the fact that he has made Malaysia proud in the international rally circles. Initial discussions with them have already begun.

“My first choice will be to continue driving for a Malaysian-backed team. That was the reason for staying with the Petronas Eon Racing Team (PERT) for the last 17 years. But the team will cease operations at the end of the year. Getting sponsors have been the big problem. If there is sponsorship overseas, why should I discard the opportunity?” said Karamjit in an article in The Star.

Malaysia, this is the only really good world champion we have. Please don’t force him to look overseas and make some other country/car manufacturer proud instead of our country. Don’t kill him off.

Vijay Singh suffered a similiar predicament in his golfing career. Now he’s one of the top people in golf, who even dethroned Tiger Woods as the world’s top golfer. Vijay applied for PR here in Malaysia but got rejected. Our Deputy Prime Minister even had the cheek to say “Its fortunate that Vijay Singh was not granted the PR status, otherwise he would not have become the worlds number one golfer. Thats the truth.” WTF?!

Karamjit, I wish you the best of luck in your career.

Peter Jackson, Jimmy Lai, VJ Singh. The common thread linking all three men is that they came from a place with limited opportunity, and they all made their name and fortune by going which offers a better chance for them to realise their full potential, be it film making, publishing or golf. If Jackson has stayed in New Zealand, Lai in Guangdong and Singh in Fiji or Malaysia, they would never have gotten to where they are today. – Singapore Polytechnic E-Zone

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 10:08:15 +0800.