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Rent-seeking is not exactly rocket science
Published:  Jun 1, 2012 9:50 AM
Updated: 2:26 AM

VOXPOP 'A mundane tablet running on an outdated operating system by an unknown company and selling three times the price of its competitors?'

Umno businessman denies 1MPad a 'crony' project

vox populi small thumbnail Odin: MalTechPro executive chairperson Sohaimi Shahadan, you were asked whether your tablet was overpriced, and your reply was, "Those who want to buy iPad can still buy it at their liberty. We just want to provide an alternative."

Your sidestepping of the question means that it is overpriced. Pray tell why you have refused to tell us the name of your so-called parent company. Your refusal to answer means that it is non-existent.

If you asked me, you sound like a total fake.

And I put it to you that your overpriced tablet installed with an outdated operating system is indeed a crony project.

FellowMalaysian: I recognise Sohaimi's face as the 'cow-head leader' . He can deny he was the instigator but he can't hide from the public.

Now that it is revealed he is the owner of this tablet-making company and he is also a Umno crony, I wonder who will buy his product.

Since it is sanctioned as a 1Malaysia product, maybe Najib will buy some for his grandchildren.

SayaAnakBangsaMalaysia: I think the title is a good take on what a contradiction this venture is. An Umno member who is not a crony? Impossible.

If you believe that, you would probably be gullible enough to believe that the protest with a severed cow's head was about the Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim and nothing to do with Indian sensitivities.

Bender: The only way they can make this thing sell is by lying to kampong folks who know nothing about technology, or have the government 'borong' (with ridiculously high price tag for sure) the device to be distributed under some lame 1-Transformation label.

When Sohaimi has gotten his loot, he'll abandon the pad project and move on to another business with the same modus operandi, and the cycle of corruption repeats itself.

Don't buy this product, folks. Stay away from it, just like you should stay away from Sekinchan ikan bakar outlet.

CiViC: Let them do it, crony or not no one will buy it with tablets going so cheap nowadays. You should have seen its launch , it looks as if a sticker ‘1Malaysia Pad' was pasted at the last minute onto the tablet.

Kgen: A mundane tablet running on an outdated operating system by an unknown company and selling three times the price of its competitors?

The company can only sell it to the Umno government or to those forced to buy the tablet. This isn't rocket science.

Sadirah: With a paid-up capital RM1,000, I would not touch any product from this company. They will not even be able to provide warranty support, let alone after-sales service.

That Sohaimi is an Umno member is a liability and that he took part in the cow-head protest reveals his mentality. We should not support such people and their ventures.

As he says he has a lot of money and a lot of companies. They all do because this is an essential characterstic of rent-seeking businesses.

Tekee: This arrogant Sohaimi said, "We have a lot of money that we can pump into the company anytime".

So since they already have a lot of money, let us all boycott their substandard and overpriced products.

Blind Freddo: How deluded and egotistical do you have to be to attempt to compete with Apple and Samsung.

There have already been tablets fall by the wayside because smarter organisations than 1MPad have failed.

Malaysia can't even run a bus service efficiently, nor have their websites working effectively and functionally. How on earth do they think they can compete with electronic giants?

Lim Chong Leong: Organise a cow-head protest and get a high-tea invitation from the home minister where you can discuss your reward in the form of projects.

Cry, my beloved country

Pear Tree: Though I agree with writer Bob Teoh's sentiments and everyone is getting emotionally overwhelmed thinking about the state Malaysia is in, one thing holds certain.

Those who have left the country will not return. Simply put, when one starts a life elsewhere, the opportunity cost of uprooting and returning does not add up anymore. This is why many of us, myself included, just stayed on outside.

We'll however return to cast our vote to assist our Malaysian brothers and sisters in our Tanah Air (homeland) to push for a regime change.

Dont Just Talk: It's very sad but true about the Chinese Malaysian diaspora. Of late, the educated Malays are also joining the migration in droves.

All our three children have migrated and are working overseas, to give their children a better education and hopefully, a brighter future, which they feel deprived of as non-Malays.

But as PKR's Seri Setia state assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said, why are the Malays migrating when they are supposed to be the Ketuanan Melayu?

Perhaps they are disillusioned with the corrupt government and Umnoputras, which they feel disgusted to be associated with.

Already, Malaysia is witnessing an aging population of grandparents, without their children and grandchildren to spend time with, during their ripe old age.

Cry, my beloved country Malaysia, but to the Umnoputras, Perkasa, etc, they will say, it is better that they leave so that we can continue to reap the harvest.

Retnam: Non-Malays leave, Umno is happy. Good riddance, they say. Malays leave, Umno is also happy. Malays are found everywhere in the world, they boast.

That is the reality. Soon Malaysia will be controlled by migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and others. And Umno thinks these immigrants are going to be loyal to Malaysia. Fat hopes.

Fair And Open: The first time my 10-year-old daughter set foot on Australia soil, she said she doesn't want to go back to Malaysia.

Not because she is not patriotic, but without us educating her, she says Malaysia is not going to offer her the fairness she sees in just a few days in Australia.

Our children had been forced by Umno to be politically aware and feel it is best to go to a different country to build their future.

And Najib loves it if we leave, because his rogue sidekicks are afraid of intelligent citizens and prefer Bangladeshis and Indonesians.

 


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