You Don’t Net The Touts at the Roadblocks

The taxi touts at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) must be laughing themselves silly the past three weeks. Instead of hauling up the touts at the airport arrival hall (Level 3), officers from the Commercial Vehicle and Licensing Board (CVLB), the General Operations Force and Road Transport Department (RTD) have been setting up roadblocks. The roadblocks were mounted since June 8 at three points controlling exits from the KLIA and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) from 6.30pm to midnight.Click here to read more.

Consternation over copycats

IT took a week to get over the numbness caused by the Shanghai Auto Show. After attending many motor shows since 1982 where between 10 and 20 new cars would be launched, I was simply not prepared for the 26  models launched by just one car maker. The car maker was Chery, China's largest independent car maker. And there were the other models introduced by the other manufacturers from China, like Geely. While only about half of the new models introduced in Shanghai will make it to commercial production, it still boggles the imagination. Click here to read more.

In Shanghai, it’s sheer motoring audacity

YOU could call it the Shanghai Audacity Show. The Shanghai Auto Show was unprecedented in the audacity of the domestic car makers of China. We’ve been to motor shows since the 1980s, and never have we come across a manufacturer launching more than a few models at one show. Yet, that is precisely what Chery did. The company launched 26 new models at this week's auto show. Of these, nine or 10 will see the light of day by late 2009/early 2010. Click here to read more.

Walk the talk for safety's sake

WE are running a MobileKids road safety contest on our website with the prizes sponsored by Daimler Malaysia. The questions are of the objective type and except for a signboard that looked like a bad case of acne on a yellow background, the other questions were a cinch. Questions are also raised in the case of the double-decker express bus crash last Monday that killed six people and injured 15 others. We list the questions below and just as we have our answers, we're sure that you have yours too. Click here to read more.

When dark clouds loom...

IN the tradition of ceremonies in Malaysia, a bomoh hujan is usually contracted when there is a kenduri or an outdoor event to keep the rain away and keep safe the participants and the guests.He - it's always a he - will do a ritual accompanied by the chanting of magical mantras while ingredients like dried chillies and betel nuts are mixed together and/or tied up overhead. Click here to read more.

Diffusing an advantage

IF there's anyone who should be kicking themselves in their diffusers, it should be Honda who sold the team to Ross Brawn and gave him a US$100 million loan to get on with it. However, true to the great motor racing tradition pioneered by Soichiro, Honda gave a hearty congratulation to Brawn when his two drivers achieved first and second on the podium and the team scored the maximum points possible in the first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia, last Sunday. Click here to read more.

Reviving the great auto dream

Thawatchai Jungsanguanpornsuk, managing director of Phranakorn Auto Sales, and Abdul Razak Dawood of Proton promoting the Persona E20 (20 per cent ethanol, 80 per cent petrol) in Thailand.I WAS relaxing at Suvarnabhumi airport while waiting for the flight home when a slim freckled girl asked  me politely if she could interview me for a survey. Click here to read more.

Left in the lurch

IN the past, transport operators would request for police permission before they could take out their oversized crane or project cargo onto the highways. The police would then advise on the time and route, and provide escort services as required, recalls a retired traffic police officer. The services of the police escort riders were charged to the transport operators. Click here to read more.

Towards a coherent fuel policy

It’s been an exciting week that started with a brilliant newspaper interview of Tenaga Nasional Berhad chairman, Leo Moggie, who distinguished himself by his careful stewardship of the telecoms and the energy ministries until he stepped down from government a few years ago. The well-respected former minister from Sarawak made a clear case of why the government would need to formulate a new energy policy. This would comprehensively address the needs of the transport and the power generation industry into the future. Click here to read more.

Clarkson in his element

JEREMY Clarkson’s Top Gear live show in Hong Kong was the biggest thing on our portal www.cbt.com.my last week. There was a flood (by our modest standards) of responses and there were even a few Top Gear/Jeremy Clarkson fans who had indeed gone to Hong Kong to see the event. Most said they were willing to pay between RM100 and RM200 to see the show. The common thread was what Clarkson would do to Malaysian national cars. Click here to read more.