Dr. Çetiner’s Blogs (Dr. Beytullah Gültekin Çetiner)

Global Financial Crisis
The USA, Europe and many other countries are racing to pump money into the current global financial system despite its collapsing paradigm. Instead of questioning the global financial paradigm which is based on making money out of money, they make the problem worse by pouring the money of tax payers into wrong doers’ accounts.

The following analogy is a simple example to show this paradigm. If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation and the paradigm of this system, the following should help.

Once upon a time in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: ‘Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at$35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.’

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! Welcome to WALL STREET.

Computer Aided Drafting Projects

1. Professionality: The projects should comprise all professional components. First of all, when someone takes your hardcopies of your work they should be able to produce the product in your project without further consult to your team. The engineering drawings should be complete with proper dimensions, Bill of Materials (BOM) explanations etc. They should properly reflect an engineer’s design documents for someone else to properly produce your product in your project. The maximum reward for this component is 10 points.
2. Creativity: This is for rewarding the innovative and creative ideas. Making a project for producing an ergonomical bottle which can readily embed some space to carry cups inside is more creative than designing a stapler or pen. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
3. Complexity: This component is here for using the most sophisticated features of what you learned in the course. Creating a special thread is much more difficult than producing a simple cylinder. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
4. Feasibility: The project whould be feasible. You should explain in your report and presentation why your project is doable or feasible. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
5. Presentation: You should present your project in the exhibition in a nice manner. Concentrate on your posters, reports and other creative ideas during exhibition. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.

Summary of Selection Criteria for Best Project

• Professionality …………… 10 points.
• Creativity ……………………. 5 points.
• Complexity …………………. 5 points.
• Feasibility …………………… 5 points.
• Presentation ……………….. 5 points.
• TOTAL …………………. 30 points.

Who will be selecting the best Project(s)?

Selection will be made by myself and the tutors/graders. There will be a total of 3 evaluators for the overall selection.

After Exhibition

After the exhibition, all projects should be submitted as hardcopies and softcopies on CDs. We wish everyone good luck.

Dr. B. Gultekin Cetiner

Malaysia’s Worst in the World Taxis
News came from AFP regarding taxi drivers in Malaysia with the title ‘Malaysia’s ‘Worst in the World Taxis’. You can read the blog entry ‘Taxis in Malaysia’ regarding taxi drivers in Malaysia.

The taxi drivers in Malaysia are well known with three attitudes. 1. refuse to use the meter, 2. overcharge and 3. pick-and-choose which destinations they will travel to.

The ads promoting “Malaysia: Truly Asia” aim to welcome visitors with a warm smile to a prosperous and modern nation, so the taxi fleet branded “the worst in the world” can come as a bit of a shock.

Even the locals are not spared the shabby service of unkempt and hostile drivers behind the wheels of decrepit vehicles who refuse to use the meter, overcharge and pick-and-choose which destinations they will travel to.

At the popular KLCC mall under Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers is a typical scene, as a gang of cabbies negotiate with a young Norwegian couple just metres from a signboard warning against “taxi touts”.

“Flat rate, flat rate, no metre,” one driver insists as the tourists try to find a cab to take them to their hotel, less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) away.

Anxious to escape the baking heat, they agree to pay 25 ringgit (7.22 dollars) for a trip that would have cost less than three ringgit on the meter.

“Is it expensive? We don’t know, we thought it is normal here,” said the woman as they piled in with their shopping bags.

More frequent visitors, however, are vocal in their criticism and say that aggressive and unprofessional drivers are tarnishing the nation’s image as a squeaky clean and hospitable destination.

“I first visited Malaysia in 2006 and I was impressed by everything I saw except for the worst taxi service I have endured,” said Kabir Dali, an Indian tourist waiting in vain for a metered taxi at another mall.

“I paid a whopping 260 ringgit (74 dollars) from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to town and was later told that was twice the proper amount.”

Complaints about taxis are common in many countries, but in Malaysia it has escalated to an outpouring of frustration, on blog sites and in letters to newspapers.

In a survey by the local magazine The Expat, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise.

The respondents lashed the fleet as “a source of national shame” and “a serious threat to tourists — rude bullies and extortionists”.

Salvation is in sight though, as a number of smaller, up-scale operators enter the market to provide a more expensive but quality taxi service for frustrated visitors and locals.

The uniformed drivers, behind the wheels of smart new multi-purpose vehicles and sedans, switch on the meter as a matter of course and do not refuse destinations — surprising and delighting commuters in the capital.

Abdul Razak, operations manager for Dubai-based Citicab which launched here in January, said that even in poorer nations such as Thailand and Indonesia, taxis are smarter and the drivers far more courteous.

“I would say it is the worst in this region, undoubtedly. I have travelled to all countries in this region and our company operates taxis in many parts of the world. The situation here is the worst I have seen,” he told AFP.

“The vehicles are in shabby condition, the driver will take you if he likes your face — that is, if he agrees with where you want to go for the price he insists on.”

The government has called on taxi firms to lift their standards, but various campaigns have achieved little, and many blame the lack of enforcement on rampant corruption in the police and bureaucracy.

“It is difficult for the roads and traffic department to take stern action,” said a security officer at one city mall as he watched the touts swoop.

“Taxi operators and the company which hold the licences are all linked to some politician or another,” he said. “Drivers here are ruthless because they are unchecked by authorities who are almost non-existent.”

John Koldowski, from the Pacific Asia Travel Association, said that “less than desirable” taxi drivers have an outsize impact on a nation’s image.

“The first contact a tourist gets with locals is often during airport transits to hotels and it creates a very, very strong first impression, either be good or bad,” he said.

“Authorities certainly need to do their jobs and act upon any complaints strongly, quickly and visibly.”

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP)/ Malaysia

Taxis in Malaysia
I was planning to write about Malaysian Taxi drivers or more correctly about Taxis in Malaysia since I came.

Next month will be our one year in Malaysia insh. It is really a great experience and pleasure to be in Malaysia. However, there is always negative side to anything. If anyone asks about the worst thing in Malaysia I would probably say ‘Taxis in Malaysia’. That is really a shame for this beautiful country and its beautiful people. It is definitely harming the image of Malaysia. If you intend to visit Malaysia you should be careful about taxis and taxi drivers in Malaysia.

Just before the eid, I had a visitor from Turkey. He has been charged 80 Malaysian Ringgits for his 2 km trip which will normally take only 3 Ringgits on taximeter. In many cases, they destroy the image of country for just a Ringgit or 50 cents. First of all, it is not passengers who decide where to go. Taxi drivers in Malaysia specially ask you where to go before getting in taxi. If they don’t like to go to that area they either want to charge you 5 to 10 times more or simply say NO. My precious colleague, wonderful friend, Prof. Azmi suggested me to jump directly into car without answering where to go, and if they choose not to go to that place I would tell them that I would report directly to the telephone number at the back of car. It worked several times. However, in 2 situations we had hot discussions in front of other people. First of all, it requires a kind of social responsibility. If things are left only to officials, solution will not be there. In one of the hot discussions, I was waiting in front of queue. He asked me where to go as usual. After telling destination, he tried to overcharge me. I told him just to turn on the meter. He refused and said ‘I am going to KL now’ which is probably unlikely for that destination. I turned onto people in the queue and told them story and said ‘please do not reward this kind of people by getting into his car’. Several persons in the queue did not get into car but 4th one in the queue accepted driver’s offer and went away.

Now I am lucky I don’t face taxi drivers any more since I bought my car and learnt how to use public transportation such as LRT, monorail more effectively. Sometimes if my destination is 1 km or something I just walk. But of course, we may be considered as Malaysian now. What about tourists and other people who come to visit Malaysia for short period? Taxis in Malaysia and attitude of Malaysian Taxi drivers are great problem destroying the image of this wonderful place.

Police department or other officials as alone cannot find a solution to this problem. It needs a systems engineering approach to problem and needs a kind of social responsibility and help from ordinary people.