Action Plan

 

To conduct this strategy, the cooperation from the society and government are mostly needed. During the first phase, the government must have the responsibility to provide a comfortable environment to the public to counter with this problem.  In this context, our government will need to declare Gurney Hawker Center as a tourism spot. It will be reasonable when the government announced the news through mass media to increase the public awareness regarding to the problem.  In this context, the government must have a regulation system towards this tourism spot. For this reason, there are four categories suggested, before the hawker center is given the title as the tourism spot, bellow are four targets which must be done in the place:

 

              I.      Standardized  cleanliness and neatness

           II.      The security of  visitors

         III.      The convenience appliance, for example toilet, lighting and water etc.

        IV.      The convenience for common transportation, parking spaces, buses service and etc.

 

In this case, there aren’t any problems in Gurney to meet the standard for the III and IV criteria. However, there are some instances with evidence and supports from the public which must given attention in order to guarantee the first and second criteria can be commenced in Gurney hawker center when it is declare as a tourism spot. First, our investigation result had shown some relevant evident, there are many beggars and pirated disc (CD/DVD) sellers which had risen the problem where they had caused the visitors to feel uncomfortable. In order to attract the customers attention, the had increased the music volume and even opening their stall in the middle of the hawker center as if they are doing a proper business.

           

Therefore, the step that should be conducted by the government to make sure the security system is in a comfortable standard for the visitors are in a maximum stage. First, on the place must build border line on wall or blocks. With the borders, safety of the visitors will be secured.  Secondly, after the border lines are build, only one side of the hawker center can be used as the entrance and exit.  Thirdly, a security guard house is needed in order for the local government to place an officer to carry out their duty. By this way, the security activity will be more efficient.  On the other hand, placement of an officer can be seen as a preventing mechanism. This is because the beggars and the others illegal sellers will feel fear to conduct their activity with the presence of the enforcement officer.

 

Besides that, a restriction sign should be put on to restrict any beggars or illegal selling in the concerning area. It must place in a place which can be seen easily by everyone. If there are still beggars or illegal sellers, even the visitors will notice that it is against the law.  Therefore, they are able to report to the officer or the authority. In this case, the hawkers must be told the relevant contacts that they can call. For visitors, the telephone number should be placed on the sign board which is easily seen by them.

 

If all the parties such as, The government, the hawkers and our visitors plays their own role just as stated above, then the comfortable environment for the visitors could optimized their daily business smoothly if the problems above are done.

 

However there are some deferent reactions from both the government and the public based on the researched conducted.  According to our investigation, the parties that had supported us and disagree with the suggested solution are the following：

 

Pro （supporting ）

contra ( Do not Agree)

The local authority, (MPPP) -         Through this way, they will bring to increased of economy activities. Besides, by declaring the Gurney hawker center will help in prompting Penang Tourism Industry again. The visitors -They feel more comfortable enjoying their meal and the nice environment without the disturbance of the beggars and pirated disc seller. The hawker  - They will be able to guarantee their customer a satisfied meal without any disturbance of hygienic problem.

The beggars -         They will has less income opportunity 2. Pirated disc seller - It will be difficult for them to conduct their activity there. 3. The state Government - As they might need to spend some money on building the facilities suggested.

           

            In conclusion, although there are different reactions from the various parties, to ensure the visitors’ satisfaction and public safety and the smoothness for the business of the local hawkers the act will be crucial in helping the growing of our tourism Industrial economy. Therefore, the cost of construction and carrying out the plan shouldn’t be a cause to stop the action to be taken as soon as possible. This is because every annum, the hawkers are paying for the taxation which contributes to part of the local government income.  Therefore it had been a responsibility of our government to carry out the responsibility to provide not only facilities but also providing a comfortable environment for the businesses in this tourism spot.

 

 

PANEL 3

 

 

POLICY OF DECLARING GURNEY HAWKER CENTER

 

 AS A TOURISM SPOT

 

            This policy is the best among all the policies in order to solve the direct approaches problem at Gurney. This policy implies that Gurney Hawker Center will be declared as a tourism spot as almost more than 70% of the customers are tourists, like any other tourism spot such as A’ Famosa in Malacca. In this way, approaches like direct selling, selling pirated discs and begging would be forbidden. Thus, more attention would be given to the hawker center by the governments as it is an important place for the attraction of tourists. They will make sure Gurney is a clean, comfortable place for tourists and the locals to go and chill out. This is because the government will probably would not want to let the tourists and the locals feel threaten and uncomfortable when they pay a visit at Gurney because of the direct approaches.

 

            However, this policy also has problems. Expenditure is required in order to accomplish this policy. The government will need to spend quite large amount of money for the maintenance of Gurney. In other words, the government has to ensure Gurney will always be clean and comfortable. Furthermore, manpower will also be needed in order to maintain Gurney. The police will have to always ensure Gurney is free of the beggars, pirated discs sellers and direct salesmen.

 

            This policy does not cause any violation to the laws of Malaysia, the state constitution and the federal constitution. This is because this policy does not discriminate any race, religion, origin and the gender of an individual. This policy also does not violate the human rights of our country.

 

            Lastly, this federal government is responsible in executing this policy. This is because Gurney which will be declared as tourism spot would be standardized like other tourism spots in terms of fulfilling the criteria of declaring tourism spot.

 

           

 

             

PANEL 2

Evaluating policies to overcome direct approach problem in Gurney hawker center

1. Selected existing policy: Consumer Protection Act 1999

This policy is selected because it provides protection to consumers at Gurney hawker center. Direct sellers, beggars, and pirated CD vendors are prohibited from approaching consumers when they are having their meal. If this act is breached, these people can be subjected to penalties. This protection act enables the consumers at the Gurney hawker center to fully enjoy their meal and not interfered by people begging or selling items.

 

2. Suggested policies:

(a) Policy to declare Gurney Hawker Center as tourism spot

Before Gurney hawker center can be declared as tourism spot, we must ensure the cleanliness and cosiness of the surrounding environment. There must also be a police patrol booth at the compound of the Gurney hawker center to ensure that the direct approaching activites are stopped. These police patrols should also patrol the surroundings of the hawker center other than standing guard at their respective booths. Signboards that prohibit direct approaches activities should also be set up at eye-catching corners to ward off these people. This policy’s strength lies on the fact that the cleanliness of the hawker center is assured of but the negative impact will be that the high cost needed to maintain the hawker center.

 

 

2. Policy to forbid direct selling business

When there is demand, there is supply. So, in order to solve the direct approach problem from the root itself, we have to tackle the consumers in the hawker stall. We must set a penalty rule that states that whoever that is involve in the direct selling business whether it’s buying of the goods or selling, he or she will be penalized. Therefore, we stop the consumers from supporting the direct approaching business. The policy should discourage people from giving money to the beggars as this will encourage more begging activities.  Beggars should be relocated into the public funded centers. This policy’s strength is that the number of beggars will decrease but the cost of these public fund centers will increase dramatically.

 

3.      Intensive prevention policy

This policy emphasizes the intensive way of preventing direct approaches be it direct sellers, beggars, or pirated CD sellers. We suggested a method which is to give out posters and stickers to the hawker operators around Gurney hawker center, so that they can stick at strategic places to inform the public. Telephone numbers of police stations, or law enforcing bodies should be stated in the poster. Therefore, we can encourage the public to be aware of this problem and call up when they observe direct selling activities in the hawker center. The good side about this policy is that we can encourage everybody from the hawker operators to the public to take part in solving this problem. The bad side is that it needs cost and time to carry out this policy as a lot of manpower is needed to campaign awareness among the public.

Info for health.  Have a healthy new year.

Margarine or butter?

If you answered "butter," I’ve got some information that will make you glad you did.

Last week an HSI member sent me an e-mail that had been forwarded multiple times, but appears to have originated from L. Eugene Arnold, M.Ed., M.D.; a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Ohio State University. Here’s what Dr. Arnold writes:

"Do you know the difference between margarine and butter?

• Both have the same amount of calories.
• Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
• Eating margarine can increase heart diseasein women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
• Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
• Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
• For most people, butter tastes better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods. (The best flavor claim margarine can make in ads is that it tastes the same as butter.)
• Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

"And now, for Margarine…

• Very high in trans fatty acids.
• Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
• Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)
• Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol).
• Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold.
• Lowers quality of breast milk.
• Decreases immune response.
• Decreases insulin response.

"And here is the part that is very interesting! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC. This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

"You can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something) It does not rot or smell differently. Nothing will grow on it – not even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

"Share This With Your Friends – (Butter them up.)

"Additional info: Children who eat butter or drink whole milk with butterfat have better resistance to infection.

"P.S. This was not sponsored by the dairy industry."

I’ve heard some of these facts before, but some of them were new to me, so I asked HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., for his take on the list, and he didn’t hesitate: "Absolutely true. The guy’s read my book. In it, I call margarine ‘plastic butter.’ It’s very, very bad stuff. I cheat and have to drink city water sometimes. But I try never to do that with margarine."
The book that Dr. Spreen refers to is his "Nutritionally Incorrect: Why the American Diet is Dangerous and How to Defend Yourself" (Woodland Publishing).

Plastic butter! Will you ever go within ten feet of margarine again?

To your good health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

–
Have a pleasant day
Chee Har