On milkshakes and cutting corners

MARCH 8 — The secret to a good milkshake is really just this — good ice cream.

All you need is a rich, creamy vanilla ice cream as a base so if the milkshake you’re having at a store is disappointing, they either used terrible ice cream or, as in the case of too many Malaysian eateries, didn’t use it at all.

My favourite curry meehoon place has now reduced its portions, from three pieces of boneless chicken to just two pieces with my mee.

I ordered char kuey teow from a new kopitiam and it was absolutely tasteless; it was as though the cook had decided not to include any form of seasoning, with the only things I could taste being the charred noodles and hints of soy sauce.

Cutting corners is unfortunately something seen too often not just at F&B outlets but construction (good luck to people buying into new housing projects these days) and public services.

Contractors now use cheaper bricks, meaning walls often have poor insulation — making rooms stiflingly hot when the sun is out and ridiculously cold during rainy weather.

We also now see RapidKL not even having proper bus schedules, no longer providing a guarantee when or if a bus will be available at allotted times.

Instead it’s just stated “every 30 minutes” or presumably whenever a driver deigns to show up.

For any given bus route, you can only hope the bus doesn’t take too long to appear.

Our airport aerotrain service is now on hiatus until further notice, with the earliest date for repairs completion being 2025.

This could have been avoided if from the start there was a proper schedule for maintenance, repair and replacements but no, as is the Malaysian way, we use something until it breaks, call for tenders then wait the very long time it takes for it to be fixed.

How much longer, really, can we keep being patient with all the corner cutting? I understand the need to keep costs down but that does not mean settling for substandard services or infrastructure.

The columnist opined that it’s time Malaysians learn to ask for more practical things and be vocal about the things that matter. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

If my char kuey teow has one or two fewer prawns because of inflation I can live with it — but if that also comes with no seasoning and a 20 per cent price hike, it means I need to find a better stall.

Unfortunately I can’t just hop to another country that cares about the safety and efficiency of its public transport and infrastructure.

It’s really time Malaysians learn to ask for more practical things and be vocal about the things that matter, instead of venting in Grab reviews about vendors that won’t supply cutlery.

We can pack our own wooden chopsticks or disposable cutlery but it’s up to our government to provide concrete solutions instead of relying on populism and pandering to those without the ability to see the bigger economic picture.

It might be time to retire Malaysia Boleh and maybe move onto Malaysia Deserves Better because at least the latter is absolute truth.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.