Dog-Poop Laws In Malaysia

In North America and Europe, many states and major cities enact laws to ensure that pet waste, specifically dog-poop laws, are enforced to ensure a clean and healthy community. In Virginia and New Jersey, no animal is allowed to defecate in any part of public property without the owner of the animal immediately and sufficiently cleaning up the waste. In New York City, it's Health Code Section 161.03 decrees that a pet owner must not allow his animal to defecate on a sidewalk, floor, wall, stairway or roof of any public or private place used by public.

Just the other day, I was outside my house watering my plants and I noticed a very good-natured and conscientious couple walking their dog with a dog spade and plastic bag. I think they are model Malaysians citizens. But at least once a month, I notice big piles of dog poop right outside my front gate. In Malaysia, pet owners can be fined RM100, but all over the world this is a worse offense with some states in the USA enforcing fines up to US$500 (roughly RM1,600) and in some EU countries EU500 (RM2,090). Do we Malaysians value health and cleanliness so much less?

Below is an excerpt of the Laws Of Malaysia. Act 647 is also called the "Animals Act 1963" (hereinafter called "Malaysia's Animals Act" or "MAA"). This is also available online at http://www.dvs.gov.my/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=7de78707-1308-48e9-982f-d64208d1d486&groupId=10124.

Malaysia's Animals Act - Removal Of Articles From Infected Premises

35 (2): "Any person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any order made under this section [Removal of Articles From Infected Premises] shall be liable to a fine of one hundred ringgit [RM100]."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Licensing

38 (1): "No person shall own, keep, harbour or maintain any dog that is over three months old unless such dog is licensed."

38 (2): "Dogs shall be licensed only in the manner prescribed before 31 January each year... and such licence shall remain in force until 31 December of the year in respect of which such licensing was effected."

38 (3): "Dogs may be licensed at any Post Office in the State in which they are normally kept or at such other places as may be prescribed."

38 (5): "On receipt of the prescribed fee the licensing authority shall supply the owner of the dog with a serially numbered metal badge."

38 (6): "The owner of every licensed dog shall provide a collar to which the badge issued in accordance with subsection (5) shall be securely fastened in such a manner as to be clearly visible when worn, and such collar and badge shall be continually worn by such licensed dog when out-of-doors, and any dog found out-of-doors and not wearing such collar and badge may be destroyed."

38 (7) (a): "The proper authority may authorize in writing persons to destroy dogs in accordance with subsection (6) and such persons may enter upon and into any place, not being a dwelling house, for the purpose of enforcing that subsection: Provided that such person shall, if so required, produce and
show his written authority to the owner, occupier or person for the time being in charge of such place."

38 (7) (b): "In this subsection the ‘proper authority’ means a State Director, Mayor of a City Council or City Hall, President of a District Council or Local Authority, General Manager of a Town Board or the Chief Police Officer of a State."

38 (8) (a) Any person who owns, keeps, harbours or maintains any dog contrary to subsection (1) shall be liable to a fine of one hundred ringgit [RM100]."

38 (8) (b): "Any person who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with subsection (6) shall be liable to a fine of fifty ringgit [RM50]."

38 (10): "This section [38] shall not apply to any dog— (a) within any State or any part of it for so long as an Anti-rabies Vaccination Order made under section 42 is in force within such State or any part of it; or (b) which is liable to be or has been registered or licensed in accordance with any other written law."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Detention Of Any Dog That Has Bitten A Person

41 (1): "A veterinary authority or a police officer not below the rank of Inspector may order the owner or person in charge of any dog that has or is reasonably believed to have bitten any person to produce the dog to him for examination, and he may detain the dog at such place and for such time as he may deem advisable. If the owner or person in charge of such dog fails to comply with such order, the veterinary authority or police officer may immediately take possession of the dog and remove it to an animal quarantine station."

41 (2): "Any person who fails without lawful excuse to comply with any order made under this section shall be liable to a fine of one
hundred ringgit."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Supplemental - Obstructing Officers In The Execution Of Their Duties

70: "Any person who without lawful excuse obstructs or impedes or assists in obstructing or impeding any veterinary authority, police officer or officer of customs in the exercise of his duty under this Act or any rule or order made under it shall be liable to a fine of five hundred ringgit [RM500] or to imprisonment for a term of six months or to both."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Supplemental - Altering Licences

71: "Any person who without lawful authority alters any licence or permit issued under this Act or knowingly makes use of any licence or permit so altered shall be liable to a fine of five hundred ringgit [RM500] or to imprisonment for a term of six months or to both."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Supplemental - General Penalty

72: "Any person guilty of an offence against this Act shall, where no other penalty is specified, be liable to a fine of two thousand ringgit [RM2000]."

Malaysia's Animals Act - Supplemental - Penalty On Second Conviction

73: "Any person convicted of any offence against this Act who is within a period of twelve (12) months from the date of such conviction convicted of a second or subsequent like offence against this Act shall where no penalty of imprisonment is provided for such offence be liable to imprisonment for two (2) months in addition to or in lieu of any fine."

The Proper Way To Shampoo Your Hair

As a kid, I use to hate to shower. Much less get my hair wet! But as an adult, after some really good experiences to the hair saloon, hearing some hair / shampoo experts talk on the radio, and trying this at home, it's a whole new ball game! And fun!

1. Use Warm Water. This opens your hair cuticles and pores.

2. Completely Wet Your Hair. Never let shampoo touch dry hair. Soak and rinse your hair thoroughly before applying shampoo. This helps to remove residue and prepares your hair and scalp for an even distribution of shampoo.

3. Squeeze about a 20-sen amount in your hand. Apply pathes of shampoo to different parts of your head like the nape of your neck, above your ears, etc.

4. Massage the shampoo uniformly onto your scalp. This is more important that applying too much shampoo into a few spots of hair or getting the tips of your hairs clogged with too much shampoo, causing them to tangle or split.

5. Do not use too much force or aggression to apply in circular motions. Remember how professionals use a little bit of nail to gently massage your scalp?

6. Take your time, enjoy the shower. Get the blood flowing on your scalp.

7. Thoroughly Rinse Your Hair. Leaving shampoo or residue in your scalp will block the hair cuticles or pores and might cause blockages or loss of hair.

8. At the end, switch to very cold water to close your hair cuticles and pores, plus create a nicer shine (of course this depends on your shampoo product!).

Problems With Pos Malaysia Berhad

Today, I called up Pos Malaysia Berhad (PMB)'s Customer Service Centre, "PosLine", at 1-300-300-300 to filed a complaint with regard to bad operations at my house at Taman Residensi (TR). I was quoted a complaint report number PMB-A-20950 for bad operations and delivery of normal mail - including official government documents from TTPM - from 13/11/10 to 18/11/10. Today, I confronted the mail man who sat on his bike and put letters onto my house gate and not put securely inside my mailbox just less than 1m away.

While I understand that in the work of a postman in our hot weather is a tough one, it's very reasonable for us to expect PMB employees to spending an extra 5 seconds per house to ensure proper delivery and service in Kuala Lumpur. Unless of course PMB is not doing enough to train, remind, and commensurate postmen to do so.

I have heard that other residents at Kipark Sri Utara - at Taman Residensi and Laman Residen - have suffered similar problems in 2009 and 2010. I was assured that I will hear back from them within 3 business days. Personally judging from PMB's time stamps and delivery dates at my house takes between 2 working days (early 2010) to 5 working days (Nov 2010) to arrive from Klang Valley post offices. I'm just hoping s hope things will improve.

I also noticed some complaints on PMB online:
2010: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/pos-malaysia-c337190.html
2009: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/9/16/central/20090915201058&sec=central
2008:http://www.p-ramlee.com/press/pos-malaysia.htm

TM / Streamyx Problems?!

A. If your Internet doesn't work, try re-setting your modem:

1. turn off your modem,

2. unplug the power and RJ11 (telephone cable),

3. unplug the RJ45 (thick LAN cable from your computer to the modem),

4. wait a few minutes (in the old days I was asked to wait 30 mins but nowadays I don't think so!)

5. plug in the RJ45,

6. plug the modem power / turn on modem and plug in the RJ11,

7. Go to your Start Menu... Settings... Control Panel... Network & Sharing Center*

8. Make sure your computer (left) is connected to the Dialer (middle) is connected to the Modem (right). The double lines should not have an "X". If there is an "X" after about 5 mins, you either have no connection or unstable connection.

9. If this still doesn't work, try to repeat the steps above but AFTER Point A(6), use a pin to poke the RESET button behind your Modem.

* for Windows Vista.

B. Send proof of your Internet zero connection or unstable connection to TM Net:

1. Open Firefox / Chrome / IE and go to http://speedtest.tm.net.my. This test - if you are connected to the Internet - is logged by TMNet everytime you test your speed.

2. Take a screen shot (press Ctrl+PrntScrn) and save it as a JPG etc (use Windows Paint, Photoshop etc) and save everything including the time stamp in the lower right hand corner of your computer screen.

3. Email both help@tm.net.my and help@tm.com.my as soon as possible. Include:
* Your username (without the @streamyx part) e.g. "upsetguy" (if your streamyx email is upsetguy@streamyx.com)
* Your full name as per IC,
* Your mobile number,
* Your Service No (usually 03 followed by your 8 digit TM fixedline / phone number referenced on your TM bill),
* Your full address where you're having this problem,
* A short description of your problem e.g. "From about 2-6/11/10 Zero connection, 6/11/10 4:01am Speedtest 0.6Mbps UL then unstable, 7-11/11/10 Zero connection."
* Any attachments including these snapshots from Part B(2) as proof.

4. If you do not have Internet, make sure you have between 20-40 mins (in my experience between Q1 and Q4 2010), call 1-300-889-515, provide the details in Part B(3) and provide a brief description of your trouble-shooting attempts as per Part A(1-9). Make sure that you get a report number specific to your Service No and Address and ask if:
* they will contact you,
* who you can talk to followup this problem in the future.

The best thing to come out of this is that you will learn about specific settings in your Windows version, learn about IP (if it's set to auto or forced) and DNS, and you can trouble-shoot for yourself in the future. A note about trouble-shooting: always take notes preferably not stored online / email account so it's easy for you to refer if your Internet's down in the future.

Good luck!

P/S: I will be blogging on my two (2) successful attempts at getting a rebate for Streamyx down between Q1 and Q4 this year soon. Stay tuned...