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Namewee Screws TNB
Most of you Malaysians would probably know who a man calls himself Namewee is. If you’ve not heard of him before, he is the man behind the controversial Negarakuku song. Recently he circulated another video of him complaining or should I say screwing Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) for a power outage in Muar, Johor. I have embedded the video in this post but parental guidance is recommended for the young minds as the content is explicit at some point.
Now of course anybody who experienced a power outage frequently will feel mad about the incident. To make things worse, there’s nobody answering calls for TNB’s hotline. A hotline is made for the public to call should they experience any outages or inquiries. However, I think this video is also creating another controversy here. Imagine if many decided to follow the footsteps of Namewee, what would happen to Malaysia? As an example, let’s say a guy is having really terrible Internet connection with his TMNET Streamyx and he decides to go to a TM Point branch and starts swearing, now this is only one guy, what if many do the same?
In some angles, I’ll have to agree with Namewee such as the eating banana part, instead of slacking at the office shouldn’t the staffs at TNB do something about the outage fast? As we are in a modern world now, there are many things we won’t be able to do without electricity. A student can’t revise without lights and a working person that requires his computer to complete his task will not be able to do it as well. The staffs at TNB don’t show any concern about the outage and this is the main reason why there’s rage in the public.
Whether or not Namewee had done the right thing is very subjective and it varies from one another. As for me, I would have to disagree of his doing with the fact that if many others do the same or similar to Namewee, don’t be surprised if things get chaotic in the future. So what are your opinions on this?
November 2, 2009 - 11:41 pm
Dear all friend in Malaysia,
First of all, I would like to introduce myself, I am Maintenance Manager from TNB, I have been serving for TNB for the past 10 years and I am regretful whatever presented in front of you is very untrue.
We have to understand the nature of the electrification supply system, TNB deal with customer in 3 occasions:
1. Customer request for supply, when you have to fill up the forms,
2. Customer pay the bill at counter, Q&A etc..
3. Customer experience supply interuption and call help for supply restoration
In this incidence , Namewee experiece the 3rd condition, the supply interuption in this case is breakdown, ie a force outage due to technical reasons such as:
i. Third party excavation, could be due to developer while installing the box culvert, could be due to utilities companies excavated power cables during their cable/pipe installation.
ii. Sabotaj/vandalism by hero who dare to cut live cable sometime at 11,000Volts and tripped the system,
iii. Force majore such as thunder storm, floods that supply has to be cut off in order to secure people life from electrocuted.
What you see in this short movie are:
1. Namewee ‘Intentionally’make havoc in TNB Muar, he wanted to scold and teach TNB guys a lesson(before leaving his house),
2. He said after he came back to Malaysia he experiece 3 times outages, BUT when dealing to TNB officer he said “MANY Times”, motive is very clear, it’s to agitate the people by taking a good shot.
3. Eventhough the officer has explain this is a breakdown, he still insist for the notification letter and insist to see the superior at 10:10pm,
4. and the rest are cursing, vulgar words, and very civilised signages.
What you don’t see perhaps are:
1. What are the people doing in the lorry, why are they working at 10:10pm?
Ans= These are people that assist in the restoration of supply during the event of breakdown, Energy Commission standard for restoration time is 4 hours for Medium Voltage Tripping(below 66KV).
2. Why the officer ‘Kecil’ working 10:10pm in the office & with his colleagues?
Ans: He is not there to eat the banana and minum kopi, he is the technician who monitor the system and get the outage ticket from Call Management Center (CMC) ~15454 and despatch the repair work to the fault finder team. As far as I know, after deliberate of thought, I can’t figure out any other companies in Malaysia can provide 24hrs of service. Tenaga people will go to your house at 3am if you call them at 15454 if you experiece of blackout in your house, but not calling at 06-9532951, this is an office no. No point to call 10 times as the message clearly ask you to call 15454 for any complaints. Perhaps Namewee problem is like Ama that they don’t understand Bahasa Malaysia language. We can understand Ama problem as they migrate from mainland of China, but not Namewee who was born in Muar.
We, TNB, are dedicated to “Keeps the Light On” in your house.
3. Why TNB office has supply but no Namewee house?
Ans: If Namewee stay behind of TNB Muar, perhaps this video will not appear. In the actual world, all substations are link by each other, and each substation has to supply to the respective housing area, since he is riding a bike, I assume TNB office is KMs away from his house, and hence if there’s any technical failure on the underground cable or overhead line, therefore TNB officer has to be mobilized to do the isolation of the circuits and taking measurement(insulation testing) of each section of the cables, and all this takes time.
Power outages can be minimised by mitigating the risk control, nevertheless no matter where you are in this world, you still can’t get a place with total immunity to power blackout. There’s no longevity in human beings, so do the cables/switchgear and lines, blackout did happen in advance township like Toronto:
http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/01/blackout_toronto_mid-winter_freeze_edition/
January 16, 2009: Toronto’s west side is currently going on 5 hours without power….reports that the blackout started around 10pm when there was a flood in a power facility at Dufferin & Bloor. A short-circuit there managed to leave a massive chunk of the city without electricity.
New York/Canada
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3152451.stm
Friday, 15 August, 2003: Work has been going on through the night to restore power after massive blackouts hit major cities in the eastern United States and Canada. ….Power is slowly returning to the affected areas – thought to encompass more than 50 million people – but full restoration will take much longer, officials say.
Victoria:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/massive-power-blackout-hits-victoria-20090130-7twi.html
January 30, 2009 :A massive power blackout has hit Victoria with nearly 350,000 residents and businesses without power.
Homes and businesses in Sunshine, Melton, Woodend, Laverton, Werribee, Geelong, Torquay, Docklands, South Melbourne, Albert Park, Fishermen’s Bend, Brunswick, Northcote and Westgate have been hit by outages.
Los Angeles
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/West-Los-Angeles-Power-Outage.html
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 A Department of Water and Power transformer failure Wednesday night left about 20,000 customers in West Los Angeles without power and caused heavy traffic congestion along Santa Monica Boulevard
United Kingdom:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4016552.ece
May 28, 2008 :- Hundreds of thousands of people were hit by electricity blackouts yesterday when seven power stations shut down. The unscheduled stoppages were regarded as an unprecedented sign of the fragility of Britain’s power infrastructure.
Perhaps last thing that I would like to share with all the people in Malaysia, regardless whether you are Chinese, Malay, India, Sikh, Kadazan, Iban etc, that our country SAIDI has reach 2 digit ie 78 min/customer (ie each customer in Malaysia experience 76 min outages http://www.tnb.com.my/tnb/inv_kpi.htm) in 2008. SAIDI is measured by a quality standard, which is a technical limitation set out in every region pursuant to local condition. The reliability rate is measured by SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index). Compare to Indonesia which run by PLN, the saidi is 4,853min/Customer/year in Sumatra. Sumatra is not far from us. And if were to compare to AEP, USA, the SAIDI is 198min/customer/year in 2008.
All of us, should be grateful for TNB achievement, 10 years ago our SAIDI is 3 digits, but with all your support we can come to this stage. In order for us to continue to excell in our service, we have to work hand in hand among all the races, no hatred, no suspicion on counterparts, no ill intention and bad mouth towards other races.
Finally I hope all Malaysian should be wisdom enough to make judgement here, I take this video as a positive feedback that manage to trigger my self to educate all the peoples via the cyberspace. Remember UNITY is the keyword to success and harmony, and HATRED is the key to the world of failure and chaotic. Let’s treasure the peacefull moment that we have now, and stop cursing each other.
http://www.pln.co.id/investor/files/Investor%20release%20audited-final.pdf
SAIDI in 2008 was reported at 4,853 Min/Customer/Year or increased 179.6% compared to previous year of 1,736 Min/Customer/Year. While SAIFI in 2008 was reported at 13.3 Times/Customer/Year or 4.4% increase compared to previous year. These SAIDI/SAIFI performance was due to the wide shutdown in North Sumatera because of lack of electricity supply capacity.
http://www.aep.com/citizenship/crreport/energy/distribution.aspx
AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.
Distribution refers to the system that delivers electricity from the high-voltage transmission system into homes, offices or factories. Three key indices representing electric delivery system reliability are the average number of outages in a given time period, the frequency of interruptions (SAIFI), and the amount of time that the average customer is without power (SAIDI). During the past five years, AEP’s systemwide SAIFI has improved, SAIDI has trended in a slight negative direction, and the number of outages has increased(from 189 in 2007 to 198 in 2008).
November 3, 2009 - 10:35 am
Thank you for your explanation. I now have a clearer view of the situation. However, there are still some matter that I’m not clear of.
I know that in most service/utility companies, there is sure an emergency breakdown team on duty. It is not surprising to see the TNB lorry on the road. No big issue here.
As for your explanation on the staffs working late at night, I understand that they are working but they don’t show much concern on the outage at all. Okay perhaps the “Officer Kecil” was kinda doing his job but what about the others? How come the rest were just standing outside? To me, they don’t see like doing anything. Moreover, the TNB staffs has to learn better anger management and customer service. Yes Namewee outraged at the office but the staffs should handle it in a professional manner.
In my opinion, Namewee doesn’t sound like he is trying to say that his house don’t have electricity while the TNB office has. From my understandings, Namewee tried to say that in most power outages, usually the TNB building/office and the area around it will rarely experience a breakdown.
Anyway, I really appreciate your feedback on this issue. Once again, thank you.
November 3, 2009 - 11:30 am
wow~the explanations from the Maintenance Manager from TNB is really detailed! at the point of view of a non-TNB user (currently is Sarawak using SESCO), breakdown is something which can’t be avoided as it’s more like an accident. Those “orang kecil” do have the needs to learn proper way of handling customer especially people like “namewee”. It’s not easy though but not impossible
As for namewee, his has a good starting point. (complain when there’s trouble) but the way he do it is just too extreme. In Malaysia, we are free to talk, but we need to be considerate too. Well, it’s just my point of view, i didn’t mean to offense anyone ^^
Cheers!
November 3, 2009 - 11:44 am
Wow, that comment is a blog entry by itself!
November 3, 2009 - 7:42 pm
There are some good and bad on this issue. Tenaga Nasional Berhad could have done better in terms of their customer service while Namewee shouldn’t have made such a big fuss of it like swearing outside of the TNB building although he has the rights to file a complain as a customer.
November 3, 2009 - 8:49 pm
Hi! Im an engineer from TNB transmission, handling power transfer from generation to distribution. I think this namawee character should just be calm. The officer little tried to explain to him why TNB office have electricity and his house was not. Its not fair to rage without knowing the cause. Those people outside of the office was NOT ON STANDBY.. again.. NOT ON STANDBY. So maybe they are working late doing other job. Those on standby was gone already to restore electricity. See..?? We are doing our job. And our motto is to keep the light on. We are not perfect either. So just understand us and bear with it. Thank you for those who support us all these years.
November 3, 2009 - 9:09 pm
Hi, thank you for your explanation on the outage restoration part. Namewee should be calm and so should the officers as well, can see that they got angry quite fast after Namewee started making noise. Like I said in my previous comment, the officers should practice good customer service and handle it in a professional manner no matter they are being scold by a customer.
Other than that, I think us Malaysians are pretty much grateful to Tenaga Nasional Berhad for powering the country.
November 4, 2009 - 1:00 am
If i was sitting at the counter. and some guy barges in shouting vulgarities in that tone and manner. i would whack him.
tnb has it’s own issues… yes we have our gripes. perhaps if malaysians did not have the tidak apa attitude they wouldn’t have a need for a folk hero to speak his mind this way.
Salak South station was down today. I just got electricity back. A fren forwarded this link to me…
3hrs without electricity was an inconvenience. i do not know why everything becomes a race issue in malaysia. it makes me sick. grow up ppl. am really close to giving up on malaysians, seems to me like the majority of ppl finds it so convenient to blame it on race… must thr be blood spilt before we all change?
November 4, 2009 - 4:14 pm
wow, nice explaination from TNB! Hmm, “Shutdown” & “Breakdown” is two different things Namewee but I know, when someone under control, hard to make him understand.
November 6, 2009 - 5:43 pm
da video was kinda funny n i tot ‘ah, dats wat those tnb ppls were doin’ but after the rather detailed xplanation of tnb representatives….its kinda an eye opener 2 me…
i mean…their work is not like us doin work on ms word…jus copy n paste…done in less than a minute….
we hav 2 giv sum time for them 2 solve da probs…
tnb ppls ar jus ppls…not robots…
namewee got angry 2 easily…
no need 2 b so dramatic over it i think…
but tnb also at fault …ppl call but arent answerd…
if me…i’ll also will get angry…:P hehe
either way…jus b considerate 2wards each other n dun make every issue as race issue….
better improve ourself than fight each other….
November 6, 2009 - 10:57 pm
I think that namewee’s outburst is a bad way of conveying a message to the public.
November 9, 2009 - 1:07 am
the explanation by a Maintenance manager from TNB is helpful but i would like to highlight the following matters:
1) there is nothing great by providing 24-hr service. 7-11 and some Shell station also provide the same thing.
2) consumer do not need to know the reasons for the breakdown as this is the responsibility of your company, the same applies when paying bills. TNB don’t need to know the reason why consumers don’t pay their bills. We find our own ways to pay the bills and TNB should find ways to maintain continous electricity supply.
3) namewee outburst in TNB office is due to the attitude of the employees there. don’t treat power outage as something normal and acceptable.
November 10, 2009 - 10:45 am
That’s a good reply from a Maintainance Manager. But really, 3 blackout a year is still acceptable as I heard from my friend in Sabah, some places was like 6blackout a year at least. AT LEAST. but I realise one thing. The moment an utility company being privatise, the service obviously drop like crazy. For example, LAKU from Miri, Sarawak. Providing clean water to the whole city as their job, they seems to upset most of their customer as they had been using yellowish water for years. Some rich just bought a water filter themselves. But, how bout the poor?? Complaints were sent. There was never a good answers…Guess we do need a namewee to get the attentions of the management..
It’s time for a total revolution..
November 20, 2009 - 12:14 am
From what I can see here,its all namewee’s fault.You see,stuff like this happens you know.I used to live in a college where blackout happens twice or more a week but we didn’t pretty much troubled about it.I know some people will get upset when the blackout’s happen but that doesn’t give him the rights to say all those vulgar words and the finger to them.I think this ‘incident’ wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t go all berserk in the first place.Maybe he could play some guitar and sing a song while the problem is being fixed.
November 21, 2009 - 2:19 pm
i think namewee overdid it this time. if he wanted to pick a fight with a big service provider, i would gladly suggest telekom over TNB — more lembab and more melayu too, if namewee wants to add a stronger racial flavour into his videos… but that’s another story. i understand namewee’s frustrations about suffering blackouts, but to swear and shout at those guys like that? gosh… what a thankless job those guys have. the electricity supply in my area has been great — yes, we do have blackouts from time to time, but it’s so rare nowadays as compared to in the 80’s and 90’s. n’ways… i’m more concerned about the outcome of this video — reading the comments on youtube, all i can see is malay posters calling chinese posters porcine names and such; and chinese posters reciprocating likewise. it’s very disheartening and i really don’t see how things have gotten any better for our country with the making of this video.
November 23, 2009 - 10:53 am
People are angry because TNB actually forces the rakyat to pay extra by giving monthly estimates of electricity bill especially taking the highest month instead of reading actual meter readings on site. This actually causes consumers to pay at higher rates. I don’t know if this is an approved procedure or not but in Setapak, this is deemed normal and complaints goes into the ‘wall’ since TNB is the monopolist supplier in Malaysia. Whatever blackouts is unacceptable if you are already squeezing consumer. Just provide good service.
November 23, 2009 - 12:06 pm
It is understandable why Namewee was so angry.
TNB maintenance manager was right. Blackouts do happen in developed countries. But power cut few times a month, or many times a year only happens in developing countries.
It is a VERY BIG ISSUE if blackout happens in those developed countries as mentioned by the TNB maintenance manager. The power companies get pressure from government and shareholders… but this is not the case in M’sia. Everyone seems to get used to it. TNB is taking things for granted by telling everyone it is a breakdown and it’s beyond their control. Be patient, restoration is in progress. They have earned their name “Total Nation Blackout”.
If cable theft is so common, why don’t they implement power backups? This has been the case since many years ago. Human evolves, why can’t TNB? We pay the bills every month, and now rumours are that power tariff to be hiked. We don’t mind paying more for quality power.
The consumers are the people who pay for TNB salaries, and you don’t give your bosses excuses and explanations why this and that cannot be done. We only want results, not excuses…
November 25, 2009 - 9:06 am
Dear YSL, you sound as if TNB employees are totally perfect and efficient and that blackouts are normal in both developed and developing countries. Blackouts should never happen in the first place if TNB is so efficient. I do understand that cables and switchgears may fail after some time but isn’t it your duty to check on these regularly and to change them before they fail??? Why wait until they fail? Instead of trying to educate us, maybe you should go on a crusade to educate your people in TNB. Remember, we are paying for your services.
November 25, 2009 - 3:31 pm
I think all customers have a right to make a complaint to service provider and TNB staff should have staff that can handle complaints from angry customers. TNB cannot have third world mentality (tidak apa attitude) when dealing with angry customers.
TNB should have investigated the complaints and try to calm down Namewee. Of course, namewee should not have used the vulgar words on TNB staff. However I can empathized with Namewee as his works on the computers are not saved due to power outage.
TNB staff should have investigated and updated customers on power outage as professionally as possible as these outages are serious matters as it affected all industrial and residential users.
November 26, 2009 - 8:11 am
TNB and the explanation by TNB staff in this post: a bunch of gaji buta morons with freaking 3rd world mentality. Fcuking legend in their own fcuking mind.
On STAND-BY? More like bludging, standing around doing fcuk all.
Muar – a chinese town, will have more power outages to come. After all, it’s only a chinese town, who gives a F.
Namewee, you have done the right thing!
November 27, 2009 - 7:56 pm
Bro, are u a chinese? If you are, I am ashamed to have a chinese brother like u man..
Watch your language please.. We are One Malaysian.. Not One ****ing i-talk-what-like person like you..
Ashamed man.. ashamed..
I should report to your mom then.. let see what she would say..
Sorry HC’s mom for your rude son..
November 30, 2009 - 4:19 pm
What namewee done to TNB is neither correct or wrong. TNB, being a corporate company should realize that CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Even if the customer is wrong, refer to rule #1: CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Go anywhere in the world corporate stakeholders will say the same thing. We can’t shout at them? Who is Rais that said Namewee is creating disharmony and disunity? Niamah.
December 3, 2009 - 1:52 pm
Customer making a big fuss is no big deal. You’ll know what i mean if you are a retailer, banker or in the business world.
Namewee is just like one of the many customers who called 15454 and gets no respond and he went the extra mile by paying them a visit in their office.
To all the TNB staff who wrote here, you guys are not doing your job well enough. Stop giving excuses! We in Sabah experience power cut at least twice a month for the past 20 years. We’ve been listening to the same excuses years after years. Give us a permanent solution. If you can’t do the job, just say so. I’m sure the govt will hand the job over to someone capable.
December 9, 2009 - 10:29 am
I quite symphatised with TNB people being “rotan ned” by Namewee. However I would like to remind them that we are very fond of giving excuses when something goes wrong. This “Oh bangau” syn drome must stop. As your customer, we want solutions more than excuses. Its true, if we defaulted on paying our monthly bill, our line will be cut off sooner than expected-did they ever ask you why you didn’t pay? Reasons are not that important to us but solutions – yes. Also, front desk officers should possess effective communication skills when dealing with roque customer like ‘namawee.’ One race monopolying service sections in TNB is also unhealthy, after all, whether Telekom or TNB, their customers comes from various strata of societies, therefore it shouild also be reflective of this. We are now living in the era of 1Malaysia.
December 11, 2009 - 5:45 pm
FYI, Singapore Power’s SAIDI score is 0.53 minutes.
Compared to 78 minutes.
December 12, 2009 - 2:02 am
Yeah, I think we can learn from Singapore how they manage to do it in such a short time – power recovery. Terengganu just today, we experienced two breakdowns in Chendering area, one occurring at around 6pm, restored at about an hour later and another tripping a few hours later sending people out of their homes swearing and of course reminding them of “namawee- that foul mouthed four-letter word guy from Muar.
December 25, 2009 - 10:10 pm
nice blog,can we having a link exchange with my club site http://www.myalza.com ?if can email me Myalza@live.com
Jenny
December 26, 2009 - 5:31 pm
Lol, Namewee really rocks, Been a fan of his since negarakuku. Nice post YSL!
January 5, 2010 - 1:10 pm
Bodoh Punya Orang…..
Brake Down Dgn Shut Down Kan Lain…..
Brake Down Berlaku Bila-bila Masa, Tidak ada Jangkaan Tepat Untuk Brake Down….
Lain La Shut Down, Boleh Di Rancang, Baru Ada Notis, Ada Inform Kat Surat Khabar…
Belajar Tinggi-tinggi, Tapi Bodoh…
January 16, 2010 - 3:29 am
Lol must be a comment from TNB guys
January 24, 2010 - 3:50 pm
but hor… belajar tinggi-tinggi apa gunanya if asyik use foul words, swear, kutuk-kutuk, marah-marah?
if not happy, den move to other country… right??
if he continue to do all these, i think he will be ending up in Africa or maybe Israel or Afghanistan… coz no country would want a citizen like this…
maybe he’s just making fun of himself to look like a monkey on screen… saja wanna become famous… balik-balik in the end, kena mintak “sorry”.. sien lo..
sigh.. i pity him… he is very brave, he is very creative and he is very talented.. but why cant he use his talent in other “place”. coz in the end i really think that he have nowhere to go if he really continue to do these.. coming up with a video or song which encourage people to work or advice wont hurt… isn’t it better?
January 31, 2010 - 1:09 pm
Ceh! Small matter like this make a big fuss…. I wonder if he’ll want to complain about Indah Water or not later…. definitely smells like his mouth….. Podah!
February 6, 2010 - 1:21 pm
what emily say is totally correct . . . being a chinese here we should live in harmony with other races. . dun let ppl like him(hooligan) spoiled our harmony in this country . . . . what he did has no sense . . . .. we all know our contry is corrupted and the goverment now wanna improve it . . . . . the problem is on the goverment not on races . . .we should unite and stand together .
February 14, 2010 - 10:35 am
granted – TNB doesn’t realise what dave carroll did for united airlines in the states …. only because there’s an evil monopoly in only having 1 electricity supplier in the country. no competition = not having to be responsible.
February 24, 2010 - 11:44 am
When someone is pissed off at a certain issue, I believe he or she would do almost anything to vent his or her frustration. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how that person is going to handle/manage this situation in which I think namewee didn’t in this matter.