http://www.afr.com.au/content/990415/update/update33.html

relevant quote #1:

" When reporters recently asked about Malaysia's plans to squash the Y2K bug from its national computer systems, officials were cagey.

In fact, the head of the National Year 2000 Project Team, charged with debugging computers in the Southeast Asian nation before January 1, was downright livid.

"Why are you questioning? Why are you questioning?" Nuraizah Abdul Hamid hissed at reporters who cornered her outside a recent closed-door workshop on Malaysia's readiness to tackle the Year 2000 or Y2K bug.

Many questions to other government Y2K committees have also gone unanswered, raising concerns about the country's readiness.

Malaysia has announced repeatedly that its critical systems will be ready to face the dreaded bug, which some predict will short-circuit computer systems worldwide, lead to food and power shortages, and cause chaos at hospitals and airports.

The bug stems from an old programming oversight that doesn't distinguish between the years 1900 and 2000, which could cause massive computer failure at midnight on December 31.

Diplomats, analysts and technology gurus say that little convincing data have been released to back the Malaysian government claim that everything is rosy."

relevant quote #2:

"But at a session closed to the public, which some journalists were able to observe, officials from the country's nine 'critical sectors' gave a different impression. Industry leaders brainstormed about yet-to-be drafted contingency plans and pleaded for more money.

Umar Bustamam, of Malaysia Airports, proposed the military stand guard at the fully computerised Kuala Lumpur International Airport in case of a system failure on January 1.

"You can imagine the chaos. We have to prepare," he said. "We had a bad experience in the past of even getting funding for Y2K readiness. We appeal to the National Y2K Project Team to assist us in getting the right funding."

Seconding that was Dr Abdul Ghani Mohammed Din, director of medical development at the Ministry of Health. He said the nation's 127 government hospitals lagged far behind private ones. "What is alarming here is the approval time needed for funding applications," he said.

Also alarming from a public perspective was a pledge of secrecy taken by participants at the Y2K workshop.

The Asian economic crisis has diverted resources from Y2K preparations. Some analysts believe that the government worries too much that news of its lack of readiness would cause panic."

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 15, 1999

Answers

how many times have i said it before... talking one way publicly, and another way privately...

oh, i'm sorry. this is *only* happening in malaysia. everyone else everywhere else is utterly straightforward and truthful about their y2k status and preparations.

got a brain?

-- Drew Parkhill/CBN News (y2k@cbn.org), April 15, 1999.

Read the official version of their Y2K "programme" at:

Selamat Datang and Welcome to Y2K Malaysia

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), April 15, 1999.