At last.....

It has been over 2 months since I posted anything. Today I can start again. I just got my results for my 1st semester MBA. Passed both... wheeew.... All those weeks of stress and tension actually paid off.

There are a couple things on my mind currently.

1. Yim Pek Ha

Yim Pek Ha was sentenced to 18 years jail for causing grievous hurt to her maid Nirmala Bonat. The judge actually wanted her 3 sentences to run consecutively but being the compassionate judge that he is, he allowed her sentence to run concurently.

Makes you kind of wonder, 18 years for aggravated assault. Why not just "accidently" kill the maid and plead manslaughter, make be sentenced for less. 18 years is too harsh a punishment. 5-8 years seems fairer to the accused. Furthermore, the expert consulted by the defence was dismissed altogether. Apparently the judge is more familiar to the human body and mind better than the expert.

By sentencing her to such a harsh punishment will set tongues wagging. Is it because of the races of both parties? You be the judge.

2. The economy

The economy is facing a downturn at the moment. The government feels that we are well placed to weather this crisis. Well, I'm no expert but I feel our beloved BN government wouldn't know a downturn if it crawled up their bottoms and spew out of their mouth.

It is true that the 1st half of 2008 was great but when I assessed the situation from my company's and customer's records, most profits earned in the first 2 quarters were wiped of by losses in the 3rd quarter. Businesses drop between 40 - 75% overall. Come next year, when we declare our company taxes in July, most businesses across the board will record net losses, minimal net profit ( below 3%) or break even. This in turn will affect the revenue of the government in the form of taxes collected.

In addition, with such an economic climate, our government needs to implement an expansionary fiscal policy ( meaning spend, spend and spend). What will the government do then? No money = contractionary budget. My, my what a fine mess we are in. Will the government again dip its filthy hands into the cookie jar (EPF)? That's my retirement fund. By the way has the PTPTN repaid the RM 2 billion loan yet? Just checking.

3. EPF contributions will be lowered from 11% to 8%.

From the 1st of January 2009, the government will lower EPF contributions to 8%. This is in-line to the government's call to increase spending to prop up the economy. In theory this is correct. However in the real world, this is not a good idea. As contributors, there are 2 things we must realise.

• By reducing the contributions will in-effect increase our personal income tax. This is true when you earn more than RM2500 per annum. However, this arguement is flawed in a sense. The total you can deduct for your income tax is only so much. The figure deducted includes insurance purchases as well. Therefore the tax increase is actually minimal. This is especially true to high income earners.
  
• The second point is the clincher. When you reduce your contributions, the potential loss of dividend is substantial over the long term (accrued interest). Therefore the more you spend now, the less you have when you retire.
  

From another standpoint, if we do not reduce our contributions and the government keeps dipping its hands into the EPF ( read Valuecap), we are screwed. From where I stand, we are screwed either way.

Thanks for reading. If you thought the economy is still ok, scared now?

Lai Ying Xin

This bit of news really broke my heart.

Ying Xin strangled within 24 hours of her abduction

KULAI: Lai Ying Xin was strangled within 24 hours of her abduction, the post-mortem revealed. The killer had used his bare hands to strangle the 16-year-old.

And after she was dead, the kidnappers contacted her family to demand a ransom "for her release".

State police chief Datuk Mokhtar Shariff said the cause of death was manual strangulation.

He, however, did not reveal whether police had identified the killer among the four suspects currently in custody.
The four, aged between 16 and 22, were nabbed in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Ying Xin.

Exactly what is happening to our society? Canny Ong, Nurin, Ying Xin and many more have lost their lives to the scum of the earth. What is the police doing? The saddest and maddening thing is that justice might not be adequately served to the culprits. As noted in the snippet above, the suspects are aged between 16-22 years old. What if all of them point their fingers at the youngest one, knowing he cannot be handed the death penalty? Most the sixteen year old will face is being detained under His Majesty's pleasure.

Where is the justice in that? To the family of Ying Xin, our prayers are with you.

On a lighter note.

My most recent post deals mainly with politics. Writing all these postings has basically raised my blood pressure to an alarming level. So, I want to write something different. After much thought, I have compiled a list of things I want to do before I permanently check-out of Hotel Life.

1. Visit my ancestral home in Chow An, China
2. Visit ten major destinations in China

• Beijing (accomplished)
  
• Shanghai (accomplished)
• Guangzhou (accomplished)
• Harbin
• Hunan
• Xian
• Chaozhou
• Jiu Zai Gou
• Yunnan (accomplished)
• The Silk Road

3. Drive an Aston Martin
4. Travel in 4 countries in a day
5. Watched the sunrise in the Maldives
6. Write a book
7. Fall in Love
8. Get Married
9. Build furniture with my bare hands. ( a chest or a tv cabinet will do)
10. Make my parents proud of me
11. Bungee Jumping
12. Learn to play the Piano
13. Become a Masters Graduate
14. Hiking the Alps

Bear in mind the list above is not in any particular order. Hopefully, I can achieve all of the above before I kick the bucket. The list above will be adjusted from time to time as the world changes. Who knows someday we might be able to go to MARS, then I'll include it in.

916 has come and gone. What's next?

A lot of Malaysians waited with baited breathe, waiting and hoping for any news regarding Anwar Ibrahim's declaration of a change in government. Truth to be told, I was not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I am a strong proponent in changing the current government. I felt the current government has lost its way and honestly, it feels as though there is no government at the moment. Everyone is just playing politics.

So 916 has come and gone. So what's next? One thing we shouldn't do is sit around and do nothing. Here are some reasons why:-

1. Hindraf 5, Teresa Kok and Raja Petra is still detained under the ISA.
2. Racist and divisive behaviour is still condoned by the PM.
3. Narrow-minded and immoral ministers such as Syed Hamid and Ahmad Zaid Hamidi are still in power. ( Ahmad Zaid Hamidi was a former ISA detainee, now he is a strong proponent of ISA)
4. Mahathir is still allowed to make racist and divisive comments on his blog. So former Prime Ministers can play up racial issues but RPK is arrested.
5. Towing the party line is more important than the countries well-being. (Zaid Ibrahim, I salute you!)
   

The BN led government practices hiprocracy to the highest order. So should we just forget about changing the government? You be the judge.....

It is my fault there is no MALAYSIAN UNITY??

I was browsing around the various blogs today. When I reached the old codger Dr. M's blog, something caught my eye. It was entitled "Malay Unity and Malaysian Unity". So like a fool I read the article thinking (more like hoping) it was an article on how to achieve Malaysian Unity. What a fool I was..... Some of the points mentioned in the article were:-


1. The British are only partly responsible for the separation of the races in Malaysia, for keeping the Malays in the rural areas, the Chinese in the urban areas and the Indians in the estates. The different races are also responsible. They made no attempt to mix together as a matter of preference.

2. The hope at independence was that the non-Malays would accept a single national language and a single national identity. But it became clear very quickly that the Chinese and the Indians wanted to retain their identities, their mother tongue and their culture. They did not want to be solely Malaysians, certainly not Malays.


3. Politically it was a good formula and it worked. But when English schools were abolished and the Malay, Chinese and Indians children went to their own schools rather than to the national schools where the teaching was in the National Language. The hope for true national integration faded. After this even the attempt to put the schools from the three language streams in one campus was rejected by the Chinese.

4. Malay unity, if it becomes stronger will make it more difficult to bring about Malaysian unity. But it must be remembered that the Chinese and Indian are also keen to retain their identities more and more. The Hindraf memorandum is very telling. And the Chinese educationists want even stronger role for Chinese language.


So essentially, our dear old Dr. M believes that integration and unity was not achieved due to the unwillingness of the Chinese and Indians to conform to the Malay standards. So it is partly my fault. But 1 comment caught my eye. It basically sums up why the 'pendatangs' were not willing to integrate:-

By winkie on September 15, 2008 8:49 AM

Dear Tun

I believe that it is not the non-Malays'choice to retain their root identities; they were force to do so because they have been kept reminded by the government's actions all these years through the NEP where almost every opportunities ie government jobs, bumi rights, business assistance, education, etc are accorded to the Malays. The non-Malays have been reminded constantly that they do not have equal rights. Now, how can they be blamed now for being accused of retaining their roots? Besides, isn't this what the government has been promoting overseas that Malaysia is a multi-cultural country to attract tourism? Selamat berpuasa Tun and family.

That my friends are my exact sentiments. 2020 my ass.

The Silliness of Our Home Minister.......

To the relief of the nation, Sin Chew Jit Poh reporter, Tan Hoon Cheng has been released from ISA today. Theresa Kok and RPK however will be detained for the full 60 days period.

The best of it is Syed Hamid Albar, the son of Syed Albar ( alleged Malay extremist who planned racial riots in Singapore back in the 60's : according Lee Kuan Yew) claims that the order to detain the 3 did not come from him. The police supposedly took these actions on their own. Since when are we a police state? Police detaining individuals on their own perogative...... sounds a bit like the Gestapo, don't you think?

Furthermore, Tan was detained under the ISA because the police feared that her life is in danger...... doesn't make much sense. IF someone is in danger and the police have such information, why can't the police detain those who wish to inflict danger to Tan? Why not send some officers to protect her. Maybe these are the asian values we talk about. Arrest the victim and ignore the threat. Imagine if someone want to assasinate the American president, the FBI arrests the president under the Patriots Act and ignore the threats made againts him. Make sense? Sure does according to our dearly beloved Home Minister.

Free RPK and Theresa Kok now and we will let you pack your bags full of illegally gotten gains and flee the country. We will have a new government. It is the Rakyats' will.

FIGHT THE POWER

Arrested under ISA so far....

These are the people arrested under ISA so far..
1. 12/09/08 1.10 p.m. - Raja Petra Kamaruddin - Malaysia Today blogger
2. 12/09/08 8.30 p.m - Tan Hon Cheng - Sin Chew Jit Poh reporter (released 13/09/08)
3. 12/09/08 11.18 p.m. - Theresa Kok - DAP MP for Seputeh and ADUN for Kinrara ( released 19/09/08)

will update if more arrest are made.

Ops Lalang 2 has commenced......

First, three newspapers were served with show cause letters for reporting on a range of so-called sensitive issues. This was then followed by Raja Petra's arrest under the ISA. Finally, the Tan Hoon Cheng who broke the news about Ahmad Ismail's seditious and racist comments was also arrested under ISA. So let's get this straight.... papers who publish articles that puts UMNO in a bad light is being punished. Raja Petra who critisizes the government gets punished. Tan, who was just doing her job in exposing the dirty racist bastard from UMNO gets punished.... The fellow who makes racist, seditious comments walks away scott-free is rewarded. Is there something wrong with the picture here?

I feel that what the government is doing is basically baiting the electorate. If people come out to protest this issue, the government will implement martial law and claim the opposition is playing up racial issues. All losses suffered by BN during the last election will be negated as all opposition states will be placed under emergency law.

Moral of the story: Its ok to practice dangerous, racist and seditious actions will not be punished but reporting it is againts the law. Oh... I forgot, this behaviour is only ok if you are a ruling party member.

FIGHT THE POWER!!!!

The Begining of The End... Raja Petra detained under ISA.

12th September 2008, 2.05 p.m.

The headline below was picked from Malaysiakini.com

Raja Petra 'arrested under ISA'

Sep 12, 08 1:27pm

Controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been detained under the Internal Security Act, said his wife Marina Lee Abdullah. Wife: He was arrested at 1.10pm 10 police personnel at his house

The Barisan National government has committed its biggest mistake by arresting RPK using the draconian ISA. The people will rise and the government will fall and like Emperor Nero, Abdullah Badawi will be playing the fiddle as the whole BN government crashes around him. Previously, there were those who oppose the possibility of BN MPs jumping over to Pakatan Rakyat citing moral issues. This has given great impetus for BN MPs to jump over because the Rakyat will want them to do so.

I find it quite amusing that RPK is arrested for basically for stating his stand on his religion, writing about politicians and criticizing government policy whereas, Ahmad Ismail who allegedly made extremely seditious and racist comments was only given a slap on the wrist. Now the government has issued show cause letters to 3 newspapers, the Sun, Sin Chew and Suara Keadilan. Utusan Malaysia which I feel have published countless seditious materials goes away scott-free. Go figure.......

FIGHT THE POWER

Mazel Tov

Received two pieces of news today. 1 was very good, the other ....... feh!

The 1st news was regarding my assignment. The course leader over in the land of OZ, sent me an e-mail to confirm that the return of my assignment was a mistake. All I needed to do was e-mail them a soft copy and they will mark it with no penalty. The best part of it was.... my assignment was stored in a pen drive. When you have a screwed up day, guess what happens? You can't bloody access the pen drive. So I had to retype the whole thing and e-mail it over. At least that issue is solved. Case closed.

The 2nd piece of news was not so good. Our dear chairman of UMNO Bukit Bendera had the book thrown at him. The UMNO Supreme Council was so angry at him that they suspended him for 3 years... 3 years.... make no mistake, this was a punishment of the harshest degree. After all, ISA detainees can be released after only 2 years. If the ISA detainees behave themselves and pledge full loyalty to UMNO, they can come out way before that. So UMNO, I salute you. Good job. Bloody pricks......

MCA and Gerakan, the ball is in your court. Do the right thing.

I am a Jew?

"Shalom" and greetings to my non-jewish readers. As you may now know, we Malaysian Chinese have been equated to the jews in America by the "shmendrik" up north in Penang. Basically to recap, I am a jewish squatter in Malaysia with inferior rights in this country. "Oy veh" what will the "schmuck" comes up with next. Maybe the Chinese in Malaysia actually comes from space? Who knows... stranger things have happened. As I sit here typing this posting, no word yet on the "chutzpah's" fate. Hopefully the UMNO supreme council will do the right thing. What exactly is the right thing? To some, it might be detention under the ISA, to others might be rewarding him with a Tan Sri title. The right thing in my opinion is very simple, remove his tongue so he definately won't commit the same mistake again.

Anyways, I handed in my assignment yesterday. A bit late but its ok for me. To be honest, I have no problems when a guy says he is late, but when a girl tells me the same think, my heart will skip a beat. Back to the assignment. After submitting it, the senior coordinator, the delightful Joanne, returned me my 1st assignment with bold letters written on the cover "2nd submission. Return to student". For a moment I was out of it. I told Joanne that I submitted it only once. I did not submitted over the internet. So why is it being returned to me.

This is the sort of stuff that bothers me. I dedicated 1 whole month of my life on that assignment. No sleep, no social life and no tv (these things make me happy) only to find out I handed it in without me knowing. If I knew that I can magically hand it in, I would have spend more time in front of the tv. Now I have to wait patiently until they sort this issue out.

According to latest reports, Anwar Ibrahim's 916 plan is highly likely will not materialize. No big deal. Just do it a few days later. I honestly don't believe that the BN will permanently leave our MPs in Taiwan. They have to comeback someday. This issue is similar with the dutch tale regarding the kid who stuck his finger in the dyke (not that type of dyke) to prevent the leak to become worse and save the city. But in our case, no one is coming to help the BN. BN is the small boy. PR is the leak, but we the Rakyat is the sea behind the wall. This time the Rakyat will pour out from the leak and wash the filth we know as BN away.

FIGHT THE POWER.

Glossary:-
( i ) Shalom - Deep Peace
( ii) Schmendrik - A jerk, a stupid person
(iii) Oy veh - Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation
(iv) Chutzpah - Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption.

My Poor Little Fried Brain

Ok. I am currently pursuing my MBA at a local college. I am one of those guys who actually felt I had too much spare time so I went ahead and basically committed hara-kiri on myself. Not the smartest thing to do but I did it. End result: I fried my own brain. Here I am, sitting at a Starbucks outlet, staring blankly at the screen of my laptop, totally blank. Assignment due in a couple of hours but nothing is going through my mind, like a blond. So I decided to log in and just write stuff til something comes to mind.

Honestly, I did all the research necessary but nada..... nothing. For me, writing assignments is a creative process. I can have all the data in the world summarised in front of me yet I have problem putting pen to paper. The draft is just next to me but nothing. I need a muse, an inspiration.........

As much as I want to write about politics now, I can't. Nothing excites me today. None of the juvenile and stupid things BN is doing now has any effect on me. Me, a person who thrives on the stupidity of others, I laugh in the face of stupidity and gullibility. Even the BBC trip to Taiwan has not bothered me. Agriculture study trip to Taiwan? Brilliant idea. It really is. Taiwan has an advanced agricultural sector which thrives on best practices. A study trip there however will achieve nothing. Imagine that, parliamentarians going down to the farms and telling the farmers how to grow their crops. The problems in the agricultural sector within Malaysia are so diverse, I know. I am in the agricultural sector. No study trip in the worl d will achieve anything. I'll write about it another day. Crap... more nonsense in my mind now.

Maybe, I should just go to youtube and watch some Jolin Tsai mvs. That could help. Like Montgomery Burns of the Simpson will say "Yessss......Excellent"

I am a "pendatang" and I'm bloody proud of it!

7th September 2008

Recently, there has been a lot of talk in town regarding what Ahmad Ismail said during the by-election in Permatang Pauh. He allegedly uttered that " orang Cina cuma tumpang di sini sahaja". So obviously, the chinese in Malaysia of both sides of the political spectrum were outraged. Police reports were lodged, apologies demanded and so on.

I feel this whole situation has been blown out of proportion. So what if he refuses to apologize? So what if he made a fool of both the PM and DPM? (They are fools anyway, but i digress) What he said was nothing new. Honestly, we have seen much more extreme nonsense coming out of other UMNO leaders.

The rakyat must learn to forgive. Forget about this whole unfortunate incident. After all, the PM did say that Ahmad Ismail did not mean it (although the PM had not spoken to him at the time. PM must be a psychic). Let UMNO go on with their practice of blaming third parties to cover their own lack of brains. I honestly believe something fishy is coming up and the chinese must hold their tongue and keep calm.

If Gerakan and MCA wishes to exit from BN, then do it. Why must you wait for a leopard to change its spots. However, if they choose to leave BN, please don't go and join PR. Stay as an independent block within the parliment. Keep your filth out of PR.

P.S. So called leaders of UMNO, let me remind you that independence was achieved based on the criteria that all 3 major races agree to it. If the so called "pendatangs" did not agree, Malaysia will still be under British rule. We can forgive and forget about this "pendatang" issue but don't you dare forget that the Chinese and Indians were needed to achieve independece.