UNTITLED

I have no idea to write at all, but it seems like I haven't been writing for quite some time.

So here are some words...


GOD I MISS MY LIFE IN 2006 SO MUCH!!!!
Getting around with my wife (of course she wasn't my wife yet until end of 2006).
Working whole heartedly with this company (not anymore now).
Sending beautiful SMSes to each other with my loved one.
Having a good nasi lemak and coffee at Jinho with friends around.

Oh boy, life HAS to go on.

A BETTER HALF, A BETTER TOMORROW

It was slightly raining, but that didn't stop these two souls from merging their hearts together, witnessed by relatives and friends, secured by a piece of ring and a beautiful masterpiece of gold bracelete.
Decision was made, and the better half has been chosen to complete the tide of the upcoming life and challenges.
This mosque is so beautiful with colors. Congratulations buddy, take care of your wife and be sure to have kids after I have mine :) .

Para Pelakon Utama:
Sang Kacak
Sang Jelita
Tok Imam...dan beberapa pelakon tambahan...

Tok Imam: "Kita suruh dia baca Al-Baqarah skali, ok?

Sang Kacak: "Aduh, Al-Baqarah dibantainya. Nih majlis nikah ke majlis khatam Quran?"

Tok Imam: "Ko jangan nak ngada tokok tambah, baca je kad kat bawah tuh..."

Tok Imam: "Aih, bukan main sejuk tangan...Ko sakit ke nak?"

Sang Jelita: "Mintak2 abang jangan la pengsan yek..."

Pelakon Tambahan: "Dia tumbang je, aku snap! Memang dah ready dah nih..."

Sang Kacak: "Wuhuuu....Tak pengsan...Amiiiiiinnnnn!!!!"

Sang Jelita: "Syukur alhamdulillah, abangku memang seorang yang cool. Saya mesti pilih!"

Pakcik Oren: "Tok Imam nih baca doa ke baca buku teks sejarah? Panjang betul, dah longlai dah gua nih..."

Sang Kacak: "Nah, ambik frame nih, kasik taruk gambar abang. Ko taruk gambar laki lain, aku nikah lagi satu."

Sang Jelita: "Baik bang...I promise..."

Sang Jelita: "Aik bang, sebelah je? Yang sebelah kiri nih sape lak nak belikan?"

Sang Kacak: "Ah ko nih...Yela2, tunggu bonus abang ujung tahun nih...."

Sang Jelita: "Selamat hari raya, bang. Ampunkan salah silap saya. Mintak halal makan minum."

Sang Kacak: "Oi..oi...Salah majlis nih...kita baru lepas nikah la, pehal lak raya..."

Sang Jelita: "Eh yeke?"

Makcik Di Sebalik Tabir: "Cium dahi je yek...Yang lain2 simpan balik umah karang..."

Sang Jelita: "Ai bang, sakan nampak..."

Sang Kacak: "Gile ko, tadi masa salam ngan Tok Imam tadi makan banyak tenaga tuh...Kenala cover balik. Nikah, nikah gak. Makan mana bleh serender..."

Shukri & Qis: "Selamat datang ke Persatuan Ku Bukan Lagi Sorang Bujang Cawangan Pantai Timur"

Selamat Pengantin Baru

Shahril Azlan & Nor Azliana

"Hai sekelian manusia, bertaqwalah kepada Tuhanmu yang telah menciptakan kamu dari diri yang satu, daripadanya pula Allah menciptakan pasangannya, dan dari keduanya dikembangkan laki-laki dan wanita-wanita yang ramai. Dan bertaqwalah kepada Allah dengan (menggunakan) nama-Nya kamu saling meminta satu sama lain; dan (peliharalah) hubungan silaturrahim. Sesungguhnya Allah sentiasa mengawasi kamu." (An-Nisa': 1)

OPEN HOUSE

This is an outdated update on the open house we had during last Eid. It was tiring, yet so much fun and smiles.

We'll definitely do this again next time, surely.

Nasi ayam, kuetiau goreng, kuih raya...

Raya nowadays.... TV is compulsory.

Not sure whether they are waiting for anything or just being plain shy to get the food first.

And again, TV rules the raya, even for the grown ups.

Newlyweds Shahril & Lina...err.. 'future newlyweds' I mean. Reception will be on 22nd Nov 2008.

MARI MANDI!

Look at that, my beauty is having a good shower.

Next, target. Mercedes Benz E200K.

E200K? Should've join Barisan Nasional Terengganu.

"Lower maintenance cost maaa....."

GOD BLESS YOU

To whom it may concerned,

I know you will be here again, and read this. Just a quick note to say congratulations as you managed to finish up your degree in architecture, far away there in UK. God bless, in anything you do, and do let me know whenever you're home, so that I can arrange my family to greet you. Kang merajuk susah, macam pompuan nak kena pujuk....

p/s: My 2 cents: Work hard, build up your career there in UK, earn good money, and don't come back home, except when you want to celebrate Eid or just missing your family and friends too much. Malaysia is not suitable for a person like you. Sucks, and too many political complications. The G left us with no choice but to curse them. Stupid.

Regards to Ariff Abadan and Mohd Shauqi.

LET US PONDER UPON THIS!

I've got this article, forwarded to me by my wife, forwarded to her by who knows... Wherever it came from, it sure as hell gives good vision and respectively near-perfect accuracy of facts, although we, as the citizen, barely know about all the country's financial details. Even so, this article below is written based on real time fact and the number figures are closed enough to the figures we always see in the newspapers or TV.

Have a good read. I'm not influencing any of you to be on the other side of the G, but as always, the decision is yours to make. I will always go against the G, no matter what they do...even giving me a cash money of RM625 yearly. RM625??? What a good laughing material.


How true, read on.

Today Tenaga stock rose by about MYR1.00. Volume traded in excess of 35 million units. Yesterday Tenaga stock was suspended. Put these points together.

1. If you know that an announcement would be made on Wednesday that TNB rates will be revised upwards you would surely buy Tenaga shares on Tuesday.
2. If you own an investment bank or have sufficient credit line with an Investment Bank you would have bought as much as you could knowing that the price will surely go up.
3. Since you have to pay within 3 days (T+3 rule), you would have planned to sell on Friday. So you could have bought 1Million Tenaga shares on Tuesday and sold it today for a cool MYR1Million profit without paying any money (perhaps some borrowing costs for 2-3 days).
4. Of course none of us are privy to the announcement of the fuel hike, but the family of the PM are privy to it.
5. Of course none of us have a large credit line with an Investment Bank but the family of the PM owns an investment bank.
6. Why the surprise announcement on 05 June when the PM has said that it would be in August? Well you can only make a big and quick profit if you control the timings and surprise others.
7. For those in the know (the powers that be and their cronies) this has been one hugely profitable week buying and shorting the related shares. The poor rakyat had to queue just to fill up their tanks and perhaps save between MYR20-MYR100.


Now read below.....

Need those in know of the basic economics of crude, fuel etc to comment.WHAT IS NEVER MENTIONED IN Mainstream Media like NST/TheStar/Utusan/BH are these facts....Malaysian Per Capita Income USD 5000 VS Singaporean Per Capita Income USD 25000. Further The Star made a comparison of prices in Thailand , Singapore and Indonesia . For Thailand it is quoted at RM3.90/liter, however are they aware that in Thailand new cars are cheaper than Malaysia by RM10,000? They pay only one life time for their driving license? No renewal fee after that? Also that goes for road tax as well? And do TheStar also aware that you can drive all the way from Hadtyai to Bangkok on a six lane highway without paying any Tolls ??!!Whereas here in Malaysia you have to pay yearly renewal for road tax , driving license and TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS!!!

For Singapore how can you quote RM 5.20 ? Please quote in Singapore Dollars because they are earning in Singapore Dollars. You might as well say Europeans are paying RM10/liter. RM5.20/liter = Sing $ 2.20/liter, still cheaper than Malaysia in view of fact that Singapore is not a crude oil exporter. Are you saying that you fill up petrol in Singapore by paying Ringgit?

In economy, dollar to dollar must be compared as apple to apple. Not comparing like durian in M'sia is much cheaper than durian in Japan!! Of course, Japan is not durian producer!!! Comparing Malaysian durian with Thailand durian make more sense!!

For Indonesia we might say is cheaper there at RM2.07/liter but compare that to their level of income!Now, let us compare the price with OIL PRODUCING countries:

UAE – RM1.19/litre
Eygpt – RM1.03/litre
Bahrain – RM0.87/litre
Qatar – RM0.68/litre
Kuwait – RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia – RM0.38/litre
Iran – RM0.35/litre
Nigeria – RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan – RM0.25/litre
Venezuela – RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA – RM2.70/litre!RM 2.70!!!

Individual perspective:As of last month a Toyota Vios would 'cause a damage' of about RM 89,000.In the international market, a Toyota Vios is about USD 19,000USD 19,000 = RM 62,700 (using the indicative rates of USD 1 = RM 3.30). That makes Malaysian Vios owners pay an extra RM 26,300.This RM 26,300 should be cost of operations, profit and tax because the transportation costs have been factored in to the USD 19,000.RM 26,300/ RM625 petrol rebate per year translates to a Vios being used for 42.08 years. I do understand that the RM 625 is a rebate given by the government, but it also means that one has to use the Vios for 42.08 years just to make back the amount paid in taxes for the usage of a foreign car. Would anyone use any kind of car for that long?Now with these numbers in front of us, does the subsidy sound like a subsidy or does it sound like a penalty? This just seems to be a heavy increment in our daily cost of living as we are not only charged with high car taxes but also with a drastic increase in fuel price.

With all the numbers listed out, I urge all Malaysians to join me in analyzing the situation further.Car taxation is government profit, fuel sales is Petronas' (GLC) profit which also translates into government profit. The government may ridicule us Malaysians by saying look at the world market and fuel price world wide. Please, we are Malaysians, we fought of the British, had a international port in the early centuries (Malacca), home to a racially mixed nation and WE ARE NOT STUPID!!!

We know the international rates are above the USD 130/barrel. We understand the fact that the fuel prices are increasing worldwide and we also know that major scientist are still contradicting on why this phenomenon is happening. Some blame Bush and his plunders around the world and some blame climate change and there are others which say petroleum 'wells' are getting scarce.

Again we go back to numbers to be more straight fwd 1 barrel = 159 liters x RM2.70/liter = RM 429 or USD 134 On 1 hand, we are paying the full cost of 1 barrel of crude oil with RM2.70 per liter but on the other hand the crude oil only produces 46% of fuel. Malaysia sells crude oil per barrel at USD130, buys back fuel per barrel at USD134. And not forgetting, every barrel of fuel is produced with 2 barrels of crude oil. 1 barrel crude oil = produce 46% fuel (or half of crude oil), therefore 2 barrel crude oil = approximately 1 barrel fuel. In other words, each time we sell 2 barrels of crude oil, equivalently we will buy back 1 barrel of fuel. Financially, Malaysia sell 2 barrel crude oil @ USD 130/barrel = USD 260 = RM 858. Then, Malaysia will buy back fuel @ USD 134/barrel = RM 442/barrel. Thus, Malaysia earn net extra USD 126 = RM 416 for each 2 barrel of crude sold/exported vs imported 1 barrel of fuel !!!(USD 260-134 = USD 126 = RM416). So where this extra USD 126/barrel income is channeled to by Malaysian Govt????????? Another analysis: 1 barrel crude oil = 159 liters. 46-47% of a barrel of crude oil = fuel that we use in our vehicles. 46% of 159 = 73.14 liters.@ RM 2.70/liter x 73.14 liter = RM197.48 of fuel per barrel of crude oil. This is only 46% of the barrel, mind you. Using RM 3.30 = USD 1, we get that a barrel of crude oil produces USD 59.84 worth of petrol fuel (46% of 1barrel). USD 59.84 of USD 130/barrel turns out to be 46% of a barrel as well.Another 54% = bitumen, kerosene, and natural gases and so many more. And this makes a balance of USD 70.16 that has not been accounted for. So this is where I got curious. Where is the subsidy if we are paying 46% of the price of a barrel of crude oil when the production of petrol/barrel of crude oil is still only 46%? In actual fact, we still pay for this as they are charged in the forms of fuel surcharge by airlines and road taxes for the building of road (because they use the tar/bitumen) and many more excuse charging us but let us just leave all that out of our calculations.

As far as I know, only the politicians who live in Putrajaya and come for their Parliament meetings in Kuala Lumpur (approximately 60+ km) are the ones to gain as they claim their fuel and toll charges from the money of the RAKYAT's TAX. It is so disappointing to see this happen time and time again to the Malaysian public, where they are deceived by the propaganda held by the politicians and the controls they have over the press. Which stupid idiot economist equates rebates for rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Datuk's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250! Wow what kind of economists we are keeping in Malaysia...wonder which phD certificate that they bought from...

Misleading concept of Subsidy: The word 'subsidy' has been brandished by the government as if it has so generously helped the rakyat and in doing so incurred losses. This simple example will help to explain the fallacy:

Example: Ahmad is a fisherman. He sells a fish to you at $10 which is below the market value of $15. Let's assume that he caught the fish from the abundance of the sea at little or no cost. Ahmad claims that since the market value of the fish is $15 and he sold you the fish for $10, he had subsidised you $5 and therefore made a loss of $5.

Question : Did Ahmad actually make a profit of $10 or loss of $5 which he claimed is the subsidy?

Answer: Ahmad makes a profit of $10 which is the difference of the selling price ($10) minus the cost price ($0 since the fish was caught from the abundance of the sea). There is no subsidy as claimed by Ahmad. The government claims that it is a subsidy because the oil is kept and treated as somebody else's property (you know who). By right, the oil belongs to all citizens of the country and the government is a trustee for the citizens. So as in the above simple example, the government cannot claim that it has subsidised the citizen!

Let us all ponder…

DEADLY HIKE!

The G had officially made the 'most unwanted' announcement, a hike of about 40% in petrol price for the Malaysian all time favourite RON97 fuel, from RM1.92/l to RM2.70/l. Worse case for those who drive a diesel powered vehicles where the increment is close to 65%, from RM1.58 to RM2.58.

Let me be honest with you now.

When the fuel price was RM1.92/l, I had to spend about RM75 to fill up my baby's tank, and it will last for about 40okm (it's a naturally aspirated carburetor engine since 1991, what do you expect?). I have to send my wife to her office every morning, which is about 5km away from home, and I have to travel another 22km from her office to get to my office. Simpler said, for one whole day, I actually travel 54km, just for work only. Plus lunch and other miscellanious movement, I would put a total of 65km of travel a day, which means a full tank of my Civic can hold up to 6 days at most. There are 30 days in a month, minus 8 days for 4 weekends, it should count of 22 days. As a total, i have to fill up my tank about 4 times a month, which comes to a total fuel consumption of RM300 per month. It sums up to RM3600 for a whole year, excluding balik kampung consumption, going to market every week, going pasar malam, going around Kuantan for shopping, going to JPJ for tax and insurance renewal, going for overtime work when on-call...the list goes on. Believe me, last year I spent almost RM6000 a year just for fuel.

Try to calculate that after 40% increment of fuel charge. It goes up to RM8400, an RM2400 increment per year. So what can the additional subsidy of RM625 per year do to help me?

Exactly. Nothing at all.

Truthfuly, I earn a basic of RM4500, and it can reach up to RM6000 or RM7000 per month. My wife earns lesser than me, but more than enough to support me with her RM3000 paycheck every month. Minus all the house, land, car and bills and other things, we still manage to have about RM3000 extra for a month, and yet, we still feel the pain of this fuel price hike. So imagine how those people who catch fish or plant paddy or taking care of a cow farm, feel about this. Imagine those people who earns less than a grand a month. They need to feed both their family and their vehicle, now it seems like the money distributed between them is almost equal in value.

The leader and all his 'knights of the sick-annoying-bloody-arse round table' will never feel this pain, as they earn tens of thousands of money every month, and their allowances bla bla bla can reach up to more than 6 digits. They won't feel anything even though the petrol price reaches RM50 per litre.

And yet, our fuel price is still one of the cheapest in Asia. B******t! They always want to compare the fuel price, but they certainly forgot to also compare the car prices with our neighbours. Ask them how much difference the cost of a 2007 Toyota Camry in Thailand compared to us? Ask them how much difference the price of a Honda Jazz in Indonesia compared to us?

Let's put it this way. Before this, the country was willing to cover almost 60% of the fuel price (which is called the subsidy). Yet, all of vehicle owners in Malaysia have already 'paid' the subsidy themselves by purchasing non-national cars, paying a freaking high duty charges.

And I still want to say, Malaysian G is craving for hell by lying to all people. 800% of fuel price hike since the 90s, and they claimed that they did so well to maintain the price all this long, yet they forgot that most of us know the fact that when world oil price rise, our country is one of those who enjoy the benefits as we sell our low-carbon and low-sulphur contamination oil with high price, and purchase a lower price fuel from outside.

People of G, you guys suck!

Fuel price in Venezuela is RM0.04 per litre. 2000 got injured or dead when the price went up to RM0.06. Do you want our country to be like that? Do you want somebody get hurt or die first, then think of how to handle this? Do you want to walk around your own beloved country inside a bulletproof container, just so the snipers or Kamikaze fighters who hate you can't get you bleed?

Think again.

A WEEK IN ABU DHABI

I flew here to Abu Dhabi on the 10th of May, for a course arranged by my company. I was looking forward to see the culture and lifestyle of the people around here, not so much interested in the course actually. In the end, it turned out that this course is probably one of the most interesting courses I have ever attended.

Let's not go through all the details of this course, or it will take a few weeks to complete this article.

It was 42 degree the day I arrived. Yeap, hot as hell. It seemed like a bad sign, why on earth did I signed up for this course here. On the brighter side, I felt that I am lucky to be borned in such a nice country (I used to curse Malaysia has such a hot and crazy atmosphere). Nevertheless, the hot temperature here is the only bad thing about this place I guess.

This picture was taken on the Marina Island. The other side is the Abu Dhabi city.

Abu Dhabi is an extremely safe place to stay. One of the taxi driver I met here said that this town has an approximate population of 4 million people, more than three quarter of them are Indians, Philippins, Indonesians and some from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Only about eight hundred thousands are the local citizens. Imagine all the shops are all occupied with these immigrants, even the taxi drivers and megastores casual labors. Infact, you will see one original Arabian after seeing ten to fifteen immigrants as you walk down the pedestrian walkway.

They must really making good fortune in this country, as I heard that the cheapest house rent is about 3000AED (multiply with 0.85 to get into Malaysian Ringgit) a month, and the cheapest hotel is about 600AED per night stay. Even with this extremely high pays they have to afford monthly, you can still see them around texting with Nokia N91 or Sony Ericsson w960i, with iPods earbud inside their ears.

A friend of mine, a Brazilian, went to Dubai on the last weekend (it takes about two hours to get there by taxi). He came back with an explosive story that the cost of a can of Coke costed him 22AED, and he had lunch there with three of his friends at about 600AED. Another friend of mine suggested that we should go to Dubai and have a look around at the Burj Al Arab, the 7 stars hotel where you can find a hotel room that costs you a mere 50000AED a night. Luckily I thought that it wasn't a good idea to go Dubai on the weekend as time is a major factor which stops us from having a nice sightseeing around the westernized-urban Dubai. If I agree with him, I will have to pay about 200AED just to get into the lobby and look around.

Back to Abu Dhabi.

Me on the far left, with Bill and Nick.

As a whole, this big city is a nice place to take your family on a vacation trip, but make sure you come on winter, as summer here will get your skin burnt with almost 55 degree centigrade heat. But it will be better if your company or whoever gives you a full sponsorship on accomodations as the hotels and apartments here aren't easy to get, and quite pricey. For shoppaholics and tech brats, this place can be a good spend-my-money destination. Goodies here are slightly cheaper than in Malaysia, and electronic appliances can be really cheap. You can get a Sony DSC-H50 500AED cheaper than the outdated Sony DSC-H9 in Malaysia.

Marina Mall, the biggest shooping mall in Abu Dhabi. It is situated on an artificial island made up just for the mall itself, with Ikea and a watersport center around it.

Overall, everyone is most welcome to come here. It surely is a nice place to spend your quality family time.