NOT FAR FROM THE WALL STREET

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2010-12-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

Easr43Street wishes all visitors a prosperous New Year 2011.

LIN DAN THE GOLIATH OR JUST A LITTLE CHICKEN LIN?

2010-01-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

THE STAR

Thursday January 21, 2010
By CHOW HOW BAN

Lin Dan: Why I’m still out of action

BEIJING: Recent impressive performances by Lee Chong Wei have raised the alarm on Chinese badminton star Lin Dan.

The world No. 2, who withdrew from the Malaysian Open, said that his arch rival showed great promises in the Korean Open, winning the title without dropping a game in five matches last week.

“Although I did not go to Seoul, I followed the tournament closely. Chong Wei is now really in great form. He is a very well-rounded and world-class player,” Lin Dan told sports.cn from his training base here on Tuesday.

On why he withdrew from the Malaysian Open, Lin Dan said that he wanted to train harder and regain tip-top form before going to Kuala Lumpur to compete in the tournament.

“But I have not adjusted to the best of condition. If I go for competitions in a hurry, I will not only be unable to play to my best ability but I will also risk getting injured,” he said.

He added that it was inevitable that other Chinese singles players, Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai, could not play to their true ability in the Korean Open as they had not been training systematically thus far.

Lin Dan said that he would start his season with the defence of the All-England title in Birmingham in March.

Note :

East43Street always believe that Lin Dan is a much better player than Lee Chong Wei and couldn't wait for another clash between the two world class champions in The Malaysian Open. East43Street has no longer believe that. The act of pulling out of tournament when learning that your opponent is in top form is not admirable at all. Lin Dan is not sick or anything. Come on Lin Dan, or you are just a little chicken Lin.

HAS PETRONAS BEEN LESS PATRIOTIC BY SPONSORING MERCEDES GP RATHER THAN MALAYSIAN-BACKED LOTUS F1?

2010-01-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Lotus F1 has lost Petronas sponsorship bid to Mercedes GP. With Petronas on their stable, Mercedes GP is now known as Mercedes GP Petronas. This event has drawn a lot of local criticism mainly on how Petronas is less patriotic for not sponsoring Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team.

From day one of its inception, Petronas has been all about serious business and has never been in 'syok sendiri' mode. Sponsoring an untested Malaysian-backed team is just another 'syok sendiri' affair which is appeared not to be in Petronas vocabulary. A bet between Tony Fernandes, the Lotus F1 Team Principal and Richard Branson, the Virgin Racing Team Principal on which team would be in front is a clear evident of a Malaysian 'syok sendiri' story. Tony vowed to get Richard to wear Air Asia's flight assistant outfit and to serve on Air Asia's flight. Yes, it is good to read, but it doesn't impress Petronas at all. It won't contribute to Petronas high performance fuel and lubricant global business. In short, it would be a gain to Tony but none to Petronas rather than to get Petronas' logo displayed on the Lotus F1 cars during the races, if Lotus F1 cars ever made it to the camera. Well, it may not been covered at all if the cars left as the back markers during the races.

Azam Aris had said in the Edge of 11 January 2010, "So, in this scenario, sponsoring the Mercedes team is the perfect platform for the national oil corporation to continue its business development journey via F1. Branding wise, the exposure that Mercedes gets thorough various mediums, notably television and media - especially with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the driver for the 2010 season is a sure winner. Petronas , which now gets back its corporate green colour on the team ensures the name Malaysia is also on the livery of the Mercedes GP Petronas team."

According to Aris, "on the lubricant side, Petronas will be the OEM supplier (notably Syntium) to Mercedes' operations and market in China, the UK and Turkey where Petronas lubricant will be used as "first field oil" (one fill by the manufacturer during production) and subsequently, in the "service field" as the factory recommended oil. China, which is the fastest growing lubricant market in the world, is certainly a place where Petronas want to be."

This is definitely a winning situation for Petronas. It may increase the 2% command of world lubricant market that it already has. As for patriotism, by establishing a renowned global Malaysian brand is more than what we could asked from Petronas.

IBRAHEEM MOUJOOD AND HIS MANY TRIPS TO PILGRIMAGE

2009-10-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

A few my friends had flown to Mecca for pilgrimage in the Haj season this year. As a Muslim, we are required to go for pilgrimage in Mecca for at least once if we can afford it. Upon praying for their safe return, I suddenly remembered an old acquaintance of some 20 years ago. His name is Ibraheem Moujood.

He was working as a chauffer in Baghdad with office where I worked. A pious Sri Lankan Muslim, Ibraheem Moujoud had never missed his 5 times a day prayer. Ha had performed Haj for more than four times in Mecca. His wife and children lived in Colombo and Ibraheem sent them monthly subsistence without fail. A good man he was.

I sometime spent a few hours in his living quarters, especially after finishing my work late in the evening. He made a good curry and I often help myself to the kitchen and ate his curry with whatever available there.

Ibraheem liked to drink. He always had a few type of alcoholic drinks under his bed. He was a habitual drinker. It was good that he didn't drink while working, or otherwise I would be the first person to get him terminated from his job. This was made known to him and he did not dare mix his drinking habit with his work.

During my few visits to his quarters, I repeatedly argued with him that it is useless to pray five times a day without fail and performed haj many times if he is still drinking. Ibraheem just came out with a simple answer. For him, he can do as much sins as he can and all the sins would be washed out when he went to pilgirmage in Mecca.

I do not know exactly how this is correctly interpreted in Islam, but I totally don't agree with Ibraheem. To me getting rid of your sin is not as simple as washing your clothes. For those who went to Mecca for Haj and thought that they can simply wash away whatever sins and misdeeds they may have done, well, they should try to think again.

As for Ibraheem, I have never heard of him again. Probably the number of his trips to Mecca has quardrupled over the years.

TRADERS CAUGHT BY SHARP MARKET PULLBACK

2009-06-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

PETALING JAYA: The sharp market pullback this week caught many traders by surprise but analysts feel that the uptrend remains intact in the longer term.

“Valuations were too rich and a correction is healthy,” Kenanga Research head of research Yeonzon Yeow said.

The index had climbed 30% since the middle of March before correction set in earlier this week. From a peak of 1,095.91 points on June 12, the KL Composite Index (KLCI) dropped to a low of 1,052.48 on Thursday.

“I think there’s still about 10% to 15% of correction to go from the peak,” Yeow said.

“When we start seeing real economic recovery after the third quarter of this year and fresh catalysts come onstream, the market will react positively.”

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong also remains bullish on the market in the medium to longer term. “I actually think this is the start of a bull run and investors should accumulate on weakness,” he said.

“Asia will take the lead in the next couple of years. Compared with the pre-Asian financial crisis days, our gearing levels are lower, earnings stronger and we have a more resilient banking system.

“Already, we are near the bottom or off bottom, of an economic recovery.
“As equity recovery generally moves six months ahead of an economic recovery, I would say we are at the beginning of a bull run,” Wong said.

Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn Bhd managing director Gerald Ambrose concurs. “With interest rates down all over the world, money tends to find its way to the most attractive investment and to me, that’s Asia,” he said.

However, he feels that the KLCI is going to “wobble around in this trading range for a very long time”.

“I don’t feel a soaring confidence about the West; my gut feel is that momentum has gone there, and if we are going to be following them, it’s going to be difficult,” Ambrose said. “Certain quarters have priced in a full recovery there (but), I don’t believe in that.”

Pong Teng Siew, head of research at Jupiter Securities, believes the liquidity, which had been driving the market up in the recent rally, has reached its tail-end.

“The recent rally in Malaysia was supported primarily by domestic funds. The next peak might not happen until later this year as foreign funds gradually move into emerging markets following the easing of the interest rates there,” he said.

Source : The Star Saturday June 20, 2009
By Yvonne Tan

east43street:

Yes it is a heavy correction. After correcting downward, it will start to correct upward. There are so many companies so cheap out there. It is still not too late to own a good pick.

MY GOOD FRIEND AND HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER

2009-04-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

A long lost friend visited me yesterday. We became friend a long time ago, way back in 1989.

Yes, it was twenty years ago.

He still looked the same. A same person, except that he is now in a different stature. He is going to a country representing the King, the SPB Yang DiPertuan Agong. He is a new Ambassador of Malaysia to that country.

He had five passports in his hand and he showed me one of them, a brown covered passport. I took it and realised that it was a travel document called Certificate of Identity, belonged to a pretty five years old girl. It was actually not a passport, but can be used to travel in-leiu of passport.

He told me that he had adopted the girl and the girl cannot be issued a proper passport because she is stateless. Meaning that she is not a citizen of Malaysia and also not a citizen of any other country. Her mother, an Indonesian lady abandoned her five days after gave birth to her in Malaysia. Because she was abandoned right after birth, no one can register her birth in the Indosesian Embassy to claim her citizenship as the right to register is only accorded to her maternal parents, who had already disappeared.

After hearing the story, I knew that my friend is taking a huge responsibility. Not only he will look after the girl's welfare, he would also have to accept the girl as his own. When she grows up, she will definitely ask a lot of questions about her identity as she is diferent from other siblings. Any wrong words from the family members would have a huge consequences.

I asked a quite important question to my friend. Would he take the girl as his own and he said yes. I asked him another question, if he considered the girl as his own, is he going to distribute his asset and property fairly between his children including the adopted girl knowing it very well that the girl is not entitled even a single cent from his estate. He told me that he knows it very well that the girl would not be entitled of anything in the event of his death under the Islamic Law of the country. But he had already vowed that the girl is one of his own. To make sure the girl would get a fair share of his estate, he transfered one of his plots of land in Kedah under the adopted girl's name and the land is left under a trustee until the girl reached the age to hold the property. He told me that if he dies tomorrow, he will die happy because he did not abandon the girl, not just like the girl's real mother abandoned her.

The law may not recognised the girl as his own child, but his action would secure her welfare and she would have no doubt as being part of the family.

I was amazed. Not everybody have the same heart as my friend.

I wish him well for his new ambassadorship. May god bless him.

BANDWIDTH SPEED TEST

2009-03-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today is probably one of the best day for me. I switched on my computer, go to the internet and I noticed the speed is a bit fast. I go to the Bandwidth Place Speed Test, click the test and I found out that my speed today is 780 kilobits per second. Wow! The fastest since I got home 6 months ago.

I normally got 175 kilobits per second for the suppossedly 1 MB bandwidth that I paid monthly. When opening the account, they told me that I should get at least 800 kilobits per second. I gave up complaining to Streamyx Service Centre and adopted a wait and see attitude. Just to see how long they would resolve it. It took them 3 months. Repeat 3 months. Bravo TM Net. I almost gave up posting a new entry in this blog.

By the way, when I was in London, the minimum speed was 1.5MB per second, and I used to get 2MB per second.

That was then.

WISHING YOU HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

2009-01-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Frau Shin, Fräulein Rotkopf, Fräulein Lilz, Ketot (the street cat that we brought home) and me wish all visitors and commentors of this blog a very Happy New Year 2009. May year 2009 be ours.

To all bloggers linked to this site, I wish you all a prosperous 2009.

Ketot in his own world

INTERNET CONNECTION FINALLY..... PHEW..

2008-12-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

After 3 months without internet at home, I finally got the connection yesterday, after fighting with the streamyx technical support for 3 previous sleepless nights. I collected a dubious looking modem from their agent's shop and I couldn't connect to the internet. The technical support when called, kept on blaming my notebook which forced me to switch to my daughter's computer and yet still no connection. I told them that there must be something wrong with the modem for the last 3 nights but they insisted that the modem was okay because 'the link light was stable'. I finally shouted to them on the fourth night that their modem was made in Puchong and I wanted a replacement or else. They sent me a new modem yesterday and when connected, I got my internet straight away. Bravo streamyx for making my life and I believe others also, difficult.

With the internet connection working, I hope I will be able to update regularly, I hope.

BETWEEN AUTOCRATIC AND NOT UP TO THE STANDARD

2008-10-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

I had short conversation with a few old friends during tea break today. This one particular friend had been praising the current PM for allowing his ministers to speak out of their mind so freely unlike during the 22 years reign of PM Mahathir. He said PM Mahathir had run his cabinet ministers so autocraticly that nobody were allowed to speak.

Hmmm.... this particular friend must be a true believer of Malaysiakini, a convert of Karpalism or idolising the erected Anwar's giant cutout statue in Batu Caves.

Please bear in mind that during PM Mahathir reign, non of his cabinet ministers ever come close to his standard. During the cabinet meetings, most of them couldn't answer the questions thrown by Mahathir to them. They couldn't speak up because either they were not prepared of they were caught wrong footed.

Those days when Singapore was still in the Federation, there were 8 maverick MPs from Singapore. They were very smart and very sharp, and of course one of them was Lee Kuan Yew. The only MPs that can argue with them were Dr. Mahathir and Dr. Ismail (the late Tun Dr. Ismail).

Ask if any of the present cabinet ministers to be at par with Dr. Mahathir, Dr. Ismail and Lee Kuan Yew. The answer is none.

So, if you could not even come close to the standard of Tun Dr. Mahathir, don't blame him if you could not speak up your mind to him.

LOOSE ENDS

2008-09-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

I am already back in KL for good and it is already for more than a week now. What a hectic life. It started with getting the children to school immediately a day after touched down while staying in a hotel for almost a week. Followed by searching for a house to rent in a few different locations. Fighting with traffics. Getting lost on the road (this is the worst part). Setting up phone and utilities accounts. Fasting month. All in all I have lost more than 5 kg. Not bad at all.

Now for the loose ends.

1. September 16 Just Passed By

The famous 'Black-Eyed September' ten years ago is not being remembered at all. September 16, 2008 just passed without being noticed. The so called new government is not happening. His credibility is tarnished. Has he got the froggy MPs? Yes, I believe he got the names. But just the names. Has he got the signed declaration by these MPs? The answer is of course no. Has he got the signed declarations, he would have paraded them and rally in a big way to the parliament and the King. Now he is in a face saving mode. Plan number one, request the PM to convene parliament emergency sitting, to put forward the motion of no confidence to the PM himself. What a joke. Can you imagine the PM is calling the parliament's emergency sitting to remove himself.

Plan number two to go to the King. This is the biggest face saving tactic. Of course we can expect the King to advise him not to go ahead with his plan for sake of national interest. He will play this to his advantage. He will heed to the King's advise and will not to go ahead with his plan in the name of full respect to the King. His face is saved, hoping that nobody would notice.

Just wait and see.

2. The World's Financial Crisis

The new Finance Minister declared that the re-pegging of the Ringgit is not necessary at the moment. He added that the Malaysian economy is resilient and has a little exposure to the US subprime financial crisis. This is quite true due to the fact that Malaysian banks unllike Singapore, do not practice selling and re-selling over and over again the mortgage papers, letters of guarantee, junk bonds and a lot more financial derivatives which became cancerous to the US financial system (imagine selling and re-selling the same papers for so many times, it is just like a 'Pak Man Telo' or 'Labu Peram' get rich schemes) . Although worried of the domino effect to the Malaysian economy, Tun Mahathir must be laughing to the US right now because he had predicted the scenario much earlier, but nobody bother to listen to him.

Successful US technologies like Microsoft, HP and many more are buying back their stock in a big way. Microsoft is spending US$40 billions for this buyback scheme. Good for them as they are buying back their stock at the low price at present. They are actually protecting their interest. Successful Malaysian companies should do the same as their counters are traded so cheap in the KLSE. For those who has cash, I think this is the time to buy these oversold shares in the KLSE. Most good counters are traded more than 50% below their actual value.

THE STORY OF FOUR PEOPLE

2008-08-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

It happened in almost every workplace, mine included. This is an old story about four people:

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.

Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about it because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that.

Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.

HOME SWEET HOME

2008-08-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks I will be home for good. Should be there in the middle of Ramadhan and I will have Aidil Fitri in my hometown. It is not the Aidil Fitri that really matter to me, but seeing my mother is that I am looking forward so much. My mother has been sick for quite some time and I have been away for almost 9 years. Yes I am guilty for being away for so long and I am going to make amend to that. I am looking forward to see my mother in every available weekends that I have.

I also missed the lake just behind my mother's house and I look forward to bring my youngest girl fishing whenever we are there.

Home, here I come.

GOLF, NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN

2008-06-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to play golf, but I have never made an attempt to start. In 2002 when I was on duty trip to Cairo, I met by previous boss who did his best to talk me to start taking up golf. Despite my natural interest for golf, I still couldn't bring myself to the game. Probably I just don't want to leave my two girls in the weekends as golf could take the entire Saturday or Sunday.

But last week for some unknown reason, I bought a second hand golf set. I got a good friend to bring me to the driving range and he taught me and the Mrs to swing. He is good, probably by being a single handicapper and a regular tournaments leader. As for my swings, not too bad for a beginner. It cost £4.00 for 60 balls, not a bad price at all.

For the unknown reason, I think I have to blame it on the Wii console that I bought a few weeks ago. Golf looks so easy in Wii. The girls and I managed to get load of birdies and quite some eagles. But in the real golf, to hit the ball correctly is so difficult. I just learned that at the driving range.

Well let see if I am going to stick for the golf in Wii or golf in the real world.

In the meantime, do enjoy this video, forwarded by a friend, again. Korean trade unions struggle is a weird passion and the character fits that passion well.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

2008-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

I went for a lunch with an old friend recently. Having a good time and caught-up with some good old days stuff that day. The thing that I am writing here is not about my good old friend or about the good old time stuff, but the manner how we are dealing with the ruthless or arrogant waiters or waitress who served us.

On this particular day, not only the waiter brought the wrong order, but he had refused to admit his mistake and responded to us in a very rude manner. I wanted to have my order changed and I wanted to see the manager. At this point my friend stopped me from getting the new order, but he let me see the manager. He said he will explain later on why he didn't want me to have my food changed.

At our request, the manager saw me and he apologised. He even offered me the new plate with the correct order, but my friend told him that we are okay with the present food. Since I was not changing for a new plate, the manager offered me half price for the food that afternoon. Not bad at all.

At coffee my friend told me that he was once worked as an assistant chef in one of the pubs in KL. He told me that he was in the same situation while working there. Being busy and tired, they, the people at the back kitchen did not like complains from the manager and most of the time the cook would spit in the replacement plate before being delivered to the complaining patron. I was shocked. Now I know why he refused to let me have my replacement order.

A lesson learnt that day. Do not let our food to be prepared at the mercy of other people who we do not come to term with.

Anyway, please enjoy this video, forwarded by a friend. You probably have seen it anyway.

HOW TO BEAT THE FUEL PRICE HIKE? GROW A LOT OF BANANAS AND SELL THE LEAVES

2008-06-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time on one lazy Sunday afternoon, I asked the Mrs. to make some 'lepat pisang' and in response she asked me to go to Wing Yip to get some banana leaves. So, off I went to buy the illusive banana leaves, the item that is reserved only for the the rich and famous.

In Wing Yip, the banana leaves were sold in the vegetable section, hidden among the 'kangkungs' and the long beans. Grabbed a packet and straight I went to the cashier. The taste of the freshly steamed 'lepat pisang' to go with the afternoon tea is already in my mind. The cashier scanned the packet and looked at me. 'Sir, the price is £4.82, do you still want it' she asked. I almost jumped. The last time I bought banana leaves there, the price was between £1 to £2. This time the price was more than double. But without the banana leaves I won't have my 'lepat pisang' that afternoon. So I just closed my eyes and paid £4.82 (RM30) for 575 grams of banana leaves.

Back home the Mrs asked, 'how much?'. I replied, 'macam biasa je'. So I got my lepat pisang that day. I felt like eating the 'lepat' together with all the banana leaves when thinking the exorbitant price that I had paid.

But what to do. If you want something, you just have to pay for the price.

BLOGGING CROSSROAD

2008-06-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

When I started blogging, I just wanted to write about the good old days and a few experience in trading in stock market. Only lately I started writing about some political situation in Malaysia, which I slowly found to be petty and boring. Issues brought by the opposition are petty, response by the ruling coalition are petty and highlights by a few bloggers are also petty. I don't have to add myself and my blog to the list and therefore I will try not to write about politics anymore.

God bless our country.

THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN. ACT 1 - KHALID IBRAHIM, TERESA KOK AND THEIR PIG FARM

2008-04-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

Khalid Ibrahim and Teresa Kok had proudly announced the development of the biggest pig farm in the country, probably the biggest in the South East Asia. It is very clear that they are implementing the concept of ‘Malaysia Boleh’ that was incepted by Mahathir Mohammed quite some time ago, which made me wonder if there is any different between the BN and the PR. The pig farm is claimed to set an example for other states in Malaysia to follow. Wow, a grand PR vision, probably bigger than Vision 2020.

Well now it is clear that the first priority of the PR government is to have a mega modern pig farm and Selangor is taking the lead. Probably more to come when Anwar becomes the Prime Minister.

The play will become more interesting soon when the reaction of the local residence fell into deaf ears of the PR leaders. If they don’t listen, they too would become just like the BN, out of touch with the people.

The next time Teresa having a roast party, please don’t forget to invite Anwar Ibrahim, Khalid Ibrahim and all the Tuan Gurus from PAS. The more, the merrier. After all there are a lot more roast to come after the project is completed.

What a circus. A good show Pakatan Rakyat.

IT IS SNOWING IN APRIL

2008-04-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

Last week we had just adjusted our watch to add one hour ahead, for the daylight saving time, which mean spring is already here. But today, yes.... today we have snow fall......... in April? Whatever happened to mother nature. It was not snowing in winter, but it is snowing in spring.

The tulips that came out are covered by snow. I hope the tulips will still be there tomorrow.

The front neighbour's children are playing in the snow. They must be missing the snow for the last whole year. Noticed the little girl with a pink teddy bear, she is cute.

A visitor came by in the snow. This shot is dedicated to Ms. Foxy who despised the 'musang'.

The view of the house from the backyard in snow.

This would be my final year enjoying the snow here.

KLSE, A VERY WEIRD AND STRANGE MARKET

2008-04-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed the behaviour of KLSE lately? Noticed that there are a lot of companies with a good returns, but their share prices are cascading down. MAS has returned to the black, but its share is going down. Air Asia's profit and its fleets are increasing, but its share is going down. Even the house itself, the Bursa Malaysia Berhad has made 123% profit for the year 2007, but its share too is also going down. Likewise to all other profitable companies.

When the rest of the Asian's markets are going up, KLSE is going down. So, what is happening? Is it in any way related to the non-confidence of the government? The political uncertainty? Or Malaysia is no longer attractive politically and economically to the international financial community, which resulted the foreign funds just stop pouring in?

Or because everybody are busy reading Khir Toyo's blog?

A NON RACE-BASED POLITICAL CLIMATE IN MALAYSIA?

2008-03-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Politics in Malaysia has long been dominated by race-based political parties. To be cynical, probably Malaysia is the most racist country in the world where the racial difference and tensions are at the highest hierarchy where people are separated by their race-based political masters. The question now is whether we can have a true non race-based political climate in Malaysia, especially after the shocking outcome of the General Election 2008.

Well, first we have to categorize the percentage of certain ethnicity in a party to determine weather it is a race-based on not. I think we should agree that any party with more that 85% controlled by the specific ethnicity is categorized as a true race-based.

Now, lets have a look at the major political parties in Peninsular Malaysia.

UMNO (100% Malays) – definitely race-based.
MCA (100% Chinese) – definitely race-based.
MIC (100% Indians) – definitely race-based.
PAS (100% Malays) – definitely race-based, hiding behind religious ideology.
DAP (more than 90% Chinese) – definitely race-based, hiding behind democracy and meritocracy ideology.
PKR (probably between 50% to 80% Malays) – lower rank of race-based.

UMNO, MCA and MIC in the National Front admitted that race-based is good and they have proved that they can work together for a long time. They say they have served their race well, until recently proven by the elections result that they are no longer serving their people except for themselves. They are no longer in touch with the people.

The Alternative Front is also race-based. PAS has been saying that they would have the representatives from other ethnicity, while we know very well that the statement is just a mere gimmick. They are all Islam and of course all Malays. DAP is also trying to project that they are multi-racial, and yet their speeches campaign are still in Chinese. Democracy and meritocracy are just an excuse to break the Malays special rights. The alliance of PAS and DAP is actually a marriage made in hell. Sooner or later the cracks will appear and the internal squabble will escalate and hell would break loose. Just wait and see. For a start they just can’t agree on the Perak’s MB as yet.

The best bet is PKR. They are trying to be a non race-based albeit the fact that the majority is still the Malays. They have a term until the next General Election to prove that they are non race-based and to serve all the races. They can have a good start, with Selangor as the most modern state in Malaysia in their hand. Do not mess it up.

Despite all the fiery speeches that all Malaysians are one race and the PKR is serving all Malaysians regardless their race, can PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim guarantee that his party is a true non race-based political party? To have a true non race-based party, can he guarantee that the followings are met?

The Prime Minister to be chosen from any race.
The Malay Special Rights to be abolished.
The Chinese and Indian vernacular school to be abolished and be replaced with a Malaysian school for all. Other than National Language, Mandarin and Tamil to be made compulsory subjects in school.

If he can’t guarantee these, just shut-up. He is no different from all those above.

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, THE FORGOTTEN REPRESENTATIONS IN THE MALAYSIAN ELECTIONS

2008-02-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

So we are going for the 12th General Election on March 8, 2008. The war drums has started. Offensive attacks will begin between ruling coalition and the oppositions. War of posters and war of words will intensify until the day of casting votes. Of course money would flow to fish for votes as what is acknowledged by Khairy Jamaluddin. The general election in Malaysia is just like another festival. People are making money in various ways, bloggers included on the increased traffic to their sites.

But lest we forget, there is another branch of the government, another type of representatives we have not elected since the days of Sukarno’s confrontation on Malaysia, the local government representatives. They are representatives from the posts of the councillors to the highest post of mayors, from ‘Majlis Perbandaran’ to ‘Dewan Bandaraya’, who are being appointed to the throne by the state government. These representatives were once called The Little Napoleons.

When the Prime Minister complained that there are a lot of Little Napoleons in the government agencies, we were unsure which agencies he was referring to. He did not mentioned the local government straight away to avoid arousing people to pressure the government to re-enact local government elections again. But everybody knows that it was the local government representatives that make the biggest bulk of these Little Napoleons, his very own.

Originally elections in Malaysia exist at three levels, national, state and local level. National level elections are for the membership of the lower house of the Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat, state level elections are for the membership in the various State Legislative Assemblies and local level for the membership of local, town and city councils. Unfortunately the local government elections were suspended after the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1964. The suspension was never lifted and instead made permanent under the Local Government Act 1976. Under the Act, or laws of individual states where relevant, local government members are appointed by the state government, mostly by the respective Chief Ministers.

Why local elections would not be brought back? The answer is very simple, the ruling government knows from the worldwide experience that the oppositions tend to dominate the councils as the electorate desires for checks-and-balances on them. They would never allow this to to happen and they know very well that they are in control as amendments of the Local Government Act 1976 to re-enact local government elections would require constitutional two third majorities in the parliament, an advantage that they always have. Cost factor was added that holding additional elections are expensive affairs, to discourage its revival.

Do we really need local elections? The answer is a big yes. I pay all sorts of taxes and local taxes ranging from council tax, assessment tax, land tax and etc. I do not want an appointed representatives messing around with my money. I want to elect my own representatives to handle my money and provide the services that I deserve. I do not want Zakaria Mat Deros’s saga to happen again and I definitely do not want the Bukit Cerakah ecological destruction to repeat again, a blame I point direct to these appointed 'Little Napoleons'.

I do not want the appointed local representatives. I want the elected local representatives, elected by the people and answerable to the people. If they do not do their job, be sure they won’t be elected by the people in the next term. I do not care much about the national and state level representatives, they are not handling our daily affairs, they are useless anyway.

Ironically, none of the oppositions fought for revival of the local elections in their manifestos, none heard from Anwar Ibrahim, to my greatest frustration. Probably he will appoint his very own Little Napoleons, if he ever gets the top job.

LOOKING FOR FREE PDF CONVERTER

2008-02-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

I am in a dire need of a pdf converter and I was told by my IT friend that I can get a free version of it in the internet. So the search began. After wasting so much time, I still couldn't get the free version that I was looking for. The price of the paid versions ranging from US17.00 to US250.00.

I am now turning to my friends in the blogging world, if anybody out there know where to get the free and good version of pdf converter. Please let me know ya guys.....

THE WACKY BUS DRIVERS

2008-01-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

Wacky Bus Driver #01

Route KL/Kajang, via old Kajang Road, sometime during a weekend while I was still a student. I used to visit my sister in Kajang. My brother in-law worked as an officer in Kajang Prison. I visited them from KL almost every weekends to see my favourite one year old niece. Just love my niece so much that made me took the trips although sometimes my pockets run dry for the bus fare.

I found KL/Kajang bus drivers rather strange those days. They drove the bus like they owned the bus company. Most of the time they stop the bus in front of their house and their wife and kids would run to the bus to deliver their packed meal. Got used to it and it didn't bother me at all.

But in one my KL/Kajang trips, one of the driver took things to a bit too much. In this particular incident, a few naughty boys in the bus were disturbing a girl. The girl screamed at the boys a few times and the bus driver couldn't stand it anymore. He stopped the bus and went to the boys, scolded and warned them not to disturb the poor girl, or else. Because of the sheer size of the bus driver, the boys were afraid and stopped disturbing the girl. Along the journey, the boys got off the bus one by one until the last of the naughty boy left.

Finally the last boy pressed the buzzer which mean he was going off the bus and that will be the end of the misery of the girl, the other passengers and the bus driver. When the bus stopped, at the door, the boy gave the bus driver the F words (Malaysian version of F words), spitted on his face, jumped off the bus and ran away into the village.

The bus driver got off the bus and gave the boy a chase. After a few minutes both of them disappeared amongst the village houses.

The bus engine was still running and everybody thought he would be back very soon and all of us would be back on our way. Well he did not return after five minutes, and okay he might be coming back very soon. Ten minutes later we were still waiting, there was no sign of him. Now all of us were getting restless. A few other later busses passed us already. The big question mark was, is he ever coming back to continue the journey?

Finally. the bus driver came back after twenty minutes, cursing under his breath, then got on to the bus and started to drive towards Kajang.

There was no doubt either he didn't get the boy or he was whacked by the boy's father.

Wacky Bus Driver #02

Route KL/Kelang via Subang Jaya. Sometimes during a weekday when I started working. I took KL/Kelang via Subang Jaya bus. That was the best way to commute for me as I can't afford to buy a motorbike, let alone to buy a car. I was renting a flat near the municipal council football field with a few friends.

The KL/Kelang bus drivers behaved differently. They thought they were the Formula One drivers. They sped the bus immediately from stand still, braked heavily when approaching traffic light or stopping and took a very sharp corners. You would definitely swerved left and right heavily and you had to hold to anything you can hold.

In this particular incident, it was rainy and I was in the bus on my way home to Subang Jaya from work. The bus was a bit packed and there was this passenger, a huge lady standing and holding an umbrella. One of the passenger, a nicely dressed gentleman offered his aisle seat to her and she took it with thanks.

And as usual the bus driver did his thing, speeding and swerving the bus. It was kind of cool as I can see that this huge lady swerved along. Probably she was enjoying the Formula One bus. I was seating two seats behind her.

When the bus was approaching Subang Parade after exiting Federal Highway, the driver took a very sharp corner. In such a sharp swerve, the lady lost control and fell on her bump on to the aisle. She composed her cool and climbed back to her seat. I could see that everybody in the bus were about to laugh, but they held back. The driver saw what had happened in his mirror and I could see that he was worried. One can expect an extreme reaction from the lady, but she just kept her cool and behaved as nothing had happened. By this time the driver slowed down and tried to behave in his driving.

After a few corners, the lady pressed the buzzer and the driver stopped the bus. When she walked towards the door the whole bus were quiet. Everybody must had expected an outburst to the driver from the lady, but she walked to the door elegantly with a sweet smile. Nevertheless, the bus driver looked panic.

Just before she exited the bus, ADOII......... the bus driver yelled. She had whacked the bus driver with her umbrella and walked elegantly exiting the bus.

By now the whole bus bursted into laughter. Served the bus driver right.

MOVE ASIDE LEWIS HAMILTON

2008-01-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is the Formula 1 multi-team fastest time test result in Jerez, Spain for 3 days ending 16th January 2008:

Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:19:503
Kimi Raikonnen (Ferrari) 1:19:708
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:19:772
Nico Rosberg (Williams) 1:19:775
Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:19:779
Heiki Kovalainen (McLaren) 1:19:780
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:20:099

After the dust of 2007 Formula 1 settled, Lewis Hamilton was hailed by the British media as though he had won the 2007 championship albeit the fact that he was beaten fair and square by the worthy champion, Kimi Raikonnen. He was also projected by the media to win the 2008 championship.

Looking at the result above, I don't think Lewis Hamilton will walk away as the 2008 champion. He would eventually have a tough time with his team mate Heiki Kovalainen, just like what he had given Alonso in 2007.

My best bet for 2008 champion would still be Alonso and Raikonnen. I would also expect the unexpected good showing by Massa, Rosberg, Piquet, Kovalainen and Glock.

As for Hamilton, just watch out for the guys above and for the unreliablility of McLaren car. Raikonnen did't win the 2003 and 2005 championships because of the unreliability issues when he was with McLaren.

Hamilton choked out in 2007 also because of the same issue.

Sorry, my money is not on you Hamilton.

TRADING BASED ON RUMOURS OR TRADING BASED ON RESEARCH?

2008-01-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

Before I start with anything, I would like to welcome a long time friend to the 'trading club'. He knows this message is for him when he reads this. Welcome to the club bro.

Well..... I received a text from the other fellow investor a few days ago, 'knapa x beli uemworld leh buat duit le beb n hubline, gtronic beli le cepat'. I replied , 'pasal hubline leh naik?'. He responded, 'Sbb lama tak gerak n business dia v good this year.'

Hmm.... and so I texted my remiser to buy 35 lots. A small investment to that counter considering I am not going to dump all my money on this one. This counter is not even in the 20 counters that I tracked. I bought because I trust my friend and he is an experience investor. He took a lot of market rumours seriously and so far he gained a lot out of it. He took a lot of bold transactions too which I don't even consider. I target medium term investment for this counter, between 3 to 6 months and let see how it goes. At present it is going down.... *sigh*. Even if I am not going to make money on this counter, it is alright for me. I just want see if my friend's hunch is working.

I have changed my investment strategy recently. I am putting my money in a few counters instead of one counter like I used to do before. I researched the 20 counters that I tracked. The capital, the profit and lost, the shareholders etc. I have a good idea at what price to buy and what price I should sell. I am waiting for market shocks, and I would go in and buy. Shocks normally happen a few times in a year. You just can't believe the price of a good counters drop down rapidly at that time.

Just let see what 2008 would land me in.

MY WEBSITE VISITORS COUNTER

2008-01-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

Dang....... my website counter gave up on me. It just stop and I have to put a new one, starting from zero again. I have got more than 2000 hits (wooo this is a lot for a small time blogger like me) and I have to start all over again.

C'est la vie.

Something just gave up without you even realize it.

Not that I really need the counter. But seeing the numbers adding-up is fun actually.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008

2007-12-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2008 to all whoever visited my blog. I admit my posting's graph is going down at the moment. I hope it will go up in 2008.

To my favourite bloggers akula, azwan, cosmic gurl, dnas, da winged acrophobic, jules, kuzza, uba and redhead (.... and I am sure the list will grow in 2008 and beyond), I wish you guys all the best 2008 could offer.

The same wish goes to whoever visited my blog.

THE DOOMED FLIGHT BA 149

2007-12-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard the doomed flight BA 149?

I bet you have never heard of it.

Well it was a flight from Heathrow bound to Kuala Lumpur, refuelling in Kuwait City on the night of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.

This is a chilling story of the victims of a covert MI6 mission that used British Airways flight 149 on the night of the start of the first Gulf War on August 1st 1990. It was a mission that then went badly wrong, delivering 367 civilian passengers into the hands of Saddam’s Republican Guard. In a traumatic and long-lasting ordeal, they were taken hostage and dispersed to allied targets in Kuwait and Iraq as part of Saddam’s human shield. An attendant was raped by Iraqi soldiers. BBC had reported it as an ill-executed covert MI6 mission at the start of the first Gulf War, The Secret of British Airways Flight 149, has been broadcast on BBC2

BA 149 was secretly used at the 11th hour by an MI6 operation to get a covert unit of former Special Forces men and Intelligence Officers into Kuwait for the purpose of gathering intelligence ahead of Saddam’s looming invasion of Kuwait.

No-one would ever have known of the mission had the plane completed its re-fuelling and departed. But there was a major miscalculation. Saddam’s tanks had crossed into Kuwait earlier than predicted on the morning of August 2nd and met little opposition. As they sped towards Kuwait City BA 149 was still three hours away from landing. But while other flights were diverted from Kuwait City International Airport, BA 149 was not. It was a race against time - a gamble with the fate of 367 passengers and 18 crew at stake - a gamble that MI6 seemingly were prepared to take to get their secret unit into Kuwait.

Me and the Malaysian Passengers

Malaysia was not an enemy to Iraq and due to that fact all Malaysian passengers were handed to the Malaysian Embassy in Kuwait and they were then transported to the Malaysian Embassy in Baghdad. To cope with the big number of refugees, the Malaysian Embassy in Baghdad requested all Malaysians in Baghdad to house some of Malaysian passengers of Flight BA 149. As for me, some of the female passengers stayed in my house before arrangement made to send them out of Iraq.

As a bachelor that time and I was pampered by the ladies during that short period. Twenty of them stayed in my house ranging from 4 years old girl to 65 years old grandma. My house were cleaned, the marble floors were so shiny, no dust, the curtains cleaned and I had hot and good food everyday when I returned home from work. It was heaven. They even wore my clothes because they were handed 'sehelai sepinggang' to me. A chinese girl student wore my 'kain pelikat' everyday.

After one week all my 'dayangs' had to leave. The Malaysian Embassy had arranged busses to trasport all stranded Malaysians to Amman, Jordan and a chartered flight flew them home to KL. They cried before they leave. They gave me presents which I kept in good condition. A paper weight from a student is still on my work desk today. The grandma asked me to visit her in the UK.

When they left I felt so lonely. My house back to its usual mess and no more hot food waiting for me when I returned home from work.

God, I missed them.

WHATEVER HAPPENS TO OUR STOCK MARKET?

2007-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

My Ms. Pretty remiser texted me a few days ago.
"Our msian gov is not helping our mkt wt the announcement of proton".

I replied.
"The present leadership memang tak market friendly pun. So many market unfriendly issues. How are you?"

She texted back.
"Our leaders r very dumb. They r just not thinkin bout msian welfare. Cakap aje byk. Im ok., just angry wth d govt thats all"

Well.... I can smell it that the people in the market are becoming more and more restless. They want to see some market friendly moves. Issues of failure to get Proton's foreign partner, Bersih Rally, Hindraf Rally, VK Lingam saga, wasting money on Angkasawan and so many more are damaging our reputation and our market.

Our government's damage control failure is hurting the market. Just admit it.

I am pulling my money from the market, at a lost, as for now. Cash is King, but stock market is not. At least for now.

OF A KELANTANESE, A SRI LANKAN, A MOROCCAN, A MALAYSIAN WHO NEVER LEFT UK AND CHEF WAN

2007-11-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

It had just been reported to me yesterday that Chef Wan is in London for some TV show and interviews with a few magazines. And of course a few non-profit organizations will seize this opportunity to haul him for some cooking demonstration in the pretext of charity drive.

One confusion yesterday will definitely made his day. The organizer, a Kelantanese lady requested for a transport for Chef Wan from his rented apartment to the location. The request was made to a Sri Lankan supervisor who is in charge of transport arrangements.

Her request sound like this "Karunanithi please send a driver to pick the CEH".

The Sri Lankan then called the drivers room and a driver "Mohammed please go to this address, go to apartment 24 and collect a CHEAR".

The driver then asked "How many chairs". The supervisor said "Only one". The driver responded "I need a messenger to come with me because there is no parking at that address. I cannot leave the car. The messenger can go up the apartment a collect the chair"

The supervisor said "Bring Mat Salleh then". Mat Salleh is a Malaysian, born in the the UK and cannot speak even a word in Bahasa.

So both of them left for the address. When they arrived Mat Salleh went into the building, passing Chef Wan who was standing there and rang the apartment.

"I lived here" said Chef Wan. "Oh hello" said Mat Salleh, "I am here to collect the chair".

"It the chef, not a chair" said Chef Wan, "and I am the Chef". "No" said Mat Salleh, "I suppose to collect a chair".

By now Chef Wan had heated up. Not only they were late, now they want to carry him as a chair to the car.

Mat Salleh called the Sri Lankan supervisor informing that there was no chair there, but an angry-looking guy who kept on repeating that he is the chef. The supervisor then called the lady Kelantanese organizer for clarification only to find out that it was actually a chef to be picked up, not a chair.

On his way to the location, Chef Wan grumbled in his usual Cik Kiah style while both the Moroccan and Malaysian just kept silence.

He will probably tell this tale in one of his show later, I guarantee......

THE MALAYSIAN CURRENCY CRISIS, HOW AND WHY IT HAPPENED - A SUGGESTED READING

2007-11-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Well,well. Do you think that I am going to suggest a newly published book to read? Maybe later, but this time I would like to suggest you to read The Malaysian Currency Crisis by the former Malaysian PM.

For those who have not read this book, I suggest you to go and get one. It explains what is the Asian Currency Crisis 1997-1998 all about and how wrong the decisions made by the former DPM cum Finance Minister which almost brought us to total collapse.

Ironically I haven't heard a single refute from the former DPM nor his famous threat to bring the former PM to court on the issues raised in the book. Or probably there were that missed my attention. Or there were none to bring the whole truth from his viewpoint.

I finished reading the Malaysian Currency Crisis in one day (it is a small thin book anyway). I had read this book afew times over and over again.

I had also read Anwar Ibrahim's Asian Renaissance. I read up to 6 pages, closed the book and kept it in my bookshelf until today. Never open it again.

The self-proclaimed Renaissance Man just couldn't come close to the stature of the Grand Old Man or a Statesman to be exact.

... AND HERE IT IS, ANOTHER SUB-PRIME CRISIS

2007-11-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Right after the rattle of sub-prime mortgage crisis seems to subside, another sub-prime menace is already here, waiting for us in the horizon. This time a much bigger sub-prime crisis, the credit cards debts estimated at US$915 billions. We will have to accept it now that the US is heavily indebted. The Americans are living their 'American Dreams' on the borrowed money. Unlike the Euros, the US dollar is not back-up by gold reserves. It is back-up by the words 'In God We Trust'. It is a matter of time the crisis in the US would burst wide open. When thats happen, we will go down the drain with them.

On top of that, the petrol price is keep on rising, as a result of weak US Dollars. Petrol price is quoted in US Dollars in the world market and if you remember Dr. Mahathir had many times suggested for petrol to be traded in the Euros, a suggestion that fell into deaf ears. Now we are paying for the price.

I filled up my car this morning and got shocked that the price today is £1.01 (around RM7.00) per litre. It was £0.69 when I arrived in the UK. A more than 40% increase. So brace yourself for an evitable rise of gasoline price in Malaysia, which is happening very soon or latest right after the anticipated General Election.

A PRICELESS GIFT

2007-10-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

My definition of priceless is something that money cannot buy. Eventhough I have the money but if there is no price on the thing I wanted to buy, I still couldn't buy it. And so I have this gift, such a priceless which I keep very close to me.

I lived in Iraq quite sometime ago, during the time when Saddam Hussain was alive. I can say that from a few Arab countries that I had visited, Iraq is the most special of all. Iraqis look rough, just like any other Arabs, but they are the nicest Arabs to me. I travelled to Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Morocco (although Egypt and Morocco are in the North Africa, but they are also of Arabs stock) and Iraq and its people are always close to my heart.

Iraq is a land of plenty. No only she hold the second oil reserve in the world, but the land there is so fertile with Tigris and Euphrates river run accross her. For me Iraq should be one of the richest country in the world. But alas, like being cursed for hundred of years, life in Iraq remained difficult as though being damned by the curse of the black gold she owned.

History had shown how the ancient Iraqis had repelled the Roman Empire. I won't be a surprise if they can still repel the Americans and the British in the present time.

While I was there I befriended this old man whom I called Baba Aziz. He was the head of the community where he lived, at the outskirt of Baghdad. I was going out socially with his daughter, well as a friend, but not as a special, although in the beginning I had this idea to have her special. The Iraqis like to bring their friends home and I was introduced to her family, to her father. He introduced himself as Aziz and I called him Baba Aziz since.

I was amazed by his fluency in English, nothing compared to my broken language. A very polish and respected gentleman. He was 63 years old that time. We spend hours talking everytime we met. I didn't have to talk much because there was so much to hear from him, the great civilization of Babylon, the cradle of mankind and many more things about Iraq. All I had to do just lent my ears. I learnt that old folks will love you if you just be a good listener. Thats what I did best. There was so much experience to share from him.

Whenever I go to see him, I will bring a carton of Malboro cigarettes, although I am not smoking. His daughter had warned me not to bring cigarettes to him, but she could not say much as her father was so happy to have my company and nobody will stop him from smoking while I was around. He told me that he just want to smoke as there is not much left for him in his life anyway.

One thing about Baba Aziz, he always hold a tasbih (prayer bits)and this one particular tasbih has never left his hand. It looked like being made from a rough glass.

On one of visit, he held my right hand and put this tasbih into my hand. He asked me to keep it. He told me that this particular tasbih is very special to him and it was made from the windscreen of the Iranian fighter jet that was shot down during the Iran-Iraq war. A piece of the fighter windscreen was given to him by the Iraqi government as an honour because his eldest son, a commander in Iraqi military was captured by the Iranians and he had not heard about him ever since. He sent the piece of the windscreen to the tasbih maker and since then that tasbih has never left his hand.

I told him that I cannot accept that gift as it meant so much to him. He may want to keep it close to him all the time. He insisted and that he had already accepted me as his son and he want me to have it. I was so touched and so honoured to inherit that gift. I finally accepted it.

The new war broke out as a result of Saddam's invasion on Kuwait and I had to leave Iraq. I was in a real rush and I couldn't say goodbye to Baba Aziz. Iraqi telecommunication system was heavily bombarded and I couldn't call Baba Aziz at all after I left Iraq. I had totally lost contact with him.

I do not know his condition now. Is he is still alive in Iraq's present condition. He must have suffered a lot. I pray for him and his family to always be in god's protection.

And I still miss his company so much. I have been keeping the tasbih close to me all the time. A priceless gift that I always treasure.

MALAYSIA'S NEXT TOP MODELS

2007-10-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

No, no. They are not America's or Britain's next top models. These girls (except one) are the newest Malaysia's next top models and they had visited me and my family on the second day of Hari Raya.... :)

No lah. Two of these pretty girls are my nieces. They came all the way from Manchester and Liverpool together with their friends during second Hari Raya to London and visited their long lost uncle. I felt so blessed.

Whats more, they posed under my appple tree too. Now the apple tree also felt so blessed.

And a few of their poses (one below) will surely win awards.

Looking at them, I think they really have a quality to model. Except they are now serious students in various disciplines.

I wish them all the best and one day to contribute to the country.

1 AUGUST 1990

2007-10-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

1st August 1990, a date not to forget.

Gonzalez and I were travelling from Kuwait City to Baghdad. The total distance was 800km and we were travelling by 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero. It was scorching hot at 45˚C, but luckily the car's Japanese made air-conditioned worked very well to that kind of heat. There was a 2km no man's land between Kuwait and Iraq borders, which mean if anything happened to the car after crossing Kuwait border, we wouldn't be getting help from either Kuwaiti or Iraqi authorities before reaching Iraqi border post.

After crossing both borders, we drove on the Iraqi Primary Highway to Baghdad. It was a five lanes very wide highway with an extra emergency lane. A total of six lanes going and six lanes coming back. I had never seen this kind of highway before. Our two lanes North-South Highway would look just like a country road to them. The distance between one filling station to another was 300km and we had petrol stored in jerry can in case we ran out of it. Saddam Hussein had used his oil revenue to build a super Iraqi Primary Highways connecting Baghdad to the borders of Kuwait, Turkey, Saudi and Jordan. I had been in the US and I can guarantee that even the best highways in the US couldn't match these highways. According to intelligent reports, Saddam Hussein would use the highways as a landing airstrip for his military aircrafts during the war.

While on our way we saw a lot of military trucks on the opposite side heading to Kuwait border. It was quite normal to see convoys of military trucks in Iraq. But the number this time were higher than normal. This time they also had the mobile hospitals in the convoys.

We reached Baghdad at almost 8.00pm. I was so tired and slumped myself in bed like a log. Woke up next day just to hear the news that Iraq had invaded Kuwait at the early dawn of 2nd August 1990. A different version of the Iraqi TV had announced that Kuwait had return to Iraq and they were celebrating. Had Gonzalez and I delayed our departure to another day, we might had been caught in the invasion.

As for the military convoys that we had witnessed, to the layman like me there was nothing to be alarmed for these quite normal military movements in Iraq. But for the military experts, they probably would detect something amiss when the mobile hospitals were involved that time.

For me, I was just there, in one part of the history.

THOSE DAYS......

2007-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well those days, ha! ha! ha! For some unknown reason I remembered an incident that had happened in a once upon a time when I was studying in ITM.

I was so skinny those days. The side effect of being skinny and unattractive was very obvious, no other than not being able to attract a girl. I got used to it and not having a girlfriend was quite okay to me. I knew my look very well, it was so pathetic and I better stay away from trying to market myself, it won't sell.

But one night, my luck was about to change. I had borrowed my friend's motorbike to go to the library that night. Those days the students do not need to have a license to ride motorbike in ITM. When the library closed, I rode back slowly to my hostel, enjoying the night breeze. Half way I saw a girl waving in front of me. I looked behind me and there was nobody there. The girl was definitely waving for me. I stopped the bike near her and I can see that she was very beautiful. She smiled and asked me if she can have a ride to her hostel. I was very delighted and obliged straight away.

She climbed to the motorbike and I rode slowly towards the girls hostel. I started asking her name, her course, her year and lots of questions. She was so friendly and asked quite a lot of questions about me too. It seemed that she was interested in me and I felt good.

The ride was actually very slow but it seemed so fast to me. Well when you are in a company of a beautiful girl, of course time just fly. When we reached her hostel, she climbed down the motorbike and thanked me. Smiled and she dropped a bombshell. She told me that she was desperate for the ride because she urgently need to go to the toilet. She thanked me again, told me that she already had a boyfriend and ran quickly inside. I paused and was gutted, but I took it easy.

On my way back to my hostel, I couldn't stop thinking on why she hadn't been frank on her misery. Had she been frank, I would have sent her as fast as I could and saved her from all the suffering she had to endure on holding it on my slow ride. I would surely rush probably to save my friend's motorbike in case she couldn't hold it.

And why she had to tell me that she already had a boyfriend? The answer I had probably she want to make it clear to me in case I bumped to her again later. Girls.... I really don't understand them.

BETWEEN LAZINESS AND FASTING

2007-10-09T13:20:00.001-07:00

I really do not know, is it laziness or is it fasting. I have been so slow in everything during Ramadhan. The first casualty is my garden. The grass is not mowed and the fallen leaves is not raked. Hari Raya is coming and my guests will peek to the garden and they will wonder on what happen to it. If they ever ask, I will say that the gardener is 'mogok'.

It is a few more days to Hari Raya and I hope I still can do something to it.

Oh ya... by the way I got some apples in the garden. But, still... is it laziness or Ramadhan? I just leave the apples there. Should make a good pie if I have a little effort. Let see after Raya if they would turn to pies.

HARI RAYA ABROAD, ONCE AGAIN ON THE SAME NOTE

2007-10-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

This year would be my fifth Raya in London, again on the same note. So sad actually when calling my mother on Raya eve. She will ask again if I can come home for Raya. And again I couldn't come home. I don't have the privilege of having 5 days leave like some people. So I am doomed here for Raya...tsk...tsk... tsk...

The Malaysian Ambassador will hold an open house again this year. A yearly event that is much awaited by the Malaysian community in the UK. A huge tent would be erected in his beautiful garden. Malaysians from all walks of life will come and I am included. I hope he will call a 'bomoh hujan' because I think it will rain this time as the weather is changing.

If Raya falls on the weekend, which it defnitely is, a huge crowd is anticipated. I better go there early, I don't want to miss ketupat, rendang and all....

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI TO ALL. Next year I will return home for good and I am so much looking to it, especially to Hari Raya.

MISS PLAY SAFE AND MR GAMBLER

2007-09-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have two remisers. First is Ms. Pretty from CIMB Securities and the second is Mr. Jerawat Gambler from AM Securities. When asked for advise, both of them give me different views on the same subject matter. When asked about certain counters in the top volume league, Ms. Pretty always shy away from counters like Iris or Keladi. She said these are sydicated counters and she won't even look at them. She said these are companies of no value and punters buy and sell just to make short term gain. She prefer counters like Bursa, Maybank, Tenaga, Digi and the likes. Mr Gambler meanwhile always ask me to play margin (he uses term play rather than invest), like buying Iris at 0.235 and sell at 0.24 or 0.245 in the same day and take profit from the lower commission charged.

I think as a woman, Ms. Pretty always follow her maternal instinct which result of her being so protective over my investment. I wanted to buy Bursa in one low time at price of 8.50 and she asked me to wait for the next day afternoon as the price was going down. The price drop was actually stop at 8.50 and started to climb. In the next few days it went up to 11.80. I didn't make profit for that particular time. Again recently I wanted to buy Tebrau at 1.21 and she asked me to reconfirm a few times which made me change my mind. Tebrau went up to 1.33 the next day and another boat missed.

For Mr. Gambler, he always want to risk my investment. If I ever give him the authority over my investment, I either be very rich by now or very poor. I gave him a free hand once to do margin trading and I lost RM8K at margin call after 3 days for DBhd. Probably he didn't sell after Dbhd slided a little bit which made me lost RM1K. Thinking it may go up before the margin call, he didn't sell for 3 days and there my RM8K flew away. I didn't blame him. He probably did that in a good faith got caught in a diffucult situation. It is me to be blamed as I gave him a free hand.

I changed my strategy after that. No more free hand. I seek their advise and I didn't really follow what they say. I make my own market research and decide on the counters that I wanted to track. I study the fair prices of their shares. If their prices go down much below than their fair value without a good reason, then I will buy. It is not a difficult job. This always work and I have recouped all my previous losses. In investing, I am always learning. There will always be a new situation that I have to deal with.

I don't think Ms Pretty and Mr. Gambler have all the time to track a a few counters like what I did. I bet they have so many clients who do not track the same counters that I tracked. They look at hundreds counters everyday and my counters may not even show in their radar.

So the best option for me, just make my own decision regardless what they say. So far it works.

CASH IS KING

2007-09-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Asian Financial Crisis 1997-1998, I was in KL. Our stock market went down to the drain. Good and strong companies suddenly became so cheap to own. I was attracted to Maybank, the price went down to RM2.87 from the peak of RM20++. What a great bargain, couldn't get it in a lifetime. But, alas.... I have no money. I did have a little saving of RM30K and it was for my running budget, I couldn't touch it.

I knew that I need RM200K and I will be on my way to be a multi millionaire. But I don't have RM200K.

Maybank went up to RM15 after the dust of Asian Financial Crisis settled. That RM200K should have been above RM1 million already.

So I miss the biggest boat ever, just because I don't have that 'King'.

FAREWELL SWEET NURIN

2007-09-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

I bid you farewell Nurin Jazlin. The previous world had been so cruel to you. In your new world, the angels will look after you and nobody would harm you again.

Rest in peace.

HOW COULD YOU DISPUTE A DNA TEST

2007-09-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

So it is Nurin after all.... My anger and sorrow are beyond words.

Although it is difficult to dispute a result of a DNA test, I still go for a second test. Probably another one after that. And another one....

If it happens to me, I will never accept that reality.....

FIND NURIN JAZLIN

2007-09-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

I am posting this after reading Akula's post and appeals on Nurin.

I pray for Nurin to be found safe and alive. I feel the suffering of her parents.

We are now living in the different world compared to 15 year ago, in a scarrier world now to grow our children. I hope she will be found.

As for the other girl who had been sexually assulted and murdered, I join the whole nation mourned. I pray for her to be amongst the angels. I damn the animal who did that to her.

Our march to become an industrialised nation has neglected our social responsibility. We are no longer living in the caring society that we used to live. For this I damn the politicians, policy makers and the local government authorities.

DON'T BE GREEDY

2007-09-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Haven't post for quite sometime now. Not to worry, I don't think anybody is missing me because my blog is a low traffic in a slow lane. On top of that life has been very busy from the start of Ramadhan. A lot of projects have to be finalised within 2 months. Hmmm... looks like I have to work until 9.00pm everyday.

Anyway..... a little news on investment. Well I have been ignoring my remiser for quite sometime and I didn't lock my investment to any counter since, just to be safe in the present time rough seas. She texted me the day before yesterday asking me on what is happening.

I straight replied with a question, "Tebrau berapa?".

She responded "1.16".

I instructed "Buy all my holding for Tebrau" and after 10 minutes she responded "K done at 1.144". Hmmm... a better price. I smiled, maybe duit raya is coming.

The next day I texted her "Berapa dah" and she responded "Ok 1.12". I didn't get what that ok actually means. Ok for for my investment not going down that far? Or ok that it will go up later in the day?. On my way to office, when I emerged from the tube station, I received a text from her "Tebrau is now 1.21". I quickly responded "Jual all my holding". After 20 minutes she replied "Done @1.22". Well.... I just made 6.64% return for my one day investment.

When the market closed for the day Tebrau closed at 1.29, which means my return would have been 12.76% if sold at that price, a slash of 6.12% when I sold at 1.22.

Well I have taught myself not to be greedy. No investment Guru will recommend buying at rock bottom and selling at the most peak because nobody knows when is the rock bottom and when is the most peak. The return of 6.64% in one day has translated to my duit raya already.

MONDOK

2007-09-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Since I was 16 I had never been to a barber to cut my hair. I cut my own hair. The fact that I can cut my own hair, my service was sought after in time of emergency by my dorm mates. You see, I was in a boarding school and in every Saturday we had this inspection by our warden, who was also the school disciplinary teacher. We must have our bed tidy with a clean bedsheet, clean and tidy locker, wear national dress with the school theme 'samping' and most of all we must have our hair neatly cut. This was where my skill in cutting my own hair made me busy in Friday afternoons. Cutting my friends' hair got me some extra pocket money that I needed most as my my parents couldn't send me much. I did not come from a well to do family.

I had a few regular customers with different hair styles requirement. The one style I could never forget called 'airport runaway' from this particular customer, who was also my good friend. We called him Mondok in school. I didn't know for sure why he was called Mondok, but all of us got our nickname while we were in school. I won't tell mine, it is secret.

On one particular Friday, I was so tired that I went for a nap in my dorm immediately after the school periods were over. I didn't even go for my lunch. I slept like a log. Mondok woke me up at around 5.00 pm and asked me to cut his hair for tomorrow's inspection. I was still groggy but I couldn't say no because I had promised him early in the morning before school. So I started cutting his hair while yawning myself out. Snip... snip.... snip... I was cutting his hair for an 'airport runaway' look. Snip and...... a big.... OOUUCCHH. Mondok yelled and jumped from the chair. I had snipped his right ear. Some blood dripped down and he ran to the sickbay for help.

I didn't charge Mondok for the service. I gave him a free hair and ear cut that day.

$1 AND A DREAM

2007-09-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

I have two collegues who are looking at things in a very different perspective. One is a smoker and the other one is a lottery buyer.

The smoker is not at all into buying lottery. His argument is that the probability for one to strike a winning number is very remote. It is just like a dream and it is a waste of money to buy a lottery. He might as well smoke and make more friends. By smoking he will also fill certain vacuum in his life (to kill boring I suppose). Come to think of it, he is quite right. Smokers will make friends easily. A smoker can easily approached another stranger smoker and asked for a lighter. They have this kind of bond and from there they break the ice and start to have a conversation.

The lottery buyer has a different view. To him smoking is also a waste of money. What he gets just smoke, destroyed lungs and destroying other people lungs. To him by buying a lottery he will get the same satisfaction in smoking. He got this feeling of suspense and excitement while waiting from the time he buys until the time when winning numbers are announced, the same kind of excitement to win a girl's heart. To him he will never get to his dream if he doesn't buy it. Well, come to think of it he is quite right too.

MY FRIEND ISMIT ULAM RAJA.....

2007-09-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

kring.... kring....

"Hello"

"Is that east43street?"

"Well good morning to you too. Yes this is he. Whose on the line please"

"Alloooo east43street, this is me, Ismit lah".

Ismit? My old buddy Ismit? What a pleasant surprise. Haven't heard from him for almost 7 years. It's must be something very important. And where he got my number from??

"I will be coming down to New York in a few days time. I will see you then"

"Is that all Ismit? Just you are coming down to visit me? What a priviledge. Tell me more, what you are up to this time?"

"Nothing lah. Will call you before I depart. Salam to your better half". He hanged up without leaving his number. Just typical Ismit. Always leave me in suspense. It is good anyway. Got to see him after all those years and to catch up the good old times.

Ismit is an entrepreneur. He owns a hard chrome factory in Puchong. Hard chrome is a specialise industry and he is among a few players around. His services are bespoked and have to comply with high Japanese standard micron of hard chroming. He told me once that he can chrome my car sports rim for free. He can even chrome my whole car if I wanted to. Phew.... awesome.

Ismit called again after 2 days. Time is the essence he said. He asked me to check if there was a new airport project completed in Abuja, Nigeria. I was confused. At that time Abuja was named as a new capital of Nigeria, but it was still a desert. He hanged up without leaving his number again. Well... well.... he must have thought that I am James Bond. Give me a little assignment and I will try to follow his trail. Ok, I will pay along. I did a little research and it was confirmed that Abuja was still a bare land. Nothing on it and the Nigerian government will start developing it after a few years. No airport, no nothing in Abuja just yet.

Two days later Ismit called again and this time he told me what it was about. He told me that he is finalising a business transaction and the other party has asked him to choose the venue between London and New York. He chose New York because I am in New York. He also told me that if everything goes well he will loaned me some money to start a new business, a new life probably. Wow! This must be big. Ismit is going big and I am so anxious to know what it is.

He told me that he was being contacted by the Nigerian government project manager handling Abuja International Airport project. The airport was completed and there was an excess of US$15 millions from the project. Ismit was offered 30% of that amount if he agreed to use his bank account to transfer the money out of Nigeria. What Ismit has to do is just provide his company bank account number and issue a fake invoice to the tune of US$15 millions. The format of the invoice would be supplied and Ismit just had to copy it to his letter head.

I told Ismit that there was no airport in Abuja and the fact that Abuja was just being declared as a new capital and it will take years to develop. I was surprised that Ismit did not believe me.

I kept on asking Ismit that there must be a catch to it. Nobody will transfer US$15 millions to a stranger. He finally conceded that he had to pay 0.15% bank transfer fee which will come up to US$22,500. So Ismit will have to pay US$22,500 of bank transfer fee to get his US$4.5 millions. How convenient.

I finally managed to get Ismit to his senses. I warned him that if he ever come to New York for that transaction, I will break his leg. Ismit did not make his trip to New York. Not because I was going to break his leg, but I think because he knew that he was being conned.

According to US government reports, US lost about US$3 billions every year to this kind of scam. The victims rarely report to the authorities because what they are doing is against the law anyway.

Ismit is still himself the last time I saw him. At least he got a dream to be rich for a short while.

JALUR GEMILANG IN LONDON

2007-08-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken on the eve of Merdeka the 50th. I am not sure what year the car is, but I supposed it must be in the 1980's. A VW van tucked with patriotic note to it, 2 Malaysian flags on it and another big one flying in it.

I went to see the owner and asked him about the flags. He told me the big one inside the van has dual purpose. Other than the national pride, it is also to hide the mess in his van. Hmmm..... sambil menyelam minum air.

The van has the resemblance of the transportation of hippies to the Woodstock Concert in 1969.

Somebody was born in 1969, during the height of hippies world. I wonder who???

SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS, AN OPPORTUNITY.

2007-08-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Subprime mortgage crisis in the US.... KLCI went down below psychological 1200 pts. The best time to pick. Seized the moment, so I picked Bursa Bhd counter at RM8.10. It went up to RM10.8. I didn't sell, thinking to sell after it crosses RM11.00. Dow Jones dropped 280 points yesterday and KLCI went down..... I got feverish. So.... sold my Bursa counter at RM9.95. Real profit 22.47%. If sold at RM10.80, should have a return of 33.33%. Well, less profit but no loss here.

Now....sakit hati time!!! Dow Jones rockets back 250 points today. I don't think I can buy Bursa counter at same price RM9.95 when its open in 2 hours. Need to learn where I went wrong.

But at least, I got better return (as for now) compared to ASB of anticipated 7.5% at the end of the year. A 22.47% return in a week in KLSE is not bad at all.

Say if I have RM100K (hypothetically). The above should translate to RM22K odd return in a week. But............. I don't have RM100K. My real return?? Heh... heh... bole la bawak kekawan open table teh tarik aje.

20 TIMELESS MONEY RULES

2007-08-28T04:14:00.000-07:00

Well.... here's more like it, some pieces from the famous investors.

THE AURA MASTER IN LONDON

2007-08-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Aura Master is coming to London. At 65 Pounds (RM455) you will have a 3 course dinner, a signed CD and will be entertained by Mawi on September 4. Not that bad value for money. You can get near to him really.

Well.... sorry I am not his fan. For those going... just enjoy.

LITTLE RULES FOR MY SMALL INVESTMENT

2007-08-27T05:23:00.000-07:00

1) Cash is king.

2) Buy at bear.

3) Sell at bull.

4) Reward your remiser.

Only 4 rules at the moment. Why? Because the investment is still very tiny. Hope to have the momentum and a little luck. It is a long way to join the big boys.

If you have other rules, glad to hear them.

WHAT'S YOUR AURA.......??

2007-08-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

knock... knock....

"Yes...???"

"Inche east43street we have a request to use the conference room today, at 5.15 pm."

"From whom?"

"From a rep of a Malaysian company called Positive Aura" said Johny English. "Shall we allow? It is a for a talk about their product. A health treatment with water."

Water health treatment??? Hmmm.... and they brought water all the way from Malaysia to sell in the UK?? What water has to do with aura. How interesting.

"Just prepare the Conference Romm.... no... no.... arrange in the Dining Hall instead.... and invite everybody by email."

"TQ" Johny English left.

At 5.15 pm all seats were taken at the Dining Hall and in front stood a lecturer-looked person, nicely dressed, assisted by 2 gentlemen and a smart looking lady. On the table in the far corner of the hall I can see a lot of bottled water already arranged. He introduced himself as Dr. Hamid. After a preliminary gestures, he started by a tale how he survived cancer and how water treatment had helped him so much during that process.

So.... he is a cancer survivor.... and he looked so healthy (and merrily down the stream too)... hmmm. I can imagine the expression of my face already. It wouldn't look that good, I knew it. My colleagues had told me a few times already that I am quite transparent. I cannot hide my feeling and it will show clearly on my face. Worst still if I am angry, they wouldn't dare to look at me.

It is so obvious and he sensed my feeling. Then he engaged a defensive mode. "Those who have a negative feeling about this talk don't have to waste your time and mine. You may leave the hall if you want to". WTF!!!! (sorry I borrowed this from En. Akula). I was the one who allowed him to use the hall and now he is trying to kick me out. I can kick him out of the building there and then if I wanted to, but I chose not to let my anger to overcome me and ruined others in the hall good time. I couldn't control my anger once and I lost a very good friend because of that. I looked him in the eyes and imagined how my eyes looked like. He got the signal, he is in other people's house. Better not continue with the attitude or he will be sent out to the street. I think he knew that.

So he continued the talk with a computer projection of an image of a head with blue steam so called positive aura around it. Those who have a positive aura would be able to avoid a lot of sickness, will have a better sex life and for heaven sake he also mentioned of stamina and longer erection in bed. The positive aura can be achieved by drinking regularly the water that he brought. He was betting his water on these. Bye-bye viagra!!!

Rather than having to buy the bottled water lined at the corner, he took out a water filter from a nicely packed box. He explained that this kind of water filter is similar to the natural water filter used by kampung folks those day and produced the right kind of minerals. He even compared to water stored in labu sayong.

So he was not selling water anyway. He was selling water filter actually. A mere salesman. The bottled water being arranged at the corner were just for display or probably to be given away after the talk. And the price of the filter?? A whopping 350 Pound Sterling (closed to RM2450). Similar kind can be found at Subang Parade at price RM500 I think. Wow.... this is what the government wanted.... the business going global. What we have here?? A scammer going global. A scammer terbilang.

He ended his talk with a note that order of the water filter can be made to his assistants. Delivery will take a week. I stood up and about to go when he came and offered me to drink his bottled water. I declined politely and left.

A few weeks later a colleague invited me for a dinner at her home. When I went to clean my hand in her kitchen, I saw a water filter. The same water filter..... My colleague had bought it, at the price of 350 Pound Sterling. From??? ..... who else, Johny English. Johny apparently enrolled to be an agent. I dearly hope my collegue's health will get better from now on. And Johny English.... I will deal with him later.

For me, I regret for not kicking that salesman out of my office building.....

WHERE DID THE BULL AND BEAR GET THEIR NAMES?

2007-08-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Bull and Bear. I'll buy at bear and I'll sell at Bull. But sometimes people get caught buying at bear, only later it become more bearish. Or selling at bull when it is more bullish.

THINKING BIG, LAUNCHING MY VERY OWN BANK

2007-08-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

By now I started to think big. I would like to open my own bank. But how to open a bank? How to start? How to get clients. How to manage it? I did follow my mother to Post Office a few times to see her deposit and withdrawal processes. I looked at the transactions in her passbook. Those days Post Office handled savings passbook. I got the idea already.

First step, I must have a record book, a master record. All clients records must be there. So I bought a ledger type book for recording all my clients transaction there. Then I bought a few 555 books. These would be the savings passbook. I am ready now. But where to get clients??

I love saving money. It is satisfying to see how your savings grow. While in school I admired my friends who can save out of their daily allowance. My brothers and sisters also like to save. Yesss... they will be my clients. I myself had a saving tube made of bamboo and another one of a big Brylcreem bottle (I will blog later on the story of this Brylcreem bottle piggy bank).

My first two clients were my younger brother and sister. I talked them to open an account with me. I promised them that all transactions would be recorded in the ledger-look book and they will have their very own passbook, signed by me in every transaction similar with my mother passbook except without the post office stamp. I guaranteed that their saving would be in the safe hand. I showed them my very own 2 piggy banks that I had (the bamboo tube and the Brylcreem bottle). After some persuasions, both of them agreed to open accounts with me. I have succeeded and I am confident that I will grow big.

After a few weeks I managed to have deposits of more than RM10 from both of my clients. Then tragedy struck. I lost my piggy banks. I lost my money and my clients' money. Somebody must have stolen them. Whatever it was, I will have to take responsibility. I broke the news to my brother and my sister. They immediately ran to my father and told him that I stole their money. They had the 555 savings books with my signature on every transaction. My father went mad. I know he just showed that he was mad, but deep in his heart he must be laughing at the whole thing. Probably he was proud that his son had opened and ran a bank. He paid both my brother and my sister. Then he cut my daily allowance to repay him back. I know he didn't have to do that, but he still cut my allowance just to teach me a lesson.

There goes my bank................. I was 12 back then.

Present day.......

The former BBMB lost money, bankrupt and got bailed in the same way, by PETRONAS. Their money were stolen by politically linked businessmen. So does a few other banks.

ASN

2007-08-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

It started a long time ago. My passion to invest started when the Amanah Saham Nasional launched. I was in school back then. After reading the benefit of investing in ASN, I persuaded my father to open an account. 20% guaranteed return annually was good. Except my father couldn't start with a big amount as he was only working as a driver. He couldn't afford to invest but he opened the ASN investment account anyway. Probably to stop me from nagging at him. He managed to put RM200 at the beginning. When he returned home he chucked the investment book to me. I was ecstatic. The book was so nice and the paper was so good. The book must be expensive. I couldn't wait for the year to end to see how much my father reaps in the dividend. At the end of the year the scheme announced 20% dividend. My father got RM18 only because the investment was not in full year. I was overjoyed.

That was back there then....

THIS BLOGGING THINGY..

2007-08-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

I am new in this... blogging thingy. But I have to start anyway. Learning still. My first post just to say hello..