Summation of year 2009

We have entered the year 2010 and this year, Insya Allah, i'll be 30 (the big 3-0) and i'm telling u, 2009 was a eventual year for me. so many things happened. Both good and bad. i also learn a great deal of knowledge along the way. In summation of these, the things that went on during the year were:-

1. January - My first enrollment to the MBA program at University Malaya (UM). I've always wanted to further my study especially when i know that my qualification is only limited to construction industry. I hate it when everytime i'm thinking of looking for another job, my choices are only limited to construction companies. as i believe that "it's good to have choices" and "life is al about making choices". Therefore, i opt to take MBA.
2. May - The birth of my son, Khaleef Shah Bin Anwarruddin Shah (i know my name kinda spoils it due to its length). The day he was born, i was blissed with blessing from both Allah and families. When i was young, they say that "rezeki anak" is out there once ur baby is born. Though i was struggling to find the logical reason behind it but Alhamdullilah Allah has shown that we, as his servants, as only capable of planning. after all, man proposes, God disposes. And yes "rezeki anak" is pretty much out there.
3. April - The first ever purchase of property for investment purpose. At Melawati. Even though the apartment will only be completed in mid 2011 but nevertheless, when u actually buy ur own property for investment purpose, u tend to value it differently as opposed to ur reason of staying. Special thanx to Nizam (wife's cousin) for guiding me the way and all.
4. December - First ever family holiday with my family after the death of my father, Hezan Shah bin Abdullah. My father passed away on 23rd July 1999. that was 10 years ago. Since then we never had a chance to go to holiday mainly due to our heavy commitments. U see what happened was, we planned for this years ago but never had the chance. Reason was that in 2005,i just only started working. 2006, i went to Germany for the Wacken Festival (refer past entry), 2007 i was getting married and Kak Ainon (sis-in-law) was giving birth to Ayra and 2008, Kharina was giving birth to Khaleef. So ideally, 2009 was the perfect year to go holiday and we did. Kudos to Busu for arranging it in ways that were totally profesional. we even suggested to do this on yearly basis. Insya Allah.
5. February - Price is what u pay, value is what u get. People always get annoyed everytime i say this, but Warren Buffett taught me this via his writings and he has influence me profusely. Therefore having said that, i bought my first ever car for working purpose. Previously i used my sis's car to work right until i got married. I agreed to return the car to her once she got her license and she did on Dec. So on Jan 2009, since Kharina and i go to work separately, i was in dire need of transporation to get to work. Since my previous job required me to travel a lot, and i think it was such a waste to buy and brand new car only to the dispose of my company usage. I decided to buy a second hand car that limited in mileage (but then they told me that they can fixed the mileage) and good in value. I got the Wira 1.5 very cheap after negotiating witht the dealer though they are few things that need to be rectified after that but neverthless the car has serve me well. Reason for Wira was that it's a less conspicious car that i go anyway but mind u, this car is only limited to travel around Klang Valley because the fuel comsumption is very bad.
6. December - Lastly but not least, a job offer from Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). U see, i sent out the resume on 2006 when i was resigning from SPK but only in 2009 they started to call me for an interview. I straight away agreed and had to run thru few interviews (IQ test, presentation, reading article and critical thinking) when finally they offered me to start working as a Manager at the International Division in January 2010. Knowing this is my path of getting away from the Construction (though not entirely) and also align my work with my study in MBA, i accepted it.

That pretty much it! Those are the events that i can think of at the moment. Needless to say, it was a lively year. I strongly believe in Allah's Maha Perancang coz God knows what's best for us. We think we know better but apparently we're not. God The Almighty.

That's what basically what happened to me in 2009, though i'm not inclined to share my bad experiences with u but my point is that if 2009 was a eventual year, i would anticipate that 2010 would be a tremendous year. i've planned my Master Plan for the year but like i said previously, i can only plan but the "approval" must be from the guy up there.

We'll wait and see...

My Thoughts on the Kalimah "Allah" Controversy...

It' been a while since the last time i had this thing going. Well, as u all know that now we are facing the phase by the Catholic group via court to permit them to use the word "Allah" in the newspaper Herald Catholic News.

As much i would like to agree but let's look at this situation from multiple angles, mainly from postive to negative sides. Positively speaking, by acknowledging Allah as their God, we could have achieve triumph because hopefully at their right mind they would think that if Jesus is the son of God..why dont i worship the father instead? Confusing but it could happen. By acknowledging Allah as God, they also have to embrace that the fact that Allah help Jesus raised to heaven during the time of crucifixation.

Secondly, the goodness of acknowledging Allah as God is that hopefully by achieving this common belief, we could narrow down the gap and hopefully could achieve a mutual understanding on certain issues. For example the Baitulmuqaddis. The least now it would be that Muslims and Christians are allies now.

That's all of the good things about it i can think at the moment...

Let's look at the negative side. For obvious reason, some quarters would use this opportunity to divert or mislead certain young , lack of knowledge Muslims to follow their path. Especially for those in searching for their lights. But i always believe that u have a good iman, u wont be easily mislead because u can think and evaluate.

Hence the need to fully understand Islam is required. Master the meaning behind the 5 Pillars of Islam and why those 5 Pillars are so important to all Muslims.

Secondly, by acknowledging Allah as their God, we, Muslims somehow "approve" the concept of Trinity. This totally unacceptable in Muslim. Just read the meaning of Surah Al-Ikhlas and u can see the contradictory.

It seems that after weighting the pros and cons of the issue, it brings more detriment than benefit, dont u think?

We, Muslims have to stand up for our sacred religion. We must defend our Allah and his Messenger in any circumstances. We cannnot simply rely on laws to tell us that is right or wrong. We all are matured enought in dealing with this nature.

I just hope the matter will be solved amicably because this is a very sensitive issues to Muslim. I dont like to see headlines such as "Allah's son in here to help us", Allah's son is our saviour" etc...Even though the name Allah is widely used in Indonesion but why it is when it comes to judgement we have to refer to others? Is the others are any better than us? Be leaders and not followers...or better still Innovators NOT Imitators.

It's agreeable with PAS' idea that Jews, Christians and Islam are Samawi's religion but when i was in Western countries, i never seen any Allah's name written in Christians' context (bible, church etc). PKR's statement on the issue is totally non-sensical.

During Jesus' time, he only refer God as God and not Allah. U can read the bible and all their writting (old testament & new testament), none of it include the name Allah. It was only when the Prophet Muhammad SAW's time when Allah was first heard.

Some say that Allah means God in arab. Maybe this is true, but why only this holy name is heard during Prophet Muhammad's time? Why it was never mention in the Jew's and Christian's writting?Differentiation of languages perhaps?

Well, that's my thoughts on the issue. Some might agree with me and some might dont...i'll take my chances. Either way i've stated my views...

The Inanity of Market Behaviour

What Went Wrong?

"By any common sense definitions...", Warren Buffett said,"...we are in recession". Those words i heard in 2008 at the month of October. But at that moment, people didnt realize it it's gonna be this severe. People are somehow rather optimistic when it comes to money. No wonder, the gambling industry has gone well over all these years, particularly in the crisis period.

For some obscure reason, people ALWAYS think they can outperform the masses. I wish i could have that mindset.

Back to the economy, Malaysia as a country that relies on FDI and exporation of electronics having the heat of what happened in the US. Here, im not gonna blame Malaysia as a whole, coz at the time of this writing, Malaysia is still doing well. We might feel it but no use speculating the future.

We only discuss it once it occurs.

The market as it is occurs due to poor fiscal management of corporations where we can see banks like RBS are reporting losses due their poor financial management, spending here n there, sponsoring sports at ridiculos high amount but yet have none for the operating activity. If u learn accounting, under cash flow, the first acvitity we wanna see as investor is from "Cash From Operating Activity" then followed by Investing Activity and lastly Financing Acitivity.

Why we put special attention to this matter? Coz primarily we wanna see whether this company, base don their core business able to generate revenue or not and then will be offset with its expenses. But in accounting terms, expenses mean "spending on something that can generate revenue".

In theory, that sounds sensible but in reality when the outflow of money is exorbitant high, how one can justify that? That's one of the examples in poor financial management. When the money is not in balance, they borrow and when not enought they borrow.

How will these all end? Credit Crisis.

But after Lehman Brothers declared bankrupt, it erupted all over US economy.

Even in the book New Era of Management by Daft, it stated the need to have Scenario Building which involve looking at current trends ans discontinuities and visualizing future posibilities. rather than looking only at history events , managers should be able to think about what could be.

Rob Peter To Pay Paul

You may call me spectical or whatever but for some reason im not a big favour of stimulus package. The idea that we are giving money to these corporations to stimulate their business just doesnt appeal to me. Most of the companies received this benefit are those with huge debts and poor fiscal management.

In analogy, if u give ur money to the spendthrift people, do u honestly think it will solve his problem. Short term it will but definitely not long term. That's why u hear stories of people that got themselves even in worst situation AFTER they won the lottery (not as bad as before).

It all boils down to their governance. It pays of to have to ethics at the same time. One of the reasons - as we all know - the catalyst of this crisis was due to the dishonesty of the corporations in their business - namely banks. They were so eager to lend loans to those unqualified, they initiated the idea of sub prime morgages in 1992 and as a result the world to suffer for their action.

Conclusion

I dont think the stimulus package will have that much effect on us, the normal people. It's meant to solve the current situation we are facing now. But the idea of giving them money to solve THEIR problems just doesnt appeal to me. I could be wrong but we could have learnt our mistakes in the 1997 Economy Crisis.

They should never be complacent with their daily operation. I was stunned during Bush Administration time when i saw in the news that the govenrment is bailing Freedie Mac & Fannie Mae out. During those moments, shouldnt they be aware of what will the future might bring? Or what causes these two companies to fall, or if not bailed, declared bankruptcy?

And if it went bankrupt, what are the economic, social repercussion to the local, hence the world? No, instead they claimed they the economy is ok and everything will be like normal. Instead opf saving money for the contigency, they increase the allocation on the military as part of their so called "War on Terror" .

If u scrutinised the details closely, the US deficit now is USD $1.3 Trillion. How could it be so bad? Well, thanx to Bush, it all relates in their USD $20 Billion per month expenses on their war on terror.

Poor Presiden Obama has to take over the government at this state and he's come out with several recovery plans. Will it work or not? According to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, he doubt it as he said Obama is not different from the past US Presidents. Who do i think? Like Warren Buffett said "I dont like to second guess him (he was refering to Ben Benanke when asked what he thought of his performace so far after taking over the postion from Alan Greenspan), he has a difficult job". Guess i'll agree with him.

Honestly speaking, it all boils down to behavior or like they say "it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul". It wont solve the problems...u just merely creating another one.

Take Your Head Off to Somebody

Some of us are more disciplined than others. Shortly after we are born, we start to learn the rules of life. Some of these rules we had to learn the hard way, through trial and error. Others we learned from our parents. Learning from others in this way is often easier, however, we seem to do a better job of remembering the lessons we learn the hard way. As a human being, we have a choice. We can learn the hard way and hope that we'll survive our lessons and not run out of money, or we can learn from the following three wise men.

One wise man - Warren Buffett - found very different methods to achieve financial/business success, but he has a common trait - his success came by following a strict set of rules. After reading books like the Essay of Warren Buffett, The Snowball and numerous annual report from the company, i'll share with you few rules that this wise investor live by.

As a introduction, The World’s Greatest Investor Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha" is considered by many to be the greatest investor ever (i'm one of them). He is also known for giving much of his $40 billion fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing innovations in health and learning. Buffett is primarily a value investor that closely follows Benjamin Graham's investing philosophy after having worked at Graham's firm, Graham-Newman.

Buffett has several excellent investing rules. You can read about many of them in his company's (Berkshire Hathaway) annual reports, which are an excellent source of investing knowledge (it's a good reading too).

Here are few of Buffett's rules:

• Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1 - If you lose money on an investment, it will take a much greater return to just break even, let alone make additional money. Minimize your losses by finding quality companies that are temporarily selling at discounted prices. Then follow good capital management principles and maintain your trailing stops. Also, sitting on a losing trade uses up time, money and mental capital. If you find yourself in this situation, it is time to move on.
  

• The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient - The best returns come from those who wait for the best opportunity to show itself before making a commitment. Those who chase the current hot stock usually end up losing more than they gain. Remain active in your analysis, look for quality companies at discounted prices and be patient waiting for them to reach their discounted price before buying.
  

• The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect - You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against it. Independent thinking and having confidence in what you believe is much more important than being the smartest person in the market. Most of the time, the best opportunities are found when everyone else has given up on the stock market. Over-confidence and emotion are the enemies of a high quality portfolio.

• Price is what you pay, value is what you get - This statement is a self-explanatory statement. To those who know me, i constantly use this phrase everytime i negotiate for something. I dont know, it's just that these words has embodied in me so much, i dont think i can take it out of me but it has a very powerful meaning. Dont you agree?

Another State of Mind - 4

Woodstock for Capitalists

These words are derived from the annual report of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which as u all know presided by one of my fave persons, Warren Buffett (u can tell by numerous citation made by me in this blog). Those words refer to their yearly annual general meeting which normally held at Omaha and Warren prefers to call it that -Woodstock for Capitalists - that potrays the comical side of him. Anyway, i was Sunway Pyramid the other days when i came across a new biography book on Warren Buffett, which was fully cooperated by the master himself.

As i was browsing the new book, The Snowball, i came across an impressive quote by the guy. He says "Life is like a snowball, the important thing is to find wet snow and a really long hill".

Briliant.

Simple quote but yet has a profound impact on me. Guess right now i have to find that ideal "wet snow" and an understandable "long hill".

Moreover, few days after that i was browsing a mag brought by Kharina, i came across another impeccable quote which says "the different between success people and those who dont is that they start doing it". Those word hit me where it hurts most - delaying a dream.

You see, when i was doing my diploma in UiTM, a lecturer once said that "kerja yang tangguh takkan siap", i wasnt fond of her back then but now that word has been lingering in mind ever since she started saying it. Let me tell you why.

We all have our 'rezeki' in life is just that we maybe dont have the guts to do it. It could be because of financial reason, emotional reason etc but if we didnt start doing something, nothing will happen. Even in Quran, Allah cited that nothing will change in a person's life unless he/she starts doing something. Even God gave us the flexibility in life to do things - provided it is not illegal.

When i discussed this with my fellow mates, they all gave me the same old cliche: "What if we fail?We have commitments in life". I agree and understand their predicament but just like Sir Jackie Steward said "It's ok to make mistakes...".

I believe you'll learn a lot more when u make mistakes...i know i did. But never be afraid to failure, the more you fear them, the more they'll come near. It's more like a psychological thing really...


From The Word Go

I was so happy on the 8th Oct when i found out that Kharina was 5 weeks pregnant. Praise to God, i think this is the ultimate dream for all newly-weds. But we were married since Dec 08 and after 10 months, the wait is no more.

I'm happy but at the same time, i feel a little bit afraid. How would it be to be a father? How is it feel to have your OWN child? What will he/she be calling me? Tons of questions but when i think of all these came from God, i find my emotional solace.

Something i would wish, how would my father - Al-Fatihah to him - think of me now, that knowing i'm gonna be father?What kinda of advice would he tell me? How would he react once he knew he's gonna be a grandfather? But apparently God loves him more than we all and everything happened for a reason...and i trully believe in that.

But 1 thing i know i can share with u all, this baby will make a humongous change in my life,only time will tell and i cant wait for the changes!


Lead Someone Up The Garden Path

It amazes me to know how people really drawn to rumours. They would prefer to use the internet as medium for news rather than the official ones though i have to agree that nowadays the nationals news are more pro-government which gives us the every reason to resort to internet. However, it all depends in which news you are attentive to...

As for me, i would read the papers from the back to the front coz that's where all fact-driven news are located. Starting with Sports (though i only read if it relates to F1) and then the Economy, the letters from readers and so forth until it reaches the front portion of the paper - "the pro-government portion" - the Politics or they call it "Dalam Negeri", "Nation" etc.

By the time i reached the front portion, the rigor mortis already sets in - meaning my ethusiasm begins to descend. That's fine with me! (Note : i've made numerous claims that i'm not fond of politics anymore)

To close this chapter, let me tell a little story about how rumours can play effects on people's life. It begins when an oil prospector who died and went to heaven. And God said, "Well, I checked you out, and you meet all of the qualifications. But there’s one problem." He said, "We have some tough zoning laws up here, and we keep all of the oil prospectors over in that pen. And as you can see, it is absolutely chock-full. There is no room for you." And the prospector said, "Do you mind if I just say four words?". God said, "No harm in that..". So the prospector cupped his hands and yells out, "Oil discovered in hell!!" And of course, the lock comes off the cage and all of the oil prospectors start heading right straight down. God said, "That’s a pretty slick trick. So," He says, "go on in, make yourself at home. All the room in the world." The prospector paused for a minute, then said, "No, I think I’ll go along with the rest of the boys. There might be some truth to that rumor after all!"

Well, that’s the way people feel with rumours. It’s very easy to believe that there’s some truth to that rumor after all. For some reason we all wanna take our chances.

PS : I got the above story from Berkshire Hathaway's 2005 Annual Report.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Today we live in a very difficult world. sometimes i would imagine that some people, especially the elders had wish that world would not be that different from what they were few decades ago. With the rising fuel price and food price, it seems impossible for us to get back to where we were before. As stipulated in the previous entry, the price of oil has gone up from the initial comfy price of USD $45 per barrel up to today's USD 143.75 per barrel (at the time of writing). For more explanation on this, please refer to the previous entry.

However, regardless of what is happening to the economy, there seems to be some paradoxical effect took place. Somehow we could see that there are some advancement in Bumiputera's camp- a topic i will continue to write simple because i am a Malay and i want to see my people aligned with those up in the front today - particularly in Bumi equity holdings in the stock market.

Generally, the Bumi has advanced themselves - All Praise to God - though not fully fullfilled the percentage needed to complete the Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) pie but with this minuscule advancement, we can, at least smile and be proud to our own people.

The table below illustrates the increase of bumi ownership equity in the market today from the year 2004 to 2006.

We could see -though infinitesimal - Bumi had advance themselves in term of equity holdings in Malaysia's market today. FYI, the method of calculating the equity could be quite confusing but rather straight forward if u ask me. Firstly, the calculation is done via that particular individual holding in the public listed (Bhd) company at that particular date at a specific time (Example : Share holdings at 5.oo pm at 30th April 2008, the calculate the share price at that moment) and also the assets that the company has.

Nevertheless, this method excludes any holdings in the Sdn Bhd company. So the net worth of that particular aristocrate could be more than the value of share he/she has in the especially if he has a lot of Sdn Bhds under his wing. Now u know why the late Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin was never listed in the richest Malaysians list though we all know after his death, the company was worth RM 6 Billion.

New Economic Policy (or Dasar Ekonomi Baru in Malay)

The above table was the result from DEB, a policy that was introduced by the government that allocate certain percentage of the economic wealth to the people of Malaysia (Bumiputera - 30%, non-Bumiputera - 40% and Foreigner - 30%).

Though u may have heard the story before, i gonna briefly describe the history of DEB. You see the policy was developed in 1971 under the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak and then it was officially ended in 1991 where it was replaced with National Development Policy. This was during Tun Mahathir's tenure as the Prime Minister.

The reason why it was being introduced is to reduce the socio-economy between the Malay and the non Malay as a result of what happened to this lovely nation on 13 May 1969 where racial riot broke out. Let's hope that will be the last time Malaysia experienced such regrettable state of affair. U can read more about it in Tun Mahathir's controverial but yet relevant The Malay Dilemma.

As you can see since the inception of the policy, the Malay equity holdings had increased from the previous of only 4%(1970) to 20% (1990). The household income had increase from RM660.00 to Rm1,254.00. Clearly the Malay has benefitted from this policy enormously.

Though it was officially ended in 1990, it was replaced with National Development Policy (NDP) in which Tun Mahathir emphasis on quality rather than quantity.

The Purpose of This Discussion

You see, the reason why i'm raising this issue is to discuss with u all how we could achieve the 30% quota imposed by both policies. It was easy previously but why cant we achieve the 30%? If we could get the first 20% within 20 years, why is it so hard to get the next 10%?

FYI, this is the matter of economics knowledge. I would use Berkshire Hathaway as the analogy for this discussion. Since i've studied about this company when it was still known as Berkshire and Hathaway (they emerged after Warren Buffett took over the management) and when the share price was only USD $7.60 when Buffett bought (thru Dollar Cost Averaging) and now it is priced USD $108,000! (no wonder he's the richest man in the world with 40% holdings in the company).

You see in the latest annual meeting they had last May, Buffett said it is impossible for him now to gain the same rate of return that he enjoyed since 1962 - an average of 22.4% return annually - and he said with the current economic, he'll be exulted if he could get return though for merely 10% (that's good enough for me).

In relation with our discussion, u see that from 2004 to 2006 the worth of holdings of Malay was from RM 100 billion to only RM 120 billion (an increase of only 0.5% but it represents RM 20.4 Billion)

RM 20.4 billion is not a small sum of money. It is a lot of money. So u can do the math that in order for us to get that 30% as allocated in the NDP (or NEP), we need - by simple calculation - to amass at least RM186.54 Billion in order for us to fullfill the 30% quota.

That's half of our GDP for the year 2007.

What Can We Do To Achieve This Quota?

Simple : Simply by listing our company in the market. That's the only way. At least that's how they calculate net worth of an individual according to Malaysian Business & Forbes. But in order for you to get your conpany listed, u need to comply with the following criteria:-

1. Paid up capital of minimum RM 60 Million (or RM 40 Million for second board).
2. The business has to be in the business for a minimum of 5 years.
3. Uninterrupted profit record of 3 to 5 full financial years, with a total after-tax profit of not less than RM30 million. For the most recent year, the profit after tax must be a minimum of RM8 million

"Inner Card is Better than the Outer Card" - Warren Buffett

At the end of the day, getting the company listed or not is not the question. One of the drawback of public-listed company is that u tend to lose control of your company since it is now "public". Any transaction that requires shareholder's money - such as purchase of company, increasing the director's fee etc. - would have to be discussed in the AGM and "A" stands for annual. That means the decision can only be made once a year.

Maybe we could never achieve the 30% quota after all, especially with the rising prices, the inflation rate (Do u know that we need inflation to keep our economy grows - no inflation meaning no growth but it has to be reasonable), the buying power of the Malay is getting lower by the day but why so pessimistic? We can achieve whatever we wants if we really want it. To quote Henry Ford's "if you think you can or can't, you're probably right". So start being optimistic about our future.

After all, as the late President John F Kennedy said "A rising tide lifts all boats", meaning that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it.

Price Is What You Pay, Value Is What You Get

Shoot The Ladder

With the recent announcement from the government that the petrol price will be up, has been officially been effective today. It has struck a chord among the Rakyat but again we have to look at the whole picture before we want to make any argument on the scenario.

The petrol price has gone up from the previous RM 1.92 to RM 2.70. That’s an increase of 40.68% to be exact.

You see, the price of oil has gone up rapidly in the past few years (thanks to the Bush Administration) especially after the 9/11 Incident and also when the US attacked Afghanistan including Iraq. Since then, the price has gone harshly. You see since 1987, the price was below USD $ 40 and now June 2008, the price is USD 124.00 per barrel. That is like 10.28% per annum! Do you know that if you could save RM 412.00 per month and deposited where it could give you 8% per annum, by the end of the 35th year of saving, you are already a Millionaire?

Anyway, look at the chart below to have a clear picture the trend of oil prices throughout the whole decade.

As you can see last year alone, the government has spent around 25% (roughly USD $ 12 Billion) of its GDP just to subsidize the oil prices, exceeding its development outlays. What they afraid is that, as the price go up the level of subsidy will simultaneously go up. I’m not surprise if the percentage from 25% can go up as high as 40% if the oil price continues to increase.

Let's just pray that it won't go up further after this. But with recent regrettable political scenario, i'm sceptical that we could go back to the same price as 1987's.


OPEC - Opiniated Persona Exaggerates Consequences?

OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It consists of 12 oil export countries (Indonesion quit the organization on grounds that they no longer produce oil). Mostly Arab countries with the exception of Venezuela. However, OPEC has been negatively critised over its influence on the oil price. Who wouldn’t?

The principal goal of this organization is the determination of the best means for safeguarding their interests, individually and collectively; devising ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil marketwith a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations; giving due regard at all times to the interests of the producing nations and to the necessity of securing a steady income to the producing countries; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.

Notwithstanding the above stature, OPEC has failed to play its role.

But when the transaction of oil is done in USD, and we all know that US is in recession (“by any common sense definition, we are in recession” – Warren Buffett), it further perpetuates the scenario. Furthermore the US currency is weaken as the day passes. Regardless the above staement, the US still has some control over the whole thing though they don’t control the production of this commodity. How bright is that?!

Moreover, when we have friction between members – UAE and Iran for instead – coupled with a few number of few political reasons (Mid East crisis), shows the ineptitude of its management in addressing the matter pragmatically. This also shows that organization is not as efficient as it was previously conceived.


What Can The Government Do For Us?

All right, enough about the macro and let’s look at the micro of the scenario.

There’s nothing we can do to control the oil prices since it is beyond our control (we are not producer of oil) and eventually it will be floated according to the market price. Same as in the United States, it means if the oil prices is down, we’ll pay cheaper prices for the fuel and vice versa.

Ok, what can the government do for us? There are few things that I think government can do. By reducing the subsidy over the oil price which they have no power in controlling, what they can do is lower down ANYTHING that the government can control. They have reduced the road tax by 50% and corporate tax to 27%. How about the toll charges? Toll is everywhere in Malaysia and without toll, you are basically handicapped.

Since the toll concession agreement is localised - meaning no international intervention whatsoever, only between government and PLUS (which owns by Government via Khazanah) or any of the entities –I think they can reduce the toll charges. This has been highlighted before in the newspaper by the newly-appointed Minister of Work, Datuk Ir. Mohamad Zin Mohamed.

Hietherto, no plan whatsoever was materialized.

If we really wanna show to Rakyat that we really care for the people - that's what they have been advocating these days - regardless of their political beliefs, this is the best measure that I think will cheer people up. Mind you, a government body is not a profitable organization – meaning money received, money spent - therefore reduce the subsidy on oils and reduce the toll charges at the same time. You may have lower revenue a bit on the toll charges but the saving on subsidy will cover the loss.


What Can We Do?

As you all know me, I’ve never rely on anyone except The Big Guy up there (What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger?). So what can we do in response to this new state of affair? Though we can’t save that much but at least with these measures, we can save a bit. The tips of saving fuel are:-

1) Get rid of all those unnecessary tools on your car like spoiler, those heavy equipment in the back of the car. Make the car as light as possible. This can save fuel. Compare the fuel comsuption when you have a full-loaded passengers and when driving all by yourself. That's an analogy by the way.

2) Always check the pressure of your tyres regularly and over flated tyres can comsume more fuel. When you feel a bit of heavy when driving, better check your tires.

3) Drive smoothly and not erractically coz the more u step on that pedal – step too much or too deep – that will effect that fuel consumption of your car. Enjoy your ride and the smoothness of your car.

4) Try not to use that much air-con unless it is very hot and air-conditioner can effect the fuel comsumption.

You could try the above if you want to, I’ve been practising it for a few number of years now, it works magnificiently for me. If you don’t have any faith in me on the above, let me conclude the topic by quoting Warren Buffett’s “It is better to be approximately right then precisely wrong”

I rest my case.

Another State Of Mind - 3

Disintegrating the Malays

I've come to the conslusion that i hate politics. To quote my fave guitarist Jerry Cantrell "Politics and religion dont get u anywhere" .I agreed with him but not the religion part. I am a Muslim and i'm proud to be chosen by Allah to be Muslim. Period.

The reason why i hate politics is that it shows that everyone wanna show how great they are. Bashing after another is like a norm in politics. We tend to look everyone as half empty instead of half full. Somehow the word chauvinism lingers in my mind but not in racist form but nevertheless it exists in its modern form. That's in political party form.

With so much drama in politics nowadays, i wonder whether these people-elected MPs actually do their work rather than just asking Pak Lah to resign. They suppose to start doing their work, they only have 4 years left to fulfill their task. People chose them for thier capability and charismatic quality. Not for them to wreck havoc in the country. In this respect, i look high on MB Selangor Tan Sri Khalid for ingonaring the political waves and instead focusing in implementing his party's manifesto. Though it is not an easy task...

Enough of politics...don't bother discussing the topic with me. Though i will be watching it from a far. Laughing at how "mature" these politicians are.

I Still Love Malaysia

Yesterday i had my hair cut. I had in at this Indian shop (or kedai India where most of the barber shops dominated by them). When i was there - i was the only customer at the moment - the indian music was playing at the moment. Somehow for some obscure reason, i find my myself enjoying the moment.

You see, Malaysia is a lovely country. We have multi-racial people co-exist side by side and we see each other everyday. It's just that the MALAYSIANS turn ugly when it comes to traffic jam, finding parking space and sometimes during food - i'm sure people would agree with me on this.

People of all races would go to Malay stall if they know the food there is good. And all Malaysians would send their cars to Chinese mechanic to service their cars coz they know they provide the best service and their ways of caring for their customers.

People would go to Indian stall for supper coz they know they provide the fastest service that no one hitherto could match. Race is not the question here.

But politicians will always remain ugly.

Nevertheless, nothing is perfect in this world. God has created it in such a way that everything is imperfect and only God is perfect. That's why we always encouraged to recite "Subhanallah" - God is perfect - everytime after prayer to surrender ourselves that life is imperfect and only God is.

But that doesn't mean we cant work toward perfection. We can and i believe if we commit ourselves to the notion, we will achieve that though not 100%. But at least we try.

People ask me why won't i work overseas when i completed my studies in Australia like most people do. I simply replied "There's so much money to be made in Malaysia!". I still firmly believe in that. So much opportunity but yet only a handful of people grab that. I have my ways but i'm not gonna tell u. I can but then, i have to kill u.

"We think as individuals and not as a ummah - Prof Engku Aziz"

Nowadays i've realized that the government won't be able to help us. Though the implementation of DEB failed to achieve its objective whereas the other quotas but other races fulfilled, the objective has not met...maybe not just yet.

Therefore, i've surrender to any kind of 'tongkak' and decided to stand my on feet. I just need the support from my lovely wife and family for me to move forward. Having said - with no intervention from the government - i've enlisted several ways - as categories in one's life phases - that i know would 'perkasakan Melayu' : -

1) Where u are a /primery/high school student, strive to be the best student in any subject u embark. It doesn't matter whether u are first and second in class. But pay particular attention to subjects that can 'enhance' u in life later on such as Mathematics, Physics, Additional Maths and also History (u can learn a lot from history).

Make sure - for those from non-english medium background -to learn English as much as possible at this phase. It's ok if u cant communicate fluently at that moment but the idea u wanna learn will be fruitful later on. If u have no idea how to start, start reading news paper and listening to English music or even watch english program (we are lucky coz nowadays we have sub-titles) . I learn my english thru musics.

2) When you in University, try to social as much as u can with non-malay (but never nelgect the Malay, let alone despise them) and try to learn their cultures, their way of thinking and be open-minded in discussing issues with them but always be firm when it comes to your religion and your race. If u agree with the statement, then nod. If u dont, debate it. But never denigrate your race, you are represnting your race here. Show your skill in converting in English fluently. Get rid of negative or pessimist people that can tarnish your perception on all issues.

3) When you are in your working life, strive to learn instead of chasing title. A Manager is no use if he/she doesnt know anything. Try to learn more about yourself - u'll be surprise to know not everyone take the effort to learn about themselves (start by asking yourselves questions).

For the first 5 years on working with people, try to capture as much knowledge with your superior. If u think u cant learn from your superior, then quit and find another job that u can. This is the best moment to nurture the habit of good financial management. Start saving for your future. Try to learn as much about monetary issues that will be significant in your life as possible. Practice the habit of "makan bila lapar, berhenti sebelum kenyang" and apply that to every part of your life.

Try to complete any work with minimum supervision and do it as perfect as you can. Always have that tag 'reliable' around your neck so that people can gain trust on you.

Start making contacts. Train yourself to have a good PR skills. Learn and observe the PR that the successful businessman have. You'll learn a thing a two from them.

4) Aim to have your own business after 5 years of working with people. If u think that those 5 years is insufficient, then work for few more years until u think u can make it on your own. Some people are born birght, they think 5 years is too long. Suffice to say, it's all depends on the individuals. Always have faith in yourself.

5) Once u have your own business, always think that this money generated from the business is not for yourself, it's for people around u - ur wife, kids and family. Try to maintain at least 5-10 years of survival in business - you realize you've got so much to learn. Learn from someone who are successful. If u can't find one, read books from those who are. Always emulate the characteristics of good ethical businessman. Like Warren Buffett said "You don't have to cheat to make money".

Lastly but not least, help the Malay when you are on top. Help them in anyway u can because no one will except for us. Just because you are successful now doesnt mean you better than them. Don't be racist. When the chinese succeed in what their do, it's not they wanna bring down the Malays, it's just that they wanna take care of their people. We should have the same mentality. As Prophet (pbuh) said, "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action".

Wallahu Alam.

Another State Of Mind - 2

"Toss them some bones, will ya?"

In recent weeks we have seen people from all over Malaysia pay particular attention to the country's politics that we assumed would cool off after the election. With the hectic processes of appointing MB for opposition-ruled states and to an extent of wanting PM to resign.

Why are we in the regrettable state of affair? What makes us think we know so much of the politics in Malaysia. I heard critics everywhere but i always stick to my principles that politicians are meant to disintegrate the people, not unite them. They say things that the Rakyat wanna hear though their action proved otherwise. That's why i hate politicians. For those who knows me, they know i pro-government, though it is not a perfect one but is not that easy to govern a country with 22 millions in it. Let alone, make them happy.

Just like what Warren Buffett said when asked what he thought about Ben Benanke (The Federal Reserve Chairman), "I dont like to second guess people, he has a difficult job".

Rather than look this scenario as a country, i would prefer to look at it as an organization. U see, pragmatically, in the organization, an incumbent is normally fed stories of what being told to them via their managers. Hardly they hear stories from the executives (unless it is their relatives). So, whatever told by them will be whole-heartedld accepted blindly.

My point is, when u on top, u would never know the lament of the low level people unless u resigned. When u r nobody, then u would know the lament of the normal people (i use normal to reflect the masses). Same goes with Tun Mahathir (TDM), when he was the PM, i'm sure he didnt know what's really happening in Malaysia for the past 22 years - that is the real problem facing Malaysians. But now when he's no longer in power, he suddenly hear the cries of fellow Malaysians. That eventually prompted him to voice out his opinion.

I agree with my mate K'ry that he said he get inspired when TDM talks. I couldnt agree more but he's not different from Anwar who went out there and bashing Malaysian's government when he was ousted from the government. Now TDM is doing the same (just watch the latest Hardtalk on BBC last Sunday featuring TDM - I'm telling u Stephen Sackur really posed some "hardtalk" during the session).

Just one question : Why?. Why do people get themselves caught in such morass?

Are all politicians the same?


"The Market Is There to Serve You Rather To Instruct You"

The statement above is what i able to abstract from one of my idols, Warren Buffett on the market during the Charlie Rose Show several years back. He also said that "by any common sense definition, we are in recession". That means that the sub-prime that has causes the market all around the world to feel heat - which also felt by Malaysia - is slowly taking its toll.

I'm worried. Seriously i do. Though i've read in several books that say "Dont follow the Crowd - Common Stock & Uncommon Profit", "Market Fluctuation As An Investment Decision - Intelligent Investor" etc. I now realize that it's hard to get away from the crowd simply because we are surrounded by them. Unless i were to stay in a island with no one (except for my wife of course).

To read is one thing, to fathom is another thing and to pratice it...is a totally different thing. But i'm lucky coz i'm exposed to not follow the crowd and when it comes to success, i still remember my late father said "Kalau org lain boleh buat, nape nua tak boleh...?".

That has been the beacon of motivation my life. Always believe in what u do and be presevere.


"American Shaitan"

FYI, i just gone back from Umrah on the 3 - 10 April that day. The journey was inspirational, though was tiring but i learned a lot about our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). There was a point, i almost shed a tear knowing what he had to gone thru when he was alive. One particular incident was when PM (pbuh) was dying. U see, he was given the priviledge to die whenever he wants, but when the Jibrail -the Angel of Death - came to take his life. Jibrail was so careful not to inflict any pain at all to PM(pbuh), but like normal human being, dying is painful. Though it was the minimal given by Jibrail to PM (pbuh), PM(pbuh) felt it. PM (pbuh) even said "If the painful of death was this severe, then let me take the heaviest one so that my umat wont suffer the pain that i endure".

Masya Allah...even at his death, PM (pbuh) still thought about his umat...if PM (pbuh) was sent by Allah to us as saviour from the Jahiliah, as a role model for the world, how many of us would actually thinking doing that in a dire strait like he was?

I also saw the Mount Hira when PM (pbuh) received his first revelation about prophethood. That was inspirational, the mount was so tall and big. According to fact, when PM (pbuh) ran away from Jibrail after the revelation received, he ran so fast but when he looked back, he could still saw Jibrail standing on the mountain, and he ran again and when he looked back, he could still saw Jibrail. That was how big the angel was. Some say that, it was so big, the right wing itself was consisted of 600 wings!

By the way, the word American Shaitan was the word of the trip. It all began when i asked my Tourist Guide, Hairi what he thought the reason people in Indonesia couldnt speak English very well. His response was that "English - American Shaitan!". That said was refering to English speaking country like UK and US are Shaitan.

No comment.

Another State Of Mind - 1

Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary - Rare Species in Malay World

Last week at my in-law's house, i managed to go thru a magazine entitled i-majalah. This is the majalah where it covers all gamut mainly regarding Islam. But today's special feature was Syed Mokhtar's Tokoh Maal Hijrah which was held several months ago. Since i'm a big fan of Syed Mokhtar, i managed to rummage thru the pages hopefully i could learn a thing or two from the man himself.

In the interview, he stated that Malay in order to succeed has to work very hard since that's the only way one could achieve succeed. Syed Mokhtar's himself was no stranger himself. It took him nearly 34 years to be where he is today. Same goes with Warren Buffett, the world's greatest investor (took him almost 40 years to the richest man on earth).

He also voiced out his concern regarding the unity among Malays. His quote was that "kita boleh tengok banyak Dewan Perniagaan Cina di sana sini, tapi pernahkah kita ternampak Dewan Perniagaan Melayu?". I couldnt agree with him more. The non-malays have several organizations to protect their rights whereas Malays - to my knowledge - has only a handful of them...that is active.

To conclude the discussion, he said always be patience in what u do coz if the things u do are good things...u'll succeed. The idiom "if u fail to plan, u plan to fail" suddenly lingers in my mind.

Singapore - Old Timer Has Its Value

Last week i went to Singapore to visit a friend of mine, Ahmad whom i've been promised to visit him since last year but until last February, the promise was honoured.

I noticed over the land, the people were so discipline but when it comes to the 2nd Link road, these people started to show off their true colors. They suddenly become ...typical Singaporeans. Like the Franch saying that " The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same". People just couldnt change i guess.

One thing that i noticed when i was there was that, there were several old people working mostly in food industry - fast food restaurant, food court - until my friend told me that it's one of their policies to hire old people as part of the community program where they could get tax rebate or something - i'm not sure. But when these people greet u, they will greet u whole-heartly as if the work means a world to them. If only young people could adapt such attitude.

These old people are also aware what's happening in Malaysia. They know everything about the politics, unlike the young people which totally oblivion to their surroundings. To my surprise they could even converse in Malay if they know u r Malay, from Malaysia. Did you know that Singapore's national language is Malay?

Formula 1 - Headed South?

Last week's was the inaugural race for the year 2008. I was expected too much i guess when both Ferrari's drivers - my fave Kimi Raikkonen & least fave Felipe Massa - were out due to engine failures. How could on earth, Ferrari, which was well-known to have the highest reliablity in history had an engine failure!? Not one but both drivers!! I guess since the departure of Jean Todt (he's now the CEO), he also took with him the 'reliability' tag.

Let see what this week's race has to offer but i guess when i read all the reports from Ferrari, they will for sure rectify the defects since they couldnt afford to lose any point anymore. But it's fun to see how optimistic Kimi is when he said "a point is much more better than no point". He was 8th by the way, which give 1 point.

Attaboy Kimi!! I always have faith in him...

Politics - Extrapolation Needed

With the recent result from the Malaysia's election that illustrated the defeat of BN to several states (Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Perak & Kelantan), i am sad to know that how could BN lost so miserably whereas all these while we thought that we were on the comfort level which impedes us to work even harder. My congratulations to the opposition parties for winning those states. Let's just hope they could honour the promises as stipulated in their manifesto.

Having said that, i just hope - and i really hope - that one day that Malay could unite under one party, a new party perhaps - not under UMNO, not under PKR and not under PAS - that could represent Malays together with their quintessential missions such as to uphold Islam, DEB and any other matters relate to Malay. Engku Aziz was indeed true when he said that today Malays act more as an individualistic rather than working as a ummah. That will forever bring a gap in our community.

Politics belief aside, i think we should start thinking what's best for our future. After all, if we didnt fight for our rights - which is our prerogotive - who else would? Non-malays wouldn't.

"Swim, SIRRR?" - Honeymooning in Boracay Island

Today is my second month of marriage. 2 months of being a husband. Did i able to pull it off? This is kinda language u have to discuss with Kharina. She has all the answer but i'm not gonna delve on that since the reason i'm here is to share with you my honeymoon took place 2 months ago. Furthermore, whilst it is still fresh in my mind (i cherish those moments everyday), i think it'd be appropriate to type it down while it's still remain intact.

Before that, i just elucidate that the reason why i had the title SIRRR is that when i was in Boracay, most of these Philipinos will always emphasis on the "R" in every sentence that contains "R".Example would 'couRRse', 'buRRRgeRRR" and to name a few. No wonder they can speak English American way very well.

Anyway where were we? Oh ya...here goes, I was on leave since the 28-11-07 and when i thought i could have a decent rest prior to my big day, i was dead wrong and had to agreed with my fellow mates that no matter how fully prepared u are, u cant never be readily prepare until the big day itself appears.

Since i knew the weekend will full itself, i decided to do all "last few moment of being bachelor" shopping, not actually shopping but more to paying bills and settle little2 stuff and i'm telling u those moment were therapautic and somehow gave me the impression that live after marriage would be so daunting as i thought i was but i was dead wrong when, at the moment of this writing, things went so perfect so far. Blissfully...

Allright, as the normal routine of married couple (nikah & reception and all), Kharina n me were all set for our first honeymoon, the reason why it was so special was that it was the holiday we always wanted coz after working non-stop for the year (i only took a week off for the Raya - that is for handing out the wedding cards), i was actually looking forward for the holiday. U know the idea that u could relax with your loved one and just relax in every sense of the word. So u can imagine the euphoric environment we were all in.

Our honeymoon destination was in Boracay Island, Philipines. Boracay is an island that is well-known for its powder-like white sand. I didnt believe it at first but when i was there standing...Wow! Anyway, the island is located near Caticlan, which an hour flight from Manila. From Caticlan, you have to take a boat ride to the island which probably take around 25 minutes. Historically, the name Boracay came from 2 different local word bora (bubbles) and bocay (white), because the ancestors were amazed at the resemblance of the white sand to water bubbles. So Boracay is the combination of those 2 words.

Enough of history lesson...

Day 1 (5th December 2007)

Our flight was at 1.20 a.m and it took us 5 hours to reach Manila. Ninoy Aquino International Airport is Manila's international airport. The first time i came in, it reminded me so much of Subang Internatioanal airport, the flooring, the lighting and also the faces (?). Mind you, people always mistaken us for Philipinos and frequently speak Tagalog with us.

Then we had to take the bus to the Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal which serves as their LCCT for domestic flights. We had to take old bus (think Bas Sri Jaya) and transport us to that said airport (the distance was about 1 km), then we had to pass thru the small portion of what Manila was all about. As usual, it was all traffic and congested. but 1 thing i realized what that they drive the other side of the wrong, similar to the US (left hand driving, right lane driving) which i still could be troublesome for normal Asians like us. As a matter a fact, Philipines was part of US under their Declaration Monroe which stated that any country they found or "discover" will be theirs. No wonder there's a province called South America...somehow similar to the discovery of Australia back then.

Then we arrived at the domestic airport, then we had to pick up air ticket from Manila to Caticlan and went in straight to the airport. Sadly to say, the airport reminded me of Puduraya bus Station with only 1 storey instead of multiple storey and more lighting and also white in color like in Puduraya.

U see, everytime u wanna enter any airport in Philipines, u have to present ur passport and tickets, otherwise ur entrance to the airport will be denied. So, if u wanted to send me to airport and accompany me to Departure Hall like in Malaysia, that most likely wont happen.

There, we waited for about half an hour and we abroad small plane and off we go to Boracay Island!!! The journey took about 1 hour though. Once we arrived, there was a rep from the Friday's Boracay (the name of our hotel) came and picked us up.

There we have to ride on a small boat to the island that took us approximately 30 minutes...There we were escorted to the hotel.

One thing i like about the hotel was that the ambience of the hotel which was very tropical where u can see bamboo and most of the achitecture was based on "nature" design if u will. Kharina particualrly like our room coz it was so spacious and on the bed they even gave us a welcome chocolate. Btw, every night they'd gave us chocolate with different messages. How good is that?

Since we didnt get proper sleep from KL throughout Boracay, we decided to take a short nap...short for Kharina but real sleep for me. Ah well...what else is new?

That evening we decided to walk along the beach and we were mesmerised by the cleanliness of the water, we just couldnt wait to get into the water. One thing i realized was that there were a lot of foreigners loitering here and there. Truly a ideal place to unwind.

Later that evening we had dinner at the hotel and watched some cultural shows by locals. Quite unique if u ask me coz somewhere it was similar to Sarawakian's cultural shows with bamboo and stuff. We took several photos for pleasure.

Day 2 (6th December 2007)

This day we decided to do island hopping where they would bring to a number of island around Boracay for snorkeling purposes but the water wasnt that nice to snorkel but again due to heavy wave which hinder to enjoy the "scenary" underwater. In fact, we had to swim ourselves to the boat coz just a few second, we were drifted away from the boat. Funny thing was that, on our way to hop to islands, we saw this guy on a canoe kept smiling and waving us (Philipinos are known to be friendly but only at the island). We waved back and he came nearer, turned out to be he was the guradian of the sea and if we were to snorkel, we had to pay 20 pese (RM 1.60) and thats for snorkeling fee.

Then we had dinner and one of the islands which was quite deserted due to the coarse nature of the sand. FYI, the sand in Boracay was like powder and not to mention white! We asked them what would be the favourite meal for Philipinos, they said Manok Adobo. We thought it was something new which we should try but it turned out the Manok Adobo was Malaysian's Ayam Masak Kicap...

Then we head back to the hotel to cool off before our evening activity. Later that evening we decided to tour inner part of the island and to see the surrounding area of the island. We rented a buggy and tour the island. Most of the villagers were in poor shape, quite poor if u ask me and we would see that Philipinos mostly had either dogs and pigs as their pets...but they all looked like Malay.

Then we drove up to the highest point of the island and we managed to see the whole island from the top. Quite breathtaking if u asked me and we took several photos from multiple angles of the island.

That basically wraps up our 2nd day at Boracay.

Day 3 (7th December 2007)

We woke up kinda early today to do our normal activity everytime we are the beach, which is jet skiing!! Funny thing was unlike in Malaysia, when we wanna jet skiing, the jet ski would be by the beach but in Boracay, we had to ride a boat and they'll take us to the middle of the ocean coz there was a station there for all sea activity like jet ski, banana boat etc. They did this for safety reason which is quite good actually.

There we were only allowed to do circle (which was big) and within the range of the permitted perimeter since there were other activities taken place at the time. We round and round for an hour (if i knew it was only gonna be for an hour, i'd have rented it for a half an hour).

Then we decided to do some henna on our body, me on my left hand side shoulder and Kharina's on her back and left hand side leg. That was unique to us coz i always wanted to do henna but in KL it would cost u around RM 200 to do a small one but in Boracay, me and Kharina, only cost us RM 50!

Right after we had our late lunch, we decided to do another activity (not that one) which is called sailing. We never sailed before and since we got bargain for this one (initially they wanna charge us with 1500 pose or RM 120 but then they changed to 500 peso), we decided to go for it!

I dont know but i guess this had been the best ride ever. Inexpensive, soothing, therapeutic, friendly service, ample time, relaxing and most important Kharina was there with me and i can tell that she had fun too...Once we reached the middle part of the ocean, the guy said "Swim Sirrrr?". I said "Hell no!". Kharina said "Are we allowed to?". "Yes!" the guy said. Then we grabbed the safety jacket and jumped right in the middle of the ocean like no body's business.

Everytime Kharina wanted to go up, i will constantly said "Kita dah bayar ni yang...make use of it" and she'll be back in the water.

A good activity to end our day at Boracay.

Then we prepared ourselves for our so-called "Candlelight" dinner. Since this was our last night at Boracay, i wanted to make it special so i requested that we sat by the beach for our dinner.

The thing that made the whole journey memorable was the fact the the people were so friendly and nice and i could sense that they did so coz they appreciate the people coming in and bring money to them. Regardless whether u r Asians or Westerners, they'll treat unconditioningly.

Then we walked along the beach and enjoy our very few last moment at Boracay.

Day 4 (8th December 2007)

That morning we decided to swim for the last time since the water was so tempting, we "berendam" for quite sometime and then we packed the whole thing and check out the by 12.00. We had our last lunch there for the last time before we were being transported to the jetty and to the airport to Malaysia.

Honestly, this was good holiday for me and since throughout the year, i've been preparing the wedding to make the sure wedding takes off perfectly which it did (thanx to Misyon n Ikmal) and when u have the opportunity to unwind, u look forward for it. I never regret any moment at Boracay though in Manila the people were so unorganized and very hectic unlike Malaysia. Nevertheless, we should be grateful of what we have here in Malaysia. We have a first-class facility it's just that we dont have the mentality yet...but i'm optimistic towards all this and i'm sure we all would come to our senses and behave accordingly one day...finger crossed.

Thanx for reading this memorable journey of us and i appreciate that u have read this up to this line and i just wanna say thank you again n i hope u enjoy reading this as much i do writing it...

An Idle Mind is the Devil's Workshop

Scenario 1.

A friend of mine, Ahmad came back last 2 weeks to attend a friend of mine, Alan getting married. It was on the bride side and the bride house was not that far away from my home. We were supposed to go together but since my house was nearer than his, we decided to meet up straight at the bride's house.

Then few minutes before i left the house,i received a call from him. He said "Nua! Ko kat mana?". "Aku baru nak kuar umah...kenapa?"I said. "Camna nak gi umah Aida eh?"he continued. "Kat umah die la..kat AU 5 tu! Bukan ke ko pernah pergi rumah die dulu?" i replied."Ha'a....tapi aku LUPA!!" he ended.

Scenario 2

Normally when Ahmad is here, we would go to Hartamas to hang out and since that place is a good place to hang out albeit noisy sometimes (not to mention expensive!), we all, including some fo the other friends reached a consensus to go there separately. Again, Ahmad would call me up and say "Kita gi sekali eh?". "Aku ingat kita jumpa sana terus senang, rumah ko dgn rumah aku lain2 beb! Ko tak tahu nak gi sana camna ke?" i said. "Aku LUPA!"Ahmad responded.

Scenario 3

Mak always wanted to spend time with her granddaughter Arrissa, my bro's daughter at Taman Connaught but the problem is that we can only go there on weekends or to be precise only on Sundays since Saturday we all have our errands.

I told her that if she wanted to go to Abang's house, just do so and drive there using MRR2, "senang mak, mak terus je and exit kat Taman Connaught pastu buat U-turn and terus sampai ujung and mak dah boleh jumpa umah abang, kan kita selalu pegi!" but everytime i said that she will say "Mak takut sesat..mak ni cepat LUPA".

Those are the events that i faced recently...

You see, i always come across people who have the potential of being absent-minded and eventually senile. I'm scared that knowing that i eventually gonna end up like them, so i rummaged thru the internet to find article and avenues that i can utilise in order to make my mind less "idle".

My brain works perfectly well at the moment but i dont wanna until people say "Oi, nua! Lupa ke...!!" then i started to freak out and find the cure. That would nonsensical. Instead, i made my own initiave to do my research. Something i like to do...

I've come across many ways but most of them resort to using drugs which i try to abhor. However, i did find a collection of ways and to sum it up, i decided to share it with u.

Accordingly, i managed to draw a conclusion from of these. Here goes:-

1) They say in order for u to have an active mind, it is suggested that u do your own math in ur brain, things like calculating when u r at malls, adding up all those items u bought can actually stimulate the brains cells in you. When u r in Supermarket and buying a couple of items and so forth. So, people start doing ur simple calculation and stop relying in devices or even your spouse to do the calculation (ehem...ehem...)

2) Exercise. No matter cliche' it sounds, exercise does help. Somehow i guess when u r on that treadmill and start jogging it will stimulate ur brains cells and believing it or not, sweating can make ur brains "works". Do something that u like and enjoy like listening to ur mp3 player when jogging and put on the favourite CDs of urs when u r weight lifting. It helps u know...

3) Eat supplement pills. As opposed to any drug that claim can make ur life better, consuming supplement pills can help replenish those vitamin needed by ur body especially being typical Malaysians where our food consists of imbalance nutritions. So taking supplement pills can help to balanca that. However, i also come across a research done somewhere in the West indicated that u should NEVER take more than 4 different supplement pills and the more u take them, the risk of getting the sick/ill is higher as compares to a few numbers of pills consumed. So, start having those supplementary pills but whatever u do, don't overtake them.

4) Have an uninterrupted sleep for 8 hours straight eveyrday, as ur brain needs sufficient rest before it can actually operate. During the day we do nothing but think and suffice to say, brains, like our body does need rest as well but to get a good 8-hours sleep straight? I dont see any reason why people can do that...Simple : sleep early!

5) Lastly and but not least, they say that u should hold ur head upside down once in awhile as to ensure the blood circulation goes to ur brain but not too long but appropriate timing. This is where i'm amaze with the practise of "sujud". U see in Islam, when we perform 'solat', we have to sujud and when we "sujud", we would read our mantra 3 times, that should last somewhere 7 seconds and i guess that's pretty adequate for the practice as elucidated under this item. Interesting, don't u think?

That's all the items i managed to amass throughout my research regarding this issue but i do have some additional suggestion that is to always write down whatever, whenever u received an instruction and be sure to place that memo somewhere visible otherwise, it would be pointless to say "I've written it but i FORGOT where i place it!".

Hence it goes back to the subject of the entry again.

Well they u go folks, the 5 items that if u tenaciously practice can (but not guarantee) can enhance ur brain capacity. I practice it, and it seems the brain works pretty well...for now (gulp!).

Should u have any enquiries regarding the above, feel free to ask...

...until next time.

Later...

Leaders...not followers

Recently when i heard that Tony Pua (of the DAP's fame) expressed his remark the way he did, it boils me up to the extent that i think people will say anything to make their political party relevant. Even though it may offend to some people due to to their messing with the racial cards. So to say that no matter how hard these people express their view...i still view these people irrelevant and perenially to be "golongan kelas kedua" to me.

Be profesional! U have to bear in mind that the reason why these people are on top, it because the are choosen to and not due to some hierachy ladder. Therefore act like one. I'm sure people will agree with me on this that when you are choosen to be a "leader" (i'm having hard time to comprehend this...especially when it comes to politicians), we have the mindset that these people "might" be better than the rest to represent us. Obviously, our mind have been playing tricks on us.

Well not anymore...

They can say whatever they want but for me to digest the content, it wont be an easy task.

But i surely cant tolerate those with blatant remark on race...something which i regard as non-sensical. Sorry folks,u all can say whatever that u all think is a demonstration of sheer degree of bravado but it wont change my view on politicians. Like a guy told me before when i was in Australia "Politics and Religions...it doesnt get u anywhere!" But i beg to differ the latter, mind you.

Lately,i see these politicians, the have become more and more futile for us to hold them up to. I can fathom youth's attitude today why is it they dont wanna be a politician or at least their choose of career in their life...unless they have no choice.

Some say that being a politicians is the easiest way for you to accumulate wealth and judging by today's experience, i couldnt agree with them more. That's why i never consider myself being a politicians...but being close to them is a diametrically kind of story.

People like Khairy Jamaluddin, when he managed to amass that kind of wealth through politics, my advice is that people started about his ability to lead a team instead creating controversies. A friend of mine told me recently his visit to Khairy's and saw a few number of cars that bear the plat KJ 10 or maybe KAJ 10. Make a visit to JPJ and let them tell u is not that easy to obtains such plats.

Money with no brain like politicians...not my cup of tea.

That's why i opt to a more fact-based news such as economy, corporate news and so forth since these news are heavily rely on facts or otherwise, they are subject under SC's scrutiny though Tun Mahathir said numbers can be manipulated....maybe that's what he done during his tenure.

I have no idea which tree to bark these days.

What i say might not change the world overnight...but it will surely spark some thought to the masses.

I can only pray...

Aesthetic Of Hate - The New Age of First Amendment

Somehow it baffles me how people, i mean some people could spend most of their time, sitting in front of the PC, bashing other's people believe and writing nonsense and champion the first amendment (freedom of speech) by doing so.

Whereas those time can be utilise to a more beneficial objective. Writing blogs can be fun...sometimes, but when it reaches to a point where one uses the platform to spread hate, this is where we cross the line.

In today's world, internet has become the medium of expression. I, too, have to admit the the best source of info are pervasively available via the net but, mind you, i only use this platform as means to enhance my knowledge and to furnish my inquiries.

Nothing more than that...

But everytime i read people's blog (i do alot), it seems that these people use this platform the express their lament, how their animosity with the masses and so forth. I've never come across any blog that promote knowledge and any guide that i find useful, provide insight on how to survive in this today's complex world and so forth. Maybe there are but i dont see it within Malaysia's bloggers.

This is what worries me, it seems that when people have the freedom to do anything, we tend to be more barbaric towards each other. Suddenly we all become cynical, uncivilized and full of hate on people. People complain every decision made by the government and some people even question the privilages that some community gain as a result from the government's policy.

These oxymoron are all just demonstrate mentality that we all have.

In short, what i'm trying to elucidate is that, make use of the platform that was given to you to the benefit of mankind. You can express some anger but make sure it's within one's purview. I also have some scorn towards the government's policy especially in terms of leniency towards minority but again, running a government for a developing country like Malaysia isn't that easy. It's laborius task.

Imagine a big countries like US or even countries in the Middle East.

Hence, life is too short to be filled with hatred...dont u think?

I had enough hate when i was young (i'm 27 though) and i'm grateful to Allah for giving me the path to accept all these "tragedies" in my life with equanimity. I'm grateful to Allah still.

Do you think is about time you all do the same?

The Tun's Sedition

I just can't stand Tun Mahathir (Dr.M) attitude these days. It seems that his relentless assault on the current administration has blown out of proportion. It all started out after Pak Lah calling off the construction of the bridge that connects Malaysia and Singapore. In hindsight, it seemed like a good idea but where one scrutinised the details, it seems that construction of the bridge itself was not ideal. Chiefly of the nature that it'll be constructed partly.

Dr.M's remarks on Pak Lah has delved into personal matter such as the involvement of KJ and Kamaluddin in receiving contracts from Petronas. Musa Hitam was right on this matter, though Petronas pays the corporate tax to the government but that doesnt justify the need to spend the money lavishly chiefly coz there are other areas that need to be injected with funds.

It was widely acknowledged that when Pak Lah took over the government, the government was in severe deficit. Imagine this, when u took over a company and the company was in huge debt, logically the first step as a CEO must do is to reduce the level of deficit the company endure and that's what Pak Lah did.

Soon after the deficit was stable (no countries can survive without debt), then there was the announcement of Ninth Malaysian Plan. I could understand Pak Lah's action, after the debt was stable, now it's time for some action (development).

Funny thing is that if i, the normal citizen of Malaysia could understand the very nature of Pak Lah's attitude why it is so hard for such an experience like Dr.M to put himself in Pak Lah's shoes.

Mind you, when Dr. M took over the government 2 decades ago, he didn't do that much development compared to Pak Lah, all he did was create controversy (Buy British Last - ring any bell?).

I assume right after he retired, he would shun himself from the political area but unfortunately he's not. He's still very much alive and kicking in today's world. Reason? Only God knows. But according to some ministers, he was trying to run the country through proxy (just like his counter part Lee Kuan Yew).


Whatever it is, just give the Pak Lah a break, he deserves to run the country the way he deemed fit. Firstly, we could see that he has won the election with a huge margin. UMNO even managed to conquer back Terengganu, something that was unforeseenable during Dr.M's tenure. In fact, during Dr.M's time, there was speculation that UMNO might lose Kedah as well since they already lost Kelantan and Terengganu to the oppositions.

I know that during Pak Lah's time also, the fuel prices have gone up but that was envitable amid of the unstable fuel prices, there was time when the fuel price was as high as USD $ 75 per barrel!!

That amount of money we managed to save due to cutting of subsidies on fuel was used to fund other projects. But Pak Lah didnt forget his duty to the people, the road tax was reduce to 50% and the corporate tax was being reduced gradually from the high 28% to 27% (2007) and eventually to 26% (2008). Though it is still high compares to other developed country in Asia (Hong Kong ,18% being the lowest-no wonder Robert Kuok resettled there), but we have to take baby step in major decision like that. A friend of mine was telling me that Dr.M was a risk taker, he would use next year's budget for this year's budget. It'd take a lots of guts to take that of uncanny decision.

But not during Pak Lah's time...

Reasons i'm writing is that i'd feel appalled if someone's coming to my home and telling me that i shouldnt place my chair here, shouldnt place mt table there and and i should my paint my house blue. Goddamit, you are a guest in my home and you should act like one! You dont tell me how to raise my kids-though i welcome some advices and suggestions but critism behind my back or front and using neightbours(or medias) as medium is something that everyone's should abhor.

That was the metaphor of what i'm seeing at the moment. Just like Sultan Johor said "A pensioner should act like a pensioner"

Couldn't agree with him more.

I know that Dr.M's not very happy how the Malaysia is being run at the moment but he has to give some faith to his successor. As a father who thinks that he knows more about the daughter than the husband, i'm sure the husband would appreciate if the father could provide some guidance or insight on how the husband should raise the family and treat his wife. My only suggestion doing it in the most appropriate way.

No body likes to be critised and i'm sure Pak Lah doesn't too.

My opinion on this matter might differ to some of u all but i can assure u before i even think about writing this, i've given myself some serious thought regarding the repercussion that i might endure as a result of doing this.

I'm simply advocating the notion that this country is a not a police country as claimed by Dr.M. We still have the freedom to say whatever we want in this country, provided it being channel properly.

After all, we are culturally and civilised country surely one would acknowledge that in order to get your message across, one has to use the proper channel whenever neccesary.

But i didnt expect that the former PM would react in such a way.

Sad but true...