Expectedly Unexpected

A very sad and painful but true reality all Malaysians have to face. Our economy is stuck. We are stuck in the middle-income group and if the government don’t change their methods of managing the country and it’s finances properly, we are doomed to a spiraling whirlpool down to the bottom of the sea as we helplessly watch our neighbouring countries develop pass us, reaping the benefits to an economically advanced civilization.

Malaysia Insider

24th November 2009

Malaysia’s next export: Maids?

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — The nation’s mismanagement of talent could have serious repercussions not only on its ambitions to become a high income economy on par with that of developed nations but could also lead it to fall further behind even its counterparts in the region.

Head of research at Corston-Smith Asset Management, Lim Tze Cheng, recently did a tour of South East Asian countries and came away sufficiently impressed that he feels Malaysia may soon be found lagging behind its neighbours that it was once ahead of.

He cited a recent visit to the Philippines, a current major supplier of maids, where he visited a company, International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) and he drew comparisons to local port champions Westport and Port of Tanjung Pelepas.

He said that ICTS now draws 50 per cent of its revenue from eight profitable ports outside the Philippines, and noted that no Malaysian port company can boast of similar achievements.

“I give it a 70 per cent chance that Malaysia will be exporting maids in 20 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens unless we get our act together,” he said.

Lim says that the issues plaguing Malaysia includes its “problematic” education system and distressingly low ability to retain talent.

“Whoever manages to excel in our education system will be courted by Singapore,” he points out.

Lim is not the only one who is worried about Malaysia’s talent issues and there has been warnings from other parties as well including the World Bank and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).

MEF executive director Haji Shamsuddin Bardan says that Malaysia is currently a net exporter of talent with outflows exceeding inflows.

According to Haji Shamsuddin, Malaysia has only about 38,000 expatriates as compared with seventy to eighty thousand in the 1990s even while some 785,000 Malaysians are working abroad, two out of three of which are professionals.

“Our ability to attract expatriates is quite challenged,” he said.

If Malaysia falls further behind our neighbours in the next twenty years, it wil be a case of history repeating itself.

Lim points out that Malaysia in the 1970’s was once economically on par with Korea.

“Electronics will be dominated by Thailand and Philippines, plantations by Indonesia, financial services by Singapore and our oil could be depleted in 20 years,” Lim predicts.

Malaysia’s future? Bangladeshi workers wait at an airport carpark turned immigration depot in KLIA. — Reuters pic

“The (Malaysian) economy seems to be caught in a middle-income trap – unable to remain competitive as a high-volume, low-cost producer, yet unable to move up the value chain and achieve rapid growth by breaking into fast growing markets for knowledge and innovation-based products and services,” the World Bank said recently.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak appears aware of the problem and has been stressing the need for the country to embrace innovation to escape the “middle-income trap” as well as attract overseas talent, Malaysian or otherwise.

He noted recently as an anecdote that half of the medical specialists working at the Mt Elizabeth hospital in Singapore were Malaysians and two weeks ago hosted a dinner for about 100 Malaysians in Singapore and told them that the government would make Malaysia a better place to live and work in, to bring back its citizens who are residing overseas and also attract global talent to the country.

“We will create more opportunities, more excitement and more buzz in Malaysia to attract the Malaysian diaspora and expatriates to the country,” said Najib.

Lim says that revamping the education system could take years and one fast way to lure talent was to open the Malaysia My Second Home programme to talented individuals such as scientists and researchers instead of limiting it to just retirees.

Haji Shamsuddin says that the government needs to put in place the right policies and structures to retain local talent.

“Otherwise, we become a training ground for others,” he said.

I’m truly blessed. On day 1 of my job, I get to attend a seminar and free lunch at the Banker’s Club, AMODA. Colleagues are great people, really friendly and lacking that unprofessional mentality that many Malaysians have that I absolutely dislike.

The job’s great, learning new things everyday. Well, let’s just say everything has it’s ups and downs. So far, it’s mostly ups. I think I’ll be on this job for quite some time. Can’t wait for my confirmation in around 2 months time. (:

Just last Friday, there was a company Hari Raya Get-Together with some civil servants at Jogoya Restaurant, Starhill. Delicious, mouth watering buffet with loads to choose from. Not to mention the great company through the night. That’s not it. This Saturday is the company’s Annual Dinner at Royale Chulan! 3 awesome meals all within a month! What can I say, I took up this job at the best time of the year! A good start and hopefully to a better future.

What I need now is a new DSLR camera to take pics of all these awesome events! Time to save up some money and hopefully get a Micro-Four Thirds camera by either Olympus or Panasonic. They’re way too expensive though. Will just wait a while longer for the price to drop further. That time will come soon! (:

A swing from my aunt's garden in Ipoh

Since I’m too busy with my workload, catching up with my TV series, newpapers and the WWW to update this blog, I shall leave you with a cute pic of my dog Purdey.

Finally, someone from Malaysia Today has voiced something that I thought was ridiculous in the first place.

The Government is Misleading Us About the Hike in Petrol Prices and RON Rating

Malaysia Today

5 September 2009

I’m quite fed up with The Star. They already have a sordid reputation of spinning cover for the government, and they still continue to do so even after getting lambasted online time and time again. They are really HOPELESS.

Recently, they posted a piece on the increase (yet another) in petrol price as the government discontinued RON92 petrol and replaced it with RON95. The government made use of the switch to increase the price of RON95 by 5 cents and jacked the price of RON97 all the way to RM 2.05 per liter, which is 25 cents (13.9%) higher.

This was what the Star wrote :

Quote:

How will you benefit from the new RON95 petrol? by LEONG HUNG YEE PETALING JAYA: RON95 was the buzz at neighbourhood petrol stations as consumers had to quickly grasp the differences between the RON92 (which is discontinued) and RON97 (which has been upgraded) and the new, more environment friendly oil. The first thing they want to know is how they will benefit from this change to RON95 which retails at RM1.80 per litre. “About 90% of motorists using RON97 (which has been upgraded to a premium product and sold at a higher price of RM2.05 per lire) can now switch to RON95,” said Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumer Affairs Ministry secretary-general Datuk Zain Mohd Dom. “The price of RM1.80 for RON95 will be capped at this level for the rest of the year,’’ Zain told StarBiz, referring to a statement earlier by Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. “It moves within an active price range, depending on the price trend of oil gauged over a one-month period.’’ All this while, consumers have been using RON97 which is too powerful for cars today. “Take a look at car manuals and one will often find that RON95 is recommended,’’ said Zain, adding that RON97 had stronger ingredients that were more suitable for higher powered cars. RON (research octane number) measures the octane quality of fuel. It refers to the fuel’s ability to resist premature and uncontrolled combustion that occurs when fuel pre-ignites before ignition by the spark plug. The newly-introduced RON95 fuel is priced at RM1.80, five sen higher than that of RON92, which is leaded petrol. Concurrently, RON97 has been upgraded as a premium product and its price has gone up to RM2.05 from RM1.80. Ismail had said at a press conference on Tuesday although the price of RON95 was higher, the Government was still subsidising 33.81 sen per litre, which comes up to about RM304mil monthly. He said the upward revision of the prices was necessary as the global crude oil price had doubled since the announcement by former minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad in March that RON95 would be sold at RM1.75. Currently, the Government is subsidising 42.72 sen per litre for RON97. While consumers who were using RON92 are required to pay more when they upgrade to RON95, those using RON97 and are able to downgrade to RON95 will save 25 sen per litre. According to car manufacturers, as long as the fuel used is not below the minimum RON requirement (RON91), it would be appropriate for any vehicle. Given that 90% of all cars can use the newly-launched RON95, this should provide savings for most consumers. All Perodua and Proton cars are compatible with RON95. “What you need to do is find out whether your car can run on RON95 or not. This information should be available in your car manual or on a sticker near your fuel flap,” an industry player A BMW Malaysia spokesman said there were no problems with RON95, in general, for BMW models although there was no technical data on performance. Performance cars such as Suzuki Swift Sport, Honda Civic Type R, Mitsubishi Airtrek Turbo, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Range Rover and Skoda 200FSI are incompatible with RON95. Owners of cars that are incompatible with RON95 will have to fork out an extra RM10 for every 40 litres of RON97. Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Mohzani Wahab said the company remained confident that its revenue would increase this year, despite the anticipated lower sales of Shell Super 97 (RON97) due to the 25 sen price difference from the price of RON95. Mohzani said the RON95 had received encouraging response from motorists so far. Meanwhile, it was reported that Petronas Dagangan Bhd expected its RON95 fuel to register 95% sales. The company started selling RON95 in May and 65% of its consumers had opted for RON95 against RON92. said.

This isn’t the first time the government has attempted to delude the public about RON rating. Neither is this the first time The Star has done their bit to spin the story for the government and pass fallacy for fact. Greatly displeased, I wrote to the editors of The Star :

Quote:

I’m writing in reference to the piece “How will you benefit from the new RON95 petrol?” by Leong Hung Yee. I’m no motorhead but this is a misleading piece of spin. Here are the reasons why : 1. RON97 petrol, before and now, is the same product. It was not “upgraded” as the writer mentioned. 2. The government had earlier promised that the price for petrol will remain until the end of the year. The statement that RON95 will be capped at RM 1.80 is nothing more than an attempt to cover up the price hike. Then again, he’s a politician. 3. RON number does not measure the octane “quality” of the fuel. The octane rating is a measure of the RESISTANCE of petrol to premature detonation. It has nothing to do with fuel quality. The word “quality” should have never been mentioned, unless it was inserted intentionally to mislead the reader. 4. RON97 has “stronger” ingredients? A higher octane rating merely means the fuel is more resistant to premature detonation. It doesn’t mean the fuel is stronger or has stronger ingredients. 5. RON92 is NOT leaded petrol! Leaded petrol has been discontinued in Malaysia for years. RON92 is simply unleaded petrol with a Research Octane Number of 92! Seriously, has the journalistic and editorial quality at The Star dropped so low that neither the journalist or the editor bothered to do a little fact-checking before publishing the piece? If you do print a correction, please do inform the public that using petrol with a higher RON rating that your car’s engine supports is a waste of money. Petrol with a higher RON rating will NOT deliver better performance. If your car supports RON 91, then RON 91 is good enough.

I e-mailed that to them at 2:23 PM on Thursday, September 3rd. No response until today. No surprise.

As we approach Merdeka, I’m not exactly sure whether to be happy or sad about it. After 52 years of independence,  Malaysia has reached a new low in almost every aspect of life I can think of. Politics, crime, environmental pollution, economy, protests, etc.

I remember reading earlier this year, Kuala Lumpur is ranked the 4th most dangerous city to be in the WORLD! Not in South East Asia, not in Asia, IN THE WORLD! Looking at the other cities in the list, it’s unbelievable that KL is 4th in the list.

National crime rate increased 15% in 2006, and has been increasing ever since. 97% of the population feel unsafe while only 1% feel safe to be living in this country.

KL is also ranked the 3rd most environmentally polluted city in the world, after Bangalore and Chandigarh in India. The “haze season” seemed to be worsening every year and respiratory illnesses is increases year after year.

Recent protests (which shall not be named here) caused racial tensions and tipping the country into another May 13. Political parties’ internal and external conflicts ripple throughout the country, with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else except themselves. No one ever admits that they are wrong and move on. Instead, blame others and it goes in a circle. Again and again.

Worst is the economy. Being a fresh graduate, I feel the tight grip of the recession rippling through the country’s economy. Even Singapore is now out of the recession, but where are we? Still stuck in a recession even after several financial boosts from the government.

Just read the papers today, in order to achieve developed nation status by 2020, out economy needs to grow by 8% every year or else, Vision 2020 will all be for nothing but a national gimmick. An embarrassment to the country and a laughing stock for everyone else.

Independence Day is in 2 days. Wonder if I should be happy or sad? Who will bridge this gap?

Everyone, meet Purdey! Newest member of the Chew family =)

Meet Purdey!

Day 6 in Malaysia and I’m still severely jet lagged. Rolled around on the bed for 2 hours last night because I couldn’t sleep at all. My 1 week quarantine is almost over, but technically I didn’t quarantine myself at home. I just quarantined myself from my friends.

Malaysian are overly paranoids about this swine flu thing. All of them think that the minute the get it, they’ll definitely DIE! I blame this on the media for aggregating their swine flu stories. Either that or Malaysians don’t know how to read the papers. It’s CLEARLY STATED that those who died with swine flu had SERIOUS UNDERLYING HEALTH PROBLEMS. Unless Malaysians English standards has deteriorated beyond belief, serious underlying health problems is easily understandable.

On a heavier note, it’s the haze season once again. The dry season always brings in the haze from neighbouring Indonesia. To make things worse, it’s getting from bad to worse every year! The WHO should charge the Indonesian government for letting their citizens burn their forests down without any control whatsoever! This is giving us Malaysians lots of respiratory illnesses that is completely unnecessary.

To end things on a lighter note, more pics from my Eurotrip!

Chateau Versailles Royal Courtyard

Tour Eiffel

In 2 days, I will be back home in my tanahair (direct translation – earth water, meaning – home country). Finally, I’ll be going home to Malaysia! Never felt this home sick that badly before. Baggage is 2kg over weight. Hopefully, the check-in desk let me go through.

On the other hand, the Eurotrip was AWESOME! Amsterdam and Paris was beeeeaaaautiful. Took loads of pictures plus HDR shots too! The only thing during the trip was that there were far too many people around. Me being a little claustrophobic is a little concern. Other than that, everything went pretty smoothly. Ate like pigs as usual on every trip I take. Dutch cheese, Vietnamese food, salami, baguettes, foie gras, croque monsieur, even MORE cheese, tapas and an endless list of other foods and snacks. Thoroughly enjoyed myself but as with every holiday trip, exhaustion and many nights of sleeplessness will eventually set in and it took its toll as I’m now down with a mild cold.

Flight will be at 2pm tomorrow and will set for the airport at 10am and due to arrive in Malaysia at 2pm local time or 7am GMT. Looking forward to good food on my Emirates flight and even MORE good food back home. Fatty Crab will be on the menu for my first dinner in Malaysia on Tuesday night! Whoop!

The French Galleries in Chateau Versailles

The famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris

Pipe organ in Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

Dam Square, Amsterdam