I'm currently on the fourth book of A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, and I can't help but relate how the events in the land of Westeros in the books unintentionally reflect our current situation in Bolehland. For the uninitiated, the books are basically about war and the struggle for power at the south of a continent called Westeros, while a threat of ancient evil looms from the north with only a 700-feet wall ala the Great Wall of China and the people who man it called the Night's Watch stand to defend the realm. Replace the warring and scheming factions in the books with political parties in Bolehland, the global economic crisis as the ancient evil, and simple hardworking Malaysians regardless of race and religion as the men of the Night's Watch who struggle everyday to fight for the realm while those in power are too busy squabbling over who shall be king... there...
Bolehland, truly ridiculous.
The books also have many interesting and intriguing characters, but three particularly captures my attention. The first is Jon Snow, who was a bastard son of a lord at the north of Westeros. Being a bastard in a royal family, he regularly was marginalized and looked-down upon. From that humble beginning, he fought prejudice and humiliation to finally rise as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch by the third book. He proved to be a formidable leader and people willingly follow him for his leadership and capabilities, bastard or not.
The second one is Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf born to another proud royal family. Because of his looks, he was often prejudiced, humiliated and jeered despite having a cunning mind that hatched a plan which saved an entire city from utter destruction in a battle. By the third book, he was framed in the murder of his own nephew who was a King, escaped, and killed his own father in retribution for a lifetime of abuse. In his own words, his only guilt was for being an ugly dwarf and people judge him there and then.
The third one is Jaime Lannister, the brother to Tyrion and his complete opposite. While Tyrion was ugly and cunning, Jaime was handsome and knightly. In the first 3 books he was potrayed as a villain. He had an incestuous relationship with his twin, the Queen Cersei and was known across the realm as the Kingslayer for his betrayal against previous King. However it was revealed that he did that to save the kingdom from the King who was mad, yet this deed was kept as his secret. By the third book, he lost his sword hand and experienced extreme humiliation as a cripple which turned him to re-evaluate his life and became a better person.
Why are they significant to me? These three characters represent some of the strongest values that I believe in and try to live by.
First, people change and nothing stays the same. Some people may say the more things change the more they stay the same, but change is inevitable, for better or for worse.
Second, prejudice is a social cancer. A man's worth should not be determined by his birth, his race, or anything that he has no control of.
The third is redemption. There are no wrongs in this world that is beyond redemption, and even if man's law condemns a person to obscurity, only Allah can offer divine forgiveness to those who care to seek Him.
Now let's see if I can finish off the fourth book before New Year...
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
HTC Touch HD: A Tragic Love Story
I was walking alone yesterday at Queensbay Mall's Digital Bay section, minding my own business while my wife busied herself at Jusco's Babies department. There I was, window shopping from shop to shop, looking at the latest and greatest in computers, communications and consumer electronics (3C), marveling at how fast it is for technology to advance and prices to drop.
Suddenly there she was... in glass display of this particular shop, looking magnificent and sexy in all its glory... a HTC Touch HD.
It was love at first sight.
She was a surprise; not because I haven't read all about her, but because I didn't expect her to be here so soon and how she looked more gorgeous in real life than she is in website reviews. You can read all about her here: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_hd-review-300.php .
The display unit was actually a dummy set, but she was definitely in stock. As I held the unit in my hands, I couldn't help but ask how much she's worth.
"RM3399"
... and my heart broke...
QUOTE:
"If you love someone, let her go; if she comes back she's yours, if not then it's never meant to be..."
Suddenly there she was... in glass display of this particular shop, looking magnificent and sexy in all its glory... a HTC Touch HD.
It was love at first sight.
She was a surprise; not because I haven't read all about her, but because I didn't expect her to be here so soon and how she looked more gorgeous in real life than she is in website reviews. You can read all about her here: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_hd-review-300.php .
The display unit was actually a dummy set, but she was definitely in stock. As I held the unit in my hands, I couldn't help but ask how much she's worth.
"RM3399"
... and my heart broke...
QUOTE:
"If you love someone, let her go; if she comes back she's yours, if not then it's never meant to be..."
Income Tax: In This World Nothing Is Certain But Death And Taxes
2008 is coming to an end, and normally this is the time of year where I will frantically go through my income tax file to make sure I have enough deductions to declare come April 2009. This month’s Personal Money magazine has an article running on last minute tax-saving moves to make before the end of the year, so go get it at your local newsstands if you haven’t already. I’m writing about income tax because I found that I have an ignorant dear wife and brother who can’t care less about it. 5 years in the future, should IRB come looking for them to collect accumulated unpaid taxes, it will be me the miserably poor husband/brother who they will turn to, and so I’m trying to save myself the trouble here (hahaha!). I’m sure there are more clueless people out there too, so I hope this can at least help a little.
This is not an expert’s guide on income tax management, but more like an idiot’s guide by a not-so-idiot taxpayer who earns less than RM70K annually. It is just a summary on how I manage my taxes over the past 4-5 years I’ve been working, and I do not have any references; just some old fashion common sense. You may find it useful, or you may find it ridiculous, but I would certainly welcome any feedback if it means saving me more money in next year’s tax.
Well the first thing that people always overlook is the tax structure. How much are we exactly being taxed for our annual income? The table below is taken from IRB’s website here: http://www.hasil.org.my/melayu/bm_NO2_1_1K.asp.
Therefore by going through that table we can roughly estimate how much we need to fork out in tax from our annual income. Lets say we make more than RM50K annually, the first RM50K will cost us RM3,475 and the balance will be taxed at 19%. At 19%, for every RM1K that we make, RM190 have to go to big brother. Therefore it does make sense to look for deductions and exemptions from taxable income and try to get into the lowest tax bracket as possible. Let’s say we make RM65K annually and have RM20K of taxable income deductions, taxable income is only RM45K and we’ll be in lower tax bracket which only costs 13% after RM35K; that’s just RM130 for every RM1K that we make; a saving of RM60 for every RM1K.
Let’s take a look at the BE form. This is the form we, as taxpayers, will have to fill in every year to declare our income. Basically we’ll have to fill up 2 things: income, and deductions. Naturally we are more interested in the deductions part. The first part in deductions concerns donations and gifts. Nothing much I can say here, they practically explain themselves. If you happen to be those who do contribute to donations and gifts as listed in the section’s screenshot below, then it will benefit you.
Next is deductions claims section as shown in another screenshot of the section from BE form. Items that many people often overlook:
Finally, there’s the rebates section. Here, only Zakat column concerns me. The other columns don’t make any sense to me… yet. Zakat is classed under rebate instead of deduction, meaning whatever amount we contribute to Zakat can be used to offset any tax that we’ll need to pay to the federal government. This is where I play around with; to try to negate my income tax with Zakat.
Zakat is an Ibadah that is Wajib, a must-do for Muslims. It is a 'tax' system where more fortunate Muslims can channel their income and wealth to the less fortunate; therefore it is also effectively a form of charity. It also will go into the coffers of the state instead of the federal government. Zakat is 2.5% of our annual income which by right is much much lower than income-tax rates, but there are no restrictions in how much we can contribute to Zakat. Most people will make monthly deductions for Zakat, but I prefer to use my year-end bonus for it.
What happens every year in December after my payday is that I will check how much has been deducted by IRB through PCB (Potongan Cukai Berjadual) for income tax of the year. This exact amount is what I will fork out from my year-end bonus and contribute to Zakat before 31st of December to make sure I qualify for rebate in that year. That amount is always more than 2.5% of my annual income which is more than enough to fulfill Zakat’s rate. The way I see it, I hit 4 birds with one stone; I fulfill my Zakat obligation as a Muslim, contribute to charity, pay my tax, and channel some money to the state.
After contributing to Zakat, then I’ll start collecting my receipts and proof of purchases to see where I am in the tax bracket. If possible, I'll try to get myself into the lowest tax bracket that I can. This requires calculations and some common sense. For example, there is no point in looking to spend RM4K in deductible spending to reduce taxable income when the actual tax saving is just RM760 (for taxable income in 19% bracket; 19% of RM4K = RM760). That is why planning ahead is important.
I’ll start first by estimating how much of this year’s income that will make it into my EA form, then I’ll calculate my current deductions to see how much of the income is taxable. If I need to spend more than RM1K to bring my taxable income value down to lower tax bracket, then I’ll do nothing because the saving doesn’t justify the spending. If I am just short by a few hundred bucks, then I’ll maximize my books purchase, or make some deductible donations.
Once I am comfortable with my tax calculation, then the next step is to wait for next year’s month of April, get EA form and declare that year’s income. There will definitely be surplus in my tax payments from PCB thanks to my Zakat contributions and normally IRB will return them before year’s end. By doing this I'll hit another bird with the same stone; this is a hidden saving, which normally goes into my car’s road tax and insurance!
Now who says financial planning is difficult? :)
This is not an expert’s guide on income tax management, but more like an idiot’s guide by a not-so-idiot taxpayer who earns less than RM70K annually. It is just a summary on how I manage my taxes over the past 4-5 years I’ve been working, and I do not have any references; just some old fashion common sense. You may find it useful, or you may find it ridiculous, but I would certainly welcome any feedback if it means saving me more money in next year’s tax.
Well the first thing that people always overlook is the tax structure. How much are we exactly being taxed for our annual income? The table below is taken from IRB’s website here: http://www.hasil.org.my/melayu/bm_NO2_1_1K.asp.
Kadar Cukai Pendapatan Bagi Individu Bermastautin Mulai Tahun Taksiran 2002
| Pendapatan Tercukai | RM | Kadar | Cukai (RM) |
| Atas yang pertama | 2,500 | 0% | 0 |
| Atas yang berikut | 2,500 | 1% | 25 |
| Atas yang pertama | 5,000 | - | 25 |
| Atas yang berikut | 15,000 | 3% | 450 |
| Atas yang pertama | 20,000 | - | 475 |
| Atas yang berikut | 15,000 | 7% | 1,050 |
| Atas yang pertama | 35,000 | - | 1,525 |
| Atas yang berikut | 15,000 | 13% | 1,950 |
| Atas yang pertama | 50,000 | - | 3,475 |
| Atas yang berikut | 20,000 | 19% | 3,800 |
| Atas yang pertama | 70,000 | - | 7,275 |
| Atas yang berikut | 30,000 | 24% | 7,200 |
| Atas yang pertama | 100,000 | - | 14,475 |
| Atas yang berikut | 50,000 | 27% | 13,500 |
| Atas yang pertama | 150,000 | - | 27,975 |
| Atas yang berikut | 100,000 | 27% | 27,000 |
| Atas yang pertama | 250,000 | - | 54,975 |
| Melebihi | 250,000 | 28% | - |
Therefore by going through that table we can roughly estimate how much we need to fork out in tax from our annual income. Lets say we make more than RM50K annually, the first RM50K will cost us RM3,475 and the balance will be taxed at 19%. At 19%, for every RM1K that we make, RM190 have to go to big brother. Therefore it does make sense to look for deductions and exemptions from taxable income and try to get into the lowest tax bracket as possible. Let’s say we make RM65K annually and have RM20K of taxable income deductions, taxable income is only RM45K and we’ll be in lower tax bracket which only costs 13% after RM35K; that’s just RM130 for every RM1K that we make; a saving of RM60 for every RM1K.
Let’s take a look at the BE form. This is the form we, as taxpayers, will have to fill in every year to declare our income. Basically we’ll have to fill up 2 things: income, and deductions. Naturally we are more interested in the deductions part. The first part in deductions concerns donations and gifts. Nothing much I can say here, they practically explain themselves. If you happen to be those who do contribute to donations and gifts as listed in the section’s screenshot below, then it will benefit you.
Next is deductions claims section as shown in another screenshot of the section from BE form. Items that many people often overlook:
- Parent’s medical fees – up to RM5K. So far I haven’t had to. Do not forget your vitamins and fish oils, To’Burn and Wan Ju! No money in the world is worth exchanging with good health.
- Education fees – up to RM5K. This is another thing that no money in the world can buy. Education is never a waste, and knowledge is a lifetime investment.
- Books and magazines – up to RM1K, so start buying books! Do not restrict ourselves to just newspapers and the internet. The mind is like a sword, and reading sharpens it! Again, knowledge is a lifetime investment so Iqra’! Read!
- Computer purchase (every 3 years) – up to RM3K. For RM3K, we can gat a PC that will last more than 3 years, and after 3 years that we’ll be eligible for another PC purchase. Not bad.
- Net saving in SSPN (ONLY FOR THOSE WITH CHILD) – up to RM3K collectively, even if you have more children, so just max this up. I think this is a bit ridiculous. In my opinion the exemption should be at higher value, since RM3K can barely pay for a semester’s fee for a degree course. Oh well… government…
- Life insurance + KWSP – only up to RM6K. If we worked long enough, our KWSP saving will definitely exceed this so if the company already provide life insurance, having another life insurance is unnecessary; that’s my humble opinion. Additionally, do not fall into the trap of reducing EPF contributions from 11% to 8%! Working in the private sector, we’ll need every cent for our old age, so fill up that 11% form now!
- Education + medical insurance – up to RM3K, and this is valid even for our child’s insurance. Unfortunately to date I do not have enough allocation to enroll in any insurance plan. Small matter, since my company already provides quite a comprehensive plan, so I can delay this for a wee bit longer.
- Sports equipment – up to RM300. This is pretty recent, and it was not in last year’s form. It should be in this year’s form though.
- The rest pretty much explains themselves; individual, medical, disabilities, wife, children. Just do not miss out anything that is legit for claiming.
Finally, there’s the rebates section. Here, only Zakat column concerns me. The other columns don’t make any sense to me… yet. Zakat is classed under rebate instead of deduction, meaning whatever amount we contribute to Zakat can be used to offset any tax that we’ll need to pay to the federal government. This is where I play around with; to try to negate my income tax with Zakat.
Zakat is an Ibadah that is Wajib, a must-do for Muslims. It is a 'tax' system where more fortunate Muslims can channel their income and wealth to the less fortunate; therefore it is also effectively a form of charity. It also will go into the coffers of the state instead of the federal government. Zakat is 2.5% of our annual income which by right is much much lower than income-tax rates, but there are no restrictions in how much we can contribute to Zakat. Most people will make monthly deductions for Zakat, but I prefer to use my year-end bonus for it.
What happens every year in December after my payday is that I will check how much has been deducted by IRB through PCB (Potongan Cukai Berjadual) for income tax of the year. This exact amount is what I will fork out from my year-end bonus and contribute to Zakat before 31st of December to make sure I qualify for rebate in that year. That amount is always more than 2.5% of my annual income which is more than enough to fulfill Zakat’s rate. The way I see it, I hit 4 birds with one stone; I fulfill my Zakat obligation as a Muslim, contribute to charity, pay my tax, and channel some money to the state.
After contributing to Zakat, then I’ll start collecting my receipts and proof of purchases to see where I am in the tax bracket. If possible, I'll try to get myself into the lowest tax bracket that I can. This requires calculations and some common sense. For example, there is no point in looking to spend RM4K in deductible spending to reduce taxable income when the actual tax saving is just RM760 (for taxable income in 19% bracket; 19% of RM4K = RM760). That is why planning ahead is important.
I’ll start first by estimating how much of this year’s income that will make it into my EA form, then I’ll calculate my current deductions to see how much of the income is taxable. If I need to spend more than RM1K to bring my taxable income value down to lower tax bracket, then I’ll do nothing because the saving doesn’t justify the spending. If I am just short by a few hundred bucks, then I’ll maximize my books purchase, or make some deductible donations.
Once I am comfortable with my tax calculation, then the next step is to wait for next year’s month of April, get EA form and declare that year’s income. There will definitely be surplus in my tax payments from PCB thanks to my Zakat contributions and normally IRB will return them before year’s end. By doing this I'll hit another bird with the same stone; this is a hidden saving, which normally goes into my car’s road tax and insurance!
Now who says financial planning is difficult? :)
Friday, November 28, 2008
2008: The Year Where Change Is The Only Constant In Life
It has been quite a hectic year. I had been relatively quite busy with work and part-time Masters Course that I enrolled in, and having a pregnant wife and a 2-year old that clamors for attention all the time just adds up to the ‘fun’. So, when I finished my last paper last week (for the semester, not the course, unfortunately :( ), it was quite a load off my back! Well, it will be a few more weeks before the new semester kicks in and I will have to start on my thesis then; and I imagine my life would be more miserable because of it but as of now, I am ‘relatively’ a free man.
2008 has been a very interesting and eventful year for me. It is the year where ‘change’ is the one single word that describes my life perfectly. It feels just like yesterday that my son was born, and I would spend whole day Saturday nursing him alone while my wife had to work. Now my wife no longer works Saturdays; she found a job at the same company I’m working at where we don’t work on weekends, and we have an Indon maid at home. However it is now my turn to not be available on weekends to attend classes.
Our home also used to be a mighty boring place, where my wife would always complaint my lack of effort to at least install railings for her to put on curtains on our windows. We put up with a pareo on the window of our bedroom, with a darned large lizard painting on it; that used to be our only curtain in the whole apartment. Right in the middle of the year before Aidilfitri, I must have hit my head on something, or my wife must have put me on some crazy voodoo spell; I suddenly decided that my old humble home needed new windows! So now, instead of having the old “lever and stained glass” type windows from the 80’s, my humble apartment now have modern aluminium casement-type windows, complete with double railings, heavy curtains and on top of that we now have a small dining area renovated from where the old clogged washing machine area used to be.
Sometime towards the end of the year, my retired dad mentioned about changing his car. HIS car, not mine; and he was interested in Nissan X-Trail. So, being the curious son that I am, I began scourging the net for info on the car. I thought X-Trail was too big for him, so instead of looking at just X-Trail, I widen up my scope to other cars in the SUV/MPV category, which brought me and my wife to have a huge crush on Toyota Rush, which is in the sub-RM100k category. Suddenly the search for dad’s car became the search for my own car, and after doing more and more research, I decided that I can only afford a new car within an RM50k budget. Voila, there goes my wife’s old humble Inokom Atos 1.0, and here comes my new Chevrolet Nabira 2.2. Well, the car is not exactly new; it is used, and from year 2003 but it is very well-maintained. Nevertheless, I still call her ‘janda’. The original owner according to the grant was Dato’ Shahriman Shamsuddin of Sapura fame and by some twist-of-fate the car now falls to the hands of this miserably poor electronics Engineer… how ironic! Well, the car is at least twice more comfortable than our old Atos, it is also twice as hungry in terms of petrol consumption and I have to pay twice as much for the installment, road tax, insurance etc.
And my dad is still looking for his dream car.
This year also marks my success in transitioning to almost 100% Islamic banking and financing. I ditched my old housing loan with BLR+0.25% interest rate to Islamic BFR-1.5%, capped at about 10%; can’t remember the exact figure. I was still in lock-in period with my old bank, but the saving from interest rate will be way more than the penalty that I needed to pay. I also shorten my loan period from 30 to 10 years, which means I’ll have to fork out more cash each month but again, I will be saving a lot in the long run. My janda’s 5-year loan also is Islamic financed, my salary account is Islamic, my investments are with Islamic trust funds and I plan to enroll in takaful whenever I can afford to later. I only have one conventional bank account which I hardly use, and an investment account that my mom is using to park some excess cash. Everything else is Islamic and Syariah-compliant, and I am very proud of this. Insya-Allah, God-willing, I hope for barakah.
Hey, but not everything is rosy for 2008. I also now owe a SIGNIFICANT amount of money to my mom, thanks to my relentless pursuit of crazy house renovation and new janda (I intend to pay every cent Ma!!! XD ). I also have less cash to spend every month due to the new housing loan, car loan and maintenance, and I have had to tighten my belt just a little more. We’ll have a baby coming in about 2 month’s time, and the janda is a darned hungry beast. Global economic downturn and high price of food do make things worse. We dine at home as much as we can now, minimizes eating out, and I regularly eat heavy breakfast and skip lunch. Even then it’s pretty hard to make ends meet each month, and I seriously considered switching company for a higher pay. Unfortunately that particular rival company is only willing to give me about 10% raise from what I’m making now, so it doesn’t make sense for me to make the jump. Else, that would be another remarkable change for me! I am also fatter than last year, and a lot more stressful.
Some things never change though. I still fail to get my wife to cover up; though I remember she promised to do so after our second baby this coming January (I do suspect she’ll conveniently forget though :p ). Anwar Ibrahim is still not Prime Minister yet, Mahathir is still around poking sticks at everything, and Malaysian Parliamentarians are still a bunch of monkeys that care more about bananas than the looming Global Economic Crisis. Well perhaps that would add to the challenge of 2009, where I will be busier than ever with a new baby at home, new projects coming in at work, a thesis that I have yet to start on, a wife that will argue with me at every silly thing and a growing son that can’t stop climbing on anything that is vertical.
Let’s see if I can still write like this next year.
2008 has been a very interesting and eventful year for me. It is the year where ‘change’ is the one single word that describes my life perfectly. It feels just like yesterday that my son was born, and I would spend whole day Saturday nursing him alone while my wife had to work. Now my wife no longer works Saturdays; she found a job at the same company I’m working at where we don’t work on weekends, and we have an Indon maid at home. However it is now my turn to not be available on weekends to attend classes.
Our home also used to be a mighty boring place, where my wife would always complaint my lack of effort to at least install railings for her to put on curtains on our windows. We put up with a pareo on the window of our bedroom, with a darned large lizard painting on it; that used to be our only curtain in the whole apartment. Right in the middle of the year before Aidilfitri, I must have hit my head on something, or my wife must have put me on some crazy voodoo spell; I suddenly decided that my old humble home needed new windows! So now, instead of having the old “lever and stained glass” type windows from the 80’s, my humble apartment now have modern aluminium casement-type windows, complete with double railings, heavy curtains and on top of that we now have a small dining area renovated from where the old clogged washing machine area used to be.
Sometime towards the end of the year, my retired dad mentioned about changing his car. HIS car, not mine; and he was interested in Nissan X-Trail. So, being the curious son that I am, I began scourging the net for info on the car. I thought X-Trail was too big for him, so instead of looking at just X-Trail, I widen up my scope to other cars in the SUV/MPV category, which brought me and my wife to have a huge crush on Toyota Rush, which is in the sub-RM100k category. Suddenly the search for dad’s car became the search for my own car, and after doing more and more research, I decided that I can only afford a new car within an RM50k budget. Voila, there goes my wife’s old humble Inokom Atos 1.0, and here comes my new Chevrolet Nabira 2.2. Well, the car is not exactly new; it is used, and from year 2003 but it is very well-maintained. Nevertheless, I still call her ‘janda’. The original owner according to the grant was Dato’ Shahriman Shamsuddin of Sapura fame and by some twist-of-fate the car now falls to the hands of this miserably poor electronics Engineer… how ironic! Well, the car is at least twice more comfortable than our old Atos, it is also twice as hungry in terms of petrol consumption and I have to pay twice as much for the installment, road tax, insurance etc.
And my dad is still looking for his dream car.
This year also marks my success in transitioning to almost 100% Islamic banking and financing. I ditched my old housing loan with BLR+0.25% interest rate to Islamic BFR-1.5%, capped at about 10%; can’t remember the exact figure. I was still in lock-in period with my old bank, but the saving from interest rate will be way more than the penalty that I needed to pay. I also shorten my loan period from 30 to 10 years, which means I’ll have to fork out more cash each month but again, I will be saving a lot in the long run. My janda’s 5-year loan also is Islamic financed, my salary account is Islamic, my investments are with Islamic trust funds and I plan to enroll in takaful whenever I can afford to later. I only have one conventional bank account which I hardly use, and an investment account that my mom is using to park some excess cash. Everything else is Islamic and Syariah-compliant, and I am very proud of this. Insya-Allah, God-willing, I hope for barakah.
Hey, but not everything is rosy for 2008. I also now owe a SIGNIFICANT amount of money to my mom, thanks to my relentless pursuit of crazy house renovation and new janda (I intend to pay every cent Ma!!! XD ). I also have less cash to spend every month due to the new housing loan, car loan and maintenance, and I have had to tighten my belt just a little more. We’ll have a baby coming in about 2 month’s time, and the janda is a darned hungry beast. Global economic downturn and high price of food do make things worse. We dine at home as much as we can now, minimizes eating out, and I regularly eat heavy breakfast and skip lunch. Even then it’s pretty hard to make ends meet each month, and I seriously considered switching company for a higher pay. Unfortunately that particular rival company is only willing to give me about 10% raise from what I’m making now, so it doesn’t make sense for me to make the jump. Else, that would be another remarkable change for me! I am also fatter than last year, and a lot more stressful.
Some things never change though. I still fail to get my wife to cover up; though I remember she promised to do so after our second baby this coming January (I do suspect she’ll conveniently forget though :p ). Anwar Ibrahim is still not Prime Minister yet, Mahathir is still around poking sticks at everything, and Malaysian Parliamentarians are still a bunch of monkeys that care more about bananas than the looming Global Economic Crisis. Well perhaps that would add to the challenge of 2009, where I will be busier than ever with a new baby at home, new projects coming in at work, a thesis that I have yet to start on, a wife that will argue with me at every silly thing and a growing son that can’t stop climbing on anything that is vertical.
Let’s see if I can still write like this next year.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Malaysia 2020: Really?
Another rip-off from t3h internets. :p I know, I know, where the hell is my originality?? Give me some time, perhaps another year or so. Life is darned hectic the past few months, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better anytime soon. :( Till then, I guess this blog will just be some kind of a venue for me to keep articles that I think is in line with what I'm thinking. That should be good enough. XD
This one is from Malaysia Today. Kudos to RPK, may he be well.
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/13705/84/
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This one is from Malaysia Today. Kudos to RPK, may he be well.
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/13705/84/
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Malaysia 2020?
Those who started work around 1973
a 1.3 Litre Japaness car was RM7,000
Today the equivalent let's say it is RM60,000 ... 8.5 times or 850%
In 1973 a double storey house was about RM 45,000 ... or less
Today it is about RM300,000 ... 6.6 times or 660%
In 1973 an Engineer's pay was RM1,000
Today it is about RM2,000+/- ... 2 times or 200%
From 1973 to 2008 ... 35 years ... what is the Trend?
Bearish !!!!
In a stock market when the trend is bearish, what do we do? ... Exit!!!
When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?
This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the stock market.
I have used these 3 items House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the country's
performance for the past 35 years ....
There is a book I saw in MPH bookshop entitled :
Malaysia : The Failed Nation
some of you may be interested to read up.
I agreed with the writer ....
This morning I was having Coffee at McDonald's (now the coffee ... 100% Arabica beans ... is quite good @ RM2.90 ... free refill!! I asked how much per hour is their pay?
RM3.00! x 8 hours = RM24 per day ... x 25 days = RM600 per month
My daughter works part-time during her University days ... she worked at Gloria Jeans Coffee
... the pay Australian $14.00 (@ 3.15 = RM44 per hour ... x 8 = RM352 per day!!! x 25 days = RM8800
13.3 times more!!! ....
Price of houses in Perth is about the same in KL
Price of cars are about 23 % cheaper ... in Perth (Australia).
I think more and more people are becoming aware of this Bearish trend.
Developed country by 2020? ... means High income country
Let's look at some as of year 2005 (Financial Times)
USA GNP per capita US$35,400
UK GNP per capita US$25,510
Australia GNP per capita US$19,530
Singapore GNP per capita US$20,690
These are developed countries by income measurement
Malaysia GNP per capita US$3,540
Year 2020 ... developed country?
Really ... a sad story.
Worrying Trends, isn't it??
Ringgit sliding further and further under BN
Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my engineering company. I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of RM1600. It struck me as odd that 15 years ago, I myself started work as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.
Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20 years ago, you'll find little difference but that their purchasing power is vastly different. It's the same story when you compare salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.
To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most Malaysians has moved backwards.
This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of the problem is that our real incomes have shrunk in the face of inflation and depreciated currency.. Malaysians have not been spoiled by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated
and depreciated incomes.
If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, they are a few multiples of ours although at independence all these countries were the on the same economic level as Malaysia .
What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia, a country rich in natural resources with the most promising potential.
The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of funds for huge non- economic projects, anti-public interest deals with politically-linked companies and passing of the buck to the man in the street.
Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.
Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest of our youth emigrate to escape the racial inequality only to contribute to the economies of foreign lands.
The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.
We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, Uuca and PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling parties in power.
We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some corporations who have established themselves here are moving out.
All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a reflection of its fundamentals.
Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.
While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way from the poor and middle-class to a select group of politically-connected elite.
The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.
There is much that is wrong with Malaysia. The responsibility for pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and
socially.
We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be touching the African standard. What a way to greet 2020.
Is there any hope for Malaysia ?
Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim.
Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more competitive.
But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose coalition of disparate parties.
The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but whether we can afford not to.
Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?
- Unknown Author
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Martin Luther King, Jr: I Have A Dream
Taken from http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics, Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert. The 1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.
Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from recordings.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics, Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert. The 1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.
Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from recordings.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Dear Anwar: A Letter From Haris Ibrahim
All credits to Haris, here: http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/dear-anwar/
Dear Anwar,
I write to you as one anak Bangsa Malaysia to another.
Dear Anwar,
I write to you as one anak Bangsa Malaysia to another.
My friends and I were pleased to read in the Malaysiakini report of 14th August that you have forgiven your enemies for what they have done to you over the last ten years, but that you will never forget what they have done to you.
It is good that you have found it in your heart to forgive them, for otherwise you will end up bitter and vindictive like a certain ‘past the shelf-life’ politician who just simply refuses to fade away.
No, you don’t want to carry bitterness within you.
And indeed you must never forget, for it is the remembrance of what you have gone through that will serve you well in two ways.
One, to never do to others or allow to be done by others what has been inflicted upon you.
Two, so that you will not allow those who have wronged you the opportunity to do again what they have done to you before.
My sister, I like Chopin, has asked me to tell you that she has forgiven you your 16 years of involvement, at least by association and failure to dissociate, with the autocratic, dictatorial, corrupt Mahathir administration.
Yes, most of my friends and I, like my sister, have long forgiven you for your involvement in the atrocities committed by Mahathir during his reign of destruction and pillage, even if only by association and your failure to dissociate with his regime.
But like you, we, too, have not forgotten.
Just as remembrance will serve you well, so too us.
Will we ever forget?
I cannot speak for the others, but for me, I think that is really up to you.
Before I proceed further, so as to lessen the hurt, if any, of what I am about to say, let me first say that whilst I have the highest regard for YB Lim Kit Siang and YB Lim Guan Eng, yet in the matter of the politics and governance of this nation, I do not trust them implicitly and without question, because they are politicians and 50 years of BN politics has delivered a hard and painful lesson to many of us.
Don’t trust politicians completely.
Many times last year, I wrote in this blog that I wished you would give me a reason to trust you.
Whilst I have to be frank and tell you that I still do not trust you, three things have persuaded me to ‘take a chance’.
First, and this is the only rational factor of the three, this nation needs to be rid of the racist, divide and rule politics of BN. UMNO will not change, and the other component parties have shown themselves to be helplessly subservient to UMNO.
You and your party leaders, together with the leaders of DAP, have been taking policy positions or making policy statements that, by far and large, seem to be in line with the aspirations of the people.
I say ’seem’ because much still remains to be seen.
I had actually wanted to say all the Pakatan leaders but, truly, PAS has been giving us some serious concerns of late.
The second and the third factors are, in truth, ‘gut’ reactions.
Raja Petra wrote a series to remind us of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into your ‘black eye’ beating at the hands of the former IGP.
My eyes teared when I read your testimony about the beating you received and the day after, the condition you were in, and the refusal by the police to afford you treatment.
Yes, I still think you owe the nation an apology for your 16 years in the Mahathir administration.
We, too, as a nation, though, owe you and your family an apology, for all that you and your family have been through these last 10 years.
I am sorry.
Then, on 5th August, I heard you deliver your ceramah in Bentong, Pahang.
I have attended many of your ceramah but, quite frankly, this was the first time that I heard you speak with humility, particularly your appeal to any who might feel inclined to go to Permatang Pauh to help in your election campaign.
What particularly touched me and my family who were present, something that has also got the mention of G. Krishnan in his blog today, was when you said :
‘Anak Melayu, anak kita, anak Cina anak kita, anak India, pun anak kita. Mengapa harus kita bezakan?”
Succinctly, you had articulated that which I have felt for such a long, long time and which, without more, sums up the spirit of anak Bangsa Malaysia that I hope one day will be definitive of us as a people of this nation.
It is this last matter that I have mentioned, irrational as it may seem to many, that has most moved me to ‘take a chance’.
A word of advice.
Don’t make the mistakes of Pak Lah.
You have made us many pledges and promises.
I quote you from the Malaysiakini report mentioned above :
“But how do you run a government and affect changes, move forward - we need a new Malaysian awareness, we need unity of all races, we need a new vibrant economy, we need to reform the judiciary and bring back confidence in a more professional police force - if you get yourself engrossed with the past?…If it (involves) 2,000 acres and two billion ringgit - it’s just not my right to forgive, they have to return the money. But otherwise, we cannot afford to drag the entire country back to the past.”
Keep your promises to us.
Where we can recover the nation’s wealth that has been stolen, we must.
You must not do favours for anyone from the past by interfering with our law enforcement authorities.
Restore what is rightfully due to the rakyat.
On Black 14, I heard you use the phrase ‘Ketuanan Rakyat’ for the first time.
Do not waver from this.
End race politics.
End the politicisation of Islam.
You must be brave enough to tell the Malays that this country belongs to all the anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia, to remind the Malays again and again that UMNO’s ketuanan Melayu is unIslamic and has been their evil tool to enrich themselves and divide this nation.
Do this, and be assured of the strongest support from the majority of anak-anak Bangsa Malaysia who, by far and large, are decent people.
In the run-up to the 12th GE, the rakyat launched an aspirational document called the ‘People’s Declaration’.
All the Pakatan parties, including yours, indorsed this document.
We took your indorsement seriously and for that reason went all out to work to get the votes for the Barisan Rakyat parties at the last general election.
We will hold you to that indorsement.
A final reminder.
The rakyat today are not like that of 16 years ago.
We understand national issues better, we are better informed, and we have a greater sense of commitment to the ideals of justice and equality.
And we have a newly found self-belief to pursue these ideals and to pursue change.
Understand and remember that we are no longer afraid.
We fully understand today that governance of this nation was intended to be in the hands of the people, and that when you and your party leaders offer to govern, it is with a view to serve us.
Therefore, understand and remember that it is we, the rakyat, who govern through those who have taken oath to serve us.
It is only by abiding by that oath that you might honourably be called a leader of men.
Any less and you would have proven yourself to be no better than those whom you now endeavour to displace.
In the run-up to polling day on the 26th, my friends and I will be in Permatang Pauh to help you in any way we can.
By God’s Grace, you will soon be returned to Parliament. May He also continue to bestow you with wisdom and courage to discharge you duties faithfully.
Haris Ibrahim, http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/dear-anwar/Friday, August 08, 2008
Ethnicity: A Reply to 'pakcik dari serendah'
Below is a reply to a comment from Malaysia Waves blog. Since it’s quite long, and I have not written anything here for quite some time, I guess I’ll just post it here. The guy was responding to my earlier comment and here’s his original post:
Dragonajie,
This is 'pakcik dari serendah'. Sorry if I have to say that, I think you are dreaming. The malays are far behind the chinese in many aspects be it in retail business, trading, construction, manufacturing etc. The chinese in malaysia deserve it for their hard work and the ability to take up enormous risks. In employments, chinese graduates and school leavers will get the first call (in most industries) leaving the malays on second call. That is why there are so many unemployed malay graduates.
Their only evenue is to seek employment with the government and GLC, even that is challenged and questioned until the PM himself seemed to have problem in explaining. Low paying factory workers are mostly malays, smallholders and farmers are also mostly malays. Since majority of the population are malay, is it wrong for the government to assist the malay. Unity among races can only be achieved if the economic pie is shared equally but it is not in Malaysia. Don't blamed it on one dato's son whom you knew got a scholarship as these isolated group of people are just greedy morons. Malays still need help and don't expect other races to help. We need to help ourselves through politically unity...yes 'keistimewaan orang melayu dan bumiputra' in our constitution is unfair to DAP and PKR's point of view but as a malay man yourself, what do you think is fair then??
So my replies as below:
Salam pakcik dari serendah. Thanks for your response. :) I am not very good at debating issues like this, but I’ll try my best to express my point of view. :)
We talk about non-malays as if Malaysia consists of just the Malays. The standard Malay mindset is that the non-Malays can go to hell for all they care but the land belongs to the Malays. Is this the right attitude that we want to teach future generations? How about non-Malays who are born and bred here, who have been here for 4 generations, is Malaysia not their home too? Do they not pay their taxes? Do they not contribute anything towards building this nation? Isn’t it frustrating if the same thing happens to us, if the situation is reversed?
When we talk about poverty, why is it that only the Malays are of concern? How about Sabahans and Sarawakians? The Orang Asli? The Sikh? The Indians? For all its worth not all Chinese are rich either. Poverty is a universal problem regardless of race, so why only focus on the Malays? On Malay unemployment, it’s not just because of the ethnicity factor, it is also because many Malay graduates are incompetent. This is what happens when we put Malay quotas in local universities, the Malay students we gave education and study loans to are more interested in motorbikes. These ungrateful brats should be given the boot in their sweet hinds.
We are losing valuable non-Malay talents overseas. It is a real problem, when our own Malaysians prefer to work in Singapore, Australia, the US, the UK, when so much more can be done here. Imagine if one day Malaysia is attacked by the US or something like that, perhaps for our oil or whatever, wouldn’t we want the non-Malays with us to defend the country? Or would we see them say “Aiya, Ketuanan Melayu maa, tanah lu orang, lu orang defend sendiri laa”.
So what is fair? Equal opportunity, that’s what’s fair, in my humble opinion. We need to encourage more non-Malays to contribute to the country. Let them buy houses at the same prices as the Bumis. Poor Malays will not be able to afford to buy a house anyway so only Bumis with money benefit from it. Let them have more chance at getting study loans and scholarships. Allow more positions for them in the government. In return, we expect them to open up more employments in the private sector, and we want to buy supplies for our businesses at the same price that they are selling to their people.
I consider myself fortunate for being able to work in an MNC, and experience first hand how it feels like to be “marginalized”, intentionally or unintentionally, and it sucks. But like I stressed so many times, for things to change, we individually must change first. After all in the afterlife, there is no Heaven reserved for the Malays. :) Thanks for reading.
Dragonajie,
This is 'pakcik dari serendah'. Sorry if I have to say that, I think you are dreaming. The malays are far behind the chinese in many aspects be it in retail business, trading, construction, manufacturing etc. The chinese in malaysia deserve it for their hard work and the ability to take up enormous risks. In employments, chinese graduates and school leavers will get the first call (in most industries) leaving the malays on second call. That is why there are so many unemployed malay graduates.
Their only evenue is to seek employment with the government and GLC, even that is challenged and questioned until the PM himself seemed to have problem in explaining. Low paying factory workers are mostly malays, smallholders and farmers are also mostly malays. Since majority of the population are malay, is it wrong for the government to assist the malay. Unity among races can only be achieved if the economic pie is shared equally but it is not in Malaysia. Don't blamed it on one dato's son whom you knew got a scholarship as these isolated group of people are just greedy morons. Malays still need help and don't expect other races to help. We need to help ourselves through politically unity...yes 'keistimewaan orang melayu dan bumiputra' in our constitution is unfair to DAP and PKR's point of view but as a malay man yourself, what do you think is fair then??
So my replies as below:
Salam pakcik dari serendah. Thanks for your response. :) I am not very good at debating issues like this, but I’ll try my best to express my point of view. :)
We talk about non-malays as if Malaysia consists of just the Malays. The standard Malay mindset is that the non-Malays can go to hell for all they care but the land belongs to the Malays. Is this the right attitude that we want to teach future generations? How about non-Malays who are born and bred here, who have been here for 4 generations, is Malaysia not their home too? Do they not pay their taxes? Do they not contribute anything towards building this nation? Isn’t it frustrating if the same thing happens to us, if the situation is reversed?
When we talk about poverty, why is it that only the Malays are of concern? How about Sabahans and Sarawakians? The Orang Asli? The Sikh? The Indians? For all its worth not all Chinese are rich either. Poverty is a universal problem regardless of race, so why only focus on the Malays? On Malay unemployment, it’s not just because of the ethnicity factor, it is also because many Malay graduates are incompetent. This is what happens when we put Malay quotas in local universities, the Malay students we gave education and study loans to are more interested in motorbikes. These ungrateful brats should be given the boot in their sweet hinds.
We are losing valuable non-Malay talents overseas. It is a real problem, when our own Malaysians prefer to work in Singapore, Australia, the US, the UK, when so much more can be done here. Imagine if one day Malaysia is attacked by the US or something like that, perhaps for our oil or whatever, wouldn’t we want the non-Malays with us to defend the country? Or would we see them say “Aiya, Ketuanan Melayu maa, tanah lu orang, lu orang defend sendiri laa”.
So what is fair? Equal opportunity, that’s what’s fair, in my humble opinion. We need to encourage more non-Malays to contribute to the country. Let them buy houses at the same prices as the Bumis. Poor Malays will not be able to afford to buy a house anyway so only Bumis with money benefit from it. Let them have more chance at getting study loans and scholarships. Allow more positions for them in the government. In return, we expect them to open up more employments in the private sector, and we want to buy supplies for our businesses at the same price that they are selling to their people.
I consider myself fortunate for being able to work in an MNC, and experience first hand how it feels like to be “marginalized”, intentionally or unintentionally, and it sucks. But like I stressed so many times, for things to change, we individually must change first. After all in the afterlife, there is no Heaven reserved for the Malays. :) Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Death in the Family: Ayah Ngah, You Will Be Missed
April 12 marked a black spot in my life. The night before was uncomfortable. It was a very busy week at work, a few assignments were due at the same time, I had a test coming in the morning and final exams were just 2 weeks away, and I had to deal with an infestation of some unknown creepy crawlies on our bed. The itch of the insect bites kept me wake most of the night, and strangely enough my wife and kid were spared from their fury. Half the night was gone when I decided to sleep in the office room instead.
At exactly 0625 hrs, my mom called, and the news was, Ayah Ngah had just collapsed into a coma and had to be rushed to the hospital. I was having a test that morning, so my mom told me to go for the test and she will update me of any news. Alas, news came sooner than later. At exactly 0701, my mom called me again; Ayah Ngah had passed away.
My state of mind immediately after was some kind of numbness, perhaps from prolonged strain of the week, added by lack of sleep throughout the night, and the news sounded like “Oh… he’s gone…”. As usual, wife and maid did all the packing, and I went into the shower. Under the hot sprinkle of water, reality sank in; Ayah Ngah was gone, and he was gone forever. Bits of memories flashed in my mind, and getting out of the shower, I burst into tears in the arms of my wife.
Ayah Ngah was the husband of my father’s elder sister, and in the family circle he was the ‘old man’, the one everyone looked up to, the one who had veto over decisions, the Maharaja, the figure of authority. He was the de facto family elder and his opinions carried weight in every conversation. He retired from the police force many years ago, and he had always been around ever since I can remember. Throughout his retirement age, he suffered from a genetic eye condition which rendered him practically blind. But despite that, he remained to be very formidable and commanding, perhaps the very traits carried on from his younger days in the police force. He was the symbol of the family, and a model of sheer willpower and spirit of never-giving-up no matter what the odds were.
In the extended family circle, I had always been the ‘one who is never around’. I left home very early in life to attend boarding school in Perak, went to further studies in Johor soon after, and build up my family and career in Penang. Everyone else pretty much stayed around central region, particularly KL/Selangor. Being away for so long perhaps made the most of my character; independent, perhaps a tad rebellious. However being away sets the quiet distance between me and the family.
Gatherings were very common and frequent, especially when practically everyone lived just around. Even my parents in Seremban were just about an hour away from KL, and therefore Ayah and Mummy Ngah’s place in SS3 Kelana Jaya had always been the de facto gathering place of the family. That small 2 storey terrace house was where my generation of cousins grew up with each other while the parents sit down together in the kitchen having all sorts of conversations, be it Siti Nurhaliza vs Noraniza Idris, Mahathir vs Anwar Ibrahim (me being Anwar’s man though, so I kept away from this conversation because apparently everyone else was Mahathir’s), children’s issues with examination results, looking for jobs, joining a band, getting caught with whatever, weddings, funerals, bank loans, a piece of land they had been trying to sell, car loan, house loan etc. etc, you name it. The place was also where our grandmother passed away, which kind of brought us, the cousins closer together during my early teenage years, visiting her whenever school was on holiday and reciting the Yaasin for her up till her death. My generation of cousins, the 80’s babies had all grown up now, and we had been replaced by the 90’s babies, the second cousins, the MTV generation.
In the house though, one constant always remained: Ayah Ngah, who will always sit at the head of the table in the kitchen, and who will always sit on the sofa by the front door afterwards for coffee. I remember during my earlier childhood, he used to make me sit on his lap, and he would ask me all sorts of questions especially about school and studies. I’m quite sure every one of my generation had to go through that one time or another. Even after the children had grown up, he still played that role, giving out advices and his insights whenever he felt necessary, or when no one else can, especially the parents.
It felt sad, how someone who had always been there suddenly wasn’t. To me, Ayah Ngah’s death represented the first of his generation in our family to go. His was the first death in my adulthood, and with his demise came the cold hard truth that sooner or later everyone’s turn will be up. It made me question myself, whether building my life 6 hours away from everyone else was worth it for selfish reasons, or simply because it was meant to be. Being away gave me the freedom to live my life as my own, at the expense of missing family events and relationships. It showed, how over the years I kept running out of things to talk about with my cousins, how I shied away more from everyone and frantically looking for common ground. I hardly knew anyone anymore, and it made me wonder at my funeral, who would I be remembered as? Will I die a lonely death, or will friends and family from here and afar be there for my final Solat Jenazah and accompany me to my final resting place?
Dear Ayah Ngah, you had always been there and I especially had taken you for granted. Looking back, I knew I should have spent more time talking with you, getting to know you better instead of the usual “How are you?” and “Fine, thank you.” Now, should-haves and could-haves no longer matter, and all I can offer you are just prayers, al-Fatihah and Yaasin. May Allah bless you in the after-life.
We rushed back to KL and arrived just in time for Solat Jenazah, and I stood watching every moment beside Ayah Ngah’s grave as they buried him beneath the red soil of Bukit Kiara. The mood was somber, and the sun felt like just inches above our heads. The experience touched something deep inside of me, and I’m sure many of us in the family felt the same way, perhaps more so since they were much closer to him than I was. It was a reminder, and one I would not forget for the rest of my life.
Al-Fatihah to Haji Zakaria bin Mohd Don, and may Allah bless his soul with barakah till Judgment day.
At exactly 0625 hrs, my mom called, and the news was, Ayah Ngah had just collapsed into a coma and had to be rushed to the hospital. I was having a test that morning, so my mom told me to go for the test and she will update me of any news. Alas, news came sooner than later. At exactly 0701, my mom called me again; Ayah Ngah had passed away.
My state of mind immediately after was some kind of numbness, perhaps from prolonged strain of the week, added by lack of sleep throughout the night, and the news sounded like “Oh… he’s gone…”. As usual, wife and maid did all the packing, and I went into the shower. Under the hot sprinkle of water, reality sank in; Ayah Ngah was gone, and he was gone forever. Bits of memories flashed in my mind, and getting out of the shower, I burst into tears in the arms of my wife.
Ayah Ngah was the husband of my father’s elder sister, and in the family circle he was the ‘old man’, the one everyone looked up to, the one who had veto over decisions, the Maharaja, the figure of authority. He was the de facto family elder and his opinions carried weight in every conversation. He retired from the police force many years ago, and he had always been around ever since I can remember. Throughout his retirement age, he suffered from a genetic eye condition which rendered him practically blind. But despite that, he remained to be very formidable and commanding, perhaps the very traits carried on from his younger days in the police force. He was the symbol of the family, and a model of sheer willpower and spirit of never-giving-up no matter what the odds were.
In the extended family circle, I had always been the ‘one who is never around’. I left home very early in life to attend boarding school in Perak, went to further studies in Johor soon after, and build up my family and career in Penang. Everyone else pretty much stayed around central region, particularly KL/Selangor. Being away for so long perhaps made the most of my character; independent, perhaps a tad rebellious. However being away sets the quiet distance between me and the family.
Gatherings were very common and frequent, especially when practically everyone lived just around. Even my parents in Seremban were just about an hour away from KL, and therefore Ayah and Mummy Ngah’s place in SS3 Kelana Jaya had always been the de facto gathering place of the family. That small 2 storey terrace house was where my generation of cousins grew up with each other while the parents sit down together in the kitchen having all sorts of conversations, be it Siti Nurhaliza vs Noraniza Idris, Mahathir vs Anwar Ibrahim (me being Anwar’s man though, so I kept away from this conversation because apparently everyone else was Mahathir’s), children’s issues with examination results, looking for jobs, joining a band, getting caught with whatever, weddings, funerals, bank loans, a piece of land they had been trying to sell, car loan, house loan etc. etc, you name it. The place was also where our grandmother passed away, which kind of brought us, the cousins closer together during my early teenage years, visiting her whenever school was on holiday and reciting the Yaasin for her up till her death. My generation of cousins, the 80’s babies had all grown up now, and we had been replaced by the 90’s babies, the second cousins, the MTV generation.
In the house though, one constant always remained: Ayah Ngah, who will always sit at the head of the table in the kitchen, and who will always sit on the sofa by the front door afterwards for coffee. I remember during my earlier childhood, he used to make me sit on his lap, and he would ask me all sorts of questions especially about school and studies. I’m quite sure every one of my generation had to go through that one time or another. Even after the children had grown up, he still played that role, giving out advices and his insights whenever he felt necessary, or when no one else can, especially the parents.
It felt sad, how someone who had always been there suddenly wasn’t. To me, Ayah Ngah’s death represented the first of his generation in our family to go. His was the first death in my adulthood, and with his demise came the cold hard truth that sooner or later everyone’s turn will be up. It made me question myself, whether building my life 6 hours away from everyone else was worth it for selfish reasons, or simply because it was meant to be. Being away gave me the freedom to live my life as my own, at the expense of missing family events and relationships. It showed, how over the years I kept running out of things to talk about with my cousins, how I shied away more from everyone and frantically looking for common ground. I hardly knew anyone anymore, and it made me wonder at my funeral, who would I be remembered as? Will I die a lonely death, or will friends and family from here and afar be there for my final Solat Jenazah and accompany me to my final resting place?
Dear Ayah Ngah, you had always been there and I especially had taken you for granted. Looking back, I knew I should have spent more time talking with you, getting to know you better instead of the usual “How are you?” and “Fine, thank you.” Now, should-haves and could-haves no longer matter, and all I can offer you are just prayers, al-Fatihah and Yaasin. May Allah bless you in the after-life.
We rushed back to KL and arrived just in time for Solat Jenazah, and I stood watching every moment beside Ayah Ngah’s grave as they buried him beneath the red soil of Bukit Kiara. The mood was somber, and the sun felt like just inches above our heads. The experience touched something deep inside of me, and I’m sure many of us in the family felt the same way, perhaps more so since they were much closer to him than I was. It was a reminder, and one I would not forget for the rest of my life.
Al-Fatihah to Haji Zakaria bin Mohd Don, and may Allah bless his soul with barakah till Judgment day.
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