History was made today

History was made today. I remember whenever I watch movies featuring an African-American President; I always wonder if such things can ever happen. Well, it did happen after all; and I think it is a healthy change. I believe his presidency will have a bearing on the world and since we are part of the world, it will affect us somewhat.

While America will soon welcome its first African-American President, will our country ever have a Prime Minister of… oh… I better not say it… some people might view it as seditious. That is how far we are compared to the world.

Having said that, a lot of things which people perceived will never happen have been taking place around the world. I believe this is a crossroad of not just for our country, but for the whole world… for humanity.

From a biblical perspective, I would say we are witnessing a time when “God is shaking all nations” as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. I have been trying to relate all the events of the world to the book called Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and it has been intriguing. Perhaps I should write about my thoughts from that perspective next week…

For now, I will take today’s event as a sign of hope. Things you perceive to be impossible today might just be possible tomorrow. As someone said to me over facebook… who knows… we might just have an African-Malaysian Prime Minister…

Now, that would be something, isn’t it?

A matter of opinion and a significant tomorrow

Wow!!!! 60 comments at the time of writing! I have not had this amount of comments for quite some time already. And so I have gathered…

You don’t reply to a blunt comment… “Zewt, fark him lah… this fella no respect”
When you reply to a blunt comment… “Zewt stoop so low… Zewt turned defensive”
When you are sarcastic… “Zewt, you’re bragging”

What purple-mushroom said really hit the nail… opinions are like assholes, all of us have one. Some told me to just ask those who disagree with me to f*** off. Well, that is something I don’t promote in AZAIG. All are free to voice their thoughts.

One thing for sure, I am not a capitalist and will never want to be one. My colleagues and former colleagues who know me well enough will testify to that.

Anyway…

Tomorrow is quite a significant day. It will be a day when our incumbent finance minister will announce measures which are supposed to chauffeur us though these turbulent times. One most likely measure is the reduction of employee EPF contribution rate, with the intention to boost consumption.

Whatever it is, I will keeping a close eye on the announcement. It will affect all of us. And based on the 60 odd comments, I can conclude that many consider themselves mid/low income earner so perhaps you should also pay attention on what will be introduced tomorrow.

Another significant event happening tomorrow (or today depending on how you see it), is the final run up on who will be the most powerful man on earth. To me… that is the real match between a capitalist and a somewhat socialist.

Gonna be so interesting…

I have not made it...

For those who follow the comments of “Tuesday reflection on a reflection”, you will note that there is a reader by the nick of 2x2 matrix who is somewhat a self-proclaimed successful person and said that I should not complain about the modern slavery world. Some of his comments include…

“Your thinking is rather primitive and communist in nature”
“Perhaps you are disgruntled because you have not made it in life”
“Don’t be despair, try harder and you shall one day be a true capitalist”
“I am up there, but even if I fall, sorry to say it won’t come down to the level you are referring to”.
“Some people just make more money than you”

I must admit, things that he said made me reflect on my life. It’s so true; there are so many people who made more money than me… like the 4 in my department of about 30.

I guess I am just disgruntled for I have not made it in life. I am now driving a Japanese car and with my current salary, I probably can afford to only get a new BMW 3 series. How I wish I can afford a Ferrari. Sigh… I am disgruntled…

When I went to Italy for my honeymoon of 11 days, I fine dined with my lovely wife for I think 9 days of the trip. How I wish I can fine-dine for the whole 11 days. I am sure 2x2 matrix can afford to do that since ya’ know… he is “up there”.
I also bought a honeymoon remembrance gift, which is a set of 4 Venice Murano drinking glass for £500. But there was one black glass horse which I like but it cost £800. How wishI can get that and I am sure 2x2 Matrix can cause ya’ know, he is “up there” while I have not made it yet. Sigh… I am disgruntled.

And yesterday… just yesterday… I was verbally informed that I will be one of the candidates who will be recommended for a regional position in Asia. I am such a failure, I should have been offered the role directly… but I only got a potential recommendation.

I am truly jealous of what 2x2 matrix for being “up there” while I am down here.

Surely, my father who once couldn’t even afford to send me to college would have been very disappointed with me

I am going to sulk this weekend.

Zewt
Once a modern slave, always a modern slave
Where up there, or down here

Why others say not safe but we say safe

I have been closely monitoring ShadowFox’s dedicated coverage on the melamine scandal in the past weeks and he has raised quite a number of disturbing discoveries.

In this particular entry, he highlighted that Munchy, an award winning Malaysian food manufacturer did used China based ingredients after all when a press statement they made earlier stated otherwise.

Nevertheless, the most alarming news would be the fact that he highlighted quite a number of products which our very own Ministry of Health claimed to be safe but has failed the melamine test conducted by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (“AVA”).

The abovementioned entry can be read here.
The list of food products which failed the melamine test based on a press statement by AVA can be downloaded from AVA here.

Whatever he said may be just a blog entry. But when an agency such as AVA made a statement about products failing the melamine test, one can't help but wonder how in the world did these products pass the test in Malaysia. Singapore’s tagline is Integrity, Service and Excellence while Malaysia go on “Malaysia Boleh”. Who should you believe?

Oh, I forgot, Malaysia claimed to be recession-resistant amidst a global crisis. It is certainly not surprising when Malaysia believes Malaysians can be melamine-resistant too. After all, "Malaysia Boleh"!

But I am going stay off those products. On top of that, I am going to be kiasu and kiasi and stay off some other dodgy products based on instincts.

Good luck.

Tuesday reflection on a recession

Late last month, I wrote an entry which hovers around…

Recession is bad for poor…
Recession is worse for the rich…
But recession is worst for those who are poor but think they are rich…

Some commented and disagreed with the above saying that the poor will be badly hit. Well, did I say a recession will be a good thing to the poor? Put it this way, when a recession hits, no one will be spared.

Why did I say a recession will be worse for the rich, generally at least? For your information, a lot of rich people have got their wealth slashed by more than half in the last couple of weeks.

Of course, with half of their wealth gone, many of the rich are still left with plenty to spare. That is actually quite true but it does not change the fact that rich are affected more compared to the poor. Anyone here got their wealth slashed by more than half?

And then there are those who commented and said about their fear of losing their jobs and unable to pay their mortgage and car instalment…

Well…

If you have been earning RM4,000 to RM6,000 a month and you are driving a nice and big Japanese car and at the same you bought a RM400,000+ apartment… or worse… if you are earning that amount of money and you are driving a BM or a Merz and living in a nice luxury condo in Mont Kiara… don’t you think you belong to the third category above?

Oh yes, the usual crime-rate-will-increase. You mean crime rate in this country… THIS COUNTRY… will improve if there is not recession?

Let me reiterate… a recession is bad. And it appears that this is going to be the mother of all recession. Just in case you didn’t know, the last version of such recession started World War II.

In the last couple of weeks, I have witnessed that greed will always present in everyone’s heart. Everyone is just trying to make the best out of the situation. The middle class jumped into the share market thinking that it was the worse. The rich whine and whine about losing so much money and needed to make back what they have lost when they still have millions with them. The poor are thinking about using their lifelong saving to “capture the opportunity”.

Everyone just want to profit. And I see a lot of rich people trying to trick middle class and poor people into believing that they can profit so that the rich can regain their wealth. This is why I think I think a recession is good. It will put some realign the lives of many… a healthy reshuffling of wealth as some call it.

And is the worst over? Well, someone said that 2 weeks ago… and also last week. And probably, someone will also say the same thing this Friday.

A move that speaks a lot

You know the RM5b (that’s RM5,000,000,000) which the govt said EPF will lend to this company called ValueCap to buy undervalued stocks? It’s turning into quite a ruckus with arguments coming from all sides…

But you know what?

It’s not about EPF being our money and we should be consulted before spending the RM5b… it’s not about that…

It’s not about poor financial market sense that RM5b is not sufficient to boost the market… it’s not about that…

It’s not about how EPF could have invested the RM5b themselves without having to go through ValueCap… it’s not about that…

It’s not about the background and credentials of ValueCap and having to check out ValueCap properly before giving it the loan to buy undervalued shares… it’s not about that…

It’s not about undeserving listen companies and their share value does should not be given redemption… it’s not about that…

It’s beyond all that…

It’s about the fact that a really bad financial tsunami is coming and people are probably going to be out of jobs, some lives may be changed forever, some may even have to jump down buildings in a few months (or weeks) time… and amidst all that, they still have the “heart” to do something like “this”.

To me, that’s what it’s all about… and it speaks a lot.

Let those have eyes see…

Have you ever tried this before?

We were all 17, the year which most of us got our driving licences. I am sure many of you remember how it feels. The elation of being behind the wheel was quite sensational feeling. Calling out friends for “yum char” session at night is a norm while occasionally; most road newbies will head to Lorong Haji Taib to check out the transvestites.

But for me and my friends, we had other ideas…

While driving out at night is already quite a challenge, not many parents will allow their children to take the car out till the wee hours of the morning. But so happen, one of our friends had this liberty. And we will all cramped into this dad’s Iswara Aeroback (could be 6 or more) for our night adventure.

One one… well, actually a few nights… we headed to… the cemetery… Now, this cemetery is not the current expensive and modern type where there is vast land and there are proper roads going into its compound. The one we headed too is a typical Chinese cemetery by the hill where tombstones are located just by the driveway.

Try to imagine… 6 or more of us cramped into a car… those unfortunate souls sitting at the side have their faces literally plastered against the door windows. Can you imagine your face and the tombstones are merely a breath away? You can really see “their” portraits smiling at you. And may I remind you, it was right smack in the middle of the night.

That’s not all…

In this particular cemetery, the driveway heading into it can only fit 1 car. It means if you drive in, you have to drive all the way into the cemetery before you can come out on the other side of the hill. It’s what you call a … one way ticket.

As a risk control measure and to ensure that we can escape in the event of any “emergency”, we decided to… reverse in. Yes… put the gear to reverse and head into the cemetery with the backside first so if anything is to happen, the driver can switch to 1st gear and accelerate out immediately.

Yes, it’s reverse gear and 1st gear and 2nd gear… it’s a manual car. Can you imagine the feeling if the driver releases the clutch too fast and the engine died? And… the car refuse to start? Honestly… never crossed out mind.

And one more thing… when the car is reversing in, everyone except those sitting at the side were looking towards the back, nobody was looking at what is in front of the car. Halfway through…

“Eh, mo yan mong chin min meh?” (No one looking in front?)
“Lei mong lah..” (You look lah)
“Huh, lei mong lah” (Huh, you look lah)
“Wan go yan mong chin min, fai tit!” (Quickly get someone to look in front!)

No one did. Well, probably there’s nothing in front anyway, right?

Nothing ever happened though it was quite spooky. Looking bad and consider the ‘what ifs’… what if the engine did die and unable to start when we are in the middle of nowhere! That would have been something.

Tried anything like this before?

Heading to Melaka this weekend and probably going to eat myself silly in Jonkers Street Bazaar.

Have a good break all of you and to all AZAIG Hindu readers… Happy Deepavali!