I am feeling heartache. Guess something just stays there in heart. Period.

My Milestones for 2009

In a few days more, it will be year 2009. In the meantime, I would like to believe that I am busy at drafting and outlining what I will do for the rest of 2009. Make no mistake that I will be busy doing mistakes and making mistakes, that’s for sure. For what I know, mistakes are good. Mistakes are the indication of my path towards my dreams. If I never commit to any mistake, then probably I am not doing anything at all.

The main problem is, would I commit the mistake twice? Okay, that hit my thick skull with a bang! How can I make sure myself will not do the mistake twice? It’s a question that yet for me to ascertain, indeed.

For whatever it is, year 2009 will mean a lot for me. I grew quite a bit since I got back from the States in the past 3 years. This time, I am sure the future demands me to be more decisive and courageous.

Yes, I put a personal dateline for myself to hit my target – a millionaire by 35. I have also mapped my career and business venture inline to that financial goal. At this moment, I have nothing in my coffer except some ideas of how to reach that goal. Whether it works or not, I don’t know for real until I commit some actions upon that goal.

Linda (my upline) sent me an inspiring sms in 2007 (which I still keep it till this day). It says, “Great ideas, great goals and great intentions are meaningless without great actions. People achieve success in life not just because they take charge of their thinking, but because their thinking propels them into taking action”.

True to its very word – success requires more than just some plan or some ideas. It relies heavily on the action for one to achieve something.

So here I record my goals for year 2009.

1. Keep my financial ledger in order, clear any outstanding debt and increase my annual income by 50%.

2. Applying for pre-seed grant to establish a company which focuses on IT for agriculture. I am partnering with my old school friend for this matter. We are looking to secure RM 150,000 to fund our first prototype. We are in the midst of preparing the application documents and doing some research to complete the business plan. Thus, the plan is to submit the completed documents by March 2009. The company will most probably commence its operation (pending to approval) in September 2009.

3. Establish a company to deal in agriculture – we become entrepreneur in growing domestic vegetables and tropical fruit to cope with local market demand. This I share with six other investors. We aim to accumulate a minimum of RM 100,000 of cash saving by the second year of the establishment. This will be the seed money for next agriculture venture for export to international market. Dateline for establishing this small enterprise will be in May 2009.

4. My promotion to Agency Manager by June 2009. Therefore I need to raise a total group sale of RM 2,000,000 by May next year (I kowtim already for personal total sales, it is in excess of RM 650,000 now). I am also recruiting more talented and independent business associates into my business group. I figure out to have a total of 30 new business associates.

5. I qualify myself for incentive trip to Seoul, South Korea by June 2009. Speaking of the trip, I will be retreating to Bandung/Jakarta for holiday somewhere in June as well, yeayyy (at Public Mutual’s expenses)!!

6. Start getting serious in personal relationship. Oh yeah, I know it’s very touchy issue here. I am planning to get married by 2010. Being married at the age of 30 seems a good year for me. Seriously!

7. Sending my parents to the pilgrimage in Makkah by the end of the year.

8. Locking my time of 4 hours a week to teach free tuition in Modern/Additional Mathematic, Physic and Chemistry for SPM candidates at an orphanage house in Hulu Klang.

9. Bring down my weight to 70 kg. Need to do this for health and fitness reason (padahal nak fit sket main golf 18 hole). Dateline June 2009.

10. Get an iron set of Taylormade Burner xD with Taylormade Burner 3 & 5 fairway woods by March 2009. Wohohohoo!!!!

Oh Lord, please help me to achieve these goals successfully! Good bye 2008. Welcome 2009.

One Last Thing Before I Sleep



You know, Shall We Dance is one of my favourite movies. In fact, one of my junior presented me with the CD of OST Shall We Dance before I left Penn State for good.

This is the most memorable quote I have in mind when we talk about this movie.

Beverly Clark said,

We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'.

Mundane Self BizTalk

It's 3.43 am in the morning. I am not sleeping just yet. Actually, my mind works best after 12 midnite. Yes, it is such a crazy hour. When I was a student, I used to work at Pollock Library for a graveyard shift; 12 midnite to 7 am. The job gave me good money though albeit the work was a bit boring..ermm to say the least.



Talking about work - it's never ending. Truly, works keep men and women as well from three vices; boredom, evil and ....okay, I couldn't recall from my mind. My mind practically on constant spin when it comes to work. FOr me, anything that generate income is considered as work. So here I am, lepaking at cyber cafe, figuring ways of how to initiate my project. This time I am gonna take a leap of faith. A risk for myself and my partner as well. 2009 will see me going into business full blast.

Having conversation with friends about this business venture reminds me of why I want to do business again. Failure is a must for one to have success. The way I see it, I shall have more risk if I don't start doing it now.

My good friend has agreed to give us a coaching on how to secure grant from government agency. I also have figured out on how to secure further capital injection into the company by a means of grant from another agency. I guess this will spearhead our effort to be majority shareholder in our next business venture when my cili fertigasi project kicks in.



My friend mooted an idea from the Japanese culture, "keretsu", which is to form a coalition in business in ensuring the survival of the business as collective force. I find the idea is a sexy idea. Hehehe, Yeah..sexy in a sense that we cover each other's asses actively by securing an equity in each partner's business entity. I think it's also a way of securing capital from within the group, rather than taking up loans from the financial institutions. It made the whole process simpler.

Anyway, there is endless of list that me and my partner need to do till March 2009. I handle most of the business side and my partner is handling the technical part. Therefore I need to learn business accounting & finance, Company Act and management. Ooh ohhh..before I forget, I also need to study again on marketing and sales as well. Woww, this is like going to school all over again. Sheeesshhh!!!

Character Flaws



Having shared my dreams and ambitions for next year, I believe that it takes a set of characters in order to pursue those dreams. And I just realize that I have plenty, I mean seriously, plenty of character flaws. It has dawned on me that my dark side is so much dirtier than I thought it is. Lucky for me to realize on this after I came through with some exposures on my bad personality.

Well, I won't come up with any excuse to behave badly. There is no excuse to be bad person with anyone else, even to my enemies (if I had one or few). All I can do is just to say sorry and keep myself on toe when I start to act 'asshole'ly. Hahahaha, what a word!

Having said that, there are times for me to close down this online journal of mine because what people may have felt when they read about my thoughts or ramblings. Howewer, I feel it's not just the time yet for this to get its last bow out. Maybe in a few years more la kot.

I wonder, who will come knocking this blog when the writer decides to say Good Bye.

Hmmm.....

I Just Could Not Believe This!!

Golf at Palm Garden Golf Course Today



I had a golf session with my client this morning at Palm Garden Golf Course, Putrajaya. He's a specialist psychologist. SO I guess that must carry some heavy credentials attached to his name. Never mind about that, but what I like to point out here is that we had an interesting conversation while golfing together.

More and more professionals are becoming swinger and this has become a trend in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, a swinger! - yes, ladies and gentlemen.

He said he counseled a few of them, individually or with their partners during his clinic hours. He said that things can get really messy and people are denying the early diagnosis. People like to do things but deny doing it. It's so much easier to fuck then to undo the fucking. Because once the sexual activities take place, it set up a motion in establishing an emotional relationship. Once the emotional relationship starts, everything will start to fall off. Okay, minus subscribing the prostitutes (somehow now I remember the story of my old friend's visit to Lrg Hj Taib and asked for RM70 service for 2 clients, if you know what I mean here).

So yeah, I learn a lot about the social psychological situation in our society during my one-hour drink with him. Many of the issues he raised during the conversation still haunt my mind.

But one thing I feel I need to acknowledge myself - I was verrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy good at tee off today!! Yeayyy! Thumbs up for me!!

The person who was standing next to me is the ADUN of Meru, Dr. Abdul Rani. I first met him in winter of 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland for HIZBI's winter gathering program. At that time he was only a doctor who has clinic in Meru and actively involved with PAS organization and I was Secretary of Malaysian Islamic Society of North America (MISN*).
Six years have passed in a blink of eyes! I never thought that I would be meeting him again and seated with him again in a function like the above. But this time, he is the ADUN and I'm the trainer for his constituents for SPIES program. Interesting!

A Sense of Devaju

I have plenty of friends; some I met over the net and some I met at some functions or perhaps we went to the same college or high school. But one thing that makes me feel great about this experience is when i finally take the plunge to meet up with an online friend.



Yeah, i actually experienced that for so many times. But this one was different. I met her in a social web portal after I page hopping from one profile to another. I saw a photo of her and she looks cute. So we exchanged messages a couple of times and the topics were getting better and better. Later it became a habit to write to her almost on daily basis and sometimes I got reply from her on the same day itself. That’s how I learned to know about Australia. It happened in just one or two months. I think it was in October 2006. Then I thought, since she was coming home for holiday, maybe we should exchange our telephone numbers. That thought stayed idle for a couple of days till I decided to make up my mind about it.

And so we talked over the phone. First time I heard her voice, I was a bit disappointed because her voice sounds like Lisa Surihani’s voice - if you know what I mean. So that isn’t a selling point. Hahahaha....but anyway I managed to handle my disappointment well because it wasn’t a major one anyway!

I’m not quite sure how long it took for us to finally meet but all I remember was that she sent me an sms telling me that she was planning to come down to Kuala Lumpur for a shopping trip. I was thrilled.

So we finally met at Midvalley Mall. I can swear over my mother’s name that the moment I saw her, I felt the time was stopped. My eyes were fixed on her. Everything around her was just negligible. She was in black jeans and black three quarter long sleeves t-shirt with cyan color of cardigan covering the t-shirt. She put black and white veil to cover her hair. I can also swear on my mother’s name that I remember till today where exactly she was standing when we first exchanged the glance and where she brought me to after that. I guess that kind of moment won’t come easily to our lives, would it?

Hahahaha...amazingly how the waiting for such moment was finally coming to my life. Unfortunately we didn’t have a great ending except for suffering emotionally, especially for me. Anyway, the whole experience made me of who I am today. A bit evasive when it comes to relationship and women.

The whole reason why I wrote this entry is because I’m watching this soapy movie called “You’ve Got Mail”. Hahahaha, yeah, I am sucker for romantic comedy and easily indulged myself in the moment. Like this one!

Bisnes ooo Bisnes...



Aku berhajat nak mulakan perniagaan dalam pertanian. Aku dah jumpa dengan beberapa kawan yang mungkin berminat untuk berkongsi modal untuk tujuan ini. Ada juga kawan aku bertanya, kenapa aku pilih budak-budak Alam Shah saja. Jawapannya senang saja. Aku percaya pada kawan-kawan Alam Shah aku. Ada yang nerd, ada yang cam setan, ada yang biasa-biasa. Aku kenal diorang dah berbelas tahun. Aku dulu kena ragging sama-sama dengan diorang masa di sekolah dulu. Kalau bergaduh bergasak sekali pun, kita buat sama-sama saja. Kalau tak puas hati pun, kita settle behind the closed door. Pusing-pusing pun memang jumpa sama-sama diorang juga. Senang cerita.

Kursus cili fertigasi tu akan dibuat pada hari Ahad minggu depan. Aku sendiri dah jumpa dengan consultant yang bakal ajar kitorang. Fee kursus tu hanya RM 100/pax je, tu yang aku pikir, bila lagi kan? Kurang-kurang aku dapat ilmu.

Business model is very simple. Lima orang investors akan jadi shareholder and directors. Tapi kena lantik sorang Managing Director untuk kawalselia operasi. Cara compensation akan difikirkan kemudian. We aim for 5 years plan. 2 tahun pertama kita akan fokus hanya pada cili fertigasi. 3 tahun kemudian kita akan venture into different sector in agriculture. Kita akan monitor economy of this business. Modal yang dikumpul bersama mungkin dijadikan hanya sebagai cash reserve tapi capital expenses akan dibiayai oleh loan bank. Maka sales pun kena tally untuk bayar loan. Jadi aku kena calculate balik berapa capital expenses yang diperlukan setiap tahun.



Aku dah bincang juga dengan consultant tu pasal macam mana nak buat marketing and sales untuk cili ni pasal barangan pertanian is perishable. Tak boleh simpan stok lama pasal kualiti akan turun. Jadi harga akan turun juga. So ni akan affect kitorang financially. Dia kata demand dalam KL dan Selangor untuk cili sebenarnya tak mampu nak dipenuhi pasal banyak sangat. Dia sendiri akan bantu kami dalam hal marketing ni. Bagus juga. Itu sebenarnya yang kitorang nak.

Aku fikir kalau projek cili fertigasi ni berjaya dan dalam tempoh dua tahun kami mampu untuk mengukuhkan kewangan syarikat, kami akan laburkan pada projek pertanian lain pulak. Aku aim dalam tempoh 2 tahun, syarikat akan kumpulkan duit sebanyak RM 100,000. And kalau nak dapat banyak tu, makna kata kami kena tingkatkan bilangan anak-anak pokok. Kalau seribu batang pokok boleh hasilkan secara idealnya sebanyak RM 10,000, then kitorang mungkin kena tambah lagi sepuluh kali ganda. Tengoklah macam mana. Aku tak boleh decide sorang-sorang. Menda ni kami buat secara kolektif. Jadi kena ikut vote la jugak.

Acap ada kate pasal economy of scale. Walau pun aku tak berapa paham sebenar-benanrya tapi aku rasa aku boleh paham apa maksudnya dengan phrase tu. Kalau ada sapa-sapa kat sini yang boleh explain apa menda economy of scale secara teori dan praktikalnya, bagitau ajer la. Aku memang minat sangat nak tahu menda alah tu. Aku terfikir untuk kembangkan kepada pertanian pisang untuk export. Client aku sorang ada buat kebun pisang kecil-kecilan yang memang menjadi. Mungkin dia boleh guide kami pasal macam mana nak buat bisnes pisang pulak.

Tapi terang-terang sebenarnya aku dah bagitau kat kawan-kawan aku, menda ni anggap ajer la percubaan pertama kita sama-sama dalam bisnes. Modal yang dikeluarkan kira anggap hangus. Ini long term project. Kalau menjadi sungguh, semua orang akan dapat hasilnya. Kalau tak menjadi, kita belajar dari kesilapan.



Banyak sebenarnya boleh dibuat dalam bidang pertanian komersil. Aku lebih suka aim pada direct to customer punya sales, tapi kalau dapat tangkap account dengan Giant ke, TESCO ke, lagi bagus kan? Ada steady income walau pun mungkin tak tinggi mana harga yang diorang nak bayar pada kitorang.

Mana tahu kalau diusahakan betul-betul, mungkin cita-cita aku nak jadi millionaire pada umur 35 tahun tu on track? Kalau kita tak cuba, kita tak tahu. Kata James Sun, the finalist for the Apprentice season 6, we live only once, take the risk and live the life. Yup, aku hidup sekali. Kalau boleh, before aku mati, biarlah aku jadi somebody. Kalau tak untuk komuniti di sekeliling aku, kurang-kurang untuk diri sendiri and family.

Dah lama agaknya aku tak menulis terus dari hati. Aku rasa mungkin aku sekarang ni lebih suka menyembunyikan perasaan aku daripada berlaku jujur dengannya. Berbanding dengan entry-entry aku yang lepas, memang nyata sangat aku dah jadi hati kering. Betul ke hati kering? Ke simpan kemas-kemas apa yang hati rasa?

Wallahu’alam.

Soalan yang sama lagi aku dapat daripada client aku semalam.

“You tak ada girlfriend lagi? Umur you dah berapa ya?”.

Kalau client lelaki tanya, aku boleh jawab dengan nada bergurau sebab memang aku kena kutuk kaw-kaw punya dengan married client ni. Kalau client perempuan tanya, aku buat muka straight face ajer. “Memang takde, nak wat camner. Saya busy sangat kerja kot”. Pastu aku wat senyum kambing. Selalunya soalan tu mati kat situ saja.

Tapi semalam client aku sambung lagi bercerita pasal chemistry antara lelaki dan perempuan. Mungkin dia lebih berpengalaman sebab dia dah kahwin, lepas tu cerai. Besarkan anak tiga orang by herself. Dia lebih kurang baya mak aku. Mungkin sebab tu aku hormat pada dia and just layan ajer perbualan tu.

Aku bagitau kat dia yang aku buat masa ni dikejutkan dengan banyak berita perceraian. Then aku bertanya, apakah orang kahwin hanya untuk bercerai? Dia kata banyak benda boleh jadi sekarang ni. Antara faktor utama ialah sebab ekonomi keluarga. Suami dan isteri bekerja kuat untuk tingkatkan pendapatan keluarga. Dalam keadaan tu, mereka terdedah kepada bermacam-macam dugaan baik dari segi pergaulan sosial atau pun pekerjaan. Masing-masing stress. Tambah lagi bila kurangnya pegangan atau pun amalan agama, jadilah benda-benda yang tak elok. Asalnya benda simple tapi bila dah terlajak, tak boleh nak gostan semula. Tu yang jadi kes cerai sana sini. Tak kiralah untuk lelaki dan pompuan.

Apakah aku sebenarnya takut untuk hal ni? Yelah, aku bukannya baru lagi dalam hal bercinta. Cinta, putus cinta. Cinta, putus cinta. Suka, tapi kena reject. Sakitnya sedikit sebanyak terkesan kat hati. Dulu papa ada pesan pada aku, kalau boleh kita berkahwin ni biarlah kekal sampai ke akhir hayat. Itu ajer la pesan ayah aku dalam soal perhubungan ni. Memang tak pernah lah dia cakap-cakap macam tu dengan aku sepanjang 28 tahun aku jadi anak dia ni. Memang tak pernah sekali habuk aku cakap kat dia pasal sape yang aku suka, sape yang aku minat kecuali sekali saja dulu. Itu pun memang sampai berpintal-pintal tali perut aku nak bagitau kat dia. Tapi hubungan tu tak jadi, so sampai sekarang aku jadi segan sendiri nak cakap kat dia. Samalah dengan mak aku. Tak pernah ajar aku cakap bab-bab gini.

Aku percaya dalam kegagalan dalam perhubungan bukanlah jatuhnya pada satu pihak. Kedua-dua pihak bertanggungjawab sebab it takes two to tango. Baik lelaki mahu pun perempuan kena cermind diri sendiri. Dalam hal aku sendiri pun, aku lebih banyak salahkan diri sendiri. Mungkin cara aku approach tak kena, mungkin mindset aku tak betul, mungkin apa yang aku sebutkan depan dia tak berapa nak kena. Bila kenang-kenang semula perhubungan yang lepas, aku Cuma suka ingat yang manis-manis saja. Yang boleh buat aku tersenyum dan ketawa. Taknak la aku ingat bab-bab yang buat mood aku down. Yang penting, aku doakan orang-orang yang pernah aku sentuh hatinya atau yang hati aku disentuh olehnya bahagia dalam hidup masing-masing.

Fokus aku sekarang ialah pada bina kareer dan relationship aku. Aku still ingatkan diri sendiri pasal target aku untuk jadi jutawan by umur 35. and aku jugak still ingatkan diri sendiri pasal bila aku nak settle down. Ya, memang aku nak settle down. I put the date in year 2010. Yep, masa tu aku dah umur 30. mungkin masa tu aku dah jadi lelaki yang cukup matang untuk jaga hati perempuan, belajar untuk handle diri perempuan and jugak share sama-sama dengan dia pasal adventure hidup berumahtangga.

Kiranya aku ada tempoh dalam setahun lebih dari sekarang. Mana mungkin nak kahwin dalam masa setahun tapi tak ada calon? Takpe, I believe in law of attraction. If the mind keep focused on task in hand, the things will come easily and effortlessly. Sama macam berdoa, kalau doa hari-hari dan usaha hari-hari, hasil doa tu akan datang tanpa kita sedari.

Doa tu penting sebab ia jadi dorongan dalam subconcious. Doa untuk jadi orang yang kaya tapi bertanggungjawab, doa untuk jadi suami yang bertanggungjawab pada isteri dan anak-anak, doa untuk jadi anak yang menyenangkan ibu ayah. Mudah-mudahan doa-doa aku termakbul. Mudah-mudahan kerja amal kebajikan yang aku buat jadi wasilah untuk aku capai hasrat di hati. Ameen.

Apa Yang Aku Pikir Pasal Situasi Ekonomi Negara

Macam aku kata hari tu, ada banyak benda yang aku nak tulis kan? Memang betul banyak pun, in fact, berlambak ajer aku rasa. Tapi mostly samada datang dari cabaran kerja atau pun banyak khayalan dalam kepala ajer.

Sekarang ni tengah orang dok sibuk berbahas isu ekonomi nak jatuh merudum. Orang awam sibuk dok anticipate apa yang akan jadi pada tahun depan. Macam mana prospek kerja masing-masing and macam mana langkah-langkah yang patut diorang ambik. Atau pun, tak kurang juga yang dok bitching pasal apa kerajaan kita masih lagi dalam denial. Aku tahu ada beberapa syarikat dah pun mulai tutup atau pun mengurangkan operasi di Malaysia macam BASF, Citibank and a few others. Ni semua bahana krisis ekonomi di US la ni.

So, sapa kata sekarang ni still ada job security? Itu semua illussion ajer, percaya la cakap aku. There is no more security over your job. The only secured job is with the government, itu pun kalau kerajaan kita still mengamalkan perbelanjaan secara tak berhemah (amalkan defisit bajet yang tinggi setiap tahun). Tak lama lagi, mana mampu kerajaan untuk tanggung dan serap semua kesan pengangguran. Kos untuk tanggung perbelanjaan kerajaan dibayar oleh 1.1 juta rakyat yang membayar cukai. Jumlah ini membayar cukai bagi membiayai gaji civil servants seramai 1.2 juta orang. Tapi 1.2 juta orang ni bukan semuanya competent. Ada yang layaknya dibuang kerja sebab mutu kerja tidak sehebat yang disangkakan. Ada yang hanya tunggu gaji buta-buta masuk dalam akaun mereka pada setiap hujung bulan tapi servis yang diberikan macam entah apa-apa.

Apa-apa pon, berbalik pada kisah ekonomi merudum. Kita masih lagi tak tahu samada bentuk economic downtrend ini berbentuk U-shaped atau pun V-shaped. Kalau V-shaped, kita bernasib baik sebab bila ekonomi jatuh secara linear hingga ke paras terendah, market akan rebound semula dalam jajaran linear juga. Maksudnya, tempoh rebound ini akan jadi pendek. Tetapi kalau ekonomi kita merosot dalam bentuk U-shaped, ini akan mengambil tempoh masa yang lama untuk recover. Statistik yang aku lihat sendiri dari pemulihan pasaran ekuiti Malaysia biasanya mengambil masa dalam tempoh 12 hingga 24 bulan. Pasaran ekuiti US sendiri secara lazimnya mengambil masa selama 16 bulan untuk mengalami pemulihan daripada kelembapan ekonomi.

Mengikut laporan majalah TIME, ada mengatakan ekonomi US akan bertambah baik menjelang musim panas 2009. Mungkin ada betulnya juga sebab sekarang tempoh economic downtrend bagi US sudah melebihi 12 bulan bermulanya sejak krisis sub-prime bermula pada bulan Julai tahun 2007. Apakah dengan ditambah rancangan USD 700 billion stimulus package oleh pentadbiran Presiden Obama nanti dapat membantu memulihkan ekonomi Amerika? Mungkin ya, mungkin tidak. Banyak kemungkinan di situ.

Apabila ekonomi Amerika semakin pulih, pasaran ekuiti kita pun pasti akan bertambah baik disebabkan sentimen pelaburan. Sebetulnya tiada kaitan antara real economy and equity market. Tapi disebabkan nilai pasaran saham yang menguncup biasanya akan menyebabkan modal pasaran sesuatu syarikat akan meruap, jadi syarikat akan menghadapi masalah untuk mencari modal untuk menampung perbelanjaan operasi dan aktiviti syarikat. Kalau ini terjadi pada skala yang besar, maka akan pasti banyak syarikat akan gulung tikar kerana kekurangan modal.

Mujurnya Malaysia ini dipunyai oleh ramai rakyat yang banyak menyimpan dan juga melabur, terutama sekali dalam instrument pelaburan unit amanah. Simpanan deposit rakyat Malaysia dalam sistem kewangan kita adalah antara yang terbesar di Asia. Simpanan tetap rakyat Malaysia dalam bank-bank seluruh negara melebihi RM 200 billion. Ini tidak dicampur dengan simpanan wang di KWSP yang melebihi RM 300 billion. KWSP sendiri menjangkakan simpanannya akan mencecah angka RM 500 billion pada tahun 2010 atau 2011. Jadi kita memang flush dengan cash untuk menampung aktiviti-aktiviti ekonomi.

Persoalannya di sini ialah bagaimana kita mahu merangsang ekonomi negara? Langkah yang diambil oleh BNM untuk menurunkan OPR pada hari Isnin lepas mungkin satu langkah yang tepat. Base lending rate (BLR) akan turun dan justeru itu, banyak bank akan dapat memberikan pinjaman pada kadar faedah yang lebih rendah. Ini akan memberi peluang kepada rakyat dan syarikat-syarikat untuk meminjam daripada bank untuk aktiviti ekonomi. Bila berlakunya banyak aktiviti ekonomi, seterusnya kita dapat halang ekonomi kita dari jatuh terduduk.

Stimulus package yang diumumkan oleh kerajaan pada baru-baru ini masih lagi menjadi tanda tanya, terutama sekali pada kaedah yang bakal diambil oleh kerajaan untuk mengumpulkan dana sebanyak RM 7 billion bagi tujuan ini. Apakah kerajaan akan mengeluarkan treasury bond, atau pun kerajaan akan meminjam daripada KWSP atau pun dari pihak luar bagi tujuan ini? Jika kerajaan bercadang untuk meminjam daripada KWSP, maka kerajaan mesti bertanggungjawab dalam pembayaran balik kepada badan ini kerana ia melibatkan dana orang awam. Kerajaan perlu telus dalam soal ini. Ini penting bagi meraih pelabur-pelabur tempatan dan juga sokongan rakyat terutama dalam situasi genting sekarang ini. Sekiranya kerajaan ingin mengeluarkan bond bagi meraih extra cash, maka kerajaan perlu mengambil kira kos berhutang memandangkan sovereign rating negara kita telah jatuh daripada A+ kepada A-. Penarafan semula ekonomi negara kita menyebabkan kos berhutang meningkat dan pelabur luar melihat perkembangan ekonomi negara kita sebagai kurang menarik berbanding dahulu. Jadi, kerajaan perlu ambil kira perkara ini dalam matematik pengurusan pakej ransangan ini. Adakah kita mampu berbuat demikian?

Simpanan negara kita dalam bentuk foreign reserve juga sudah menyusut disebabkan perbelanjaan BNM untuk menyerap semula wang kita di pasaran tukaran matawang untuk mempertahankan nilai ringgit baru-baru ini. Pendapatan negara untuk tahun depan pasti akan berkurang kerana kejatuhan nilai komoditi di pasaran antarabangsa kerana negara kita bergantung sebanyak hampir 41% atas pendapatan minyak kita (dengan kata lain, pergantungan kita ke atas PETRONAS semakin meninggi). Harga minyak setong sudah pun menurun melebihi daripada 50% daripada harga puncaknya sekitar USD 147 setong (harga minyak setong pada masa ini berlegar sekitar USD 50 hingga USD 60 setong). Ini belum dicampur dengan hasil kutipan cukai perniagaan yang semakin menguncup disebabkan keuntungan yang berkurangan yang dicapai oleh entiti perniagaan pada tahun 2008.

Tambah lagi pada masakini, kerajaan tidak lagi menanggung subsidi minyak tetapi menerima pulak pendapatan hasil daripada nilai minyak yang rendah di pasaran. Makna kata, rakyat sepatutnya menikmati harga minyak yang lebih rendah lagi tetapi polisi kerajaan untuk menyekat harga minyak pada kadar tertentu, jadi kini kita pulak yang bagi subsidi pada kerajaan atas perbelanjaan minyak petrol harian kita. Jadi kerajaan perlu menghebahkan kepada rakyat atas keuntungan yang diraih ini bagi mengwujudkan akauntabiliti.

Ketika inilah kerajaan sepatutnya mengamalkan perbelanjaan berhemah. Laksanakan sistem tender terbuka bagi mengurangkan ketirisan dalam perbelanjaan dan juga kualiti kerja. Langkah mengurangkan energy reserve kita juga penting kerana negara kita mempunyai energy reserve setinggi 40% di mana kebanyakan negara di luar sana hanya meletakkan had sebanyak 20% sahaja pada simpanan tenaga mereka. Jadi kos extra 20% ini ditanggung secara tak langsung oleh kerajaan dan juga rakyat melalui pemberian subsidi kerajaan pada pembekal tenaga (IPP). Kerajaan juga harus menurunkan tarif elektrik kerana nilai komoditi seperti arang batu dan juga minyak diesel telah turun di pasaran. Apa yang patut ditekankan ialah pengurusan kontrak jualbeli tenaga yang efektif baik dari pihak TNB mahu pun di pihak kerajaan dengan IPP dalam mengimbangi perbelanjaan ini. TNB juga perlu mengurangkan defisit dalam menguruskan capital expenses mereka untuk memastikan rakyat menikmati tarif elektrik yang kompetitif.

Jadinya, di manakah peranan rakyat dalam menangani krisis ekonomi negara? Kita mesti terus menerus melobi wakil rakyat kita supaya melupakan sengketa kepartian dan memfokuskan segala sumber dan kepakaran untuk mengharungi krisis ekonomi ini. Kita mesti menulis surat, menelefon, bercakap dan berdiskusi dengan wakil rakat kawasan masing-masing bagi melahirkan rasa kegusaran kita untuk tahun 2009 nanti. Kita harus tekan wakil-wakil rakyat yang dilantik, tidak kira daripada Barisan Nasional atau pun daripada Pakatan Rakyat, supaya fokus pada keperluan rakyat umum.

Kita juga mesti meletakkan kepercayaan penuh kepada pasaran ekuiti negara. Aktiviti pelaburan dalam sektor sekuriti mesti diteruskan seperti biasa bagi membiayai aktiviti perniagaan syarikat-syarikat yang tersenarai di Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur. Pasaran saham kita ialah enjin ekonomi bagi satu-satu negara. Itu juga menjadi satu penanda aras bagi tahap ekonomi satu-satu negara. Bagaimana kita mahu negara kita bertahan daripada arus negatif pertumbuhan ekonomi kalau kita sendiri tidak mahu menyokong aktiviti ekonomi negara sendiri? Bukankah itu tidak bersifat patriotik, bahkan mengkhianati negara sendiri?

Milik Siapakah IP ini?

Aku selalu tertanya-tanya, siapa yang baca blog aku ni eh? Dah almost 4 tahun aku tulis blog kat sini. Actually, aku dah menulis dalam blog sejak 2001. But the first two blogs are abandoned for now.

Blog aku ni sebenarnya boleh trace IP orang-orang yang visit blog. Ada beberapa IP yang aku merasa curious siapa tuan punya IP tu. Among them are

1. Kolej Universiti Sains & Teknologi M'sia, Terengganu
2. Quelph, Ontario CA
3. Perth, AUS (dia ni Mac user nih)

Tu ajer kot. KUSTEM la yang aku paling query, sapa dia nih? Aku kenal sorang je umat manusia kat situ. Itu pun orang tu memang tak nak berkomunikasi dengan aku, including la adik beradik dia skali. Takpe, tak rugi apa pun aku.

Perth..hmm..aku memang tak kenal sapa-sapa kat situ kecuali Ija. Ija pun dah balik M'sia and bekerja dengan PETRONAS. So sapa lagi tinggal kat sana? Entah.

Yang lain-lain aku tak pedulik sangat pun sapa yang baca blog aku. AKu menulis untuk diri sendiri, bukan untuk sapa-sapa. Tak ada faedah apa-apa pun kalau aku menulis untuk sapa-sapa.

Ada banyak benda nak dituliskan lately, cuma otak agak tersendat sikit dengan benda-benda semasa yang buat hati kacau. Ishh, asyik kacau ajer, bila nak okay ni kan?

Cerita Hokkaido



Okay, maybe aku patut citer pasal trip aku ke Hokkaido kot. Aku pun dah lama tak bercerita kat sini.

My trip to Hokkaido was between Oct. 15th till Oct. 22nd last month. It was 8 days and 6 nights trip. Overall, I think the trip was a bit overrated. Hahahaha, yeah I know, it was so anti climax but anyhow, I'd like to state it in a very positive way.

I made some new friends and revive an old friendship from my previous workplace. The friends I hung out during the trip are some cool people and they are at the top of their game. Sometimes I wonder, how lucky I was to be in the same bus tour with them.



We spent most of our time in the bus tour. The bus driver is a very kind old chap and he never speaks English. So towards the middle of the trip I decided to no longer attempt to speak with him in English. I developed a language of my own with the Japanese. It's more like a sign language with some Malay words sprinkled all over the places. The cool thing about him, he seems to agree on everything I said.

Our bus tourist guide is 'marverrouussss'! Frank is a very sincere and funny guy to hand out with. He's a Singaporean who studied and worked in Japan for the last..urmm..6 or 7 years, I guess. He speaks Japanese very well and he speaks English like a Japanese does. More importantly, he can speak fluent Malay as well. That counts a whole lot deal when we need some translation.



There were a few places which we visited outside of Sapporo City. Sapporo is like a capital for Hokkaido's island. The city itself is a huge one. Gile besaq aa bila aku tengok dari atas bukit Okura. Setakat KL tu cam ciput ajer compare dengan Sapporo.

We stayed at a couple of hotels - Renaissance Hotel @ Sapporo, Sun Palace Hotel @ Lake Toya, some decent hotel at Sounkyo.



I must say that Hokkaido is a place where you must to enjoy the scenic view. If you don't like to spend time with nature, most likely this place is out of tune for you. Thank god that I am one of the nature lovers.



We visited among many places are Noboribetsu, Bear Ranch at Mt Showa, Edo's World, flower gardens at Furano, Okurayama Skiing Stadium, Susukino @ Sapporo and shopping malls around the city. Maybe I left a few places to list here but nevermind, I don't think they are worth to write here.

One of the activities that I think worth to mention here is to visit 'onsen'. Onsen is a hot spring where a lot of people come and rest their body and mind in the pool filled with hot water. The interesting part is that everybody must be butt naked in the pool. Did I visit the place? Of course I did. It's like a must for tourist to visit onsen. Armed with small tower and my yukata, a few of us marched to onsen when many visitors left the place. We had quite a bond while bathing in onsen. Hahahahah...I let you do the rest of imagination here.



I think it's worth for me to write about Japanese food. I tell you, we tend to appreciate our food when we are faraway from our own mother land. True enough, I started to crave for nasi lemak and some nasi campur on the fifth day of the trip because I couldn't stand the seafood. The Japanese food has not much of variation. At least for what I ate there. Some of us did bring cili padi and some stocks of Mee maggi with them.

The meal in Hokkaido can be considered quite expensive though. For a decent and complete meal, the price would be around 1,000 yen plus. That is equivalent to RM 34++. So you can imagine how expensive it is to get your stomach filled in Japan. Of course McDonald is much cheaper but for how long you can survive on that cheapo fish fillet burger. Or maybe Ebi burger (yes they do have a shrimp burger in McD Japan).

Luckily all our food arrangement were sponsored by the company. Oh yeah, that was heaven! On the last night, we were brought to eat crabs. I tell you, my stomach was full of crabs by the time we left that place. I ate like there is no tomorrow. Hahahahaha.



We all came home on the 22nd of October. Some of us brought quite a few bags from Hokkaido but I remained light as ever. I didn't shop much in Hokkaido because it was expensive to get things over there. All in all, I think this first trip I had with Public Mutual is a good place to rest my mind and created bonds with some other people who are outside of my group. Knowledge gained, experiences acquired and relationship grew.

This is my part in doing charity



I gave a talk for college students at Business & Management Faculty of UiTM a day before I went to Hokkaido.

The title of the talk is very simple; The Pursuit of Happyness. :)

I believe we must be happy in doing what we are doing now, or else no point of suffering without getting anything back from it and end up with nothing.



The organizing committee asked me whether I charge my talk. I said, I talk for free and for charity. Reminding people about how big is life and how importance it is to give back to society are my passion. Don't need money to talk about my passions.

Blog ni jadi sepi untuk beberapa tempoh waktu.

Aku pergi bercuti di Hokkaido, Jepun untuk tempoh seminggu yang lepas. 8 hari dan 6 malam di sana. Nanti aku ceritakan.

Aku juga dapat permintaan daripada press secretary MB Selangor untuk request resume aku pada hari aku nak bertolak ke Hokkaido. Katanya untuk selection for key positions in anak-anak syarikat negeri Selangor. Tak sampai hati nak turn down that request because it came from someone that I respect, tapi aku yakin dengan pelan hidup aku for the next 5 years. Jadi aku decide untuk tak hantar resume.

Aku dah decide untuk attend my sister's graduation in Fukui next year and qualify for Rome trip next year around October.

By the way, aku dah letak tarikh kahwin aku on Jan. 2nd, 2010. Aku target nak wat wedding reception kat Dewan Perdana FELDA. Dengan siapa, aku tak tahu (sape2 berminat, pls contact me). Law of Attraction la kiranya nih. Muahahaha!

So takat ni ajer kot. Sok-sok aku letak gambar-gambar aku lepak in Hokkaido.

Hari Raya Datang Lagi

Masa berlalu dengan cepat sekali. Aku terasa macam baru seminggu lepas aku mula puasa tapi minggu depan dah nak Aidilfitri. Aduhh, masa berlalu macam ribut tapi kadang-kadang life berlalu macam semut.

Apa-apa pun aku nak wish kepada semua rakan Muslim; Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri dan Maaf Zahir dan Batin. Mintak maap dan mintak ampun kalau tersakitkan hati, terbuat korang berbulu atau pun ber ignore existence korang. Ikhlas dan tulus dari hati saya yang diberi nama F*rid.

Pada sapa-sapa yang akan drive untuk balik ke kampung, jaga-jagalah pemanduan korang. PDRM skang ni kuat buat roadblock. Kalau takmo kurang RM300 buat downpayment duit raya pada PDRM, sila-sila lah buat adjustment pada F1 style driving korang ye. Lesen memandu kena check, kot2 dah expired ke macam lesen L motor aku ni (next week aku renew lah aih).

Sapa-sapa nak datang ziarah aku di Ampang, sila-sila lah call dulu. Silap aribulan aku tak dak kat rumah, korang dok telan air liur ajer laa ye.

Tahun ni aku beraya seperti biasa di Kelantan. Ni jer la peluang aku nak guna untuk visit kawan-kawan Alam Shah yang berasal dari Kelantan juga; Hafiz Zahri, Labu, Dr Md Nor, Dr. Sobrie aka Moie, Awe etc. Plus visit Linda & Anis di Wakaf Che Yeh. Cari baju golfer yg cantik2 kat Rantau Panjang ke kan.

By the way, hari Isnin lepas Raya...ada sapa-sapa nak main golf tak? Hehehehehe....

Malay rights
Friday, 19 September 2008 00:23

The Malays are 'technically' in power governing the country but it is also this same controlling group that demands the right to correct economic imbalances and disparities for its own race.

What does this say about the 'majority governing' Malay race for the last 50 years?

I dare say that most Malaysians (regardless of race) below the age of 40 would like to see all opportunities be spread amongst those who deserve it on meritocracy.

We do not need the keris anymore to tell others to be careful of what they say and do because in the survival of the fittest, the keris is of very little relevance!

If we continue to hide under the 'bumiputera' tempurung as most Malays have been in the last 50 years or more, the catch-up game will just get harder and the gap wider.

If we continue to expect without earning it, we will never learn how to be a race that succeeds on merit. There is NO substitute for merit. The Malay politicians continue to shout about Malay rights and bumiputera rights because the very nature of our local politics is sadly racially biased.

In this day and age, a great nation is built upon joint success stories, meritocracy and the
combined hard work of its people WITHOUT any fear or favour of racial biased politics governing our daily policies. Sadly, the Malay politicians have ended up completely corrupt, racialists, twisted religious fanatics.

I am below 40 and as much as I love the 'idea' that Malaysia is tanah tumpahnya darah orang Melayu, I can't help but also feel that this country is for ALL Malaysians alike including the Chongs, the Kumars, the Xaviers, the Singhs & Kaurs etc who were born on the same day in the same hospital as me here in Malaysia.

If we feel that WE (the Malays) deserve this country more than THEM , then WE (the Malays) should have shown them a long time ago that we deserve the 'control all' status.

We have to earn it. The policies FAILED because the very concept of Malay rights or the NEP/DEB is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it aims to eradicate wealth disparity but on the other, it has made the Malays oblivious of what reality is. Our (Malays) success is only reflected in the 'perceived' political power which today can collapse in a matter of minutes.

I would also like to see my children succeed in their country, Malaysia, for reasons that true success should be based upon, which are merit and hard work and NOT because they are Malays or bumiputeras.

For as long as the Malays don't see this, there is very little point in fighting for Malay rights.

It just makes us look more ridiculous. We have taken this notion of being privileged a bit too literally in that it now simply means we want this country and its fruits all for ourselves without accepting the responsibilities that come with it. I blame the MALAY politicians for this because we want to only fight the cause without strategising for the true substance and need of the cause. We have been given fish all the while without being taught how to fish.

It's funny how two different generations can be so diverse in their thinking and the recent elections proved
just that.. We are no longer concerned with racial problems but more so the never-ending Malay agenda issues. The rakyat has spoken and the landscape has drastically changed. Is this change welcomed? Is it good?

The answer is 'NO'. Because we,the Malays, have been caught with our pants down - we are
not ready to compete on any level playing field (we can't even compete on advantageous grounds!). Even with three or five more continuing policies for Malay rights or bumiputera privileges over the next 50 years, we will still be in exactly the same position as we are in today.

The truth hurts and the truth will always prevail. And the truth of what's to come will NOT go away. I am cynical perhaps because I feel that Malay rights is NOT relevant anymore.

The right to be safe, to be treated fairly, to have a world-class healthcare and education, to enjoy equal prosperity, to have good governance, to live in a clean environment and to be war-free is what I want for my Malaysia. NOT for MY race to be artificially powerful.

If we want the Malays to fail, then by all means continue the fight for Malay rights. Go and polish your keris..

Shaik Rizal Sulaiman

There are many random thoughts in my mind right now. For one, it's about the power transition between Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat. Many people welcome the idea. Some corrupt politicians in Barisan Nasional are dreaded for the same idea. I am eagerly to see who's who in the next government in waiting.

The question whether September 16 will truly take place or not isn't really a matter to me. For the first time, Malaysians are challenged to think about political change. Would it be possible? If it is, what sort of government should be formed right after that. Previously it was almost impossible for the rakyat to ponder on this idea. Previously it was almost impossible for the opposition to effectively warn the impending dire of bad governance of the country. However, the tide has turned and the ball is truly in Barisan Nasional's court. The question is, do the BN MPs have the ball to keep it rolling or just let their balls being squeezed by the fear of losing lucrative government contracts and scavenging the wealth of nation?

It is the same with the French Revolution except the French Revolution was a fail revolution. Unlike the American Revolution, they managed to get out from the turmoil and formed a new government, freed from the colonization of England. It was a complete round from chaos to order.

Since Hari Raya is just almost two weeks away and I believe, Hari Raya should be a celebration for the triumph of defeating an nafs or desire, it is best to be blessed with the winning of Pakatan Rakyat and formation of new responsible, just and fair government.

Some of my friends label me as Malay hater. To be frank, yes, I do hate Malays. But I hate only those Malays who are so narrow minded and single-mindedly racist as if there is nothing can be changed except for hatred and mistrust towards non Malays. For other Malays who believe we can co-exist peacefully with other ethnic, I truly welcome them as they celebrate this universal solidarity with other Malaysians.

I've been writing consistently about the importance of being united and be known as Malaysians. I also have been writing about the importance to respect other ethnic's culture and custom. We've got to be fair in dealing in such areas because we live in multiracial community. The question is, what is the universal definition of fairness? Surely, each community has their own definition of fairness, especially the Malays.

Through my short period of existence, I do realize if we are coming from the sense of lacking, it is almost certain that we will be forever lacking of that quality. For example, if we feel that we are lacking of prosperity, it is truly enough that we will forever be in the state of lacking. However, if we keep focusing on abundance, yes, then we will keep seeing opportunities propping here and there in our life. It is in our paradigm that dictates our reality. It is our mindset that will dictate the end game of our life. We can forever be living in such wicked feeling towards other and at the end, we have got nothing except wicked feeling enveloping ourselves and clouding our judgment.

Therefore I choose to see abundance of anything in my life. It could be love, money, prosperity, understanding and etc. The most important aspect in dealing in such delicate issue like race relationship is to seek understanding and fairness. Sure enough, given some time and conviction, we shall overcome the barrier of mistrust and injustice.

Let this coming Hari Raya Aidilfitri to be a universal of celebration for Malaysians in this nation. Let us come back to our 'fitrah' of loving, peaceful and harmony nation. Hate and malice have no place in our hearts.

Learn the other side of History which we were never told in the school. Now I realized why the late Muzaffar Tate, the history text book writer, were saddened by his own published text book before he died.

I'm a little bit overwhelmed for the past few days of few issues. Not to mention I'm feeling anxious too about the coming September 16th. But anyway, I prefer to keep that thing aside.

Tonight as I drove along the SPRINT highway coming off from TTDI area, I saw two Indian men were strolling by the sideway of the highway. One of them was pushing a person in a wheelchair. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them doing that at about 11.30 close to midnight. I was thinking, "Why can't they just haul up a cab and ship straight away to their destination". But later I realized that by the way they dressed themselves, I don't think they could afford to pay for the taxi.

I felt bad at myself at first. In fact, I felt very bad because as though we live in a very sophisticated city, yet we still have poor people who can hardly stand for themselves. For a few minutes I was fighting with my own feeling, whether I should turn around and help these poor fella or just let any passerby to aid them. Then I recalled something that I wrote somewhere, "If I want to see miracle, let me be the miracle". I made up my mind and took the immediate exit after the SHELL Station and turned around. Just as I got back on the highway again, I saw a grey Iswara stopped by the roadside and gave these men a ride.

I couldn't be more grateful to see the aid given to these people. I still believe there is still some kindness in ourselves. But I wish to see the person who helped these poor men is a Malay, or Chinese or from any ethnicity, other than their own. Yes, it was an Indian who pulled over by the roadside to lend assistance. I wanted to offer my help but I played too much unnecessary noises in my head, trying to rationalize my action. Therefore, I just gave up my opportunity to help other people because I subdue much to my own noises.

I certainly hope that I won't think twice again to help other people in need. The world will be much better place if we show our love towards each other, regardless the skin color, creed or political idealogy.

Now I remember, it was Mahatma Gandhi who said that, "If you want to have miracle, you be the miracle".

Good nite Kuala Lumpur.

Rakyat Rise in Permatang Pauh

Congratulations to the rakyat for rising against all sorts of manipulation sponsored by Barisan Nasional. Congratulations to Brother Anwar Ibrahim for winning 'the mother of by election'.

As I mentioned previously, we are at the brink of making the political history for this nation. If you ask me whether I buy the idea of replacing the government by September 16 - I would be quite sceptical about it. However, given the current situation, the possibilities are endless for Pakatan Rakyat.

Giving the opportunity to the same party for the last 51 years of independence and expecting a different result is just the same as committing insane job. And I do believe that Malaysians have stopped becoming insane by making rational decision on the last Tuesday's by election.

Stock market is going down. Foreign direct investment is decreasing in figure. Bad international publicity. Inflation rate is rising. Fucked up 'correct, correct, correct' judiciary. Messed up and overflow wealthy ministers. Geezzuussss, we've got to do something here.

Some people believe the best thing is not to do anything. I'd say that is the most dangerous game that they can play because by doing nothing, it creates something. That something is a disastrous future for our children in future.

So Pak Lah, wake up from your slumber. Please find the exit door and let someone else lead this great country!

And Najib, please pack your stuffs and migrate to Mongolia. I'm sure many Mongolians want to see you and get some scholarship from you, including Saiful.

Next week I will be 28. Yes, August 31st is my birthday. Almost 4 years ago I wrote something very intimate in this blog. Oh well, Anthony Robbins was right when he said, if the life is worth living..it is worth to be recorded. So there I was, recorded a journal of how I felt at the moment (refer entry Nov 24, 2004).

This piece of entry gave me a gentle knock to my soft spot.

Saya memang sayang pada awak cuma saya belum ketemu awak lagi. Tapi saya akan teruskan pencarian saya. Dan nanti bila satu hari nanti saya jumpa awak, saya doa supaya tuhan limpahkan rasa cinta saya yang tidak berbelah bahagi pada awak dan rasa cinta awak yang tidak berbelah bahagi pada saya, dan saya harap kita dapat hidup rumahtangga bahagia.
Susah saya akan jadi susah awak juga, dan susah awak akan jadi susah saya juga. Saya bukan lelaki sempurna dan saya bukan juga manusia hebat. Saya cuma seorang lelaki biasa dan saya juga mahukan seorang wanita biasa dalam hidup saya. Saya tak mahukan Miss Universe, sebab saya bukan Mr. Universe.
Saya mahu mengenali awak, zahir dan batin dan saya juga mahu awak mengenali saya zahir dan batin. Saya bukan orang kaya untuk beri awak harta, tapi akan saya usahakan selagi ada kudrat di badan saya untuk berikan kesenangan berpatutan pada keluarga yang bakal kita bina.
Percayalah, setiap ujian yang datang melanda kita berdua, saya harap kita tanganinya dengan hati yang cekal dan percaya antara satu sama lain. Dan kalau ada ketikanya rumahtangga kita berkocak hebat, hanya dua perkara saya minta; tolong berdoa pada Tuhan minta dipermudahkan urusan rumahtangga kita dan tunjukkan jalan keluar bagi masalah rumahtangga kita, moga selamat semuanya. Akhir sekali, saya sayangkan awak, sayang yang sungguh teramat sayang. Cuma saya belum tahu siapa awak dan di mana awak. Sabarlah ya sayang?

Aku tak sangka yang aku sendiri tulis entry ni. It was when I was 24. Adik aku kata, aku sekarang ni agak hati kering compare dulu-dulu. Errmm, banyak lagi yang dia kate aku berubah tapi takyah lah tulis kat sini banyak-banyak. Yelah, soal hati dan perasaan ini soal yang halus. Tapi perkara yang halus bila sudah lama dilasakkan dengan bermacam cabaran, pasti akan jadi kasar juga akhirnya.

Beginilah yang aku rasa. Hati dah jadi agak kering. Soal cinta dipandang sepi. Cita-cita yang mahu dikejar. Mungkin sebab aku letih bila bicara soal emosi. Lambat laun emosi mungkin sudah tiada, yang tinggal mungkin hanya nafsu? Mungkin sebab aku dah tak merasa nikmat cinta. Adakah ini bermaksud aku sudah putus asa? Tidak juga. Orang kata apa, just follow the flow.

Orang kata, falling in love is as natural as breathing the air. It could be. Hmmmm..

Sabarlah ya hati.

A Worried Student
_____________________________________________

The standard of public universities in Malaysia have been going down in recent time and many reasons have been given on why the standards are dropping yet some still refuse to acknowledge that this is the case and claim that it is perfect as it is and students should be thankful and stop complaining. But this piece is not about public universities in Malaysia as a whole but rather a certain one named UiTM. This university has been appearing a lot in the news lately especially concerning the proposal made by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on opening the gates of the institution to 10% of non-bumiputra students and it has caused a great deal of furore.

About 5,000 students marched to protest against the proposal under Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) and the UiTM Student Council with the direct backing of the Vice Chancellor. Posters were distributed all over the main campus to promote the protest with headlines such as, “Anda sayang UiTM?”, “ MRSM sudah, SBP sudah, Matrikulasi sudah, JPA sudah, UiTM seterusnya?”, “Ini bukan mengenai kesama rataan bangsa, ini mengenai hak”, “UiTM telah membantu kita, apa sumbangan kita kepada UiTM? Sedarlah wahai bangsaku”.

If one is able to read between the lines, we can see the wordplay here expressing that if a student is to not support this protest, they are one of the ignorant unenlightened ones who do not care for UiTM. Now as a student of the University, I feel disappointed that opinions that differ from the norm are usually labelled as traitors. I have always felt that most of these things are usually politically motivated. I cannot fight the feeling that a NGO such as the GPMS which is headed by someone working right under the Prime Minister, is not exactly a non-partisan group. For this is also one of the organizations that went for the protest at the recent Bar Council forum and went a little, overboard.

The UiTM Student Council which unanimously supported this protest must not be looked upon as the voice of UiTM for they only speak for themselves when they come out with protests such as these and label those who do not support it as traitors to the race. How many students from the institution have spoken out supporting the idea of liberalizing the university? Almost none. But how many students who agreed with the proposal by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim in silence? A number in the minority, albeit a very significant one. And the sad thing is, there is little avenue for any of them to express themselves in the University or externally. With the little avenue available, those that attempt to express themselves are usually met with threats and childish arguments.

One particular UiTM student was asked to wear black coloured clothing by a senior when he refused to as the colour black on that day meant supporting the protest and he did not support it. The senior could only respond in ways such as asking him whether he was a jew or a homosexual. And this brilliant friend of mine then just answered, “No, I’m a muslim and remember when the Prophet Muhammad SAW ruled Medinah? He had all kinds of races that were hostile towards each other to live peacefully under the open sky. Why would you be afraid of opening this institution to others if you claim to take the prophet as your example?” And the senior who was lost for words just left and slammed the door on him. Although stories like these do not happen everyday in UiTM as many students who share similar views to my friend here are usually fearful of the consequences of speaking openly.

Any sign of disobedience towards policies or so-called UiTM values and ideals are usually not tolerated. Even in class, when certain students question the lecturers, they are usually viewed as “tak sedar diri”. Questioning has never been the culture in Malaysia’s education system but is never really encouraged in the Universities either, where it is supposed to give birth to new ideas and paradigms of thinking. How can we do this when our students keep still and silent? Oscar Wilde once said, “It is through disobedience that progress is made”, and it is no wonder why there has been little groundbreaking research or achievements that could make a difference in society. I remember that in a certain lecture relating to Islamic Law, a student questioned the validity of a certain hadith (Prophet’s sayings) the lecturer mentioned and she was booed by the whole class and the lecturer just said, “Balik baca buku dulu baru cakap!” when in fact I thought that she was the one who read more than the lecturer did. Among the other things that were aimed at her were , “Ni bukan Islam ni! Rejam dia je!” and “Yahudi!” And of course, later on, she was ostracized by many.

Many have blamed the draconian University and Colleges Act for restricting views and practically killed freedom of thought and speech but I argue that it goes beyond that, it has to do with the mindset. You do not need to threaten someone with harm to control a person, you just need his or her mind to be one of yours. And this is exactly what certain parties are trying to do through certain programmes such as the now infamous Biro Tatanegara which tries to inculcate fear into the Bumiputra students that they are under serious threat and then turns that fear into hate. Classes that were in the midst of being held were recently stopped and the students of a certain batch were told to join a GPMS talk on how the Malays are being threatened by Dato Seri Khalid Ibrahim.

It is easy for an institution as UiTM to change these naïve minds which are still open to reception of new ideas, to minds that are closed especially when the “others” such as the non-bumiputra’s are nowhere to be seen around campus. As many still do not have close friends other than the Malays, they fear what they do not know and begin to stereotype and hate. And those who know there is something wrong with all of this but dare not speak out or do anything about it usually end up conforming with the rest for regrettably, it is easier to live that way. But then again, this does not apply to all the students in UiTM although it is enough to be deeply worried about.

All this has also created a backlash which I am very concerned about. I have read and heard that many employers of corporations, companies and firms are planning to boycott UiTM graduates and many of them quickly label the students as all being idiotic ethno-supremacists. I truly believe that this will only worsen the situation. How could it be fair that you reject the applications of thousands of students on the basis that they come from a certain University? Many brilliant students have also joined UiTM and been deceived to think that it is a brilliant institution of higher learning and some have no other choice due to financial constraints. Many of them do not subscribe to racist principles. It is also sad to see that many Malaysians have begun to neglect the UiTM issue by not giving any thought to it as they believe only incompetent graduates are churned out and they themselves would not care that if it is open or not as they would not send their own children there. This should not be the case at all. A victory for justice is a victory for all and it is our responsibility as the rakyat to bring about change, not the politicians. As to the issue of no non-Malays would want to enter the institution anyway, that is false. I have an Indian friend living with a single mother and who is a bit unlucky in the financial side. He tried to apply for UiTM to achieve his dream to do law once, although he was innocently ignorant of the institution’s policies on race. I did not have the heart to tell him that he could not do so. This is only one story from many others that could not afford the cost of the various private institutions available. As they say, the poor is a part of all races and exclusive to none.

Though I believe there is still hope. The light comes soon after the darkest part of the night. In an incident in a Constitutional Law lecture, a student went up to class defending the recent student protest as on the principle of defending natives’ rights with, in her own words, “First come, first serve”. Ironic that a business principle has been adopted to an issue affecting all of Malaysia, I thought to myself. I then proceeded to ask her why then are there cases of stripping the rights of land from the Orang Asli, which are the real natives, to give way to capitalist ventures and these natives are then only compensated with how much their houses were worth, which probably costs less than my pair of shoes? Is it not a practice of double standards when you talk about “First come, first serve”? Are we really protecting the natives’ rights or Malays in particular? She then proceeded to open the Federal Constitution to find an answer but predictably, it was in vain. She ended her presentation right there with a dumbfounded look. But what happened soon after was even more interesting. Students from the class started to flock and ask me questions, wanting to know more about the issue. With interested faces all around, I could only smile.

Maybe rational arguments, debate, and different ideas and thoughts could give birth to a student culture that hungers for knowledge rather than merely passing the exams. Maybe student activism could breathe again as it did a while ago. Maybe liberalizing the University would be in the best interest for all and it could be a step towards turning things around. Maybe dissent could be encouraged. Maybe people could throw hate away and begin to understand. Maybe everything happens for a reason. Maybe another Malaysia is breathing silently, waiting for the right time to awaken.

taken from http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/a-voice-for-uitms-minority/

Social Contract



People are using this word profusely, like it's the 'hippest' term used nowadays in our prime media. For God sake, there is no such thing as Social Contract signed between the representatives for each major ethnicity in this beloved country. This fact is agreed by Prof Diraja Ungku Aziz in the recent forum of National Unity (actually, I posed this question to him during the Q&A session).

So, if there is no social contract ever recorded in our history, why people nowadays are arguing on the non-existent 'document'?

I really don't know. But one thing I know - this term was coined and popularized by the mainstream media like the newspaper owned by UMNO and its gang.

What is social contract? I can tell you based on my studies on such philosophy (I took Philosophy 102 in Penn State) and findings about it on the Wikipedia.

Social contract was written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1762. It is essentially a document which explains how men submit their sovereign autonomy to an institution for it is used to govern a state (a legitimate government must derive its legitimacy from its governed). The writer shared his belief with John Locke (this is one wild man!) that men in their natural state is wild and unruly. Well, public must understand how John Locke led his life in his early age - a rural boy who always wandered in wilderness in order to understand how this man came with this idea. Crazy but it does make sense!

This document indicated the beginning of civil society or political community; just like what we have now in M'sia.

Truly, we NEVER have any recorded historical fact about Malaysia Social Contract. What we do have is an agreement made by early political parties to form Pakatan (or at present it is known as Barisan Nasional). Even that, it cannot be claimed as social contract because it doesn't constitute every citizen in this country. Such should be petitioned in order to do referendum in order to complete the social contract. At least, that is my position on Social Contract.

So, stop bickering or regurgitating the word Social Contract. It does not mean anything here because it is non-existent.

What we need is to come to understanding of the need of each ethnic or social class. Whatever right we want to create here must be derived from the situation and it is impartial to any ethnicity. Economic assistance must be delivered to the affected people, regardless his skin color or his creed.

Malaysia is at her awakening moment. Malaysia is at her finest hour and really, the way I see it, we are at the dawn of a bright future for everyone. Let's fight for our right to have responsible government, an effective leadership and a fair and just executive body!

I was in London in winter of 2002. The atmosphere was gloomy as usual for London. Bells of Christmas are starting to ring here and there. The environment was filled with red and white as Santa Claus was approaching yet for another Christmas celebration. Shopping malls in town offered variety of 'mega sales' for the Boxing Day, just like what we have here for our own version of Mega Sale. I remember when I walked down the Oxford Street, I couldn't help noticing that many people looked alike but they didn't necessarily speak the same language. Of course they came in various sizes - some were tall and some were short. And the language mostly from what I could tell, they probably came from Western or Eastern Europe.

I began to see its similarity here in Malaysia. Well to be exact it's happening in Kuala Lumpur for the last 10 years of economic boom. Politically speaking, our economic was booming before the 1998 financial crisis and we were then called the Asian Tiger economy (now we should call ourselves a Pussy Economy, thanks to Pak Lah). But anyway, that's not the point here. The point here is that there are many people who look like us but they don't speak like us. They are Indonesian people who are actively crossing our sovereign borders every day.

These people come here for jobs which Malaysians reject because of many reasons. They come here and create their village, much like us when we go oversea. It is very natural for people to be with community which they can identify themselves with.

They look very much like except they have their own language. Last night I shared a conversation with 'my friend' about the differences of language - Sunda, Boyan, Jawa and Banjar. I never know that they are actually almost not identical. Even if they are alike, the grammar and pronunciation could be different.

Pak Ungku said in a forum about national unity that a united country is when its citizens can communicate and interact perfectly with each other through a common language. We have Bahasa Melayu (it started to sound very communal to me now) but we don't have Bahasa Malaysia. It is used to be called with that name. But somehow some smart ass in Parliament asked it to be changed to Bahasa Melayu. Okay, whatever.

The point I am trying to make here - Can we be united citizen, using the common language to bridge our segmented and self imposed segregation to achieve common goals for this country?

To be frank (not that I always lie in my blog), I don't know. Language is quite a sensitive issue for Malays. In fact, I don't know any ethnic which is very much sensitive almost to everything other than my own ethnic. We are sensitive about our language, our customs, our religion, our food, our politics, our sodomy, our yacht, our Mongolian chics and etc. Because we are sooooo sensitive about our own, we have become insensitive towards other ethnic's sensitivity. Hmm, bila belanga mengata bontot periuk hitam.

Anyway, whatever it is, I will still try my best to speak in my Kelantanese dialect with I go back to Kuala Krai. Hehehhe..that's what I call a Kelantanese Unity!

Waktu-waktu macam nilah yang buatkan apa kata Kak Sherry terngiang-ngiang kat telinga aku. Dulu masa dia cakap tu, aku cuma senyum kambing ajer. Ye lah, nak kata apa lagi kan. Aku tahu Kak Sherry and Abg Fauzi ikhlas bila diorang cakap gitu. Diorang pun dah kenal aku sejak aku belajar kat Amerika dulu. Depa jugak la yang tolong aku masa di Indiana. Mungkin pasal tu kot aku malu dengan diorang.



Aku sembang-sembangkan jugak pasal isu aku tak boleh tidur ni dengan kawan aku. Selambe ajer dia kate, "Agaknya u kena cari partner tidur la tu". Aduihhhh, sampai ke situ pulak minah nih.

Sebenarnya banyak ajer benda yang aku boleh buat time aku tak boleh tidur tu. Aku boleh iron baju kemeja aku. Aku boleh habiskan buku-buku untuk aku baca. Aku boleh teliti akaun semua clients aku. Tapi aku jadi macam orang bodoh. Golek-golek atas katil sambil mata terkebil bawah bantal. Ye, memang dah jadi habit aku bila tido mesti timpa kepala dengan bantal. Nak kasik gelap habih.

Entahlah. Aku tak ada sapa-sapa nak share pasal hal ni. Isk, bunyi sayu la pulak kan.

By the way, hujung minggu ni birthday upline aku. I'm looking forward to organizing some surprise party if I may for her. Tengoklah kalau aku boleh plan apa-apa dengan Anis and Lokman. Kita kasik gempak sket dia. Hahahahaha...

Tadi aku beli satu kayu golf baru. Hybrid untuk 3 and 4 iron. Hurmm, lebur jugak la duit aku. Ada orang gila dengan fotografi, maka dia akan habiskan banyak beli kamera atau lensa. Ada orang gila dengan sudoku, maka dia akan habiskan banyak duit pada buku-buku sudoku. Aku tengah gila layan golf, maka berkira-kiralah jugak aku pada alat-alat golf.

Ramai orang tak faham kenapa golf ni satu permainan yang melekakan.

Aku pun sama, memang blur tak tau kenapa aku layan golf. Tapi yang pasti, aku memang rasa sangat puas hati kalau swing aku menjadi. Rasa puas tak terhingga bila dapat tengok bola tu naik cantik atau pun dapat masuk dalam lubang dengan penuh bergaya.

Baru aje beli 2 buah buku. Satu dah habis, cuba nak habiskan lagi satu. Ermm, bukan cuba..tapi nak habiskan buku tu.

Last weekend I attended the Malaysian Student Leader Summit, held in Nikko Hotel and it was organized by UK Executive Council (UKEC). UKEC is an umbrella body for all malaysian student associations in UK and Ireland.

The participants were more than 500 people and it brought in many well know guest speakers to discuss various controversial issues like our judiciary system, the governance, the subsidies and oil price hike issues and etc.

I must say that I took part in the discussion by asking few questions to the speakers. I managed to snap a few photos with Karim Raslan, one of the respected lawyers, writers and political analysts in Malaysia. Met up with a friend, YB Nik Nazmi aka Budu. Face to face with Prof. Ungku Aziz or fondly known as Pak Ungku. Privilege to witness an interesting forum by young YBs; YB Budu, YB KJ and YB Tony Pua.

Rugi sapa yang tak pergi.

I reviewed some of my previous entries back a few years ago. My thought has morphed into another phase. I'd say, to the next stage. Most of my friends are married now except for a few fellas. And these fellas are also single at this moment.

Today I didn't do much. I just had lunch with client and then went to see a friend. I guess today is the rebuilding the relationship day. Hahahahhaa. I went to see two of my good friends and of course, two different kinds of stories came up except that they both are in the same genre.

One story is about the real deal after getting married. Oh yeah, FYI, I'm not married just yet and I'm still single. Ehehmm...it does sound a bit off when I mentioned it that way. But, screw that! Hahahahah..

There's a lot of hanky panky issues arose when it got closer to the wedding ceremony. I agree that people want to see the best in the ceremony but somehow, the whole intervention had spoiled the celebration. Too many cooks spoiled the porridge, as what the old proverbs says. From make up artists to catering selections...things are sometimes taken a bit too far. Well, I know for sure how to manage my wedding ceremony. Belah pompuan aku tak nak masuk campur la kan...

Okay, enough about the first story.

The next story is about one of our friends has divorced his wife due to pressure from the wife's family members. My friend was very upset to know when her wife's family members actively involved in ajaran sesat kind of Islamic teaching and later he decided to confront the 'Ayah Pin' of that so called religious study. The in-laws were not quite happy with the way he confronted the Ayah Pin and from what I heard, they persuaded the wife to ask for divorce or something like that. The victim is his baby age 3 months. I was totally shocked to know this news. My spontaneous reaction is like, "Astaga....what the fuck is going on??". Hahhahaa...it does sound contradictory. Alas, I feel sorry for him. He's a devout Muslim, a true gentleman and a nice friend for one could ever have and this shit is happening to him. My other spontaneous reaction to it was, "If it doesn't kill him...it will only make him stronger!", albeit I was thinking about something else.

He was happy almost a year ago and now a big shit has come to him. I pray for his struggle to secure a custodial right on his baby. Poor man!

Ehemmm...and why am I talking about this whole getting married, divorce ...yadi yadi yada??!!

Mysterious aihhh....(jangan biarkan misteri menyelubungi anda)

NB: I finally managed to have a dinner with my friend at TGIF and bought her a belated birthday present. A formal jacket for her to wear on her interview meeting this morning.

Remember Pausch, the author of The Last Lecture?

Alrite, his full name is Randy Pausch and today I read an article written in TIME about this great guy. I posted the article here for you to read. And I will go straight to the nearest MPH and get his book.

Randy Pausch - Life Teacher
Kaylin Bowers / Daily Progress / AP



There were times I couldn't bear to watch. But then there were others when his exuberance — physical and spiritual — made it easy to convince myself it would never happen, and so I would call up Randy Pausch's Last Lecture on YouTube and watch it with my children, receive the gift he was giving us and reject the idea that it would come at an ultimate price: that Pausch would indeed die one day of pancreatic cancer, as he did this morning, at the age of 47.

You cannot change the cards you are dealt. Just how you play the hand.

With his child's smile and nimble brain and breathtakingly simple instructions tumbling out one after another, Pausch made the infernally complex machine that is modern life look like anyone could put it together if they just had the right tools and the crib sheet. Come on, he seemed to say, you can do this; I have the secrets, and I'm giving them to you, for free.

Don't complain. Just work harder.

Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.

When his cancer was diagnosed in August 2006, doctors said he had maybe a few months. He went through an aggressive course of treatment, surgery, chemotherapy; but a year later the disease had spread to his liver and spleen, and he was told it was terminal. A popular computer-science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he delivered his "Last Lecture" on September 18, 2007. It was a university tradition for popular professors to think hard about what mattered most to them and distill their ideas as though they had only one message left to give to the generation that followed. Randy Pausch was the first for whom the exercise was literal.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

It became a YouTube sensation, viewed many millions of times by people charmed by his easy manner, engaged by his lively insights into work, science, exploration, in awe of his complete lack of self-pity. He was the picture of health, with his thick dark hair and Muppet eyebrows, dropping to do push-ups on the stage, a defiant portrait of life with its edges all sharpened. Every sentence was soaked in gratitude, and listening to it could make you flinch at every time you'd whined or cheated or quit.

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.

You wondered whether, all across the country, children were whipping out the brushes and paint while parents stood resignedly by, remembering the pictures he showed of his own bedroom growing up, covered in doodles and math problems and rocket ships, and honoring his injunction.

"If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let 'em do it."

Last October Pausch appeared on Oprah, and his audience widened even further. He testified before Congress for better cancer-research funding. He got 10,000 e-mails recommending possible therapies. He spent a day hanging out with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which he'd mentioned as his own childhood dream. ABC News did a prime-time special in which we got to meet his wife Jai, his three young children, watch them playing and planning for what lay ahead.

In April his book, The Last Lecture, swooped high on the best-seller list; his wife called it a "manual" for their family.

Wise men have said they're not scared of death, but they're a little scared of dying. Death is just a mystery; but dying is the journey we don't want to take, and he used it to lead the living to a new place. It was as though he already knew more than he should, had dipped a ways into eternity and brought some pieces back for the rest of us to use in whatever ways and for whatever time we can.

The end of the lecture, it turned out, was just the beginning.

Did you figure out the head fake? It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way ... the dreams will come to you. Did you figure out the second head fake? The talk's not for you. It's for my kids.

You can view the actual article here http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1826574,00.html

Let’s write about something nice.

Remember back years ago when we were so young and we thought we could conquer the whole world by our wood sword? Do you remember those days? Yeah, when we were young, about 5 till 8 year old.

My mom used to tell her friends that her son one day would become a millionaire. At that moment, the word ‘jutawan’ meant nothing to me as I held no comprehension whatsoever about its literal meaning. When I grew up, I slowly picked up that word here and there. Reading from books and listening from people’s conversation. Once I had understood its definition, the meaning didn’t spark a flame in me. I had no interest at all to be millionaire. That word has hollow meaning to me, as far as I concerned at that moment.

Time passed so fast and I have grown up to be a man of who I am today. I went through high school, got a degree from an oversea prestigious (really?) university and ended up doing differently than what I thought I would be doing. Through this journey I picked up a few lessons in life. Some of them were quite painful and some of them were awesomely good.

Now the word millionaire keeps ringing in my ears. Somehow deep down in my heart I start to feel that what my mom had said years ago was correct. It starts to make sense to me. My mind feels relax to accept the word, “millionaire”. I start to become aware of this. Robin Sharma keeps saying in his book that awareness precedes choices. Awareness makes us realize where we are now and then see the options available on the table. Awareness allows us to make the choice wisely and then the result will follow.

My so called mentor in my profession now, a person who I solidly respect, asked me the other day about my achievement. What is my achievement so far? It is a bitter question. However, it put me into the right perspective. In the next one month I will be 28 and what is exactly my achievement? What legacy I want to leave to people behind me? Who will cry for me when I die?

The book called, “The Last Lecture” written by Pausch, a Computer Science lecturer in Carnegie Mellon University wrote about his childhood dream and living the life the way he desires it. He is a terminal cancer patient who has only few months to live, shared his views about ‘living’. That again me put me in perspective. What have I achieved for the last few years? Anything significant? Anything meaningful?

So now I understand the word millionaire cannot be justified by the magnitude of cash we have in the bank account. It encompasses everything that we hold high in our life. Love, relationship, character, understanding, wealth etc. To be millionaire, it would only be right if I claim my millionaire status in creating wealth in values that are true to me. Values like I mentioned previously.

I received a card from someone I barely knew last year. He is husband to my friend in LP. He wrote,” F@rid, someone told me that to succeed in life you don’t need a big bank account. What more important is, a BIG HEART. I think you have all that.” I barely know him but I certainly hope that I have touched his heart just the way I like other people to leave a fine print on mine.

So, am I becoming to be millionaire? So far, I guess on the right track. Keep on loving, keep on touching people’s heart, keep on making a difference in life and keep on making bucks to my best ability. Being a millionaire is not a burden. It is a privilege to do more good to people.

Thank you mummy for keep on praying me to be millionaire since I was baby.

Feeling down. Demotivated. Discouraged. Blues. Practically feeling crap. Reason?

I don't know.

Shit!

This Quote I Keep For Myself

King Baldwin IV: 'When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I should live to be one hundred, now I know I shall not see thirty. You see, none of us chose our end really. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.'

Balian of Ibelin: I will.

I am responsible on what I do today, to my life and to the people around me. If I do good, the goodness will go to the people around me. If I commit bad deed, I pray to The Lord to make sure me alone will suffer the consequences of committing bad deeds. I carry the weight of responsibilities to make my life a better one, subsequently to help others to have good one as well. For that, I promise myself.

Securities Investment 101

Many of my friends know that I'm attached with Public Mutual Berhad, a Unit Trust Management Company (UTMC) listed under Securities Commission. However, I hardly penned down my views about the investment situation in our country, especially during interesting times like this occuring in our country and the region as well.

I hope nobody would quote me on my take on our investing environment here in M'sia. All the information written here is based on my readings, working/training/Financial Talk experience and discussion with senior personnel in Public Mutual Berhad.

Let's start talking about our general equity market. What is equity market? Equity market is essentially our stock bourse governed by Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Here is the place where the securities are traded on daily basis. Securities can be in many forms, for example stocks, derivaties, commodities, Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) and etc. Our bourse's performance is reflected through Kuala Lumpur Index Composite. Index Composite is a group of counters (or stocks) from 100 big companies (usually we refer them as blue chip companies). For example, Maybank group, Public Bank group, Kenchana Petroleum Bhd. and Airasia Bhd.

For the sake of simplicity, let's focus on stocks market.

Why our KLCI is low at this moment?

It is simple. The market moves in sort of sinusoidal function. It has maximum point and minimum point. For the last 3 years, we have been experiencing a bullish market. Bullish market means that our stock market is rising in its value. The peak was at the beginning of the year when the market hit highest point in its history, 1516 point on January 11, 2008. This shows a 300% growth from the last recession which indicated 557 point on May 14, 2001. Very few people realized that we actually had a mild recession in year 2001 after we were hit very badly in Asial Financial Meltdown of 1997.

The concept of duality is applied here in the market. When the market is up, it also must come down to correct some sudden inflated figure in equity market. It is called a correction move, a self-fulfilling mechanism built in the market. What we are experiencing right now is a correction to our market after it has gaining momentum in 2006 till 2007. Some experts said that if the drop is more than 20% in market, it is considered as market crash. However, I am not too sure if we are experiencing a market crash at this moment.

Why Kuala Lumpur Index Composite is important to investors?

Because it indicates the health level of our economy. Like if you check your body temperature, you normally can guess if you are having fever or not. It is exactly like checking the body temperature of a nation's economic activities. At this moment the index is registering a decreasing trend. It translates to public confidence on our equity markets.



Why it happens this way? I will explain later in the next edition of Securities Investment topic. Hehehehhe.