Unethical Front Page

Folks,

I got a bit frustrated looking at The Star's patheticity in its front page, today, Saturday, 12 Oct 2013.

It is clearly abusive, unethical and certainly defamatory. Though the political party Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) controls The Star, it does not give them any right to defame any member of its party,and humiliate them publicly, especially on its front page.

There is a growing crisis between MCA President Chua Soi Lek and his rival, Liow Tiong Lai. But that conflict should not be the main topic of the paper. There are many more important things to report on the front page than some stupid and silly remarks by Chua Soi Lek.

Today's paper truly disgusts me, and I certainly hope that Liow will take legal action against The Star.

Government Budget Allocations

Folks

I read with interest the infographic prepared by Foong Li Mei, as appeared in Focus Malaysia, Issue 44, Page 41.

The infographic look strikingly similar with the one presented by a local think-tank by the name REFSA (Research for Social Advancement).

Anyhow, this infographic is indeed a useful one to us Malaysians.

It basically give a detail information about how our country's budget are distributed among the many government arms and machineries, some of which are Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, Prime Minister's Department etc.

In essence, the budget is divided into two:-

(a) capital expenditure (capex),
(b) operating expenditure (opex).

The capex is provided to all ministries and departments to cover specific functiond within their own purview, while the opex is used to cover expenses needed to operate the country which may include subsidies etc.

Read on, folks.

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Image source: Focus Malaysia, Issue 44, Sept. 28th. Page 41.

Focus Malaysia vs The Edge

Kawan-Kawan,

As of now, there are are two weekly business newspapers in Malaysia, namely Focus Malaysia and The Edge.

The former is about 10-month old (launched December 2012) while the latter has been around for quite sometimes (more than five years, I think).

The feel and look in these weekly newspapers are strikingly similar - the type of papers used, the layout and the style of writings.

But in my personal opinion, the news coverage is much more wider in Focus Malaysia than in The Edge.

There is a 'corporate feel' when reading The Edge, possibly because it covers a lot about corporate Malaysia, as well as the 'captains' and 'big boys' of respective industries. I somehow personally feel that the paper is reserved for the niche lot - "the elitist". I can feel it when looking at the 'fonts' used in this paper: classic, old-fashioned and reserved for selected echelons in the society.

On the other hand, Focus Malaysia tend to cover not just the corporate big boys, it include too the small-players, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), thus making it more comprehensive and reaching wider audience than The Edge. This I can tell by looking at the 'funky' fonts used in this paper.

Of course, this is my un-scientific assement of these two papers.

Each has its own merits, pros and cons.

Anyway, of particular interest is the ad that I saw in this week's edition of Focus Malaysia. The ad may have been around for quite sometimes, and maybe it went unnoticed before my two + two eyes.

What interests me is the wording used by Focus Malaysia in their ad:-

"Stay focused. Keep off the edge"

The choice of words here are "focus" and "edge". Very smoothly and subtly done, woven between the words and interspersed with a nice image of a cliff, but it has a deep meaning to it.

One need to simply read between the lines to connect the dots ans putting the jigsaw piece together.

It may be perfectly legal as, but is it ethical?

I leave this to you to ponder.
Go figure! :)

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Image source: Focus Malaysia, Issue 44, Oct. 5th-11th. Page 6.

Price Increase

Friends,

To recap, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib announced fuel hike of 20 sen (RM 0.20) on Sept. 2nd, 2013.

As we all know, an increase in fuel price will increase almost every single cost and price in Malaysia.

The data below was checked and compiled by a research house (M&A Securities) which shows that there is an increase of 20 sen in almost all food prices.

The increase, when read in percentage, is a rude jolt for my mind to fathom. Imagine a 20% increase. Wow, that is a lot to consider; even though it is an increase from RM 1.00 to RM 1.20.

I can definitely understand the fluctuation of oil price, but the government should be a bit mindful too of the resultant domino effect when raising the oil price.

Source: Focus Malaysia, Issue 44, Oct. 5th-11th. Page 16.

Ranking of Banks in Malaysia

Folks,

I have been quiet for a while.
Just busy with life and work and never ending things.

Below is the ranking of banks in Malaysia according to the Return of Equity (ROE) ratio.

The list was compiled by Focus Malaysia - one of the leading business newspapers in Malaysia.

Source: Focus Malaysia, Issue 43, Sept. 28th - Oct. 4th, 2013. Page 14-15.

Every Little Step

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I was cleaning up old stuff at my house (thanks to my mom who saw the clear need to organize the house), I saw this CD which I bought in Perth, Australia, sometimes ago.

It brought back good memories. I can't believe that the CD is still there after all this time. Wow!

Anyway, the band is called "Mercury 4" -- it is a boy band, much lik Nsync and Boyzone. And I'm pretty sure that this band is little known in Malaysia and in any other parts of the world. Regardless, this band is (or was?) popular in Australia.

I particularly like this song called "Every Little Step". This song is about courage, nurture and love. This song is about having faith in one's ability and being there at every single steps. This song is about loyalty and unconditional friendship.

A truly beautiful song for the ears.
Have a listen folks -- you can watch the video clip in YouTube.

Hope you'll like this song, as much as I do.

The Racketeer

Peeps,

Look at what I bought today! While I was out at KLCC (and Alamanda earlier) looking frantically for the latest Dan Brown's "Inferno" novel in paperback, I came across this latest edition of John Grisham's novel called "The Racketeer".

I actually did not plan to buy this novel because I have lots of Grisham's previous novels at home waiting to be read and cleared. But since Brown's latest novel is not yet out in paperback, then I decided to compensate it with another novel. Hence this novel, so as not to make myself feel that my quest for Brown's novel although unsuccessful, but nevertheless not a wasted one.

I will read this novel (God knows when) and once done, I'll give you my review later.