Happy 44th Birthday to MALAYSIA

Today is the 44th anniversary of the formation of MALAYSIA.

However, most Malaysians do not celebrate this event and many, especially in Peninsular Malaysia are not aware of such event in 1963 at all.

I won't be surprised if East Malaysians always feel left out when we only celebrate 31 August 1957 and neglect 16 September 1963. 31 August 1957 has nothing to do with MALAYSIA as MALAYSIA did not exist at that point in time. 16 September is probably a more appropriate date to celebrate our nationhood as all Malaysians can celebrate it together.

MacBook

Finally I'm able to use this new MacBook of Johanna's to access the Internet. There has been some network setting issues for the past few days and it was frustrating.

As for the Mac experience, it's great! A lot smoother than Windows even though the graphics are a lot more sophisticated. In preparation for the MacBook, I've modified the Windows XP on my Dell laptop to look like a Mac Tiger OS X. But the system is struggling to cope with the extra graphical requirements and hence it really slows down my Windows XP.

This MacBook is my first purchase from ebay. It was shipped from Chicago. Very good bargain indeed.

Nab the Corrupted Politician Competition

Instead of organising a competition to catch stray dogs, perhaps it's better to channel public funds to catch corrupted politicians and government servants, or maybe stray cats?

As for the dog catching competition, we must have lost quite a number of tourists judging from some comments made by foreigners on the matter.

Contamination in Bahasa Melayu

It beats me why more and more English words are being introduced into the Malay language when there are already existing words in Malay. Bajet for belanjawan (introduced in 2004 budget)? Ambisi for cita-cita? Aktress instead of pelakon? Emosi, propisi, kondisi, kontroversi...

There is nothing wrong in borrowing words from other languages. English is one great example. However, it is quite unecessary to borrow words when there are already words with the same meaning in the language. C'mon politicians and Dewan Bahasa, please be proud of our national language.

Free Schooling = ?

The latest Malaysian Budget promised the Malaysians free schooling, including providing free textbooks to all.

After reading the report that the Government has paid RM224 for a set of screwdrivers (market price RM40), 10 technical books for more than RM10k (market price RM417), with a total expenditure of nearly RM800 million, I can't help feeling that the free textbooks proposals are not solely intended to help the rakyat. Instead, there will be another huge 'leakage' created to be used to buy the support from certain parties in the coming general elections. For years we've known that this is a common business model for our Government projects. The worst thing is no one will be brought to justice in the end. The list goes on... RM4.6 billion bailout on the Port Klang Free Zone scandal which has been filtered from mass media, the RM1.4 billion hole found in a deal to build 6 offshore patrol vessels...

As for the Government's excuse to restrict press freedom in the name of preserving harmony, appalling to say that it has been badly abused to distort the truth, the latest involving the police firing the shots at a Bersih gathering. Bersih is the non-governmental organisation concerned with ensuring the cleanliness and integrity of the electoral process in Malaysia. The mainstream media could not even get the name of the organisers right. Not surprisingly they named PAS, DAP and PKR as the organisers. There was little or no mention of the people who were injured by gunshots fired by the police. Everything is lopsidedly reported with the intention to demonise the opposition parties.

Busy weeks ahead

Counting down to my departure from London... Time really flies.

Many outstanding tasks before I leave.

• Complete my MSC project
  
• Learn VBA in the process
• Learn ASP.NET and AJAX - something which is difficult to do while working full time
  
• Sit for actuarial exam on 2 October
  
• Make full use of my Canon 30D around London
• Enjoy 'summer' which has arrived rather late
• Cancel all services
• Pack and ship back our stuff
• Visit Brian & Cherlyn in Swindon
• ...
  

It's going to be a busy period, but hopefully a fulfilling one.

Sad to leave London yet again. But there's always next time.

US Current Account Deficit

There has been a lot of focus on US subprime sector lately. I think the more worrying trend is the US current account deficit which is growing substantially over the years. the Americans are having great lives at the expense of the whole world, and the good times may be coming to an end soon.

Excerpts from The McKinsey Quarterly...

At $857 billion and still growing

• The US current-account deficit could continue to grow for at least five years.
• A major depreciation of the dollar could eliminate the deficit during that period, but in fact, such an adjustment would probably be gradual.
• At any pace, the dollar’s depreciation would trigger significant changes in global trade and savings.
• Governments, business leaders, and investors should prepare for the potential effects on operations and investment priorities.

Two views of the future

• Continued growth of the US current-account deficit - the deficit will balloon to $1.6 trillion... The US is likely, over the next 5 years, to retain some unique advantages that help service a large foreign debt. Most obviously, it is denominated in the country's own currency, the dollar, eliminating the risk of ballooning payments resulting from currency swings... United States has historically earned higher returns on its foreign assets than it has paid to overseas investors. One consequence is that the US net foreign debt today is significantly smaller than the sum of past current-account deficits. If this pattern continues, interest payments on the large external debt resulting from an even larger current-account deficit would be relatively low, at less than 1% of GDP.
  
• Elimination of US current-account deficit - ... 30% depreciation of the dollar from its January 2007 levels would fully balance the US current account by 2012. A smaller decline - of 20 to 25 percent from January 2007 levels - would reduce the deficit to roughly 2 to 3 percent of GDP, respectively, which many economists feel is sustainable.
  

The authors predict that the adjustment is more likely to be gradual than abrupt, i.e. something between the two extreme scenario.

Read more here and start moving your $$$ away from dollars or currencies heavily linked to dollars - Malaysian ringgit?

Merdeka!

This post will be up here until 31st August. For other updates please read below this post.

I'm raising Jalur Gemilang here since I can't do it in Malaysia.

Let's hope that the Golden Jubilee of our country's independence is not merely flying flags, throwing parties or doing countdowns. There is still a lot to be done to achieve national unity and facing up to the challenges of the ever globalised world.

Merdeka!

Paris

4 days immersed in the grandeur of Paris - the museums, palaces, monuments and boulevards... The only thing lacking is the matching blue sky for good photography. The only difficulty (a big one) is to communicate with the Parisians. Paris is more beautiful than London due to its straight and wide boulevards and grand buildings and monuments, not forgetting the unique Eiffel Tower. From the Louvre to Paris Opera to the Pantheon, everything is built to perfection, to the finest detail. The Parisian cafès provide a very relaxing feel to this City of Light.

All these, of course will not be complete without the company of Johanna.

Relaxing in the park


Inside the Pantheon


Notre Dame de Paris


The Louvre Museum


Sacre Couer on Monmarte


Moulin Rouge


Eiffel Tower


The Louvre by night


Inside the majestic Paris Opera


Some fancy cars competition going on?


Cruising along River Seine


Tour de France winner at Champs-Élysées

More photos here.

BBCheats!

Britain was shocked to learn that there has been serious breaches in TV phone-ins competition. "Editorial breaches" has been found in at least 6 shows, which includes Comic Relief and Children in Need. On numerous occassions prizes for the phone-ins have been awarded to members of the production teams. On other occassions, fictitious winners have been created.

To repair the damages to its reputation, BBC has suspended all its radio and TV phone-ins competition.

It will take a while for BBC to regain our trust on how it is using our TV license money.

Knowing the culture of this country, some heads will definitely roll in the next few days.