Biofuels again?

I hate going down the stupid line of people arguing that biofuels are efficient etc etc. Contrary to popular beliefs, it is NOT efficient at all.

The thing with biofuel is that it is supposed to be a petroleum replacement, and like everything that can replace petrol, it has to function like petrol, i.e. emit all those unwanted gases.

5 myths debunked in this website. (Remember all these are FALSE beliefs)

1. Biofuels are clean and protect the environment.
2. Biofuels do not cause deforestation.
3. Biofuels allow for rural development.
4. Biofuels do not cause starvation.
5. Biofuels of the "second generation" are within reach.

Thanks to boringest for provinding those boring links.

So IOI, better rethink your strategy. And government of Malaysia, please consider again when you want to open more lands for oil palm plantation.

BTW, Pak Lah was quite knowledged when he tried to explain that oil palm is the tree and palm oil is the oil, not bad, but does he realise it was the IAP conference he was talking in? That explains why the likes of Bill Gates is never ever gonna show himself in these kind of conferences.

Weird eh, considering it's a meeting to discuss about IT issues. Haha, maybe he was fantasizing about his marriage already then :P

Are you kidding me?

For those who haven't heard the news (which should be on the front page of every mainstream newspaper in Malaysia), Pak Lah is "finally" getting married. RPK was right, and we know it. Nonetheless, I wish them both a happy marriage. Maybe this is the thing we need into the political scene, someone who could make Pak Lah look at correct direction instead of being led around by the No.1 son-in-law.

Hurray.

On another note, the news that caught my eye is this.

Studying under a street lamp........ that's a first. A good move by MIC and I applaud that.

Hey, it's not easy to have to walk 7 kilometers to school everyday ok? Ask yourself, do you find walking around One Utama or Midvalley in the weekend tiring? And that's for your own pleasure as well.


Community message

Moral of the day, the next time you feel an urge to buy some "more" new clothings, think about what you are going to do with your old ones. Give them away to charity or sell it off, make sure it goes to the right people who really needs these cash which you consider to be "extra".

Job Update & Palm Oil Bitches

Firstly, my job update. I went for an assessment day 2 days ago with a human resource consulting firm(Mercer HR), I thought it went pretty well. The HR personnel contacted me yesterday to deliver to me the news that I got rejected, AGAIN. Nothing much to note here, other than the fact that she told me the reason I failed was because they think I was more suited towards working in the life/non-life insurance business rather than on pensions.

A note to you Malaysians who don't know about pensions. Pensions in Malaysia is managed by our lovely KWSP who is known for a lot of mismanagement of money but nonetheless is the BIGGEST investor in the Malaysian market. Things here in the UK is a bit different however as they were no central agency managing everybody's pensions.

Sure there is a state pension but most of people's pensions really depend on their employer. For instance, if you're an employee of Tesco, then Tesco would be responsible for your pension. It is however customary that they "sub-contract" these responsibilities out by taking up a trustee to do these work.

It is required by law that every trustee has to appoint an actuary to help them value their funds at least once every 3 years. This is where consultancies such as Mercer, Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin come into play. Weirdly, many misconceptions about actuarial jobs being "boring", "mathematical" isn't always true. From the lots of interviewers I've had, most of them admitted that A-levels maths is probably the only requirement for them to do their job.

This however does not mean that an actuary doesn't have to know the sophisticated, complicated side of statistics and mathematics. They still have to sit for exams and most likely the exams are going to involve these high-level problems(hint hint). So basically, the hardest part of their job is to sit for exams????

Hmmmm............... anyway hope that gives you an insight on the things an actuary does in pensions. I however, am really starting to question what kind of career I want. I mean it's not possible that I know it now but is actuary a good choice for me?

---

On a lighter note, read tomorrow's The Star to see a very familiar article pop up.

Well...... not too familiar but on an issue I've already mentioned ---- Palm Oil.

Read my previous posts here and here.

If you're too lazy to read, then I'll give you an idea of what I was trying to say.

It is true that Malaysia needs and is surviving on Palm Oil. A lot of corporations are even making a hell of profit out of it, such as IOI corp and PBB(who incidentally is taking the firm private now). It is a blessing to Malaysia when somebody came up with the idea that palm oil can be used as a biofuel to replace petroleum. But yet another smart ass came up with the idea that palm oil is very inefficient in terms of the lots of waste it produces which offsets any merits we get from it.

A few examples of the problems we are facing because of palm oil are haze, deforestation and waste mis-disposal. Just take my words for it that it is a real upset to see the palm oil industry facing such attacks.

Today, though the attacks have suddenly got stronger. Apparently a group of western NGOs are planning to lobby against palm oil. If they succeed, we might see all palm oil products taken off the shelf in supermarkets across Europe, and that's a BIG threat.

The report from The Star says that Malaysia will be sending representatives there to talk with these people. I quote:

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
said he would explain the truth to British MPs in London and members of the
European Parliament in Brussels about ”our efforts to conserve the environment
and biodiversity while we develop our palm oil industry.” [Source: The Star]

Well, given Malaysia politicians' track record of being bad at negotiations (crooked bridge), I'm not expecting to see this go too well. Take a look at Mahathir's video on youtube here to get what I mean.

Watch the stock market, as this is a make or break situation for Malaysia.

p.s. sorry for the pictureless post, I'm in the IT center(library) so I don't have the luxury of cutting n pasting pics :D

References:

1. Delegation heads for Europe to counter anti-palm oil lobby, The Star, 19 May 2007.

Adverts, Twin Towers and Skydiving

smalltalk: Lunch interview today, wish me luck. Fingers crossed.



I have to admit, when I heard about Mahathir's mega projects I thought it was really a big black hole for everybody's tax money. But it did some good in the end, although a small amount of people REALLY profit from it.

(A certain somebody who is now making a move to take his company, Maxis, private :D )


For those who are wondering, I got this off FT.com's website. Look, the 2nd easiest tower to recognise is out twin towers. It really put Malaysia on the global map doesn't it? Here's another nice pic of it.


But here's another mega project that you might have seen in the newspaper for the past few days (or weeks).


The once "mat-rempits" have done the country "proud". Check howsy's post on this for more info. The big question is, how did it put Malaysia on the world map? Did we benefit from this jump?

Trust me, do a search on google for news on "Putera Umno" or "North Pole" or "Skydiving". The only news you can see about this are from Bernama, Malaysia's very own news agency.

If there were so many records broken, why haven't any other news agencies reported it?


And there is one big flaw. There were NO photos whatsoever that they made the jump. The only photos were taken when they were on the ground. Chances are most of them didn't actually take the jump?

The only pics I could've found are here, here and here. So what's the truth? We demand some proof on taxpayers' money well spent.

I don't know, you be the judge on this. Whatever.



References:

1. Series of Skydiving records broken, The Star, 3 May 2007.
2. Putera Umno Skydiving Team Returning On Thursday, Syed Azwan Syed Ali, Bernama, 24 April 2007.
3. Comment: Exuberant energy at the North Pole, Rehman Rashid, NST, 27 April 2007.
4. Successful North Pole Landing for Putera Umno Skydivers, Syed Azwan Syed Ali, Bernama, 23 April 2007.
   

Sad and angry

After writing on a post regarding how I'm doing my bid to help reduce e-waste, it saddens me deeply when I came across and article written by johnleemk on his blog regarding absolute poverty. It redirected me to the related article on Daily Express where you can find the story, the whole story and no stones left unturned.


It saddens me because after The Star published an article on a student who has to live on RM1 a day, now we are faced with a mother who has to care for 6 children living on RM70 a month. What's worse is that the boy had committed suicide. The reason?

"My son replied there would be fewer people to feed and to take care of if he were to go and that his share of the food could be given to his brothers and sisters," she said, fighting back tears. [Source: Daily Express]

Not only is she fighting back her tears, I'm also trying to hold back mine. Remember when I talked about the Gini coefficient of Malaysia? If you seriously believe that the situation has improved in our country, then as popular saying goes, please believe that pigs can fly too.

What angers me is not because that the leaders of our country lied to us about our improved life. Sure, urban citizens may see an improvement in infrastructure, but when it comes to basic needs, we are still far behind first world countries. There are just too many people under absolute poverty. I know this because my family has our roots in a small village and I've seen a lot of relatives living in relative poverty(not absolute poverty here I hope).

What angers me is the fact that people are suffering in the very state which has a chief minister whose how much his personal wealth is a topic of dispute in the public. Want more images to confirm, click here to see those evidence. When there's a bit of corruption it's the ACA's issue, when there is corruption of such a mammoth scale, it's a national issue.

We really need to address this issue in a progressive manner. Enough with the debates of who should benefit from the NEP, let us put our minds into figuring out how to help those out of these poverty traps.

Barely 2 years ago, Pak Lah said here that he wants absolute poverty to be totally eradicated in this country within 5 years. How much have we progressed? I believe the answer should be very clear to you.



References:

1. Suicide lad's mum breaks silence, Daily Express, 7 April 2007.
2. Malaysia had set new target to eradicate absolute poverty in the country, bes. online rtm, 24 July 2004.
   

En route to First World?

Are we really en route to becoming a first world country?

I came across this small little poll on the FT website:
Dei Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek, Chairman of KTM Berhad:

Even the English think that their railway system run worse than those in Europe. By my observations, it's already quite sophisticated already, I can't get to anywhere I want on rail.

Best of all, it's all double-tracked. For the single-tracked part of Malaysia, we still have long way to go man. How can we even play catch up when the first world is progressing at a faster pace than us?

Oil palm again

Can you hear me laughing? And this is possibly the last time you're gonna see this on national news, it's after all the country's no.1 agricultural export.

Read here and here for earlier posts on biofuel, oil palm and global warming.

Fear the worst

I've registered to buy some tickets to live earth concert, show your support too!

In the meantime, let's start the show. Starting with our very first high profile resignation.
Sabah's DCM has handed in his resignation.

Question of principle, Tan Sri Chong? How much has this to do with Musa Aman's alleged corruption practices? Only he himself would know the answer for that.

So what next, you ask? I don't know, a few issues that would be the key for the next few months:

• Sarawak's CM Abdul Taib Mahmud's corruption allegations.
• Johari Baharum's corruption charges.
• Razak Baginda's trials.
• Zulkipli Mat Noor's corruption charges.
• Musa Hassan's war against all the corrupted "leaders".
• Sabah's CM Musa Aman's corruption practices and whether anybody would take action against it.
  

Razak Baginda's case is not a corruption case you say? MT gave an alternative explanation on Razak Baginda's case. The relationship between him and Altantuya is actually not a romantic one but one of business. It relates to the purchase of Sukhoi submarine incident a few years ago. Apparently Altantuya wanted the money to be paid off to some "other party".

So why so many high profile corruption cases you ask? Don't ask me, Malaysia's corruption perception index just went up last year. Maybe some of you might want to enlighten me on how the business world works around all these corruptions?

When there's corruption charges, there will be a benefactor and a benificiary. I wonder why all the charges are only against the beneficiary and non on the benefactor. Maybe these benefactors pay more to the authorities to only take charges on the beneficiaries? Don't be surprised, anything's possible.

How are these issues going to proceed. I'm speculating that at some point, Tun Mahathir would step in and disrupt something as well. After all, we know he is not a person that shies away from national issues. The question is why has he not spoken anything on these yet so far? Too many questions too few answers.

Fear the worst! This might be just the start.



p.s. I wish Tan Sri Chong a happy retirement and more time to spend with your family.

Reference:

1. Sabah's Deputy Chief Minister resigns, The Star, 13 April 2007.
   

Difference between 1997 and 2007?

What's the difference between 1997 and 2007?

Well, the event in 1997 gave him the driving seat on route to become the next PM.

The events that will happen in 2007 will ...................... ? Fill in the blanks yourself.
He sure looks worried in this latest photo. Why the long face?

I hope it's nothing to do with this as told on Malaysia-Today. Watergate or Dolahgate?

All rakyat:

• Get popcorns and your soft drinks ready.
• Go out and shop for the most comfortable sofa set.

All BN-govt basher blogger:

• All the above.
• Get you banners and flags ready.
• Charge your videocam and digicams on full, heck, throw in an extra battery.
  
• Reconfigure your computers so that they don't fail you at the time when you most need them.

All businessmen:

• Non of the above.
• Get your secretaries to get ready for overtime. Heck, hire one more secretary.
• Get your management team ready for brainstorming sessions.

WHY??

The next month or two would be jam-packed. Forget 1997 when Anwar was arrested, this could be bigger and better.

Dramas for the rakyat.
Opportunity to bash kau kau the garmen by the opposition.
And for businessmen, well "sometimes matador wins, sometimes bull wins", choose your side wisely.

p.s. I'm tagging this national because it's gonna be important for the nation.

Gangster Clearup in Sarawak

A good move by the police, whatever means they used.

Question:

• What next? Arrest the next 300 gang members?
• Even if you arrest all the 300 gang members, are you going to put them on trial? Under what charges?
• Even if all of them are found guilty, are you sure we have enough capacity in prison to house all of them?

Please don't kid me, Malaysia Boleh. But please, if you wanna counter gangsterism, a more innovative way is needed I think, the old catch and punish scheme wouldn't work anymore.

I hear people saying just go for the head of the gangsters. Hello, we're dealing with people of influence, probably some rich datuks I'm suspecting. And even if you've arrested them, there's still a way to bail themselves out. Forgive me if I'm not up-to-date with the current "market price", the last I heard, RM300k is good enough for a criminal to escape the death penalty and a clean record.

Unbelievable? Well, I hope my sources are correct. Don't believe the RM300k figure, it may just be rumours, but no smoke without fire right?

clipped from thestar.com.my Suspected gangsters held By STEPHEN THEN and LOURDES CHARLES MIRI: The arrest came in the wake of an order by the Inspector-General of Police to crack down on gangsters in Sarawak. Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who went to Kuching and Sibu last week to assess the crime situation for himself, had said a special task force under his supervision would be set up to investigate those controlling the gangsters. “We want to know if there are any influential people involved as alleged and will not hesitate to act against them,” he had said. Musa had also said that police had identified 16 gangs in the state, with a membership of between 200 and 300 people, and would go all out to arrest them.

Spray Gelak

There has been some concerning issues raised over the past few years about what teenagers in Malaysia do to get high. Make no mistake, when I say high, I mean serious substance/drug abuse.

First it was drinking cough syrups, then came glue-sniffing, then the increase attention on ecstasy pills. The latest trend in this is apparently sniffing "Spray Gelak". Check this video.



Apparently the substance responsible this time is called Ethylchloride, or in its more appropriate scientific name Chloroethane or monochloroethane.

According to wikipedia,

Ethyl chloride is a narcotic inhalant drug, sometimes referred to as "Duster". Similar to poppers, ethyl chloride is used as an inhalant (huffed) during sexual activity for an intense several-minute-long high that results in a prolonged orgasm. In Brazil, it is a traditional (though illegal) drug taken during Carnaval parades, known as "lança-perfume".

Ethyl chloride is the least toxic of the chloroethanes. Like other chlorinated hydrocarbons, it is a central nervous system depressant, albeit a less potent one than many similar compounds. People breathing its vapors at less than 1% concentration in air usually experience no symptoms. At higher concentrations, victims usually exhibit symptoms similar to those of alcohol intoxication. Breathing its vapors at 15% or higher is often fatal.

That's th few rotten apple in the basket of Malaysian teens for you. Why oh why do you guys do that?

Likes and dislikes about Pak Lah

It is difficult to tell whether an average Malaysian likes their elected prime minister, since there are so many reports that the last general elections was rigged in one way or another. Ask anybody standing in Midvalley or KLCC whether they think that the Prime Minister is doing a good job and most probably they'll tell you that "I think he's not doing a bad job, just that something has to be done about the crime rates".

You see, a regular rakyat's perception of the performance of the government rests upon 2 major things:

• How wealthy they feel now?
• How safe they feel now?
  

Notice how the inflation rate, GDP, unemployment rate means nothing to a regular rakyat. Also, take note that I use the word "feel" instead of "are".

In both cases, I think Pak Lah has done a pretty good job at telling the rakyat the country is prospering. I don't deny that Malaysia is indeed growing at a good pace, it's just not as good as how Pak Lah claims it to be. Remember this?
If you can't read it, it says "Malaysia's Total Trade Breaks 1 Trillion Ringgit Mark for First Time in 2006". There have been several analysis on the wrongs in this report, interested reader can refer to Jeff Ooi's explanation here.

As for the law enforcement side, there's the Bernama's report yesterday on Pak Lah waging war against all criminals. Good call I have to say, but we're still waiting to see some actions. Mat rempits still crowding your neighbourhood?

So there are things I like and dislike about Pak Lah. Even in a news article I could point out the things I like and dislike about him. Take for example The Star's article today.
4 matters are raised here:

1. VW chairman still not turning up to meet Pak Lah for negotiations over Proton.
2. Proposal to register bloggers.
3. Difficulties faced by Malaysians obtaining visas to Saudi Arabia.
4. Sarawak CM's allegations.
   

Here are the matters and my comments:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday that he could not be “waiting forever” for the Volkswagen chairman to meet him to discuss the possible partnership with Proton.

I dislike him using the national media to send a message to VW. If you want to know whether they are still interested, phone VW up yourself and confirm if they are still interested.

On the proposal to get bloggers in the country to register with the authorities, Abdullah said this needed careful study to ensure such a ruling could be implemented.

I obviously dislike this. This move would be futile and it would waste a lot of taxpayers' money for obvious reasons. If you still don't get it, it doesn't take a blogger 5 minutes to re-register and transfer his website to a new host outside the country. You and I know that this is not good for the economy and the web-hosting companies in Malaysia right?

On another matter, Abdullah said the Government was waiting for feedback from Saudi Arabia on the difficulties faced by Malaysians in obtaining visas to perform their umrah.

This is one side of Pak Lah I would love to see more often. The "do something good for the country" side. At least he's still doing something to improve the rakyat's welfare.

On the Japan Times report that implicated Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in a scandal allegedly involving RM32mil in kickbacks paid by Japanese shipping companies for timber from Sarawak, Abdullah said he was not aware of such a matter.

How can you not be aware of such a matter? If it were to happen to one of the ministers in the UK, there would be full-flown investigation. At least make an effort to tell us that you're going to conduct some investigation on this matter. Or is it that you do not plan to do so?

So there you have it, the likes and dislikes about a PM in just one article.

Do you like Pak Lah? Looks like I can only find out about this in the next general election.

References:

1. Malaysia's Total Trade Breaks 1 Trillion Ringgit Mark for First Time in 2006, AP, 8 February 2007.
2. Wage All-out War On Criminals Similar To Communist Insurgency - PM, Bernama, 5 April 2007.
3. VW chief yet to turn out for meeting, Jane Ritikos, The Star, 10 April 2007.
   

Biofuel efficient?

Again the question pops up when I read this article on The Star. I know all the hoo-ha about biofuel being a feasible replacement for petroleum, the question is really how feasible is it. By today's standard I would imagine that petroleum is still far cheaper than biofuel, it is a fact, and Petronas knows it.

clipped from thestar.com.my Saturday April 7, 2007 Biofuel project firm given five years to produce results THE state government has given the company picked to set up the country’s first major biofuel refinery plant five years to produce results. Ramly also told Nga Kor Ming (DAP – Pantai Remis) that previous studies had confirmed that the project was cost-effective.

Datuk Ramly Zahari: When you mention that previous studies had confirmed that the project was cost-effective, did you question the studies' on whether they included the environmental cost of the project? I know that oil palm contributes a lot to our economy, it is probably time we find a feasible solution to counter the environmental impact it has.

Again questions:

• Did the studies include the social cost(environmental cost) of producing biofuel.
• Would this have any effect on the cooking oil market? (Most vegetable oil are, to my knowledge, derived from oil palm)
• Five years to produce what type of results? Profits? Social impact? Job creation?
• Five years enough? We are talking about an alternative to petroleum, which is by far cheaper.
• Is biofuel really efficient?
  

MCA to help students improve Malay, English

First time using clipmark, kinda handy, and I don't have to waste time doing referencing :D

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stumbled upon this article on The Star.

clipped from thestar.com.my MCA programme to help improve Chinese students' grasp of Malay, English Saturday April 7, 2007 MALACCA: MCA has launched a pioneer tuition programme in 31 schools nationwide to improve Chinese school students grasp of English and Bahasa Melayu.

It seems that while this is a very good move deserving applause, I can't help but think whether it would be feasible for MCA to do a reverse move to teach or improve non-Chinese's grasp of Chinese. Likewise for UMNO and MIC. Only then can we say that we Malaysians are truly multi-cultural in a language sense. At least it would be a good move in my opinion, don't you think so?

Raja Nazrin, agree?

On Global Warming and Oil Palm

Upon reading Kean-Jin's blog, I came accross his article on Global warming and tropical countries.

Allow me to quote the same Reuters report here again:

Global warming could bring hunger, melt Himalayas
OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming could cause more hunger in Africa and melt most Himalayan glaciers by the 2030s, according to a draft U.N. report due on Friday which also warns that the poorest nations are likely to suffer most. [Source: Reuters]

Well guess what? Have I got a surprise for you, TADA:

Only a few years ago, oil from palm trees was viewed as an ideal biofuel: a
cheap, renewable alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming.
Energy companies began converting generators and production soared.

............................

The four-year study found that 600 million tons of carbon dioxide seep into
the air each year from the drained swamps. Another 1.4 billion tons go up in
smoke from fires lit to clear rain forest for plantations — smoke that often
shrouds Singapore and Malaysia in an impenetrable haze for weeks at a
time.

Together, those 2 billion tons of CO2 account for 8 percent of the
world's fossil fuel emissions, the report said. [Source: AP]

Majulah negara dengan kelapa sawit, potong semua pokok getah, tak guna mia. Oh yea, and I saw an article in the business section of The Star a few days back here. No wonder IOI's stock hit historic high, so much for corporate social responsibility.

p.s. IOI is "world's biggest oil palm planter".

Reference:

1. Global warming could bring hunger, melt Himalayas, Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent, Reuters, 2 April 2007.
2. Palm Oil Failing as Biofuel, Arthur Max, Associated Press, 2 April 2007.
3. IOI plans to return RM1.37bil, The Star, 31 March 2007.
   

Am I eligible to vote?

Upon reading the news that 4.9mil eligible Malaysians who have yet to register as voters, I quickly consider the position I am in. I am a Malaysian citizen who is definitely older than 21 years old, that makes me one of the 4.9mil right?

Am I fully qualified though? I took a detour to check out the official Election Commission website. Here's what I found:
Am I residing in any Election Constituency in Malaysia? For the past 4 years, I've only been in Malaysia for no more than 3 months each year, while most of my time is spent in university here in the UK. I think that makes me disqualified as an elector right?


But the question is am I able to register now as I might be in Malaysia when the General Election is going to be held. Speculations of a few dates are given in my previous post here.

I then googled for the Malaysian embassy's contact number here in the UK. The result was horrifying, either the embassy doesn't have an official website, or the website is probably the worst website I've ever been to. Check it out here.

Nevermind the design which is absolutely bad, there are broken links everywhere and they even forgot to include an email contact address in the front page where they havethe address and phone number.

Horrible? Pathetic? Those are understatements. Please, go experience it yourself.

Dato' Abed Aziz, please please get somebody to sort out the website and ask for Wisma Putra's help if you really need any.

So much for our pride in Informasi Teknologi and VMY 2007.

Guess I have to call the embassy up to get more information about my eligibility to vote tomorrow.


References:

1. 4.9mil yet to register as voters, The Star, 2 April 2007.
2. Election Commission of Malaysia (aka Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia)
3. Malaysia Embassy London.

Gini coefficient

What is a Gini coefficient?

According to wikipedia(and all your standard macroeconomics textbook), a Gini coefficient is

.........a measure of inequality of a distribution. It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1. [Source: Wikipedia]

To cut a story short, take it that having a Gini coefficient of 0 is ideal, meaning everybody's income in the country is perfectly equal, while having a Gini coefficient of 1 means that all the wealth in the country is controlled by just a single person. So, 0 to 1 means from good to bad.

Now let's take a look at the CIA factbook,

Malaysia - 46.1 (2002)

Not too bad? Let's compare to some of the countries we know that has problems with this area:

Malaysia - 46.1 (2002)
Malaysia - 49.2 (1997)

Indonesia - 38.4 (2004)
China - 44 (2002)
Cambodia - 40 (2004 est.)
Thailand - 51.1 (2002)
United States - 45 (2004)

Certainly we see an improvement from 1997-2002, we had our last general election in 2003, so anybody know of when the latest survey will be carried out? Have we improved? I certainly hope so.

By the way, the figures above are in percentages, so it's still between 0 and 1.

References:

1. Distribution of family income - Gini Index, CIA- The World Factbook.
2. Gini coefficient, Wikipedia.
   

Racial Integration?

Like most Malaysians, I can sniff out a real problem out of all the problems posed in the daily news. Like this headline in The Star, this is a real concern for the future of the country.

I think this is the first time I've ever touched on racial issues, so I'm gonna make this a slightly longer post expressing my views.

We already know that racial integration is a problem in adults, an issue faced since the formation of Malaysia. This problem roots from an array of scenarios, be it from the social, economical or political points of view. I even learn from history text books during my time in secondary school that

Malays lead lives as farmers and fishermen
Chinese lead lives as businessmen
Indian lead lives as rubber tappers

Believe me, it is in the old History syllabus whether you like it or not, and that's history, one which nobody can change. I also grew up with a perception that Chinese are rich, Malays are not that rich and Indians are downright poor.

I couldn't be more wrong. One just couldn't associate professions from wealth, not anymore. I know of Malay businessmen, just take my fellow Kedahan Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, no matter what people say about how he acquired his wealth, you just couldn't argue the fact that he is damn good a businessman. Money doesn't lie.

I also know of chinese who lead lives as farmers, fishermen and even rubber tappers. You wouldn't believe me but rubber tappers now earn plentiful, enough not only to feed the family but to invest into other businesses as well. Of course there are also quite a lot of them living in lives of poverty, I know of some like that as well, but they are still happy.

The same thing goes for Indians as well. Look at the "official" second richest man in Malaysia, Bina Tegas owner Ananda Krishnan, again money doesn't lie, no matter how he acquired all those wealth.

Youngsters not concerned with racial integration?

Just why are these youngsters not concerned with racial integration. The reason for this is that there is no motivation or incentives in doing so. We live in a country where choice of school is based on race and religion. We have Islamic colleges, Mara boarding schools, even secondary schools are chosen based on one's race. Unless you put them all in a same school instead of segregating them into schools based on race and religion, the situation wouldn't improve.


Blame it on their parents for sending their children to vernacular schools, blame it here and there. Why not blame it on yourself? I'm sure the percentage of students in vernacular school is pretty small compared to those in national schools. Even so, why not send malays to these "vernacular" schools?

I understand that the government tried to forge unity through the various vision school programs. Failure or success of those programs I can't tell, but there's one thing for sure that the government is reluctant to do, and that is to accept the fact that they are just taking the wrong approach.

With textbooks and syllabus teaching kids like what I mentioned above, I don't see youngsters forming any sort of respect towards other races.

From a political point of view, there is also the infamous ideology of Ketuanan Melayu or Malay Supremacy looming around the air. With this, how can a non-Malay bear the thought of sharing the burden of the country when they don't get to share the wealth. Ask this to any secondary school student and they will tell you that they dislike the bumiputera special rights rule. Yet, they are forced to accept this as a fact.

Now you should understand why they think it is not an issue. To them, getting good grades is most important. It is already a "fact" that racial integration can never be achieved with the current ruling. After all, they don't have to pay for taxes, nor do they have to worry about financing a house, yet.

Only 52% of the teenagers said they had a friend of a different race. [Source: The Star]

That is actually quite a high number, I actually expected a much lower figure. How about the percentage of teenagers who have friends from all three major races? That should be more clear right?

Solutions?

No solutions to this. I believe that one should live out their student life fully without the slightest worry in the world. It is only later in life that they will start to realize and experience these issues. Hopefully by then, we can resolve this matter once and for all and leave a better country for our children to take on the world together as a nation.
References:

1. Survey: Many youngsters aren't concerned about racial integration, Simrit Kaur, The Star, 29 March 2007.
2. Education system blamed, Mazwin Nik Anis & Ee-Lyn Tan, The Star, 29 March 2007.
   

Expensive Medicines in Malaysia

That's right, check out the percentage of mark-up of the drugs we Malaysians are paying for, courtesy of News Straits Times. Although I don't really know how much an average Malaysian pay for a cinic visit(I would say around RM40?), for those who visited hospitals would surely know the pain when you rake out those cash(or credit cards) from your wallet when you have to pay.

Dr Zaheer said most countries had pricing regulations and some, like France and Italy, even regulated drug prices directly through a price control mechanism.

In the United Kingdom, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority monitors prices through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, which controls the prices of branded prescription drugs. [Source: New Straits Times]

This would most certainly be a good move for the country. I know that before I visit the clinic, I want an estimated figure how much the whole diagnostic and medicine will cost. I know of people who end up stranded in hospitals calling for friends' help just because they didn't bring enough money when they have at least RM200 in their pockets.

Do you have any experience of this sort, please share your experience.

Is this another reason why we need an increase in our national health budget? But I think in this case, we have to tackle the problem of unethical doctors and pharmacists right?

I'm not discouraging all of you aspiring doctors to stop pursuing a career in medicine, or even in pharmacy(my sister studies pharmacy). It's just not right for somebody to rake too much profit from other people's sufferings.

References:

1. Why Malaysians pay more for medicines, Audrey Dermawan, New Straits Times, 28 March 2007.
   

Related Posts:

• National Health Budget
• Why Malaysians pay more for medicines, Alan Tan ZS
  

RM20 Million or RM 250 Million?

Who is not getting the facts right?

Tengku Adnan, of Bloggers are liars fame?
Or RPK, of Malaysia Today fame:
I don't know, you tell me? If you ask me what me opinion is, I would say RM20 million will be enough for you to build 2 medium-size bridges in Malaysia, engineers please correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't argue to me that the budget of 2005 and 2006 will differ to such degree. We're talking tenfold here. All I wanna know here is.......

Who got the facts right?

References:

1. Manifold benefits from Monsoon Cup, The Star, 28 March 2007.
2. The power of witchcraft, Raja Petra Kamarudin, Malaysia Today, 02 January 2006.