Category: Uncategorized

Intellectual property in the fashion industry.

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Our previous PM undeniably gave away our Petroleum for a song and some will say that our present PM has just done the same thing with our land in Singapore. While I do not deny that it seems a negative thing to be losing our land in Tanjong Pagar, I shall hold-off on the criticism for a bit until we all know what the deal actually entails. It is the job of our opposition to dig up the dirty details.

No one will deny that Singapore has more to gain from this land swap and joint-development deal. However, I won’t deny them a profit if there is one to be made. What I care about is whether or not we made a profit as well. If this is a win-win situation, then so be it. However, the skeptic in me thinks that this is unlikely going to be the case. Looking at our track record, it is more likely that we come out as losers in the end.

Personally, I am not in the real-estate business and I do not claim to know much about it. However, what I know tells me that things are not quite rosy. We are swapping prime real-estate for reclaimed land. That just does not make much sense to me. Singapore can give us all the reclaimed land we desire, since it is largely reclaimed using sand from Malaysian to begin with. So, we are essentially swapping our land for stuff that was created from our soil.

See the irony.

We are also told that our government investment arm, Khazanah Holdings, will go into a joint-development deal with Temasek. I will give this bit the benefit of a doubt. We must remember that in these things, anything can happen – deals can go south. While we may have the majority share, it also means that we are liable for majority of the losses. I just hope that this deal does well and we get to recoup some of our other monumental losses.

So, I don’t really know enough to say if this is a good or bad thing.

However, I do hope that our opposition does keep a finger on things. I would really like to know how it ultimately turns out in the end. I would hope for the best but knowing the way things are, I would prepare for the worst.

While some people see this as damning evidence of our PM allegedly bribing or buying votes, I see this as something different entirely.

Najib is a much better orator than our previous PM. In fact, he is a much better orator than most of our opposition leaders. He also raised a couple of issues that are actually pertinent to the politics of our nation. Our opposition governments must be seen as capable of doing things and delivering. Unfortunately, I feel that they have squandered most of the opportunities given to them because they do not have the guts to actually bring about change, even if it is just at the local level.

One issue that I see emerging from the different PR-led states is that they all seem to show a different brand of government. While I don’t really know if this is a good or a bad thing, I do see it as a potential issue because I doubt that it would sell very well at the federal level. It is fine having different flavours of government for different states in order to cater to the different needs. However, at the federal level, such flavours would signal a problem.

Well, those are just my 2 sen.

According to Lim Kit Siang’s blog, Pakatan Rakyat is moving to “chart a strategy to remove Sarawak and Sabah as the Barisan Nasional’s fixed deposit states.” According to the same entry:

One important meaning of the Sibu by-election result is that Barisan Nasional cannot take Sarawak and Sabah for granted, which have rendered the next general elections a more level playing field in the contest for national power in Putrajaya between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

When I read that, I went like – WTF?!

This is the exact kind of short-term and short-sighted leadership that we do not need in the country. The PR should not be charting plans on taking away Sabah and Sarawak from the BN. They should be charting plans on how to build up and develop Sabah and Sarawak to their full potential. There is a very subtle but major difference between the two policies – one is long-term while the other is short-term.

Sigh! What can I say except that the PR is just as corrupt and lacking as the BN.

It sucks to be Malaysian these days.

There are some things success is not.
Its not fame.
Its not money or power.
Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door.
Its getting to work with people you love.
Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. Its finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream.
Its falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could.
Success is joy and freedom and friendship.
And success is Love.

By this yardstick, I am a failure.

A small collection of pictures from my congregation-cum-holiday with my family.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

An ugly mark ended my short tour recently, and it happened after I had landed at KLIA. I shall relate this tale as a matter of caution as I think that many people have fallen victim to such things in the past. Anyway, the tale has to do with the official KLIA limousine service.

After exiting the arrivals gate, I went to the ticket counter to buy a ticket home. The ticket counter girl asked me how many people there were and how many bags. I told her that I wanted a ticket for three people with three regular sized bags. So, she sold me a ticket to my destination for about RM80+ or so.

So, I happily went out to the taxi queue and gave them my ticket. This is where things started to go south. I was told that there was not enough space in the taxi to carry my luggage. The reason is because they had an NGV gas tank in the boot. They said that they can only carry one of my luggage bags, maybe two but definitely not three. They suggested that I upgrade my ticket to a premium ticket for a larger limousine with a bigger boot. This ticked me off thoroughly and to people who know me, you can probably imagine what happened next.

I went back into KLIA while making a big fuss along the way. When I reached the counter I slammed the ticket on the counter and generally threw a fit. I told the girl what had happened and she told me that a premium ticket would cost me RM30+ extra! So, I got totally pissed off and asked her for an official complaint form. She gave it to me and asked me if I would like to lodge a complaint against the driver. I looked at her wide-eyed and said no, I was going to lodge a complaint against her for lying to me and selling me a false ticket. In the process I told the next customer not to buy a taxi ticket from them because they will lie to you and sell you a ticket for three passengers in a taxi that can only fit one luggage bag.

This got the attention of their supervisor who took me aside and took me out to the taxi queue again. The supervisor told me that sometimes, these taxi drivers were being a bit troublesome and did not want to fit the bags in. He called for another taxi driver and instructed the person to fit the bags in. So this time, all three of my bags fit magically into the boot without any squeezing or stuffing. Honestly, I did not have any big bags with me, just two medium sized bags that weighed less than 20kg and a small carry-on luggage bag that weighed 10kg only.

So, I got my bags into the taxi and got home. I promised the supervisor that I would not lodge and official complaint since the problem was taken care of. However, I thought that I should mention it so that others may know and not be taken for a ride if such things happened in the future.

If they had insisted that I upgrade, I would have told them to shove it and to give me a full refund. I can assure them that I can take any other taxi, including the illegal touts at KLIA. I came to the airport with the exact same bags inside a far smaller KL taxi for a far cheaper price of only RM50+ or so. I don’t see why I should pay RM120+ or so for a much larger taxi for the same sized bags.

On the journey back, the taxi driver related to us how the business works and I really sympathise with them. The taxi drivers have a really hard time and I think that they deserve to have a better deal. Let us open up our KLIA taxis to anyone who wants to provide taxi services, instead of being monopolised by certain companies only – since the monopolies will eventually drive their customers to the touts.