Is there any hope for Malaysia ?

Got this in my email today...

Makes me stupid and "stupider" for staying behind in this country whilst my peers are all venturing abroad.

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when we started work around 1973
a 1.3 Litre Japaness car was RM 7000

Today the equivalent let's say it is RM 60000.............8.5 times

In 1973 a double storey house was about RM 45,000...or less
Today it is about RM 300,000............6.6 times

In 1973 an Engineer's pay was RM 1000
Today it is about RM 2000 +/-............2 times....

From 1973 to 2008........35 years......what is the Trend.?
Bearish !!!!
In a stock market when the trend is bearish , what do we do?..Exit !!!
When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?.....?

This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the stock market..
I have used these 3 items House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the country' s
performance for the past 35 years....
There is a book I saw in MPH bookshop entitled :
Malaysia: The Failed Nation

some of you may be interested to read up.
I agreed with the writer.....

This morning I was having Coffee at McDonalds ( now the coffee..100 % Arabica beans..is quite good@ RM 2.90.....free refill !!.

I asked how much per hour is their pay?RM 3.00 ! x 8 hours = RM 24 per day.... x 25 days = RM 600 per month

My daughter works part-time during her University days...she worked at Gloria Jeans Coffee..the pay Australian $ 14.00 ( @ 3.15 = RM 44 per hour.....x 8 = RM 352 per day !!! x 25 days = RM 880013.3 times more !!!!! ......

Price of houses in Perth is about the same in KL
Price of cars are about 23 % cheaper...in Perth.( Australia )
I think more and more people are becoming aware of this Bearish trend.

Developed country by 2020?...means High income country
Let's look at some as of year 2005 ( Financial Times )
USA GNP per capita US$ 35400
UK GNP per capita US$ 25510
Australia GNP per capita US$ 19530
Singapore GNP per capita US $ 20690

These are developed countries by income measurement
Malaysia GNP per capita US$ 3540
Year 2020..developed country?
Really...a sad story.Worrying Trends, isn't it??????


Ringgit sliding further and further under BN
Gan Jul 8, 08 4:03pm

Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my engineering company. I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of RM1600. It struck me as odd that 15 years ago, I myself started work as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.

Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20 years ago, you'll find little difference but that their purchasing power is vastly different. It's the same story when you compare salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.

To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most Malaysians has moved backwards.
This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of the problem is that our real incomes have shrunk in the face of inflation and depreciated currency.. Malaysians have not been spoiled by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated and depreciated incomes.
If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore , Hong Kong , Taiwan and South Korea , they are a few multiples of ours although at independence all these countries were the on the same economic level as Malaysia .
What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia , a country rich in natural resources with the most promising potential..
The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of funds for huge non- economic projects, anti-public interest deals with politically-linked companies and passing-of-the -buck to the man in the street..
Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.
Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest of our youth emigrate to escape the racial inequility only to contribute to the economies of foreign lands.
The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.
We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, Uuca and PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling parties in power.
We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some corporations who have established themselves here are moving out.
All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a reflection of its fundamentals.
Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.
While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way from the poor and middle-class to a select group of politically-connected elite.
The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer.
There is much that is wrong with Malaysia . The responsibility for pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and socially.
We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be touching the African standard. What a way to greet 2020.

Is there any hope for Malaysia ?
Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim.
Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more competitive.
But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose coalition of disparate parties..
The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but whether we can afford not to.
Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

I want more money experiment - Day 4

Day Four:
$800:
- I need a holiday. At least a short 3d2n break. MAS & AirAsia having cheap flights to Langkawi. Would love to go there again just to chill, do some shopping at the duty free outlets and revell in the cheap and tasty food there.

I am grateful for:
- having the passion of travelling in me, and being brought on for holidays with my family and relatives since young. I can't imagine my mindset if I'm not exposed to travel and other countries culture..probably will be like the typical racist frog under the stone kind of people.

Show me the money:
- Put in practice the things i learn from the Super Affiliate Blogger and get some affiliate sales to gain the money for my holiday.

Reference / guidebook:
The Super Affiliate Blogger handbook

I want more money experiment - Day 3

I haven't done this experiment for days..perhaps its time to continue.
[to know more about the background of the experiment, scroll down to posts below]

I want more money experiment - Day 3

Day Three:
$400:
- Can't think much what I need. Oh yea..my printer has run out of ink, so I will need new HP black cartridge and color cartridge.
- The balance of the money I can use to pay my tailor for 2 pairs of new baju kurung for work.

I am grateful for:
- the existence of wireless and broadband technology in Malaysia. Internet surfing was such a chore and expensive during the dial up days. Doing internet business at that time would have really tested my patience to the max.

Show me the money:
- Clean up my room and sell all the handbags and clothes I no longer need or wear on Ebay. Can probably sell some of the jewelleries as well. Which is rather good coz my bedroom space is reducing by the day with all the mess.

How to sell on ebay & get the best value for my items?
- I shall refer to the Ebay Masters guide

Its a beautiful day

Today is turning to be one of the best days this year. ;)



My parents are off to overseas for holiday.

My manager is away for outstation work.

Absolute freedom for these few days !



And now I received news that the forum organised by my dept, planned to be held somewhere overseas across the continent, is now called off. Excellent..yippie!!!

"padan muka" to those ppl who now can't go for that "paid holiday", compared to us who do the real work and bring in revenue for the dept but are left in KL and only have team building in Port Dickson..
how pathetic is that for a dept in a multinational corporation..whereas other ppl in other depts enjoy team building trips to exotic islands in and out of malaysia.



bye bye CT..haha...






(image from africacollection.com)

I want more money experiment - Day 2

Supposed to update this earlier, but was busy attending a blogging workshop.

anyway, here goes

Day Two:
$200:
- I need new suit for work and other functions.

I am grateful for:
- For being able to attend the blogging bootcamp this weekend

Show me the money:
- Sell the stuff I bought from my holidays in Bali and Bangkok past years which are still in the suitcase, on eBay Malaysia to earn the $200.

How to sell on ebay & get the best value for my items?
- I shall refer to the guide Ebay Masters

I Want More Money experiment - Day 1

I just came across this cool post by Millionaire Mummy on a project based on Law of Attraction.

Basically anyone interested to join in this experiment is supposed to think of what they want to spend with their money, starting with $100 on the first day, and doubling it each day for the next 30 days.

In addition, they are supposed to think of what they are grateful of.

Lastly, they would need to think of how they can gain that money in the first place.

This got me thinking..but amazingly..it is kinda hard to do, coz I want money the most to buy back freedom from this company I'm trapped in.

But enough of negative thoughts..with all the doom and gloom in the world today..lets think happy thoughts..
So I decided that I too want to participate in this experiment.

So, here goes:

Day One:
$100:
- I need new shoes for work. So I shall use this $100 to buy a new pump or court shoe.

I am grateful for:
- Stumbling into millionaire mummy's blog so I can try out this experiment

Show me the money:
- Sell the bodyshop items I bought in Singapore on eBay Malaysia to earn the $100.

Guides / References on ebay:
How to make money selling on eBay
Free guide on ebay