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Showing posts from April, 2013

Check Your Voting Station & Print

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There have been numerous people complaining that their names are no longer on the electoral roll when they check at SPR. Please check your voting station, and print out the slip, if for any reason your name is suddenly not on the roll, at least you have evidence to lodge protest. I hope this is just a small thing but from what I have been hearing, its getting more common. http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/semakpru13.aspx p/s do contact the DAP office if your name is missing, apparently they can still help to put back your name into the register

Why We Must Vote

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The table below shows you the winning majority of the seats won by BN in the last election. Now, all you have to do is look at the ABSENT VOTERS, the conclusion is clear. The majority column shows how many votes BN won by for that seat - its very very clear!!! If you have never voted, but you are eligible, please drag yourself out to vote. If you have friends, family members, aunties and uncles who never voted but are registered anyway.... look at the number of absentee voters, you need to drag them to vote. My younger fellow Malaysians, many who are registering to vote for the first time, your vote is so important. If the wave in 2008 caught us all by surprise, I think I can safely say the wave is a lot bigger now. The other side won't make it easy, there will be shenanigans. Go and vote, and drag your friends and family along, make it the one thing you do for your country. Every vote counts!!!

Voters Be Reminded

This was written by someone who is a Polling Agent and has just completed the training required. He has highlighted a few matters which we the public voters may not be aware. 1. Be at the polling center real early, as I m suspecting that there may be a long queue due to the new polling process. Many will be sick of waiting and waste their vote. Don't be a fool to do that. Polling center opens at 8am till 5pm. Polling center gate closes at 5:00pm sharp RTM time.  (   Conduct of Elections Act.Regulation23. Closing of poll.. " No ballot paper shall be issued to a voter after the hour fixed for the closing of the poll but if at that hour there is in the polling station any voter to whom a ballot paper has been issued, such voter shall be allowed to vote." Note the voter must have the ballot paper in hand when polls close to be able to vote..) 2. Check on-line first ( http://daftarj.spr.gov.my/ semakpru13.aspx ) and print out your details before going to the voting center. You

Ubah, Selamatkan Malaysia

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A wonderful song with very appropriate lyrics. Was pleasantly surprised that it was composed by my dear friend, Yu Heng ... lol small world as I happen to be managing her stock portfolio as well. Brilliant song. http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/search?q=who+is+yu+heng Compare that with the MCA song, I had to stop a few times because I just cannot tahan the song in one go ... how to vomit, puke and be startled all at the same time. The song itself shows how bloody out of touch they are ... cringe-fest maximus ... I guess your face needed to be 12 inches thick to record this song, a required trait to be an MCA candidate. This election will be the death knell for MCA, mark my words.

Article On Taib's Brother - Worth A$2bn (RM6bn)???

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From Sydney Morning Herald/The Age Billionaire's decades of profits spirited away Date April 28, 2013 57  reading now Read later Mark Baker Editor-at-Large, The Age View more articles from  Mark Baker Glamorous property deals and harbourside mansions reaped nothing for the taxpayer. submit to reddit Email article Print Reprints & permissions Big business: Onn Mahmud.  Photo: Supplied One of Asia's richest tycoons has avoided tax on tens of millions of dollars in profits from Australian property deals over the past two decades. Onn Mahmud - brother of the billionaire chief minister of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo - has used an elaborate global financial network to export his earnings from a portfolio of Sydney commercial and residential properties worth an estimated $100 million. In one deal, Mr Onn sold an apartment development site in Potts Point for $15.5 million in 2007, realising a profit of $10.8 million. Farok Abdul Majeed, who is suing Mr Onn for the $5 million he cl

Depoliticising The Media

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Much has been debated over which companies may "lose out" should Pakatan secures victory. The oft-mentioned companies include those linked to Syed Mokhtar, maybe even Ananda Krishnan and IPPs. One sore thumb has to be the media. The Star,which is aligned to MCA/BN, has been pissing the general public no end with its recent spate of unorthodox advertising campaign. If you noticed the logo of The Star on the front page, its slogan is "The people's paper" - OMG, how far have they moved away from that center??!! You can also lump in NST and Utusan as well. Some won't even accept advertisements from opposition parties. The media situation is so convoluted and biased in our country, its no joke at all. If we have a Pakatan victory, I think you can lump these papers which are listed entities, as sells as well, don't you think so?! What kind of media do we have, and let's not even get started on TV and Astro yet. Assuming a Pakatan victory, how do we go abou

This Is As Good As It Gets

The GDP announcement this morning for the first quarter of 2013 was 2.5 percent, well below the 3 plus estimates that economists were expecting.    This will not be the first disappointment.  Folks like Jim Cramer on CNBC can't understand why businessmen are reluctant to expand capital equipment and hire employees.  That's because Cramer is a media celebrity not a businessman. If Cramer were even remotely aware of the actual business climate that ordinary folks have to contend with, he would know what the problem is -- over regulation, absurd tax levels, Obamacare, EPA regulations, Dodd-Frank.  It is almost as if the Obama Administration has declared war on the US economy.  Anything that smacks of business success is viewed suspiciously by the Administration (and by Jim Cramer, I might note). The talking heads can't figure it out, but the economics are simple.  If hiring an employee at a $ 35,000 salary means it costs you $ 75,000 per year, you are not going to make that hi

@myburgerlab

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You cannot pay me to come to a place to do a food review. If I write about it, it has to be very good or very bad. This has been ongoing for nearly a year and at the urgings of many friends, I finally made it. Its located at the edges of Paramount Garden, imagine going from SS2 to Paramount Garden, its about 50-100m from the wet market. Closed on Mondays, opens from 5pm-10.30pm ... you cannot miss it if you come around 5 or 6 cause the queue snakes all the way to about 20-30 people. Best time to go is around 9.30pm as parking is easy. Mine smelled so good, I had to eat it while driving back. Average age of patrons is below 25 for sure. Loved the concept and considering they do not use pork, these are exceptional burgers.  Charcoal bun: 9.5/10, not doughy, light and yummy Beef patty: 9.5/10, juicy and well seasoned, seared well on the outside Choices: mind boggling but almost everything is very good, the portobello plus melted cheese are to die for Secret menu: the Elvis, peanut butter

Banner of The Year

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Wednesday S&M Show Podcast

http://bfm.my/sm-salvatore-dali-malaysiafinance-kek-seng-misc-umas-240413.html Topics:  Keck seng, MISC, UMAs

Ignorance and the NY Times

Eduardo Porter, an "economics" columnist with the NY Times, has penned an article this morning in the NY Times that purports to address the lack of solutions to today's economic stagnation.  Porter reports on a recent IMF sponsored conference of economists that was supposed to address problems posed by the "financial crisis of 2008." According to Porter, the 2008 collapse discredited policies of lower taxes and de-regulation.  You have to wonder what world Porter lives in.  Was Sarbanes-Oxley an example of the deregulation?  Were the Congressionally-imposed strengthening and rule-making for Fannie and Freddie examples of de-regulation?  Exactly what is Porter referring to?  Or do facts matter anymore when you have a convenient agenda ready? Here is an example of the absurd conclusions that Porter draws in his article: "One lesson from the crisis -- first learned in the 1930s and corroborated in several contemporary analyses -- is that when interest rates lo

Just For Fun ... Or Can One Do Some Value Add Analysis To This

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First of all, its for those who can download the app, which is a pre-filtering thing already. We can surmise that those using the app would be largely urbanites, which is like "preaching to the converted". Nonetheless, it is a gratifying summary of the mood of the nation. We can add value to the it by gauging how rural will each state voters be. If you are talking about Selangor, KL, Penang ... the rural votes will be minimal. Hence KL 60-40, Penang 76-24 and Selangor 74-26 are shoo-ins already for Pakatan. Although we still have to be wary of phantom voters, whom will be largely in Selangor and KL. Nonetheless, the margins are astounding, which is to say, the three states should go to Pakatan provided we go out to vote in numbers to nullify the hantus. The next category are the in betweens, not so rural and have a decent urbanite feel to it, possibly an average iPhone state: Perak, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Labuan. Perak 71-29, Johor 67-33, Melaka 65-35, Negeri Sem

How to get your PRS Tax Relief statement from PPA ? (April 2013)

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In conjunction with the NEW tax relief available from YA2012, many Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) contributors are wondering how can they get the tax statement for income tax filling. To address your concern, here you go... (If you don't know what are we talking about, please find out " What is Private Retirement Scheme? ") To recap, contributions into a PRS scheme can enjoy a tax relief of up to RM3,000 from YA2012 - YA2021. If you did contribute some money into a PRS scheme in 2012, congratulations, you're entitled for PRS tax relief for YA2012. If you haven't, no worry, you still got time to start contributing before end of this year. Back to the topic, please follow these few easy steps to get it: Please surf www.ppa.my and click log in. I believe you already get your PIN from PPA when you made your first contribution. If not, please contact PPA and request again. After log in, you will arrive at the following page. Supposedly, you can download the tax reli

My Favourite Posting & The Relevance To This Election

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During the BFM interview a couple of years back, there was this question on which was my favourite blog posting. Looking back now, The Missing Legacy  still is my favourite posting other than the other two more recent ones (My Life's Aphorisms and Let The Man Be The Man He Is). What is more pertinent was this posting is very relevant to the current election. What we are all fighting for.  How Can Just 2 Persons Change HK? I am proudest with my piece on 2 HK gwailos who died within a couple of months in early 2006 of each other. More so when their passing were only mentioned in passing by all HK media. OMG, I am not from HK but at least I know "kacang mesti jangan lupakan kulit". I love HK movies and there had been plenty made about corruption, the ICAC and the rocking 70s in HK. In the 60s and 70s, HK was probably many times more corrupt than Malaysia and Indonesia combined now. I was always fascinated about how HK came to be where it is now. Even as early as in my Econ

Personal Income Tax for YA2012

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Finance Malaysia hopes this article doesn't come late to give you some info on Personal Income Tax filling for year of assessment 2012. Maybe due to the general election, which had diverts our attention lately. Lol. Anyway, do remember to file your income tax before 30th April oh!!! Well, here is the list of Personal Tax Relief for YA2012. And, I would like to highlight to you, in RED color words , some changes/differences from previous year. Personal Tax Relief for YA2012 Item No.11: This would replace Item 10 from YA2012-YA2017 with higher amount of RM6,000 Item No.23: Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) is the NEW item which can help you reduce tax further with additional RM3,000 tax relief from YA2012-YA2021. As such, Item No.22 would be replaced until after YA2021. All other items remained the same. Do reduce your tax payable by maximizing the tax relief amount. Remember to keep a record and file it properly. Happy tax filling. Thanks. Blue color: Tax relief that we can adjust e

Dear John Letter

To The Singapore Government, I know you have people watching this election closely, and you are a bit wary. You thought that by shaking hands on a few major projects in Iskandar and the high speed rail project, both very good projects by the way, you may have helped BN to retain power. I am obliged to warn you that that is not going to happen. If they are good projects, and I think they are, they will be continued, albeit with more transparency, with a Pakatan victory.  I believe the Singapore government is at a quandry as to which sides to choose, they cannot be seen to be choosing sides. Does PAP stands for democracy? Well, kind of, pragmatism rules first. Singapore government is the father knows best democracy, and you have done well to latch onto the best brains money could buy, who also don't mind leading a structured life.  Though you may not say it officially, the Singapore economy has benefited enormously from Malaysian talent. Some whom have even taken up citizenship so th