The inconvenient truth in financial markets today is that the US is already in recession. The turmoil in the credit and housing markets is prominent. Compounding this is the fact that borrowers are the furthest behind on their debt payments in 15 years. Asset prices soar, borrowing increases and the capital inflow grows. Finally, the bubble bursts, capital floods out and the banking system, burdened with mountains of bad debts, implodes.
The total number of job losses in the first 3 months of this year is 232,000 while unemployment rose to 5.1%. Job cuts were concentrated in the manufacturing, employment services and the construction industry but the damage is becoming more wide spread. US commercial banks alone are forecast to cut about 200,000 jobs over the next 12-18 months. US unemployment rate could potentially balloon to 8% in 2009.
Today’s credit crisis is far more than a symptom of a defective US financial system. It is a symptom of unbalanced global economy. This means that as more Americans become jobless, there will be stiffer competition for freelancer jobs with many trying to earn something from the internet for very low bids.
Watch this hilarious why MCA video from Comedy Court. I like the Ali Baba part and bang balls. It is a spoof of the YMCA song with the lyrics changed to suit the recent political climate. This video came about as MCA has been almost defeated by the opposition. Though not as bad as MIC, it is still reeling from its losses to the electorate, causing Ong Ka Ting to reject a minister post to concentrate on rebuilding the party. But will he succeed? We shall know in the next general election in 2013.
Since the election on 8th March 2008, many members in UMNO and Barisan talked about building blogs as an alternative way to reach the people. They want to emulate DAP-PKR-PAS coalition parties which used the blogs to speak out to the public. This will enable the people to know the real truth behind every scandal and much more. And frankly speaking, I find that I am getting addicted to reading political blogs; more information that you cannot find in the mass media via newspapers.
I just got an sms from my youngest sister that our new Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng attended Way of the Cross in Cathedral of the Holy Spirit plus tons of pressmen. Though I am a Protestant attending a Baptist Church, my dad and my two younger sisters are Catholics and are church lectors. This is a pleasant surprise to know that Guan Eng is a Christian.
Today is Good Friday and the coming Sunday will be Easter. This is an important occasion marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after being crucified. Now with Lim Guan Eng being a Catholic, hopefully the churches in Penang will have more power and authority to preach and build more churches with crosses. In the previous administration under Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the word Church was not allowed to be used in new church buildings and they can only be called Christian Centre. Notwithstanding, even crosses are not supposed to be shown in the new church buildings. It was a systematic suppression of the practising of Christian faith and gradual Islamisation all over Malaysia. May God bless Penang and the new Government comprising DAP, PKR and PAS alliance.
Here is a YouTube video of Malaysiakini, an independant news web site on Malaysian politics. On that night, I was on the way back from Gurney Plaza and I was stunned by the many thousands of cars parked along the main road of Jalan Masjid Negeri, formerly known as Green Lane. As it was drizzling, and knowing the ‘ceramah’ will be jam packed full of DAP supporters, we did not stop to watch as it will be very difficult to find a parking space. Many people even parked near GreenLane’s Mac Donalds and walk about 4 km to Han Chiang Chinese High School with a big compound to cater to DAP supporters in collosal proportions.
You could see Jeff Ooi the blogger belted out a song with his electric guitar, lawyer Karpal Singh sitting in his wheel chair, DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang and his son Lim Guan Eng and the rest of the party members standing with hands held high on stage. These are the heroes who have been jailed for a cause beyond themselves and the sacrifices they have made thus far. Many people wore red to show their support to the party. There were even fireworks to mark the occasion. What was initially intended was to deny the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional(BN) a two thirds majority became a victory for Penangites that totally wiped out the opposition in a political tsunami. BN was trounced by DAP on the 8th of March 2008. The people have spoken and made up their minds. Enough of NEP, insensitive remarks and wielding of keris by UMNO members.
It is a day of reckoning when DAP (Democratic Action Party) trounced Gerakan and BN in the recently concluded Malaysian 2008 General Election. Now we have a new Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who was sworn in yesterday to be the people’s spokesperson. No longer do we have an academic Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who was muted about the NEP (New Economic Policy) and could hardly fight for the Chinese rights. NEP was implemented by the second prime minister of Malaysia Tun Razak. It is biased and unfair to the Chinese and the Indians while enriching the Malays, more likely those in positions of political power.
To quote from Datuk Lim Keng Yaik, it is scary to see the UMNO Youth president, Datuk Hishamuddin wielding the keris (Malay sword) in their general assembly. This should stop. No wonder the Barisan Nasional lost quite a lot of seats. There has been much corruption, cronyism, and insensitive remarks made in the past by UMNO members. And we Chinese have to learn to bear with it and try to get along with them because they are in power. Hopefully with DAP in charge of Penang now, this will no longer be the case.
The results of the Malaysian 2008 General Elections took everyone by surprise. Incumbent Barisan lost 4 more states - Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the opposition. What has really happened? There are some plausible reasons to this. When our former deputy prime minister, Anwar released the Lingam’s video to the press near election time, it was very destructive for the goverment to know that a common lawyer like Mr Lingam could broker the appointment of judges in high court. There was much corruption with the ‘Correct, Correct, Correct’ lawyer offering free tours, houses, handphones to top judges. This show how corrupt the judiciary is.
Secondly, churches were not allowed to use the word ‘Allah’ in their printing materials and in their preaching. What the heck! The word ‘Allah’ was used before Islam came to Malaysia. It shows how narrow minded the government is. And Bibles were confiscated recently by the customs that belong to a Baptist church. Looks like the citizen’s freedom is being eroded bit by bit.
People were also fedup especially the non-Malays of the NEP (New Economic Policy) favouring the bumiputras or simply the Malays. All government contracts are given to bumiputra companies only leaving out the other races, the Chinese and the Indians. No wonder Lee Kuan Yew said we were being marginalized just because we are more hardworking, diligent and rich. Most of the common Chinese in Penang have felt the pinch of NEP and they are not as rich as before. People are angry and therefore, don’t expect the rakyat to vote for you when you are not fair to all races to begin with. You preach one thing, but your actions speak another.
Since Penang is now in the hands of the opposition, I hope future tenders will be fair to all races and not solely for bumiputras only. Hopefully my company will be able to participate in sports open tenders meant for anyone and any race on a fairer system. I also hope that goverment planned projects to develop Penang like the monorail, Penang’s second bridge, Penang Outer Ring Road and the like will not be delayed any further by the government since the rakyat or citizens have chosen the opposition to govern them. Congratulations to Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh of DAP, Datin Seri Wan Azizah of PKR and the other victorous candidates.
Our former health minister, Dr Chua Soi Lek had to resign when he was brutally honest in admitting for being the Chinese minister caught in the sex video taped in a hotel in Johor. Had he been a Christian, he would not have been so blunt and commit the act in spite of him having a wife and 3 children. Being a public figure, he has to show good example of being a family man to the nation. But no, he could not control his ‘langciau’ and some would wonder how long this has been going on before the video was taped secretly. Hotel Katarina or whatever the name was ought to have its license revoked for brutal invasion of privacy where Dr Chua was videotaped. He has stripped naked to Malaysia and caught in the act. Imagine, booking a hotel room where they installed pin-hole video camera and start videotaping you when you have having sex or changing clothes. No wonder the boss of the hotel was sick recently. Apparently he does not know what goes on in his hotel and the hotel staff are up to monkey tricks.
Anyway, since the incident, Dr Chua was apparently forced to resign to safeguard the government and coming election. He did the right thing by resigning, otherwise he would have been sacked by higher authorities which would be more embarassing. In the past, mighty men or those holding top positions in society were brought to shame when they keep a mistress or have sex outside marriage. These people ought to remember that they are under public scrutiny when they hold top positions.
Now his children have to bear the shame and also chip in money to help maintain the family as Dr Chua is now a retiree. Overnight, from a somebody, you become a nobody and resign from all public posts. Let this be a lesson to all ministers there who are keeping mistresses. Don’t ever get caught with your pants down.
Last night I watch life on Astro channel 588, our very handsome doctor, Sheikh Muszaphar lift off into space on board the Russian Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft at 9:21pm (Malaysian time). Rephrasing Neil Armstrong’s legendary words, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said, “It’s a small step for me, but a great leap for the Malaysian people.” Hospital UKM’s Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will make history being the first Malaysian in space.
The TMA-11 aircraft carrying the 35-year-old doctor and his flight mates - Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and American Peggy Whitson - is scheduled to dock at ISS (International Space Station) at 10:51pm (local time) on Friday. Soyuz TMA-11 will take 2 days to reach the ISS - 360km above the Earth.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is to study the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiment with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine. Malaysia is paying for the voyage as part of a billion-dollar purchase of Russian fighter jets. The rocket - adorn with a Malaysian flag and coat of arms and carrying the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft - was moved on Monday to the launch pad from its assembly site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan. Dr Sheikh is to return to Earth on Oct 21 with two Russian members of the current space station crew.
Another first for the Malaysian ‘angkasawan’ (astronaut), is that he will be hosting a Hari Raya party on board the space station on the first day of Syawal. He has taken satay and some ‘kuih’ Raya to treat the others on board. This is all so exciting. I bet Dr Sheikh will get his Datukship when he returns to Malaysia - our very handsome orthopaedic surgeon who’s also a model.
Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) has recently inked RM62 million deal to buy 20 turbo-propeller aircraft for its subsidiary, Firefly from an Italian based short-haul aeroplane manufacturer. The ART 72-500s aircraft was for the use of Firefly, which would soon go into its expansion phase. Firefly was formed earlier this year and is termed by MAS as a community-based airline with low-cost prices. At present, Firefly flies to 5 destinations from Penang, its base. The destinations include Kota Bahru, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu, Langkawi and Koh Samui. The ATR 72-500s will be based in its present Penang hub as well as its new hubs in Subang, Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu.
InPhonic has a unique model for selling cell phones online that has made it’s main website Wirefly.com the industry leader in online activations. It is listed in the wireless industry news. Personally speaking, online selling is the way to go with the internet technology in this era. Using a safe and secure payment gateway, buyers are able to make purchases at the convenience of using the computer at home and with the use of their credit cards. All information transferred is via a https:// path that is safer and will not be encrypted by phishers. With the internet, reach is borderless and global. The merchant is able to sell more cell phones at a reduced cost of advertisements, setting up a retail store and renting space.
As more people are starting to be internet savvy, they are more willing to trust buying online than ever before. Gadgets are the top items and you can just check out Ebay. From second hand stuffs to brand new ones are traded online via PayPal. This form of online selling caters more to the young at heart and the technologically inclined web surfers. However, the older generation and the illiterate ones are the people that you cannot target for your online cell phones sales. For more information, just check out financial news for InPhonic, Inc. on Yahoo.
