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A company should be run like a company and not like a charity organisation or a political party. And I personally believe that that is what the Malaysian government should learn to do. Look at how the government runs Malaysia Airlines and Proton and you will know what I mean. I know, some of you might say that, if the Malaysia Airlines did not get any help from the government, the company will go bust. The problem is, when the national carrier had a severe cash flow problem few years back, it was due to mismanagement by the management team. And not because of the company is incompetent to compete in the market. Granted, Malaysia Airlines might not be the best airline in the world, but it is not an embarrassment as well. Why am I talking about this? Well, I heard a news that finally MAS will withdraw the New York-Stockholm-Kuala Lumpur route in due time. They actually wanted to axe the route during the 2006 route rationalisation plan but the government decided to meddle and asked the ai...

“And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives, Where we're gonna be when we turn 25, I keep thinking times will never change, Keep on thinking things will always be the same.” It feels as if it was yesterday, I arrived in Wye beginning another chapter of my life. And after three years, this day has finally come. Today, I will be leaving Wye for good. I’ll leave Wye to start another new chapter of my life. It is not like I had never expected that this day would finally come but I just cannot believe how fast time passes by. “But when we leave this year we won't be coming back, No more hanging out cause we're on a different track, And if you got something that you need to say, You better say it right now cause you don't have another day.” I have to admit that, when I first came to Wye, I hated this place. I was alone, I had no friends and everything seems so different and I felt like I was thrown onto another planet – if not another universe. But then, I began t...

All my bags are packed and I am ready to go. My hall rental agreement expires tomorrow and I’ll leave Wye and stay in London for two nights. On Monday night, I will leave the United Kingdom for Malaysia. It feels a bit weird looking at your half empty room, as if, you just arrived. This room had been my home for the final two years of my university life. And I love every bit of it. It is going to be emotional for me when I finally say goodbye to K15 tomorrow. But, just to make you and me happy, let us hear this song by Jason Mraz called, I’m Yours.

When I came to Wye on the 30th September 2005, I had only one goal, that is to redeem myself after screwing up my A-level. I was broken and I felt like the world almost collapsed on me at that time. And throughout these three years, the nightmare of A-level keeps on haunting me like a ghost that just will not go away. And today, I woke up knowing that the day that I have been waiting for has finally come. Today is the moment of truth and I could only pray and hope for the best. I think I can safely say that I have tried my best in all the things that I can do. And the rest is up to God. I went to the teaching office just before lunch, after my friend told me that the result is ready to be collected. I went there, told them my name and an envelope was handed over to me. I opened it and there it was, every letter on that piece of paper was screaming ecstatically at me. All I can say is, all praise be to Allah for giving me this day. I have finally redeemed myself. Alhamdulillah.

Three years of working your degree, now, it all boils down to Wednesday. If the US Presidential Election had a Super Tuesday, I would call this Wednesday the Super Wednesday. I am praying and hoping for the best. Amen. P.S. Apparently the motion of vote-of-no-confidence against the PM was just a gimmick by SAPP.

I am currently in Newcastle and will only be back in Wye on Saturday. Why am I here? Well…I’m trying to spend some time with a few of my friends and actually waiting for my exam result to come out. It is hard actually, trying to enjoy your holiday while at the same time trying not to think about the results. But, just like one of my friends said, thinking about it will not change the results, so, I hope I will enjoy my two days in Newcastle. I guess, I’ll see you again on Saturday or Sunday.

When the newspaper reported yesterday that one of Barisan Nasional component parties will be making an announcement today, I began to sense that the announcement will be a big one. Especially after there had been rumours going around about the party leaving the coalition. And when I woke up this morning, turns out, I am right. Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) announced today that when the parliament begins its new session next Monday, their MPs will table a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. For you information, such motion would be the first in the history of Malaysian politics. What are the implications of this motion? Firstly, the motion has to be approved by the Speaker. Only then the vote of no confidence will be taken. If majority members of the house voted against the Prime Minister, he would have no choice but to tender his resignation. When this happens, the King would have two choices, either to appoint a new Prime Minister among the membe...

A friend of mine introduced me to VideoJug and I have to say that this website is not that bad, to be honest. From the surface, it looks just like any other video sharing websites such as YouTube, Metacafe, Dailymotion and etc. But it is not in two ways, firstly most of the videos uploaded on the website are made by the company itself. Secondly, the videos on VideoJug have only one theme that is How-To videos. If you are familiar with HowStuffWorks, VideoJug is exactly like that but instead of in written articles it is in video form. So basically, to sum up, it is a more interesting version of HowStuffWorks. I spent few hours on VideoJug on Friday and I found that the website is very interesting because not just the videos are informative, some of them are actually very funny. You can get tips from how to tie a tie to how to tell if a girl is attracted to you. There are also videos on how to take a good photograph and how to be a perfect boyfriend. The videos on VideoJug covers a wide...

I would like to wish a very happy Fathers’ Day to all fathers all over the world. And of course I would also like to wish Happy Fathers’ Day to my DAD who is at home now or out celebrating the day with my brother and my sister-in-law. Also the same wish goes to my brother (a father to a son and a daughter) and my brother-in-law (a father to two daughters and a son). I hope they all are having a very good time in Malaysia today. Special thanks to my Dad for always there to support me throughout my entire life. I haven’t said enough, I do love you. And I cannot wait to fly home to Malaysia in two weeks’ time to see you and of course the rest of the family. Once again, Happy Fathers’ Day to all!!!

Should the fuel prices in Malaysia be increased? I would say it has to at some point and increasing it now is better than later right? Well, depends on where you stand, there is a big chance that you might not agree with me. First of all, the oil subsidies already costing the government up to RM53 billion annually, which is a huge amount of money. Secondly, other countries have already beginning to tax fuel when our country is still continuing to subsidise fuel. And third, letting the fuel prices to float at market level might actually allow us to use cheap fuel when the oil price goes down (if it goes down, that is). So, what is wrong with this increase? Firstly, last year, the government announced that the civil servant got an increase in salary by 35% and at the same time, household prices increased by 20%. And now, the fuel prices increased between 40% and 63%, which basically means the previous increased in salary is now meaningless. Another thing, the civil servant got an increas...

UPDATE : Yeah two people already told me that this is an old video and was withdrawn due to complaints from the Malaysian government. If I am not mistaken, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, on Tuesday, described the UK-Malaysia relationship as a very good one. Now, please watch the video below and think about it. Thank you to a friend of mine for giving me the link. On another note, it is one good recruitment advertisement indeed. I wonder when can Malaysian army come up with an advertisement as good as this.

The Malaysian government is planning to make Malaysians pay the real price of fuel by August this year. This will be done by removing fuel subsidies altogether. This means – correct me if I’m wrong – from August onwards, the fuel prices will go higher than the current level. The government said that the fuel prices will be reviewed every month to follow the world prices. What this means is, when the prices go up, the domestic prices will go up as well – minus 30 cent (the capped subsidies that will still be given by the government). Whether the government will reduce prices of fuel should the world prices go down remains to be seen. This brings with it another question to the Malaysians. If we now have to pay real prices for fuel, should we also pay real prices for our cars? Let me illustrate this to you. Let us start with a basic model of Honda City i-DSI. The price for the car sold in Peninsular Malaysia is RM 79,800.00 (On-the-road with insurance). The price for the same model in L...

I just read a piece of news on BBC about the idea of having a European army. Should I be scared? Is it not enough with the world having to deal with the US army invading Iraq and Afghanistan? And I haven’t included the UK army in the equation yet. Why on earth the European community would need an army? Can’t just the individual countries just find ways to coordinate their armies together? Ok, the basis for having a European army is for defence and peacekeeping role. But, what guarantee can the European Union give that that will be it? That the new army will not be used for another pre-emptive strike against any region or country? I am happy to support – not that it matters anyway – for the establishment of such organisation if the purpose of the army is just for defence and peacekeeping. And to be honest, I don’t think the UK will support any move towards having a European army, especially not after the Iraq fiasco. On another matter, albeit slightly too late, I condemned the Malaysian...

Jetstar had just announced that they will discontinue Kuala Lumpur-Sydney route after September 2008. This is not a surprise news but a very sad news indeed. It is not a surprise because Qantas, Jetstar parent company, had announced a few days earlier that they will reduce their flight capacity. And other airline companies like RyanAir and British Airways also had announced that the plan to reduce capacity is in the pipeline, depending on the jet fuel price in the market. I guess, in trying times like these, it is better for airline companies to rationalise their routes and only fly to routes that will the most yield possible. Actually, the most optimum route would be the route that will give the highest revenue per available seat-kilometre (RASK). And according to Jetstar, the reason for the withdrawal from Kuala Lumpur was to free up airplanes to fly to Japan. So, I guess, we can now say that the Japan routes generate more RASK than Kuala Lumpur. This is a sad news because, there had...

Petrol prices will be increased by 40% and 63% effective 12 midnight 5th June 2008. The old price for petrol was RM1.92 now, it will be RM2.70 and the new price for diesel is RM2.58 as opposed to the old price of RM1.58. Under the new system, people who use cars under 2000cc will be getting an annual cash rebate of RM625, while motorcyclists will be getting RM120. This cash rebate can be claimed when these people renew their road tax. I am speechless. I really don’t know what to say about this. Although, I have to ask the government this question, what the government intends to do with the savings in fuel subsidies as a result of the new prices? What do people say about this? “This is ridiculous. There would be more transaction costs to consumers and the government in claiming the annual cash rebate.” “There would be a ripple effect as a result of this. The increase in the price of fuel would push transportation costs for businesses. This means, a lot of household products would become...

I guess, I am about to enter my working life at the wrong time. At the time when I am thinking about buying my first car, the government is thinking of removing fuel subsidies altogether. It is not like I do not see this coming because the previous Prime Minister had been warning people that the fuel subsidies will be removed at some point in the future. And apparently, that future is now. The government is thinking of a new way to subsidise fuel so that only people who need them will benefit from the subsidies. And I have been hearing that a card-based subsidy would be used. I think I can picture it in my mind because I saw it when my brother got a fuel credit card from his company. It is just like a normal credit card where you just swipe it at the pump and just refuel your car as usual. The thing is, my brother got a RM300 monthly fuel allowance. So, when he reached the limit, the pump will just stop automatically and will give out the receipt. Let say he wants to continue refuellin...