The “Sales” culture is so embedded in the life of Malaysians. If it is not on sales, don’t buy yet, wait.

“What you do not have now is what you do not need” holds water here. Most shopping centres and complexes, huge ones, are quite deserted nowadays if there is no promotion of sort to draw em crowd in.

So I went and bought meself three pairs of trousers and two pairs of socks. All on 30% discount. Smart move eh!

Why buy so many freaking pairs for? My waistline is playing havoc on me. Sometimes big, sometimes small, really. Got some wide range of sizes, these trousers of mine. Next I ought to get a bigger wardrobe to stuff em in.

So short are my legs that all three pairs of trousers need to be altered. “We do not have alteration services during promotion sales” says the saleslady.

Very well, I will buy a pair of scissors from the stationeries dept and cut em myself. I just need you to fold em up and sew them, can? Cannot!

Ended up paying RM8 each pair for alteration at one rundown tailor shop near my place. That is 40% of the purchase price of RM19.90 a pair. So much for the 30% discount smart move purchase.

Heck!

There is this lady who came near my table asking for permission to take some empty chairs over to her table.

Lady, pointing to the empty chair: Ada orang ke? (”Is there someone?” *in Bahasa Malaysia)

Me: Lei kong mat chat? (”What are you talking about?” *in rude Cantonese)

In Malaysia, most Malays cannot understand the Chinese language. However, most other races can understand and speak fluent Bahasa Malaysia. The Malays are often very reluctant to speak in other languages than theirs. Even if they speak in the English Language, they will have accent, with their own flow and generous fare of lah’s. I am not in the mood to make her understand, not this time.

The lady was taken back slightly and looks quite surprise at my response. Somehow she summed up her courage to ask again.

Lady, pointing to the empty chair: Ada orang ke? (this time much louder)

Me: Ni Mah Ter. Ni suo seh meh? (Some vulgarities and “What are you talking about?” *in Mandarin)

She scoffs and walks off.

Moral of the story? There is none actually, just fed up.

Those who are Chinese educated will normally get married to a foreigner there or when they are back.

Those who are English/National educated who went overseas will normally come back single and then get married to locals or they don’t get married at all.

Why like that? How would I know? Hence the title.

It is boring having to eat alone. Looked around, there are couples, families, friends, all eating together and chatting happily. My mood sank lower. Well, fine, I just have to finish my meal quickly and get out of there.

Somehow someone must have noticed my new haircut that day. A nice pretty little lady walks toward me and she looks happy to see me. I am sure she is smiling at me because I have my back to the wall and there is no one behind me.

My heart beats faster as she comes closer. Uninvited and in a most gracious way she sat beside me.

She blabbered, “Hello Sir, I am from this @#$@$ foundation and I am collecting some donation. Please donate Sir, any amount will do”.

What the @#$%&^!!

Why me? Why don’t you go get some donations from some big companies or something. Like Petronas or Maybank for example, heard they make billions every year. You can go and collect a few millions from them. I am sure they can spare some millions.

Why me? Don’t you know the general public has barely enough to spend with all the inflation and rising fuel prices? The banks are not paying a lot of interest on our savings either.

Why me? I just don’t believe your foundation even existed and I don’t believe my few ringgit gonna make any difference to it.

Go get lost! And I don’t believe you are doing this voluntarily without pay.

You may drive slowly, you may even stop if you want, but make bloody sure you are not in other people’s way when you do that.

These road hoggers are selfish and oblivious to the dangers and the inconveniences they are causing other road users. I suspect they are somewhat blind and deaf. They could not care less about the flashing lights or blaring horns from the cars behind. I must add they are also bad tempered and ill mannered. The moment you overtake them, often by using the slow lane, they will give you the “I-own-the-road” glance. Some may even give you the middle finger.

It is easy to recognize them. It is either genetically built in or a universally recognized “road hogger trademark”. Most wear sunglasses. They will have their driver seat adjusted very close to the front almost hugging the steering wheel. This is also the reason why they cannot see or use the rearview mirror. They look tensed and eyes fixed and scour the road right in front of the car and have the look and concentration of a Formula One driver going at blazing 300kmph. Truth is they are driving 60kmph on the fast lane of a highway rated for 110kmph.

Generally road hoggers are uneducated and cannot read road signs. Messages are being shown on highways saying “Ikut Kiri Jika Tidak Memotong” or “Keep left unless overtaking”. Somehow these messages are not comprehended and are ignored.

When someone hog the fast lane by driving slowly, other motorists have to overtake on the slow lane. This will cause accidents to happen. Any slight alarm will trigger the right-hand side driver’s normal reflect to swerve left. So beware the road hogger to suddenly swerve into you if you do just as little as to press the horn while overtaking them.

There are many researches done and have proven that you save fuel by going more slowly. Somehow no research has been done on time wasted while driving slowly. You save some money but at the same time you are making your life shorter and riskier by spending too much time on the road and exposing yourself to unnecessary risks. I would say slow drivers has a shorter and riskier life.

Driving safe and carefully is not the same as driving slowly. This misconception is instilled in every motorist by the road safety campaign every time it is promoted. Are you so stupid as to not know how to differentiate between safe driving and slow driving?

Simply called the 4D Game, it is a simple game of chance. It is simple and easy to play. Just place a small bet on any combination of four numbers and if it is drawn by any of the three lottery operators in the country, you strike a prize.

Often if there are any road accidents, most motorists will slow down, take out a pen and jot down the number plates of the car/s involved in the accident. They believe the more severe the accident, the higher the chance the numbers will come up in the lottery draw.

I have heard of many types of reasoning, if the car is rammed from behind, buy the set of numbers backward. If the car overturned, then six (6) becomes nine (9) and vice versa, etc etc.

There you go, good luck!

Disclaimer: No one is hurt or harmed in the above picture. Numbers may or may not come up in the lottery draw. Please bet within your means. Thank you.

This system is often put into place when negotiations with the banking or financial body in certain country failed to make any progress. It is a last ditch effort made to enable users to transfer funds without being subjected to the rules and regulations set by the regulatory body. In Malaysia, that body is called Bank Negara.

If you log on to your paypal account, click on “Withdraw”, you will now see two options. The “Transfer funds to your card” is a newly added feature. It costs 5.00USD per transaction with a limit of 500.00USD.

Initial attempts to withdraw funds this way have not been successful. I am using credit cards issued by the local banks. I made a quick call to their customer service asking for clarifications. Their credit card officer revealed that all local banks have barred this kind of fund movement also used by online sports betting bookies.

This may not be good news. Funds transferred to online sports betting bookies accounts are subjected to the usual “Cash Advance” charges. Current rates are three percent of the total amount and two percent per month until the whole amount is fully paid up.

Looking at the rate things are going, it will not be long before the Banks charges interest for using credit cards to deposit funds INTO paypal. That will be bad.

The current credit card terms and conditions are drawn up and approved by the Bank Negara of Malaysia. Although debit cards use the same Visa and MasterCard machinery, some rules are relaxed to promote the electronic purse culture some time back.

For now, I would suggest using debit cards for Paypal.

Good Luck!

Malaysia will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary of Independence on this coming 31st August, 2007. Much has happened in this span of fifty years and much is still left to be desired.

In his recent speech at the First Student Leaders Summit, Raja Muda of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah emphasised the rule of law and the inviolability of the Federal Constitution. It is a noble move to remind those who has taken the Constitution for granted. His speech has in a way awaken many to the fact that the citizen of this country has forgotten and forsaken the true motive and meaning of it.

Meanwhile, the following statement from a fellow Malaysian hits it where it matters and deserves special mention.

The Constitution of our country, apart from being a sacred document, is also a road map established to promote justice, insure domestic tranquility, secure liberty for our posterity and us and uphold the general welfare of our people irrespective of race, colour or creed.

It is the supreme law of the Federation and any law passed after the Merdeka Day that is inconsistent with this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void (Article No. 4.1).

Any law that is in any respect repugnant to this Constitution or any provision thereof shall not be enacted.

Without any doubt, non-compliance with this obligations will impede progress and peace.

For parlimentarians especially, this is a heavy responsibility to shoulder.

Knowing the Constitution alone is not enough; upholding it and whatever it stands for must be religiously treasured.

–Noel F. D’Oliveiro

This blog serve as a place of sort to vent my pent up anger and frustrations. This is necessary as all kinds of complains to all levels of authority fell on deaf ears.

The Authority that has the authority to do something often refuses to address and tackle the problems many dwellers of high-rise apartment and communal living places are facing.

More often than not, laws and rules are created to address issues but they are loosely enforced if at all. Let’s see how long they will take this time.

Board to handle strata title grouses

PUTRAJAYA: The soon-to-be-formed Strata Titles Board will handle all complaints regarding strata titles.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid has informed the Bar Council that he was in the midst of appointing members to the board.

The council’s conveyance practice committee chairman, Roger Tan, said this was provided for in the amended Strata Titles Act, which came into effect in April.

Tan said condominium owners could take their complaints to the board and its decision would be final.

-Excerpt from The Star Newspaper

However, I realized that many can complain and whine but not many can actually do something to end the woes. We need more action than just talk. Complain letters and discussions held with proper diplomatic channels do not work. If the proper ways do not work, what choice do we have?

The direction of this blog is vague for now. I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

If you put as much effort into writing a blog so much so that it will make you a decent income to enable you to forgo your regular job, you would be a doctor in real life with the same amount of effort put into your studies. Those who are still skeptical can proof me wrong by starting a blog now and talk again after six months.

Well, I did not put enough effort into my studies previously and I am not a doctor now. So might as well put some effort into what I am doing right now and do not make the same blunder. Yeah, right. If I can do it now, I am already a doctor. Spoiler, yes I am.

Again, it boils down to what exactly one want to do with a blog. Find a niche, they say. Flaming the government is popular although not safe looking by the trend of bloggers getting arrested ever so frequently. Food blogs are a dime a dozen. What you taste and puke may taste just right for me. Likewise you may eat what I puke. Food criticisms are so subjective.

I will leave it at that for now.