Hush Puppies warehouse sale is coming again

Just come back from Hush Puppies warehouse sale. As usual to the previous warehouse sale, most of the apparel items are selling for at least 50% discount to market price.

This warehouse sale is held by Shoe Connection Sdn Bhd in Kinrara Industrial Park, Bandar Kinrara, Puchong. They have this sale event occasionally. This time, it started from 30 May to 8 June 2008, 10am-7pm.

Items on sale are apparels for men, women, children and todders, which include Hush Puppies shirts, casualwears, pants, underwears, socks, etc. As usual, shoe items are not included.

For more detail, you can make a call to 603-80758899.

Share your real-live home defects story in Your Worst Nightmare contest

Everyone dreams of owning a home. However, sometimes that dream can turn into a real "nightmare". Have you ever experienced buying a home that turned out to be a lemon? If you have, share out your story and stand a chance to win a prize in "Your Worst Nightmare" Competition organized by the New Straits Times (NST) and Architect Centre, in conjunction with the launch and promotion of Architect Centre.

Architect Centre is the architectural service centre of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (a.k.a. Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia, PAM) set up in joint venture with an Australian service provider Archicentre Ltd. The center provides property inspection and building advisory services to the Malaysian public.

The competition is launched at the free Public Seminar entitled “How to Buy a Property & Save Money” organised by Architect Centre. It is a chance for readers to relate their real-life experience of home defects and lessons learnt, and thus help others to avoid the same mistakes.

The last closing date is 16 June 2008.

Click here for more information about "Your Worst Nightmare" competition.

Click here to download the Contest Form for "Your Worst Nightmare" competition.

Handling difficult people at work

In the business world, it is pretty normal for us to have unavoidable chance to work with some sort of "difficult people", who is working from the negative side of their personality and affecting other people in the team.

Usually, people don't intend to be "difficult" consciously or intentionally. Such actions are often preceded by a semi-paranoid feeling, and the person is often unaware of themselves and how they have affected others. They also don't realize how harmful their actions are to the teamwork and also to their own career success.

Among the common symptom of difficult people is "arrogant", especially prevalent in technical and/or professional people. Psychologically speaking, arrogance is a kind of defense against vulnerability and insecurity, often learned in childhood when parents constantly criticize a child for not being good enough. The person is so afraid of being seen as unworthy or incompetent, that they immediately throw up a defensive shield against any possible attack. This defense protects them for a while, but everyone else sees that it is false. In the end, they lose credibility and respect, which unfortunately is exactly the thing they fear the most.

"Dominance" is another well recognized trait that seems prevalent in people in management positions or positions of corporate power. No matter what other people says or does, this person will force their ideas on everyone else. There can be no open discussion or involvement. Things must be done this person’s way or else. However, they will also always trying to remind people that they are "opened".

This symptom has a negative aspect of "dictatorship". It is worst when the person’s primary role is acting as Warrior or King. If they happen to also have Power mode combined with Dominance, people will feel as if someone punched them in the stomach when the person lets loose with their verbal abuse.

The positive side of Dominance is "leadership". When this person is relaxed and working from the positive side of their personality, they can be quite effective and charming. As with Arrogance, stress or insecurity may bring on the attack. It may seem to come without warning or you may be able to see the stress building up.

In the end, the person probably loses their ability to control events, which is exactly the thing that they fear most.

When you see someone go into attack mode or excess defensiveness, do recognize that it is useless to argue with them, and understand that the person is feeling very insecure at that time. Don’t continue to push them because they will only get worse. Keep your own sense of self-confidence and don't allow yourself to be verbally abused. If they are always overly defensive or always attacking others, you may need to find another person to work with, who does not have the same problem.

If the problem couldn't be solved, and the difficult person is your boss, you might want to reconsider whether it's time to find a job elsewhere. If the difficult person is your subordinate and they don't seem to improve within a reasonable time, you should get them out of your team to chop off the damage.

Facebook to go for open source?

Since last year, there are news about Facebook, the famous social networking website founded by Mark Zuckerberg is going for open source. The latest update is that they are currently working on an open source initiative that is meant to help application developers to better understand their Facebook developer platform and to be more easily build applications, whether it's by running their own test servers, building tools, or optimizing their applications.

This is seen to be a respond to the Google OpenSocial platform, which is currently widely implemented in many social networking websites, including Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.

This initiative is expected to boost the interoperability between Facebook and other social networking websites. Application developers will then be able to easily port their Facebook applications over to other social networking websites, which in turn can help Facebook Platform, which comprises of FMBL (markup language), FQL (query language), FJS (Javascript library) and the Facebook API, to become a standard.

Another potential benefit of going open source is that, outside developers could work on the codes, make contribution and help to improve the Facebook Platform itself.

ePetrol system - possible solution for fuel subsidy?

ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd is proposing to the government of Malaysia to make use of their ePetrol system as solution to implement fuel subsidy scheme for citizen with MyKad. This company is established in 2003. Their founding directors include RHB Group founder Tan Sri Rashid Hussain and Dialog Group Bhd chairman and group managing director Ngau Boon Keat. They've showcased the ePetrol system during the World Congress on Information Technology 2008 (WCIT 2008).

User of the system will need to register and activate his MyKad at a registration kiosk to be eligible for the fuel subsidy. The user can link the MyKad to his bank account so payment can be debited from the account each time a fuel purchase is made. Otherwise, payment can be made via credit card or cash. The user is then identified with his MyKad at the petrol pump terminal, and his subsidy amount will be deducted during the fuel pumping transaction.

Will this solution be rolled out by the government? Let's wait and see...

Result of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008

The Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 shows a substantial salary hike in various employment sectors across the globe, including IT, banking, finance, commerce, engineering, sales and marketing. The survey's salary figures in the report are based on placements made by Robert Walters themselves through 2007. Robert Walters is one of the world leading global specialist in recruitment and recruitment outsourcing businesses.

Employees from the IT sector of Asian region generally enjoy a higher percentage of salary increment than their counterparts in American and Europe. According to the report majority of them enjoyed an increment of above 10% from last year, and some even got a 40% increment.

Competition to hire good IT employees in Malaysia intensified and organizations were seen focus on best practices in staff attraction and retention. Direct strategies including higher salary increments, joining bonuses and counter-offers, other initiatives included better managed and more dynamic career progression, flexible benefits, effective employee relation programs, etc. were employed. The challenges facing the IT industry in Malaysia include competition from overseas seeking Malaysians to work in countries such as Singapore, China and Dubai.

The total compensation for 2008 of an IT Director in Malaysia can be up to RM300k. Other well paid IT positions include IT Programme Manager (RM200k), ERP Project Manager (RM180k), Service Delivery Manager (RM150k), Infrastructure Manager (RM150k), Solution Architect (RM140k), ...

In Singapore, CIO and CTO get a salary of S$350k per annum. Other well paid positions include IT Director (S$220-350k), Programme Manager (S$220-350k), Service Delivery Director (S$220-320k), Project Director (S$200-300k), ...

In Hong Kong, many senior positions are paid in million of HKD per annum, including CIO/CTO (HK$1.65-2.7m), IT Director (HK$1.3-2.0m), Project Director (HK$1.25-1.7m), Programme Manager (HK$0.95-1.7m), ...

This comprehensive report of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 covers the following regions:

• Australia
• Belgium
• France
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Japan
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• The Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• United States

Click here to go to the download page of the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008 report.

You might probably also interested to read on:

• Result of ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008
• Malaysia Salary Guide 2008/09 from Kelly Services
• JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009

BookFest@Malaysia 2008

The BookFest@Malaysia (海外华文书市) 2008 event is now entered into its third year. With the theme of “Reading Empowers” (阅读新势力), it will showcase more than a million books by both Overseas and Local publishers, featuring leading publishers from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.

Held for a duration of 9 days, this BookFest will be presented from 24 May until 1 June 2008, 10am - 10pm, at Halls 1-5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KLCC, stretching across the first week of the school holidays. The main organiser, Popular Book Co. (M) S/B is expecting over 450,000 visitors throughout this exhibition.

Among the interesting activities throughout the event will be:

• 2008 Feng Shui Sharing Session by Joey Yap
• Music Performance by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
  
• Pass Your Job Interview Within 30 Minutes
• "Design Fast Forward" Book Sharing Session by Eric Leong
• Blind Fold Reading
• Sudoku Fun Time
• Cooking Demonstration
• Magic Show and Interactive Game
• Cataract & Refractive Surgery - All you want to know and should know - By Dr.Yeoh Phee Liang
• Stock Investment Talks

Web of Trust (WOT) the people-driven website reputation scorecard system

Web of Trust (WOT) is an innovative community driven website reputation scorecard system whose members exchange security info of websites: Can they be trusted? Are they safe to use? Do they deliver what they promise? Do they contain age-inappropriate item?



After installing a freely downloadable plugin into your web browser, you can easily see the reliability of companies and websites indicated by WOT colour rating icons. WOT will also dropdown a warning screen to you upon visiting a possibly dangerous site. In this way, WOT helps to keep yourself safe from spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and other Internet scams.



The 4 available WOT ratings are:

• Trustworthiness: Do you trust this website? Is it safe to use? Does it deliver what it promises?
• Vendor reliability: Is the site safe for buying and selling, or for business transactions in general?
• Privacy: Can you trust the site owner, safely supply your e-mail address, and download files?
• Child safety: Does the site contain age-inappropriate material (content that is sexually oriented, hateful, or violent in nature) or encourage activities that are dangerous or illegal?

To date, WOT has rated over 18 million websites, and marked more than 857 thousand websites among them as dangerous.



You don't need to register to use WOT. If you registered an account and join the WOT community, you can also participate to contribute your ratings and comments on websites you have visited. Beside collecting the website reputation data from the WOT community, the WOT system also gets the data from hundreds of trusted sources such as listings of phishing sites. The reputation info is efficiently recalculated every 30 minutes, updated and make available for all WOT users.

WOT also shows its rating icon beside the links listed in webpage of famous web services, such as Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, AOL Search, Ask.com, Digg, Gmail, Wikipedia, del.icio.us, dmoz, etc.



WOT is available as plugin (in some 10 languages) for:

• Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or later (Windows 98 / ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux)
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or later (Windows 2000 / XP / Vista )
  

It is lightweight, works seamlessly, ads free, and doesn't slow down or disturb your web browsing experience at all.

Click here to download WOT for Mozilla Firefox
Click here to download WOT for Internet Explorer

Jobsdb.com Apply n Win contest

Jobsdb.com, an online job recruitment service provider for job seekers and employers, is currently running an Apply 'n' Win contest from 5 May to 29 June 2008 for the Malaysian job seekers aged above 21 years old.

In order to get a chance to win for the weekly prizes and qualify for winning the Grand prize, one just need to perform any of the following activities in their website:

• Sign up as a new member with completed resume.
• Update existing resume.
• Apply for jobs online.

Grand Prize for the most active jobseeker will be one laptop computer worth RM2,500.

Click here for more information about this contest.

Hack In The Box (HITB) Security Conference 2008

The next Hack In The Box Security Conference 2008 (HITBSecConf2008) will be held on the coming 27-30 October 2008 in the 5-star Westin Hotel of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The main aim of this conference is to enable the dissemination, discussion and sharing of deep knowledge network security information. Presented by respected members of both the mainstream network security arena as well as the underground or black hat community, the HITB events routinely highlight new and ground-breaking attack and defense methods that have not been seen or discussed in public before.

The first 2 days will be hands-on technical training sessions on:

• Structured Network Threat Analysis and Forensics
• Bluetooth, RFID & Wireless Hacking
• Web Application Security – Advanced Attacks and Defense
• The Exploit Laboratory

Another 2 days will be event sessions on:

• Triple track security conference featuring new HITB Labs
  
• Capture The Flag (CTF) team hacking and defending competition
• Lock Picking Village (LPV) showcase on physical security bypass methods
• Wireless Village showcase on wireless hacking gadgets
• Open Hack to uncover new and previously unknown software vulnerabilities in operating systems and software (USD5000 prize money awaiting the first hacker to compromise a Macbook Air...)
  

Registration to the event already open on 6 May 2008. Special offer is given to students to attend the 2-Day Triple Track security conference. Click here to go to the registration page.

Compulsory rear seatbelt usage from June 2008 onwards

Ever since Germany made compulsory the usage of rear seatbelt from 1984 onwards, more and more countries ruling the same, and Malaysia will have this enforced from 1 June 2008 onwards. A 3 months "grace period" will be given whereby passengers found breaking this rule will be warned, and from 1 September 2008 onwards, they will be summoned.

The function of seatbelt is to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers during collision or emergency break. Passengers with seatbelt buckled up will have better chance to survive from accident, and researches have concluded that car drivers and/or front-seat passengers are 5 times more likely to die in a crash if their back-seat passengers are unrestrained.

However, by the moment this ruling in Malaysia only applies to cars manufactured from 1 January 1995 onwards. It is temporary waived for a 3 years period to those vehicles manufactured before 1 January 1995, after which the ruling will apply for them too. This is because most vehibles registered after 1 January 1995 are equipped with rear seatbelts, and those without are urged to fit in as soon as possible. Perodua Kancil and Kenari cars manufactured between 1998 until mid-2004 will also be exempted from the ruling until 2011 (3 years later).

This ruling is expected to impact on the total amount of passengers that can be carried in the car. A 5-seater can then carry up to 5 persons including the driver, all fasten with seatbelts respectively, and a 7-seater can carry 7 persons. So far, the Road Safety Department does not indicate whether seatbelt usage will also be compulsory for 3rd row seats or not.

Anyhow, the original Toyota Avanza already equipped with 7 seatbelts for all 3 rows of passengers, and has no problem for its passengers to comply with this ruling.

The tragic 8.0 Richter earthquake in SiChuan, China

It was just 10 days after Myanmar (Burma) struck by the deadly storm brought by tropical cyclone Nargis, where more than 5,000 square kilometer of area affected, causing hundred of thousand families lost their home, shelter or even lives. On 12 May 2008, a terrific earthquake measuring 8.0 Richter scale (earlier reported as 7.8) hit the south west of China, bringing severe damage to more than 10,000 square kilometer, completely destroyed most of the townships in Wenchuan County (汶川县), turning them into dead towns of ashes and bodies. That powerful quake was felt as far away as Beijing, 1500 kilometers to the north, as well as in Bangkok, Thailand 3300 kilometers to the south. Many are burried, and the survivors are refuging from their home...








To date, it is reported that all across SiChuan, 32,477 people has died, and 220,109 injured. Many are still buried in the collapsed buildings. The towns are filled with smell of dead bodies.

Imagine that just overnight, your house tumbled into ashes. Or even though it is not yet collapsed, it is no longer safe and you dare not stay in it for another second. Imagine that just overnight, you lost everything, your home, your property, your beloved, and even your life. It is really a horrible tragedy, and this is not a movie, but a real disaster in SiChuan.

They are shocked, they are in great sorrow. They need to get medicated, they need shelter and food, and they need help to rebuild their home. What can you offer for them?

Click here to go to Tzu Chi Foundation (慈济基金会) homepage for info and donation.

Click here to go to World Vision (世界宣明会) homepage for info and donation.

Hidden card holder clip in Perodua Myvi

Since inception in 2005, Perodua Myvi has been one of the best selling car in Malaysia, and there is one in my household too. If you drive Perodua Myvi, probably you are aware of a small drawer to the lower right of the car ignition key hole, as shown below:



Do you notice something in the drawer? Yes, there is a hidden clip on top of the drawer, and many Myvi drivers probably don't aware of its existance or usage. It is "hidden" because you won't see the clip if the drawer is not viewed upward at this angle.

This is actually a card holder clip that you can "hide" your Touch 'n Go card, petrol station loyalty card, autogate access card, etc. on it, just like this:



Pretty cool isn't it?

HP to buy over EDS for about US$13B

Recent rumours about Hewlett-Packard (HP) intention to buy over Electronic Data Systems (EDS) has been confirmed, after they released the official statement this week about their multi-billion dollar M&A plan.

By acquiring this world leader in outsourced IT services, the merged entity will form a giant IT services provider big enough to directly rival with IBM Global Services.

If this deal come to reality, it will also indirectly impact on the recent multi-billion outsourcing plan from SITI operations to EDS announced just about a month ago.

Is HP making a right move this time, and won't repeat the same mistake of recent acquisition of Compaq, which was one of the root cause for Carly Fiorina to be forced to step down, and nearly lead to the breakup of the company? Nevertheless, this move certainly brings uncertainty to all the parties involves, especially to their employees and the IT job market.

Meanwhile, the new IBM building in Cyberjaya, which is opposite the EDS building, is close to completion by now.

Ornasteel

Ornasteel (彦钢控股, 5094) posted its 1st quarter result for financial year 2008 today. It has shown a strong recovery from the relatively poor results of last 2 quarters in 2007. Its revenue increased by 14.7% from preceding quarter, and profit before tax increased by 65.7%. Its net profit also increased by 60.36% as a result of net profit margin improved to 7% from 5% in preceding quarter. Its NTA grown to RM1.90 per share, which is 15.85% above its closing price of RM1.64 today.

Ornasteel has been renowned in excellent cash flow management. When it was first listed on Bursa Malaysia at 30 December 2004, it had net borrowings of about RM130 million. It managed to turn into net cash position within a short period of time, and its net cash has accumulated to RM75.4 million as reported in today's quarterly report, grown by 40.15% from previous quarter (RM53.8 million). In fact, it is now among the financially healthiest steel companies in Malaysia, backed up by a blue chip controlling shareholder of Taiwan largest steel maker, which is also one of the top 5 most profitable steel player in the world.

During the 2nd quarter of the year, which result will be posted 3 months later, Ornasteel has adopted to offer their products to customers on a monthly pricing basis instead of the usual quarterly pricing basis. Beside that, the Malaysia steel market was also liberized starting from 12 May 2008. Ornasteel also proposed to change the company name to CSC Steel Holdings Berhad which shows the prominent relationship with its mother company, China Steel Corporation (中钢公司). It is showing sign of moving towards stronger fundamental and better result.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

7-Zip the free and open source file archiver

I noticed that a lot of people have WinZip and/or WinRAR installed in their computer, and most of them remain unregistered. Both of them are famous file archiver utility applications, and they are shareware, meaning you can try them out for free for a limited period of time. After that, if you are satisfied and want to continue to use them, you have the obligation to pay for the software.

What if you are not willing to pay for your file archiver utilities? Then you should uninstall them from your computer. However, you also have the option of using open source file archiver utility, which you don't need to pay for it and you can freely use it, copy it, redistribute it, even bundle it with your own application. 7-Zip is the one you are looking for.

7-Zip is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). It is a file archiver with high compression ratio and comes with its own 7z compression format which can compress files even better than ZIP and RAR format. It is available in both GUI version and command line version, and its source code is available in Source Forge repository.

Here are the features of 7-Zip:

• Works in Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.
• Has ported version for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, DOS, etc.
• Localizations for 69 languages.
• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression.
• Supported archive formats:
  - Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR.
  - Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS.
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip.
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats.
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format.
• Integration with Windows Shell.
• Powerful File Manager.
• Powerful command line version.
• Plugin for FAR Manager.
  

To download 7-Zip, click here.

Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office

The ISO standard OpenDocument format (ODF) is a free and open file format for electronic office documents, such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. It is a De facto standard used by OpenOffice.org.

Sun Microsystems has developed this ODF Plugin to enable MS Office to read and write ODF documents. It works seamlessly with MS Office 2007 (SP1 or higher), MS Office 2003, MS Office XP and MS Office 2000.

This ODF Plugin is provided by Sun Microsystems for free, and it integrates with the "Load" and "Save As" dialog and the "Save (Ctrl+S)" shortcut of MS Office Word. It simplifies the import and export of ODF documents with a new toolbar in MS Office Excel and PowerPoint.

With this plugin, you can now switch from native MS document format to world recognised ISO/IEC 26300 OpenDocument Format developed by the OASIS industry consortium, and most importantly, you can use and exchange without hassle the document files with OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, NeoOffice, KOffice, IBM Lotus Symphony and many more office application suites.

Click here to go to the download page for Sun ODF Plugin for MS Office.

Beijing to host OpenOffice.org Conference 2008

Redflag2000 of China has won the majority votes and awarded to host for the OpenOffice.org Annual International Conference 2008 (OOoCon 2008) in Beijing by 10-17 October this year. This international open source conference will be held in the 5-star Beijing Asia Hotel.

This is an annual premier event for anyone interested in or working with OpenOffice.org. It is where representatives of all the community projects meet to celebrate and learn from the achievements of the past twelve months, and discuss how to meet the challenges of the next twelve.

During the conference, top open source technical staff and backbones throughout the world will gather together and share outcomes in open source technology among others, advocate progress in effective application of open source technology, improve world software technology level and try to break technology monopoly through forums, lectures and other interactive manners.

Click here for more information and latest updates about the Beijing OOoCon 2008.

OpenOffice.org - the free and open productivity suite

Nowadays, office application suite is an essential software in almost all PCs. Each Microsoft Office license costs you from a few hundred ringgit up to a few thousand ringgit (based on the bundled applications in the suite) to legalize your installation and usage in your PC.

If you try to use unlicensed or pirated copy of Microsoft Office, it might be rendered unusable after some time if you don't activate the product or pass their 'Genuine Advantage' Authentication. If you cracked the product and use it, your Microsoft Office will have no support at all, and you might not be able to update it to fix problems, bugs and security issues. This attempt is also illegal, and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) might take action against you, bring law enforcement officers to raid your office or home, seize your PC, summon you to court, and charge you a big fine.

Well, you don't have to take that risk, and you can still have a well supported and fully functional office application suite alternative to Microsoft Office, which is free to copy, distribute and install in as many PCs as you like, at no cost and no license fee, thanks to OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org is both a product and an open source project with GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). It is primarily sponsored by Sun Microsystems and jointly developed by over 450,000 worldwide developers including Novell, RedHat, RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google. This free office application suite consists of:

• Writer the word processor (similar to MS Words)
  
• Calc the spreadsheet (similar to MS Excel)
  
• Impress the multimedia presentation producer (similar to MS PowerPoint)
  
• Draw the diagram illustrator and desktop publisher (similar to CorelDraw and MS Publisher)
  
• Base the desktop database management system (similar to MS Access)
  
• Math the mathematical equations, symbols and formula editor (similar to MS Equation Editor)
  

Beside being a free product, OpenOffice.org has the following advantages:

• it is multiplatform, setup file available for installation in Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, etc.
• it is directly included in most Linux distro such as Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, openSUSE, Mandriva, etc.
  
• it is multilingual, supports for over 100 languages globally.
• it pioneered the ISO/IEC standard OpenDocument file formats (ODF).
• it can open, read and write to a vast variety of document formats, including MS Office documents, Palm AportisDoc, Pocket PC documents, etc. Support for the new MS Office 2007 documents is also available in OpenOffice 3.0, which is currently under beta release.
  
• it can directly output any of its documents to PDF files.
• it supports various macro languages in OOo Basic, Python, BeanShell, JavaScript, etc.
  
• it is professionally supported by Sun Microsystems as well as the OpenOffice community at large.

Click here to go to OpenOffice.org download page.

Metro Kajang on the move

Today the low profile Metro Kajang (6114, 美景控股) shown its publicity in The Star as well as Sin Chew regarding its recent complete acquisition of a 273-acre prime freehold land (Paradise Estate) in Kajang, which is just 2.5 km from the Kajang town centre and is accessible via the SILK Highway and Jalan Reko. This is in addition to their existing 455 acres of landbank in Selangor and 324 acres in Perak.

Metro Kajang has paid RM80 million for the land, and plans to turn it into a high-end integrated township with 3,500 units of high-end homes with a gross development value (GDV) of RM1.5 billion.

Kajang has an annual population growth rate of 8%, and Metro Kajang is the biggest developer in Kajang and Semenyih area which had built over 1,000 residential and commercial units in the region over the past 20 years.

Last year was not a good year for Metro Kajang, as it recorded lower percentage of profit recognition upon completion of recent projects in Damansara and Petaling Jaya, and its new projects with a combined GDV of RM162 million on 24.4 acres near its head office at Wisma Metro Kajang in Jalan Semenyih were still at the preliminary stage of development. This has brought down its revenue, despite its pre-tax profit being lifted by a RM13.8 million gain due to revaluation of its investment properties. This might explain for its low PE and declining in share price from the peak of RM2.20 since 16 July 2007.

Recent move in Metro Kajang also include the complete acquisition of an Indonesian company which has a 35 years title of 15,942ha (39,395 acres) land in East Kalimantan suitable for palm oil plantation.

Metro Kajang isn't an exciting counter, but it is pretty stable in profitability as stated in their annual report: "The Group posted an uninterrupted profit track record since commencing business twenty years ago".

The price hike in steel, cement, brick and other building materials is no doubt bringing negative impact to its property development and construction division, which is their major contributor of operating revenue and profit. The board of directors only foresee a satisfactory result for year 2008. As at 31 December 2007, they have lock-in unbilled sales value of 167.9 million, and they've targetted to launch new property of over RM200 million this year.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

Toyota Rush and Perodua Nautica

In January this year, UMW Toyota launched the Toyota Rush in Malaysia, and now in May, Perodua launched the Perodua Nautica in Malaysia too. Both of them are actually the rebadge of the 2nd generation of Daihatsu Terios, which is co-developed by Daihatsu and Toyota in Japan.

Let's look at their similarities and differences:

Toyota Rush:

• Type: 7 seater SUV, RWD
• Import: CBU from Indonesia
  
• Comes with 3 specs: 1.5G M/T, 1.5G A/T and 1.5S A/T
• Overall dimension (LxWxH in mm): 4410 x 1695 x 1745
• Interior dimension (LxWxH in mm): 2580 x 1445 x 1240
  
• Wheelbase: 2685 mm
• Kerb weight: 1250 kg
  
• Minimum road clearance: 200 mm
• Minimum turning radius: 5.2 m
• Fuel tank: 50 litre
• Engine: 3SZ-VE
• Front suspension: MacPherson Strut with Coil Spring and Stabiliser Bar
• Rear suspension: 4-Link with Coil Spring and Lateral Rod
• Tyres: 215/65R16
• Door visor: with
• Projector headlamps: only with 1.5S A/T
  
• Fog lamps: only with 1.5S A/T
• Sterling wheel: 4 spoke
• Sunglasses holder with spot lamp: with
• 2nd air-cond blower: with
  
• Colours: blue, black, silver, champagne
  
• Peninsular OTR price: 1.5G M/T: RM85,888 1.5G A/T: RM88,888 1.5S A/Y: RM94,888
  

Perodua Nautica:

• Type: 5 seater SUV, 4WD
  
• Import: CBU from Japan
  
• Only comes with 1 spec: 1.5 A/T
• Overall dimension (LxWxH in mm): 4115 x 1695 x 1740
• Interior dimension (LxWxH in mm): 1800 x 1385 x 1240
  
• Wheelbase: 2580 mm
• Kerb weight: 1200 kg
• Minimum road clearance: 190 mm
• Minimum turning radius: 4.9 m
• Fuel tank: 50 litre
• Engine: 3SZ-VE
• Front suspension: MacPherson Strut with Coil Spring
• Rear suspension: 5-Link with Coil Spring
• Tyres: 215/65R16
• Door visor: without
  
• Projector headlamps: with
  
• Fog lamps: with
  
• Sterling wheel: 3 spoke
  
• Sunglasses holder with spot lamp: with
  
• 2nd air-cond blower: without
• Colours: black, grey
  
• Peninsular OTR price: RM89,900

Tan Teng Boo emerged as substantial shareholder for PIE

On 7 Nov 2007, iCapital.Biz Berhad (5108), the public listed closed end fund managed by Tan Teng Boo (陈鼎武) who has been famous for writing excellent independent financial review for many years, disclosed their substantial interest in P.I.E. (7095, 广宇科技) for 3,407,200 or 5.32% shares purchased at open market by 1 Nov 2007. Since then, the share price of P.I.E. has surged up from the RM4.20 closing on 1 Nov 2007 to way above RM5 all time now.

As published in the 2007 annual report of P.I.E., iCapital.Biz maintains as the 3rd largest shareholders following Pan Global Holding Co. of Taiwan (holding 51.42%) and Lembaga Tabung Haji (holding 5.82%). The shareholding of iCapital.Biz has increased from 4.78% interest in 2006 to 5.32%. What is more interesting is that, Tan Teng Boo by himself also acquired 194,000 shares or 0.30% of P.I.E., making him the 27th largest shareholder as well. Previously he was not in the top 30 shareholders list of P.I.E..

P.I.E. has an excellent growth record during the past 5 years (please refer to page 24 of its 2007 annual report), bringing a 5-year average EPS growth rate at 35.09% and 5-year average price appreciation rate at 20.79%. Baring unforeseen circumstances, its EPS is prospected to grow further by about 16% in 2008 to another record high.

In year 2007, their trading arm showed a substantial decline in revenue, but offset and covered by improvement in revenue of their manufacturing arm, making an overall revenue increase by 1.22% from 2006. Margin of trading activities was also seen lower, but offset and covered by higher margin of manufacturing activities, making an overall net profit growth of 36.05% from 2006.

P.I.E. has a strong balance sheet with zero borrowings, and cash in hand of RM80,960,674 which is equilvalent to RM1.26 per share. Its NTA stood at RM3.06 per share in 2007, from RM2.71 as in 2006. It has declared a first and final dividend of 12 sen per share (less 26% tax), a special dividend of 8 sen per share (tax exempt), and another special dividend II of 16 sen per share (less 26% tax), which goes-ex on this 26 May 2008 and payable on 10 Jun 2008. This makes up its gross dividend of 28.72 sen per share, or a nett DY of 5.13% based on its last closing price of RM5.60 on 9 May 2008.

Dr. Neoh Soon Kean (梁孙健博士) of Dynaquest has been making recommendation to P.I.E. since 2004 while its price was RM2.07 then. However, Fong Si Ling (冯时能, a.k.a. 冷眼) has not been seen in this counter yet.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

Malaysia to liberize steel market effective 12 May 2008

It has been quite some times since the Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM) and Real Estate Housing Developers Association (REHDA) called on the Government of Malaysia to lift the price controls on steel products and allow the free market to decide its actual price. The Malaysian Iron and Steel Industries Federation (MISIF) has also been urging the Government to lift the import restrictions of flat steel products.

Finally, our Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the liberization of steel market after the cabinet meeting on Friday 9 May. This decision includes:

• lifting of price caps to steel products
• exempting steel importers from having to pay import duties
• scraping the requirement for steel importers to obtain import license
• allowing local steel producers to export their products

So, who will be benefited from this move?

1. Manufacturers of cold rolled coils (CRC)

Currently, there are 4 main CRC manufacturers in Malaysia, which are Megasteel (of Lion Group), Mycron (5087), Ornasteel (5094) and Yung Kong (7020).

Before this, Megasteel is the only local producer of hot rolled coils (HRC), which is the raw material for CRC. The problem faced was:

• lack of supply
• price of HRC supplied by Megasteel is relatively higher than world market
• quality of HRC supplied by Megasteel is lower because they relies on scrap metal as feedstock
• restriction of importing raw material
• price cap to end product

All the above problems will be solved following this steel market liberization, and Ornasteel (5094), being the largest CRC producer in the country, will benefit the most.

2. Construction, property and automotive players

Before this, even though the price was capped to steel product, the supply and demand market was disrupted, and there was almost no supply to these industrial players unless they are willing to pay at the black market price, which is higher than the capped price.

The supply and demand market for steel products is expected to fall back to normal following this liberization, and the projects can be planned and budgetted more effectively.

The following industrial players are expected to get benefit from this:

Construction: Gamuda (5398), IJM (3336), WCT (9679)...

Property: SP Setia (8664), IOI Properties (1635), Metro Kajang (6114), Plenitu (5075), Suncity (6289), E&O (3417)...

Automotive: Proton (5304), MBMR (5983), UMW (4588).

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.

VisualWade the PHP code generator

VisualWade is a freeware PHP code generator that generates web applications from design models. You will be able to design and deploy sophisticated web applications in PHP connected with relational databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL or ORACLE with just a few mouse clicks.

VisualWade is a great PHP developer solution to generate a complete solution in a very small period of time and ready to deploy in a PHP web server. It generates all PHP necessaries pages and also the database creation script. It generates the interface tier as templates, easy for customization and final touch-up.

This Model driven web development tools uses UML as class diagram specification, and complete with Navigational Access Diagrams (NAD) and Composition Layout Diagrams (CLD) for the user navigation specification according to the Object-Oriented Hypermedia (OO-H) method developed at University of Alicante. It also uses Object Constraint Language (OCL) as complementary language.

Asian Festival of Speed car club gathering at Sepang International Circuit on 18 May 2008

The Asian Festival Of Speed (AFOS) organized by Motorsport Asia Ltd. is recognised regionally and internationally as the premier Asian Motorsport Series. This 4-day race meeting at Sepang International Circuit begins on Thursday, 15th May, with a qualifying session, and the first two 10-lap races run the following day on the full 5.54km Grand Prix circuit. Saturday will see another qualifying session for the three further rounds which will be held over 20-laps each of the tight 2.72km North track.

Motorsport Asia Ltd. has invited all the car clubs in Malaysia to participate in the biggest car club gathering of the year during this biggest Asian Festival of Speed 2008 event on the 18th May at Sepang International Circuit.

Participating car club members are also invited to witness 6 power packed races, i.e. Asian Touring Car Series, ATCS 1500Max Challenge, Asia Supercar Challenge, Formula V6 Asia, Formula BMW Pacific and Formula Asia 2.0. There will also be a photo session with Race Queens from projectracequeens.com.

Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)

Microsoft has just released Service Pack 3 (SP3) for the Windows XP operating system. This service pack includes all previously released Windows XP updates, including security updates and hotfixes, and selected out-of-band releases.

Among the previously released functionality which is included in this SP3 are: MMC 3.0, MSXML6, Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5, IPSec Simple Policy Update, Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS), Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 6.1, Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2).

It also includes a new functionality called Network Access Protection (NAP) to help organizations that use Windows XP to take advantage of new features in the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Beside that, improvements to black hole router detection is included too.

As with previous service packs, no product key is requested or required when installing Windows XP SP3 using the update package available through Microsoft Update. However, the Windows Product Activation mechanism has also been upgraded.

This Windows XP SP3 is for x86 editions of Windows XP only. The x64 editions of Windows XP were serviced by Windows Server 2003 SP2.

Click here for more information and download of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).

Toyota Owners Journal

Recently, UMW Toyota has split out the Toyota Owner's Journal from their Tribe Toyota portal and added more features to it.

Toyota Owner's Journal is a web portal for car owners who have purchased a Toyota vehicle from UMW Toyota or their dealers. It enables you to view and/or update your personal and contact details in their system. You can also view the purchase details and specification of your Toyota vehicle, its insurance details, and your 24SEVEN Road Assist membership details.

If you serviced your car with Toyota service centre, you can also view your service history, including date of service, mileage when serviced, service centre location, invoice amount, served by who, service type and parts changed. Information for your next scheduled service is also displayed on the screen.

Other than that, you can also view the eVouchers that you've earned, their value, issued date, expiry date, and rebate status.

There is also a reminders section that you can opt to receive reminder email for your next scheduled service, renewal of road tax and insurance, renewal of 24SEVEN Road Assist membership, etc.

Blogger Backup Utility

Blogger Backup Utility is an open source utility running on Windows PC to backup and/or restore the blog posts hosted in Blogger a.k.a. BlogSpot. It is developed by Greg Duncan and is running on top of Microsoft .NET Framework, therefore you need to have this framework component installed in your Windows PC before it can be used.



It makes use of your Google credential to automatically search for the URL and feeds of your blog(s). Alternatively, you can manually key-in those information without using your credential information.

What Blogger Backup Utility can do?

• it can incrementally backup all your posts in Blogger (BlogSpot) and save them locally as XML files.
• it can also incrementally backup all the comments in your blog.
• it can help you to restore back your backup posts to Blogger (BlogSpot).

What Blogger Backup Utility cannot do at the moment?

• comment restore would be available in future release.
• picture backup and restore would be available in future release.
• video clip backup and restore would be available in future release.

In order to use this utility, you should set your Blogger settings to allow for FULL blog feeds. Beside this, you should go to the Edit HTML page of Blogger and download your full template to your local PC, as this utility will not backup your template either.

Click here to download the installation file for Blogger Backup Utility. You can also click here to download its source code.

Withdrawal of EPF money for housing loan monthly installment

Since 1 January 2008, EPF a.k.a. KWSP members are also allowed to withdraw their money from EPF Account II to pay for their monthly instalments of a housing loan, which has been taken up for the purpose of buying or building a house.

Unlike the withdrawal of EPF money to reduce housing loan which the money is directly made payable to the bank, this withdrawal for housing loan monthly installment can be banked in to your personal savings account and its usage is just up to you, if your housing loan does not have the non-performing (NPL) status. Otherwise, the money will still go to the bank as if the withdrawal to reduce housing loan. In anyway, you should not let your housing loan to fall into NPL status, because the interest rate will be high, and the bank might put your house on auction to recover the defaulted loan.

I would advise you to opt for the withdrawal of EPF money to reduce housing loan instead of this one if you intend to use the money for your housing loan. This is because that method will directly reduce your loan principal in a lump sum and can save you interest as well as reduce the loan tenure period, but this method might not do the same for you and you might end up saving nothing.

I would advise you to use this monthly withdrawal of EPF money for purposes like the following:

• to settle out your outstanding credit card debts. This is because the interest rate is high, and soon you will lost your credit card interest free period if your debt is not settled.
• for purchase down payment or settle the loan of your car. This is because the car loan interest is calculated differently, and is generally higher than your housing loan. I have already written an article about this.
  
• for house renovation, wedding, birth of child, etc. This is because the interest rate for personal loan is generally higher than your housing loan.
  
• for investment in 2nd house, business turnover, or investments that you believe the return is much higher than EPF dividend.
  

You should continue to serve your housing loan monthly installment in time every month, because this withdrawal could be cancelled by EPF if you don't do so. And if you don't intend to use the money, it is wise to keep your money with EPF to earn the dividend instead of withdrawing it, unless you foresee that the EPF dividend in the future would be even worse than the bank savings interest.

This withdrawal is eligible to:

• A Malaysian citizen
• A permanent resident in Malaysia
• An expatriate who joint as member of EPF before 1 August 1998

To apply for this withdrawal, you must have minimum savings of RM600 in your EPF Account II and have not reached 54 years of age. The minimum withdrawal amount is RM100 per month for a period of not less than 6 months, and the maximum monthly withdrawal amount must not exceed your monthly loan repayment amount.

The withdrawal process is pretty much the same as the withdrawal to reduce housing loan. You just need to complete the Form KWSP 9P (AHL) and submit it together with the required supporting documents to the nearest EPF office. You must go to the EPF office by yourself because your thumbprint is required to verify your application.

The required supporting documents are:

• Your MyKad
• Your bank savings account book or statement
  
• Photocopy of both side of your MyKad, printed on the same page of A4 size paper
• Photocopy of the pages containing your bank account details (including your full name, IC number, bank account number, branch of bank, etc.) of your bank savings account book or latest bank statement
• Letter from the bank confirming your housing loan details and the latest outstanding balance. You have to apply for this letter from your bank.

During the tenure period of this EPF Account II withdrawal arrangement, you cannot sell your house, make full settlement to your housing loan account, default to Non Performing Loan, or empty up your money in EPF Account II for other purposes, such in the case of Disability Withdrawal, Death Withdrawal or Leaving-Country Withdrawal. Otherwise, EPF will just cancel the monthly payment to you.

Withdrawal of EPF money to reduce housing loan

Most EPF a.k.a. KWSP members know that they can widhdraw the money in their EPF Account II for the purpose of reducing or settling the balance of their housing loan taken from a financial institution approved by EPF for the purchase or construction of a house in Malaysia. This can help them to settle their housing loan in shorter period and save on the interest payable to the bank, at the trade-off of losing the annual dividend payable by EPF on that amount of money.

This withdrawal is eligible to:

• A Malaysian citizen
• A permanent resident in Malaysia
• An expatriate who joint as member of EPF before 1 August 1998

To apply for this withdrawal, you must have minimum savings of RM500 in your EPF Account II and have not reached 55 years of age.

The withdrawal process is pretty much the same as the withdrawal made to partially finance the purchase of new house. You just need to complete the Form KWSP 9C (AHL) and submit it together with the required supporting documents to the nearest EPF office. You must go to the EPF office by yourself because your thumbprint is required to verify your application.

The required supporting documents are:

• Your MyKad
• Photocopy of both side of your MyKad, printed on the same page of A4 size paper
  
• Letter from the bank confirming your housing loan details and the latest outstanding balance. You have to apply for this letter from your bank.

Previously this kind of withdrawal can only be done at the frequency of every 3 years. Since 2007 the eligible frequency has been reduced to once per year. I have done this withdrawal for 2 times, and each time I got the money within 2 weeks upon submission.

The money is made payable to the bank for your housing loan account, and will directly use to reduce your loan principal. You can hardly withdraw it for other usage, and by right, you shouldn't do that too. If you intend to make use of the money otherwise, read my other article about EPF withdrawal which enable you to do that. Your housing loan statement for all subsequent months after that should show that the interest charges have been reduced.

Is it a wise move to perform this withdrawal of EPF money to reduce your housing loan? The answer is yes if you foresee that the dividend from EPF in the coming years is probably lower than the interest rate of your housing loan. Otherwise, it might not be a wise choice, as keeping your money to grow in your EPF Account II is more beneficial than reducing the interest payable for your housing loan account.

Upgraded e-Connect online service for Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia

I just noticed that the website of Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia at http://www.lifeisgreat.com.my/ has a new look and feel now. Their e-Connect service which allows policy holders to view their policy information on-line has also been upgraded.

Now, more information is displayed to the policy holders, the dollars and cents are more transparent. The upgraded system shows the break down of all the benefit details, how much installment premium was charged to each of the benefit and rider. Detailed investment link fund information including the units possessed and fund value. It also shows the break down of the current surrender value and policy loan value of the policy.

Good job! Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia. Your effort in getting closer connection with policy holders is very much appreciated. And yes, I also appreciate on the special bonus that you've credited into my policy account recently.

Tun Dr Mahathir enjoys the freedom of speech in Internet

It is not a secret that Malaysia has a long history of state censorship and tight media controls. All the local major newspapers, television and radio channels, of all languages, have censored and restrictive reporting. As a result, all the information from these formal channels are pretty uniformed. Many happenings were not even reported due to particular reasons.

As a result, more and more Malaysian opt to get more information and 2nd opinions from the foreign media and the Internet, which are beyond the control and censorship of the Government.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had made a wise and correct decision for pledging not to censor the Internet when he officiated the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project as the Prime Minister then in 1996. Today, he also enjoys the freedom of speech in the Internet by blogging and expressing his political points of view, which might not have chances to appear in the local media. Because of this, now people can still read his concerns and views to the nation, in the same way as we read Lim Kit Siang, Jeff Ooi, Ahirudin Attan and others.

Click here to go to the blog of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer Acoustic Gold III v.2008

I heard a lot about this Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer from AOCM, and have seen it installed in the Toyota Avanza of most AOCM members. It is a proven product which able to boost the performance of Toyota Avanza, and I have it installed today during the AOCM TT session. It comes with double sided tape and I sticked it on one of the leg of my Ultra Racing strut bar near the battery.



Today's car is functioned by many electrical and electronic components, the most important being the Engine Control Unit (ECU) which is a computer controlling the engine operations of the car. The ECU is highly dependent on all the sensors that provide accurate data and signals to coordinate various parts in different places of the car. This ECU can give the best judgement if and only if the signal received is accurate, which is affected by the electrical flow of the system. Therefore, a stable and powerful electrical system in the car will ensure best torque and response at all times.

The function of the voltage stabilizer is to stabilized the electrical current generated by the alternator, by storing some electrical energy in capacitors so that stable and constant electrical energy can be maintained all times even if there is voltage drop or surge across the car electrical system. It can also filter out electrical noise and eliminate irregular current flow in the car electrical system. Its working concept is similar to the Power Saver unit in my home.

Zaptor performance voltage stabilizer is developed by a member of Volvo Owners' Club of Malaysia (VOCM). The Acoustic Gold III version is waterproof, fuse protected, has voltage tolerance of up to 25 volts and operating temperature up to 105 degree Celcius. It has a compact size with a 7-colour battery status LED indicator. Most importantly, it functions in par with the branded voltage stabilizer made in Japan, and is distributed in AOCM at a much more affordable price. It is probably the lowest price voltage stabilizer product in Malaysia that can function effectively.

My feelings to the car after installation:

• engine starts immediately when ignited, there is no delay.
• engine respond faster and the fuel pedal is felt a little bit lighter. Probably this will improve in fuel economy.
• car accelerate smoother with increased torque as ECU works better.
  
• the RPM is very stable during idling, not so affected by air-cond condenser kick-in.
• cabin lights and headlights seems to be brighter.
• car audio sounds better.

I was told that the car battery water level will drop faster after the installation of this voltage stabilizer due to the charging effect. As such, using maintenance free battery is more convenient when voltage stabilizer is installed, to eliminate the need of frequent checking and top up of battery water.

The M-Shape Society

In January 2006, Dr. Kenichi Ohmae (大前研一博士), a Japanese management guru, business strategist and writer who is being described as "Mr. Strategy", has written another book named "The Impact of Rising Lower-Middle Class Population in Japan" (ロウアーミドルの冲撃) and being translated by Taiwanese to Chinese edition as "The M-Shape Society" (M 型社会). This book was published just a few months right after economist Atsushi Miura (三浦展) published the best selling "The Emergence of Lower-Class Society" (下流社会 新たな階層集団の出現).

In his book, Dr. Kenichi put up his observation that the structure of Japanese society has emerged from the existing dome shape normal distribution pattern into a twin-peak "M-shape" distribution.

The formation of this M-Shape society is resulting from the sidelining of the middle class into the lower class, while some managed to climb into the upper class. This phenomenon is formed when majority of people in the middle class gradually experienced a deterioration in their living standard.

There may be still remarkable progress in economic development, the GNP may still rise, there may still be economic growth, and the national average salary may still rise, but the rate of inflation and cost of living moves even faster, especially in the globalized world economic whereby more and more resources are gathered and secured by the upper class, while the lower class is starving from limited fund, fuel, energy, food, job, etc.

Dr. Kenichi thrown out 3 questions to the middle class:
1. Do you feel that your mortgage loan is a heavy burden (or you dare not possess any property)?
2. Are you planning to have kids (or you don't even think about getting married)?
3. Are you worried about your kids' future education fund (or you don't want to have kids)?

If you answer a "yes" to any of the 3 questions above, you might have noticed that you're sliding from the middle class towards the lower class, and if you are answering the question in the bracket, you are already in the lower class.

In fact, these questions are fairly related to my article about the HISC₅ of typical middle class person. Middle class persons are required to keep their HISC₅ to be all time well managed and in good order. Life is as if rowing a boat against the water flow, if you don't advance, you will lag behind. Unfortunately, as the worldwide competition is getting tougher and tougher, the "water flow" is getting stronger and stronger, which tear apart the people in the middle, eventually forming the M-Shape society.

One must have plan to get ready for the formation of this M-Shape society, which is evolving all over the world now. In this era of K-economy world, we must get ourselves well equipped with knowledges, skillsets, innovations and productivity at least in 2 areas, which are our career and also our financial management.

Public & Business Financial (PBF) Expo 2008

The 4th Public & Business Financial (PBF) Expo, organized by Money Compass Magazine (精明理财), published by Trans Info Media Sdn Bhd), will be held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Exhibition Hall 2 on this coming 10 & 11 May 2008 9am-6pm.

The expo comprises 100 exhibition booths from financial management and investment sectors, and also seminar & forum by 20 local and oversea financial management speakers. Admission to public is free, and there will be free financial counselling and advice provided to the visitors.

The theme for this expo are:
1: Achieving Financial Freedom For A Brighter Tomorrow
2: Smart Financial Solutions For SME Business

Among the speakers are Dr. Wilson Lin Wei Shian (林伟贤博士), Lim Yuen Seong (林敬祥), Lee Teck Meng (李得民), Dato' Aric Ng Wai Sing (拿督伍伟成), Adrian Yeo Eng Hui (杨应辉), Koong Lin Loong (孔令龙), Dr. Ching Tow Fah (陈道华博士), Jackson Ting (陈芳瑞), Ernest Cheong, Phua Lee Kerk (潘立克), Wong Chai Soon (黄凯顺), Carol Yip (叶凯蓉), Dr. Clement Chiang (郑文元博士), Solon Wang (王志钧) and Benson Tseng (曾志尧).

Click here for more information about this event.

Naza Group founder and CEO passed away

Tan Sri S.M. Nasimuddin S.M. Amin, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Naza Group, passed away of lung cancer in California at 1.15am (Malaysian time). He was 54 years old and had been receiving treatment for cancer at a private hospital in Long Beach since January this year.

When he was 21, he had RM80,000 in his bank account which he saved from his remunerations from helping out his contractor father. A year later, he made his first million. It was 1975 and he did it by applying for government-issued Approved Permits (AP) to import cars for resell in the country. He was dubbed the "AP King" in the AP controversy event of 2005.

Naza Group, formed in 1974, has been famous for its automobile business. The group currently holds the Malaysian vehicles franchise for Ferrari, Kia, Peugeot, Brabus, Hamann and Ducati. It also holds the import permits for Mercedes Benz and Mazda vehicles.

Tan Sri Nasimuddin was quoted as saying: “I have always loved cars since my teenage years. That is why I am in this business. My father’s construction business was not my cup of tea.”

No more interest free period for credit card holders who didn't make full settlement

A recent article posted by SM Mohamed Idris, president of Consumers Association of Penang on Malaysiakini website alarmed all credit card holders in Malaysia about the change in interest free period of their credit cards, which will take effect on 1 July 2008.

Currently, credit card holders in Malaysia enjoy a 20 days interest free period from the card issuer's statement date for their retail transactions, regardless they've settled their previous month balance in full, partially, minimum, or unsettled. This priviledge of interest free period will soon be changed following the introduction of a new Tiered Interest Rate Structure
on retail purchases imposed by all credit card issuers in Malaysia, so called to be in line with the "latest guidelines by Bank Negara Malaysia".

Under the new structure, the 20 days interest free period for retail transactions is applicable only for card holders who have paid the previous month balance in full on or before the payment due date. If the card holder opts to pay partial or minimum payment, finance charges for retail transactions for the following month will be calculated from the day the transactions are posted to the card account, i.e. there will be no more interest free period for credit card account with any outstanding balance.

This will affect all the Malaysian credit card holders who are not afford to fully settle their balance in due time, and will further increase their burden with even more interest imposed for every transaction made with the credit card thereafter.

Although this will force all Malaysian credit card holders to be more caucious in spending with their credit card, it will also penalize those that need to use their credit card for emergency (eg. repairing broken belongings, hospitalization, baby birth, funeral, urgent turnover need, etc...) and need to take some times to settle out that emergency spending of larger amount than usual.

I hope that the existing 20 days interest free period can be retained, at least for the good credit card pay masters who settled at least their minimum amount without failure.

Click here to read the original article by SM Mohamed Idris.

Medklinn Mobile ionizer

I purchased this Medklinn Mobile ionizer for RM299 at their Jusco counter during promotion period last year.

The unit comes with 14 days money-back guarantee and 1 year defect warranty. It operates by plugging directly into the cigarette lighter socket of the car and bend it upwards. This ionizer requires no maintenance since it does not operate with filter, and I was told that it can last for at least 6 years.

The function of this MedKlinn Mobile ionizer is to deodourize and detoxify the air in the car. It floods the car's interior with massive amounts of negative ions. Large amount of negative ions (at least 2 million ions emission per second) can effectively remove offensive odours and pollutants such as pollen, dust particles, cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes effectively, thus reducing the risk to our health.

I have tested it with durian, and it's deodourize function works very well. It is a better substitute for car fragrance that most people use in their car, because those fragrance are made out of synthetic chemicals that might be harmful to our respiratory system.

There are many other ionizers available, but might not be as effective due to much lesser amount of ions produced. Some can even be harmful to our health due to too much ozone produced.

They've sent a postcard to me, informing that they'll be exhibiting in this HOMEDEC 2008.

Boneless wiper

Have you ever heard or seen a boneless wiper? Recently I changed the ordinary wiper blades of my car to this boneless type. The cost is double to the price of ordinary rubber wiper.

These boneless wiper blades fit directly to the hook of the original wiper arm, and installation is pretty easy. The blades fit nicely and firmly to the slope of the windscreen, providing effective wiping to covered area. They operate quietly and will not lift away even when used during high speed driving. The blades form an even pressure onto the windscreen, and the rubber contact is less likely to deform over time.

The manufacturer of this kind of boneless wiper claims that they are durable, have longer lifespan than ordinary rubber wipers, and can be used for years. There are also boneless wiper with silicon blades, which cost even higher, but is even more durable.

PU car seat cover

The original beige colour fabric of Toyota Avanza 1.5 makes any dirty spot or stain on the car seats to be quite visible and difficult to clean up. As a result, I've covered the car seats with a layer of beige colour PU (polyurethane) car seat cover. This colour of car seat cover perfectly match with the car interior, and is very close to the original colour of the underneath fabric.

I purchased this PU car seat cover from Brothers at the price of RM380, and additional RM40 for installation. The product consists of PU covers that match with all the 3 rows of Toyota Avanza seat and also PU covers for all the headrests.

Dirty stains on this PU car seat cover can easily be cleaned, and it is also water resistant. However, the car seats will feel a little bit hotter under the sun, and need about 3 minutes to cool down after the air-cond is turned on. This is not too bad since I already have the tint film installed which eliminates heat from building up in the car due to sunlight.

Leather seat cover would be better than PU material, but the price is also much more higher. Beside this seat cover, AOCM also recommends another nice looking CarPro brand PU seat cover, which is almost the same price, available in JE Automart.