Tan Teng Boo will conduct 2 seminars, 1 for fundamental analysis, 1 for technical analysis

You might be awared that Mr Tan Teng Boo (陈鼎武), the founder and key person of iCapital and Capital Dynamics, is going to conduct 2 seminars, 1 for fundamental analysis, 1 for technical analysis, together with his team.

Seminar 1: Understand Economic Indicators, Invest Successfully

Date: 10 April 2010 (Saturday)
Time: 8am- 5pm
Venue: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

"Where is the global economy heading? Is China on the verge of a collapse? Will global interest rates keep rising? How will it impact currencies, economic growth and stock markets?"

"The comprehensive seminar will explain the methodology used for various economic indicators and their interpretation. It will look at the current economic structures and sources of growth of the US, China, Eurozone, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as their distinctive individual characteristics. The vital economic indicators of each economy will be presented and their implications explained."

Indicators:

• Gross Domestic Product
• Consumer Price Index
• Money Aggregates
• Balance of Payments
• Producer Price Index
• Money Supply
• Performance of Manufacturing Index
• Performances of Construction Index
• Index of Commodity Prices
• Performance of Services Index
• Leading Indicator of Employment
• International Trade in Goods and Services
• Interest Rates
• Building Approvals
• Business Indicators
• Inflation
• Real Estate Index
• Retail Sales
• Bank Lending
• New Auto Sales
• Tourist Arrival

Seminar 2: Understand Technical Analysis, Trade Successfully

Date: 11 April 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 8am- 5pm
Venue: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

"Whilst many are sidelined, some savvy traders and investors are profiting handsomely from this volatility. To trade successfully, you must understand the risk return relationship and have the discipline to follow trading rules. Not just any arbitrary rules, but proven ones from knowing technical analysis and chart formations."


Click here for more information, pricing and registration form for the 2 seminars of Tan Teng Boo.

Have you activated your free complimentary Purchase Protection Plan for MasterCard?

If you are holding any MasterCard credit card issued in Malaysia, here is a good news to you.

MasterCard now offers their credit card holders a free complimentary Purchase Protection Plan (PPP), underwritten by Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad (CMI, formerly known as AIG General Insurance (M) Berhad).

This policy insures against loss or damage of your Personal Property / Items purchased (either locally or overseas) with your MasterCard credit card, in the event of Theft, Burglary, Robbery and Accidental Damage within 30 days from the date of items purchased.

The coverage is as follow.

Classic/Gold/Titanium/Premium/Platinum credit cards:

• Limit for Any One Occurrence: RM1,500
• Annual Aggregate Limit: RM7,500

WorldCard:

• Limit for Any One Occurrence: RM1,500
• Annual Aggregate Limit: RM10,000

All you need to do is to activate the plan by sending an SMS to 36660 (refer to their website or advertisement in newspaper for detailed instruction) or telephone to 1300-80-2988 within office hour. The plan is valid for 1 year from the policy effective date. No premium is payable as this plan gives you 12 months complimentary coverage.

This is the SMS I got after I sent my activation SMS to 36660.

Imagine that you are so unluckly to be robbed a few minutes after you bought a jewelry with your credit card; or you accidentally dropped a newly purchased camera / handphone / laptop. Now at least you can get the compensation from this Purchase Protection Plan. And since it is free, there is nothing to lose to activate it.

Click here for more information about the free Purchase Protection Plan for MasterCard.

Transforming my Streamyx & TM Homeline to Blockbuster Deals package

TM has recently launched their Blockbuster Deals package promotion, which seems to be attractive for us to get more at less cost.

This might be their respond to the market, after facing fierce competition from the mobile 3.5G and Wimax telcos. Like Chinese says: "you'll get improvement when you have competition" (有竞争才有进步), glad to see that over the years, TM and Streamyx has improved from their previous lousy service, in terms of broadband quality and speed, as well as better pricing for voice and Internet.

Let's see what we can get from this Blockbuster Deals package promotion:

• Zero charge on phoneline rental
• Free unlimited calls to TM fixed line nationwide
• Flat rate of 10 sen/min to all mobile and other fixed line nationwide
• Free DECT phone
• Free WiFi modem

And here is how the pricing structure like.

Although there is a contract period of 1 year, it is still an attractive deal, isn't it?

For those that don't need Streamyx broadband service, there is also a voice-only deal with 6 months contract period. I wonder who will be interested in this, but this plan is much better than the previous Let's Talk plan.

Click here for more information about the TM Blockbuster Deals.

Done my comprehensive health screening @ Golden Horses Health Sanctuary

Today I've done my comprehensive health screening together with my wife at Golden Horses Health Sanctuary(GHHS) inside the Palace of the Golden Horses.

Seems like both of us need to reduce some of our body fat to make it fall back to the "normal range" from the current slightly high side.

Few years back, we joint the membership of this health screening programme at the price of RM5,000 and entitiled to use some of the Country Heights' facilities (such as swimming pool, gym, etc.) and 20 years of annual health screening service at the cost of RM3xx per year.

This is a really comprehensive health examination. The result of the following 99 items are included in my report:

• General inspection (10 items)
• Ophthalmic inspection (8 items)
• Physical examination (11 items)
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) (1 item)
• Hearing inspection (2 items)
• Pulmonary function inspection (3 items)
• Hematology profile (15 items)
• Blood group (2 items)
• Diabetic screening (1 item)
• Lipids profile (6 items)
• Liver function (9 items)
• Renal function profile (5 items)
• Calcium, phosphorus and iron (3 items)
• Gout screening (1 item)
• Hepatitis B screening and other serology test (3 items)
• Arthritis screening (1 item)
• Thyroid profile (2 items)
• Cancer screening (2 items)
• Urinalysis (12 items)
• Chest X-Ray (1 item)
• Ultrasound abdomen and pelvis (1 item)

My wife's report contains even more items, including ultrasound on breast and pap smear test.

We are given free voucher (transferable) to conduct bone test, recommended for people above 45 years old. As we are still at our young age, we plan to transfer the entitlement for the bone test to our parents.

It is a good practice to conduct comprehensive health screening to our body, so that if there is any health distortion, can be detected and rectified at early stage. We can also enjoy an income tax relief of up to RM500 per year for complete medical examination like this.


So, have you done yours?
 

EPF declared 5.65% dividend for 2009

Few hours ago, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. KWSP) has just declared the dividend  rate for financial year 2009 to be of 5.65%, which is considered higher than the expectation of most financial analysts and general public.

This is not too bad, compared to the low rate of 4.5% in FY 2008.

With this dividend rate, it seems that those who have withdrawn their EPF Account II savings to reduce their housing loan during 2009 might be regreted to do so, as the effective mortgage rate is generally lower than 5.65% in 2009, due to a lower BLR rate along the year.

Anyhow, this rate is still lower than my personal investment return rate in 2009, therefore I need not regrete to opt for 8% EPF contribution instead of 11% for year 2009-2010. You might have a clue of which shares I invested in by reading my Investment related articles here, particularly those written in 2009.

Also, this rate is lower than the return I got from the unit trusts I bought with MAAKL Mutual by using part of my EPF Account I savings. Begining from the month of June, I had made 3 such EPF withdrawals during 2009 to invest in unit trust funds in MAAKL Mutual.

Although the commission rate of buying unit trusts with EPF Account I withdrawal is set at 3%, I still find it pretty expensive, compared to the fees of buying share directly in KLSE through the stockbroker. Luckily it still provides a better return than the 5.65% of EPF, so seems like I have made a good try.

How about you? Are you happy with the 5.65% rate you got from EPF in 2009? Or not satisfied and demand for more?

Click here to read the official announcement from EPF, and the investment structure of EPF in 2009, etc.

Russia to produce UFO alike flying saucers able to carry 11,000 people?

There is an interesting news from Russia that a company called LocomoSky in their Ulianovsk of Volga is carrying out a government funded project to produce a bizarre hybrid of helicopter and aerostat, UFO alike "flying saucers".

The prototype, named "aerostatic thermoballasted vehicle" or simply "Locomoskayner" after its manufacturer, was presented in the MAKS-2009 International Aviation and Space Salon air show in Russia recently.

This prototype flying saucer was 23 feet in diameter, and was claimed to be able to transport 20 kg of cargo.

The company, however, plans to produce aircraft with a cargo-carrying capacity of up to 600 metric tons or a passenger capacity of up to 11,000 people.

Having low fuel consumption as compared to ordinary aircraft due to its aerodynamic form, the flying saucer will be able to hover, perform a vertical landing, move in a straight line with speeds close to 100 km/h, turn around, and most importantly, need no special ground-based facilities to land.

With its special flying characteristics and superb loading capacity, it will be able to transport out-sized cargoes to remote and inaccessible areas.

Let's see whether this dream will come into reality in the very near future.

5th Malaysia International Dive Expo (MIDE) 2010

If you are a fan of underwater diving or interested in this kind of activity which lets you explore into the beautiful, attractive and scenic world under the sea, be informed that the Malaysia International Dive Expo (MIDE), which is the biggest dive expo in Asia-Pacific region, will be held in Kuala Lumpur again for its 5th time.

Date: 30 July - 1 August 2010
Time: 10am - 7pm
Venue: Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur
Admission: free

Activities in the expo includes:

• Dive photo competition & winners gallery
• Seminar & talks
• Workshop & training programme
• Children colouring contest
• Exhibition with 150 exhibitors

Click here for more information about the 5th MIDE 2010.

JobStreet.com Malaysia Career & Training Fair (MCTF) 2010

The 9th Malaysia Career & Training Fair (MCTF) to be organized by JobStreet.com is coming soon. This event is freely open for public.

The previous MCTF 2009 had successfully attracted participation from more than 108,500 job seekers and over hundred of exhibitors. This year, they are targetting for 120,000 visitors.

The event details are as follow:

Date: 16-18 April 2010
Time: 10am ~ 7pm
Venue: Mid Valley Convention Centre (KL)

Job seekers are advised to bring along their C.V., and some of the exhibitors might conduct on the spot interview with suitable candidates during the event.

The 12th Post Graduate Education Fair (PGEF) 2010 will also be held at the same time and adjacent venue in Mid Valley Exhibition Centre together with this MCTF '10.

Click here to visit the official website of MCTF 2010.

Click here to see the exhibition floor plan of  MCTF 2010.

Post Graduate Education Fair (PGEF) 2010

The 12th Post Graduate Education Fair (PGEF) will be organized by AIC this coming April 2010. The event is freely open to public.

 

 

 

PGEF 2010 will be taking over the entire Mid Valley Exhibition Centre with more than 100 exhibitors from various countries including Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, United States of America, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, India and of course, Malaysia.

 

The event details are as follow:

Date: 16-18 April 2010
Time: 10am ~ 7pm
Venue: Mid Valley Exhibition Centre (KL)

 

The 9th Malaysia Career & Training Fair (MCTF) 2010 will also be held at the same time and adjacent venue together with this PGEF '10.

 

Click here for more information about PGEF 2010.

You might probably be interested to read on:

• The Top 10s in Universities Ranking on the Web (Jan 2010 Edition) by Webometrics

Money flowing out of Malaysia at an alarming speed

Money is flowing out of Malaysia at an alarming speed! Despite the "denial syndrome" of some local economists trying to find reasons and tell us to keep cool and ignore the alarm, the immediate question is still intact: How to reverse the flow as soon as possible? Can a solution be found in the New economic Model?

Issue 795 of The Edge Malaysia printed edition for the week of 1-7 March 2010 has a striking headline of "Reversing the Flow" for its cover story. I see this as a follow up report after UBS economist Jon Anderson's report titled "Malaysia - Another Bizarre Story". In fact, there was already a Special Report in Issue 789 of The Edge Malaysia titled "Malaysia: How Bizarre?" responding directly to Jon's report, which you can read its online version here.

Publicly available data from Bank Negara reveals it is no doubt true that Malaysia has, in the recent years, been squeezed by double outflow of money from:

• Slowdown in foreign direct investments (FDI) to the country
• Surge in investments to overseas by local companies

While some pointed the excuse for the sharp plunge of Malaysia's forex reserves in 2009 to the global recession, the 2nd opinion argued that during the same period, neighbouring economies in Thailand, China, Taiwan, Singapore,  Hong Kong, etc. were all in fact enjoying an upliftment in forex reserves!

Local companies going out of the border and invest in overseas could be viewed as a good sign from certain angle, as it shows the growth and competitiveness of the companies, as well as reaping benefits to the shareholders upon success. However, some has observed that most of the money invested in overseas remains at overseas, and not bringing back to Malaysia, yet. This is not good to the development of local economy. This kind of overseas investment also impacts the local job market, as the investment and business development activities might create job opportunities abroad, but not locally.

At the same time, we saw recently some well-known tycoons sold off their local business which they have developed for decades, and invest the proceeds overseas. Is this a migration move that never come back? Not a good sign either.

I am not an economist, but as a small investor, I care about the economic weather very much. As a worker, I also care about the local industry and job market growth trend. So, I am very keen to know how the government will respond the issue and reverse the flow as soon as possible, before it is too late.

Adding virtual desktops to Windows with VirtuaWin

Most Linux users are very familiar with virtual desktops (a.k.a. workspaces), which enables you to organize your opened applications in more than one desktop that you can switch over from one to another using hotkeys or mouse clicks.

Though virtual desktops feature is not bundled in MS Windows OS, its availability in the form of 3rd party software, either free or commercial, has been around for many years. Microsoft also provides a virtual desktops Powertoy called Virtual Desktop Manager (MSVDM), which many find it is slow, lack of functionality, and not performing as good as the 3rd party counterparts.

If you are looking for an open source virtual desktops for Windows, Virtual Dimension used to be a popular and good one, but its development seems to have ceased around 2005.

The virtual desktop I'm using now is VirtuaWin. It is free and licensed under GPL version 2, and latest release is Version 4.1 dated 09-09-2009.

VirtuaWin has been around since 1999. It can run in all version of modern Windows OS including Win 95, Win 98, Win ME, Win NT, Win 2000, Win XP, Win 2003, Win Vista and Win 7.

It is very lightweight, fast in desktop switching, modular with features expandable by loading more modules into it. It even has a portable version which doesn't need any prior installation to use.

VirtuaWin is very easy to install and run. By default, you will get 4 virtual desktops (2 x 2) which you can navigate by pressing Ctrl-Alt together with one of the arrow keys on your keyboard. If you don't like this hotkey setting, you can always change your preference in its setup.

You can increase or reduce the number of virtual desktops by configuring its Desktop Layout, up to a maximum of 20. The more virtual desktops you use, the more amount of memory will be consumed.

With VirtuaWin, now you can use, for example, one desktop for web browsing, one desktop for graphics editing, one desktop for document writing, one desktop for network monitoring, ... this is of course more organized than cluttering all of them in a single desktop in Windows.

If you are a developer, and find any feature lacking in VirtuaWin, you can in fact make the feature by yourself using the VirtuaWin module SDK. Being open source and modular, the feature list of VirtuaWin is believed to be able to expand unlimitedly with the support and contribution from the developers community.

In fact, some of the fancy features in other virtual desktops software has been made available to VirtuaWin via module contributions.

The threat and vulnerability of GPS

The critical reliance and important usage on GPS nowadays, both in civil and military, has recently brought up a hot discussion again for the concerns in its threat and vulnerability.

Anyhow, this issue is not new, and has been discussed among technology experts for many years. Just that when GPS usage become more and more widespread, its threat and vulnerability need to be brought to its users' awareness, especially in the military, government and business sectors.

The GPS operation relies on signals from some 30 over orbiting satellites surrounding the earth in the space. In order for a GPS receiver to triangulate its position on earth, it needs to get signals from at least 3 GPS satellites.

GPS signal is known to be exceptionally weak. Each satellite transmits a signal equivalent to the power of a 25W light bulb from an distance of about 20,000km away. Such a weak signal can be readily interfered with or denied by unintentional or deliberate radio wave interference.

Portable GPS jammer devices such as the one shown in the diagram below have been made available for quite some times.

Some car security system and transportation logistic system make use of GPS to keep track on the position of the vehicle. It has been reported that car thieves make use of GPS jammer to disrupt the GPS signal and defeat the vehicle tracking system, therefore render the vehicle unlocatable.

Employees who drive vehicles that are tracked by their companies can also make use of the GPS jammer to hide their tracks.


In Germany, it is believed that some drivers are using GPS jammer to evade GPS-based road charging system.

Robbers can also easily spoof the GPS signal and guide the target vehicle to drive to their trap location.

Imagine what would happen if terrorists make attack on the GPS function of air traffic and/or naval traffic.

Beside its global positioning function, GPS is also used as a time server for time synchronization in certain infrastructure. This function can also be defeated by the jammer, and time critical system could be hacked in this way.

The GPS signal used by the US military is different from the civil signal, and is encrypted. However, it is also vulnerable to GPS jammer and subjected to interferrance from the enemy.

Imagine a GPS dependent missle being mislead by the enemy to attack on wrong target, or worse still, to attack to ally target instead of the enemy.

By intercepting the GPS signal, the position of military GPS user could be exposed to the enemy.

In the video below, you can see the GPS jammer in action and how it defeated the civil and military GPS.



So, what can we do to minimize the threat to GPS? Beside waiting for the US to strengten on the signaling, when we want to make use of GPS, also use some other alternative methods so that GPS could not be a single point of failure.

What are CPM, CPC, CPA, CPE, etc in online advertising

You might have noticed that my blog currently serves ads from Google Adsense and Innity Performance Network.

If you are familiar with online advertising, you should know about CPM, CPC, CPA, CPE, etc. If you are new to it, you might wonder what are these jargons about.

Well, they actually refer to the model in which you will be paid for ads running on your website or blog.

• CPM - Cost Per Mille or Cost Per Thousand Impressions. This is the easiest model to generate earnings, as every time the ads appear to a visitor to your site, you will get an amount of money. The rate is at 1,000 ad served. If your site produces less than 1,000 impressions for the ad, you will get a proportion of it. Google Adsense reports the estimated CPM rate you receive based on your earnings with Effective CPM (eCPM).
• CPC - Cost Per Click. You'll generate earnings when your visitors click on the ads displayed on your site.
• CPA - Cost Per Acquisition. You will be paid for leads generated on your site (e.g. product trial sign up, submission of survey, etc.)
• CPE - Cost Per Engagement. You will be paid for engagements generated by visitors from your site. Engagement is defined when a user response to the ad through the act of experiencing the features of the ad format. These features include advergames, videos or even social sharing.

Currently, you can get CPM and CPC ads from Google Adsense, while Innity Performance Network supports more models including CPM, CPC, CPA and CPE.

The rule of thumb: No matter what the revenue model is, visitor traffic is the key for you to get some earnings from online advertising.

Shareholders dividend under the single tier tax system (STS)

Malaysia has introduced single tier tax system (STS) in Budget 2008 to replace the existing imputation tax system with effect from year of assessment 2008. This has brought major impact to the treatment of dividend paid to the shareholders.

You might have noticed that some of the companies already giving out dividends under the new STS, although they have a 6 year transitional grace period until 31 December 2013 to fully convert from imputation to STS.

Under this STS, corporate income is taxed at corporate level and is a final tax. No tax is being deducted from dividend paid, credited or distributed to shareholders. As a result, there will be no Section 110 tax credits deduction for any dividend paid under STS to individual tax payers.

While this has negative impact to lower income individual shareholders whose top income tax bracket is less than the statutory company tax rate, as they no longer eligible to claim for a Section 110 tax credits refund under the new STS, there are several benefits of moving forward from imputation tax system to single tier tax system:

• The company is able to reduce administration cost as there is no need to maintain Section 108 balances anymore.
• Individual tax payer no need to bother about dividend income and Section 110 declaration for dividends received under STS.
• High income bracket individuals need not pay tax on the differential between his marginal tax rate and the company tax rate.
• Companies with capital gains and non taxable accounting profits are able to declare dividends without any constraint. This might bring higher dividend yields to shareholders.
• Companies with huge Section 108 balances may pay special dividends during the transitional period.

Meanwhile, if you still receive dividend warrant that shows a gross dividend amount, tax deducted from the dividend and net dividend paid out, it means that the company has opted to continue using its section 108 tax credits balance to pay franked dividends to shareholders under the transitional period before 2014. And the normal procedure of declaring gross dividend income and deducting back the Section 110 tax credits in your income tax assessment BE/B Form still applicable.

My Takada ISB-889 Air Master 4-in-1 air cooler

The weather during this Chinese New Year time is freaking hot, and it is so uncomfortable to stay indoor without air-cond, not to mention sleeping in the hot night with only ceiling fan blowing at the maximum speed.

Therefore, I decided to hunt for an air cooler to be used in my hometown.

There are 2 brands of air cooler selling at Tesco for RM2xx, namely Takada and Global, but it seems that others have also hunted for the same thing like me, and they've run out of stock.

Finally, managed to buy a Takada ISB-889 Air Master 4-in-1 air cooler at the cost of RM3xx in Parkson. The size of this unit is bigger than the air coolers sold in Tesco, with a stronger blower and larger water tank. Functionality wise is the same though.

Its so-called 4-in-1 functions are:

• Cooler - with water and ice box
• Purifier - with its filter and ozone release
• Ionizer - with its oxygen bar releasing negative ion
• Humidifier - damping with water curtain

It comes with 2 ice boxes which need to be refrigerated before use and can last for 4 hours. I purchased an additional larger ice box which can last for 8 hours for night use. One of its beauty is that it consumes very low electricity, at 70W only.

Although not comparable with air-cond, this air cooler functions pretty well in keeping the room cool, and now we can sleep comfortably at night.

Laptop connecting to Internet via Bluetooth to P1i smart phone with Celcom 3G/GPRS

Happy Chinese New Year!

I am away from home during this period and would not be able to access Internet using my home's Streamyx ADSL.

Anyhow, I managed to setup my laptop connecting to Internet via Bluetooth to my Sony Ericsson P1i smart phone with Celcom 3G networking service.

I'll show you how.

Prerequisites:

• You have installed PC Suite for Sony Ericsson in your laptop. If you use Nokia or other brand, you should install the PC Suite for your smart phone as well.
• You are a Celcom mobile user. If you are using Maxis or Digi or other mobile service, the setting could be similar but not exactly the same.
• You have a 3G phone with a 3G SIM card. Probably a non-3G phone with GPRS is also OK. The phone must support Internet routing function.
• I think connecting the laptop to your phone using USB cable is a better way. Since I forgot to bring along the USB cable, I have to connect using Bluetooth, which is another workable way.

Unless you are subscribed to a Celcom monthly unlimited broadband service which the current lowest cost is RM38/month, it is advisable to subscribe to Celcom daily unlimited broadband service at the cost of RM6/day, else the Celcom pay-per-use 3G/GPRS data charge will be expensive at the rate of RM0.10/10kb.

For existing Celcom mobile user, to subscribe to Celcom daily unlimited broadband service, you just need to send an SMS with content "Broadband Daily" to 28882. Then, wait for the following confirmation SMS.

To confirm the subscription, reply the SMS with "Broadband Yes". You will receive another notification SMS if your subcription is successful.

With Celcom daily unlimited broadband service, you can now access the Internet for 24 hours at a fix rate of RM6 only, regardless of the usage.

Then, you need to pair up the Bluetooth connection between your laptop and your smart phone.

After that, run the PC Suite for Sony Ericsson in your laptop. Then, click on the "Mobile Networking Wizard" icon in PC Suite for Sony Ericsson to launch the wizard.

Then, click the "New Connection..." button in the Mobile Networking Wizard. Select Packet Switched Data (GPRS/3G) and click Next. Follow the instructions and you should be able to create a new dial-up connection in your laptop.

Once setup, you can find this dial-up connection in the Windows' Start > Connect To listing. In future, you can connect to internet via your smart phone using Bluetooth with this link and need not go through the Mobile Networking Wizard again.

Although the Internet speed of this kind of Internet connection via Bluetooth to smart phone is at 115.2Kbps only, it is much better than the 56Kbps modem dial-up Internet.

If you are still unable to access to the Internet using 3G/GPRS service, and you have access to a normal telephone line with Telekom homeline service, and your laptop has a built-in modem, you can plug the telephone line into your laptop RJ11 jack, and dial to 1315 (no username nor password required) to get a 56Kbps dial-up Internet, which is pretty slow, especially when accessing https secured websites. The charge for this EZNet 1315 dial-up Internet is 4 sen per minute or RM2.40 per hour.

Google Buzz: Facebook liked social networking feature in GMail

Hot news!

Google is currently introducing a Facebook liked new social networking feature called Google Buzz to their GMail users by phase.

If Google Buzz is already made available to your GMail account, you will see a new menu option named as "Buzz" right below "Inbox" of your GMail menu option list.

You can also access Google Buzz with your smart phone. The interface will be pretty much Twitter liked. The Buzz mobile application is currently available for Android, iPhone, etc. Just visit to buzz.google.com in your phone's browser to install it.


Similar to Facebook and Twitter, you can post a short update about what you are doing or thinking in Buzz, and share it to your selected group of people.

When you see an update from your friend, you can make instant comment on them, which will appear on the Buzz screen of everyone else within the social circle.

You can also showcase and share videos, photos and Web links to interesting stories.

Here is a video introducing the features available in Google Buzz.



Click here to learn more about Google Buzz.

Asia Trader & Investor Convention (ATIC) @ KL 2010

The 5th annual Asia's largest trader and investor event, Asia Trader & Investor Convention (ATIC) 2010 is coming soon.

Date: 20-21 March 2010
Time: 9.00am - 6.00pm
Venue: Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KLCC, Malaysia

It will feature more than 50 English and Mandarin investment seminars, 30 international and local renowned speakers, 40 exhibitors and 15,000-20,000 targeted investors.

Some of the feature speakers including:

• Daryl Guppy - Founder & Director of Guppytraders.com
• Alan Hull - Creator of the Hull Moving Average (HMA)
• Alan Oliver - Private Trader
• Dar Wong 黄达 - Founder of PWforex.com
• Don Schellenberg - Founder of Master Money Traders
• Benny Lee - Chief Market Strategist
• Mark Laudi - CEO of Investor Central
• Renesial Leong 梁彩桃 - Property Investor
• G.M. Teoh - Technical Analyst
• Dr. Jeffrey Chiew - Asia Chairman of IARFC
• Carol Yip 叶凯蓉 - Founder of Abacus For Money
• William Wermine - Fund Manager Rep
• Chan Ai Cheng - General Manager of S.K. Brothers Realty
• Stewart LaBrooy - Director of Axis REIT Managers Berhad
• Alan Voon 温世麟 - CEO of Warrants Capital
• Fred Tam - Principal Lecturer in CFTA at Open University Malaysia
• Dr. Nazri Khan - Chief Technical Analyst of MIMB Investment Bank
• Mirriam MacWilliams - Chief Trainer of Wealth Mentors Sdn Bhd
• David Yuen - Teraoptions Management Sdn Bhd
• David Lo Tuck Wye - Executive Director of HLG Futures Sdn Bhd

We see there are more lady speakers in this year than 2009.

This event is endorsed/supported by:

• International Association of Registered Financial Consultants
• Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM)
• Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC)
• Malaysian Venture Capital And Private Equity Association
• Malaysia Futures Brokers Association (MFBA)
• Persatuan Wakil Niaga Saham Malaysia (PERSAMA)
• Persatuan Remisier Bumiputra (PRIBUMI)

The early bird entry ticket for this 2 days event is no longer free as 2009, and is charging at RM18.00 (normal price is RM28.00).

Click here for more information about ATIC at KL 2010.

The sextuple constraint of scope, time, cost, quality, risk and resource

If you have been involved in any kind of project management, be it in business or personal, you might have known about the famous triple constraint of project management, with the following general formula:

Quality = f(Scope, Time, Cost)

It is a simple rule of concept that says:

• To get the product with quality of your expectation, you have to at least plan carefully for the scope of work, time schedule and cost allocation.
• In order to maintain the same quality, any change to one of the 3 factors will need an adjustment to the remaining 2 of them. The 3 constraints are inter-dependent.
• If you want to adjust your quality expectation (either better or lower), then you can also adjust factors of scope, time and cost accordingly.

This is a very powerful concept commonly used during project planning, project monitoring and change management. It is used to assess the viability and to balance the trade-off factors.

For example, it is generally true that if you want to achieve a wide scope with little cost and time, you have to compromise on the quality expectation.

This triple constraint has been expanded to sextuple constraint in modern project management literature. They are: scope, time, cost, quality, risk and resource.

The risk factor is crucial because if it is not well managed, it will affect the other factors as well. Risk management comes in as preventive measure to safeguard the planned time schedule, cost, quality and resource allocated for the specific scope.

Resource is also an important factor. For example, with better resource on hand, you might be able to achieve the scope of quality with less time, cost and risk.

It is a good practise to always refer to the sextuple constraint for planning, managing and making changes to projects, so that our expectation is more realistic and success is viable.

You might want to use it in some of these projects which most of us will surely encounter during our life voyage:

• Education planning
• Wedding planning
• Parenthood planning
• Buying a house
• House renovation and/or decoration
• Travel planning
• Retirement planning
• ...

And of course, this is always applied to project management at work, including:

• Software development
• Building development
• Business development
• Operations planning
• Change/Restructuring management
• ...

CSC Steel made record high earnings in FY2009

CSC Steel (5094, CSCSTEL 中钢马来西亚, formerly known as Ornasteel), a subsidiary of China Steel Corporation of Taiwan (中钢公司) which produces flat steel products, is always well known for its excellent cash flow management.

Its unaudited 4th quarter financial result for 2009 announced today is very promising. Despite a comparatively lower revenue made during the challenging year of 2009, CSC Steel has successfully made record high in its operating profit, EBITA, profit after tax and NTA. The EPS of 24.42 sen has outperformed the expectation of all research firms, which majority estimate it to be around 20 sen only. Its cash on hand also soars to a new height of RM312 million.

The board of directors has proposed for a 20 sen dividend, which is also a record high in DY since its listing.

With its unaudited EPS of 24.42 sen and closing price of RM1.53 on 5 Feb 2010, its PE stood at a low point of 6.27 although its share price has risen above 50% within the past 1 year period.

The proposed 20 sen dividend will give a high DY of 13.07%.

The domestic steel demand and prices of steel products started to recover in December 2009 as the steel demand in China rebounded strongly after falling steel prices since October 2009. This improved market sentiment is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2010 as downstream steel industries are back to the market for re-stocking activities. The management of CSC Steel is optimistic that the first half of 2010 will continue to be positive.

Congratulation to the 6000+ shareholders of CSC Steel holding its 373 million shares (about 7 million of its 380 million shares are sitting in its treasury account due to buy back exercise).

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.


Click here to read my other article about this stock counter, written about 2 years ago.

The oriental culture of gift economy

Now is the new year gift session, and traditionally it is a norm for oriental businesses to send greeting card or gift to their loyal clients, partners, principals, suppliers, staffs, etc. This could also be in the form of lunch and/or dinner invitation.

The oriental gift culture, especially during new year time, is a form of social appreciation and thanksgiving to the people and entities who help or involve in the business making.

Gift economy (送礼文化) and the underlying spirit of gift governance (礼治精神) has always been in the core position in traditional Chinese culture. The basic principle is that whenever we received a gift, we must also respond with a returned gift (礼尚往来). From here, the harmonious relationship strengthen.

Note that the government in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and some other regions have come out with guidelines and rules to govern the gift economy, especially applied to civil departments. The value of the gift should not exceed a certain limit, or else it could be viewed as a form of corruption.

Normally, calendar, planner book, small stationeries, small electronic gadgets, etc. with the company info imprinted are common gifts specially made for this purpose.

The oriental culture of gift economy is a kind of crucial business activity, particularly in Asia-Pacific region. The business owners and their senior executives ought to practice well in this, in order to facilitate their money making business.

Earth Hour @ 20:30 Saturday 27 March 2010

The Earth Hour campaign which started in Sydney in 2007 is now entering its 4th year. It is reported that hundreds of millions of people around the world has supported in Earth Hour 2009 last year.

You can participate in the worldwide Earth Hour 2010 campaign by switching off all the non-essential lights for 60 minutes by Saturday 27 March 2010, 8.30pm sharp.


No doubt WWF has successfully made Earth Hour a global moment for many people to participate and turn off their lights during the historical moment.

However, what happened after that 60 minutes? Did WWF raise enough awareness to us of global climate change issues? Did we made any changes to our day-to-day habit after participated in that 60 minutes Earth Hour?

Why people in the soutern hemisphere started to see so many iceburgs floating around the ocean far away from the Antarctica? Why people in the northern hemisphere is experiencing the coolest winter season now?

I believe that supporting Earth Hour is not only for that 60 minutes moment. After that, we should be more awared of the issue that suppose to be brought up in this campaign, and act accordingly to reduce the burden of Mother Earth whenever we can.

Earth Hour should remain as a serious matter, and not merely becoming another celebration event of the year.

Here is the official Earth Hour 2010 video:


Click here to visit the official website of Earth Hour.

Singapore ranked as #1 economy in ease of doing business

Out of the 183 worldwide economies analysed in the Doing Business 2010 Report by World Bank, IFC and Palgrave MacMillan, Singapore is again the champion in ease of doing business (it was #1 in 2009 Report too).

A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is conducive to the operation of business. This index averages the economy's percentile rankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, with equal weight:

• Starting a business
• Dealing with construction permits
• Employing workers
• Registering property
• Getting credit
• Protecting investors
• Paying taxes
• Trading across borders
• Enforcing contracts
• Closing a business

The top 30 economies are:

• 1. Singapore
• 2. New Zealand
• 3. Hong Kong
• 4. United States
• 5. United Kingdom
• 6. Denmark
• 7. Ireland
• 8. Canada
• 9. Australia
• 10. Norway
• 11. Georgia
• 12. Thailand
• 13. Saudi Arabia
• 14. Iceland
• 15. Japan
• 16. Finland
• 17. Mauritius
• 18. Sweden
• 19. Korea, Rep.
• 20. Bahrain
• 21. Switzerland
• 22. Belgium
• 23. Malaysia
• 24. Estonia
• 25. Germany
• 26. Lithuania
• 27. Latvia
• 28. Austria
• 29. Israel
• 30. Netherlands

Malaysia (ranked 23rd) has top ranking in getting credit and protecting investors, but laggard in starting a business, dealing with construction permits and registering property.

Click here for the complete list of ranking across the 183 economies.

Doing Business 2010 Report by World Bank, IFC and Palgrave MacMillan

The World Bank, IFC and Palgrave MacMillan have co-published their 7th Doing Business annual report for 2010 with the theme "Reforming Through Difficult Times".

This comprehensive 231 pages report presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies.

It measures, in detail, various regulations that affect the 10 stages of the business life-cycle applicable to the respective domestic small and medium-size enterprises, as follow:

• Starting a business
• Dealing with construction permits
• Employing workers
• Registering property
• Getting credit
• Protecting investors
• Paying taxes
• Trading across borders
• Enforcing contracts
• Closing a business

2 types of data are analysed, namely:

• The laws and regulations
• Time and motion indicators that measure the efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal

This report is worth reading as it provides valuable benchmarking and ranking information in business friendliness and reforming competitiveness of the 183 economies.

Don't be surprised to know that the top reformer of the year is a Sub-Saharan African economy, Rwanda.

Click here to download the full report of Doing Business 2010.

Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) roadmap towards Vision 2020 unveiled

On 28 Jan 2010, the detailed roadmap of Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) was unveiled.

This GTP roadmap is crucial to catch up the progress to reach Vision 2020 in time, and it is indeed well written. It is better late than none that, after almost 2 decades Vision 2020 launched, and only left with 1 decade to fulfil, finally the government come out with a more solid action plan on how to achieve the vision.

The GTP roadmap details the objectives, outcomes and the initial set of actions in areas identified as National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) and Ministerial Key Result Areas (MKRAs, mentioned in Budget 2010 speech).

The NKRAs cover 6 areas which have been the long time concerns (and frustrations) of the citizens:

• Reducing crime
• Fighting corruption
• Improving student outcomes
• Raising living standards of low-income households
• Improving rural basic infrastructure
• Improving urban public transport

Since his ruling, Najib has come out with a few propagandas and slogans such as 1Malaysia, NKRAa, MKRAs, MKPIs, GTP, etc. It is hope that they put real action in it towards a real transformation and a better future, if not, probably we should elect for an alternative ruling party to bring in the long awaited transformation (perhaps... reformation).

Click here to visit the official website of GTP.

Click here to download the GTP Roadmap documents.

11 principle elements of a good manager

There are many perspective to view someone as a good manager. The following 11 principle elements of a good manager are listed in a management course I've attended, which I find the list is a good measurement as well as direction.

• Know yourself and seek self-improvement
• Be technically proficient and know your job well
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Set the example and be a good role model
• Know your people and look out for their well-being
• Keep your workers informed
• Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers
• Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished
• Train as a real team, not just a group of people
• Use the full capabilities of your organization by developing a team spirit

Good manager are made, not born. Therefore, we should develop ourselves to be better and better.

Show PageRank and Alexa ranking of websites in status bar of Firefox / SeaMonkey / IE with SearchStatus

By using the SearchStatus add-on, you can show at the status bar of your browser, the Google PageRank and Alexa popularity ranking of all the websites you are browsing.

This allows you to have a rough idea about the website's link importance and traffic importance, which is referenced by major search engines and Internet advertising services.

It could be useful to bloggers and webmasters in improving SEO for their websites. For example, you might want to get the high ranking websites to link to your own website, and SearchStatus can immediately tell you if the website you are visiting is of high ranking or not.

SearchStatus is available as add-in extension for Firefox and SeaMonkey. Beside Google PageRank and Alexa popularity ranking, it can also show the Compete.com ranking and SEOmoz Linkscape mozRank as well. It is also able to provide many Internet search related information of the website through its extensive menu items.

For Internet Explorer users, SearchStatus is included as a plug-in in the IE7Pro add-on. IE7Pro is a very famous plug-in which can be used in IE 6, IE 7 or IE 8 to enhance tremendously the IE features and usability.

Note that the last version of IE7Pro is 2.4.7, released on 16 Sep 2009. Its development and maintenance has stopped at this point.

The SearchStatus plug-in in IE7Pro is not on by default, but it is very simple to turn it on and include it in the IE's status bar.

Note that in order to gather information to produce the ranking statistic:

• Google PageRank sends your current URL and a hash of it to Google
• Alexa ranking sends your current URL domain, your local IP address and a unique constant to Alexa Web Services
• Compete ranking sends your current domain and a unique constant to Compete
• Linkscape ranking sends your current URL to Linkscape.

Click here for more information and download of SearchStatus for Firefox and SeaMonkey.

Click here for more information and download of IE7Pro for Internet Explorer.

You are welcomed to inform me if there are similar tools for other browsers such as Chrome, Opera, Safari, etc.

2nd Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2010

Preceding to the great success of the 1st Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta last year, here come the 2nd event with more colourful and attractive balloons to fly up in Putrajaya.

Theme: 1World, 1Malaysia, 1Fiesta
Date: 18-21 March 2010
Time: 7am - 9pm
Venue: Precinct 2 (adjacent to the Monument Alaf Baru), Putrajaya, Malaysia

Activities include:

• Balloon fun fly
• Photographing sessions
• Para motor showcase
• Children colouring contest
• Remote control flying aircraft display
• Paper airplane contest
• Tethered balloon display
• Kite flying exhibition
• Night glow (fireworks display)
• Sphere rides and Waterball rides
• Inflatables / bouncing world
• Lake Cruise by Cruise Tasik Putrajaya
• Auto show
• Bazaar
• and more...
  

Click here to visit the official website of the 2nd Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2010.

InfoSecurity Professionals Hi-tea Networking @ PWTC

CyberSecurity Malaysia is going to organize an information security networking forum and cocktail event to provide Information Security practitioners an avenue to collaborate and sharing knowledge, enabling them to keep abreast with the latest industry trends and development.

It is also a platform for strengthening the ability to protect information assets from the ever-changing cyber threat vectors.

Theme: Shifting Cyber Landscape; Gearing towards Innovation
Date: 8 February 2010 (Monday)
Time: 3:00 PM - 6:00PM
Venue: PWTC Kuala Lumpur
Entrance Fees: RM 100.00

Topics:

• "Significance of mitigating Cyber Threats towards Malaysian economy" by Lt. Col(R) Husin Jazri, CEO of CyberSecurity Malaysia
• "Information Security: getting the balance right" by Professor Fred Piper, Royal Holloway, University of London
• "The Enterprise IT Security Landscape and Latest Trends in Research" by Dr. Gobi Kurup, CTO, Extol MSC

For participants with information security professional qualifications from recognized bodies, CPE points will be awarded based on the terms and conditions set forth by the respective certifying bodies.

Click here to register for the InfoSecurity Professionals Hi-tea Networking event.

Filter and block unwanted phone calls / SMS / MMS with MCleaner

It seems that nowadays there are more and more unsolicited calls from telemarketer, as well as spam SMS flying around. I use MCleaner to tackle them.

MCleaner is a shareware firewall for smart phones, able to filter short messages (SMS), multimedia messages (MMS), push messages, wap bookmark as well as incoming calls. This will keep you away from disturbance of spam messages, harassing calls, etc.

MCleaner can be installed in smart phones running on UIQ3, Symbian S60, Linux, iPhone, etc. There are different version for different OS, with different user interface but similarity in features and functions.

Filtering is processed by rulesets in your Whitelist and Blacklist, as well as your mobile phone's Contact list.

There are 4 blocking modes available:

• Phone busy tone
• Mute ringtone
• Busy and reply SMS
• Divert call to another number

If you want to reject incoming call/SMS/MMS at a specified period only, this can be done with the Scheduler. For example, you can block all stranger calls in midnight, yet still allowing calls from those in your Whitelist and Contact list.

MCleaner is able to auto-start when your phone is power on, and automatically run the blocking service in the background. It can show an alert icon when there is any blocked call or message.

• Click here for more information about MCleaner for iPhone.
• Click here for more information about MCleaner for other phones.
  
• Click here to download the user manual of MCleaner for UIQ3.
• Click here to download the user manual of MCleaner for S60.
• Click here to download the user manual of MCleaner for iPhone.
• Click here to download the user manual of MCleaner for Motorola.

Shell Malaysia 2010 Scholarship for tertiary education

Every year, Shell Malaysia provides scholarships to offer financial support for qualified students study in universities locally and abroad.


They are currently accepting scholarship application for full-time undergraduate studies tenable at recognized universities in Malaysia or overseas, and Pre-University studies in Malaysia.

Eligibility:

Students who have completed their SPM/O-Level, STPM/A-Level/Foundation Year/Diploma or currently in their final semester of Matriculation studies or in the University (IPTA/IPTS)

Conditions:

• Excellent academic achievement with emphasis in English
• Demonstration of leadership skills through active participation in extra-curricular activities
• Strong academic record and realistic expectation of a high CGPA or its equivalent

Preferred disciplines for scholarships:

• Engineering (Petroleum, Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical)
• Sciences (Geosciences, Chemistry and Physics)
• Business Administration / Economics
• Finance & Accounting
• IT (includes Business/ Management IT)
• Master of Science (MsC) in Geosciences

Closing date:

30 March 2010

Click here for more information about Shell Malaysia 2010 Scholarship programme.

How the PCB for bonus is calculated

The Potongan Cukai Bulanan (PCB, a.k.a. Scheduled Monthly Tax Deduction) calculation for bonus is not so straight forward.

Here is how it will be calculated.

Assuming you are not married, your monthly salary is RM4,000, you are contributing 11% from your salary to your EPF savings, and you received 2 months bonus in January 2010.

Salary = RM4,000
EPF deduction = RM440 (maximum total EPF deduction allowed for PCB calculation is only RM500, therefore available balance left is RM500 - RM440 = RM60)
Salary to calculate PCB
= Gross salary - EPF deduction
= RM4,000 - RM440
= RM3,560

PCB 2010 according to table for RM3,560 = RM87

2 months bonus = RM8,000
EPF deduction = RM880
Maximum available EPF deduction for PCB calculation = RM500 - RM440 = RM60
Therefore, the EPF deduction should be RM60 instead of RM880

Bonus to calculate PCB
= Gross bonus - EPF deduction left
= RM8,000 - RM60
= RM7,940

The amount for bonus PCB calculation has a formula like this:
(1/12 x net_bonus) + net_salary

Therefore, amount
= (1/12 x RM7,940) + RM3,560
= RM4,221.67

PCB 2010 according to table for RM4,221.67 = RM194

PCB for bonus = (RM194 - RM87) x 12 = RM1,284

Total PCB for the month
= PCB for salary + PCB for bonus
= RM87 + RM1,284
= RM1,371

Therefore, for the month with bonus:
Gross salary+bonus = RM12,000
EPF contribution from employee @ 11% = RM1,320
EPF contribution from employer @ 12% = RM1,440
SOCSO contribution from employee = RM14.75
SOCSO contribution from employer = RM51.65
PCB deduction = RM1,371
Amount you'll get = RM12,000 - RM1,371 - RM14.75 - RM1,320 = RM9,294.25

Check your payslip for that.

PCB 2010 income tax deduction rate

For your information, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (a.k.a. Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri, LHDN) has come out a new Potongan Cukai Bulanan (PCB, a.k.a. Scheduled Monthly Tax Deduction) 2010 rate.

The monthly salary deduction amount, across all taxable income categories, is now slightly lesser than the previous PCB 2009 rate.

According to the previous 2009 rate, unmarried person earning monthly income of RM2,401 and above will be taxable, and the PCB deduction for them is RM13.

With the new 2010 rate, unmarried person will be taxable only when their monthly income exceeding RM2,451, and the PCB deduction for them is RM10 (previously was RM16 under PCB 2009).

Click here to download the new Jadual PCB 2010 schedule table.

Click here to download the previous Jadual PCB 2009 schedule table.

You might probably be interested to read about:

• How the PCB for bonus is calculated 

Redbook pamphlet: know your rights when stopped by police

When you are stopped or visited by somebody who claims to be police, how should you identify if the person is an authorized police or a faked one? What should you respond and what is your basic rights?

The Malaysian Bar (Badan Peguam Malaysia) published the famous Red Book: Police and Your Basic Rights (Polis Dan Hak-hak Asas Anda) in 2006 to inform citizens and non-citizens in Malaysia of their basic rights vis-à-vis the police.

Further to the overwhelming respond to the Red Book, they've then produced a 2 pages Redbook Pamphlet that outlines the powers of the police in relation to arrests, body searches and the remand process, and the public’s rights when stopped and questioned, and during detention.


The flowchart below is produced based on the information regarding public’s rights when stopped and questioned by police.
 

Make sure you ask for the Police Authority Card (Kad Kuasa Polis) from the officer when stopped. There are 4 different possible colours:

• Blue: Rank of Inspector and above
• Yellow: Below the rank of Inspector
• White: Reserve police
• Red: Suspended Police Officer. He has no authority to do anything to you. Walk away.

Here is how the blue and yellow cards look like...

Click here to download the Redbook pamphlet from Malaysian Bar (English).
Click here to download the Redbook pamphlet from Malaysian Bar (Malay).

I have just won RM15,000 cash! (scam SMS)

Just received an SMS from a number +60145512667 (a Celcom number huh!) saying that I've won RM15,000 cash. I wonder how they got my number, or they just send by random?

Well, this is it...

It is a very obvious scam SMS which trap their ignorance and greedy victims.

• From the commercial point of view, no company will give you large amount of money for no reason. Do you notice that those genuine commercial contests will require you to buy something from them, or read their advertisement, or do something for them (such as promoting them, etc.) or at least fill up a form (and thus... give your detail to their marketing department), before you can even join the contest and have a very limited chance to win?
• This SMS is full of spelling, grammar, punctuation mistakes. If want to scam also write properly lah!
• If a company requires you to call a number, it is always either a toll-free line, or a fixed line. You must get very suspicious if they ask you to call a mobile line, and don't even provide a name of the person at the other end.
  
• If they make use of some commonly known company name, such as Power Root, you can always call their office to check. Obtain their office number from their official website or trusted printed media, instead of the one provided in the SMS.
• If you still believe that you are so lucky to win, you can call in the number, but remember not to bank in even a single cent of money to them, not to disclose too much personal detail, especially not to disclose any of your bank number. If you want to accept the prize, make preference to walk in their office and receive a cheque, or receive by Paypal.

Expenses to enroll a kid in Montessori pre-school in Klang Valley

My kid is now attending a nearby half-day Montessori pre-school this year, and here are the expenses we've spent so far:

• Registration: RM60
• 2 x uniform + 2 x sports wear: RM180
• Insurance: RM20 / year
• Kids Gazette: RM20 / year
• Misc. fees: RM550 / year
• Personal reading books (3 languages): RM30
• School bag: RM50
• 2-way transportation by MPV: RM90 / month
• Monthly fee: RM230 (need to pay 2 months during enrolment = RM460)

Total spent during enrolment = RM1,460
Subsequent months = RM320

The pre-school education is really very expensive in Klang Valley, and parents need to spend a lot during enrolment and for each subsequent months.

We've decided to let our kid attend the Montessori pre-school programme so that he can learn and master the 3 neccessary languages commonly used in Malaysia: English, Chinese and Malay. At the same time, it provides opportunity for him to play around with classmates from different ethics of Chinese, Indian and Malay.

Therefore, although the pre-school education is really very expensive, we still have to spend it.

PS: We feel sad that there are still some political gaffes trying to separate people from different ethics and/or religions who live in this same piece of land for so many years, and we really hope that our current and next generation can mix and unite together as Malaysian. Those political gaffes who like to create issue and tension should feel shameful to see the little boys and girls of young age can befriend and play around with each other without separation of ethics or religion.

Extension and renewal of Malaysia leasehold land tenure

If you are planning to buy, or are already the owner of, a property built on leasehold land, you might be wondering (or worrying) about what will happen and what should you do when the tenure of your leasehold land going to expire in the future.

In fact, the tenure can be renewed and extended to another 30, 60 or 99 years.

The following info are obtained from the National House Buyers Association.

Section 197 of the National Land Code 1965 (Act 56 of 1965) governs the extension of land leases.

Before applying for an extension, the lease must be firstly surrendered back to the state government. Then, both the property developer and leasehold land owner(s) have to submit the Permohonan Serahbalik dan Mohon Semula Tanah Untuk Tujuan Melanjutkan Tempoh Pajakan form, together will all the required photocopied documents such as land title, site plan, quit rent receipt, assessment receipt, etc. to the state's land office.

If the lease already expired, the form need to submit will be Permohonan Pemberimilikan Tanah (Application for Land Re-alienation) instead.

The land will then be checked by a settlement officer, who will then submit a report to exco for approval.

After approval, the land will need to go through re-alienation process by the land administrator.

If the re-alienation is approved, the land office will issue a Notice that Land Revenue is Due (Form 5A) to the property owner to pay a premium.

The premium charged is based on a formula factoring the following into calculation:

• Premium rate (in percentage)
• Land size
• Market value per square feet
• Lease tenure period

For example, the renewal premium for a residential land at rate of 0.5% of size 25 x 80 with market value of RM20 psf for 99 years is:

0.5% x 25 x 80 x RM20 x 99 = RM19,800 (RM200 per year).

The land valuation is done by the Valuation and Property Services Department of Finance Ministry, and is based on the latest transaction values in the area.

If the owner feel that the premium is too high, he has the option to appeal to the state government for a reduction.

Upon payment of the premium, the land office will get the land title ready and inform the property owner when it is ready for collection.


If the owner does not renew the land tenure and let it expire, the land will revert back to the state government, and be available to anyone to apply for its new ownership.

Jobs Rated 2010: 20 best and 20 worst jobs of the year

CareerCast's Jobs Rated 2010 Report has made a ranking for 200 jobs from best to worst using a comprehensive analysis methodology covering the aspects of:

• Environment
• Income
• Outlook
• Stress
• Physical Demands

The resulting 20 best jobs of 2010 are:

• 1. Actuary ($85,229)
  
• 2. Software Engineer ($85,139)
  
• 3. Computer Systems Analyst ($76,162)
  
• 4. Biologist ($71,279)
  
• 5. Historian ($62,226)
  
• 6. Mathematician ($95,161)
  
• 7. Paralegal Assistant ($46,152)
  
• 8. Statistician ($73,193)
  
• 9. Accountant ($59,176)
  
• 10. Dental Hygienist ($67,107)
  
• 11. Philosopher ($60,218)
  
• 12. Meteorologist ($81,226)
  
• 13. Technical Writer ($62,162)
  
• 14. Bank Officer ($88,217)
  
• 15. Web Developer ($60,090)
  
• 16. Industrial Engineer ($74,123)
  
• 17. Financial Planner ($59,353)
  
• 18. Aerospace Engineer ($93,133)
  
• 19. Pharmacist ($106,070)
  
• 20. Medical Records Technician ($31,150)
  

Click here to see the slideshow for The 10 Best Jobs of 2010 with their pros and cons information.

The resulting 20 worst jobs of 2010 are:

• 1. Roustabout ($31,133)
  
• 2. Lumberjack ($32,114)
  
• 3. Ironworker ($32,123)
• 4. Dairy Farmer ($32,114)
• 5. Welder ($34,122)
• 6. Garbage Collector ($31,183)
• 7. Taxi Driver ($22,113)
• 8. Construction Worker (Laborer) ($29,200)
• 9. Meter Reader ($33,170)
• 10. Mail Carrier ($50,041)
• 11. Butcher ($28,150)
• 12. Photojournalist ($28,275)
• 13. Firefighter ($44,227)
• 14. Sheet Metal Worker ($40,208)
• 15. Emergency Medical Technician ($29,158)
• 16. Stevedore ($38,182)
• 17. Reporter (Newspaper) ($35,285)
• 18. Sailor ($34,148)
• 19. Machinist ($36,150)
• 20. Choreographer ($39,272)

Click here to see the slideshow for The 10 Worst Jobs of 2010 with their pros and cons information.

The figure in the brackets above is the median income for the corresponding job.

Taiwan innovative handmade edible paper

For the 1st post in 2010, I would like to share with you an interesting and good news from Taiwan.

Taiwanese couple Huang Huan-chang (黄焕彰) and Wu Shu-li (吴淑丽) who own the Kuanghsing Paper Factory (广兴纸寮) in Puli (埔里) started to make new environmentally friendly and edible paper products from an incredible variety of plants since 2007.

The ingredients of their creative handmade edible papers include water bamboo, bittervine, okra, pineapple, coffee grounds, sugar cane dross, paddy waste, peppers, onions, carrots, moss, grass, etc.

They have just showcased over 100 types of edible paper varieties at the "Paper Loves Taiwan – Top 100" (纸爱台湾 - 荣耀 100) exhibition on 23 December 2009.

Huang says the bittervine (薇甘菊) has severely damaged Taiwan landscape like a "green cancer", a name by which it is known in Chinese. They have successfully transform it into lovely art paper suitable for handicrafts or wrapping gifts, and can also be used for making decorations, CD covers and other projects, turning the "green cancer" into "green gold".

The couple also turns okra, peppers, tangerines and even radishes into natural, edible wrappings, without adding any traditional paper pulp at all. This type of edible paper can be used to wrap food for deep-frying, yielding a product that is both safe and delicious.