Raya Visit With Sandra

Rendang Ayam

Hari Raya bersama Hj.Moidu sekeluarga.

Visited Haji Moidu .

This year we were accorded the privilege of spending time over breakfast with Hj. Moidu and his family in his home as his visitor's and well wishers slowly dropped in one by one. In his usual style, Hj.Moidu entertained each and every well wisher of his clan and associates a very welcomed hari raya  with blessings for the coming year and providing everyone a sumptuous breakfast of local favorites.

Hari Raya open house during Breakfast @ Moidu's

Over cups of very tasty coffee we talked and reminisced of events leading up to the year in good spirit and much nostalgia. My mother in law even insisted this year that we include her in during our visit here as she enjoys the food and camarederie very much.

Sayur Lodeh

Sandra popped in just as we were about to leave as his relatives started coming over, giving us some time to say Hello followed by Good Bye immediately! Moidu was happy with all his visitors as he was busy making sure everybody had their plates full and were satiated.

Dodol !

Iddiyapum

Kueh Lapis

Nasi Impit dengan  Sos Kacang

                                             
                                                  A very good start to a beautiful Holiday.

Sunny Saturday Visiting Jonker Street side roads

Foccacia bread with salad and chicken strips in tomato garnish. Accompanied by Lavazza cuppacino. (Bliss!)

Visited Haji Moidu in Heeren Street after Breakfast.

Towards A Prosperous Nation?

PETALING JAYA, (themalaymailonline) : 

 ― Putrajaya is artificially keeping the poverty index low by only classifying households earning below RM700 a month as poor, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said today.

The Lembah Pantai MP said this put Malaysians earning just above RM700 a month at risk of missing out on government aid as they fall outside the strict official definition of poverty.

“The method used to define the poverty line is no longer sufficient to explain poverty here, in fact it gives a false picture, especially when the government refuses to redefine that line,” Nurul told a press conference at the party's headquarters here.

With the subsidy roll backs and the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) next year, disposable wage for middle income earners would drop from 28 per cent to 21 per cent by 2020, which is staggering low compared to South Korea's 45.8 per cent and Singapore's 42 per cent, Nurul Izzah argued.

Citing a report by University Malaya's poverty research unit, she pointed out that Malaysia's poverty rate would return to the pre-New Economic Model period where the income gap was wider.

The report, published last month, cautioned that subsidy cuts would impact Malay households the most. It would also increase poverty rates among Chinese and Indians in rural areas.

The report suggested that fuel subsidy cuts would increase poverty rate among urban Bumiputera to 37.5 per cent and 23 per cent for rural Bumiputera.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/low-threshold-masking-true-scale-of-poverty-in-malaysia-says-nurul-izzah#sthash.SbF73Xq3.dpuf

Malaysia's inequality higher than China, Uganda, affirmative action blamed

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CATEGORY: NEWS

Published on Thursday, 24 July 2014 11:06

Written by Mirror On The Wall

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The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) says Malaysians in the bottom 40% have fallen on hard times.

In a report, the UNDP said that Malaysia is on the high end of the inequality spectrum.

According to the Human Development Report 2014 released in Tokyo, it said that this is despite the country ranking 62 out of the 168 studied.

The report says that growth in consumption for the poorest 40 percent in Malaysia is much slower compared to the general population.

The bottom 40 percent's consumption grew by about eight percent between 2005 to 2010, while the population's consumption grew by about 14 percent in the same period.

This is worse than China and Uganda, which the report said also has high and rising inequality.

For example, consumption growth in China for the poorest 40 percent is about eight percent, compared to the population's consumption growth of eight percent for the same period.

Inequality, the report says, can lead to conflict and violence especially if it prosperity is only reported in certain sections of community.

However, it said Malaysia has in place policies, which has helped address inequality, like redistribution of government-owned land, restriction of land ownership and public sector employment quota.

Affirmative action taking its toll

Such policies, however, had "unintended consequences", the report says, including the exodus of a million highly-skilled Malaysians mostly due to pro-bumiputera policies.

Most of the emigrants, the report said, are ethnic Chinese and highly-educated.

It said that 60 percent of skilled Malaysian emigrants "cited social injustice as an important reason for leaving".

"The positive discrimination policies favouring the ethnic Malays, or bumiputeras, in Malaysia over the dominant Chinese and minority Indian populations have improved their access to education and jobs and helped them more fully realize their economic potential.

"Yet Malaysia's Chinese and Indian minority citizens chafe at 70 percent quotas in university admissions, flocking instead to private and foreign schools and often staying away from the country."

Malaysia's inequality higher than China, Uganda, affirmative action blamed

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) says Malaysians in the bottom 40% have fallen on hard times.
In a report, the UNDP said that  Malaysia is on the high end of the inequality spectrum.
According to the Human Development Report 2014 released in Tokyo, it said that this is despite the country ranking 62 out of the 168 studied.

Report says that growth in consumption for the poorest 40 percent in Malaysia is much slower compared to the general population.

The bottom 40 percent's consumption grew by about eight percent between 2005 to 2010, while the population's consumption grew by about 14 percent in the same period.

This is worse than China and Uganda, which the report said also has high and rising inequality.

For example, consumption growth in China for the poorest 40 percent is about eight percent, compared to the population's consumption growth of eight percent for the same period.

Inequality, the report says, can lead to conflict and violence especially if it prosperity is only reported in certain sections of community.

However, it said Malaysia has in place policies, which has helped address inequality, like redistribution of government-owned land, restriction of land ownership and public sector employment quota.

Such policies, however, had "unintended consequences", the report says, including the exodus of a million highly-skilled Malaysians mostly due to pro-bumiputera policies.

Most of the emigrants, the report said, are ethnic Chinese and highly-educated.

It said that 60 percent of skilled Malaysian emigrants "cited social injustice as an important reason for leaving".

"The positive discrimination policies favouring the ethnic Malays, or bumiputeras, in Malaysia over the dominant Chinese and minority Indian populations have improved their access to education and jobs and helped them more fully realize their economic potential.

"Yet Malaysia's Chinese and Indian minority citizens chafe at 70  percent quotas in university admissions, flocking instead to private and foreign schools and often staying away from the country."

In My Observation

Soon we will be preparing to mark 57 years since 1957 – our sovereign pride as an independent and self-ruled nation.

But our political landscape is riddled with divisiveness and fueled with battle-plotting race and religious animosity and suspicions.

Amidst all these, this totally unwanted MH17 tragedy sends a spine-chilling message i.e. that Malaysians must wake up.

Somewhere,somehow we seem to be failing as a united nation in so many ways. 

Life here in Malaysia is all about my job, my salary, my profits, my cuts, my palatial dwelling, my cars, my lifestyles.

The fact that the wage earners are struggling to make ends meet is a clear sign that all the developments and mantras of economic progress are not holding us through in the wake of so many unpredictable unfolding of fragile global scenarios.

Suppose a world war breaks out, how will Malaysians brace themselves? 

Have we given thought to the food and medical supplies that will certainly be the first to buckle when sporadic flash-wars break out between so many countries across the oceans?

We need to be seen as one nation. 

We need to feel as one nation. 

We need to be a one nation in thought, word and deed.

Our leaders seem to project that the perpetrators that shot down MH17 will be identified and we have the capacity to bring them to book. That is plain rhetoric and a lot of hot air. 

(When an Iranian Airbus passenger plane was shot down by the American as it ascended over the Persian Gulf, what justice did the victims or the next of kin get?). 

From my observation, our leaders seem to have bought the Western propaganda hook line and sinker that the Ukrainian rebels and Russian did it. 

This is not a clever stand. 

Currently, our investigation team is stranded in Kiev. 

The Ukraine government has not allowed our team access to the crash site simply the rebels is in control of the areas. This is a good excuse for them to impede our investigation.

On the other hand, the rebels saw that we are already bias, and they will be very suspicious of us. 

Our leaders must really sit down and think hard, and be pragmatic. Even though Eastern Ukraine is not a nation, we must recognize who is in control. We must engage them through Russian intermediary to gain access to the crash site. Najib must be the one to see Putin face to face. 

This will show our foreign policy is neutral. 

An earlier report  in May 2014 predicted this type of events might be happening:

http://futurefastforward.com/images/stories/financial/Obama'sFailedAsiaTrip.pdf

What we see in reality could be just another smokescreen by the rich and powerful to maintain their control.

If Najib is very concern with this tragedy and want to see that the victims are brought back for proper burial, he should do away with “berbuka puasa”, handing out “duit raya” and other social functions during this time of national tragedy. This is the time for affirmative action.

If we do not involve the Kiev government and other western vested interest at the crash site, I am sure the rebels will accede to our request.

But be prepared those rebels will monitor our team closely, since we have already shown our biasness and they are afraid that we might plant evidence against them.

Impact of Debt on A Person’s Financial Growth

In my observations and conversation with people (and this rings true with people around the world) interested in money matters, the questions are almost always similar.

Some of the most emotional answers to the questions I give during these conversations are about their constant worry about future growth prospects and how it has to do with their attempts to understand the very different kinds of debt constraints that they face (credit cards, mortgages, personal loans,etc) due to the rat race and ‘keeping face’ socially.

I normally impress upon them that, like any financial management study, there are two important consequences of an Individuals’ current debt burden that will affect their future growth and maybe even their future offspring’s social growth.

Debt is not neutral to happiness and fame, in spite of what much of society and lifestyle magazines’ imply. An excessive debt burden reduces future productivity and employment growth.

The way many Malaysians and people worldwide have failed to recognize that uneconomic investment in ‘Life style choices’ in the past has caused their  current personal / future growth to be in peril, and for similar but opposite reasons will cause their children's educational and social growth in the future to also be understated.

Where Debt is concerned, whether through personal debt or company debt, over the short term anyone can successfully target nearly any success/growth story one chooses to portray to society as long as two conditions are fulfilled. 

First, they must be willing to allow their credit to expand as rapidly as possible to achieve the ‘successful portrayal’ target. 

Second, they must have enough debt capacity for credit to expand at the required rate. This is usually done through smaller incremental monthly payments to various loans and credit card and allowing the overriding interest on each loan to inflate.

Although there is no way to predict with accuracy and certainty the point at which each individual will reach the limits of their debt capacity, I believe where a single, employed or income generating individual is concerned, living by credit expansion and living above your income and being extravagant can continue at most for 3-4 years if BLR (Base lending Rate) is capped at 7%.

Usually though, in my experience individuals will undergo periods of self warning financially that can be subject due to “sudden stops of generated income” owing to unplanned emergency expenses or worse- temporary loss of income and / or job, especially when they are living paycheck to paycheck or when they are surviving by paying only the minimum amount on credit /loans, in which case their sudden financially strapped situation smacks them to take back control of their debts, and in cases like this, debt capacity is eventually limited and controlled over a short period of a few years.

In  other cases though,  we find situations where a significant amount of new debt is used to fund lifestyle choices where the return value financially is zero or in other words; whose economic value is less than the value of the debt, and in which the lesson that should have been learned is not recognized and written down, and their debt capacity limit is reached when income growth is not enough to exceed the acceleration interest payment required in the rolling over of the overall debt.

Even then, different individuals fare differently to the above situation. If that particular individual has a parent or benefactor capable of helping them out of their financial difficulty, the troubles they endure is short lived.

It is a known fact that though the Maximum Debt thresholds in rich families (hence the individual concerned) are much higher than they are in poor families this does not seem to stop individuals from trying to be better Johnny come lately than their neighbors’!

Failure to recognize debt thresholds promises an individual’s future financial ability/ growth will be stunted. 

Again, it is a known fact that once a person stops accumulating debt, their future financial prospects growth will grow exponentially through multiple income variable by the same amount by which it had previously been understated but somehow this lesson is rarely if ever applied.

Debt is not neutral to a person’s financial/economic growth. When a person has “too much” debt, market perceptions of their deteriorating creditworthiness causes others around that individual to change their behavior in certain ways towards that person thus limiting his ability to grow ‘financially’ and that reduced growth will force the individual to further debt to survive thus perpetuating his eventual downfall.

Indirectly it reduces the individual ability or ‘opportunity cost’ to less than what it would have been without the debt. This process and period can be intensely de-motivating and residual to that individual and any family member relying on them.

An individual’s debt burden, in other words, can cause future financial and social growth to drop for two entirely different reasons. First, it can reduce their real value of future economic activity. Second, it will cause a shift in their societal contact and network, from a possible high value network of contacts and /or of growth to understatement of growth through a lower network facility or support structure. 

Together these two effects will cause those persons current and future financial /social growth to drop sharply, although real wealth creation need not drop by nearly as much in the immediate future mainly because they are still young and employable.

One of the key sources of early financial independence for financial growth for any  young individual 20-30 years ago was the training and fear to have high levels of savings from multiple incomes and these were forced unto the individual & their family members whose explicit or unintended consequences was to create a society that constrained itself and its consumption growth. 

As these savings were channeled into productive savings and investment, interest earned and opportunities arose that gave them the opportunity to reinvest the savings and thus income surged and personal wealth was multiplied.

About roughly fifteen years ago, however, what had been a winning strategy turned into its opposite. The combination of life style choices and moral hazard, very low real lending rates, and a powerful political infrastructure built around cheap credit led to a period of massive ‘Upward Lifestyle mis-allocation’ economically speaking.

The consequence was both surging debt and an increasing reliance on continued credit and debt growth to power their social activity.

I have written many times before, why historical precedents should have left us un-surprised that this would happen.

And now, more than ever, individual members of  our society need help and education on Personal Finance and containing our debt burden, the conditions that led to capital and spending mis-allocation must be reversed.

This will not be easy. In our society today, a powerful institutional infrastructure has been built around the existing capital mis-allocation process.

To control this personal capital mis-allocation is to control our personal future through financial knowledge, and one of the ways to evaluate the extent of societies political and economic change in Malaysia (I believe) is precisely by watching reforms in the banking system as they manifest themselves in changes towards the individuals spending & capital mis-allocation process today. 

Sunday HiTea