S7 Penang trip December 2008

12.00 p.m. on 11/12/2008 (Thursday)

Arrival at Bayan Lepas International Airport, Penang Island.


Interpreting the maps.


Lepaking while some were busy negotiating to hire vehicles for our transportation.

It was set. One (1) KIA Pregio- thirteen (13) seater and one (1) PROTON Persona 1.6 at RM950 for three (3) days.

You come to Penang is for no other reason than food, therefore first stop, food. Located near Jalan Kimberly if not mistaken. The asam laksa was quite alright, nothing spectacular about it. Then we went out of the shop to have cendol by the side of the road. It was typical Penang style so to say. Dirty or not its up to personal preference. If fussy don't bother coming to Penang, because it is apparent that dirty and small places serve the best cheap food. Price per bowl of asam laksa is RM3 but small portion. The term very 'cheap food' is no longer valid or inexistence due to te financial meltdown across the globe, catalyst by the fall of the US economy. Well known fact by many.

The cendol outside of the shop. Long queue which means it should be good. Truth is, yea it was damn good. Heavy gula melaka man. (Wasn't sarcastic, it was really good)

The asam laksa lady.


Full exposure to the lense.


You have no idea how hard it is to take a shot out of this brother here. Presenting to all, Mr Gun Wei Chye. haha. Going to get murdered by him. >.<

CX Tan being the loan shark calculating the loot.

The apartment's name was Golden View Apartment. And upon looking out at the apartment's corridor, a wonderful so-called golden roof was spotted about 1km away.

At Gurney Drive walkway. The entire plot of land was full with mud result of the 2006 Tsunami. The water level rises till it reaches below the walkway during the night. Mud skippers were spotted frequently too.

Nice scenery taken. Cool eh!.

Somehow it was terribly polluted as a result of the 2006 Tsunami.

That was our dinner. Located along Gurney Drive walkway. The food is commendable to say the least.

Nicholas Chew (Brown) and Wei Liang.

The car park below the apartment. Quite cool in the sense that it is movable to accommodate more cars by moving up or down. Nevertheless it didn't move throughout our stay in there.

Back at the apartment, Wei Liang is given the hint to Chick.

Chick is moving in to begin.

Wei Liang's turn to see.

Caught both crooks peeping the next room. Never thought they both were such ahem. LOL!
(P/S: There was no untoward incident in the apartment as the next room was not accommodating any super duper hotchick/opposite sex or what!! It was clean for the fact) Wei Liang and Chick were not as what they were. lol joking haha.!!

This feller can sleep 24 hours continuously. He slept nearly most of the journey in Penang. Sleeper by day, Balanar (Night stalker) by night.

All waiting to bath. Bathroom only got two (2).

Li Ter and Jo Wee getting bored of waiting.



Back to the road at 11 p.m. Midnight supper.

Serious wei Roti babi. Actually its French toast fill with minced pork.

Ah Seng: eh mamak apa ada makan kat sini?

Mamak: Mee goreng, nasi lemak, roti canai. What you want sir?

Ah Seng: erm ada roti babi kah?

Mamak: !@#$%^&*&^%$#@!_+

Remember the story?? We tried to on it loud during Mr Woon's specialist maths class. OH! the joy we have. haha

CX, Gun, Chew, Chick & Kee Siang (Left-right)

The first Persona driver fall sick on the first day at Penang. So Chick took over the next day.

10 a.m. on 12/12/2008 (Friday)

Early morning play Big Two (2). Are they Tou San or what!

As usual lining up to bath.

Look at the shoes.

The gambling table added more kakis

Doraemon promotion at Queesbay mall. I think so.

See, told you he's asleep most of the time. Chen Siang...ah...Chen Siang.

At the all time famous three sisters Char Kueh Tiau.

Personally, I didn't find the third sister. Only two (2) was spotted. I don't know la, maybe only but maybe she's not there anymore.

On the way to the Sleeping Buddha temple and the Burmese Temple. They were located side by side.

This was just one of those weird country names in Penang streets. There were even a Jalan Burma and Klinik Singapore.

At one of the beach located at Batu Feringgi.

Nice scenery.

Jo Wee's sandcastle The sand is very moisture therefore the castle can even be build 5 metres away from the shore line.

Everyone was somehow posing automatically for this picture. haha.

Jenny, Chick, Chew, Lam, Tian Wen, Chen Siang & Kee Siang (Left-right)

Warren got the inspiration after visiting the Sleeping Buddha's temple and begin carving out the sand sculpture of a standing Buddha.

Just lepak-ing around the beach.

Warren's buddha sand sculpture.

Christmas decorations outside the hotel that we passed by.

Warren's surpise 19th birthday celebration. It wasn't the the actual day, just that mostly everyone was there at that time so we just celebrate it there and then.

5 p.m. on 13/12/2008 (Saturday)

As usual discussing where to eat.

It takes the whole world's time to decide.

Lok-lok. I got diarroe the next day thanks to this filthy place. After having our dinner we rushed to the airport and were told that the flight has been delayed for an unspecified time.

Overall the entire Penang trip was awesome. It was our annual event for a reunion with fellow S7 from Taylors SAM 2007. Some were abroad during 2008, return to Malaysia during the year end break and we held this gathering to reunite everyone after one (1) year apart. Hopefully next year we will have it again and turn it into a yearly affair. We started with having it at Genting Awana during the mid-second-semester break on August 2007, then Langkawi on the 1st January 2008 and now Penang on the 11th December 2008. Excellente !! Special thanks to Wei Liang for organising this trip despite the hectic schedule of finishing your assignments prior to this trip, Lam; Chick & CX for driving everyone around with the KIA Pregio and PROTON Persona, Warren for his GPS service and everyone for attending this trip.

Institute Jantung Negara (IJN)

To kick start with the continuation of the previous post, I would like to extend my greetings of Merry Christmas to everyone, young and old, sick and healthy, staunch believer of religion and non-believers. Christmas was never an isolated celebration catered only to one religion but a moment of celebration of happiness and joyfulness and certainly togetherness as well. It's the year 2008's Christmas and 2007's Christmas theme of 1 Utama's decorations are still fresh in my mind especially with it's previous toy soldier theme. Nevertheless time passes, even though we are still feeling stuck in a particular time frame. Before the Penang trip goes for a full wave of explanations, I would like to touch on the issue of the government's interest on privatising IJN (Institute Jantung Negara/ National Heart Institution) by selling 51% of it's equity stake in IJN to Sime Darby Berhad. Better or for worse, this is easily summarised as an attempt of pure corruptions by our 'elected' government law makers.
A brief history of IJN. IJN was initially a unit under the wing of the government hospital. It was a unit that was dedicated to heart complication matters. In the year 1989, when former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammad succumbed to a heart complication disease and was warded into the heart unit under the general hospital's wing for a heart bypass. He then realised that this country is lack of a specialised hospital that provides cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery services for Malaysians. After that onwards he begin a plan to institutionalise the heart unit under the government hospital's wing into a full fledged institution that is now called IJN. IJN comprises specialised cardiologist, from cardiac surgeon to cardiologist that are well trained to meet the rising demand of heart medication throughout the nation. The first chairman of IJN was Dr Yahya. Dr Yahya was the doctor that had conducted Mahathir's bypass surgery in the year 1989. Therefore IJN was institutionalised officially in the year 1992 and later incorporated in the year 2005. It is now own by the government under the purview of the Ministry of Finance led by Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister-in-waiting.
The above context are the ''stories'' that are circulated around. How genuine? May the readers decide for themselves, especially with the appointment of Dr Yahya as the first chairman of IJN.
IJN was constructed through the use of public funds that are derived from tax collection. Therefore it would be counter productive to sell it off to Sime Darby Berhad as this moment. The moment when people and I meant rakyat are going through a very hard time to acclimatised the bearish market, the fallout economy, the financial meltdown and everything that America had done which gives and delivered a negative and a horrible outlook to so many average Joes' that are working 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. Like it or not, Najib is compromising with the welfare of the general population. And bloody hell, Najib is capitalising this issue when everyone is having a hard time to make ends meet. We have a whole general population of low-class, low-earning rakyat and he wants to send IJN off. Fuck it, Sime Darby won't give a shit of capitalising their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). What the hell would Sime Darby Berhad wants to buy out IJN if not for the profits. Yes, IJN is a very extremely successful institution that is earning big bucks. IJN doesn't only provide services for the local but also overseas patients. For your information IJN is one of the most advance heart institution in the South East Region. It would be immaterial if IJN do take into consideration the welfare of the low-earning rakyat when the fact is they bloody hell don't. Is Najib hoping to commit suicide because if this privatisation exercise do take off, I swear he'll be out in no time from the government office; from the premier's chair right after the 13th general election. I am harping on this issue is for a particular reason. Non of you people know that I, THUM CHUN HON, was one of the very first young infant heart patient of the IJN unit under the government hospital wing. I did my first operation in the year 1989 (49 das old) and had my picture taken as a commemoration of the successful operation. My parents paid RM5 for both of the operations. Imagine if IJN was a privatised institution during that time, then the heart operation would have cost between RM10,000 - Rm15, 000 each. Imagine now if its privatised, then it would be around RM50,000, and that's for an operation equal to my case. What about the complicated ones? This is not an isolated case, as the welfare of the rakyat must never be compromised at all cost. We paid taxes for it's establishment and we will enjoy the services of it freely. Penang trip postpone to next post. Promise.

Trying times, are they versatile right to the core?

Ticket is settled, AirAsia one-way flight to Melbourne International Airport on the 13th February 2009. Now left the accommodation (still waiting for offer letter) and acceptance (yet to accept). Then *Boom* time flies and I'll be there in Monash University, Caulfield. Can't wait. Much ado I've anticipated the surrounding of the University. No doubt people whom I mix would be by the highest possible rate to be Asians. The Australians would less likely mix with the Asians. Admit it, the issue of racism is not a Malaysian issue but a world pandemic. That's one of the main cause Mr. Obama mounted an astounding victory in the US 2008 Election. Voted for his skin and not for his policies. Many might disagree with me but the facts are clear. There are still no any stimulation plan that is sufficient to counter the growing destruction of the financial crisis. All the while Mr. Obama had just stated "he will" ; "try to" and etc. that doesn't gives us a very clear picture of his major plans to curb the growing concern of a financial meltdown looming anytime during early 2009. What's more when the current situation is proving the date of "judgement day" to arrive as predicted. As I've told Kar Kien while we were in the LRT during our way back from Petaling Street on the 19th November 2008, that what ever companies that we see today, the weak once will be perished during the year 2009, and what ever left in the beginning of 2010 are the really though companies. At first I expected automakers such as General Motors (GM) and Ford might withstand the financial crisis invasion, but looking recently with reports after reports of them begging the US congress to allocate funds from the 700 billion stimulus package for their survival had changed my perception immediately. Moreover GM was never in a very healthy look since the early 2000's. Standard & Poor's, as I've read had degraded GM to BBB+ during the early 2000's which means they're bonds are of near junk bond level. And by the mid of 2005 or so, GM had been degraded to total junk bonds. Recollecting the entire episode since the sub prime mortgage loan crisis or low-doc crisis that had spurred a spiral or domino effect to the entire financial markets landscape, I with no doubt that one day we might hear the collapse of a once mighty automaker player, GM. Unemployment rate in the US had been slowly meeting all time high. Couple of months back, Australian, Rudd government had just announced the lack of workforce and declared that Australia is willing to receive unskilled workers to feed their growing economy appetite, and just a day ago, 20th November 2008, Australia was reported to be on the brink of a might-come recession. So far the third largest economy, European Union, had declared an overall fallout to recession. Previously Singapore was the first to fall into recession with double quarters of contracting economy size. The general method to indicate a recession is when a country reported two (2) consecutive quarters of economy contracting. Downsize in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The whole world is submitting to the treat of the financial crisis. Malaysia as they say might not be affected as bad as the Westerners however, we are still stabilise for the moment only and not long as we are equally dependent to the US economy. China, one of the growing giants of Asia was also reported to be cutting out jobs. If China, a country that had reported double digits of growth since 2000, after liberalising its economy under the premiership of Deng Xiao Ping, and now in the year 2008 reporting a cutting of employment due to its single digit growth would utterly means the whole world is coming to a World War Three in the form of economical crisis. Crude oil had fallen to $USD 55 from a skyrocketed all time high $USD 147 in the month of July. The Malaysia government had initiated their 5th time of petrol ceiling price reduction to RM2 after an all time increase of 40% to RM2.70 in the month of July to combat the overstating crude oil price ($USD 147). Our minister overlooking the petrol prices are had recently declared that our federal government coffers is earning a profit form the overall price reduction. This means we are paying a higher premium for petrol. Consider this example: When crude oil price was $USD 70 per barrel, our petrol pump price was at RM1.92. Since now the crude oil price had fallen to $USD 55 per barrel, wouldn't it be logical for us to pay a petrol pump price that is lower then RM1.92 instead of RM2. The government is taking a very prudence stand to slowly reduce the petrol price not significantly but by intervals to show that the incumbent government is working extremely hard to reduce the rakyat's burden. However I believe the crude oil price per barrel will continue to fall to an all time low because people are more conservative in their spending. The American market for petrol had seen a significant immediate drop. However since demand was dropping, report stated that Oil & Gas players are still continuing investing much of their cash to locate new areas with oil utilising the equipment provided by the oil & gas exploration industry players. With the demand from America drops, GM will need to re-engineer it's products to be more petrol efficient as people/consumer are now more prudence in their spending. Nevertheless, I believe the real testing time for all these companies is during the year 2009. Their resilience to financial meltdown will be tested to its core during 2009. Honda had slashed their estimated profit for 2009. I wish them all the best.

Mistake

I've done a big mistake this whole year, a very very big one!

The funny thing is, they're not educated

I'm delighted to announce I had officially ended my final exam for semester 2 and next stop Monash, Caufield. Not the best choice but its better to have it than not having it besides I've heard I can still transfer to Monash, Clayton in the following semester. It seems that I'm so obsessed with Monash, Clayton. Well the truth is yes I am obsessed with it and I do have the right to be obsessed with it. Monash, Clayton is the flagship of the entire Monash campuses. The reason Monash University is held among the top 50 best universities in the world is also mostly due to Monash, Clayton. Anyway the final paper for today business law (BTW1200) was surprisingly fairly easy. Mayby because it was an open-book paper. My right hand palm is feeling hurt currently because I've been writing and studying since Monday at 5pm till Wednesday 12pm consecutively as I was preparing my notes for bussiness law. It was an open-book (i.e included self-made notes) exam so why want to commit suicide by not preparing any notes. Bring what ever that can bring in for the exam la. You know why I'm still talking about my finals although I did tremendously bad for finance and not so good for other papers as well when normally a reasonable and ordinary undergraduate student or even normal secondary school student would keep shut after the exam when it was done fairly badly? well thats because I'm not satisfied with the way and effort I had contributed druing the exam time. You see some people calls it an irritation or long winded because what is done is done but let me put it this way; if with that particular 'tidak apa' attitude becomes a norm in our daily life than that would be dangerous wouldn't it. Its not a matter of being long winded or what because the way i see it, it is essential to show some concern of something in life but also not to show for the sake of showing for it must be genuine. You put in so much effort in the beginning and then after the exam you go say "I don't want to care anymore". Doesn't it takes away all the credit from all the hardwork poured into it from yourself by yourself. Sounds pretty stupid to me. If you;ve done well than be glad if not, than start doing a post-mortem of it. Can't just let it there and depend whether luck is playing on your side of the game. Come'on grow up and take up some solid responsibility. Luck is NOT always there. No harm doing a post-mortem even if it may sound quite disturbing to know how bad you've done in the exam but thats the price for not doing what you're supposed to do when there was opportunity to do so. I'm NOT A BELIEVER of any religion. Its by law that I'm considered a Christian and NOT by faith. I believe in a world where what ever happens to me is a result of my own doing whether its positively or negatively and it applies to everyone else the way I see it. I do something I'll take the blame and the credit for it. That's a fact of life for me. Like it or not that's the way. Some people say they don't care what people say as long they like it. Well let me tell them this; go ahead with that attitude because I swear you won't get employed by any employer in this world. Who they think they are not to consider other people's feelings and point of view. Maybe you can say that when you're a secondary student but not a primary student (Because that would be dangerous) or an adult. Working or being employed is all about image, and once that image is tarnished then you're no different than dead. Image dictates what others think of us. If they consider us highly, than we will get what we deserve. Imagine if your attitude is but of an asshole's attitude and is well-known by many, man! I certainly won't hire you even if you're smart ass and I doubt other will as well. To those who are unawakened yet, then let me welcome you to the world. Its undeniably a fact, you can't just walk out there and start pointing the vulgar finger (i.e. middle finger) to everyone. Is that what you called "I don't care what people thinks of me as long as I like it". If so than I expect to see some broken limbs. The fact is don't be an idiot and follow what others that said they care less of other peoples' point of view or give no consideration to others just because they like doing something. It's a well-known fact that people loves to follow other people's action. That fella say something cool then they follow but not noticing that the fella they were following is an asshole also. Please don't be stupid and follow stupid moves.

Anyway its great news to hear Barack Obama is the new President-elect of the United States of America. He deserves my standing ovation after all the things he did to secure his current position. Look at the way he did those debates. Ever wonder why our nation's highest position never goes through that? I think if we were to implement it, than our politicians population will be a quarter of what we have now may be lesser. Do you think Najib can go for debate? Do you think physically and logically he can? or can Bung Mokhtar and Karpal Singh argue in a more gentlemen way? Its physically impossible man; its like asking the sky to drop down a whole sea of money. Imagine Najib debating with Lim Kit Siang. My word to Najib, "he's gonna woop your ass". They just can't do it. Not educated the way we wanted them to be. Najib is not a Prime Minister for Malaysia, he's a leader of UMNO. We didn't vote for him, those UMNO goons did and it was for party election not prime ministership election. The silent majority is just keeping their finger cross, as if they do support Najib to be Prime Minister. AS IF!!!!!!

Another mad/crazy semester

I screwed up my money & capital markets paper. Which means i failed the whole subject, which means I can't go to Monash, Clayton, which means i can't do accounting and finance (specialist) offered by Monash, Clayton. Sigh...........................all i can do now is to go to Monash, Caufield and work myself doing accounting and finance (maybe) general paper. But I'd heard that after heading to Monash, Caufield it is possible to transfer to Monash, Clayton the following semester which would be my year 2, second semester. How true is it? I'm not sure but if there's an opportunity to do so, I'll take it. Failed two (2) times try for the third. Am very disappointed with the exam. Everyone said it was extremely easy cause it was identical to tutorial questions and i said "phew it was tough, i might fail". *Heavy sigh* I can't believe...how to major in finance if the introductory, the very basic concept; fundamentals i failed to understand. HOW HOW HOW!!!??? Marketing didn't went very well either. Accounting B was also down. Now left is business law which I don't have a single unit of confidence in me. I don't know what to do now. Just don't know what to do...

Happy Deepavali/Diwali

Pavillion Kuala Lumpur had left a bad taste in my mouth after what had occurred on the 25th October 2008 when it was supposed to be a joyous day to celebrate cousin Melvin and Shi Ket's wedding. After the dinner which ended at approximately 11.25 p.m. we headed to find our car at the parking bay. We walked accompanying my grandma till we reach an exit of the complex to wait for my aunt's brother who was at that time, went to take the car from the parking bay because my grandma can't walk that far. But before that we paid our parking ticket which cost RM8. We waited quite sometime, until finally he arrived and bid farewell to my grandma. Than we head straight to our parking lot alongside Uncle Frankie, Aunty Esther and Joshua. They parked at level B1 (First level of the underground parking bay) while we parked at B2 (Second level of the underground parking bay). We went to B2 using the lift, then we came out of the lift to find the two (2) doors located right and left were shut. So we went to B3 (Third level of the underground parking bay) to find the same t hing, both doors left and right locked. Next we went to B1 again to find the doors locked, so we wondered how Uncle Frankie previously went to find his car. Then we went to level 2 again (the place we waited with my grandma previously), exit the complex to find a car entrance that leads to the parking bay. We walked manually into the car passageway which leads to B1 of the parking bay. We find a lift which was functioning, saw a man also searching for his car (He complained the same thing - doors are locked everywhere). Finally we reached level B2, found our car, drove out to the exit barrier only to find the ticket previously paid was not accepted because we lapsed the 15 minute time period to exit the parking bay. WHAT THE FUCK!!! My dad was yelling and cursing to the operator at the ticket machine. Then an attendant finally arrived to ask us to repay again because of the reason which I just wrote. My dad yelled at him , asking him to bring his manager to see us. He told us that i wasn't necessary to do it and pointed at me to pay the Rm3 instead of the RM8. Perhaps the reduction was to compensate us. I just shrugg off at him. What the hell am I supposed to go find another ticket machine to pay again. There was no apparent reason for us to pay again because it wasn't our fault for failing to exit the parking bay withing 15 minutes after paying the ticket. Doors were locked when we came out of the lift and we tried going through 3 floors (B1, B2 & B3) searching for a way to enter B2 parking bay. This attendant finally brought us to the office, but we didn't enter we waited and saw his manager coming to see us. We tried explaining but he didn't get which door we said was closed, and he explained that it is the shopping complex's policy to penalise any car owner who parks in the parking bay and not leaving withing the 15 minutes time period. My dad lambasted him back with all the valid reason. First the doors are not opened when we came out of the lift and we tried on 3 levels, therefore it was physically impossible to exit the parking bay within 15 minutes. Secondly, WHO THE HELL would want to stay in the shopping complex when everything was closed (It was 11.45 p.m. at that moment). The manager keeps on telling we have to pay to exit, and my dad treatens to break that barrier down because we are not going to pay either the RM8 or Rm3 preciously ask from us. My dad told him to bring his superior either the general manager or who ever more senior than him. He obliged; not long after Edmond and Alex was there so we told them our scenario and he too confessed that they can't find the car just now (But now they found it- Alex was driving it). Thirdly, there was certainly a breach of contract in this case. We had honoured our payment of RM8 in the beginning before we attempted to exit and now where is their honour of offering an exit for us. The matter of policy does not come into discussion here because in our circumstances, it is totally absurd and physically impossible to exit the bloody building in less than 15 minutes. We're no superman (...superpeople) here; we're just an ordinary 4 people in a family trying very hard to escape this horrific place. During the incident, present were the manager and other attendants (approx. 15-17 of them). Finally he allowed us to exit after hearing Edmond would pay the RM3 penalty. My dad continuously lambasted at them even in the car. This is precarious to their image as a 'rich and famous shopping complex' when simple problem which requires simple justification was not in motion. I understand their position that requires to uphold their instructed policy but looking at the current situation, in limited circumstances we have but of no choice to protect out rights as consumers. We are patronising the complex and it is their duty and prerogative to announce or position any signage to tell us where to go after the doors were closed. However there wasn't even a single signage available or spotted that was supposed to guide us and no any attendants that were located IN the shopping mall for us to ask. They had failed the reasonable bystander test, ultimately misleading us with utter silence on where to go to find our car. Therefore we as consumers are protected from paying that penalty charges. This is ridiculous to charge us by refering to Anonymous Shopping Complex v Anonymous where Anonymous CJ barred anonymous to claim penalty charges from anonymous due to the failure of anonymous to show valid signage to lead anonymous to locate their car at the Anonymous Shopping Complex...was just joking with business law...hahaha!! Where got case such as Anonymous v Anonymous and Anonymous CJ. Btw 'CJ' refer to chief judge. I don't dare to say that Anonymous Shopping Complex is inexistence because who knows it might be a complex in somewhere near Azerbaijan or Kazakstan or mayby located at the all famous Wall Street in the US.

Anonymous v Anonymous Shopping Complex [2008] RC BAC 123 High Court of Australia
Aplicant : Anonymous
Respondent : Anonymous Shopping Complex

Sorry about the limited type of court, deye studying Australian syllabus la.

Till then wishing all Malaysians, not only the Indians but all MALAYSIANs a very Happy Deepavali/Diwali. Remember to light your deepa(s) and avali(s) to celebrate the victory of good against evil. Expected to hear fireworks man, but it doesn't bother me studying just reminding me how great we are with diverse cultures but unified voice.

I like Doraemon

New version
Old version

When people ask me what anime/manga (whichever they call it) I watch. I'll say Doraemon. Yea man, thats my favourite comic/movie/manga (whatever it is). Since young I've been reading Doraemon, till now. No joke, the story is so fully valued with humour and morality. Friendship was the main criteria. Nobita, Sizuka, Giant and Sinyu plus Doraemon. Besides, its so bloody funny la, every time read also would not get bored of it. What can I say man, everyone has childhood memories, just that mine is still alive. Wakaka!

Benjamin Thum Chun Hon's 19th Birthday

Its 3.44 a.m. on the 19th October 2008. Can't sleep yet! Why? Was overwhelmed by the surprises given by my super, cool, awesome buddies. They crash into my house to give me a surprise birthday celebration. Thats right they crash into my house at 12.00 a.m. on the 19th October 2008!! That would be the last thing I'll ever thought off at 12.00 a.m. How wonderful they are? Too wonderful!! Don't know what really need to write yet, this simple short post is dedicated to all those who had participated to organise this special celebration whether directly or indirectly, well wishes from msn, handphone messages, etc. THANK YOU ALL!!! If I were to be transfered to Australia next year, definitely there would be a permanent big place in my mind for all of you guys. Wei Liang, Melisa Seo, Esther Ng, Nicholas Lam, Andrew Lee, Jerry Yap, Chen Siang, Tom Yam, Daniel Lau, Chieh Ai, Jo Wee, Yong Hao, Kar Kien, James Chai, Logananth, Alexander Tan, Carryn Tan, Lesley Tan, Nick Chew, Pei Chern, Chou Xie, Adrian Lim, Sze Luan, Kumar, Gun Wei Chye and others. Appreciate all of it!

Now though its my B'day, as how Melisa put it, me last birthday as a teen with a number one in the front (next would be 20 adi), I'll still criticise this MCA (Used to be referred as Malaysian Chinese Assosiation), but now I've no idea what they're are called. The election just ended,we knew who won. Was expected but then again; "What can a few useless guys winning a useless organisation achieve?"

--N.O.T.H.I.N.G--

Exactly!! NOTHING!!!

With all the published news in The Star newspaper, how many people actually took the time to read, i skipped all those useless news. Financial news or other relevant news should be put forth before this immaterial election. But they'll never do it cause MCA owned a huge stake in The Star Newspaper mah.

Recession came knocking at the door.

Based on my last post, so the USD$700 billion injection bill was passed after observing a near total collapse of the global financial system, but there was a catch there; the remedy did not HALT THE MOMENTUM of the crisis! Great so the "man made disaster" was so terrible that stocks and indices across the globe felt to their knees at the lowest benchmark they could be in over a decade or so. Eight (8) national central banks made a coordinated rate cut (50bps = 0.5%) that was spurred by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). An unprecedented move I would say in this context. However the market did not felt comfortable with the move and it went on a free fall continuously. Spurring the first Japanese insurance company to go bust, Yamato Life Insurance Co. This is so serious. As of the time of writing, the market seems to be reacting positively now with Dow Jones scoring up a couple of hundred points (*Figure unsure*), hopefully it will sooner or later subside the invasion of one of the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression of 1929.

I personally classify this invasion into three (3) waves of attack. The first wave was the fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The greed of banks to stimulate quick revenue had overlooked the potential disastrous risk looming around the corner since early of 2000s. Alan Greenspan, former president of the Federal Reserve like it or not, did contribute to this disaster. His continuous ambitious plan of cutting rates to stimulate growth, and by hedging those risk by derivatives is uplifting the whole disaster into the reality region. George Soros and Warren Buffet had once stated the destructive nature of derivatives to the financial market long before but this was strongly opposed by Greenspan even till today. The cooperation between banks, mortgage institution and rating agency (Standard & Poor's and Moody's) contributed to the overall downfall.

Second wave, hit the financial institutions across the European continent and starting to infest into the Asian markets with the first casualty of the Japanese Yamato Life Insurance Co. At the current moment although central banks and governments had injected billions of USD$ into the money market to reliquidify it after weeks of being frozen up due to the loss of confidence, the scenario remains the same (free fall). Therefore I would have to agree with other commentators that this is not a financial crisis because even though funds are injected, the financial landscape remain motionless to the injection and it can be conclude it is a confidence crisis. Whereby investors, depositors, policyholder, and et cetera are all loosing confidence to the financial system. They've been fooled once and not wanting twice. The continuous distrust would halt the entire economy form correcting itself. That's what the fearful scenario is happening.

The third wave is when it starts to hit the non-financial institution, such as the manufacturing, agriculture, servicing , etc industries. Giant corporation such as GM, GE, Toyota, Honda and etc are already expecting the deep cut in their yearly revenue. Which would ultimately slash the employment rate, creating unrest, social problems and the lists goes on and on.

Malaysia is still pretty much safe as a result of de-coupling from the US's economy, well maybe at the moment but definitely not for long. Singapore, our very own neighbour had fallen to a recession mid of last week. Should we strike the panic button? I really think we should.