The same thing will happen to suckers that bought Facebook shares. If so great a company, why Gringo 'approved' that private placement only for sale to non-Americans? Some more placement is 'managed' by the same bunch ('doing god's work' Goldman) that helped, amongst others, Greece to con the Europeans, and who has half a billion 'worth' of Facebook holdings themselves to offload.
Fool's special Jews at work...
Myspace sold to Orange County-based ad network
June 29, 2011 11:43 am
Myspace, once the dominant social networking site on the Internet but now an afterthought to Facebook, will be sold to Specific Media in a deal worth $35 million in cash and stock, a person familiar with the matter said.
The acquisition by the Irvine-based advertising network is expected to be completed Wednesday.
News Corp., which acquired Myspace in 2005 for $580 million as part of a bold digital strategy, plans to retain a small stake in company. The media conglomerate had hoped to fetch as much as $100 million for the site, which has been steadily shedding users and advertising revenue over the last several years.
The sale marks a significant fall from grace for Myspace, which once commanded a billion-dollar valuation and was the premier online hangout for musicians, actors and their fans to interact. But the site peaked in popularity in October of 2008 with 76.3 million users. The number of monthly visitors has since dwindled to 35 million in May, according to ComScore Digital Analytix.
Other potential bidders for the site included Myspace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, and an investor group that was courting a personal investment from Activision Blizzard Inc. Chief Executive Bobby Kotick.
The little-known new owner Specific Media was founded in 1999 by Tim Vanderhook and his brothers, Chris and Russell. The firm helps companies distribute advertising online, on mobile devices and on Internet-connected televisions.
Specific Media wants to return the site to its roots as a place for music fans to discover new bands and songs, according to the person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
2 Pieces of Paper for Life
8 Feb 2016 update: (CNY Day 1, day after mom's funeral), at breakfast with all and asked 3 girls to write down on paper 5 principles they learnt from me. Only Tian managed to include both principles here. Also asked her to collate all 3 lists to produce '3 pieces of paper for life'.
During the 2008 Global Financial Crisis when share prices were so beaten down that many of their PE (price/earning) ratios were below 10 and dividend rates were more than 10%, I used up all my cash together with some from my youngest sister buying up shares between Sep-Dec 08. My first purchase was $20k of Lehman Brothers (shares) which went bankrupt! (so lost all that money). After that, prices continued to go down through to Mar 09 when I was sitting on book losses of about 15% on my whole portfolio. However, after that things improved and a year later, my portfolio was up close to 60% (including dividends).
Because of that, I decided to get my kids and nieces/nephew interested in share investing. So during Chinese New Year of 2009 I offered the kids 2 choices of 'ang pows' - one containing $150 and the other with 'share certificates' (issued by me) for 1,000 shares of CapitaREIT China (a real estate investment trust run by Capital Land that invests in mainly shopping malls in China).
After showing the older ones (all below 12) how to check for the price of the share (about 50c) and its past year dividend rate online, they decided to take the 'shares' instead of the cash (the youngest who was about 6 then did not understand anything and just followed the others).
On those 'certificates' I outlined my terms - redemption of the shares from me can only be done after age 17 and dividends must be claimed within a year of dividend declaration by the company involved (although actual collection can be done later). The intent of the latter condition is to start them on where/how to check for dividend announcements and calculating them.
Over the next 2 years I issued other shares to the kids as CNY ang pows and took the opportunity to show them again how to do the online checks and calculate how much dividend they got. When they saw how much they were getting they were very happy.
During one of the training sessions (in Dec 2010), the one who impressed me was my niece TYL from Australia. When I announced that I will be showing her and my younger daughter how to do that, she asked me to wait while she ran upstairs to get her note book so that she could record what I was about to show. Some one had taught her well on the power of paper! (see History of Paper below)
So before I left KL for Singapore, I passed TYL 2 pieces of paper with notes on them and told her that they contain what I consider are important things to remember as she grow up. One was on the old Indian fable 'the elephant and 5 blindmen' and the other about the 3 levels of human development.
The Elephant and 5 Blindmen
This is an old Indian fable I learnt in primary school in Malaysia. I always tell others that if there is one fable they wish to remember or impart to their young, this is the one.
It is the story about 5 blindmen who wanted to find out what an elephant is like. But because they touched different parts of the elephant, each of them had a different perception:
- one touched the ear and said 'elephant is like a fan',
- one touched the body and said 'it is like a wall',
- one touched the leg and said 'it is like a pillar'
- one touched the tail and said 'it is like a rope'
- one touched the nose and said 'it is like branch of a tree'
This fable is trying to convey a few different messages:
- all of us start life like 'blindmen' with little experience and understanding of things
- sometimes we think we know the truth when we only have a partial or incomplete picture
- cooperation, listening to and learning from others can help one form a much more complete picture (so do not be arrogant and not talk/listen to others)
If each of those blindmen was selfish/arrogant and not receptive of what the others say, then each will end up with wrong or incomplete picture of the elephant. However, if they were to share their findings and cooperate to find out why they each had a different perception, then they all have a better chance of forming a better picture than they started with.
The 3 Levels of Human Development
Can't remember how I got this idea but only remember that it was sometime in 2001. I could have read something like it somewhere, probably from a book on Buddhism.
The idea is that different humans operate at different levels depending on their level of development or attainment :
Level 1 - Self and Greed
Level 2 - Awareness
Level 3 - Control and Choice
Level 1 - Self and Greed
Human behaviour tend to be driven by self (self centredness, self preservation, self first etc) and greed. Their first instinct is to take care of themselves or their self interests and satisfy their greed. At this level, it is all about 'what is in it for me?' with little or no consideration for other people or their environment.
Self first is hardwired into all animals because it is essential for survival. But human greed far exceeds that which is needed for survival. Other animals may collect and store enough food to last at most one winter. But there is no limit to some human greed as some will continue to gather wealth even when they already have enough to last many generations! Greed is the source of most conflicts and man-made disasters.
Quote: The world has enough for everyone's needs but not everyone's greed - Mahatma Gandhi
People who operate only at Level 1 are therefore very dangerous and one should be very careful when dealing with them because they will bring harm to others (more likely) and themselves.
People operating at this level also tend to think highly of themselves (egoistical), spiteful and deceitful (as they have to hide their self centredness and greed to avoid being found out). Because of their selfishness, they will not be willing to share things (including knowledge) with others.
To a frog at the bottom of the well, the sky is only as big as the well's opening - Mao Tze Tung
Until established otherwise, in all our dealings we must start with the assumption that the other party (friends, colleagues and family included) is operating based on self and greed, and one therefore should not be too trusting of what they say or do. Always double check and watch what they do!
The people most likely and able to steal from or take advantage of you are the ones closest to you (because you tend to trust them most).
People who get cheated by others tend to be Level 1 type because salesmen and con men etc. know how to make use of this human tendency to be selfish and greedy to entice/entrap them. They are the easiest to fool...
Level 2 - Awareness
Humans can progress beyond Level 1 only after they start to use their awareness and thinking ability.
Awareness is the prerequisite for the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is power.
One who has a keen sense of awareness may start to observe and analyse what is happening around (the enviroment0 and by so doing begin to understand how and why things work the way they do. That may be understanding how Nature works (e.g. science, maths) or how humans behave (e.g. the principles contained in this article)
If one is not so egoistical (Level 1) as to think that others have nothing to teach them, awareness also allows that person seek to learn from others. People who are not aware that books or the internet exist or are too arrogant to learn from others will not be able to expand their knowledge as quickly as others. Egoism or arrogance is self centredness.
Combination of awareness and good analysis allows one to differentiate real knowledge/truths from false knowledge/untruths or misconceptions.
Quote: To know what you know and know what you don't know is true wisdom - Confucius
With REAL knowledge one can also improve one's ability to judge other people and determine their real character and intent.
To establish the true character of another person:
- be aware of what the other party do or say at different times,
- seek other people's opinion about that person (but dont take as truths)
- observe how that person deal with other people who cannot do anything to or for that person
- analyse all above together!
Essentially, it is to apply the 'elephant and 5 blindmen' principle on judging human character. A person below Level 2 will not be able to apply that principle beause to fully appreciate that fable and its teachings require awareness.
Level 3 - Control and Choice
When one has gained REAL knowledge, then one can progress to the next level. Instead of just operating in Level 2 and gathering knowledge, one can begin to use those knowledge to manage or improve one's future or environment.
Some people operate in Level 2 but do not progress further because they do not know how to utilise the knowledge they have or are too lazy (no desire or will).
Knowledge is worthless if not used nor shared
Compassion without knowledge is ineffective
Knowledge without compassion is inhumane - Victor Weisskopf
Level 3 people are also better able to predict what is going to happen ahead of time and others (see further), prepare for their impact and, if possible, influence their outcome. In other words, they are better able to understand and manage risks.
Knowledgeable people tend to have more choices in life and less fearful when faced with new challenges because their knowledge enable them to think through issues and challenges and come up with alternative responses or action plans.
Only with real knowledge can one be able to make right choices and control outcomes positively which in turn is the source of true freedom and satisfaction (happiness).
But knowledge can also be dangerous if deployed for ill intent. There are knowledgeable people who by choice use what they know to satisfy their greed and self, and use their control of information and knowledge to control others for the same purpose. These are the most dangerous people because they are pros doing it consciously and in controlled fashion (because they are Level 3!). Big time and sophisticated conmen and salesmen fall into this category. Only sharp people with high awareness can spot such people. Similarly, such pros can spot those sharp people and would not go near them nor target them to con (there are lots more easier preys).
People today is more 'free' than people in the past because with new techonologies like telephone, radio, TV and internet, more people have access to knowledge and selfish people are less able to keep knowledge to themselves or control who get access to those knowledge.
Quote: Know oneself and know one's competition, a hundred battles a hundred victories - Sun Ze (Sun Tzu)
Quote: In the land of the blind, the one-eye jack is king
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 2 CONCEPTS:
A level 1 blindman may think that he already knows all that is to be known about elephants and ignore the other blindmen. His egoism will be the cause of his problems because he would go round thinking that he is right and the others are wrong. Believing a Level 1 blindman's view but not others will bring disaster.
A level 2 blindman who listen to the other blindmen may quickly realise that he may not have complete picture and stop claiming his view is whole truth and be open to consider possibility others may also be right but have incomplete picture like him. But that does not mean he would end up with a better picture of the elephant. It depends on what he chooses to do further with the others' information.
A level 3 blindman that chooses to react to the additional information from the other blindmen (by exercising his choice and control over his own action) in a positive way, will combine all 5 blindmens views and if he manage to get the others to cooperate, overtime end up with much better picture of what an elephant is like!
HISTORY OF PAPER, PRINTING PRESS AND THE SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE:
People who know history know that paper is a cheap means for disseminating information and knowledge, and together with the invention of the printing press contributed significantly to the great leap in science and technology after Europeans learnt how to make paper and invented printing press.
Paper was invented by the Chinese 2,000 years ago (Han Dynasty). Around 700 AD the Arab armies had taken over the Persian empire (which included today's Afghanistan). That brought them next to the Chinese Tang empire which then included today's Tajikistan (a country north of Afghanistan). As a result, the 2 armies met. In one of the battles, the Tang army was defeated and the Arabs caught many Chinese soldiers and support staff which included army scribes responsible for recording events for reporting back to emperor.
From those Chinese scribes, the Arabs learnt how to make paper and from there that knowledge spread throughout the muslim world which then included places like North Africa, Spain and Portugal.
In the 12th century, Spanish christians defeated the muslims and learnt to make paper from Arabs ruling Spain then. From there, knowledge of paper making spread throughout Europe.
In the 15th century, German Johannes Gutenberg invented the 'movable type printing press' which allowed books to be mass produced much more cheaply and faster than reproduction by hand and other means. That invention substantially enabled the spread of knowledge in Europe.
18th century German philosopher: Johann Gottfried Herder said about paper: Hail to the inventor of paper who did more for literature than all the monarchs on earth.
During the 2008 Global Financial Crisis when share prices were so beaten down that many of their PE (price/earning) ratios were below 10 and dividend rates were more than 10%, I used up all my cash together with some from my youngest sister buying up shares between Sep-Dec 08. My first purchase was $20k of Lehman Brothers (shares) which went bankrupt! (so lost all that money). After that, prices continued to go down through to Mar 09 when I was sitting on book losses of about 15% on my whole portfolio. However, after that things improved and a year later, my portfolio was up close to 60% (including dividends).
Because of that, I decided to get my kids and nieces/nephew interested in share investing. So during Chinese New Year of 2009 I offered the kids 2 choices of 'ang pows' - one containing $150 and the other with 'share certificates' (issued by me) for 1,000 shares of CapitaREIT China (a real estate investment trust run by Capital Land that invests in mainly shopping malls in China).
After showing the older ones (all below 12) how to check for the price of the share (about 50c) and its past year dividend rate online, they decided to take the 'shares' instead of the cash (the youngest who was about 6 then did not understand anything and just followed the others).
On those 'certificates' I outlined my terms - redemption of the shares from me can only be done after age 17 and dividends must be claimed within a year of dividend declaration by the company involved (although actual collection can be done later). The intent of the latter condition is to start them on where/how to check for dividend announcements and calculating them.
Over the next 2 years I issued other shares to the kids as CNY ang pows and took the opportunity to show them again how to do the online checks and calculate how much dividend they got. When they saw how much they were getting they were very happy.
During one of the training sessions (in Dec 2010), the one who impressed me was my niece TYL from Australia. When I announced that I will be showing her and my younger daughter how to do that, she asked me to wait while she ran upstairs to get her note book so that she could record what I was about to show. Some one had taught her well on the power of paper! (see History of Paper below)
So before I left KL for Singapore, I passed TYL 2 pieces of paper with notes on them and told her that they contain what I consider are important things to remember as she grow up. One was on the old Indian fable 'the elephant and 5 blindmen' and the other about the 3 levels of human development.
The Elephant and 5 Blindmen
This is an old Indian fable I learnt in primary school in Malaysia. I always tell others that if there is one fable they wish to remember or impart to their young, this is the one.
It is the story about 5 blindmen who wanted to find out what an elephant is like. But because they touched different parts of the elephant, each of them had a different perception:
- one touched the ear and said 'elephant is like a fan',
- one touched the body and said 'it is like a wall',
- one touched the leg and said 'it is like a pillar'
- one touched the tail and said 'it is like a rope'
- one touched the nose and said 'it is like branch of a tree'
This fable is trying to convey a few different messages:
- all of us start life like 'blindmen' with little experience and understanding of things
- sometimes we think we know the truth when we only have a partial or incomplete picture
- cooperation, listening to and learning from others can help one form a much more complete picture (so do not be arrogant and not talk/listen to others)
If each of those blindmen was selfish/arrogant and not receptive of what the others say, then each will end up with wrong or incomplete picture of the elephant. However, if they were to share their findings and cooperate to find out why they each had a different perception, then they all have a better chance of forming a better picture than they started with.
The 3 Levels of Human Development
Can't remember how I got this idea but only remember that it was sometime in 2001. I could have read something like it somewhere, probably from a book on Buddhism.
The idea is that different humans operate at different levels depending on their level of development or attainment :
Level 1 - Self and Greed
Level 2 - Awareness
Level 3 - Control and Choice
Level 1 - Self and Greed
Human behaviour tend to be driven by self (self centredness, self preservation, self first etc) and greed. Their first instinct is to take care of themselves or their self interests and satisfy their greed. At this level, it is all about 'what is in it for me?' with little or no consideration for other people or their environment.
Self first is hardwired into all animals because it is essential for survival. But human greed far exceeds that which is needed for survival. Other animals may collect and store enough food to last at most one winter. But there is no limit to some human greed as some will continue to gather wealth even when they already have enough to last many generations! Greed is the source of most conflicts and man-made disasters.
Quote: The world has enough for everyone's needs but not everyone's greed - Mahatma Gandhi
People who operate only at Level 1 are therefore very dangerous and one should be very careful when dealing with them because they will bring harm to others (more likely) and themselves.
People operating at this level also tend to think highly of themselves (egoistical), spiteful and deceitful (as they have to hide their self centredness and greed to avoid being found out). Because of their selfishness, they will not be willing to share things (including knowledge) with others.
To a frog at the bottom of the well, the sky is only as big as the well's opening - Mao Tze Tung
Until established otherwise, in all our dealings we must start with the assumption that the other party (friends, colleagues and family included) is operating based on self and greed, and one therefore should not be too trusting of what they say or do. Always double check and watch what they do!
The people most likely and able to steal from or take advantage of you are the ones closest to you (because you tend to trust them most).
People who get cheated by others tend to be Level 1 type because salesmen and con men etc. know how to make use of this human tendency to be selfish and greedy to entice/entrap them. They are the easiest to fool...
Level 2 - Awareness
Humans can progress beyond Level 1 only after they start to use their awareness and thinking ability.
Awareness is the prerequisite for the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is power.
One who has a keen sense of awareness may start to observe and analyse what is happening around (the enviroment0 and by so doing begin to understand how and why things work the way they do. That may be understanding how Nature works (e.g. science, maths) or how humans behave (e.g. the principles contained in this article)
If one is not so egoistical (Level 1) as to think that others have nothing to teach them, awareness also allows that person seek to learn from others. People who are not aware that books or the internet exist or are too arrogant to learn from others will not be able to expand their knowledge as quickly as others. Egoism or arrogance is self centredness.
Combination of awareness and good analysis allows one to differentiate real knowledge/truths from false knowledge/untruths or misconceptions.
Quote: To know what you know and know what you don't know is true wisdom - Confucius
With REAL knowledge one can also improve one's ability to judge other people and determine their real character and intent.
To establish the true character of another person:
- be aware of what the other party do or say at different times,
- seek other people's opinion about that person (but dont take as truths)
- observe how that person deal with other people who cannot do anything to or for that person
- analyse all above together!
Essentially, it is to apply the 'elephant and 5 blindmen' principle on judging human character. A person below Level 2 will not be able to apply that principle beause to fully appreciate that fable and its teachings require awareness.
Level 3 - Control and Choice
When one has gained REAL knowledge, then one can progress to the next level. Instead of just operating in Level 2 and gathering knowledge, one can begin to use those knowledge to manage or improve one's future or environment.
Some people operate in Level 2 but do not progress further because they do not know how to utilise the knowledge they have or are too lazy (no desire or will).
Knowledge is worthless if not used nor shared
Compassion without knowledge is ineffective
Knowledge without compassion is inhumane - Victor Weisskopf
Level 3 people are also better able to predict what is going to happen ahead of time and others (see further), prepare for their impact and, if possible, influence their outcome. In other words, they are better able to understand and manage risks.
Knowledgeable people tend to have more choices in life and less fearful when faced with new challenges because their knowledge enable them to think through issues and challenges and come up with alternative responses or action plans.
Only with real knowledge can one be able to make right choices and control outcomes positively which in turn is the source of true freedom and satisfaction (happiness).
But knowledge can also be dangerous if deployed for ill intent. There are knowledgeable people who by choice use what they know to satisfy their greed and self, and use their control of information and knowledge to control others for the same purpose. These are the most dangerous people because they are pros doing it consciously and in controlled fashion (because they are Level 3!). Big time and sophisticated conmen and salesmen fall into this category. Only sharp people with high awareness can spot such people. Similarly, such pros can spot those sharp people and would not go near them nor target them to con (there are lots more easier preys).
People today is more 'free' than people in the past because with new techonologies like telephone, radio, TV and internet, more people have access to knowledge and selfish people are less able to keep knowledge to themselves or control who get access to those knowledge.
Quote: Know oneself and know one's competition, a hundred battles a hundred victories - Sun Ze (Sun Tzu)
Quote: In the land of the blind, the one-eye jack is king
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 2 CONCEPTS:
A level 1 blindman may think that he already knows all that is to be known about elephants and ignore the other blindmen. His egoism will be the cause of his problems because he would go round thinking that he is right and the others are wrong. Believing a Level 1 blindman's view but not others will bring disaster.
A level 2 blindman who listen to the other blindmen may quickly realise that he may not have complete picture and stop claiming his view is whole truth and be open to consider possibility others may also be right but have incomplete picture like him. But that does not mean he would end up with a better picture of the elephant. It depends on what he chooses to do further with the others' information.
A level 3 blindman that chooses to react to the additional information from the other blindmen (by exercising his choice and control over his own action) in a positive way, will combine all 5 blindmens views and if he manage to get the others to cooperate, overtime end up with much better picture of what an elephant is like!
HISTORY OF PAPER, PRINTING PRESS AND THE SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE:
People who know history know that paper is a cheap means for disseminating information and knowledge, and together with the invention of the printing press contributed significantly to the great leap in science and technology after Europeans learnt how to make paper and invented printing press.
Paper was invented by the Chinese 2,000 years ago (Han Dynasty). Around 700 AD the Arab armies had taken over the Persian empire (which included today's Afghanistan). That brought them next to the Chinese Tang empire which then included today's Tajikistan (a country north of Afghanistan). As a result, the 2 armies met. In one of the battles, the Tang army was defeated and the Arabs caught many Chinese soldiers and support staff which included army scribes responsible for recording events for reporting back to emperor.
From those Chinese scribes, the Arabs learnt how to make paper and from there that knowledge spread throughout the muslim world which then included places like North Africa, Spain and Portugal.
In the 12th century, Spanish christians defeated the muslims and learnt to make paper from Arabs ruling Spain then. From there, knowledge of paper making spread throughout Europe.
In the 15th century, German Johannes Gutenberg invented the 'movable type printing press' which allowed books to be mass produced much more cheaply and faster than reproduction by hand and other means. That invention substantially enabled the spread of knowledge in Europe.
18th century German philosopher: Johann Gottfried Herder said about paper: Hail to the inventor of paper who did more for literature than all the monarchs on earth.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Value of a Pencil Case
When the whole family went out shopping in Bukit Bintang (popular shopping belt in KL), we split up to do our own shopping. On the appointed gathering time, none of the others were there. So I called my sister and found out that they were still trying to help my niece Le look for a pencil case. Apparently they had gone from one complex to another to no avail. Curious with how buying a pencil case could take so long, I decided to join the 'search'.
In the interest of time, this time only me and my 3rd sister (but not her mom) went with her.
There are a lot of small shops in that area selling all kinds of cheap unbranded products, and that was where we went to search for her pencil case. Very soon I noticed that what we had seen so far in those low end shops were not what she had in mind. We could find cases of the right size but they were still not it.
While trying do describe in more detail, she mentioned that all her other classmates in Aus had one of those things (like all kids, she was longing for what her friends had!). Since I had no knowledge of Aussie kids' latest pencil case fad I asked her if she had seen anything close to it so far. She said 'yes but they are too expensive'. I said 'never mind but show me'
She then brought us back to the Parkson department store (where we started at the beginning of the shopping trip!). The 'real thing' was a pouch made of soft rubber like those shock absorbent computer notebook 'sleeves' (just smaller and with zippers). And the place where the 'right case' was found was none other than the section selling Aussie brands like Billabong etc.! (I should have thought of it earlier). The case she liked was from the brand 'Rip Curl'. I took a look and could tell that not only were the quality different but the designer patterns on the thing looked much nicer.
Knowing by then what she was looking for and how important it was to her, I told her in front of my 3rd sis 'Buy it. No point going to other places anymore. Even if we bring you to the moon and back we will not find what you want anywhere else'.
But the young girl hesitated and said 'but my mom said it is too expensive'. That's when I realised that they had actually found what the girl wanted at the very beginning (we started our shopping there) but was told that she could not have it because it was 'too expensive'!
The Rip Curl case was selling at RM40 after 20% discount while the unbranded ones were RM10 to RM20.
I said to Le 'ignore the price and tell me what you think about the quality of this case compared to the others. Are those RM10-20 ones in the other shops of the same quality as this one?' She said 'No'.
I told her 'just look at the zipper of this Rip Curl case and compare it to the zipper of the (ubranded) money pouch you are carrying. Can you see the difference in quality? This zipper is much smoother and more robust. It will last much longer than the other zipper'
That is why one should not buy things based only on price. Only simpletons who do not know how to determine quality do that. They rely on price and price only because they have no other basis for comparison. But people with sufficient knowledge and awareness do not do that.
A good quality product selling at twice the price but looks much nicer (and makes you fell better) and lasts twice as long as a cheaper one is NOT expensive. It is value for money. We should buy products because they are 'value for money' and not because they are cheap.
In addtion, I told her that she had some dividend money of her own anyway and can decide on what to spend it on herself without worrying about what others think or say. That was why I wanted to teach her and the other kids the importance of share investing. Having one's own source of income is freedom!
The young girl then reached into her own pouch for her money and bought that Rip Curl case with her own money.
When I tried to pull her leg on the next outing by asking her if what she was looking at was too expensive, she smiled and said 'I still have some more of my dividend money!'
That Rip Curl pencil case proved to worth much more than RM40 indeed...
In the interest of time, this time only me and my 3rd sister (but not her mom) went with her.
There are a lot of small shops in that area selling all kinds of cheap unbranded products, and that was where we went to search for her pencil case. Very soon I noticed that what we had seen so far in those low end shops were not what she had in mind. We could find cases of the right size but they were still not it.
While trying do describe in more detail, she mentioned that all her other classmates in Aus had one of those things (like all kids, she was longing for what her friends had!). Since I had no knowledge of Aussie kids' latest pencil case fad I asked her if she had seen anything close to it so far. She said 'yes but they are too expensive'. I said 'never mind but show me'
She then brought us back to the Parkson department store (where we started at the beginning of the shopping trip!). The 'real thing' was a pouch made of soft rubber like those shock absorbent computer notebook 'sleeves' (just smaller and with zippers). And the place where the 'right case' was found was none other than the section selling Aussie brands like Billabong etc.! (I should have thought of it earlier). The case she liked was from the brand 'Rip Curl'. I took a look and could tell that not only were the quality different but the designer patterns on the thing looked much nicer.
Knowing by then what she was looking for and how important it was to her, I told her in front of my 3rd sis 'Buy it. No point going to other places anymore. Even if we bring you to the moon and back we will not find what you want anywhere else'.
But the young girl hesitated and said 'but my mom said it is too expensive'. That's when I realised that they had actually found what the girl wanted at the very beginning (we started our shopping there) but was told that she could not have it because it was 'too expensive'!
The Rip Curl case was selling at RM40 after 20% discount while the unbranded ones were RM10 to RM20.
I said to Le 'ignore the price and tell me what you think about the quality of this case compared to the others. Are those RM10-20 ones in the other shops of the same quality as this one?' She said 'No'.
I told her 'just look at the zipper of this Rip Curl case and compare it to the zipper of the (ubranded) money pouch you are carrying. Can you see the difference in quality? This zipper is much smoother and more robust. It will last much longer than the other zipper'
That is why one should not buy things based only on price. Only simpletons who do not know how to determine quality do that. They rely on price and price only because they have no other basis for comparison. But people with sufficient knowledge and awareness do not do that.
A good quality product selling at twice the price but looks much nicer (and makes you fell better) and lasts twice as long as a cheaper one is NOT expensive. It is value for money. We should buy products because they are 'value for money' and not because they are cheap.
In addtion, I told her that she had some dividend money of her own anyway and can decide on what to spend it on herself without worrying about what others think or say. That was why I wanted to teach her and the other kids the importance of share investing. Having one's own source of income is freedom!
The young girl then reached into her own pouch for her money and bought that Rip Curl case with her own money.
When I tried to pull her leg on the next outing by asking her if what she was looking at was too expensive, she smiled and said 'I still have some more of my dividend money!'
That Rip Curl pencil case proved to worth much more than RM40 indeed...
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Cutting the Invisible Strings
My sister living in Australia returned to Malaysia with her daughter Le (who was on school holiday) for a visit.
As they did for the last few trips (of slightly more than a month long from Dec to Jan - summer holidays in Aus), they flew to KL and spent a couple of weeks there to catch up with relatives and friends, then they travelled with my parents to Batu Pahat for a few days to visit my second sister and family, and then to Singapore for a few days to visit me and her sister-in-law. After that they returned to KL where they caught their return flight home after a week or so.
I imagine it must have been quite hectic for the 2 of them. So this time I offered to drive them back to KL using youngest sister's car (since I was not working) and spent the next week with them in KL. (That was the last trip I made back to Malaysia before my 3 months temporary Singapore re-entry permit expired. The usual length of the permit is 5-years. But the terms of my 'technical skill resident' PR is such that they would not issue one if I was not employed. I got that 3-month temp permit only on appeal)
Over the few days in Singapore, I noticed that Le who was then 13 was sometimes going out without carrying a bag or pouch of her own (my younger daughter who went out with her always carried a pouch with her handphone etc.)
So one day when I got to speak to her alone, I told her that she should carry a personal bag with essential things like some money, personal identity, important contact numbers etc. every time she goes out so that in case of emergencies like when she loses touch with her mom while out travelling, she can 'survive' on her own for a short time while she make or find her own way home or look for help (her grandma also have umbrella, water and useful ointments in her bag all the time). Otherwise whenever she goes out she would be 'fearful' of losing touch with her parents and others, and would always feel the need to be very close to them and have little freedom to do her own things.
That, I said, is an 'invisible string' that should be cut.
Once she is well prepared to survive alone for a while if need be, then she would have the confidence to do things on her own like leave her parents for a while to look for her own things when out shopping without a sense/fear of helplessness.
I then offered to buy her a pouch but she said that my youngest sister had bought her one while she was in KL.
Also passed her a small compass and said that since she live in a big place Australia where population is sparse and places far away, getting help from others may be difficult and she must be able to operate alone if required. So a compass and map can be very useful. She should familiarise herself with the location and compass direction of key places around her house and school. And always stay on main roads (instead of small ones) where there is better chance to run into help.
As a few months before there were some big bush fires near the town Churchill where they lived, I also told her that a small radio would be useful and to know the wind directions (draw arrows on maps!) there at different times of the year so that in case of such fires again she would know which direction to go or avoid (fires follow direction of prevailing wind so e.g. you have higher chance of running into the fire if you go against the wind).
[Note: different areas on globe have different wind directions and patterns.
In Malaysia and Singapore we have the northeast (Nov to Mar) and southwest (May to Sept) moonsoons when weather is wet and winds blow in from the northeast and southwest respectively. But in coastal areas like Singapore, the sea breeze may override when monsoon winds are weak. During day when land is warmer, wind blows from sea to land. At night, the reverse. So not so straight forward. Wet finger test may be better...]
From that day on, Le carried her pouch with her all the time.
When out shopping in Batu Pahat (on way back to KL) with her cousins Tian and Ze, I purposely told them that I was going off to shop alone and the 3 kids should do the same and meet me back at the same place at the appointed time. They went off and came back happily...
Also told them that if we didn't get to meet at agreed location, do not go elsewhere but stay at the agreed place. At most, retrace the last 2 places we went together but never go off to new places the whole party did not go before that!
I also shared with Le another thing I noticed for years - which was my sister always brought her along wherever she went, even when out meeting her old school friends.
So I asked Le what she did when her mom was catching up with her 50 year old friends. She said nothing and kept quiet when I said it should be very boring for her. I said that is also another form of 'invisible string'.
The good thing about having one's own self-sufficient pouch is that even if she accompanies her mom to meet her friends, the pouch would give her the confidence to leave her mom for a while and explore the places around there and do things on her own instead of just sitting there doing nothing.
[Knowing my sister who is very risk averse and fearful of everything, I suspect that bringing her daughter along with her increases her own sense of security. That's fine when Le was young and could not care for herself. But all that will have to end some day as the young girl will grow up and have to be left and learn to do things on her own sooner or later.]
Life Lesson:
Some one once wrote a book in which he said that life is all about understanding and managing risks. Humans progress over time because we learn more and more about the different risks we encounter and how to deal with those risks better than before.
Everyone is fearful of risks. But different people develop to different level depending on how well they understand and manage the risks they face or take. That is the critical difference.
Here is an analogy: Crossing road has risks but we do not stop ourselves from crossing roads. Instead we learn how to reduce the risk of being knocked down by a car.
Some people are so fearful of facing new risks that they either avoid doing new things or they freeze up when faced with new risks and could not take appropriate risk mitigation or management actions. Such people will never go far in life or achieve anything significant.
But the people who think or plan ahead before they do anything new and try to identify the potential risks they may face, and learn or think through how they can overcome or minimise the impact of those risks will be much less fearful of doing things (taking risk) and more likely to succeed in life.
So life is all about risk management...
As they did for the last few trips (of slightly more than a month long from Dec to Jan - summer holidays in Aus), they flew to KL and spent a couple of weeks there to catch up with relatives and friends, then they travelled with my parents to Batu Pahat for a few days to visit my second sister and family, and then to Singapore for a few days to visit me and her sister-in-law. After that they returned to KL where they caught their return flight home after a week or so.
I imagine it must have been quite hectic for the 2 of them. So this time I offered to drive them back to KL using youngest sister's car (since I was not working) and spent the next week with them in KL. (That was the last trip I made back to Malaysia before my 3 months temporary Singapore re-entry permit expired. The usual length of the permit is 5-years. But the terms of my 'technical skill resident' PR is such that they would not issue one if I was not employed. I got that 3-month temp permit only on appeal)
Over the few days in Singapore, I noticed that Le who was then 13 was sometimes going out without carrying a bag or pouch of her own (my younger daughter who went out with her always carried a pouch with her handphone etc.)
So one day when I got to speak to her alone, I told her that she should carry a personal bag with essential things like some money, personal identity, important contact numbers etc. every time she goes out so that in case of emergencies like when she loses touch with her mom while out travelling, she can 'survive' on her own for a short time while she make or find her own way home or look for help (her grandma also have umbrella, water and useful ointments in her bag all the time). Otherwise whenever she goes out she would be 'fearful' of losing touch with her parents and others, and would always feel the need to be very close to them and have little freedom to do her own things.
That, I said, is an 'invisible string' that should be cut.
Once she is well prepared to survive alone for a while if need be, then she would have the confidence to do things on her own like leave her parents for a while to look for her own things when out shopping without a sense/fear of helplessness.
I then offered to buy her a pouch but she said that my youngest sister had bought her one while she was in KL.
Also passed her a small compass and said that since she live in a big place Australia where population is sparse and places far away, getting help from others may be difficult and she must be able to operate alone if required. So a compass and map can be very useful. She should familiarise herself with the location and compass direction of key places around her house and school. And always stay on main roads (instead of small ones) where there is better chance to run into help.
As a few months before there were some big bush fires near the town Churchill where they lived, I also told her that a small radio would be useful and to know the wind directions (draw arrows on maps!) there at different times of the year so that in case of such fires again she would know which direction to go or avoid (fires follow direction of prevailing wind so e.g. you have higher chance of running into the fire if you go against the wind).
[Note: different areas on globe have different wind directions and patterns.
In Malaysia and Singapore we have the northeast (Nov to Mar) and southwest (May to Sept) moonsoons when weather is wet and winds blow in from the northeast and southwest respectively. But in coastal areas like Singapore, the sea breeze may override when monsoon winds are weak. During day when land is warmer, wind blows from sea to land. At night, the reverse. So not so straight forward. Wet finger test may be better...]
From that day on, Le carried her pouch with her all the time.
When out shopping in Batu Pahat (on way back to KL) with her cousins Tian and Ze, I purposely told them that I was going off to shop alone and the 3 kids should do the same and meet me back at the same place at the appointed time. They went off and came back happily...
Also told them that if we didn't get to meet at agreed location, do not go elsewhere but stay at the agreed place. At most, retrace the last 2 places we went together but never go off to new places the whole party did not go before that!
I also shared with Le another thing I noticed for years - which was my sister always brought her along wherever she went, even when out meeting her old school friends.
So I asked Le what she did when her mom was catching up with her 50 year old friends. She said nothing and kept quiet when I said it should be very boring for her. I said that is also another form of 'invisible string'.
The good thing about having one's own self-sufficient pouch is that even if she accompanies her mom to meet her friends, the pouch would give her the confidence to leave her mom for a while and explore the places around there and do things on her own instead of just sitting there doing nothing.
[Knowing my sister who is very risk averse and fearful of everything, I suspect that bringing her daughter along with her increases her own sense of security. That's fine when Le was young and could not care for herself. But all that will have to end some day as the young girl will grow up and have to be left and learn to do things on her own sooner or later.]
Life Lesson:
Some one once wrote a book in which he said that life is all about understanding and managing risks. Humans progress over time because we learn more and more about the different risks we encounter and how to deal with those risks better than before.
Everyone is fearful of risks. But different people develop to different level depending on how well they understand and manage the risks they face or take. That is the critical difference.
Here is an analogy: Crossing road has risks but we do not stop ourselves from crossing roads. Instead we learn how to reduce the risk of being knocked down by a car.
Some people are so fearful of facing new risks that they either avoid doing new things or they freeze up when faced with new risks and could not take appropriate risk mitigation or management actions. Such people will never go far in life or achieve anything significant.
But the people who think or plan ahead before they do anything new and try to identify the potential risks they may face, and learn or think through how they can overcome or minimise the impact of those risks will be much less fearful of doing things (taking risk) and more likely to succeed in life.
So life is all about risk management...
Friday, January 01, 2010
When I Started to Plant My Own Financial Trees (DRAFT)
I grew up without much 'financial education'. Other than the need to save, I learnt nothing else when young. Living hand to mouth, I guess things like investing etc did not mean much to my parents. So what to teach to us kids?
But growing up poor made me want to know how people 'make money' and get rich.
When I was accepted to study computer science as major in university, I was required to pick one other major and a minor subject. I picked maths as the other major and wanted economics as minor because of that desire to know how the financial world works. But they refused to let me take up economics. The reason being I did not do economics while in A levels. I appealed personally to the vice-dean of the Science faculty and said that my lack of A level econs should not matter if I was serious about it and willing to work to catch up with others who had head start. But they still refused. They were just 'following the book' and in those days their 'book' was very straight forward.
Years later, the local education system got more flexible after the authorities realised that their universities were not producing the kind of people they expected like young people willing to take risks. I guess if the ones doing the teaching were not even willing to take a risk to let a young man learn something close to his heart, then they could not expect better from the ones they were supposed to educate.
Despite that disappointment, things worked to my favour when I started working in Andersen Consulting. They offered me a job at the start of my 3rd year in uni so I went about my final year knowing a job was waiting for me. AC was considered one of the 'high profile' employers for computer science students then. So I was pleasantly surprised that I was one of only 2 that they selected that year because my grades were not great (only 'B' for Comp Sc) and I was sure many other fellow students had better grades than me. After that I was more relieved when I found that many of my fellow students could not get jobs for 1 to 2 years because of the financial crisis of mid 80s.
[Many years later I figured out why I may have been selected. My final interview was with a new American partner by the name of David Bushman. As part of the interview he had asked me about my parents and family background. I think he favoured me partly out of desire to help me out and for a reason I found out a few years later from one of the local partners. Apparently, AC had studied the profile of their partners and found that they tended to come from middle to lower class background. They reasoned that their less well to do upbringing made them more 'hungry' for success and willing to work harder.
One of my first 'major' assignment was on a project for a small dutch bank (NMB Bank) and that got me really excited. Finally, I got a chance to find out how the money world works! After that lucky break, I was considered a part of the 'banking industry team' and as a result all my subsequent assignments were in the banking industry.
In addition to the good working experience that going from one project to another gives (instead of doing the same thing over and over again like in other companies), AC also had very good staff training programs and materials that I benefited from.]
When I was jobless at 44 and told my family that although I had stopped working I could live off my investments, one of my sisters told me something that I had long forgotten. She said 'do you remember that when young you used to say that you want to be able to retire when you are 40?' We laughed as I said 'then I guess I missed it by a few years'
I started to invest in a significant way only in 2001 when the bank I was working in was in the process of merging with 2 others and many staff were retrenched or expecting retrenchment because some positions had 3 incumbents! The other reason was before that I did not have much savings because I was paying for new house and car in Singapore and some other bad investments in Malaysia. But the main push was my pending retrenchment and the desire to make sure I maximise my savings.
But my awareness of the need for passive income started when I was about 30 when a financially savvy AC colleague who had an MBA said that we could not rely on the salaries our company was paying us then and he would be looking for a new job.
[The background to that was this: One day, both of us interviewed a woman candidate for software sales manager role in AC. Soon after the lunch interview, that resourceful colleague Reuben managed to find out how much the company was about to pay that 'sales woman'. Disgruntled he came to me and said 'did you know how much they will be paying her? More than us. And that is for one who will be hee hee hah hahing with clients while we will be responsible for delivery. I am quitting!' I thought he had a point. True to his words, Reuben left AC a few months after that. Soon after, I was approached by a head hunter for a job in a bank and I took it]
In 2001, the first internet fund or unit trust distribution company in Singapore known as 'FinatiQ' started operation.
The good thing about FinatiQ was they had information on historical performance of the various funds online including charting features which I could use to compare performance of similar funds by different managers over different time horizons (I used 2 and 5 years as benchmark). For e.g. I could compare the different funds investing in India over 2 and 5 years. Thanks to the internet, I could do my research and buy the funds I wanted from office.
The other thing that attracted me was since everything was online and their clients were self-helping themselves, FinatiQ's commission rates were half the usual rates (usual rate is 5% but FinatiQ charged 2.5%). Better still, they were promoting their business by offering 1% rebates in the form of Robinson Vouchers.
In 2001, I had about $200K of cash savings. On top of that, I had some CPF money (CPF allow people to use a portion of CPF funds to buy approved shares and unit trusts) and was expecting a package from my pending retrenchment.
By July 2001, I had used all my cash savings, CPF and my retrenchment money to buy unit trusts investing in China, India and Asia Pacific, and holding on to a few thousand dollars worth of Robinson vouchers!
[There was no way I could use up all those Robinson vouchers. So one day I went to Robinson Orchard and approached other shoppers to exchange them for cash at a discount of 5%. That was an eye opening experience. Some people just dare not exchange despite me assuring them that those vouchers were real and I could stay with them until the cashiers accepted them but they still refused. I guess risk free also some people would not take. An Indian woman wanted more discount, so I gave her 10% off.]
The reason why I bought only China, India and Asia Pacific funds were because I found out that one of the causes of the 1997 Financial Crisis was that investment money had gone out of the 'Asian Tigers' and into those 2 countries! In addition, I also had the view that the US Dollar was a 'bluff' and would fall in value over time (thus no US funds).
However, soon after that Sept 11 struck and the value of my funds dropped by 15% or so. That got me worried for a while.
Fortunately, I was proven right a few years later. By the time I sold them out between Jan and Oct 2007 (just before the crash of 2008) the value of those funds had more than doubled.
2 things triggered me to start selling: the prices of most Asian shares were ridiculously high and Alan Greenspan's 'retirement' in end 2006.
In addition, I started shorting some HK shares in the second half of 2007 and learnt another bitter lesson. With the money from sale of my funds, I used some to short some HK shares using CFDs. In October, the market crashed and I had a book gain of about $200k. But instead of taking those profits I shorted some more! A few weeks after that, the market re-bounced above the previous peak and my holdings went into negative. Out of fear, I decided to 'cut loss' and incurred $200k loss (if I had held on a few months longer I would have made profit eventually when the market collapsed over the whole of 2008 but that is the problem with fear. I was scared stiff of further losses and decided to close position).
Lesson learnt: do not be greedy and never do short selling. If do that and price drop in your favour, take profit and do NOT short some more (at lower price)!
But growing up poor made me want to know how people 'make money' and get rich.
When I was accepted to study computer science as major in university, I was required to pick one other major and a minor subject. I picked maths as the other major and wanted economics as minor because of that desire to know how the financial world works. But they refused to let me take up economics. The reason being I did not do economics while in A levels. I appealed personally to the vice-dean of the Science faculty and said that my lack of A level econs should not matter if I was serious about it and willing to work to catch up with others who had head start. But they still refused. They were just 'following the book' and in those days their 'book' was very straight forward.
Years later, the local education system got more flexible after the authorities realised that their universities were not producing the kind of people they expected like young people willing to take risks. I guess if the ones doing the teaching were not even willing to take a risk to let a young man learn something close to his heart, then they could not expect better from the ones they were supposed to educate.
Despite that disappointment, things worked to my favour when I started working in Andersen Consulting. They offered me a job at the start of my 3rd year in uni so I went about my final year knowing a job was waiting for me. AC was considered one of the 'high profile' employers for computer science students then. So I was pleasantly surprised that I was one of only 2 that they selected that year because my grades were not great (only 'B' for Comp Sc) and I was sure many other fellow students had better grades than me. After that I was more relieved when I found that many of my fellow students could not get jobs for 1 to 2 years because of the financial crisis of mid 80s.
[Many years later I figured out why I may have been selected. My final interview was with a new American partner by the name of David Bushman. As part of the interview he had asked me about my parents and family background. I think he favoured me partly out of desire to help me out and for a reason I found out a few years later from one of the local partners. Apparently, AC had studied the profile of their partners and found that they tended to come from middle to lower class background. They reasoned that their less well to do upbringing made them more 'hungry' for success and willing to work harder.
One of my first 'major' assignment was on a project for a small dutch bank (NMB Bank) and that got me really excited. Finally, I got a chance to find out how the money world works! After that lucky break, I was considered a part of the 'banking industry team' and as a result all my subsequent assignments were in the banking industry.
In addition to the good working experience that going from one project to another gives (instead of doing the same thing over and over again like in other companies), AC also had very good staff training programs and materials that I benefited from.]
When I was jobless at 44 and told my family that although I had stopped working I could live off my investments, one of my sisters told me something that I had long forgotten. She said 'do you remember that when young you used to say that you want to be able to retire when you are 40?' We laughed as I said 'then I guess I missed it by a few years'
I started to invest in a significant way only in 2001 when the bank I was working in was in the process of merging with 2 others and many staff were retrenched or expecting retrenchment because some positions had 3 incumbents! The other reason was before that I did not have much savings because I was paying for new house and car in Singapore and some other bad investments in Malaysia. But the main push was my pending retrenchment and the desire to make sure I maximise my savings.
But my awareness of the need for passive income started when I was about 30 when a financially savvy AC colleague who had an MBA said that we could not rely on the salaries our company was paying us then and he would be looking for a new job.
[The background to that was this: One day, both of us interviewed a woman candidate for software sales manager role in AC. Soon after the lunch interview, that resourceful colleague Reuben managed to find out how much the company was about to pay that 'sales woman'. Disgruntled he came to me and said 'did you know how much they will be paying her? More than us. And that is for one who will be hee hee hah hahing with clients while we will be responsible for delivery. I am quitting!' I thought he had a point. True to his words, Reuben left AC a few months after that. Soon after, I was approached by a head hunter for a job in a bank and I took it]
In 2001, the first internet fund or unit trust distribution company in Singapore known as 'FinatiQ' started operation.
The good thing about FinatiQ was they had information on historical performance of the various funds online including charting features which I could use to compare performance of similar funds by different managers over different time horizons (I used 2 and 5 years as benchmark). For e.g. I could compare the different funds investing in India over 2 and 5 years. Thanks to the internet, I could do my research and buy the funds I wanted from office.
The other thing that attracted me was since everything was online and their clients were self-helping themselves, FinatiQ's commission rates were half the usual rates (usual rate is 5% but FinatiQ charged 2.5%). Better still, they were promoting their business by offering 1% rebates in the form of Robinson Vouchers.
In 2001, I had about $200K of cash savings. On top of that, I had some CPF money (CPF allow people to use a portion of CPF funds to buy approved shares and unit trusts) and was expecting a package from my pending retrenchment.
By July 2001, I had used all my cash savings, CPF and my retrenchment money to buy unit trusts investing in China, India and Asia Pacific, and holding on to a few thousand dollars worth of Robinson vouchers!
[There was no way I could use up all those Robinson vouchers. So one day I went to Robinson Orchard and approached other shoppers to exchange them for cash at a discount of 5%. That was an eye opening experience. Some people just dare not exchange despite me assuring them that those vouchers were real and I could stay with them until the cashiers accepted them but they still refused. I guess risk free also some people would not take. An Indian woman wanted more discount, so I gave her 10% off.]
The reason why I bought only China, India and Asia Pacific funds were because I found out that one of the causes of the 1997 Financial Crisis was that investment money had gone out of the 'Asian Tigers' and into those 2 countries! In addition, I also had the view that the US Dollar was a 'bluff' and would fall in value over time (thus no US funds).
However, soon after that Sept 11 struck and the value of my funds dropped by 15% or so. That got me worried for a while.
Fortunately, I was proven right a few years later. By the time I sold them out between Jan and Oct 2007 (just before the crash of 2008) the value of those funds had more than doubled.
2 things triggered me to start selling: the prices of most Asian shares were ridiculously high and Alan Greenspan's 'retirement' in end 2006.
In addition, I started shorting some HK shares in the second half of 2007 and learnt another bitter lesson. With the money from sale of my funds, I used some to short some HK shares using CFDs. In October, the market crashed and I had a book gain of about $200k. But instead of taking those profits I shorted some more! A few weeks after that, the market re-bounced above the previous peak and my holdings went into negative. Out of fear, I decided to 'cut loss' and incurred $200k loss (if I had held on a few months longer I would have made profit eventually when the market collapsed over the whole of 2008 but that is the problem with fear. I was scared stiff of further losses and decided to close position).
Lesson learnt: do not be greedy and never do short selling. If do that and price drop in your favour, take profit and do NOT short some more (at lower price)!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
A Gift For My Daughters
CCK Note: Bought book with above title written by Jim Rogers some time in 2009 and passed to Li Ling. Jim Rogers is a well known investor who moved his family from the US to Singapore a few years before 2009 because he thought that the 21st century will belong to China and he wanted to be near where the future action will be. One reason he chose Singapore was he wanted his daughters to learn Chinese...
Below is a review of the book:
http://www.bigfatpurse.com/2010/06/a-gift-to-my-children-by-jim-rogers/
Jim Rogers wrote a book for his daughters, teaching them the way of life to achieve success and happiness. Here are the things I learned from the book:
About Life
Passion is key to happiness – “Try as many things as you can, then pursue one (or two, or three) about which you’re passionate. I became successful in investing because this is what I enjoyed most… The quickest way to success is to do what you like and give it your best. For me, my love for investing was linked to my fascination with researching amd learning in detail what was happening in different parts of the world… The least-happy people I know are those stuck in jobs they don’t love; many because they can’t imagine giving up a paycheck… People who follow their passions do not “go to work”. They get up each day and cannot wait to have more fun doing what they love to do… Even if you don’t become wealthy pursuing your passions, you will be rich with satisfaction. Plus, you’ll be happy. You can’t put a price on that.”
Have a dream – “In addition to finding a fulfilling vocation, you must have a dream. In my younger days, I though that making money was fun, but I didn’t really have a plan beyond that. Had I continued down that path, I would have lost interest by now… when you begin something, you may not always have a concrete picture or vision of the future. But if you continue to be passionate and work hard at what you truly love to do, then you will eventually find that dream.”
Do not be ignorant – “Ignorance is born of an outsized sense of self-importance. Never let yourself become arrogant. Study hard. The more you learn, the more you will realize how little you know – and armed with this humility, you will never lose sight of the distance that separates self-confidence and self-importace.”
Puruse your dreams – “I want you to pursue, without pause, whatever it is that stirs your passion. Keep working toward your dream, not someone else’s, and not mine, either. A lot of people try to live for others – their children, their spouses, their parents, their friends – and in doing so twist themselves into knots attempting to meet their often outsized and/or unrealistic expectations. That leaves little space for personal growth and progress, and creates resentment for lost opportunities.”
On Investing
Due Dilligence – “If you just read the annual reports of companies, you will have done more than 98 percent of investors. If you read the notes of the financial statements, you will be ahead of 99.5 percent of investors. Verify those financial statements, as well as future projections announced by the top executives, by doing your own legwork. Talk to customers, suppliers, competitors, and anyone else who might affect the company. Do not invest unless you can say with absolute certainty that you are more knowledgeable about this particular firm than 98 percent of Wall Street analysts. Believe me, it can be done. But only with the extra effort.”
“If one (currency black market) exists, then you know the country has problems. Black market exchange rates exist only when the government is imposing artificial controls. The difference in parity between the official currency rate nad the black market rate indicates the gravity of the problem in that nation.”
The importance of history – “In my course “Bull and Bear” at Columbia University, I instructed students to research major bullish and bearish markets of the past, then figure out which historical events had contributed to their rise and fall. What was going on in the world when prices skyrocketed or plummeted? Why did those events serve as a catalyst? Looking back upon history is an invaluable way to learn how to analyze trends. And better still, it teaches you how to anticipate future changes.”
The rise of China – “When we look back upon history, we know that Spain dominated the sixteenth century, while France was the more prosperous country two hundred years later. The nineteenth century was the century of Great Britain. In the twentieth century, the United States rose to prominence. Well, the twenty-first century belongs to China.”
Careful with shorts – “You need to careful though, that you are not selling short simply because prices are high. Never sell short unless price are astronomically expensive, and you detect negative change coming.”
Do not follow the crowd – “Whe you see so many people being unrealistic, stop and make an objective assessment of the supply-and-demand equation. Bearing in mind this basic principle will bring that closer to success… Anytime that you think you’ve become a financial genius – when, in fact, you simply have had the good luck to turn a profit – it is time to sit back and do nothing for a while. If you stumble upon success in a bull market and decide that you are gifted, stop right there. Investing at that point is dangerous, because you are starting to think like everybody else. Wait until the mob psychology that is influencing you sudsides.”
Debasing currency does not work in the long run – “Throughout history, many countries have tried debasing their currency as a way to revive the economy by making it a bit more competitive. It has never worked over the long run or even immediately. It can work in the short term, but not always.”
Below is a review of the book:
http://www.bigfatpurse.com/2010/06/a-gift-to-my-children-by-jim-rogers/
Jim Rogers wrote a book for his daughters, teaching them the way of life to achieve success and happiness. Here are the things I learned from the book:
About Life
Passion is key to happiness – “Try as many things as you can, then pursue one (or two, or three) about which you’re passionate. I became successful in investing because this is what I enjoyed most… The quickest way to success is to do what you like and give it your best. For me, my love for investing was linked to my fascination with researching amd learning in detail what was happening in different parts of the world… The least-happy people I know are those stuck in jobs they don’t love; many because they can’t imagine giving up a paycheck… People who follow their passions do not “go to work”. They get up each day and cannot wait to have more fun doing what they love to do… Even if you don’t become wealthy pursuing your passions, you will be rich with satisfaction. Plus, you’ll be happy. You can’t put a price on that.”
Have a dream – “In addition to finding a fulfilling vocation, you must have a dream. In my younger days, I though that making money was fun, but I didn’t really have a plan beyond that. Had I continued down that path, I would have lost interest by now… when you begin something, you may not always have a concrete picture or vision of the future. But if you continue to be passionate and work hard at what you truly love to do, then you will eventually find that dream.”
Do not be ignorant – “Ignorance is born of an outsized sense of self-importance. Never let yourself become arrogant. Study hard. The more you learn, the more you will realize how little you know – and armed with this humility, you will never lose sight of the distance that separates self-confidence and self-importace.”
Puruse your dreams – “I want you to pursue, without pause, whatever it is that stirs your passion. Keep working toward your dream, not someone else’s, and not mine, either. A lot of people try to live for others – their children, their spouses, their parents, their friends – and in doing so twist themselves into knots attempting to meet their often outsized and/or unrealistic expectations. That leaves little space for personal growth and progress, and creates resentment for lost opportunities.”
On Investing
Due Dilligence – “If you just read the annual reports of companies, you will have done more than 98 percent of investors. If you read the notes of the financial statements, you will be ahead of 99.5 percent of investors. Verify those financial statements, as well as future projections announced by the top executives, by doing your own legwork. Talk to customers, suppliers, competitors, and anyone else who might affect the company. Do not invest unless you can say with absolute certainty that you are more knowledgeable about this particular firm than 98 percent of Wall Street analysts. Believe me, it can be done. But only with the extra effort.”
“If one (currency black market) exists, then you know the country has problems. Black market exchange rates exist only when the government is imposing artificial controls. The difference in parity between the official currency rate nad the black market rate indicates the gravity of the problem in that nation.”
The importance of history – “In my course “Bull and Bear” at Columbia University, I instructed students to research major bullish and bearish markets of the past, then figure out which historical events had contributed to their rise and fall. What was going on in the world when prices skyrocketed or plummeted? Why did those events serve as a catalyst? Looking back upon history is an invaluable way to learn how to analyze trends. And better still, it teaches you how to anticipate future changes.”
The rise of China – “When we look back upon history, we know that Spain dominated the sixteenth century, while France was the more prosperous country two hundred years later. The nineteenth century was the century of Great Britain. In the twentieth century, the United States rose to prominence. Well, the twenty-first century belongs to China.”
Careful with shorts – “You need to careful though, that you are not selling short simply because prices are high. Never sell short unless price are astronomically expensive, and you detect negative change coming.”
Do not follow the crowd – “Whe you see so many people being unrealistic, stop and make an objective assessment of the supply-and-demand equation. Bearing in mind this basic principle will bring that closer to success… Anytime that you think you’ve become a financial genius – when, in fact, you simply have had the good luck to turn a profit – it is time to sit back and do nothing for a while. If you stumble upon success in a bull market and decide that you are gifted, stop right there. Investing at that point is dangerous, because you are starting to think like everybody else. Wait until the mob psychology that is influencing you sudsides.”
Debasing currency does not work in the long run – “Throughout history, many countries have tried debasing their currency as a way to revive the economy by making it a bit more competitive. It has never worked over the long run or even immediately. It can work in the short term, but not always.”
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Gunning for the Divine
Interesting theory on a son of something...
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-jesus29apr29,0,1333472.story?track=ntothtml
If you believe one bunch, some deity squeezed one of his offsprings into a virus-sized man-body (virus-size is perhaps giving 'em manhood too big a size given the domain the deities supposedly lord over but let's not quibble) just to show some big headed people how much the deity loved them.
If you believe the other bunch, that is all crap and the only thing squeezed into that man-body was just a small postcard (message), and their other postcard carrying fella was bigger.
Depending on who you believe, the character in question is either a son of a deity or just a small time delivery boy of a deity. The 2nd bunch is perfectly reasonable in thinking that if a deity can send 1 messenger the deity can always send another.
In that case, the 2nd bunch should be more correct since their idol should have more up-to-date messages from the deity since he came after the other bunch's idol. (This is based on my 'latest paper has the latest news' theory but that can of course be crap in which case I have another theory for it - 'latest paper has the latest crap')
But then why stop with the 2nd bunch's idol and not send more messengers? The deity gone lazy and decided to leave the task of communicating deitical messages to mullahs and priests? Or impotent? And what cheapo deity would bother to second such an important job as saving his 'children' to priests that fondle boys, hor?
Umh messenger theories sound crappy... So let's try the son of deity theory
If those big headed modern apes are so important to him, that deity can surely have some more sons and sacrifice them one after the other just to show his 'love' time and again can't he? What can't do? Who say no can do?
In fact, a 3rd bunch of fellas that lived 150 years ago in China during the Taiping Revolution said 'yes can do'. Those 'middle of everything' Chinamen who searched like hell for millenia finally found their 'true deity' 1800 years after the first bunch and 1300 years after the 2nd bunch, but only after the Jesuits had gunned their way into the Middle Kingdom.
So late then find and need a legion of Jesuit messengers some more (other people need only 1 or 2 fellas only, depending on which of the 2 other bunch you follow). Losers hor? May be not...
According to this bunch of Chinamen they found out that that deity had 4 sons, 3 of whom was living in China at the same time! Hey, that deity really 'delivered' in China (like true Chinamen)! And since these fellas came after the other 2 messengers they gotta be more up-to-date with deitical news.
Don't laugh okay - no respect for Chinamen seekers?
But alas, kowtowing to 3 yellow skinned sons of a deity and 1 almost white skinned son of the same was not at all palatable to the Biritish who went on to help gun those bunch of 'I-found-the-lord-and-more' Chinamen into thin air.
Which explains why present day Chinamen super-seekers had never heard of that history. Such history is of course conveniently made irrelevant by some of those Chinamen - to save their ego if not anything else..
Which also explains why super-seeker Chinamen of the present day are of the 'I-found-the-lord-of-the-whitemen-and-cant-find-no-more' type. Useless Chinamen hor? 150 years after the Taiping seekers and not just cannot find more but find lesser!?
2nd class losers indeed.
Just my theory but it can all be crap too. After all, what does a no-super-seeker Chinaman know hor?
An Iranian's vision of Jesus' life stirs debate
The new film, based on the Islamic version of Jesus' life, depicts him as a prophet rather than the son of God. Its director says he wants to further understanding.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-jesus29apr29,0,1333472.story?track=ntothtml
If you believe one bunch, some deity squeezed one of his offsprings into a virus-sized man-body (virus-size is perhaps giving 'em manhood too big a size given the domain the deities supposedly lord over but let's not quibble) just to show some big headed people how much the deity loved them.
If you believe the other bunch, that is all crap and the only thing squeezed into that man-body was just a small postcard (message), and their other postcard carrying fella was bigger.
Depending on who you believe, the character in question is either a son of a deity or just a small time delivery boy of a deity. The 2nd bunch is perfectly reasonable in thinking that if a deity can send 1 messenger the deity can always send another.
In that case, the 2nd bunch should be more correct since their idol should have more up-to-date messages from the deity since he came after the other bunch's idol. (This is based on my 'latest paper has the latest news' theory but that can of course be crap in which case I have another theory for it - 'latest paper has the latest crap')
But then why stop with the 2nd bunch's idol and not send more messengers? The deity gone lazy and decided to leave the task of communicating deitical messages to mullahs and priests? Or impotent? And what cheapo deity would bother to second such an important job as saving his 'children' to priests that fondle boys, hor?
Umh messenger theories sound crappy... So let's try the son of deity theory
If those big headed modern apes are so important to him, that deity can surely have some more sons and sacrifice them one after the other just to show his 'love' time and again can't he? What can't do? Who say no can do?
In fact, a 3rd bunch of fellas that lived 150 years ago in China during the Taiping Revolution said 'yes can do'. Those 'middle of everything' Chinamen who searched like hell for millenia finally found their 'true deity' 1800 years after the first bunch and 1300 years after the 2nd bunch, but only after the Jesuits had gunned their way into the Middle Kingdom.
So late then find and need a legion of Jesuit messengers some more (other people need only 1 or 2 fellas only, depending on which of the 2 other bunch you follow). Losers hor? May be not...
According to this bunch of Chinamen they found out that that deity had 4 sons, 3 of whom was living in China at the same time! Hey, that deity really 'delivered' in China (like true Chinamen)! And since these fellas came after the other 2 messengers they gotta be more up-to-date with deitical news.
Don't laugh okay - no respect for Chinamen seekers?
But alas, kowtowing to 3 yellow skinned sons of a deity and 1 almost white skinned son of the same was not at all palatable to the Biritish who went on to help gun those bunch of 'I-found-the-lord-and-more' Chinamen into thin air.
Which explains why present day Chinamen super-seekers had never heard of that history. Such history is of course conveniently made irrelevant by some of those Chinamen - to save their ego if not anything else..
Which also explains why super-seeker Chinamen of the present day are of the 'I-found-the-lord-of-the-whitemen-and-cant-find-no-more' type. Useless Chinamen hor? 150 years after the Taiping seekers and not just cannot find more but find lesser!?
2nd class losers indeed.
Just my theory but it can all be crap too. After all, what does a no-super-seeker Chinaman know hor?
An Iranian's vision of Jesus' life stirs debate
The new film, based on the Islamic version of Jesus' life, depicts him as a prophet rather than the son of God. Its director says he wants to further understanding.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Malaysian Hat Tricks
Comments posted in Malaysia Today on reports after the 2008 general elections of Perlis Sultan's insistence that all MPs appearing before him must wear the Songkok (Malay hat), and some DAP reps' refusal to comply.
A storm in a songkok
1st comment:
Much ado about what covers the head when what is needed for the country is to enlighten that which the hats cover.
Throughout history, all cultures (political and religious) in power deemed themselves honoured when their subjects are made to wear their costumes. What got to be put on the heads was apparently especially important to those 'powerful' people of the dark ages whether they were from Europe, Middle East or Asia.
As an example, to the arrogant Manchu rulers of China a century or so ago, their mandatory 'pig tail' hairstyle was the epitome of their overlordship (they had their own NEP system too) and was to be compromised only at the price of the head. The Qing, of course, gained more lasting infamy than respect from that antic of theirs.
The 'songkok' is, of course, something some people copied from the Turks.
History seems to show that it is the arrogant vile that feel most honoured if others ape after them, and feel most exalted by their one-size fits all version of 'only my way or nothing'. The US of George Bush Jr. is just the latest ‘global’ version of such arrogance.
Today we see first hand how our own version of such a 'My Way' attitude by an M character had created the Malaysian Dilemma. Forcing others to wear his stupid notions in their head is far worse than that of forcing outfits on others, but they all have small beginnings.
It may start with a book, a hat, or a megalomaniac's dream.
xxx
Subsequent posts (as web arguments on whether the DAP reps should or should not have submitted to the Songkok-or-nothing rule):
People can choose to have fun with others' costumes but they should not get to choose to have fun with others' liberty.
xxx
One can put whatever one likes on one's own head based on whatever reasons one can find or dredge up. One should however not think that one had it all sorted out and thereforth to insist that all others should ape after him.
It is perhaps better that one knows where to cap it all off.
And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret—and denied it me?
Well, well, what matters it? Believe that, too.
- Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam
xxx
A storm in a songkok
1st comment:
Much ado about what covers the head when what is needed for the country is to enlighten that which the hats cover.
Throughout history, all cultures (political and religious) in power deemed themselves honoured when their subjects are made to wear their costumes. What got to be put on the heads was apparently especially important to those 'powerful' people of the dark ages whether they were from Europe, Middle East or Asia.
As an example, to the arrogant Manchu rulers of China a century or so ago, their mandatory 'pig tail' hairstyle was the epitome of their overlordship (they had their own NEP system too) and was to be compromised only at the price of the head. The Qing, of course, gained more lasting infamy than respect from that antic of theirs.
The 'songkok' is, of course, something some people copied from the Turks.
History seems to show that it is the arrogant vile that feel most honoured if others ape after them, and feel most exalted by their one-size fits all version of 'only my way or nothing'. The US of George Bush Jr. is just the latest ‘global’ version of such arrogance.
Today we see first hand how our own version of such a 'My Way' attitude by an M character had created the Malaysian Dilemma. Forcing others to wear his stupid notions in their head is far worse than that of forcing outfits on others, but they all have small beginnings.
It may start with a book, a hat, or a megalomaniac's dream.
xxx
Subsequent posts (as web arguments on whether the DAP reps should or should not have submitted to the Songkok-or-nothing rule):
People can choose to have fun with others' costumes but they should not get to choose to have fun with others' liberty.
xxx
One can put whatever one likes on one's own head based on whatever reasons one can find or dredge up. One should however not think that one had it all sorted out and thereforth to insist that all others should ape after him.
It is perhaps better that one knows where to cap it all off.
And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret—and denied it me?
Well, well, what matters it? Believe that, too.
- Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam
xxx
Various Postings on Malaysian Indians
Comments posted in Malaysia Today before the 2008 general elections on 8 March 2008 in which the opposition parties won more than 1/3 the Parliamentary seats and became states government for Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor for the 1st time.
Suara rakyat, suara keramat
The Malaysian Indians suffered from a combination of factors.
Culturally they are a people conditioned to accept whatever life has to offer. They call that fate. Which is why their Hindu caste system lasted for a few thousand years and still going.
The Hindu caste system also conditioned them subconsciously to submit blindly to whoever happens to be in position of power. Thus their past faithfulness to Samy Vellu and BN.
In our country, Indians had also been conditioned to submit to the Malaysian caste system where they are further placed below some other people that have 'special positions'.
All these had combined to instill in the least well-to-do segments of Malaysian Indians (which is the majority) an inferiority complex worse than that created by their Hindu caste system.
If Malaysian Indians had failed, it is because our country had failed them and made them feel worse than what their disastrous caste system had done.
If Malaysian Indians had failed, it is because our country had intentionally kept them down by forsaking or letting them forsake their children's education.
It is only through education and, thereof, the opportunity to partake in all the best opportunities the country and the world has to offer (this means equality and meritocracy), that Malaysian Indians can get out of the rut that their own culture and government had created for them.
It should pain all compassionate Malaysians to see those pictures of our Tamil schools operating out of huts and 2-storey shop houses.
It is clear that the Indian community is too poor to start with to have much opportunity to get out of their hole themselves.
For one, they are now lower down in the Malaysian caste system than they had ever been in history, and cannot feed off others by the wave of a straight or crooked knife.
Just as their Hindu caste managed to keep their lowest members perennially subservient by keeping them continuously desperate, with whatever time they have spent on struggling to just survive not to say to figure out who among their leaders (all predators) were lying to them, the Malaysian caste system had done the same and worse with the help of a certain MIC and Samy Vellu.
The Indians may also be spread too thin to be able to run their Tamil schools cost effectively.
And if this country's government cannot or do not wish to uplift the Malaysian Indians who are unlikely to do so on their own, then the good people of the other races should extend a helping hand instead of talking to them condescendingly.
Going to so-called 'national' schools may also not be the solution as is obvious to anyone with some insight, including the discerning Malays who send their children to Chinese schools (even Mahathir talked about it when they were calling for his head).
The Chinese schools, on the other hand, have more critical mass (that is before a certain group of ‘special viles’ chase them out or kill them off with crooked knives), and the right people and value system to do that.
So I suggest that Indian and Chinese educationists consider the option of bringing the Indians into the fold of the Chinese school system/network.
If any group of people is able to do that, it is these 2.
Come on Indians and Chinese Malaysians, you have not much more to lose but all the more to gain by coming together, starting with our children and by imparting to them the knowledge and skills to compete successfully anywhere on earth, whatever dirt-princes notwithstanding.
2 people from 2 of the largest and greatest civilizations in history can surely find the space in our hearts and our schools to keep ourselves and our great cultures (except the Hindu caste system, of course) standing together upright against the odds posed by the vile predators that lord the Malaysian caste system.
xxx
Theva's desperate plea
Malaysia's middle class Indians can be ignored but there is more at stake than just votes
----
It is true that more than just votes is at stake but it is not true that Malaysia's Indian middle class can be ignored just because their numbers are small.
If number is all that matters in the advancement of the human race and in national development, then Malaysia should be lording over Singapore by now and Indonesia over Malaysia.
The truth is only a small number of minds really makes a difference in this world.
The rest are mere followers and hitch-hikers. Some are worse than that, as Malaysia show abundantly.
Although only a few really makes a difference, no one can ever foretell who those few will be and where they will come from.
Thus the need to give every single deserving individual the best opportunity they deserve to grow, and not waste resources on the undeserving. That is meritocracy.
The 7% Malaysians who are Indians may be small in number but we should be mindful that among all the races in Malaysia, that race have produced the largest number of Nobel prize winners. (Globally, there have been 6 ethnic Indian winners, 5 Chinese, and 0 Malays)
Some Malaysian races can claim to be princes of some soil or dirt, but none other than the Indian race in Malaysia can claim the honour of being awarded with the most Nobel prize.
It is perhaps timely to remember Chandrasekhar Subramanyam, the physicist from an Indian middle class family whose work was once publicly insinuated by his white mentor in front of a gathering of the Royal Astronomical Society.
None of the established European physicists of that time came to that young man's rescue.
One reason was that white mentor held the title of ‘father of modern astronomy’ and had arrogantly claimed that he was only 1 of 3 men in the world at that time that understood Einstein's theory of relativity. His name was Arthur Eddington.
The Nobel Prize committee was not impressed with Eddington but gave Chandrasekhar a Nobel prize for his work (on what became known as 'Chandrasekhar Limit') that arrogant Eddington scoffed at.
Chandrasekhar's uncle C.V. Raman was also a Nobel prize winner for his work on the Raman Effect (Physics).
Now, what race, not to say middle class family, can claim the honour of having 2 Nobel prize winners in 2 generations?
So Malaysian Indians,
Some people in Malaysia may look down on you or scoff at you but they will never be able to get anywhere near the achievements of your race.
Your people's achievements is Nature's way of showing you promise. And hope.
So hold your heads up high. Only fools ignore you to their own loss and detriment.
xxx
Malaysian Indian Muslims want to be called Malays
Kuala Lumpur, Mar 3 2008: Members of the Malaysian Indian Muslim Youth Movement (Gepima) want to be known as Malays and not Indians.
----
In the 19th century the western countries led by the British forced the Chinese to allow the sale of opium and made a lot of gold/money selling opium derived from India and Afghanistan (the British called that dominion 'the Jewel of the Crown').
At the same time their religious groups offered food and money (subsidised by that opium money, mainly) to any Chinese willing to convert to Christianity.
To the more humane in the west, the view was Christianity would humanise and civilise the Chinese.
Others like a British poet, Rudyard Kipling, considered the Asiatics and Africans (regions the west were fighting to colonise then) 'A Whitemen's Burden'.
And Kipling's poem of that name called upon the Americans to join the British in colonising these regions filled with 'half-devil and half-child'.
That poem was written when the Americans had whacked and taken possession of all Spanish dominions in the Americas and Pacific, and was occupying the Philippines.
Faced with the generosity of money derived the opium sale (so it was really money from the Chinese themselves) and the ineptitude of their own government, many of the poorest and desperate Chinese then took up the conversion offer to survive.
The other Chinese called the conversions 'shi jiao' or literally 'eating religion'.
The Indians of Gepima may also be just wanting to 'eat race'.
But are the people they want to join that generous, or would they just treat them as half-devil and half-child?
xxx
Suara rakyat, suara keramat
The Malaysian Indians suffered from a combination of factors.
Culturally they are a people conditioned to accept whatever life has to offer. They call that fate. Which is why their Hindu caste system lasted for a few thousand years and still going.
The Hindu caste system also conditioned them subconsciously to submit blindly to whoever happens to be in position of power. Thus their past faithfulness to Samy Vellu and BN.
In our country, Indians had also been conditioned to submit to the Malaysian caste system where they are further placed below some other people that have 'special positions'.
All these had combined to instill in the least well-to-do segments of Malaysian Indians (which is the majority) an inferiority complex worse than that created by their Hindu caste system.
If Malaysian Indians had failed, it is because our country had failed them and made them feel worse than what their disastrous caste system had done.
If Malaysian Indians had failed, it is because our country had intentionally kept them down by forsaking or letting them forsake their children's education.
It is only through education and, thereof, the opportunity to partake in all the best opportunities the country and the world has to offer (this means equality and meritocracy), that Malaysian Indians can get out of the rut that their own culture and government had created for them.
It should pain all compassionate Malaysians to see those pictures of our Tamil schools operating out of huts and 2-storey shop houses.
It is clear that the Indian community is too poor to start with to have much opportunity to get out of their hole themselves.
For one, they are now lower down in the Malaysian caste system than they had ever been in history, and cannot feed off others by the wave of a straight or crooked knife.
Just as their Hindu caste managed to keep their lowest members perennially subservient by keeping them continuously desperate, with whatever time they have spent on struggling to just survive not to say to figure out who among their leaders (all predators) were lying to them, the Malaysian caste system had done the same and worse with the help of a certain MIC and Samy Vellu.
The Indians may also be spread too thin to be able to run their Tamil schools cost effectively.
And if this country's government cannot or do not wish to uplift the Malaysian Indians who are unlikely to do so on their own, then the good people of the other races should extend a helping hand instead of talking to them condescendingly.
Going to so-called 'national' schools may also not be the solution as is obvious to anyone with some insight, including the discerning Malays who send their children to Chinese schools (even Mahathir talked about it when they were calling for his head).
The Chinese schools, on the other hand, have more critical mass (that is before a certain group of ‘special viles’ chase them out or kill them off with crooked knives), and the right people and value system to do that.
So I suggest that Indian and Chinese educationists consider the option of bringing the Indians into the fold of the Chinese school system/network.
If any group of people is able to do that, it is these 2.
Come on Indians and Chinese Malaysians, you have not much more to lose but all the more to gain by coming together, starting with our children and by imparting to them the knowledge and skills to compete successfully anywhere on earth, whatever dirt-princes notwithstanding.
2 people from 2 of the largest and greatest civilizations in history can surely find the space in our hearts and our schools to keep ourselves and our great cultures (except the Hindu caste system, of course) standing together upright against the odds posed by the vile predators that lord the Malaysian caste system.
xxx
Theva's desperate plea
Malaysia's middle class Indians can be ignored but there is more at stake than just votes
----
It is true that more than just votes is at stake but it is not true that Malaysia's Indian middle class can be ignored just because their numbers are small.
If number is all that matters in the advancement of the human race and in national development, then Malaysia should be lording over Singapore by now and Indonesia over Malaysia.
The truth is only a small number of minds really makes a difference in this world.
The rest are mere followers and hitch-hikers. Some are worse than that, as Malaysia show abundantly.
Although only a few really makes a difference, no one can ever foretell who those few will be and where they will come from.
Thus the need to give every single deserving individual the best opportunity they deserve to grow, and not waste resources on the undeserving. That is meritocracy.
The 7% Malaysians who are Indians may be small in number but we should be mindful that among all the races in Malaysia, that race have produced the largest number of Nobel prize winners. (Globally, there have been 6 ethnic Indian winners, 5 Chinese, and 0 Malays)
Some Malaysian races can claim to be princes of some soil or dirt, but none other than the Indian race in Malaysia can claim the honour of being awarded with the most Nobel prize.
It is perhaps timely to remember Chandrasekhar Subramanyam, the physicist from an Indian middle class family whose work was once publicly insinuated by his white mentor in front of a gathering of the Royal Astronomical Society.
None of the established European physicists of that time came to that young man's rescue.
One reason was that white mentor held the title of ‘father of modern astronomy’ and had arrogantly claimed that he was only 1 of 3 men in the world at that time that understood Einstein's theory of relativity. His name was Arthur Eddington.
The Nobel Prize committee was not impressed with Eddington but gave Chandrasekhar a Nobel prize for his work (on what became known as 'Chandrasekhar Limit') that arrogant Eddington scoffed at.
Chandrasekhar's uncle C.V. Raman was also a Nobel prize winner for his work on the Raman Effect (Physics).
Now, what race, not to say middle class family, can claim the honour of having 2 Nobel prize winners in 2 generations?
So Malaysian Indians,
Some people in Malaysia may look down on you or scoff at you but they will never be able to get anywhere near the achievements of your race.
Your people's achievements is Nature's way of showing you promise. And hope.
So hold your heads up high. Only fools ignore you to their own loss and detriment.
xxx
Malaysian Indian Muslims want to be called Malays
Kuala Lumpur, Mar 3 2008: Members of the Malaysian Indian Muslim Youth Movement (Gepima) want to be known as Malays and not Indians.
----
In the 19th century the western countries led by the British forced the Chinese to allow the sale of opium and made a lot of gold/money selling opium derived from India and Afghanistan (the British called that dominion 'the Jewel of the Crown').
At the same time their religious groups offered food and money (subsidised by that opium money, mainly) to any Chinese willing to convert to Christianity.
To the more humane in the west, the view was Christianity would humanise and civilise the Chinese.
Others like a British poet, Rudyard Kipling, considered the Asiatics and Africans (regions the west were fighting to colonise then) 'A Whitemen's Burden'.
And Kipling's poem of that name called upon the Americans to join the British in colonising these regions filled with 'half-devil and half-child'.
That poem was written when the Americans had whacked and taken possession of all Spanish dominions in the Americas and Pacific, and was occupying the Philippines.
Faced with the generosity of money derived the opium sale (so it was really money from the Chinese themselves) and the ineptitude of their own government, many of the poorest and desperate Chinese then took up the conversion offer to survive.
The other Chinese called the conversions 'shi jiao' or literally 'eating religion'.
The Indians of Gepima may also be just wanting to 'eat race'.
But are the people they want to join that generous, or would they just treat them as half-devil and half-child?
xxx
The Man and the Monkeys: A Wall Street Fable
Extracted from the Economist Views
Once upon a time in a village a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers knew that there were many monkeys in their forest. They left their farms on the plains and went into the forest to catch them. The man bought thousands at $10.
As the supply of monkeys started to diminish the villagers stopped looking. Finding and catching monkeys was soon no longer worth the effort for $10. They started to return to their farms to plant the spring crop.
The man then announced that he would buy monkeys for $20 each. This new higher price renewed the effort of the villagers and they headed back into the forest to find and catch monkeys again to sell.
When the monkey supply diminished even further that summer and the people started to return to their farms, worried they had not made enough money selling monkeys to buy all the food they needed but had not planted any crops yet either, the man raised the price he'd pay for monkeys to $25 each. The hunt was on again.
Soon the supply of monkeys became so small that a villager didn't see a monkey in a day of hunting let alone catch one. Even at $25 each the effort was not profitable so the villagers finally headed back to their farms that fall. After nine month's absence from their farms they knew the time had passed to produce enough food for the coming winter, but at least now they had enough money from selling monkeys to buy food to eat.
But the man wasn't finished. He announced that he would buy monkeys for $50 each! The villagers became very excited. He also explained that he had to go to the city on business and that his assistant was to stay behind to buy monkeys on his behalf.
As soon as the man left the assistant told the villagers, "So you think you have made a lot of money selling monkeys, don't you? But do you want to really get rich?"
"Yes, yes!" said the villagers.
The man's assistant went on. "I have a gigantic, enormous cage filled with monkeys. I will sell them to you for only $35 each and when the man returns from the city you can sell them to him for $50 each and make a fat profit. You don't even have to work to find monkeys at all. Then you can not only buy all the food you need for this winter you call all buy flat panel TVs, too."
The villagers were thrilled. They collected all of their savings together and bought all the monkeys in the assistant's cage then awaited the man's return.
They never saw the man nor his assistant again. All the monkeys that were once in the woods were now in the village. All of the villager's savings were gone.
Moral: Substitute housing for monkeys. As the winter of the US economy arrives, you still have the house you had before the price was bid up. Now that prices are falling back down, who has your savings?
Now you know how Wall Street works an asset bubble racket.
(Original by Anonymous, improvements by metalman.)
Once upon a time in a village a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers knew that there were many monkeys in their forest. They left their farms on the plains and went into the forest to catch them. The man bought thousands at $10.
As the supply of monkeys started to diminish the villagers stopped looking. Finding and catching monkeys was soon no longer worth the effort for $10. They started to return to their farms to plant the spring crop.
The man then announced that he would buy monkeys for $20 each. This new higher price renewed the effort of the villagers and they headed back into the forest to find and catch monkeys again to sell.
When the monkey supply diminished even further that summer and the people started to return to their farms, worried they had not made enough money selling monkeys to buy all the food they needed but had not planted any crops yet either, the man raised the price he'd pay for monkeys to $25 each. The hunt was on again.
Soon the supply of monkeys became so small that a villager didn't see a monkey in a day of hunting let alone catch one. Even at $25 each the effort was not profitable so the villagers finally headed back to their farms that fall. After nine month's absence from their farms they knew the time had passed to produce enough food for the coming winter, but at least now they had enough money from selling monkeys to buy food to eat.
But the man wasn't finished. He announced that he would buy monkeys for $50 each! The villagers became very excited. He also explained that he had to go to the city on business and that his assistant was to stay behind to buy monkeys on his behalf.
As soon as the man left the assistant told the villagers, "So you think you have made a lot of money selling monkeys, don't you? But do you want to really get rich?"
"Yes, yes!" said the villagers.
The man's assistant went on. "I have a gigantic, enormous cage filled with monkeys. I will sell them to you for only $35 each and when the man returns from the city you can sell them to him for $50 each and make a fat profit. You don't even have to work to find monkeys at all. Then you can not only buy all the food you need for this winter you call all buy flat panel TVs, too."
The villagers were thrilled. They collected all of their savings together and bought all the monkeys in the assistant's cage then awaited the man's return.
They never saw the man nor his assistant again. All the monkeys that were once in the woods were now in the village. All of the villager's savings were gone.
Moral: Substitute housing for monkeys. As the winter of the US economy arrives, you still have the house you had before the price was bid up. Now that prices are falling back down, who has your savings?
Now you know how Wall Street works an asset bubble racket.
(Original by Anonymous, improvements by metalman.)
Paul Krugman: Partying Like It's 1929
Extracted from artcile in Economist Views
We're relearning the lesson that "unregulated, unsupervised financial markets can all too easily suffer catastrophic failure":
Partying Like It’s 1929, by Paul Krugman, CVommentary, NY Times:
If Ben Bernanke manages to save the financial system from collapse he will — rightly — be praised for his heroic efforts.
But what we should be asking is: How did we get here? Why does the financial system need salvation? Why do mild-mannered economists have to become superheroes?
The answer, at a fundamental level, is that ... having refused to learn from history, we’re repeating it.
Contrary to popular belief, the stock market crash of 1929 wasn’t the defining moment of the Great Depression. What turned an ordinary recession into a civilization-threatening slump was the wave of bank runs that swept across America in 1930 and 1931.
This banking crisis of the 1930s showed that unregulated, unsupervised financial markets can all too easily suffer catastrophic failure. As the decades passed, however, that lesson was forgotten — and now we’re relearning it, the hard way. ...
Banks ... sometimes — often based on nothing more than a rumor —... face runs... And a bank that faces a run by depositors ... may go bust even if the rumor was false.
Worse yet, bank runs can be contagious. If depositors at one bank lose their money, depositors at other banks are likely to get nervous, too, setting off a chain reaction. And there can be wider economic effects...
That, in brief, is what happened in 1930-1931, making the Great Depression the disaster it was. So Congress tried to make sure it would never happen again by creating a system of regulations and guarantees that provided a safety net for the financial system.
And we all lived happily for a while — but not for ever after.
Wall Street chafed at regulations that limited risk, but also limited potential profits. And little by little it wriggled free — partly by persuading politicians to relax the rules, but mainly by creating a “shadow banking system” that ... bypass[ed] regulations designed to ensure that banking was safe.
For example, in the old system, savers had federally insured deposits in tightly regulated savings banks, and banks used that money to make home loans. Over time, however, this was partly replaced by a system in which savers put their money in funds that bought asset-backed commercial paper from special investment vehicles that bought collateralized debt obligations created from securitized mortgages — with nary a regulator in sight.
As the years went by, the shadow banking system took over more and more of the banking business, because the unregulated players ... seemed to offer better deals... Meanwhile, those who worried ... that this brave new world of finance lacked a safety net were dismissed as hopelessly old-fashioned.
In fact, however, we were partying like it was 1929 — and now it’s 1930.
The financial crisis currently under way is basically an updated version of the wave of bank runs that swept the nation three generations ago. People aren’t pulling cash out of banks to put it in their mattresses — but they’re doing the modern equivalent, pulling their money out of the shadow banking system and putting into Treasury bills. And the result, now as then, is a vicious circle of financial contraction.
Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed are doing all they can to end that vicious circle. We can only hope that they succeed. Otherwise, the next few years will be very unpleasant — not another Great Depression, hopefully, but surely the worst slump we’ve seen in decades.
Even if Mr. Bernanke pulls it off, however, this is no way to run an economy. It’s time to relearn the lessons of the 1930s, and get the financial system back under control.
We're relearning the lesson that "unregulated, unsupervised financial markets can all too easily suffer catastrophic failure":
Partying Like It’s 1929, by Paul Krugman, CVommentary, NY Times:
If Ben Bernanke manages to save the financial system from collapse he will — rightly — be praised for his heroic efforts.
But what we should be asking is: How did we get here? Why does the financial system need salvation? Why do mild-mannered economists have to become superheroes?
The answer, at a fundamental level, is that ... having refused to learn from history, we’re repeating it.
Contrary to popular belief, the stock market crash of 1929 wasn’t the defining moment of the Great Depression. What turned an ordinary recession into a civilization-threatening slump was the wave of bank runs that swept across America in 1930 and 1931.
This banking crisis of the 1930s showed that unregulated, unsupervised financial markets can all too easily suffer catastrophic failure. As the decades passed, however, that lesson was forgotten — and now we’re relearning it, the hard way. ...
Banks ... sometimes — often based on nothing more than a rumor —... face runs... And a bank that faces a run by depositors ... may go bust even if the rumor was false.
Worse yet, bank runs can be contagious. If depositors at one bank lose their money, depositors at other banks are likely to get nervous, too, setting off a chain reaction. And there can be wider economic effects...
That, in brief, is what happened in 1930-1931, making the Great Depression the disaster it was. So Congress tried to make sure it would never happen again by creating a system of regulations and guarantees that provided a safety net for the financial system.
And we all lived happily for a while — but not for ever after.
Wall Street chafed at regulations that limited risk, but also limited potential profits. And little by little it wriggled free — partly by persuading politicians to relax the rules, but mainly by creating a “shadow banking system” that ... bypass[ed] regulations designed to ensure that banking was safe.
For example, in the old system, savers had federally insured deposits in tightly regulated savings banks, and banks used that money to make home loans. Over time, however, this was partly replaced by a system in which savers put their money in funds that bought asset-backed commercial paper from special investment vehicles that bought collateralized debt obligations created from securitized mortgages — with nary a regulator in sight.
As the years went by, the shadow banking system took over more and more of the banking business, because the unregulated players ... seemed to offer better deals... Meanwhile, those who worried ... that this brave new world of finance lacked a safety net were dismissed as hopelessly old-fashioned.
In fact, however, we were partying like it was 1929 — and now it’s 1930.
The financial crisis currently under way is basically an updated version of the wave of bank runs that swept the nation three generations ago. People aren’t pulling cash out of banks to put it in their mattresses — but they’re doing the modern equivalent, pulling their money out of the shadow banking system and putting into Treasury bills. And the result, now as then, is a vicious circle of financial contraction.
Mr. Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed are doing all they can to end that vicious circle. We can only hope that they succeed. Otherwise, the next few years will be very unpleasant — not another Great Depression, hopefully, but surely the worst slump we’ve seen in decades.
Even if Mr. Bernanke pulls it off, however, this is no way to run an economy. It’s time to relearn the lessons of the 1930s, and get the financial system back under control.
Financial Markets Panic: Losing Our Marbles
Extracted from an article in Economist Views
Steve Waldman explains how the house of cards can collapse:
Credit Crisis for Kindergarteners, by Steve Waldman:
David Leonhardt notes that it's pretty hard to explain what's going on in the financial world these days... Here's how I'd tell the tale to a child:
Alice, Bob, and Sue have ten marbles between them. Whenever one kid wants another kid to take over a chore, she promises a marble in exchange. Alice doesn't like setting the table, so she promises Bob a marble if he will do it for her. Bob hates mowing the lawn, but Sue will do it for a marble. Sue doesn't like broccoli, but if she ... promises a marble...
One day, the kids get together to brag about all the marbles they soon will have. It turns out that, between them, they are promised 40 marbles! Now that is pretty exciting. They've each promised to give away some marbles too, but they don't think about that, they can keep their promises later, after they've had time to play with what's coming. For now, each is eager to hold all the marbles they've been promised in their own hands, and to show off their collections to friends.
But then Alice, who is smart and foolish all at the same time, points out a curious fact. There are only 10 marbles! Sue says, "That cannot be. I have earned 20 marbles, and I have only promised to give away three! There must be 17 just for me."
But there are still only 10 marbles.
Suddenly, when Bob doesn't want to mow the lawn, no one will do it for him, even if he promises two marbles for the job. No one will eat Sue's broccoli for her, even though everyone knows she is promised the most marbles of anyone, because no one believes she will ever see those 17 marbles she is always going on about. In fact, dinnertime is mayhem... Mom is cross. Dad is cross. Everyone is cross. "But you promised," is heard over and over among the children, amidst lots of stomping and fighting. Until recently, theirs was such a happy home, but now ... no one trusts anyone at all. It's all a bit mysterious to Dad, who points out that nothing has changed, really, so why on Earth is everything falling apart?
Perhaps Mom and Dad will decide that the best thing to do is just buy some more marbles, so that all the children can make good on their promises. But that would mean giving Alice 19 marbles, because she was laziest and made the most promises she couldn't keep, and that hardly seems like a good lesson. Plus, marbles are expensive, and everyone in the family would have to skip lunch for a week to settle Alice's debt. Perhaps the children could get together and decide that an unmet promise should be worth only a quarter of a marble, so that everyone is able to keep their promises after all. But then Sue, the hardest working, would feel really ripped off, as she ends up with a much more modest collection of marbles than she had expected. Perhaps Bob, the strongest, will simply take all the marbles from Alice and Sue, and make it clear than none will be given in return, and that will be that. Or, perhaps Alice and Bob could do Sue's chores for a while in addition to their own, extinguishing one promise per chore. But that's an awful lot of work, what if they just don't want to, who's gonna force them? What if they'd have to be in servitude to Sue for years?
Almost whatever happens, the trading of chores, so crucial to the family's tidy lawns and pleasant dinners, will be curtailed for some time. Perhaps some trading will occur via exchange of actual marbles, but this will not be common, as even kids see the folly of giving rare glass to people known to welch on their promises. It makes more sense to horde.
A credit crisis arises when many more promises are made than can possibly be kept, and disputes emerge about how and to whom promises will be broken. It's less a matter of SIVs than ABCs.
Couldn't the parents force the kids to keep their promises (under threat of a large penalty for default)? Either do what you promised, or incur some punishment that makes doing the chores the only reasonable choice? That seems a lot like the way a court would enforce contracts, so we need one of the kids to declare bankruptcy (or simply refuse to work and accept the punishment of having assets stripped, getting sent to their room, grounded, etc.) to get this going.
Perhaps another way to make this work is to have one of the kids lose their marbles (literally, as in a bad investment) so that some debts cannot be repaid. This would break the chain, create worry and panic, and potentially generate a breakdown in the system. But in this case the role of the government (parents) is easier - if it acts fast enough it could replace the lost marbles using its magical marble making machine (print money), three or four perhaps, to make a loan backed by collateral to keep the system of credits and payments flowing.
As for the child who lost the marbles, the parents could teach him or her a lesson about being responsible by refusing to come to the child's aid, but that just wrecks the entire household - the other kids didn't do anything wrong. Better to loan the child the marbles to keep things flowing, enforce existing contracts, then once the crisis is past, determine how and why the marbles were lost. At that point, if there is reason for the child to bear the consequences of bad choices, then the consequences can be confined to the child rather than spread throughout the household. In addition, the parents could also consider instituting new rules (a regulatory response to the crisis), e.g. automatic penalties for non-performance of a contract (e.g. capital requirements, forfeiting a bike or some other toy to the other party, etc.) so that once a deal is agreed upon, the kids are less likely to renege, rules about how marbles can be stored so they aren't lost accidentally, and so on
Steve Waldman explains how the house of cards can collapse:
Credit Crisis for Kindergarteners, by Steve Waldman:
David Leonhardt notes that it's pretty hard to explain what's going on in the financial world these days... Here's how I'd tell the tale to a child:
Alice, Bob, and Sue have ten marbles between them. Whenever one kid wants another kid to take over a chore, she promises a marble in exchange. Alice doesn't like setting the table, so she promises Bob a marble if he will do it for her. Bob hates mowing the lawn, but Sue will do it for a marble. Sue doesn't like broccoli, but if she ... promises a marble...
One day, the kids get together to brag about all the marbles they soon will have. It turns out that, between them, they are promised 40 marbles! Now that is pretty exciting. They've each promised to give away some marbles too, but they don't think about that, they can keep their promises later, after they've had time to play with what's coming. For now, each is eager to hold all the marbles they've been promised in their own hands, and to show off their collections to friends.
But then Alice, who is smart and foolish all at the same time, points out a curious fact. There are only 10 marbles! Sue says, "That cannot be. I have earned 20 marbles, and I have only promised to give away three! There must be 17 just for me."
But there are still only 10 marbles.
Suddenly, when Bob doesn't want to mow the lawn, no one will do it for him, even if he promises two marbles for the job. No one will eat Sue's broccoli for her, even though everyone knows she is promised the most marbles of anyone, because no one believes she will ever see those 17 marbles she is always going on about. In fact, dinnertime is mayhem... Mom is cross. Dad is cross. Everyone is cross. "But you promised," is heard over and over among the children, amidst lots of stomping and fighting. Until recently, theirs was such a happy home, but now ... no one trusts anyone at all. It's all a bit mysterious to Dad, who points out that nothing has changed, really, so why on Earth is everything falling apart?
Perhaps Mom and Dad will decide that the best thing to do is just buy some more marbles, so that all the children can make good on their promises. But that would mean giving Alice 19 marbles, because she was laziest and made the most promises she couldn't keep, and that hardly seems like a good lesson. Plus, marbles are expensive, and everyone in the family would have to skip lunch for a week to settle Alice's debt. Perhaps the children could get together and decide that an unmet promise should be worth only a quarter of a marble, so that everyone is able to keep their promises after all. But then Sue, the hardest working, would feel really ripped off, as she ends up with a much more modest collection of marbles than she had expected. Perhaps Bob, the strongest, will simply take all the marbles from Alice and Sue, and make it clear than none will be given in return, and that will be that. Or, perhaps Alice and Bob could do Sue's chores for a while in addition to their own, extinguishing one promise per chore. But that's an awful lot of work, what if they just don't want to, who's gonna force them? What if they'd have to be in servitude to Sue for years?
Almost whatever happens, the trading of chores, so crucial to the family's tidy lawns and pleasant dinners, will be curtailed for some time. Perhaps some trading will occur via exchange of actual marbles, but this will not be common, as even kids see the folly of giving rare glass to people known to welch on their promises. It makes more sense to horde.
A credit crisis arises when many more promises are made than can possibly be kept, and disputes emerge about how and to whom promises will be broken. It's less a matter of SIVs than ABCs.
Couldn't the parents force the kids to keep their promises (under threat of a large penalty for default)? Either do what you promised, or incur some punishment that makes doing the chores the only reasonable choice? That seems a lot like the way a court would enforce contracts, so we need one of the kids to declare bankruptcy (or simply refuse to work and accept the punishment of having assets stripped, getting sent to their room, grounded, etc.) to get this going.
Perhaps another way to make this work is to have one of the kids lose their marbles (literally, as in a bad investment) so that some debts cannot be repaid. This would break the chain, create worry and panic, and potentially generate a breakdown in the system. But in this case the role of the government (parents) is easier - if it acts fast enough it could replace the lost marbles using its magical marble making machine (print money), three or four perhaps, to make a loan backed by collateral to keep the system of credits and payments flowing.
As for the child who lost the marbles, the parents could teach him or her a lesson about being responsible by refusing to come to the child's aid, but that just wrecks the entire household - the other kids didn't do anything wrong. Better to loan the child the marbles to keep things flowing, enforce existing contracts, then once the crisis is past, determine how and why the marbles were lost. At that point, if there is reason for the child to bear the consequences of bad choices, then the consequences can be confined to the child rather than spread throughout the household. In addition, the parents could also consider instituting new rules (a regulatory response to the crisis), e.g. automatic penalties for non-performance of a contract (e.g. capital requirements, forfeiting a bike or some other toy to the other party, etc.) so that once a deal is agreed upon, the kids are less likely to renege, rules about how marbles can be stored so they aren't lost accidentally, and so on
Predicting Recessions
An article on a model to determine probability of turning in business cycles in the US using the Markov-Switching model.
http://www.uoregon.edu/~jpiger/cp_realtime_2_020907.pdf
xxx
http://www.uoregon.edu/~jpiger/cp_realtime_2_020907.pdf
xxx
Friday, December 28, 2007
Putting Ice Coffee in Perspective
Sister and family were back from Australia and we gathered at another sister's home in Johor.
One day upon rejoining the group after I went to park my car after dropping them off for lunch at a local coffee shop, niece Le was crying because her mother stopped her from having what the other kids had all ordered - ice coffee - because ice coffee was 'not healthy'.
That 9 or 10 year old kid was crying because she was wondering why she could not have what the other kids were having. And it was all because ice coffee is 'not healthy'!
I then told her mother off for not putting things in perspective. It was not like the kids were having ice coffee every day. The kids can be taught to be careful about having too much coffee but it does not mean that they shall never have that thing! It is okay to let the kids try something 'less healthy' once a while just for enjoyment. It was not going to kill them.
The other parents let the other kids had ice coffee because they had the sense to know that it is okay once a while to let their kids enjoy what they fancy at that moment.
Le's parents then relented and let her had her ice coffee. Her father's comment after that was, it's 'like in school, once a while there's hair down day'...
One day upon rejoining the group after I went to park my car after dropping them off for lunch at a local coffee shop, niece Le was crying because her mother stopped her from having what the other kids had all ordered - ice coffee - because ice coffee was 'not healthy'.
That 9 or 10 year old kid was crying because she was wondering why she could not have what the other kids were having. And it was all because ice coffee is 'not healthy'!
I then told her mother off for not putting things in perspective. It was not like the kids were having ice coffee every day. The kids can be taught to be careful about having too much coffee but it does not mean that they shall never have that thing! It is okay to let the kids try something 'less healthy' once a while just for enjoyment. It was not going to kill them.
The other parents let the other kids had ice coffee because they had the sense to know that it is okay once a while to let their kids enjoy what they fancy at that moment.
Le's parents then relented and let her had her ice coffee. Her father's comment after that was, it's 'like in school, once a while there's hair down day'...
Friday, October 26, 2007
I Don't Care if You Use a Dog or Loud Speaker
When my 2nd daughter was in primary 1 (which was in the afternoon session), I would go fetch her from school after work and send her to my in-laws' house near mine where she would have dinner before going home.
The neighbouring house had a white dog which would bark incessantly at any one passing by that house. So being the only house next to it, my in-laws' family and anyone visiting them bore the brunt of that barking day in and day out which was annoying even for me who did not have to experience it daily. In addition the dog would do that while sticking its head through the grills separating the 2 houses which made it more annoying.
Once while watering his garden, my brother in-law sprayed some water at it. Other times, we threw some stones at it. But no use.
The dog's owners on the other hand made no attempt to try and control it. Once I saw someone peeping out of the window amidst all that barking but did nothing.
One evening when the usual thing happened even when its male owner was at his front door and did nothing, I shouted at the dog to chase it away.
That owner came towards me saying 'why did you do that? it is just a dog. I also know you threw stones at my dog' (obviously they had been observing everything from inside the house all along but made no attempt to control their dog)
My daughter was with me at the main gate when that happened, so I told her to go into the house.
When that man was facing me over the grills I pointed my finger into his face and said 'I don't care if you use a dog or a loudspeaker. But if you shout at me everyday, I'd whack you!'
That fella was stunned, said nothing in return and walked off. I guess he got the point loud and clear.
A year or so after that, I was told that they had gotten rid of that dog because it had bitten their baby grandchild. Serve them right.
You see, every credible dog trainer would tell you that dogs were descended from wolves which are pack animals. In the wild, every pack has a leader that will control the pack. With the leader around, other members of the pack would be 'very well behaved' i.e. submissive. In the absence of a strong leader, members of the pack would fight and try to dominate over the others to become the leader. It is just their natural instinct.
It is the same with dogs which is why one of the first thing that dog trainers tell owners trying to train their dogs is that from day one the owners must be firm and act in ways that show their dogs in no uncertain terms that they are the 'leader' that the dogs must submit to and not the other way around.
I guess only then would this saying by Mark Twain be true - 'If you take a dog which is starving and feed him and make him prosperous, that dog will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a dog and a man'
The neighbouring house had a white dog which would bark incessantly at any one passing by that house. So being the only house next to it, my in-laws' family and anyone visiting them bore the brunt of that barking day in and day out which was annoying even for me who did not have to experience it daily. In addition the dog would do that while sticking its head through the grills separating the 2 houses which made it more annoying.
Once while watering his garden, my brother in-law sprayed some water at it. Other times, we threw some stones at it. But no use.
The dog's owners on the other hand made no attempt to try and control it. Once I saw someone peeping out of the window amidst all that barking but did nothing.
One evening when the usual thing happened even when its male owner was at his front door and did nothing, I shouted at the dog to chase it away.
That owner came towards me saying 'why did you do that? it is just a dog. I also know you threw stones at my dog' (obviously they had been observing everything from inside the house all along but made no attempt to control their dog)
My daughter was with me at the main gate when that happened, so I told her to go into the house.
When that man was facing me over the grills I pointed my finger into his face and said 'I don't care if you use a dog or a loudspeaker. But if you shout at me everyday, I'd whack you!'
That fella was stunned, said nothing in return and walked off. I guess he got the point loud and clear.
A year or so after that, I was told that they had gotten rid of that dog because it had bitten their baby grandchild. Serve them right.
You see, every credible dog trainer would tell you that dogs were descended from wolves which are pack animals. In the wild, every pack has a leader that will control the pack. With the leader around, other members of the pack would be 'very well behaved' i.e. submissive. In the absence of a strong leader, members of the pack would fight and try to dominate over the others to become the leader. It is just their natural instinct.
It is the same with dogs which is why one of the first thing that dog trainers tell owners trying to train their dogs is that from day one the owners must be firm and act in ways that show their dogs in no uncertain terms that they are the 'leader' that the dogs must submit to and not the other way around.
I guess only then would this saying by Mark Twain be true - 'If you take a dog which is starving and feed him and make him prosperous, that dog will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a dog and a man'
Saturday, September 15, 2007
No Need for Colored Glasses
Like most humans, Chinese fear change. There are other terms for this already used by the crass.
Like most fools, it is the stupid that think that inspiration, insight and guidance can be drawn from only one book, or the most beautiful scenery of nature comes in monochrome.
Thus voting for such people to put them in power is to tell the fools with a broom stick they have a working compass and should lead the way around the globe.
Or his monochrome NEP still camera is the best way to capture the beauty and essence of nature.
By following fools you may not run into problem tomorrow or day after but that does not make them or their followers less foolish.
The broom stick may work as well as a compass for our globetrotter, for a while.
The monochrome NEP still pictures may tickle the senses of the half-blind, for a while.
But you will someday have to pay for the fool's acts, it is just a matter of when.
It is as simple as that.
No need for crass, colored glasses, cross, crescent and other complicated notions.xx
14/09: Through a Chinese Looking Glass
Posted in Malaysia Today
By Wang Earn Swey
In a recent posting in Malaysia-Today.net (MT), Raja Petra lamented that in the last general election, the Chinese threw their lot in with BN; this despite the fact that PAS issued a statement that if a May 13-type race riot were to occur, PAS members would stand in front of the Chinese and face death if necessary to shelter the Chinese from harm. Thus, continued Raja Petra, the Chinese deserve the UMNO-led government they get.
The Malaysian Chinese mind is not well understood, and Raja Petra understands it least of all; this despite the fact that his wife is ethnic Chinese. In another article, he branded the Chinese as cowards.The Chinese are a pragmatic race. They value education. They love making money.
And the Chinese in Malaysia have sought to equate the value of education to the value of future income. Talk to any Chinese parents in the 70’s and they would list the ‘good’ careers for their sons and daughters to pursue; doctors, engineers, etc., all the big money careers. Tell our parents that we are studying to become a kindergarten teacher and we very possibly might be disowned. This thinking has deviated from the thinking of the Chinese of the Han Dynasty where the civil service was the ultimate goal. Back then, scholars studied day and night, travelled hundreds of miles to write the civil service examinations, which can last for several days. The subjects of study were mostly from the Confucian texts. All of that in pursuit of titles like “chuang yuan” or “siew chye”, etc. These were high ranks among scholars and they gained ministerial positions according to their attained scholarship.
A similar route to high civil office does not exist for the Malaysian Chinese. Besides, the government model of today is completely different from the imperial Han Dynasty government. So what is left? Education and money! Education itself has been thoroughly transformed by technology. The Confucian Ethics Specialist is just not in demand anymore. The real goal of education is money anyway. The Chinese have never, in the past, thought that having money translated to having economic power. They simply liked being wealthy. It’s about respect. The materialistic (western) world looks at money through a twisted looking glass: money and wealth are exalted, at the same time money is the root of all evil. Not the Chinese. We look with awe at Bill Gates, the richest man on earth and a college dropout. We love every rags-to-riches story, as if that validates that we, too, can become billionaires. We don’t pay so much attention to other equally against-the-odds success stories: such as the one about the child who overcame his severe autism, and struggle now as an adult working as a government clerk.
Back to the general election; any general election. The Malaysian Chinese citizen holds the ballot paper in front of him. BN, DAP, PAS, PKR. Hmm. DAP has never run a government. They have become synonymous with the word ‘opposition’. PKR, a nebulous party with meagre election wins in the past. That leaves BN and PAS. PAS has a track record of running a state government or two. Now, PAS has offered to protect the Chinese in the event of a race riot. Sounds good, right? Not so fast.
Let’s play out the scenario. Say PAS receives a respectable amount of votes, enough to threaten the shrinking BN majority. Say racial sentiments start to brew to a boiling point. But race riots never occur, because PAS members stick to their word and stand in front of the Chinese, confronting any UMNO member. Race riots thus become a thing of the past. Two or three elections later, PAS wins the majority and now expects the Chinese to be supportive of their new government, including support for instituting Sharia laws. After all, we owe them for their past protection.
This is where the Chinese mind comes in. With the current government, I get to keep 75 sen of every ringgit I make. And I have a fighting chance of getting some of that 30% economic pie allocated to the non-Bumis. (This number is made up. I don’t have statistics to back up the 30% figure.) Under-the-table-money further cuts into my 75 sen. But this has been going on for years. I’m used to it. I have deprived myself of luxuries for the past 20 years to save up and open my own business. Sure, there are obstacles upon obstacles. Money has to change hands under the table again to open my own business. But, finally, I get to open my dream business. I’ve become the local distributor of Christian books to churches around the country. Oh relax, I’m not that pious a Christian. I go to church to cozy-up to the movers and shakers of Malaysian churches, just so that as a book distributor, I have their ears. In fact, I go to a different church every Sunday.
One vote for PAS and all my dreams become fuzzy. Who am I? I am the Chinese Christian Books distributor. I am the Chinese pig farmer. I am the Chinese casino worker. I am the Chinese non-halal food distributor. I am the Chinese temple builder. Pragmatist? My life story virtually defines the word. Coward? Don’t think so. My elderly parents who depend on my 75 sen.
“What more do you want?!” Raja Petra asked. For one thing, dear PAS member, we don’t want your pledge to stand in front of us. We have always been able to take care of ourselves in all adversities. We would rather you stand beside us. We don’t need the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” faux friendship. We want to know if you do take power, what shape will the government take? The Saudi model? The Iranian model? The Taliban model? Or the progressive democratic model that Turkey is struggling to keep? We want to know if you will teach our future children that wars of any kind take two sides, neither of which is blameless. We want to know if your government will be the first to appoint the most qualified persons, bumi or non-bumi? We want to know if our children will be the first to hear you declare that Islam is not superior to any other religion, that we are all God’s children, and that words like infidels, pagans, goyims are all man-made words and are offensive in the eyes of God. We want to know if your government will be the first Islamic government in the world to have permanent Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu Religious Affairs advisors. We want to know if the NEP that we have grudgingly supported for so long will be revamped, so that its goal is to narrow the gap between rich and poor, with income as the only criteria.
Sorry, Raja Petra, pledging to become a human shield for me is the last thing I need.
Like most fools, it is the stupid that think that inspiration, insight and guidance can be drawn from only one book, or the most beautiful scenery of nature comes in monochrome.
Thus voting for such people to put them in power is to tell the fools with a broom stick they have a working compass and should lead the way around the globe.
Or his monochrome NEP still camera is the best way to capture the beauty and essence of nature.
By following fools you may not run into problem tomorrow or day after but that does not make them or their followers less foolish.
The broom stick may work as well as a compass for our globetrotter, for a while.
The monochrome NEP still pictures may tickle the senses of the half-blind, for a while.
But you will someday have to pay for the fool's acts, it is just a matter of when.
It is as simple as that.
No need for crass, colored glasses, cross, crescent and other complicated notions.xx
14/09: Through a Chinese Looking Glass
Posted in Malaysia Today
By Wang Earn Swey
In a recent posting in Malaysia-Today.net (MT), Raja Petra lamented that in the last general election, the Chinese threw their lot in with BN; this despite the fact that PAS issued a statement that if a May 13-type race riot were to occur, PAS members would stand in front of the Chinese and face death if necessary to shelter the Chinese from harm. Thus, continued Raja Petra, the Chinese deserve the UMNO-led government they get.
The Malaysian Chinese mind is not well understood, and Raja Petra understands it least of all; this despite the fact that his wife is ethnic Chinese. In another article, he branded the Chinese as cowards.The Chinese are a pragmatic race. They value education. They love making money.
And the Chinese in Malaysia have sought to equate the value of education to the value of future income. Talk to any Chinese parents in the 70’s and they would list the ‘good’ careers for their sons and daughters to pursue; doctors, engineers, etc., all the big money careers. Tell our parents that we are studying to become a kindergarten teacher and we very possibly might be disowned. This thinking has deviated from the thinking of the Chinese of the Han Dynasty where the civil service was the ultimate goal. Back then, scholars studied day and night, travelled hundreds of miles to write the civil service examinations, which can last for several days. The subjects of study were mostly from the Confucian texts. All of that in pursuit of titles like “chuang yuan” or “siew chye”, etc. These were high ranks among scholars and they gained ministerial positions according to their attained scholarship.
A similar route to high civil office does not exist for the Malaysian Chinese. Besides, the government model of today is completely different from the imperial Han Dynasty government. So what is left? Education and money! Education itself has been thoroughly transformed by technology. The Confucian Ethics Specialist is just not in demand anymore. The real goal of education is money anyway. The Chinese have never, in the past, thought that having money translated to having economic power. They simply liked being wealthy. It’s about respect. The materialistic (western) world looks at money through a twisted looking glass: money and wealth are exalted, at the same time money is the root of all evil. Not the Chinese. We look with awe at Bill Gates, the richest man on earth and a college dropout. We love every rags-to-riches story, as if that validates that we, too, can become billionaires. We don’t pay so much attention to other equally against-the-odds success stories: such as the one about the child who overcame his severe autism, and struggle now as an adult working as a government clerk.
Back to the general election; any general election. The Malaysian Chinese citizen holds the ballot paper in front of him. BN, DAP, PAS, PKR. Hmm. DAP has never run a government. They have become synonymous with the word ‘opposition’. PKR, a nebulous party with meagre election wins in the past. That leaves BN and PAS. PAS has a track record of running a state government or two. Now, PAS has offered to protect the Chinese in the event of a race riot. Sounds good, right? Not so fast.
Let’s play out the scenario. Say PAS receives a respectable amount of votes, enough to threaten the shrinking BN majority. Say racial sentiments start to brew to a boiling point. But race riots never occur, because PAS members stick to their word and stand in front of the Chinese, confronting any UMNO member. Race riots thus become a thing of the past. Two or three elections later, PAS wins the majority and now expects the Chinese to be supportive of their new government, including support for instituting Sharia laws. After all, we owe them for their past protection.
This is where the Chinese mind comes in. With the current government, I get to keep 75 sen of every ringgit I make. And I have a fighting chance of getting some of that 30% economic pie allocated to the non-Bumis. (This number is made up. I don’t have statistics to back up the 30% figure.) Under-the-table-money further cuts into my 75 sen. But this has been going on for years. I’m used to it. I have deprived myself of luxuries for the past 20 years to save up and open my own business. Sure, there are obstacles upon obstacles. Money has to change hands under the table again to open my own business. But, finally, I get to open my dream business. I’ve become the local distributor of Christian books to churches around the country. Oh relax, I’m not that pious a Christian. I go to church to cozy-up to the movers and shakers of Malaysian churches, just so that as a book distributor, I have their ears. In fact, I go to a different church every Sunday.
One vote for PAS and all my dreams become fuzzy. Who am I? I am the Chinese Christian Books distributor. I am the Chinese pig farmer. I am the Chinese casino worker. I am the Chinese non-halal food distributor. I am the Chinese temple builder. Pragmatist? My life story virtually defines the word. Coward? Don’t think so. My elderly parents who depend on my 75 sen.
“What more do you want?!” Raja Petra asked. For one thing, dear PAS member, we don’t want your pledge to stand in front of us. We have always been able to take care of ourselves in all adversities. We would rather you stand beside us. We don’t need the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” faux friendship. We want to know if you do take power, what shape will the government take? The Saudi model? The Iranian model? The Taliban model? Or the progressive democratic model that Turkey is struggling to keep? We want to know if you will teach our future children that wars of any kind take two sides, neither of which is blameless. We want to know if your government will be the first to appoint the most qualified persons, bumi or non-bumi? We want to know if our children will be the first to hear you declare that Islam is not superior to any other religion, that we are all God’s children, and that words like infidels, pagans, goyims are all man-made words and are offensive in the eyes of God. We want to know if your government will be the first Islamic government in the world to have permanent Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu Religious Affairs advisors. We want to know if the NEP that we have grudgingly supported for so long will be revamped, so that its goal is to narrow the gap between rich and poor, with income as the only criteria.
Sorry, Raja Petra, pledging to become a human shield for me is the last thing I need.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Economics Sites
Minyanville:
US recession:
- frequency every 6 yrs,
- peak-to-trough in 8 to 11 months,
- adjustment in stock market 20 to 40% (avg 28%)
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/recession-1980-decline-GDP-equity+market/index/a/14069
Sharp ups and downs tend to exhaust themselves after 19-25 days
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/MDR-MON-BG-AGU-QMAR-metals-fundies/index/a/14087
Economist's Views:
Good collection of views from many different economists
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/
US recession:
- frequency every 6 yrs,
- peak-to-trough in 8 to 11 months,
- adjustment in stock market 20 to 40% (avg 28%)
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/recession-1980-decline-GDP-equity+market/index/a/14069
Sharp ups and downs tend to exhaust themselves after 19-25 days
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/MDR-MON-BG-AGU-QMAR-metals-fundies/index/a/14087
Economist's Views:
Good collection of views from many different economists
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Men of Faith
Do not rely on people whose primary outlook is not based on rational thinking but on faith to make sense of what is fair and proper.
History shows that other than loud bragging and destruction they do not improve anything on earth. All major human progress take place only when there are people willing to break out of the constraints imposed by blind faith.
People that operate based on faith will say things like these :
- My 'true story' said this, your story did not. My story did not say that, your story did.
- My story is 1% right here but yours 1s 1% right only there which is not as holy as my 1% here.
- Therefore my story is better than yours and yours is not as good.
- So my story is the real god story, yours is not.
That has been the story of the various religions for eons. Each of them claiming that their god is the true god and others' are not. But how can that be?
By faith, a Mohamaddan is damn sure his religion is the right one and the others are false. By faith, a Jew is cock-sure his is the special one while the others are crap. By faith, so does a Christian.
But whose religion is the 'real true one' and who is right? They cannot all be right, can they? The rational part of us must admit that it does not make sense for all of them to be so different and yet all be right at the same time.
But a Muslim's faith is as strong as a Christian's and a Jew's. In fact, so 'strong' that some of them force others to accept their stories based on their own logic, and history had shown that they are willing to fight and kill each other just to prove that they are right and the others wrong (there is a saying that 'wars do not prove who is right but who is left').
Instead of facing up to the possibility that all are possibly wrong and faith is just blind parroting of some man-made stories and notions, some of them claim that they 'respect the others'. Perhaps by that they hope that the others will reciprocate and say they are 'right'.
But deep inside these people of faiths will still think that theirs are the true one and the others are idiots who have been misled or under enlightened.
If we want a better future on earth, humans must operate using our rational mind, not by faith.
xxx
History shows that other than loud bragging and destruction they do not improve anything on earth. All major human progress take place only when there are people willing to break out of the constraints imposed by blind faith.
People that operate based on faith will say things like these :
- My 'true story' said this, your story did not. My story did not say that, your story did.
- My story is 1% right here but yours 1s 1% right only there which is not as holy as my 1% here.
- Therefore my story is better than yours and yours is not as good.
- So my story is the real god story, yours is not.
That has been the story of the various religions for eons. Each of them claiming that their god is the true god and others' are not. But how can that be?
By faith, a Mohamaddan is damn sure his religion is the right one and the others are false. By faith, a Jew is cock-sure his is the special one while the others are crap. By faith, so does a Christian.
But whose religion is the 'real true one' and who is right? They cannot all be right, can they? The rational part of us must admit that it does not make sense for all of them to be so different and yet all be right at the same time.
But a Muslim's faith is as strong as a Christian's and a Jew's. In fact, so 'strong' that some of them force others to accept their stories based on their own logic, and history had shown that they are willing to fight and kill each other just to prove that they are right and the others wrong (there is a saying that 'wars do not prove who is right but who is left').
Instead of facing up to the possibility that all are possibly wrong and faith is just blind parroting of some man-made stories and notions, some of them claim that they 'respect the others'. Perhaps by that they hope that the others will reciprocate and say they are 'right'.
But deep inside these people of faiths will still think that theirs are the true one and the others are idiots who have been misled or under enlightened.
If we want a better future on earth, humans must operate using our rational mind, not by faith.
xxx
Friday, August 31, 2007
Social Contract
29/08: MCA policy statement on social contract “blacked out” in MCA newspaper The Star – Why?
Category: General
Posted by: Raja Petra
Media Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang
This is most extraordinary and unthinkable – MCA newspaper The Star “blacking out” the MCA policy statement on the “social contract”!
The Chinese newspapers gave front-page headline treatment to the policy statement issued yesterday by the MCA Presidential Council following the shock declaration of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Malaysia was an Islamic state and not a secular state.
Strangely enough, the policy statement was reported by the Sun but it is also conspicuously omitted in the New Straits Times and the Malay newspapers.
Releasing the MCA Presidential Council statement, MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the Federal Constitution should be the reference to resolve controversies or confusion over the social contract.
The statement said that what had been agreed by the forefathers 50 years ago, especially the principles and the spirit in governing the country, must be preserved.
These principles and spirit were enshrined in the Constitution.
Two questions are in order:
Firstly, why the two-faced treatment of the MCA Presidential Council policy statement on the “social contract” by the MCA – having it published prominently in the Chinese media but blacked out in its own English-language newspaper, the Star and the New Straits Times as well as the Malay newspapers.
Secondly, why had the MCA Presidential Council betrayed the fundamental principles espoused by the early generation of the MCA founder-leaders like Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin who had declared unequivocally both inside and outside Parliament 50 years ago that this nation was conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state.
In limiting its “social contract” understanding and commitment to what is in the Malaysian Constitution, the present MCA leaders have created the conditions to justify their support for the abandonment of the foundation nation-building cornerstone of Malaysia as a secular state with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state. This is to enable the present MCA leadership to support the distortion and misinterpretation of the Merdeka “social contract” of Malaysia as never having been an secular state and had always been an Islamic state.
The Malaysian Constitution is both silent on a secular state and an Islamic state. However, all constitutional documents leading up to the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1964 Malaysia Agreement and the highest judicial pronouncements of the land spelt out clearly that Malaysia was conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state.
Now, through sheer political hegemony and against the public stands of the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, the “social contract” and Merdeka Constitution is being misinterpreted to jettison the fundamental nation-building principle of a secular Malaysia and to substitute instead an Islamic Malaysia.
The MCA Presidential Council policy statement yesterday has only one objective – to perpetuate the myth that MCA remains steadfast and fully committed to defend and uphold the Merdeka social contract when in fact it had already abandoned the fundamental principle that Malaysia was conceived as a secular state and was never meant to be an Islamic state.
How could Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin rest in peace at such betrayal of principles by the present crop of MCA leaders?
Lim Kit Siang
CCK comment:
When Singapore refused to up the price of water supplied by Malaysia on basis that the legal contract under which it is supplied does not allow for it, government leaders and cronies went up in arms.
Ridiculously cheap and Singapore is an asshole country, they say.
In turn, this same bunch of characters expect entire people to submit to their whims and greed on the basis of a ridiculous interpretation of what they call 'social contract' under which easy money can be gotten by way of conspiratorial contracts and not endeavor.
And they complain about others going up in arms.
Category: General
Posted by: Raja Petra
Media Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang
This is most extraordinary and unthinkable – MCA newspaper The Star “blacking out” the MCA policy statement on the “social contract”!
The Chinese newspapers gave front-page headline treatment to the policy statement issued yesterday by the MCA Presidential Council following the shock declaration of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Malaysia was an Islamic state and not a secular state.
Strangely enough, the policy statement was reported by the Sun but it is also conspicuously omitted in the New Straits Times and the Malay newspapers.
Releasing the MCA Presidential Council statement, MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the Federal Constitution should be the reference to resolve controversies or confusion over the social contract.
The statement said that what had been agreed by the forefathers 50 years ago, especially the principles and the spirit in governing the country, must be preserved.
These principles and spirit were enshrined in the Constitution.
Two questions are in order:
Firstly, why the two-faced treatment of the MCA Presidential Council policy statement on the “social contract” by the MCA – having it published prominently in the Chinese media but blacked out in its own English-language newspaper, the Star and the New Straits Times as well as the Malay newspapers.
Secondly, why had the MCA Presidential Council betrayed the fundamental principles espoused by the early generation of the MCA founder-leaders like Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin who had declared unequivocally both inside and outside Parliament 50 years ago that this nation was conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state.
In limiting its “social contract” understanding and commitment to what is in the Malaysian Constitution, the present MCA leaders have created the conditions to justify their support for the abandonment of the foundation nation-building cornerstone of Malaysia as a secular state with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state. This is to enable the present MCA leadership to support the distortion and misinterpretation of the Merdeka “social contract” of Malaysia as never having been an secular state and had always been an Islamic state.
The Malaysian Constitution is both silent on a secular state and an Islamic state. However, all constitutional documents leading up to the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1964 Malaysia Agreement and the highest judicial pronouncements of the land spelt out clearly that Malaysia was conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state.
Now, through sheer political hegemony and against the public stands of the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, the “social contract” and Merdeka Constitution is being misinterpreted to jettison the fundamental nation-building principle of a secular Malaysia and to substitute instead an Islamic Malaysia.
The MCA Presidential Council policy statement yesterday has only one objective – to perpetuate the myth that MCA remains steadfast and fully committed to defend and uphold the Merdeka social contract when in fact it had already abandoned the fundamental principle that Malaysia was conceived as a secular state and was never meant to be an Islamic state.
How could Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin rest in peace at such betrayal of principles by the present crop of MCA leaders?
Lim Kit Siang
CCK comment:
When Singapore refused to up the price of water supplied by Malaysia on basis that the legal contract under which it is supplied does not allow for it, government leaders and cronies went up in arms.
Ridiculously cheap and Singapore is an asshole country, they say.
In turn, this same bunch of characters expect entire people to submit to their whims and greed on the basis of a ridiculous interpretation of what they call 'social contract' under which easy money can be gotten by way of conspiratorial contracts and not endeavor.
And they complain about others going up in arms.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
No Gull Please
Comment posted in Malaysia Today in response to call to abolish the SJK schools
If a company has a proven record of producing good quality and reliable products, people around the world will go to it without the need for coercion or the likes.
The theorists will talk about dedication, intelligence, hardwork and many other notions being potentially the cause of a company's success.
They can also have many theories to explain why some companies lose out. In some countries they just go on a wild blame ride.
For the fair minded, the preponderance of a company's products is the simplest indicator of its quality. That is, you know a company is good when you see many of your neighbours buying its products.
A good example is Samsung which became one of the top 10 brands in the world over the course of a quarter of a century. Sony is not even on that list today.
And no salesman with any cock-n-bull story will be able to stop the tide of the mass consumer.
You also cannot force people to buy your product if you are a lousy manufacturer unless you resort to unfair means. A good example is our local Toyota wannabe.
The world is best being a pretty free market.
Those who believe that their favorite manufacturer produces the best products should stick with it. Good for them.
Those who think they operate a very good company should concentrate on producing world quality products. The crowd will naturally come to you.
But spare the other consumers who think otherwise the horror of being a potential gull.
Educational institutions are no different. The world class ones are obvious. So are the low down ones.
You decide for yourself and your children but please let the others make their own choices.
They will follow you if yours is clearly the best around. If not, you should perhaps scratch your head a bit.
Subsequent comment:
Useless products can only come from lousy companies run by sub-standard people using below-par materials.
Resorting to lelong sales pitches will not carry them far.
Hoping their products will improve by way of blowing hot air is a fool's dream.
Never put your capital into such companies.
If a company has a proven record of producing good quality and reliable products, people around the world will go to it without the need for coercion or the likes.
The theorists will talk about dedication, intelligence, hardwork and many other notions being potentially the cause of a company's success.
They can also have many theories to explain why some companies lose out. In some countries they just go on a wild blame ride.
For the fair minded, the preponderance of a company's products is the simplest indicator of its quality. That is, you know a company is good when you see many of your neighbours buying its products.
A good example is Samsung which became one of the top 10 brands in the world over the course of a quarter of a century. Sony is not even on that list today.
And no salesman with any cock-n-bull story will be able to stop the tide of the mass consumer.
You also cannot force people to buy your product if you are a lousy manufacturer unless you resort to unfair means. A good example is our local Toyota wannabe.
The world is best being a pretty free market.
Those who believe that their favorite manufacturer produces the best products should stick with it. Good for them.
Those who think they operate a very good company should concentrate on producing world quality products. The crowd will naturally come to you.
But spare the other consumers who think otherwise the horror of being a potential gull.
Educational institutions are no different. The world class ones are obvious. So are the low down ones.
You decide for yourself and your children but please let the others make their own choices.
They will follow you if yours is clearly the best around. If not, you should perhaps scratch your head a bit.
Subsequent comment:
Useless products can only come from lousy companies run by sub-standard people using below-par materials.
Resorting to lelong sales pitches will not carry them far.
Hoping their products will improve by way of blowing hot air is a fool's dream.
Never put your capital into such companies.
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