Corruption

We may be a tiny country when viewed from space. But when it comes to corruption and other such activities, we certainly stand out on the world map.

According to the World Bank, corruption adds up to 10% to the cost of doing business globally, and up to 25% to the cost of government contacts in developing countries.

In the case of Top Glove, the world's biggest rubber glove producer, it has a policy of zero tolerance for corruption.

The Top Glove boss certainly walks his talk. His company sells rubber gloves to 180 countries or almost the entire world. It employs some 11,000 workers at its plants in Malaysia, Thailand and China and grossed a turnover of RM2 billion in its last financial year.

Corruption undermines good governance, grossly distorts public policy and leads to misallocation of resources. The beast of corruption can only be tamed with the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders, including most importantly the state, civil society and the private sector. There should be no more room for business through corruption and bribery. ~ MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed

Let's make a difference, Fight Corruption

Sources:
Checkpoint blues by Azman Ujang
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/280922

No indication we will go bankrupt by Tony Pereira
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/279717

Properties Update

The closing gap
By about September last year, buyers no longer became very interested to buy; they got tired. They were buying at prices that they think should be lower than what they would have paid a year ago.

Owners began decreasing their prices until an equilibrium point, where asking prices and transacted prices began matching around December last year. "Because of the wait-and-see attitude of buyers, a lot more sellers began thinking, 'Oh oh, is this the end of the cycle? Am I hitting about 90% peak? Let me release the properties.'"

Residential properties packaged within mixed use developments will fare particularly well, believes Kho. “The products that are doing well are the self sustaining products where you got retail, residential, hotel and shophouse components all together.

Investors, especially the foreigners, will ask, ‘How is it going to sustain itself? Why would someone want to live in this location?”

Take a look at another real estates related news - Johor: Somerset Puteri Harbour Taken UP

ALL units of Somerset Puteri Harbour in Nusajaya Johor, which were recently previewed to Singaporean investors, have been sold out. Since then, these waterfront serviced apartments, which are to be managed by Ascott International Management (M) Sdn Bhd, have been previewed in Kuala Lumpur. This preview saw 120 of 132 units being taken up.

As part of the luxurious waterfront development of Puteri Harbour, Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar is near quayside lifestyle stores, fine dining restaurants, alfresco cafés and an indoor theme park featuring popular children’s characters such as Hello Kitty, Thomas and Friends, Barney and Bob the Builder.

The 204 serviced residences have a gross built-up area of 575,000 sq ft and a gross development value (GDV) of RM180 mil. The price ranges from RM720,000 to RM4.5 mil with unit sizes from 762 to 1,496 sq ft. The built-up of the penthouses starts from 3,650 sq ft.

http://www.somerset.com/malaysia/nusajaya/somerset_puteri_harbour_iskandar.html

More properties for Malaysians
Even though 59% of Malaysian respondents believed there was a property bubble in Malaysia, 62% were still keen to purchase a property within the next six to 12 months.

Malaysia was the most popular choice for property investment by 41% of Singaporean respondents, followed by Australia (19% of Singaporean respondents), and the US (10%).

Singaporeans are cashing in on a market where prices of equivalent properties are significantly cheaper compared to the Singapore market and returns on investment are also high.

The closing gap
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/304148

More properties for Malaysians
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/304151

Somerset Puteri Harbour sees robust sales
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/property/209325-somerset-puteri-harbour-sees-robust-sales.html

Capitalism VS Socialism

Edited from the comment by G.Sivalingam in "Is Capitalism at Fault?":

To allow capitalism to work, the insolvent banks or banks riddled with high non-performing loans and lack of capital should be allowed to fail and go bankrupt and exit out of the system. This is what should happen under perfect competition. However, it seems that most governments are not in favour of a capitalist system where the driving force is "survival of the fittest". What has in fact failed is government and the state which allowed or even facilitated greed and weak corporate governance to triumph over the economic system in allocating scarce economic resources. What the government did was to encourage the banks to take excessive risks at the expense of the depositors and taxpayers, which the government preferred to call it a "workout" instead of a bail out. The vast misallocation of funds hurt the pockets of the taxpayers. In other words, when banks made profits, they kept it. When the banks lost money and became insolvent the government through the taxpayer compensated them for their losses. The banks lived in a beautiful world or a "cloud-cuckoo" land. This is what they sarcastically describe as privatising the benefits and socialising the costs. In other words, banks operate under state socialism and a welfare state as they get welfare payments to bail them out when they go bust. Workers operate under the harsh conditions of free market capitalism. There is no welfare state for workers. For the ordinary folk it is survival of the fittest and capitalism as usual. But for the banks it is protection and government support. This is not capitalism but a state sponsored or guided economic system or in other words the economic system is a political construction to keep the political system stable and in equilibrium.

From conspiracy point of view, could this be part of slavery In The 21st Century?

Elitist puppeteering has a name

With his deep connections in economic and political circles, it could be Soros if there’s anyone who knows what’s coming next. Here is a comment from "The New Soros Plan on How to Save Italy and Spain":

Never mind that their profligate spending, overregulation, and inability to recognize the boom-bust cycle engineered by central banks lead to this crisis. The plan is essentially one long punt to give these so-called leaders a chance to come up with further band aids to save their own jobs. And with that Soros admits his desire for fiscal integration; the very next step toward centralizing statist power. Elitist puppeteering has a name, and it's George Soros...

Prior to that, Soros had also warns of violent riots In America, Financial Collapse, and Government Clampdown:

In his book The Crash of 2008 and What It Means Soros warned that no matter what governments did, there was no way out of the trap in which the world – namely The United States – finds itself: "So what does the end of an era really mean? I contend that it means the end of a long period of relative stability based on the United States as the dominant power and the dollar as the main international reserve currency. I foresee a period of political and financial instability, hopefully to be followed by the emergence of a new world order."

However things may go, it would be good that in the rush to implement popular schemes that could boost electoral ratings, such important public policies must ensure that short-term spending must not come at the cost of the country's future generations, as what Tricia Yeoh pointed out in her column.

The internet revolution, the tech boom, the invention of the PC and Microsoft and Steve Jobs' inventions convinced us that incessant technological changes will save capitalism and ensure its survival. However, after four years of the sub-prime crisis in the United States erupting into the global financial crisis we are wondering as to the future of incessant technological changes saving capitalism and making it triumph as the dominant economic system in the world. There seems to be a glimmer of hope with the possible listing of Facebook.

Sources:
The Rising Cost of Living
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/304029

Is capitalism at fault?
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/301025

The New Soros Plan on How to Save Italy and Spain
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/global/2588?r=1

Soros Warns of Violent Riots In America, Financial Collapse, Government Clampdown
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/liberty/2566?r=1

Notes:
Merit based system - listing is based on the merits of the case to be decided at the discretion of those in power or those in the listing committee.

Disclosure based system - listing is decided on the basis of the track record of the company seeking listing.

Education Should Be Free

True education was to be restricted to the son and daughters of the elite. For the rest, it would be better to produce skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life. ~ G.Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island

Above statement was mentioned when studying education and freedom. Below are some related points happening in the real world, excerpt from an article from The Sun Daily newspaper.

As far as young people are concerned, they could play an important role. Young people in campus, they have no responsibilities. And they are full of hope and aspiration. But what the government did – which was very bad – was burden young people with debts. The moment you enter campus, you are in ... I was so shocked! RM40,000, RM60,000 debt. Come on! You are only 22 and you have a RM40,000 debt? Gila! So they tie you up, you know? After paying off PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation) loan, pay for a car loan … then a house. So all your life is about trying to pay debts. Sowhen are you going to have your life, man? When are you going to pack your bags and go to Latin America? You will never do that, isn’t it? When will you pack your bags and go (to the) North Pole? You can never do that!

Education Should Be Free

This is what former student activist, writer and socio-political observer Hishammudin Rais' view on whether education should be free:

Education is the nation’s investment in the population. It is about having a better and more knowledgeable population. Having better citizens. So if youwere trained as a doctor, you serve the nation; youwere trained as an engineer, you serve the country. So that is what it is all about. How come studying from Standard 1 to Form 5 is free, but when it comes to college or university you have to pay? I don’t understand that.

In fact, student activists should now know what exactly they are fighting for. To be on the street, not knowing … is a very stupid thing. I don’t think anybody in their correct mind will go to the streets not knowing why they are there.

Source:
Poetry is in the streets
http://thesun-epaper.com/tue/21022012/index.html#/7/zoomed

Old Newsstand VS New Newsstand

An interesting ads found at The Edge Financial Daily newspaper:

Old Newsstand	New Newsstand
Must Go Early Real People Limited Copies, may be sold out No Back Issues Buy other Sundry Goods	Early Delivery Multimedia Links Open 24 Hours Archive Library No Sundry Goods. ;P

Worth noting is that for digital version, user experience may vary with different tablets. Though there may be some issue here, the march of technology is definitely unstoppable.

Another eye catching line about the business model would be statement at the ads bottom:

Read it for FREE thanks to BMW and SP Setia Group (Property Developer)

What say you? :)

Mindset and Freedom

Financial freedom is not about amassing millions of dollars to live off of. It is simply having more money coming in every month in cash flow from your investments, or your business, than is going out in living expenses.

For example, Robert (Kim’s husband) and I retired in 1994, but we didn’t have a lot of money. What we had was $10,000 per month coming in from our investments, primarily real estate at that time. We had $10,000 coming in every month, but our living expenses were only $3,000, so at that point, we were financially-free. And then from there, we grew it and grew it and grew it.

Financial Freedom = Income > Expenses, FOREVER

Awareness = Success

Be aware of self-defeating messages inside your head and replace them with positive, self-affirming messages. ~ Secret

The reason a lot of people don’t believe in their self worth is because they’ve been programmed to believe that. They’ve been programmed to believe that they’re not worth much. They’ve been programmed to believe that they have to stay mediocre all their lives. They’ve been programmed to believe that they can’t buy the big house or the Ferrari because someone else said so. Once a person lives with a certain belief, they are going to operate on those beliefs. In other words, they are going to take action based on those beliefs that they have. But the good news is:

Our actions can dramatically change if our beliefs dramatically change too. All there is to change is beliefs. Think about it.

Instead of continuously listening to the people who have got you mediocre results today, choose to listen to a different type of person. Listen to and learn from successful people who are producing better results than you.

Remember the two powerful words - "can't" which stop most people to think and act further, and "easy" which makes most businesses came out with products or services that makes people's life better.

Check out the tag printed on the cover of Kwong Yik Bank's Savings Passbook: If you try hard enough, you can be whatever you want to be!

Full article:
How to Obtain Financial Freedom Without Living Below Your Means
http://www.srpl.net/articles/how-to-obtain-financial-freedom-without-living-below-your-means/

The Biggest Reason Why Most People Don’t Succeed
http://www.srpl.net/articles/the-biggest-reason-why-most-people-dont-succeed/

James Cameron Bought Farmland in New Zealand

James Cameron Bought Farmland In New Zealand
James Cameron, the director behind blockbuster hits Titanic and Avatar has bought around 1000 hectares of farmland (reportedly valued at $20 million) in south Wairarapa, New Zealand.

One of the farms Cameron bought includes Lake Pounui, which the Bayleys real estate website describes as "possibly the finest privately owned natural lake in the country". The records show that Cameron and his family, who currently live in Malibu, California, plan to "reside indefinitely" in New Zealand, and operate both properties as working farms.

According to Green Party co-leader Russell Norman, foreigners buying up New Zealand land will see land prices skyrocket, driving it out of the hands of kiwis.

"There's a bigger issue if you look at globally productive land, particularly land that can produce food and has access to water, which New Zealand obviously is well placed, that land is becoming increasingly valuable, as the price of food is only going to go up."

Wah Seong Will Develop Oil Palm In Congo

Wah Seong last Friday said it will pay US$25 million (RM75 million) cash to acquire a 51% stake in Atama Resources Inc, which has obtained the rights to develop 470,000ha of oil palm plantation in Congo. About 180,000ha were identified as suitable for oil palm cultivation and Wah Seong intends to develop the land in 10 phases over 15 years. To compare, IOI Corp Bhd's current plantation size is estimated at 229,000ha, while Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd owns 179,000ha.

Wah Seong indicated that it will start planting oil palm in Congo in the second quarter of 2013. Though estimated the project will incur a capital expenditure of RM2 billion (which amounts to two times Wah Seong's current shareholders' funds), and the trees take between four and five years to mature and produce fresh fruit bunches, the capex could be partly offset by forest clearance such as sale of logs.

The presence of leading plantation companies such as Sime Darby Bhd in Liberia, a country in West Africa, will effectively help to ease investors' worries on Wah Seong's decision for this venture as well. (In 2009, Sime Darby signed a 63-year concession agreement with Liberia for 220,000ha of plantation land. As of June last year, the conglomerate's planted area in Liberia stood at 7,800ha.)

According to MIDF, the main reason for choosing Congo may be the opportunity to develop huge plantations at lower costs - it estimated the cost to develop oil palm plantations in Congo at RM5,000 per ha against RM15,000 to RM20,000 per ha in Malaysia.

New Developments Will Place Sibu Jaya Township On The Tourist Map

The Sarawak Housing Development Commission, in collaboration with Amcorp Group, will invest about RM1 billion for the total development of the new Sibu Jaya township. About 106ha out of 567ha earmarked for development under the masterplan has already been developed with a gross development value of RM470 million. A 9.3ha botanical garden, planted with indigenous timber and fruit trees like the "Dabai" or Sarawak black olive and durian, would also be developed.

1 hectare = 2.47105381 acre

Sources:

James Cameron 'thrilled' at making Wairarapa home
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/james-cameron-thrilled-making-wairarapa-home-4709636

Mixed reaction to Wah Seong’s big plantation ambition
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/289774

RM1b Sibu Jaya township to be ready by 2023
http://www.theedgeproperty.com/news-a-views/9349-rm1b-sibu-jaya-township-to-be-ready-by-2023.html

Related:
Integrated Resort City In Morib

Kwong Yik Bank Savings Passbook

An old bank savings passbook from Kwong Yik Bank. Stated in the cover:

If you try hard enough, you can be whatever you want to be.

Internet VS Mobile

As we embark on lifelong learning process, continuous improvement to our multiple streams of passive income is important.

A Look Into The (iPhone) Apps World shows that there is a promising future for apps market.

Let's take a look on the comparison of both world.

4 Types of Internet Income	3 Types of Apps Income
1. Content Publishing 2. Affiliate Program 3. Resale Rights 4. Own Products	1. Apps Download (apps sales) 2. iAd / AdMob (similar to Adsense) 3. In App Purchase

Internet User Behavior	Apps Use Behavior
Check Mail Surf Net Watch Movie Social Networking Search Info Forum, Blog, Chat	Buy apps Buy apps Buy apps

Content Publishing	Apps
~ 0 cost with domain mapping, or simply pay annual hosting fees (for more server related freedom)	$99 annual listing fees for selling unlimited apps on iTunes
Content cost (your time for writing or article purchase cost)	Apps development cost
High competition (looking at number of websites to date)	Still low in competition (at the moment)

The key is: create values, and the market will reward you accordingly.

And who said you cannot have the best from both side of the world? ;)

Creative Ideas for Valentine's Day Traffic

Missed Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year traffic? There is this Valentine's Day coming on 14th February, every year!

Check out the simple idea below, where it has 2500+ LIKES, and 4600+ SHARES in Facebook:

Imagine if you have something viral similar to this, say "10 Steps To Prepare A Romantic Dinner" for your food related content business, will it help to bring traffic for your site?

The Flower Knot
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.169713853136971.34182.153636578078032&type=3

Carmen Soo, Uniqlo's Ambassador

The Sun Daily Newspaper, February 2, 2012

Malaysian Internet

the internet contributed 4.1% of Malaysia’s GDP or US$9.75 billion of the US$238 billion GDP (RM30 billion of RM738 billion) in 2010.

This places Malaysia among the highest of 30 fast growing countries in terms of internet GDP, surpassing the US and China.

Malaysian businesses today only spend 1% of their advertising budget on online mediums.

The amount of time Malaysians spend on TV, print and radio is equivalent to the amount of time they spend on the internet.

in the UK, companies spend between 25% and 30% of their advertising budgets online.

while Malaysian businesses sell more things online than many other countries with similar wealth, they have yet to invest in internet advertising to the same extent other countries do.

while internet penetration has increased to 62.3% as of early January, with a target of 75% by end-2015, only 100,000 out of 700,000 small medium enterprises (SME) have online presence. There are 600,000 SMEs without websites.

If policies are put in place to support financial and human capital development, including raising venture capital and R&D spending, and lowering the cost of starting a business, the future of Malaysia’s internet ecosystem looks strong.

More investment needed into internet potential
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/283149

A look into Facebook's infographic may give you more idea:

http://www.wealthwire.com/news/economy/2615?r=1

Integrated Resort City in Morib

Sentoria - the developer and operator of the Bukit Gambang Resort City (BGRC) in Kuantan, Pahang - is slated to be listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Feb 23.

The indicative price is believed to be 85 sen a share with the IPO expected to involve a public issue and an offer for sale of a total of 100 million shares, or 25% of its enlarged paid-up share capital.

Its IPO will raise RM51.6 million for the group, of which:
- RM27.7 million would be for working capital;
- RM11.2 million for repayment of bank borrowings;
- RM9 million for purchase of property, plant and equipment; and
- RM3.7 million to defray listing expenses.

The exercise entails a public issue of 60 million new shares and an offer-for-sale of 40 million promoters’ shares.

Of the 60 million new shares:
- 20 million are for public balloting;
- 10 million for directors, employees and business associates at 85 sen per share;
- 30 million shares are for private placement at placement price of 87 sen per share.

It is expected to raise as much as RM50 million for new facilities at its 218ha BGRC development — the country's third largest theme park by number of guests, after Genting Highlands and Sunway Lagoon — and to repay borrowings.

Sentoria will spend RM48 million to build a second theme park called Bukit Gambang Safari Park within the 218.8ha BGRC this year, which aims to complete and commence operations of the safari park by year-end.

The 35.28ha safari park will feature animals in their natural surroundings. The many components in the safari park will open in stages.

The first two, Night Jungle and Foreign Village will be opened in September. Other components in the safari park include Malaysia Rainforest,Wild Savannah and Elephant Lodge.

Those who visit the water park may stay longer to visit the safari park. The safari park would also attract new visitors (toBGRC).

The development of BGRC began in 2007 and its first theme park, the Bukit Gambang Water Park has attracted over a million visitors since opening in July 2009.

Worth noting is that the group has also developed townships and affordable housing in Kuantan. Its joint managing director, Datuk Gan Kim Leong, said 70%of the group’s revenue last year came from property development,with the rest from its leisure and hospitality business. The group aims to achieve a 50:50 ratiowith the full completion of BGRC.

An update on 15th February, 2012:

Sentoria, scheduled to list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Feb 23, will be the first IPO of 2012. For the 10 months ended July 31, 2011, its group revenue increased 53.4% to RM143.7 million from RM93.7 million previously, and net profit rose 222% to RM38.1 million from RM11.9 million previously.

Another update on 24th February, 2012:

Sentoria embrarks on RM735m project
Sentoria Group Bhd has embarked on a RM735 million five-star resort development in the integrated resort city.

Dubbed “Global Heritage”, the development will comprise 1,070 units of themed resort villas and a 273-suite boutique hotel on 114 acres of land. The resort villas will feature distinctive architectural designs based on international themes such as Amsterdam, San Francisco, Venice and Barcelona.

Targeted for completion by 2018, Sentoria chairman AznamMansor said Global Heritage is the first high-end project in BGRC,which adopts a buy and lease-back concept. "We aim to not only increase our accommodation capacity in BGRC, but also attract high-end visitors to our theme park attractions and conference and exhibition facilities."

Three more major attractions have been planned for BGRC, namely the Safari Park, Aquarium Park and Adventure Park. "We see the potential of BGRC as we have only developed theWater Park out of the four attractions. With this, we expect our hospitality business to contribute 50% of our revenue from 30% currently upon full completion of BGRC in 2018,"

Sources:
Sentoria, PNB in talks to develop IR city in Morib
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/280952

Sentoria keen to replicate IR project
http://thesun-epaper.com/wed/01022012/files/assets/seo/page14.html
Note: The replica process is similar to the Premium Outlets model in fashion retail and real estate business, where they replicate a success model to global presence - http://www.premiumoutlets.com.my/worldwide

Sentoria’s IPO oversubscribed 5.4 times
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/294998

Bukit Gambang Resort City
http://www.bgrc.com.my/home.php