The Banker and the Fisherman

An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, "Only a little while." The banker then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"

The fisherman said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."

The banker then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, go for walks with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. As you can see, I have a full and busy life."

The banker scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat! With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the capital city. After that, who knows, maybe you could take on the world!"

The fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the banker replied, "I'd say about 15 to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the fisherman.

The Banker laughed and said, "That's the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions?...Then what?" the fisherman continued prodding.

The banker said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, go for romantic walks with your wife, and in the evenings you could sip wine, play guitar and sing songs with your friends!"

To which the fisherman mused, "Now isn't that strange? Isn't that what I'm doing now?"

Important thing is to know what you want in life right from the beginning and you won't go wrong with it. Begin your life with the end in mind.

Tags: Investment Banker, Fisherman

Broadway Musical

In conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007, two well known broadway musical productions have been arranged to be performed in Malaysia. My Fair Lady has just finished its performance from 15-20 May 2006 held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The My Fair Lady production is a winner of 5 Olivier Awards.

Coming 13 July 2007, for 2 weeks, The King And I production will be performed at the Istana Budaya theatre. The production cost for this musical presentation will be around RM4.0 million (US$1.2 million). With such an investment, the production should be having world-class props and stage sets. Go to Axcess Tickets for reservation of tickets.

Tags: Malaysia, Visit Malaysia Year 2007, My Fair Lady, Olivier Awards, The King And I, Broadway Musical, Entertainment, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Istana Budaya

War on Ah Long

The Malaysian government has declared war on Ah Long (illegal moneylenders). After getting all mobile phone owners to register their prepaid phone numbers by 15 December 2006, the government thought that this time they'll be able to track down those slimy characters that gave the investigation team the slip each time. The registration exercise was done in the interest of national security.

With all prepaid phone numbers linked to a particular individual, the government will know who made those calls or those who hid behind a phone call.

Kidnappers can't use the mobile phone to contact their victim's family members else the police will know who are the kidnappers. Ah Longs will be unable to make threatening phone calls to their debtors while demanding their debtors to pay up. Stalkers can't send frightening messages to those persons they were stalking.

Just when the public thought that they would see the last of such things, then came the bombshell:-
"While the police and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) are working hand in hand in this, there is a loophole in tracing them whereby the numbers could have been registered under a different name or even a ‘phantom’ owner." (source: The Star)

What does this mean? With the expensive exercise that got the whole world to register and then this loophole jumped up now that nobody had expected. Goodness me! So, the whole exercise has gone down the drain. With all the fake identity cards floating around the market, the dark world people would have known how to circumvent whatever rules that the government could have implemented including this farce.

All out war against Ah Longs? What war? Thus, national security is opened to attack????

Just read the following when national security was at stake:-
* In response to complaints from the public, The Star had recently noted down telephone numbers from posters at LRT stations and bus stands in Petaling Jaya and passed the information to the MCMC.
* However, the MCMC replied that it could not act without an official report.
* Subsequently, a report was lodged at the SEA Park police station here.
* The numbers were then forwarded to the MCMC to be traced.
* However, the MCMC replied a few days later that releasing the information to a third party would be a violation of privacy under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
* When asked about this, Fu (Ah Kiow) replied that it was the responsibility of the police to take action.
* Commercial crime director Datuk Ramli Yusof said they would look into all the “Ah Long matters.” However, he said that even with the phone numbers and with the public lodging reports, the police could not “just rush into action.” “We have to investigate first and it could take time,” he told reporter RASHITAH HAMID.
* He urged the public to come forward to make reports, adding that there had not been many such reports so far.

And Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the country's main power producer/provider, had complained that their electricity poles/electrical junction boxes have been vandalised when Ah Longs had posted their advertising stickers all over it. TNB could have just co-operate with the police and make a call to those telephone numbers and detect the culprits. So easy!!!! Or was TNB afraid to make those calls????? Request the police to do it then.........
Tags: Malaysian Government, Ah Long, Illegal Moneylender, Prepaid, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, TNB, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission, MCMC

See Thru Laptop

Another exciting Apple release? Apple's Macbook (or laptop/notebook) - with new technology where its screen is transparent even when it is fully operational. Interesting! Won't come cheap either. Apple is normally quite fast with its technology, just like the iPhone. Though their sales may not be high but there are still numerous buyers waiting for its latest release each time.


Tags: Laptop, Notebook, Apple, MacBook, iPhone, Technology

Unsung Malaysian Hero

Foo Leng Siew, a truly unsung Malaysian hero? Well, that's what the Star newspaper has reported on 14 May 2007. Foo was said to have participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics held at Berlin (yeah, during Adolf Hitler's time).

A bit sceptical on the report when I couldn't locate his name in the International Olympic Committee's ("IOC") officiall website's database.



Then I went to the World Olympians Association's official website to search for the Olympian's (Foo Leng Siew) details where database was available way back to the 1st Olympics held at Athens 1896. Still no records. How come?

Even 'weirder', an athletic can only represent a country after being selected by the National Olympic Committee ("NOC") of each country. Only a NOC was able to select and send teams and competitors for participation in the Olympic Games (source: IOC website). Why so weird? The Olympic Council of Malaysia was set-up in 1953 and only gained recognition from IOC in 1954.

With utmost respect to the late Foo Leng Siew, which organisation sent him to the 1936 Summer Olympics?
Tags: Foo Leng Siew, Malaysian, Athletics, Olympian, 1936 Summer Olympics, Berlin, Sports, Adolf Hitler, Olympic Council of Malaysia, National Olympic Committee

Volunteers for Beijing 2008

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said China had expressed its eagerness for Malaysian youths to help out as volunteers at the next summer Olympics in Beijing - as reported in Star newspaper.

I really hoped that the newspaper or Youth & Sports Ministry would do some homework before blurting anything out just to fill in the empty space in the newspaper. The newspaper stated that volunteers were required for the 14 days during the Olympic Games. Please note that all volunteers were required to be in China (at designated cities/venues/stadiums) for training/briefing prior to the Olympic Games. Therefore, more than 14 days are required. Importantly, age requirement - not younger than 17 years old as at 30 June 2008.

China has started the recruitement of volunteers since end of March 2007 and according to their website, recruitment will end by end May 2007. Yet the Deputy Minister mentioned that he would hold further discussions on the recruitment. More discussions with whom and on what? Deadline is end of this month!!! Volunteers could have applied on their own via the Beijing 2008's official website, don't need government's assistance.

The following was extracted from the Volunteer Recruitment page:-

Volunteers should meet the following basic requirements set forth in the General Policy for Volunteers for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. They should:-
1) be able to serve voluntarily for the Beijing Olympic and/or Paralympic Games;
2) have been born prior to (or on) June 30, 1990, and be in good health;
3) be willing to abide by China's laws and regulations;
4) be able to participate in the pre-Games trainings and other required activities;
5) be able to serve continuously for more than seven days during the Olympic and/or Paralympic Games;
6) be able to hold a conversation in basic Mandarin, if their first language is not Mandarin; native Mandarin speakers should be able to communicate in at least one important foreign language;
7) possess the professional knowledge and skills necessary for their posts.
Applicants fluent in both English and Mandarin and competent in a special area will be given priority, especially those who can speak minor languages and are skillful in certain trades.

It would be great if I get to go. Would be able to blog about the extraordinary city of Beijing, its food (slurp!!), the great athletics that will congregate in China, plenty of pictures, get to travel in China (never been there yet) ...... sadly, unable to access the particular site to register myself ........ maybe have to rely on the government......maybe this was the reason the government has to assist people like us.

If any of you from the Beijing 2008 organising committee is reading this blog, please do consider me!!!!! FYI, I meet all the above requirements. Informal application but strong enough.
Tags: Beijing, China, Beijing 2008, Beijing Olympics, Volunteer Recruitment, Olympic Games, Paralympic Games

Singing Contests

In USA, the highly followed American Idol has sent a craze throughout the world. Even in Malaysia has its own Malaysian Idol chapter.

In China, no Idol chapter but it has its own Idol equivalent singing contest for the girls and boys respectively. The girls' contest is known as the Super Girl while the boys' contest is known as the Happy Male Voice.

In winning the respective girls' or boys' contest, it will bring instant recognition and fame to the particular individual. Hence, parents or relatives for a particular contestant will usually get their friends/other relatives to vote for their beloved girl/boy.

In Happy Male Voice, a controversy arose:-
One of the contestant found out that the biggest problem is that the SMS voting can be manipulated. My understanding is that there are two ways to get votes. First, there are the big fan clubs in Changsha. If you can contact their leaders and pay them, they can make sure that your votes skyrocket in a short time. There are also many Internet voting companies who specialize in casting votes. When I was competing, my family organized friends to send SMS. But someone told me that it was useless to send a few thousand SMS votes! The other people are using fan clubs and Internet voting companies! I thought, what kind of stupid competition is this? Another industry insider asked me, Do you want to manipulate this? For 3 million yuan, I can make you number one in the nation. I turned them down. My family is not rich. If I can compete, I will compete; if not, I will back out." (source: Y Weekend)

Is this happening in Malaysia as well for both the Malaysian Idol and Akademi Fantasia? I have heard of one Datuk (a title bestowed by a Sultan in Malaysia) who bought the SMS top-up cards and pass around the company's staff for them to vote for his kin. He's rich enough to go round passing such top-up cards. But it would be a huge 'investment' for other contestants' relatives if they are not 'rich'.

The China Daily has been quoted as missing the point about Super Girl (after a publication on Super Girl) - it it was not about democracy, but audience participation. Super Girl contestants were taking part in a reality show. Whether they could sing was immaterial because such television programmes are about entertainment. Hype, drama and audience-pulling stunts are a staple of the genre to ensure viewers do not change channels. (source: South China Morning Post)

I agree on this point as the main criteria was how cute/beautiful they were instead of how in tune was their melody. Defeats the main purpose of getting a top notch singer.

In China, the SMS messages generated during the singing contests would generate a profit of 30% to 50% even after a 15% cut for the telecom provider. How about the Malaysian chapter? Great returns indeed! The main sponsor of China's Super Girl - Mengniu Dairy Company Limited, has risen from being the 3rd largest dairy company to the top of the league during the run of Super Girl show from year 2004 onwards. Great corporate strategy tie-up. Owing to China's large population, an estimated 400 million TV viewers tuned in one night to watch Super Girl 2005's final round. Can you imagine that!
Tags: American Idol, Malaysian Idol, Akademi Fantasia, Super Girl, Happy Male Voice, China, Mengniu Dairy Company Limited, SMS Message, SMS Vote