Only 435 Restaurants Authorised to Collect Service Tax

I'm sure many Malaysians were frustrated when it was announced that the 5% service tax need not be paid (with certain exceptions imposed by the Royal Malaysian Customs) with effect from 1 July 2008 but were clueless as to which Malaysian restaurants or cafes have been exempted from doing so.

NOW - you need not crack your head anymore in questioning the restaurants or cafes' operators' rights to collect the 5% service tax.

Click here to download the list of restaurants or cafes still authorised (only 435 of them)

Your rights as a resident of Malaysia (irrespective of nationality):-

1. The public can decline to pay service tax to restaurant owners who fail to display their service tax license issued by the Royal Malaysian Customs.
2. The public have the rights to demand for receipts or invoices indicating that the 5% Service Tax payment or 5% tax inclusive payment has been made.

If you have been forced to pay the 5% service tax even though their name is not in the list, please do the nation a favour as in report the incident at cd@customs.gov.my or kastam@customs.gov.my or to the Head of the Internal Revenue Division at the respective states’ Customs offices.

Remember this, you have a hand in deciding how Malaysian business will operate with integrity.

Reading: Report restaurants still charging service tax - Berita Malaysia

Related post - Abolishment of 5% Service Tax
Tags: Malaysian Restaurant, Service Tax, 5% Service Tax, Royal Malaysian Customs, Service Tax Act 1975

Aftermath of Beijing Olympics

If China does not apply to host the Olympics, they say that the European and American countries are rich and strong and they apply regularly, whereas poor China can only watch from the sidelines.

If China applies to host the Olympics but loses out, they say that China should be embarrassed for applying when it is unqualified.

If China applies to host the Olympics and wins the bid, they say that China should be embarrassed for expending its national resources on an image project.

If the opening ceremony in China is not good, they say that the director is lousy and the Chinese people are of poor quality.

If the opening ceremony in China turns out to be good, they say that billions of dollars were wasted.

If China runs the Olympics frugally, they say that the Chinese government is embarrassing the nation in front of the world by running the Olympics when it cannot afford to.

If China runs the Olympics lavishly, they say that the Chinese government is wasting taxpayers' money on the Olympics.

If we don't understand the opening ceremony in a foreign country, they say that we don't understand other people's culture.
If we understand the opening ceremony in a foreign country, they say that the foreign culture is just too grand and unversal.
If foreigners don't understand the opening ceremony in China, they say that we are uncultured.
If foreigners understand the opening ceremony in China, they say that it must have been too shallow and superficial.

Before the Olympics, they say that China won't get a lot of gold medals because the Chinese athletes are inferior to the Europeans and Americans.
If China gets too few gold medals, they say that China is a weak sports nation with frail people, whereas the Europeans and Americans have fine people who win plenty of gold.
If China gets too many gold medals, they say that it is due to a distorted system of sports administration and it does not prove that China or its people are strong.

If foreign athletes game the rules, they say that it is smartness.
If foreign athletes do not game the rules, they say that it is strength.
If Chinese athletes game the rules, they say that China is sly.
If Chinese athletes do not game the rules, they say that China is very stupid.

If a foreign nation wins many medals in a sport, they say that the foreign athletes are gifted and strong.
If China wins many medals in a story, they say that this is against the spirit of the games and the sports ought to be eliminated from the Olympics.

If a foreign nation does not administer/manage sports, they say that developed countries do not do that.
If China does not administer/manage sports, they say that China is backwards for not doing that.

If foreign athletes pay for their own training, they say that this shows the sporting spirit without spending taxpayers' money.
If Chinese athletes pay for their own training, they say that China does not value sports.

If a foreign nation wins only one gold medal, they say that it is just a gold medal which does not really matter.
If China wins only one gold medal, they ask how can China win only one gold when it has a population of 1.3 billion?

If a foreign athlete makes a basic mistake, they say that the spirit of sports is about participation and losers can still enjoy the Olympics.
If a Chinese athlete makes a basic mistake, they say that the pressure was too big and Chinese athletes are not mentally ready.

If a foreign athlete cries after winning a medal, they say that this is a genuine expression of the Olympic spirit.
If a Chinese athlete cries after winning a medal, they say that it is the result of the over-emphasis on winning medals.

If the foreign athlete is a university student, they say that this is an amateur as distinct from the professional Chinese athletes.
If a Chinese athlete is a university student, they say that someone should not be allowed to attend university because of sporting talents.

If a foreign athlete makes a TV ad, they say that this is a commercial activity which funds the training.
If a Chinese athlete makes a TV ad, they wonder how can any good results be achieved when money is the most important factor?

If China wins too few gold medals, they say that China is not good enough.
If China wins too many gold medals, they say wonder what gold medals are good for and they want the money to be given to socially vulnerable groups.
If China wins too many gold medals, they say that the ranking should be based upon the total number of all medals because that is the true reflection of the sporting level.
If China leads in count of total medals, they say that the ranking should be based upon the number of medals per capital because that is the true reflection of sporting level among the people.
If China leads in number of medals per capital, they say that China has a national sports system and therefore China should be embarrassed to compare itself against amateur athletes.

In the end, China got the most number of gold medals. They say, "What good is that to me? I am not getting a pay raise or a new house as a result."

You just cannot please everyone.

Related post - Confusing Olympics Medal Standing
(the above 'IFs' was extracted from ESWN)
Tags: Beijing Olympics, China, Olympics, Chinese Athlete

Handicap Driver

Did this Toyota Vios driver parked according to the three cars at the front?

Was the driver a handicap person? If not, this person has some handicap on the eyesight as in parking in the middle of two parking lots reserved for the handicaps.

The Sunway Pyramid carpark operator must be laughing when they saw this car.

Reading: KY saw - Idiot at Sunway Pyramid parking lot
Tags: Handicap Parking, Handicap, Toyota Vios, Sunway Pyramid

Duty at Roy Durman's Healing Crusade

The musicians getting themselves into the mood with the worship singers (in white) getting ready. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, I was assigned the duty of being a counsellor. In between, still managed to squeeze a few shots.
Service started with praise and worship and followed by announcements of various events / happenings.
This Indian lady's legs were weak when she came and through God's healing power, she managed to walk on stage to show God's strength upon her.








These are the people that came up for healing on the deaf and dumb situation.















A few people were chosen by Roy Durman to go up on stage for healing of their deaf and dumb situation.









People that fell under the power of God.
















This was Patrick Leong (left) who came to sing two songs before we started the healing crusade on Sunday evening.














There were the people that came went up on stage for healing on their backbones / slip disc / sclerosis.

Related post - Roy Durman's Healing Crusade
Tags: Roy Durman, Healing Crusade, Patrick Leong, Praise And Worship, Deaf And Dumb, Sclerosis, Slip Disc, Healing Power

Death Or 86 Wives?

If you were a given choice to choose, either 86 ladies or death, which one would you choose?

For men generally, where could you get 86 ladies at one go at your mercy ...... hehehe. But one of our brothers in Nigeria was able to do so. As blogged previously on Mohammed Bello Abubakar (aged 84), the Islamic authorities have given him an ultimatum, choose 4 wives out of the 86 ladies that he has with him now or the death penalty will await him.

Hmmmmmm that's going to be a big headache for him. He was supposed to have chosen the lucky 4 ladies where the deadline was yesterday.

He could be challenging the Islamic authorities in the sharia court as to which part of the Koran has placed a limit on the number of wives but he quoted that it was up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows.

Reading: Nigerian faces death for 86 wives - BBC News/Africa
Tags: Mohammed Bello Abubakar, Nigeria, Sharia Court, Islamic Authorities, Koran, Quran

A Christian for the Ages

One of my all time favorite movies with a Christian theme is the 1981 film entitled 'Chariots of Fire' a story about two runners, one a Jewish Englishman named Harold Abrams, one a Scottish Evangelical named Eric Liddle who both did remarkable things at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. NBC and Mary Carillo this afternoon did a wonderful tribute to Liddle, which if you can find on their website you should watch it. What Carillo rightly points out, is that Liddle was the first athlete born in China (of missionary parents in 1902) to win a gold medal at any Olympics.

Eric Liddle lived a short life (1902-45), but the importance of a life cannot be measured in its quantity, rather it must be measured in its quality, and as Carillo movingly said, "most athletes come to the games desiring to be great and do great, Eric Liddle came to the Paris Olympics desiring to be good, and to do good." Liddle famously refused to run in the race that was his speciality because the heat was on Sunday, and he was a strict Scottish sabbitarian. Even the pleas from the royal family went on deaf ears. This was a great blow to Britain recovering from WWI as Liddle was undoubtedly the best in the world in 100M. But his old rival whom he had beaten in that very distance before, Harold Abrams, ran and won the race for Great Britain. Liddle however was persuaded to run the 400 meters. As his daughter Patrica Russell tells the story, the thing was he ran it as if it was the 100 meters. He ran it like an all out sprint, smashing the world record, winning by a comfortable margin. There is a famous line in the movie 'Chariots of Fire' where Eric's sister is arguing with him about his going to Paris instead of going instantly to the mission field in China. Eric's response was memorable, "God has made me to be a missionary, aye, but he has made me fast, and when I run, I feel God's pleasure". I know exactly what he means, having been a runner most of my life. When I ran the Boston Marathon in 1993 on an unusually hot muggy day in April, I came down to the last few miles on fumes, and kept saying to myself "are you running with me Jesus", "are you running with me".

Eric Liddle after the Paris Olympics did return to the country of his birth, China, where he was a missionary. Unfortunately, China was invaded by Japan, and Liddle had to send his family home to Canada (his wife was Canadian), and he himself ended up in a concentration camp with many others 300 miles south of Beijing. In the camp he pastored and taught and loved his fellow inmates. In the Carillo piece, one of the interees said that Liddle taught him that he must pray for the Japanese who had done this to them, for the NT says 'pray for those who persecute you'. Liddle was a genuinely Christian person from start to finish in his 43 years of life. Only six months before the liberation of China by the Allies in 1945, Eric Liddle became suddenly ill, and then died. He had a massive brain tumor. To this day, the Chinese do not erect monuments to foreigners on their soil, but they made an exception for an exceptional man who called two nations his home. Still today you can see the monument erected with an English script and a cross on it honoring Eric Liddle for his good work in China.

Though what Michael Phelps accomplished at this Olympics will long redound to his glory, what Eric Liddle did both at the 1924 Olympics and throughout his life will redound to God's glory, and, as those bonny Scots would say, "that's more than a wee bit greater."
by Ben Witherington
Tags: Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddle, Harold Abrams, Paris Olympics

PCC 20th Anniversary

With my church's 20th Anniversary Dinner approaching (on 21 Sept), preparations to get certain things done have to be rushed. One of them being the videos in bringing you certain memories or trying to highlight other things. The forthcoming dinner has a sports theme. The stuff we do will be related to sports too.
Some came early and waited at the church office.











When everyone was there, we lighted up the torch. Yeah, we had our own too. Playing the same tune with the on-going Beijing Olympics.













Our director on the right and the wise videoman.

Real run for our torch bearer with his accompanying runners. The videoman's hand was sticking out of the moving car.
Ooooooops!!!! Ran out of burning stuff before the end of our video shooting.
The rest of the crews. Toiling under heavy drizzle on a Saturday afternoon.
This two ladies were afraid of getting wet .......











Noticed this dead rat on the railings. Then some just realised they were resting on this railing earlier ...... yucks!

I have taken lots of photos but cannot release it for more will be revealed in the forthcoming dinner. Cheers!
Tags: PCC, Praise City Church, Anniversary Dinner, Sports Theme