Movie Stars Can Claim Datukship

In Malaysia, a person who has contributed significantly to the welfare of the nation would stand a chance of being recognised by the state government or the federal government, depending on the nature of contribution.

Recognition could come in the form of receiving honorary titles such Datuk, Datuk Seri, Tan Sri or Tun. Equivalent of a Tan Sri is the knighthood in United Kingdom ("UK") where the title is known as Sir. In rare cases, one would receive the Tunship, equivalent to a Lordship in UK.

As for a Datukship in Malaysia, it's supposed to be highly regarded. With the latest bestowing of this title to an individual who's a movie star in the land of India, in my humble opinion, it will downgrade the title.

Shah Rukh Khan, the indian actor to die for for many Malaysian ladies, would be bestowed with a Datukship. One would question his contribution(s) to our nation in entitlement for the honorary title of Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM) to be awarded by the Malacca State Government.

In questioning the state government for the reason, the Malacca Chief Minister's political secretary Saadon Basirun gave this superb reason:-

*he was awarded the title for his contribution to the entertainment industry at international level and also contributed to our tourism industry when he acted in a movie filmed in Malaysia*

Now, this is the fun part. You should read Lim Kit Siang's blog posting of the same issue. Why only Shah Rukh Khan has been recognised for his role in a movie that was filmed in Malaysia?

What about the following international superstars that filmed their internationally known movies in Malaysia? They don't deserve any tiny weeny bit of recognition at all?
* Police Story starring Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung
* Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones
* Anna and the King starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yuen Fatt
* After This Our Exile starring Aaron Kwok
* Lust, Caution starring Tony Leung, Wang Lee Hom & Tang Wei with the movie director being Ang Lee
* The Touch starring Ben Chaplin and Datuk Michelle Yeoh
(can you name anymore?)

What about the people involved in our very own locally produced movie - Sepet. This movie has been garnered with awards in:-
* Best Asian Film Award at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2005.
* Ninth Malaysian Video Awards
* 27th Creteil International Women Directors Festival in France
* 18th Malaysian Film Festival
* Global Chinese Golden Arts Awards
* Anugerah Era 2005

The Datuk title is supposed to be a prestige title which is to be bestowed on someone who has a tremendous record or contribution for the land of Malaysia. The best thing is Shah Rukh Khan won't be able to make it for the investiture ceremony. Somehow downgrades the Datukship title.

Reading: Shah Rukh Khan To Receive Datukship - Bernama
Tags: Shah Rukh Khan, Datukship, Malacca State Government, Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka, DMSM, Investiture Ceremony

Recession Is Setting In Not

Recession Is Setting In Not - this is my statement.

It was made after reading the following statement - "Malaysia is not in recession and will not go into a recession, he said." says Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob. He also said that Malaysia's forecast of economic growth will be 5.7% and 5.4% for this year and next year respectively. Just that next year's forecast have to be re-examined.

BUT .................

Gulf Arab states - who have lots of investments in USA and Europe assets, are worried that the continued crisis will certainly cause worldwide recession. Gulf Arab states' stock markets have not been spared either.

Singapore - its Ministry of Trade and Industry has released their third quarter GDP of 2008 which has contracted compared to a year before. Meaning - Singapore has slipped into recession.

Analysts in Singapore have mentioned that retrenchment is expected to happen by December 2008 with the worse setting from April 2009 onwards. A strong economy all this while but couldn't avoid recession.

Japan - with the fall of many banks (as per my previous blog posting), an insurance company by the name of Yamato Life Insurance Co Ltd has declared bankruptcy (now, this is real). Japan's Nikkei closed down on Friday morning to stop the stock market slump of 10%. This is the worst drop for the last twenty years. On average, it has knocked of 24% of the stock values.

Ireland - its economy slipped into the red too, being the first euro-zone country to do so.

Australia - in March 2008, analysts have already predicted that Australia will fall into recession by 2009.

Europe - nearing recession as mentioned by International Monetary Fund.

USA - predicted to be heading into recession as of now .......... as housing sales have dropped, unemployment rate has gone up, fewer jobs available and credits from financial institutions have tighten. Just this year alone, 600,000 people have lost their jobs.

The worst of all - Iceland - the nation could declare bankruptcy. I'm serious on this one. Iceland is a nation and not a company. The Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority has appointed receivership committees into the operations of four main Icelandic banks, namely Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki Islands hf (a new bank has been incorporated to operate - New Landsbanki), Glitnir hf wherelse trading in the shares of Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank hf, Exista and Spron have been halted.

What happened to the banks? The top four banks' total foreign liabilities have exceeded US$100 billion wherelse the nation's GDP is only US$14 billion. Since income generated in the nation is so much lower, how do you expect the nation to support its liabilities. Therefore, bankruptcy for this nation is there.

For football fans and especially if you are a Chelsea fan, your rich owner as in Roman Abramovich has suffered badly during the last few months. His fortune has been eroded by as much as US$20 billion in recent worldwide stock slump especially the Russia stock exchange. Referring to Forbes' list of billionaires for 2008, Roman's fortune was estimated to be around US$23.5 billion and the stock exchange has made him very poor now.

With Chelsea's current liabilities exceeding US$1 billion in which Roman is accountable for it, that leaves him with only US$2.5 billion. That's still a lot for you and me and our family to spend together for the rest of our life but not him man as Roman purchases assets by the hundreds of millions. All the best to Chelsea.

Will try to find ways to prepare for the forthcoming recession even though my country's finance minister has mentioned that our nation is safe from it. Do you believe that Malaysia will maintain a strong economy when the whole world is heading towards a recession?

Reading: Gulf Arabs: crisis may stoke world recession - Reuters
Reading: Redefining recession - Economist
Tags: Recession, Bankruptcy, Stock Market, Singapore Recession, Yamato Life Insurance Co Ltd, Euro-Zone Country, Iceland Bankrupt, International Monetary Fund, Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, Russia Stock Exchange, Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki Islands hf, Glitnir hf, Straumur-Burdara Investment Bank hf, Exista, Spron, Financial Supervisory Authority

Bad Financial News in Japan

Regrettably, more bad financial news ................

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America that has hit a number of investment banks and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days:-

Origami Bank has folded

Sumo Bank has gone belly up

Tempura Bank is in hot oil

Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches

Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song

shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived

Samurai Bank are soldiering on following sharp cutbacks

Ninja Bank are reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black

500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop

Analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal
Tags: Financial News, Japan, Japanese Bank, Funny, Humour

Food Eaten by the English and French

An Englishman is having breakfast, in Paris, one morning (coffee, croissants, bread, butter and jam) when a Frenchman, chewing bubble-gum, sits down next to him. The Englishman ignores the Frenchman who, nevertheless, starts a conversation.

Frenchman: 'You English folk eat the whole bread??'
Englishman (in a bad mood): 'Of course.'
Frenchman: (after blowing a huge bubble) 'We don't. In France, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, transform them into croissants and sell them to England.'

The Frenchman has a smirk on his face. The Englishman listens in silence.

The Frenchman persists: 'Do you eat jam with the bread??'
Englishman: 'Of Course.'
Frenchman: (cracking his bubble-gum between his teeth and chuckling) 'We don't. In France we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds, and leftovers in containers, recycle them, transform them into jam, and sell the jam to England.'

After a moment of silence, the Englishman then asks: 'Do you have sex in France?'
Frenchman: 'Why of course we do', he says with a big smirk.
Englishman: 'And what do you do with the condoms once you've used them?'
Frenchman: 'We throw them away, of course.'
Englishman: 'We don't. In England, we put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into bubble-gum, and sell them to France.'
Tags: English Man, French Man, Paris, Bread, Croissant, Fresh Fruit, Jam, Condom, Bubble Gum

Condom for Goats

Not only men has to wear condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancies but goats too.

The condom device, yeah a device and not the usual one that envelopes around a male specie's penis, is put in through the goat''s head and two front legs. The device is called olor by the Maasai tribe in Kenya.

This olor will prevent or make it impossible for the goats to mate. As you knew how animals mate, that olor is really an obstruction.

Reason for the usage of this condom is to prevent unwanted birth at the wrong season. As Kenya do face drought season, the herdsmen try to 'plan' the mating season so that a kid will be given birth at the right season where vegetation are plentiful for feeding purposes.

I would it's hard to control those 'hungry' male goats that roams around freely. If your goat has pregnated another female goat of that belongs to another herder, you will be fined heavily. So, implementing the olor is advisable.

As for humans, olor is useless. In order to prevent humans from mating, chastity belt will have to be used instead. I'm saying preventing here.

Reading: Goat 'condoms' save Kenyan herds - BBC News/Africa
Tags: Condom, Maasai Herdsmen, Kenya, Olor, Mating Season, Chastity Belt, Goat

Sudden Fear of Melamine

The subject of the melamine issue is ringing throughout the world besides the worry on the world financial market (not the wet market of course).

Singapore's effective AgriFood & Veterinary Authority has detected eight more food products that have excessive melamine ingredient:-
* Dutch Lady - Banana Flavoured Milk
* Dutch Lady - Honeydew Flavoured Milk
* Silang - House of Steamed Potato - Potato Cracker
* Silang - House of Steamed Potato - Potato & Tomato Cracker
* 徐福记 - Puffed Rice Rolls with Butter Corn Flavour
* 徐福记 - Puffed Rice Rolls with Cheese Flavour
* New Sshmallows Mallow Dippers-Strawberry Flavour

Even if you have consumed such food products, it will only affect your health if you had consumed large quantities of the contaminated products over a prolonged period of time. So, now you can rest easily (hopefully not rest in peace).

In Thailand, their Food and Drug Administration discovered that a new batch of 100 tonnes of powdered milk shipped from China are contaminated. That's really scary. It exceeded the melamine limit of 1mg/kg. The contaminated powdered milk was containing 1.10 to 1.32 parts per million (ppm)/kg. The powdered milk was manufactured by Beijing Shuangwa Dairy Company Ltd in China and imported by a local Thai dairy product manufacturer Dairy Plus Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Dutch Mill Co.

A Malaysian company was implicated in a melamine scare in Taiwan. The food product by the name of Regimen House Cheese Cracker Sandwich and sold by Golden Kestrel Co Ltd was said to have been withdrawn from the Taiwanese market because Taipei Branch of National Health Bureau detected a melamine level of 29.818 ppm. This food product was packaged in Malaysia for the Taiwan market only on a one-off contract and not sold in Malaysia. Even though it was packaged in Malaysia, it was claimed that the milk powder and cheese powder were supplied by Golden Kestrel Co Ltd.

On another issue implicating a Malaysian company as highlighted in The Earth Times, Pizza Hut Taiwan has rejected the cheese powder packets. Said to be containing 70 ppm, 28 times higher than the permittled level in Taiwan.

Which companies are involved here? Here goes:-
* Pizza Hut cheese powder - supplied by Pick Food and Machinery Corp, Taiwan
* Pick Food creamer - supplied by Fonterra Brands Pte Ltd, New Zealand
* Pick Food cheese powder - supplied by Persnam Corp, Taiwan
* Fonterra cheese powder - came from New Zealand
* Persnam Corp creamer - supplied by Eonlipids Sdn Bhd, Malaysia who has claimed that their product is melamine free.

Interestingly, the Sanlu Group that is implicated in the tainted milk scandal in China is 43% owned by Fonterra Co-operative Group, New Zealand. This co-operative is owned by 11,000 farmer shareholders in New Zealand. Really huge.

Malaysia has one serious case where the White Rabbit Creamy Candy imported from China contained 135 ppm compared with permitted level of 2.5 ppm. The melamine scare has the consumers questioning the safety of using plastic bags, polystyrene boxes and cling wrap to package their take-away meals.

Further updates about melamine issue in Malaysia could now be found in website of the Food Safety and Quality Division of the Ministry of Health.

A list of melamine contaminated food products (for Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, UK, Canada and USA) is found in The Sun Chair Critic blog.

Related post - Melamine Poisoning in Children
Tags: Melamine, Melamine Poisoning, Melamine Free, Milk Product, Dairy Product, AgriFood & Veterinary Authority, Dutch Lady, Silang House, Thailand, Food and Drug Administration, Beijing Shuangwa Dairy Company Ltd, Dairy Plus Co Ltd , Dutch Mill Co, Taiwan, Regimen House Cheese Cracker Sandwich, Golden Kestrel Co Ltd, Taipei Branch of National Health Bureau, Pizza Hut Taiwan, Cheese Powder, Pick Food and Machinery Corp, Fonterra Brands Pte Ltd, Persnam Corp, Fonterra Co-operative Group, Eonlipids Sdn Bhd, White Rabbit Creamy Candy, Food Safety and Quality Division

Liquid Assets

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received a $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg. A recent study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year.

That means that, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon!

Now this will make an American feel a little bit better about life!
Tags: American, Delta Airlines, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Beer, Funny, Humour, 401-Keg