Australians Are Migrating

Malaysians who wanted to migrate have listed Australia as one of the top destinations for migration. When you flip open the Star newspaper, you could see advertisements on provision of services to assist you to migrate overseas with the word 'Australia' splashed across it.

Why Australia? Knew a few friends that have migrated to Australia. Bumped into a schoolmate last year who was providing professional migration services in particular to Australia. If not mistaken, he should have migrated himself and family by now. He did tell me that I do qualify on merit and told me to try ............. yeah, he was sourcing for business at the same time. Anyway, I didn't.

Reasons for those friends that have migrated or some in the process - mainly for their children's education. Firstly, by being a resident there, the school or university fees would be much much lower than by sending them over from Malaysia as a foreign student. Of course, if your family is loaded it's not an issue at all. What's wrong with Malaysian education? You and I know very well.

Next thing people migrate would be for job opportunities. A young couple that I knew migrated owing to better work environment and of course higher salary. They are doing very well now. Malaysia is really suffering from the brain drain of professionals. All my friends who have migrated or in the process are truly professionals in their fields of work. They are bringing their experiences away from this land of Malaysia.

Just when people are migrating into Australia, not many people knew that Australians themselves are also migrating away from their land. How come?

For the record, 76,923 Australians became ex-Australians in year 2007 alone. Those who left were aged between 25 and 54. Out goes 76,923, in came 149,635 to become Australians in the same period .... hehe. I'm very sure that lots of well-to-do or professional Indonesians are flocking into Australia (heard from and verified with friends).

Do you know where did the 76,923 ex-Australians migrated to? Their top destinations were New Zealand (18.4%), United Kingdom (17.8%), USA (9.3%), Hong Kong (7.2%) and Singapore (6.4%). These top five countries have accounted for 59.1% of those who migrated.

Unfortunately, three of those countries - New Zealand, USA and Singapore - are already in recession. If you are migrating or have migrated, why?

Reading: Biggest annual exodus from Australia on record - News.com
Reading: "Weighing" Brain Drain - Education in Malaysia
Tags: Australia, Brain Drain, Migration, Professional Migration Services, Migrate To Australia

Record Inflation of 231,000,000%

When inflation sets in, many Third World countries will not be able to handle it. They are already considered poor nations but cost of living is rising daily.

Zimbabwe's economy has been spiralling downwards with no signs of any potential economy comeback.

Inflation rose from few hundred per cent up to an impossible rate of two hundred thirty one million per cent (231,000,000%). Many people will not be able to comprehend what kind of inflation is this. In layman example, a loaf of bread that was sold at 100 Zimbabwe Dollar in year January 2007 is now sold at 23,100,000,000 (that's hitting above Twenty Three Billion Zimbabwe Dollar).

The country tried to print bigger currency denomination to counter the increasing rate of inflation but to no avail. Then it changed the currency valuation by deleting the number of zeros. Is that the correct way to handle the economics? Whoever that gave this advise is really marvellous. Were they graduates from Cambridge UK or MIT, USA? Or local politicians that graduated from their local universities?

Hence, it decreases the value of the currency and on a positive note, it helped the citizens in the way of carrying lesser currency notes when they go for shopping. Effective Aug 2008, from the height of a 100,000,000,000 Zimbabwe Dollar (One Hundred Billion) currency note that equates to less than USD400.00, it now becomes 10 Zimdollar (at a rate of Z$10 billion = 1 Zimdollar).

As root of inflation was the political instability, inflation rate continued its climb. The nation needed to print bigger currency denomination notes again. Firstly, the 10,000 Zimdollar and now 20,000 Zimdollar (equivalent to US$20). You could only withdraw the maximum of 20,000 Zimdollar from your bank account ...... daily!

It will be neverending and by early next year, the 100,000 Zimdollar will be out on the street. By then, I would have lost count of the number of times it has printed new notes. Next level of inflation rate? This African nation is really one of a kind with the leaders in power, who are living in posh lifestyle, not considering the suffering citizens.

Reading: Zimbabwe inflation hits new high - BBC News/Africa

Related posts:-
* Zimbabwe's Growing the Wrong Way
* Just How Much is 500 Million Dollars?
Tags: Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Dollar, Zimdollar, Economics, Inflation, Africa

Busy Dataran Sunway Commercial Centre

Met up with a kitchen contractor, visited several shops selling housing materials and furnitures at Dataran Sunway commercial centre, Kota Damansara area, and was really surprised with the busy area. Didn't expect the place to be packed with cars and the shops available could just offer anything you needed and wanted.

As the stomach signalled its hunger for food, it was time to look for a food outlet. Saw this upbeat cafe and found it to be cooling. Need a good hideout from the hot weather.

The nearby Station 1 Cafe offers food that varies from the western dishes to oriental dishes and fusion food. It has a wide range of beverages. It's quite common to see this kind of cafe mushrooming all over Klang Valley. Apparently, this was their 18th outlet, the latest.

Price wise - reasonable for such cafe.


Kampung Style Fried Rice. Not bad lah. Same taste all over Klang Valley also.

The fried egg really looked pathetic. Would you request them to fry another one?












This was my order, the Mixed Grill. Need big portion kind of dishes to feel my stomach after the long walk all over Dataran Sunway.

The accompanying black pepper sauce was excellent. The corn was prepared with the right sweetness required.
Chicken Chop with rice. Nice mushroom sauce that comes with it.
The Deep Fried Fish Fillet. The fish was fresh and soft. It melts in your mouth (not only M&M).
The Tom Yum soup has the sour taste that comes with the spicy tinkling. As I can endure hot and spicy stuff, it didn't meet my criteria for a good tom yup soup.








There was a stage within the premise but don't know when will they have performances or was it for customers like me that whenever I feel like it, I can sing anytime.

Understood that Chervie Ho Yee Mun (sorry, don't know who she is) was supposed to perform at this outlet on 13 Oct night.
Tags: Station 1 Cafe, Kota Damansara, Food, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, Chervie Ho Yee Mun

No Inglish But Can Deputy Prime Minister

Traditionally, the top two ranking persons in the UMNO political party would also be the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

It's very important to see the outcome in each UMNO party election that could also decide the fate of Malaysia. The next UMNO party election will be held in March 2009. The present Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has offered himself for the position of UMNO President since the incumbent President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has decided not to defend his position.

As Datuk Seri Najib Razak is moving up the political ladder, the number two position, Deputy President, will be empty. This position has been eyed by a number of aspirants who are as follows:-
* Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib
* Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam
* Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
* Jazlan Mohamad

Nothing personal against Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib but this was the same guy that was acquitted in a Brisbane court of Australia in 1998 for failing to declare foreign cash when entering and leaving Australia. One of the reasons that he was acquitted - "I know no inglish so ahhhh I dunno and cannot read signs or rules that said must tell people how much I got."

Now, he's going for the number two position that could make him the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. His reason for offering himself, I like it lah - "because I want to help the party president strengthen and rebuild Umno.”

Uncle, we are talking about the nation here .......... not just your political party.

Reading: Umno may see big battle for No. 2 slot - Star
Tags: Muhammad Muhammad Taib, UMNO Party Election, UMNO Deputy President

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