The countdown story...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

June is almost come to the end.

Except for the tiny changes made to the cabinet, I don't think there will be no further move.

Talks on the street... PM Najib does not have enough in his pants to make the changes.

But is it true?  The latest rumor I heard is that GE-13 will be an early one - very soon, sometime in 2011.

So, whether PM Najib has enough in his pants, is yet to be proven.

Let us pray for the best for all of us.

By the way, its Countdown minus 7 today.  Do you still have the faith in you?

Keep the answer to yourself.

Happy Father's Day

Monday, June 21, 2010

 Happy Father's Day

Dear Aboh,

Happy Father's Day.  You have been most inspiring, not only to me but all of us, the Mohamedians and the Teranians.

We are very proud of your success and the value you carry with you. They have have been most exalting to us in every way they should.

I shall live with the same spirit and courage you lived with and will past them to the generation after me.

I wish you a wonderful life ahead. May Allah bless you.

P/s: I love you!!

P/s: Happy father's day to all Mohamedian dads... and all other dads too!!

Mutiara kata...

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Kata Pujangga...

Orang yang berjaya di dalam hidup ialah orang yang tahu dan jelas tentang tujuan dan matlamat hidupnya, DAN menuju tanpa menyimpang ke arah matlamat hidupnya itu.

Anda bagaimana?

tHE bIG jUMp!!

Friday, June 11, 2010

they said, a picture worth thousands of words...

Finally, after months of thought, I made the big jump, today.

I don't know whether this is the right decision to make.

But, I do know one thing for sure - I ain't going anywhere if I stay longer.  That's what happened for the past six years.

Some friends called me, and asked - "Izzu, are you sure what you are doing?"

Guys, to answer the question - yes, I am sure... but whether the decision is right or wrong, only time will proof it.

Enough said, it's time to jump forward, shall we?

p/s: what happened to the man in the picture? Did he survive?

Etiqa Insurance yang tak guna!!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ada satu syarikat insurance yang sungguh tak guna di Malaysia ini.  Kenal logo di bawah? Ya, inilah syarikat insurance yang tak guna tu. Kenapa ia tak guna? Kerana ia langsung tidak menghiraukan hak-hak pelanggannya.  Sila baca cerita di bawah - ianya kisah benar.
Pengalaman ini berlaku sendiri pada diri saya sendiri. Semuanya bermula daripada satu kemalangan kecil yang berlaku Ogos tahun lalu.  Kereta Toyota Altis kesayangan saya dilanggar oleh sebuah motorsikal yang ditunggang oleh dua orag remaja rempit (pun yang tak guna).

Dah tahu kan kalau nak memotong, gunakanlah laluan sebelah kanan! Barulah pemandu kereta nampak kau tuh.  Lagi pun, kan si pemandu dah bagi isyarat. Kau tak nampak ker? Atau kau memang nak kena lanyak?

Akibatnya, kedua-dua remaja itu terjatuh  dan motorsikal mereka pula terperosok ke bawah kereta.  Habis jahanam kereta aku tu.

Budak-budak berdua itu luka di badan dan tangan.  Mujurlah tiada yang serius.  Seorang pakcik menawar diri untuk membawa mereka ke hospital manakala isteri saya terus ke balai polis untuk membuat laporan polis.  Di pendekkan cerita, kedua-dua budak tersebut tak mahu panjang kes, mahu settle begitu sahaja - status quo orang putih kata.

Apa kes adik nih, bukan kau ke yang hentam kereta aku? Patut akulah yang decide nak settle camner kan?!!  Sebab saya tengok kereta saya kemek sedikit jer berbanding motorsikal budak tuh yang dah separuh remuk, maka saya pun setuju. Nah, inilah salah abang ni.

Ingatkan kisah ini habis kat situ saja, rupanya tidak.  Nak jadi cerita, budak rempit yang tak guna tuh bukanlah tuan empunya motor.  Dia hanya meminjam sahaja, bukan orang tempatan pun, budak Felda Lepar.  Patut senang sangat nak mintak settle.  Nak lari rupanya.  Jadi tanpa pengetahuan saya tuan empunya motor telah buat third party claim ke atas insurans kereta saya tu.

Yang ralatnya, Etiqa telah meluluskan claim tersebut tanpa merujuk kepada saya terlebih dahulu.  Itupun saya tahu apabila nak renew insurans Altis.  Terkejut badak saya bila dimaklumkan bahawa NCD saya ialah 0% kerana ada third party claim - pada 6 Ogos 2009!!  Mak aii Etiqa, dah dekat setahun pun third party claim tuh, pun kau takde hati nak maklumkan aku!!

Macam mana nih? Saya rasa sesuatu yang tak kena dengan SOP tuntutan ganti rugi third party Etiqa nih.  Yelah, kita yang bayar premium insurans.  Takkanlah, bila ada tuntutann kau terus bayar jer.  Tak rujuk dulu pada aku?!

Memang Etiqa nih tak guna.  Saya syak dia nak elak saya buat claim untuk baiki kerosakan Altis saya.  Tapi bila ditanya, macam-macam helah dan jawapan. Peraturan bank negara lah, kalau masuk mahkamah tetap akan diarah bayar lah, dan berjenis-jenis lagi jawapan.  Geram betul aku ni!

Nasi dah jadi bubur. NCD saya dah pun kena reset.  Jadi, saya berkeras untuk claim kerosakan Altis saya itu dengan Etiqa jugak.  Itu hampir dua minggu lepas.  Tapi sampai sekarang, tiada khabar berita.  Pegawai Etiqa yang saya hubungi asyik mengelak.  Bayangkan kalau dah 20 kali sehari telefon, asyik tiada di meja, apa kes kan?!!

 Huh, don't expect me to believe, ever!!

Kesimpulan, JANGAN AMBIL INSURANCE DENGAN ETIQA LAGI.

Bagi saya syarikat insurans sepatutnya meletakkan pelanggan dihadapan.  Kepentingan pelanggan harus diutamakan. Memang itupun tujuan asal kita ambil perlindungan insurans diri dan harta benda.  Untuk melindungi kita daripada kemalangan dan petaka. Tapi selepas pengalaman ini, apa yang pasti, Etiqa tiada semua itu.  Saya dah menjadi pengguna yang teraniya dan tidak terbela.

Sekarang, sebagai tanda protes, saya akan batalkan semua polisi insurans keluarga saya dengan Etiqa dan akan bertukar kepada syarikat insurans yang lebih baik. Insurans yang meletakkan kepentingan pelanggan dihadapan.  CUSTOMER FIRST!!

Home alone (Yesss!)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Dear diary,

Friday, 9.30pm
It was Irsyad's aqiqah ceremony and the tahlil for arwah Tuk Mama and Tokki.  Everything went well.  Almost 150 guests attended the majlis.  The program started with the welcoming remarks by my dad in-law. He is a talented story teller.  His story of how Irsyad got his name drew a lot of laughter from the guests. The majlis then proceeded with Yaasin, tahlil and recitation of doa selamat.  Then its makan time... the rest as they said is history.
********

Saturday, 10.30am.
We visited Desa Waterpark... and the boys (Irham and Imtiaaz) enjoyed themselves very much in the water (of course their parents too... ;p).  Again, Irsyad was left at home. He's too young to enjoy himself, by himself.  Three hours under the sun - we are burnt, especially Imtiaaz.  I can see the reddish marks on his white face.  Later, the others - Mum, Nadia, Najwa, Din, Hana and their families joined us - only after finishing their unscheduled shopping session at Jalan TAR.  It was a fun day.
********

Sunday, 10.45pm.
Its school holiday!!  My wife and three sons are left back at home Kota Damansara, safely in the hands of my in-laws.  Safely reached home exactly at 7.30pm.  My Altis covered a distance of 370km in just 3 hours and burnt RM50 worth of petrol.  That will be 123km/h, slightly above the speed limit. Hopefully no summon is tailing me, =P.

I'll be home alone for two weeks (I supposed).  Now that I can be more focus, I should speed up some of the long pending items.  Time is getting short.  A few thing left to be sorted out.  I met both of my bosses and spoke out my intention.  Both of them are okay, although one initially freaked out (twice actually) and tried to hold me off and the other one encouraged me.  Which one is genuine - I don't know, because it doesn't matter anymore.  A man will do what a man have to do =P.  Hopefully everything will turn out to be just fine.

By the way... the countdown is still continuing!!
********
Nite nite, sweet dream diary.

Idris Jala & the Subsidy System

Friday, June 4, 2010

I have been wanting to comment on the subsidy issue since a couple of weeks, but it seems the matter is too complicated to be commented in short.  Both the pros and cons of the implications of abolishing subsidies outweighs each others.  So, I choose to wait and observe - at least for a bit longer.

However, I agreed with some of the opinions - especially on the suggestion that instead of removing the subsidies on the basic needs such as foods items and fuel, the corporate subsidies should be removed first.  This include the gas subsidy to the IPPs and tax break to successful corporates such as AirAsia and the AP system.  These are the profit making companies, and their shareholders enjoyed billions of ringgit on top of the subsidies given to their companies.

Some said the subsidies on basic items such as fuel and food items are irrelevant to the low income rakyat (the poor ones) as they benefited minimally from the subsidies. On the other hand the rich had maximized the gifts. Hence they should be removed.

Try to imagine this... let say Pak A, an office assistance uses a low-capacity motor vehicle - let say a Myvi to travel back and fro to his workplace which is located 10km from his house and requires let say five (5)  liters of petrol every days.  That translated to RM1.79 x 5 liters = RM8.95 of subsidized fuel per day or RM268.50 per month. (Market price for RON 95 petrol is RM3.59 as of 30th May 2010)

On the other hand, his boss the GM of the company - En. Y uses a high-capacity motor vehicle, let say a E280 Mercedes travels the same distance but due to the larger engine size uses let say ten (10) liters of petrol everyday.  That will translated to RM17.90 per day or RM537.00 per month of subsidized fuel (do the calculation yourself - only simple math).


But, hey wait a sec... Pak A is only a clerk and a clerk's got paid let say RM1k per month (i'm being too generous here) and his boss En. Y - the GM, may be paid up to RM15k per month... and please don't forget the petrol allowance, the company car, the company's driver, the corporate credit cards and lots more facilities that the boss could be enjoying.

With all that in mind, is it still logical for the government to subsidized the rich GM more than the poor hardworking clerk?

Let see the figures again shall we... RM268.50 (the POOR) 26.85% of monthly salary vs RM537.00 (the RICH) 3.58% of monthly salary

That is only a small part of how the whole government subsidy regime works. One point that can be summarized here is that, the rich due to their larger spending and consuming capacities, had benefited more from the current subsidies mechanism.  I am very sure that out of RM74 billion subsidies expenses, more than 70% are being enjoyed by the rich!!

And let say if the government decided to do away with the subsidies, the impact will very much likely to be immediately felt by the poor rakyat, not the rich one.  Consider the above scenario - Pak A will have to spend an additional of 27% of his salary to cover the daily petrol cost while his GM, En. Y will only spend 3.6% from his perk (if not from his own pocket).  That is petrol alone, what about other items - foods, education, medical, electricity, etc.  

Hey dato, still remember the bottom 40% of Malaysians' household that earn lower than RM1,440 DS Najib was talking about? So, how can this go align with PM Najib's "Rakyat Diutamakan", sila jawab Dato Idris Jala?  Perhaps you may want to recommend PM Najib to change the slogan to "Rakyat yang Kaya (dan Korporat) diutamakan".  That may suit the move better.

What I'm trying to say - the abolishment of the subsidy system must be handled with care (especially in regards to the low income group).  The move must be executed by phases and gradually as to give the time for the rakyat to prepare for the impacts.  Well that's another area to be discussed - maybe later.