Abdullah to hand over power to Najib in 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Thursday that he will hand over the reigns of the government's leadership to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in mid 2010.

Tom say, maybe tomorrow klse will celebrate.. kekekek.. i am getting desperate mah.

Talk Only Mah!: Some ideas on Solving Subsidized Petrol Problems in Malaysia

Talk Only Mah!: Some ideas on Solving Subsidized Petrol Problems in Malaysia

Just to review what happened after I had written my previous post (as back-linked above) and Bolehsia had a price hike of petro:

(1) Cut the Bleeding Arm - Okay, not full market price but a good meaningful step.

(2) Rewards and Penalties - RM625 is good subsidy for those 1.6L and below, but too linear for those 2L car owners.

(3) Let them Dog Eat Dog for Malaysians' sakes - This is the most disappointing part. Read the news below:

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA increased the sales commission for gasoline station operators on Wednesday following complaints that profit margins had fallen in the wake of a recent fuel price rise, officials said.

'The government has taken a very big step. ... We are accepting the offer,' Mr Zulkifli Mokti, vice-president of the Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia, said.

He said the government increased the commission from 9.5 sen (S$0.04) to 12.19 sen (S$0.05) on every liter of gasoline sold and from 4.5 sen (S$0.02) to 7 sen (S$0.03) on every liter of diesel sold...

Why not let the market supply and demand work it out? Let the poorly run petrol stations go bankrupt mah! Talkandshare Mah!

2008 Nissan Sylphy is Here

They claimed this box can drive 16KM/Liter. Hmmm.. that will raise few eyebrows, not the looks though.

GP Week Mah!

What the heck, politically correct or not (petrol burning machines), pic only mah!

Fuyoh! Like That Also Can? Gas Station Owners Can be the Judges Wohhh

Dual-pump system for border petrol stations

KUALA LUMPUR: ...

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said that under the system, locals could purchase fuel at subsidised prices while foreigners do so at current market prices through separate pumps.

"The system has two benefits, namely foreigners will pay for petrol at the current price and Malaysians will know the actual market price of petrol," he said.

He said the system was based on Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad's suggestion.

Shahrir said the system could be implemented as soon as possible following positive response from fuel station operators who had agreed to shift to the dual pump system.

...

Asked on the mechanism used to differentiate purchase by foreigners with that of local citizens, Shahrir said the station operators would have to look at the vehicle's plate number. -- Bernama

To Hybrid or Not To Hybrid? Simple Math

Honda Civic Hybrid 1.3L RM 162,800
Claimed Fuel Savings Up to 50%
Say Your Petro Bills RM 500 per Month and wanna own this Hyrid for 7year
Savings of 7year x 12 x RM 500 x 50% = RM21,000

Tak boleh lah, bo hua leh. Not working out leh, high price and depreciation have already killed the tree hugger like me.. Please reduce Hybrid tax and duty lah, no need to issue special AP for get rich quick scheme. If Hyrid can sell RM 73,450 (directly converted from US retail price $22,600 mah), we patriotic Malaysians will switch to Hybrid and can save government billions of subsidy money loh. Deal or no deal? Reverse your thinking mah! Talkandshare Mah! Talkonlymah!

Leno, What have you done?!

I just hope it wasn't you...

The Star Online
Wednesday June 18, 2008
Doc molested me, claims clinic assistant

BUKIT MERTAJAM: A 27-year-old woman who works part-time as a clinic assistant has lodged a police report against a doctor for allegedly molesting her in his clinic.
The single mother with two children claimed that the 41-year-old doctor had asked her to stay back on the pretext of wanting to discuss work matters with her last Saturday.
The woman said she felt uneasy when she saw the doctor tidying the bed in the examination room while she waited to have their discussion.
She alleged that the doctor switched off the lights in the room, grabbed her hand and hugged her.
She said she managed to free herself and went to lodge a report at the Central Seberang Prai district police headquarters in Bandar Perda.

One Week On.. Burning More Expensive Petrol

Today I just topped up my fuel tank for the first time after price hike. Not a pleasant experience to see the gasoline amount ticks going up and up (kekeke, very different from watching stocks price ticking up :D ). And it is official, I have gained a whopping 14% mileage efficiency after a challenging week, feel like a champion now. Don't play play. Here are the tips, some are actually from this article (http://talkonlymah.blogspot.com/2008/06/toms-top-pick-this-week-tips-to-gain.html)

1. Turn off the Air Con - The harder it blows, the more petrol will be burned off. I am lucky that certain parts of my commuting journey to and fro works are smooth enough for me to turn off the air con and open up just a small slit of windows for ventilation. As a guy, can tahan lah.
2. Go easy with the pedal - Not the piano pedals lah.. the gas pedal. This is tough, for a guy. If you can try not to ramp it up to 3K rpm, that's good for the engine and your pocket. By the way, it is okay to be called sissy driver though. wahahah.
3. Avoid stop-go stop-go - Traffic lights we can't avoid, but certain points (like stop over to buy newspaper, tapao.. blah blah blah..) can be controlled lah. Sometimes it may require you to walk a bit if you decide to consolidate all the trivial activities. That's good news for a guy, the more you walk, the better blood circulation in your groin area (performance up leh). wahahaha. No offense to female readers, do encourage your bf or hubby to walk more leh... wakakaka.

That's all for now. My next plan is to get a voltage stabilizer as some say it can get about 10% fuel efficiency. Let's see how it goes lah.

Follow Up: Why the removal of fuel subsidy despite a net-exporter nation?

Talk Only Mah!: Why the removal of fuel subsidy despite a net-exporter nation?

Maybe they read my blog and copy my ideas. wahahaha... The petrol price hike came sooner than we could say "shit". As anticipated, in most of the online chat / trading communities, many now blaming the government, making emotional comments, irrational remarks, and etc., but almost none is taking his/her position in a constructive manner.

"The cars nowadays just get bigger and so are the fuel tanks, and we are doing well and wanting to upgrade our cars every now and then. Never mind fuel prices. We have goman to take care of that," Had you ever had this kind of thought before? The price hike is a wake up call to most of us. We have been enjoying too much cheap fuels, so is to cheap labors, now we are just paying the real prices (almost). We have been laughing at Bolehsia's Tongkat Policy. So what now? Crying out for we need subsidies? We can't have double standard, can we? Life goes on. Think of a way to reduce our living costs.

TOM's Top Pick This Week: Tips to Gain that Extra Mileage

Tips to Gain that Extra Mileage - by Sunny Tan

...
1 Use Air Conditioner sparingly
Air conditioners can use about 10 per cent extra fuel when operating and is a super drain on your engine's efficiency, so don't use it unless you really need it. If you're within one or two minutes of your destination, turn off the air conditioner and let the fan continue to circulate the cold air in the car. It won't become unreasonably warm in that length of time.

And don't buy into the myth that it always takes as much gas to drive with the windows open as it does using the air conditioner. There is some disagreement on the subject, but most advice says that at low speeds and stop and go traffic, it costs less to drive with the windows down, but on the highway, using an air conditioner is cheaper.

2 Drive slow and steady
Drive between 45-55 kmph. The faster you drive, the more wind resistance your vehicle will face. If you speed above 60 kmph, you will waste your petrol. Tests have shown that you can get up to 40% extra mileage at 45-55 kmph as against 80 kmph. I know this will be frustrating to all our dear Malaysian drivers, but heck, isn’t this all about petrol saving tips? I'm not saying we should all travel around at 55km per hour, but if you reduce your speed by even a small amount the rewards are substantial.

3 Switch accessories before start
Switch off all power consuming accessories before switching on the ignition so as to minimize battery load during the next start.

4 Strut tower/anti-sway bars
Purchase and install strut tower and anti-sway bars. They increase control, which allows you to corner without loosing speed - which makes it easier on the brakes and requires less gas to accelerate.

5 Avoid Jack Rabbit Start
Eliminate jack rabbit starts (sudden acceleration from idle). It wastes fuel. Accelerate slowly when starting from dead stop. Don't push pedal down more than 1/4 of the total foot travel. This allows carburetor to function at peak efficiency. Roughly 1% in fuel economy is lost for every mile per hour driven above 55 mph.

6 Putting your car gear into neutral or park position
When sitting at a set of traffic lights or in traffic for an extended length of time, put your car into neutral or park. This can save a significant amount of fuel.

7 Clutch and Accelerator play
Don’t manipulate the clutch and accelerator to stay stationary because it wastes fuel. Use handbrake instead.

8 Shut your Windows.
Shutting all your car windows while driving will make your car more aerodynamic. This will improve your car's fuel efficiency. Driving with them open drastically reduces your fuel efficiency, far more so than putting the air conditioning on when motorway driving. An open window can increase fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent. For a person who spends RM100 a week on petrol, 20% savings could mean saving RM20 a week, which adds up to RM80 a month. That is money one could pay towards his/her bond or be money saved for a rainy day.

9 Check & Replace Air Filters Regularly.
Air filter prevents dust from Fouling the engine. Dust causes rapid wear of engine components and increases fuel consumption. Cylinder bores wear out 45 times faster in engines without air-cleaners. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your car's gas mileage by as much as 10 percent in petrol consumption. Your car's air filter keeps impurities from damaging the inside of your engine. Not only will replacing a dirty air filter save gas, it will protect your engine.

10 Switch off accessories before start
Switch off all power consuming accessories before switching on the ignition so as to minimize battery load during the next start.

11 Get your engine tuned up!
Tests on a large number of cars prove that you can save as much as 6% by tuning your car regularly. If your engine emits black smoke, has poor pulling power or consumes large quantities of oil, get it checked immediately at a reputed garage. A delay may prove more expensive in terms of petrol and oil as compared to the cost of an overhaul.

A poorly maintained engine can cut gas mileage by 10 to 20 percent. Make sure the spark plugs are firing properly. Replace them if they are due. Be sure to use the proper thickness of fluids in the engine, transmission, and axles. Otherwise, an engine has to work too hard and unnecessarily consumes more fuel. Dirty engine oil is also thicker, making engines less efficient. An engine with fouled plugs, dirty air filter, erratic timing, a sputtering carburetor, or weak compression will gobble up fuel and perform dismally. Always make sure the engine timing is appropriate.
...

Argh.. Bye Bye Subsidy.. partially for now.

June 04, 2008 18:26 PM

Petrol, Diesel Prices To Increase At Midnight Tonight

PUTRAJAYA, June 4 (Bernama) -- Petrol and diesel prices will go up by 78 sen and RM1 per litre respectively at midnight tonight, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Wednesday.

The prime minister said the new price for petrol at the pump would be RM2.70 per litre and diesel, RM2.58 per litre.

Abdullah told a news conference at his office the Cabinet had agreed on a cash rebate for Malaysian owners of private cars and motorcycles to ease the burden of the rise in the fuel prices.

"A cash rebate of RM625 per year will be given to owners of private cars of engine capacity of up to 2,000 cc and pick-up trucks and jeeps of up to 2,500 cc.

"Owners of private motorcycles of engine capacity of up to 250 cc will be paid a cash rebate of RM150 per year," he said.

The prime minister said the cash rebate would be given to the owners of the cars and motorcycles when they paid or renewed their road tax.

Why the removal of fuel subsidy despite a net-exporter nation?

Let’s not speculate nor be emotional, let’s analyze this rationally, the dummy 101 way. I do not have the figures on hand or off my head (and I doubt I can get real figures anyway), so I use simple formula to illustrate my case “Profits = Ex – Im – Sub”

Ex = Export of Malaysian Oils ($)
Im = Import of Foreign Oils ($)
Sub = Subsidies

There are many factors can affect the out-come of the “Profits”, for instances,

1) Management of selling price (Ex)
2) Output / Successful Exploration (Ex)
3) Management of buying price (Im)
4) Domestic Consumption (Im)
5) Inefficiency (Sub)

Note: (In case you don’t know, inefficiency is a nice way of saying small time and big time smugglings, and who knows how many more ways out there to abuse the subsidy system).

In the old days, the spread of retail price and import price was not so big, so still can party on lah. But now, Malaysians still enjoy relatively low retail prices, err... some Thais and Singaporeans also enjoying them; and not to mention the mega industrial consumers, while the spread of retail price and import price is getting bigger and bigger. It does not take a genius to figure out, the subsidy amount will get bigger and bigger until one day we will be making loss on the left side of the formula, if not already.

Ones can always argue we are a net-exporter what. Net my ass, net. Tell me is that a net barrel or net amount, and they really don’t matter. Net Barrel is eventually turned into amount which is greatly affected by the sample factors mentioned above. As for Net Amount, I have already explained.

I may sound and talk like an asshole for not standing by the side of most Malaysians (hoping and praying that the removal of subsidy was only a joke). That’s ok. And I have to tell you to stop denying the fact that we can no longer afford cheap fuels. So, think positively, come out good ideas to save fuels lah. Stop being a cry baby : gimme gimme subsidies. Kekekek.

This one is real pedas, can burn down your axx-hxxxx.. :D

http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/8209/84/

Some ideas on Solving Subsidized Petrol Problems in Malaysia

I am reluctant to touch on this subject because many might think my ideas are cruel, but I assure you it is for the benefits of all Malaysians in the long run. So, may I ask you to read on please? Here are the strategies

(1) Cut the Bleeding Arm
The quick fix for all the petrol smugglings, inappropriate consumptions, & you-name-it ..etc. : START SELLING AT NON-SUBSIDIZED PRICES. PERIOD. Don't curse me yet. We need stern policy to get things right top-down. Do it the decisive way. Clean cut, bukan soap opera. (OK, enough). WIth this, lots of administrative works of government will be reduced too, not only the subsidies to those non-entitling parties (sorry to my Singaporean friends loh).
Brilliant right? Now Malaysians will finally realise petrols are precioius. Wastage will be reduced naturally. Probably Malaysians will be more healthy, walk more drive less mah.

(2) Rewards and Penalties
When (1) is implemented, lower income people with own transports will be affected, immediately. To solve this problem of short-term shock, a immediate subsidy should be provided to those entitling vehicle owners directly, eg. Check , direct bank-in, and etc. Comon, you know where to send the Speeding Ticket, then you should know where to send us the moneyyy. JPJ have our records, IRD have our records, blah blah blah. Of course, a careful formula need to be worked out on deciding what type of vehicles entitling to what amount of subsidies. And I do suggest 2.0L and above, get Zero subsidy. 3.0L and above, get to pay additional for Luxury Tax. (or even make it illegal to own 3L car, I don't care). Now you like me better? And I assume you don't drive a Hammer, do you? kekeke. For mid to long term, integrate this whole thing into the income tax form, like adding a row for Petrol Consumption Rebate. Likewise, for the manufacturing / transport industries, tax rebate as subsidy.

(3) Let them Dog Eat Dog for Malaysians' sakes
This is the best part, I love this. Now petrol stations sales will be affected, how to attract customers? Cut your prices lah. Cut your margin, hire less workers. Easy licenses don't mean easy money OK. Walk an extra mile, won't you? (err.. I should start marketing electric fly swatter to those petrol stations taukeh..) akekekek.

My simple closing statement: We Malaysians need to be more efficient. PERIOD. (opps, period means more bleeding :D) FULL STOP.

Gold Mining Company in Malaysia

Old News: PGL in new gold extraction venture

Peninsular Gold Ltd (PGL), the latest to join the gold mining industry in Pahang, is investing in a state-of-the-art Carbonin-Leach processing plant in Raub, which is expected to start production next year.

The plant, with an initial production of 25,000 ounces of gold from Bukit Koman, is geared to step up production eventually to 100,000 ounces a year.

Speaking at the official ground breaking ceremony of the new plant by Datuk Adnan Yaakob, the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Pahang, PGL's Chairman and Chief Executive, Datuk Seri Andrew Kam Tai Yeow said, the new plant, with the latest technology would be able to maximise the extraction of gold from soil by up to 85% from the 15 % based on the conventional technology.

PGL, whose wholly-owned subsidiary, Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd, has been granted a 20-year rights to mine gold at the 202-hectare site in Bukit Koman, expects to export the entire production of the gold.

The company, which targets to extract a minimum of five million ounces of gold in Malaysia, is expected to invest an additional RM150 million subsequently, for extensive drilling works and possible expansion of the new plant.

"Malaysia has a mining culture and the operating cost at about US$200 (RM702) an ounce for tailings deposits here is very conducive for gold mining. Kam said.

Tailings deposits are residues from conventional methods of gold extraction, which were not able to get the maximum gold yield from the soil. Hence the new plant will be able to process up to 1.1 million tonnes of tailings a year.

PGL, listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, has brought in more than RM50 million from its London listing in 2005, to invest in its gold mining and exploration operations in Malaysia. To-date, it has invested RM25 million for exploration works in Bukit Koman.

With the current gold prices of between US$680 and US$700 (RM2,380 and RM2,457) an ounce, the company expects to generate some RM60 million a year in revenue just from its initial production.

Adapted from NST Business Times, 3 March 2007

Exchange Rate RM 3.2665 / USD !

US dollars gaining strength against Ringgit Malaysia!

The Star : Spanner in our WiMAX rollout works?

Looks like somebody made a blunder here in Bolehsia on 2.3GHz vs. 2.5GHz, who is that? I am not smart enough to figure that out. MR loud mouth Ken Yek, please tell us.

KUALA LUMPUR: Certification for WiMAX equipment on the 2.3GHz spectrum could be delayed longer than expected and this will impact the country’s rollout of wireless broadband services using the ­technology.
... more here

Hicom-Chevrolet launches Chevrolet Optra Magnum sedan...

I am not picking on Hicom-Chevrolet, but I do think their marketing people suck. Comon, very dark, old fashioned, unattractive car launch event. You might need to refer to UMW and learn a trick or two.

Yummy Yummy Nasi Lemak

I tell you ar, over here, nothing compares to this No.1 national food of Malaysia - Nasi Lemak. Its literal translation is "Fat Rice". It is actually the rice cooked in coconut milk... tasty but sinful. High cholesterol mah. The chili paste plays a critical role in determining whether a Nasi Lemak is "Hot" or "Not" (call it the soul of the Nasi Lema). The fried peanuts and Ikan Bilis, I tell you ar, the crispier the better, otherwise will let down the whole sensation of tasting this wonder meal. Some of the upgraded Nasi Lemak will be served with curry chicken, mutton, beef.. I am drooling already lah. Tak boleh tahan dah. You may find my English is weird, no choice, my English is with Nasi Lemak accent mah.. wa ha ha ha ha.

Nissan X-Trail Promotion

In contrast to Hicomobil, Edaran Tan Chong Sdn Bhd is out to get business and they mean business: