*I Want It Back*

I’m staring at my screen blankly.

Living in this country is getting unbearable.

I love this country too much to see it crumble like a house of cards.

I want to run away to another place but I don’t have the finances to uproot my family.

I’m afraid that Malaysia is going down the path of demise and destruction. The path that has no turning back once you’re on it.

I miss Malaysia. It used to be such a joy to live in the blessed country but I can’t say that I feel the same way anymore. Opportunists take everything and blow it up all out of proportion.

Where have all the level-headed people go? Maybe they’ve realized it much earlier than me and are already somewhere else. More importantly, where has all the common sense gone to?

I miss the time when under a supposed dictator, life was so much more peaceful. If that is the best between 2 evils, yes I’d give everything to have those times back again. Life was so much more orderly back then, how I miss it so much.

I know there’s no place on this earth that is not without its faults but I can name a few which are in a whole lot better condition than Malaysia is.

If only I had the money…

Cheers!!! :D

*Drop The RM1 Charge*

Why is it we as customers of Malaysia’s internet banking services have to pay RM1.00 for transactions involving payment to external parties? How can this be fair? Banks should be thankful that we’re helping to keep their cost down.

Having worked in the financial institution sector for 4 years, I know that banks are always looking to automate their operations in a bid to save cost. One of the reasons why the NUBE and ABOM unions opposed so much “automation” of the banking industry is that once banks go fully automated, there’s no need for people manning branches anymore.

So how is that when we customers use their services such as internet banking and mobile banking, we are charged RM1.00? We are paying for the power that runs the pc or laptop and we’re the one’s paying for the internet connection that we use so what is the RM1.00 for?

I’ll share with you why I believe RM1.00 should be scrapped:

First, most banks run virtualization to cut down the number of servers that eats up power for them to run. The days of having loads and loads of servers are gone. These days, you could fit 6 virtual servers in 1 physical machine.

Second, it costs the bank money to put a person behind the counter. The teller requires wages, benefits and all other amenities that a person working for an employer needs. The machine does not, period. Machines don’t get sick or do they go on annual leave.

Third, it costs the bank to run a branch, make no bones about it. Rental, utilities and security are just some of the operating expenditures a bank needs to incur. Internet banking servers are normally located in places where infrastructure is already there and costs have been accounted for.

Fourth, machines don’t complain. They don’t argue about wages, they don’t need yearly increments and bonuses. They don’t picket outside of a bank to protest wages they don’t really deserve. So much less of a headache for HR and IR who are not cheap to employ.

If each of the above is worth RM0.25 then you can see that banks are making a killing charging its customers RM1.00 for each transaction that an internet banking user performs.

These are just some of the reasons why banks are pushing for consumers to adopt online banking because at the end of the day it makes perfect business sense. What makes no sense at all is the fact despite the customer incurring most of the costs, why are we still charged RM1.00.

I say let’s start a campaign to get the banks to drop the RM1.00 charge, what think?

Cheers!!! :D

*Public Service Announcement: TNB Power Cuts*

Somehow a message of such importance has escaped both mainstream and also not so mainstream media. If you are not aware, TNB is on a massive maintenance exercise of its infrastructure which means, there will be power disruptions.

Here’s a clipping of an article on NST a few days back:

KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly the whole of the peninsula will be affected by power cuts to make way for scheduled maintenance work on power stations by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

A total of 720 areas in 11 states would be affected by the operation, which would be spread out in stages from now until August.

Only Perlis, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya will be spared.

The length of the power cuts would vary from three hours to 14 hours, depending on the type of work carried out.

For those who would like to find out more details like if your area is affected and when if your area is affected can check out TNB’s site here

This is what happens when gives too much attention to crap than things that really matter to the people.

Cheers!!! :D

*On Play All Day*

Last week of course, the whole world was awoken to the fact that the king of pop, the late Michael Jackson passed away due to cardiac arrest. He was on his comeback trail with concerts slated for the rest of the year.

And so the local music stations paid tribute to the gloved one. Almost all of the English radio broadcasters had MJ on play all day.

Of course, no other artist could pull it off really. No artist or group could have their songs playing all day and not bore everyone to death. That is, ladies and gentlemen the musical brilliance of MJ.

Of course, he was not without his faults, neither are we. People tend to forget that no one is perfect, we’re just made that way.

His music broke racial and color barriers. He was singing about things that most people back then wouldn’t touch with a long pole. He was singing about the environment long before Mr. Gore made a big fuss about it and Mr. Leonardo made a movie about it.

So yes, I was one of many who didn’t mind having MJ’s song on rotation all day long. Beats that rock among all ages and lyrics that means so much then and till this very day hold much value.

Question is, will there be anyone like him after this? Not just in terms of his sheer talent but also who’s death the world will mourn. He is to our generation what Elvis/Beatles was to our parent’s generation.

So how about we all ponder for a bit. Which artist that currently lives who’s death in the future would be as big as the late MJ?

That day will leave in infamy for it is the day that we lost one of the most brilliant human being that we will be able to enjoy in a long, long time. RIP sir, you’ve earned it.

Cheers!!! :D

*For The In Tray*

In these tough economic times, finding a job is not easy. It has shifted from an employee’s market to the employer’s. With the amount of grads the local varsities are churning out, it makes competition all that more difficult.

Experienced people are taking pay cuts when they’re laid-off while most have postponed impending retirement or planned early retirements. All of these of course cause the already shrinking job market even smaller.

So with many applications, the CV or resume has become an almost critical medium to sell one's self if it shouldn’t already be. Despite knowing how critical these things are so many still pay scant attention to it.

I chanced upon a CV the other day and to be honest, no matter how good you are, I’m not going to put you in the “for consideration” pile when I glance through your CV which is among the thousands companies go through in a day.

Correct grammar is totally important and add to that spelling mistakes is just really asking for trouble. Those mistakes are an eye-sore for any HR rep that your resume would definitely be in the bottom pile faster than you can think.

Do spare the short-forms from your resume. I mean it might be familiar to you what is OPMN or TFIS but heck the person reading it doesn’t work in the same team as you and wouldn’t have a clue what it all means. Explain the true meaning at least in the beginning before adopting the short-form later.

Not many people put in their performance rating in their CV’s but I know some do. For those who do, please put the score there please. A rating of 2 in my wife’s organization is extremely good (as 1 is the top rating) but a rating of 2 in mine would mean you’re better off looking for a new job. Please be specific.

There are of course so many more mistakes I saw in that particular resume but hey, I’m no expert either. It is just that I know what a typical HR rep goes through in a day and the key thing is to get him or her to look at your resume long enough that she puts it in the “In” tray rather than the bin.

Cheers!!! :D

*Why We Do It?*

If everyone even bothered to read the general terms or terms & conditions of credit cards provided by the banks, no one; and I mean no one in their right mind would even agree to using credit cards.

But so many do it, why? Is it because most don’t bother reading the size 3 fonts or because they have no option but to rely on credit to survive?

The terms and conditions that banks have are so lopsided that there is essentially nothing that one can do against them. They’re protected from every possible angle the minute you sign on the dotted line of the application form.

How is it fair that they can change terms without prior notice and nothing that a customer can do to dispute it? How can one claim of being cheated when the picture of the price is just for display and banks have the right to change it at their own will and the customer can’t say a thing?

What happened to customer privacy when the bank can use your picture, your full name, your age, your location and your identification number for marketing or publicity activities and you cannot claim a single dime from the profit that they make or stopping them from disclosing such personal information to the world?

Here are some terms and conditions that you may or may have not realized that you are bounded with:

The Bank shall not be liable if it is unable to perform its obligations under this Agreement due, directly or indirectly, to the failure of any machine, system or authorisation, data processing or communication system or transmission link or any industrial dispute, war, Act of God or anything outside the control of the Bank, its servants or agents. ~ Bank’s are even protected from God

In addition to the above, the Cardmember hereby irrevocably authorises the Bank to release, divulge, disclose or reveal any information to any of the Bank’s business partners (existing or future) who shall provide any such privileges and benefits to the Cardmember. ~ Wonder why you’ve been harassed by marketers via phones?

The Cardmember agrees that the Bank shall not in any event be liable for any claim, loss, damage or liability howsoever arising from any inaccuracy or for any other reason whatsoever relating to any information forwarded by the Bank to any bureau established by BNM as aforesaid including Central Credit Bureau, Biro Maklumat Cek (BMC) and Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) or in relation to any access, use or the inability to access or use any bureau established by BNM or reliance on the information contained therein, whether caused by any technical, hardware or software failure of any kind, the interruption, error, omission, delay, viruses or otherwise howsoever. ~ If your credit history is screwed by them, it’s not their fault either.

This Agreement shall be binding on the heirs, personal representatives and successors-in-title of the Bank and the Cardmember respectively. ~ Sounds like Ah-Longs eh?

The bank reserves the right to publish or display the NAME, PICTURE, IDENTIFICATION NUMBER and CITY OF RESIDENCE of eligible cardholders for this Promotion for the bank’s advertising and publicity purposes in any media. By participating in the Promotion, the eligible cardholder hereby consent to and agree that the bank shall be at liberty to publish their names, pictures, city of residence and identification numbers without compensation for the bank’s advertising and publicity purposes in any media. ~ There you go, a free modeling contract that pays you nothing!

Visuals of featured prizes are for display purposes only and prizes are subject to change without prior notice. ~ Instead of winning a nice watch you get a pasar malam one and you can’t say squat!

With terms that provides no protection to us as customers, why do even agree to such things in the first place? That’s the question that will continue to baffle me from now on.

Cheers!!! :D

*Music Plug*

I don’t plug artists on my blog often. In fact, I don’t think I ever have except maybe once or twice. As per my earlier post awhile back, I’m very picky about music. It has to either be perfect or I’ll hate it, there’s no common or middle ground.

Lately I’ve been treating my ears to two artists which bring hope to me that indeed, there is someone to take over the mantle from Shiela in terms of talent and musical brilliance.

The two that I’m talking about here is of course Yuna, whose breakout hit song “Dan Sebenarnya” and Zee Avi, the talented young lady who reminds me A LOT of Norah Jones.

It does make me wonder how come these people have to go through the underground and indie route when so much crap ends on TV shows like AF, Mentor, OIM and the rest of the reality shows. I must say, if these two were to compete, it would be no contest.

It’s good to hear that both are getting the airtime that they’re talent deserves. I’d listen to them than to the people who have won the last OIM or every other winner of AF. The Malaysian music industry is based on a formula.

That formula is supposed to be a sure winner in terms of record or tabloid sales. Pretty face, revealing clothes, photo shoots in skimpy clothes by the swimming pool, shocking headlines and spats are the ingredients that set the rules for 99% of record companies in Malaysia.

If that wasn’t the case that talented people like Adibah Noor would never had to fund her own album. The same also goes to Afdlin Shauki and so many, many other not so “eye pleasing” talented musicians who don’t “fit” into the formula.

Coming to the end of the post I think I can recall that I’ve only ever plugged two artists directly on my blog, the lyrical maestro Malique and Shiela Majid. The two young ladies (Yuna and Zee Avi) might still be newbies as compared to the earlier two but they have what it takes to make it.

I just hope that they don’t get desperate and fall into the trap of fitting into the earlier mentioned “formula” that I dread, hate and despise so much :P

Cheers!!! :D