Location makes a whiff of a difference to wine...

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Most suspicious PM of Malaysia

I don't know about others, but our PM's every move is treated with suspicion. I think it all started with his move on Perak when he became Umno's state chief and soon after abused his PM position to topple the Pakatan state government. Then, he became Selangor Umno's state chief, which many believed to be for the same purpose, though his mission has yet to be achieved. But so much trouble created in Selangor since he had openly stated his objective.

When he became PM, he was already carrying the baggage of Altantuya because of his aide, Razak Baginda's as well as other aides' involvement. His meeting with Saiful led to sodomy charges against his arch rival, Anwar Ibrahim. There are so many instances which involved Najib and his perceived ulterior motives. Even a meeting with the council of judges recently was treated with suspicion that he is going to influence them! Do we need such a foxy character for a PM? Only the next Umno election or the next General Election, whichever comes first, will tell.

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Double Vision's Forget me not

First of all, I find Forget me not on NTV 7 interesting enough to catch up on the episodes whenever I am at home. Maybe, I am just a tv addict who would watch anything that comes along. But I had to know the storyline before I would continue watching. Otherwise, not watching tv is ok with me.

I think the person who did the casting did a bad job on a few counts. I tried to find out the name of the young actress who was Xue Ming when young, without success. She looks a sweet 16, and was with two sons aged some 7 and 5 at least, which made her too incredibly young to be their mother. The two sons, as adults were Yang Wei Yi (William San) and mentally challenged Yang Wei Hao (credibly acted by Coby Chong).

Xue Ming was acted by Remon Lim who I found not to be a good choice to be the adult face of the young actress. So when Wei Yi was shown recalling the semblance of his mother acted by Remon, there was not a bit of resemblance at all with the young actress who acted as the young mother!

The first wife of Li Xin De (Jordan Voon), Yong En (Angela Chan Mei Ngor), who was supposed to have been with him for the past 30 years looks prettier than his second wife Xue Ming (Remon Lim) who had been with him for the past 20 years. Of course, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and Xin De could have been attracted because of her business acumen. But surely the choice of actresses should take into account the general opinion of the audience too, and I am sure my judgment is not too far out. The jury is out there and any comment for or against my opinion is most welcome indeed.

For once, I like Jordan Voon's acting because of the principled character Xin De he portrayed.

For looks, I like Wayne (what a macho name for a girl) Chua or Cai Pei Xuan, who acted as Jane Lin Li Wen and Jojo Goh who acted as Annie Li Ruo Tong. Angela Chan looks great for her age. The sweet actress who acted as young Xue Ming too.

I have gone against my better judgment by offering my unsolicited opinions on the above. By saying someone is pretty is also implying someone else is not.

Others in the cast:
Adrian Tan as Li Jin Bao, Leslie Chai as Kent Li Guo Xiu, Seek Fook Yee as Mei Yi, William San as Yang Wei Yi.

Synopsis in The Star:
http://ecentral.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/8/3/tvnradio/9216694&sec=tvnradio
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A couple of lucrative businesses

People go into business with optimism, especially those naive ones who are first-timers, who are likely to count their chickens before they are hatched. Those with sufficient start-up capital, ie. those who happen to have a daddy (or mummy) who would provide for it, or sugar daddy (or mummy) who is happy so long as his girl friend (or her lover boy) is happy, are likely to be more concerned about form rather than substance (in Malay, 'ada gaya, tiada mutu'). A pleasant office or shop with a nice catchy name, and a grand opening ceremony to announce their presence in the locality is common.

But business depends on... business of course! What good is a nice looking set-up with high monthly overheads eating into capital? It is only a matter of time when the reality sets in and the business has to close. So sales is the most important factor in any business.

Over the years, we have seen some businesses which are meant to be successful. I am leaving out those depending on political connections, commonly known as cronyism. They are opportunistic and the successful ones are those who grabbed opportunities and not meant for those faint-hearted and genteel, who are politely waiting to be given.

If you are a sin seh or Chinese medicine practitioner, your simple business set-up and low overheads would give you a head start when new, and increasingly profitable as you become popular. Just imagine, working from home and the cost of medicine is virtually negligible (herbs can be found for free if you know which type and where they can be found). Of course, you need to be knowledgeable in your field and you need people to believe in your ability to cure them. But compare this with having to be top student and to study for years to get an MBBS and another few years to get that specialist qualification, your medical practice may not be as profitable as the simple sin seh! Of course, you have that extra bit of respect from your status as Dr. so and so, but other people judge you by the house you live in and the car you drive! By the way, many people do not realize that a surgeon is known as Mr. and not a Dr. So you started as Mr. Who, and qualified as a doctor to become Dr. Who, and with your cutting skills, you get back to a simple Mr. Who!

The next lucrative business is that of a licensed money-lender by name, but a loan shark by game. In Malaysia, money-lenders are not under Finance Ministry but that of Local Government. In law, they are supposed to lend at reasonable rates, say maximum 18% per annum. But in practice, they are able to charge more than 10% per month! Yet, there is no shortage of customers who do not mind being charged exorbitantly for a short period. Then there are those who think in terms of paying interest only, so Rm100 interest per month for a Rm1000 loan seems affordable to them. How the money-lenders manage to keep secret from the Ministry the exorbitant rates they charge is a wonder. How they manage to escape paying due taxes for those extra profits is a greater wonder. Bear in mind, to the taxman, even a prostitute's earnings, though illegal, is subject to tax.
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My father worked for the Japanese during WWII

would he be classified as a running dog or a traitor? He had no choice. Being a mechanic in his thirties (he was boss of his own business at age 20), the Japanese came and he had to do as told, and became their mechanic! I was told he was given an arm-band to show others that he is part of the Japanese administration. He had a phobia whenever he was driving a big tow-truck which had a support for the hoist which he thought could be mistaken as an anti-aircraft gun from above!

He had chances to make money because of the connection, able to use stuff raided from people but being conscientious or coward or whatever, he did not. One day, he was surprised his nephew could afford branded cigarettes and soon found out that he stole and sold some petrol from his vehicle! There was once when he was given some old bullets for disposal and he did not know what got into him when he threw them into a fire and there were sounds of explosion which caused the Japanese soldiers to scurry about, some came out naked from the bathrooms. In the commotion, one soldier used something to knock on his head which caused a huge lump. This lump on my father's head was a constant reminder of the Japanese occupation and he hated them for that. He even boycotted Japanese goods for many years but who could avoid buying them with the influx of them with brands like National, Sanyo, Datsun and Toyota? He even bought a new Honda Civic with registration 1909, the year of his birth. Who would have thought that half a century after Japanese occupation, his granddaughter (my daughter) would become an exchange student for one year in Tokyo (under Rotary Club sponsorship) and spoke Japanese with her host parents?

Just after the war, his father-in-law acted as broker suggested that he buy a piece of land for 8,000. During the uncertain period, he paid half in British currency and half in Japanese currency which was still legal tender then. Who would have thought the latter currency would become worthless? Soon after, my grandfather the broker, offered another piece to him, to which he replied, 'I cannot even look after one piece of land, how could I manage two?' This is the difference between an entrepreneur (proven when he was boss of his own business at 20) who is not ambitious and one who is. It was not a question of affordability then, but the idea of being responsible for two plots of land and I think I take after him for this preference for peace of mind. The land of this missed opportunity happened to be the one along Jalan Ipoh, now owned by the Low Yat Group! What we can see now is a 711 shop, new car dealers, banks, Old Town Kopitiam, and so on, in front of their River City condominiums. Not that we would be able to develop it had we own it.

We could not even develop our own piece of land. My second brother, who was a developer, took a lot of trouble trying to develop it. It was converted and sub-divided which was proven to be a disadvantage later because we had to surrender more than half of it for roads, drains and sewerage. It was disadvantageous in terms of tax as well as being unattractive to prospective buyers who would rather have an unconverted whole piece of land. My brother's partners had included a past President of Malaysian Institute of Surveyors, a retired Director of Lands and Mines KL and even a retired KL City Planner! So there was no lack of expertise. But what man proposes God disposes. He lived to the age of 60 only (died in 1997).
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