Wednesday, August 27, 2008

While we are suffering, the government is happily making bucket loads of money

Recently the government have announced a reduction of petrol price. Should we be really happy about it? Let us look at some simple mathematical calculation that the Finance Minister cannot seem to do.

I will just look at petrol price not diesel as diesel price is an entire different calculation.

When the government announced the price hike to RM 2.70, price of crude oil is around USD 140.00 And the government is still subsidizing RM 0.30. So the actual price of petrol per liter is RM 3.00.

Recently there is an announcement of the fuel reduction from RM 2.70 to RM 2.55 with a difference of RM 0.15. Global oil price is now around USD 115.00.

Take USD 140 - USD 115 = USD 25.00
Percentage difference is 17.8% (rounded down)

So we should really be getting a petrol price base on a discount of 17.8% of RM3.00 (I want to be fair in this calculation). This comes to RM 2.466 which is really lower than our RM 2.55 now. So the government is actually making an extra RM 0.08 (rounded down again!). And no more subsidy!

According to CIA factbook, the Malaysian consumption of oil is 501,000 barrels per day in a year 2005 estimate. The figure will actually be more now but let us stick to this number. 1 barrel has 42 gallons of crude oil and after processing it will yield 19.6 gallons of petrol. This is equivalent to 73 liter (rounded down).

So one day alone the petrol consumption is 501,000 x 73 = 36,573,000 liters.

How much extra money a day the government is making?
36,573,000 x RM 0.08 = RM 2,925,840 a day. Let us round down to RM 2.9 million.

Today is Thrusday. The price lowering took effect on Saturday. That is 6 days and the government already made 6 x RM 2.9 million = RM 17.4 million. We still have to wait for 2 weeks before any change to the petrol price is made so 14 x Rm 2.9 = RM 40.6 million.

However, the price of crude oil was around USD 115 since 11th August. And it has been 12 days since last Saturday. So let us do another calculation.

We are charged at RM 2.70. The subsidy is removed since it is no longer subsidised.

So the government is making RM 2.70 - RM 2.466 = RM 0.23 (rounded down).

Total money made a day is 36,573,000 x RM 0.23 = RM 8.4 million (rounded down).

In 12 days they made 12 x RM 8.4 million = 100.8 million.

While we wait for the price to decrease to an appropriate figure, the government has already made RM 17.4 milling + RM 40.6 million + RM 100.8 million = 158.8 million.

Yes. And let us not forget when the price went down since mid of July (around USD 120). The money made during that time was not calculated in there. So easily the government could have made RM 200 million within the span of one and half months. Oh yes, and the figures were rounded down.

Now we know why the government still does not want to lower the price of petrol. A lot of money to be made from this. If the price of crude oil averages around USD 115 for the next month and we are still stuck with the current price, then the government will be making RM 87 million every month.

I am not against the government making money. As a matter of fact I encourage it but the profit from the petrol seems to be too much for the people of the country now. And this calculation have not included diesel yet.

What do you think?

Monday, August 25, 2008

Of swearing, cheaper petrol and public transportation. We live in weird times

I was kinda sick last week, down with a really upset tummy. But I am all good now. Sort of anyway.

Today is the biggest by-election in Malaysia ever. So naturally I am waiting for people to do stupid things now. And viola! You get a number of stupid things happening immediately. Since I was sick, I could not write each and every one of it last week. Hence this is the short and concise version.

The swearing thing, I don't think I will touch on it since it was mentioned in my previous blog. So I won't waste time trying to get my point across to those stupid people who swears. Swear all you want and cry all you want.

Let us look at the price drop of petrol. Oh yes. Our dear PM thinks the people are stupid. He is seriously making a big mistake. The people will not be fooled by this move. Again the government is taking the people for granted. It was promised that the new petrol price will be announced at the end of the month and will take effect immediately on the 1st of September. By doing it sooner, you will be seen as a coward and a liar. Oh yes, the government is great at lying to us. So when will the lying stop? So now you can swear and lie at the same time. Great right?

Before the March election, the promise was no more petrol price increase this year, Penang's monorail will not be canceled, etc. Right after the election, petrol price went up in a record 40%+, and the other projects that was not supposed to be canceled was canceled. This time around, the promise was to reduce petrol price. Now the government is acting like a child. At its own whim, they would reduce petrol, cancel projects and give money away too. They should start swearing before they make any statements from now on. Maybe that will prevent them from telling lies (please note the sarcasm here).

By the way, DPM mentioned that the if the people are not satisfied with the RM625 rebate given, then the government will stop giving it. Yes. What a childish act. Again, he is shooting before even looking (did I just quote Dr. Koh Tsu Koon?).

I do not agree with subsidizing petrol as the higher income group would be the one who is really enjoying it. Why not give a rebate from our tax? Why do the idiots up there don't think of that? That way the subsidy will really go to the people who really deserves it. The RM625 rebate can still be misused. For example, if I own 5 less than 2000cc car, then I can get the rebate 5 times. Now what happens if I am from a low income group who is struggling with a small Kancil?

Let us look at the stunt by our dear PM last week. Yes it is a stunt. A political stunt. Again he is taking us for being idiots. Everyone knows the poor state of the public transportation in Malaysia.

Why does the government goes through all the trouble to make the people's life hard? Simply put it, Proton. It is not hard to put up a good public transport infrastructure. You just need to employ the right people. But our dear government decided that they should waste the money on developing a substandard company that produces cars. If the government is smart, they would have invested on public transportation as the revenue of public transportation is on-going. As the population increases, the usage of public transportation increases hence more profit. Furthermore, the profit will always be maintained at a stable and increasing rate. Really stupid of them to build highways and charge the people for each car. It would be more profitable to charge per person for a train ride from Alor Setar to Kuala Lumpur.

And now the PM is saying the public transportation in KL needs to be improved. He should go to Penang, Alor Setar, Ipoh and other places and see for himself. Even in JB, the public transport sucks. Think before you act.

So today is the day, everyone in Permatang Pauh should decide whether we still want stupid people to govern the country (if you go by what Datuk Seri Anwar says). But that is another chapter.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Who are we? Malaysian or Malay, Chinese, Indians or etc?

Actually, there are no idiots today for me to take a potshot at. So I am writting on something that has bother a lot of people.

Yes. When you read the title, you would ask yourselves, who are we?

While I was in Australia, the people there called themselves Australians. In USA, they call themselves Americans. No one there calls themselves Malay, Chinese, Indians etc as far as I remember. But in Malaysia, we call ourselves Malay, Chinese, Indians etc. Can you see the racial polarization here?

We should be referred to as Malaysian. That would be the correct term. However, even as a Malaysian, you are divided into bumi and non-bumi. Complicated?

To add salt to the wound, there are bumi and non-bumi status. This is kind of like the South Africa in past where apartheid is being practiced. Certain races were segregated and their normal rights were denied. So who decides who has the bumi and non-bumi status? Where can I find the laws stating how a bumi and non-bumi are defined? We are Malaysians, not bumi or non-bumi (note that I did not use capitals for the bumi word).

I do not agree with BN's slogan they used in the past. "Malays, Chinese and Indians, we are all one happy family." I will not use that slogan as the slogan itself is filled with racial segregation. Yes, we are one happy family but we are still a separate entity. I would used the slogan, "We are all Malaysian!" A simple and yet effective way to convey the message. Sorry BN and PR, this is my slogan and if you want to copy it, please pay me.

I always believe that the better person should be rewarded as I have rewarded my workers. I have different races working under me. As a matter of fact, I just promoted a Malay recently due to his excellent work. I even gave an Indian an important project. I do not care what is your skin color. And the Chinese in my department is still doing the same thing. At the end of the day, if you can perform, I will definitely reward you. Recently with the farce of UiTM, I will be careful next time when I employ graduates.

So who are we? Why don't all the MPs give us an answer? Maybe DSAI or the PM himself can give us an answer so we can decide who to vote.

Can someone tell me who are we?

Monday, August 18, 2008

Ban this and ban that. Yes, lets ban that too!

The leaders of PAS again have talked without thinking again. They want to ban alcohol and gambling in all Pakatan controlled states. That leaves me wonder what else that they want to ban.

If they want to ban this and and that, then the whole Malaysian economy will go down the drain. It is bad enough that at some places, the tourist cannot get pork as it is deem not halal. But it is still food to other people. Let me relate this story to you.

My friend from Australia was staying in a 5 star hotel in Penang and he asked me, "Mate, why can't you find bacon or ham during breakfast?" I naturally replied, "You're in a Muslim state you know." "But they serve pork, bacon, ham and all the rest of the stuff people would eat in Dubai and Morocco!", he exclaimed. I sheepishly replied, "Welcome to Malaysia, The Truly Asia". "I am not coming to this place again," he said in disgust.

The more you enforce something, the more people want it. So why not let it all go. BUT educate them. Let these people make choices. If the people are well educate, then they should make the right choice.

If PAS takes over Malaysia, then Genting will have to go. Do you know how much revenue from Genting's operation that the Government tax each year? By the way, there are Muslims in the Board of Directors for Genting and they should resign immediately as Genting has got alcohol and gambling activities. Both which is haram. Now PAS, if you want to make noise, go and whack these people out from the board of directors.

While I was working in US, a guy told me something that really made me think. "It is ok to drink, but not ok to be drunk".

I personally don't drink or even gamble. Ban it if you want but it is still a stupid move. By the way, ban smoking too while you are at it. Smoking is bad for your health but no one said anything about banning smoking. Funny isn't it with the double standards.

Good thing PAS have some sensibilities to say that they would now look into combatting corruption instead of all these petty matters. At least they are still using their grey matter although a bit late.

Let us all swear together. And we shall be free!

Follow this link for some interesting development on the Saifool's swearing.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/19/nation/22116752&sec=nation

Apparently, the father wants Anwar to swear also. So now where does that leave us?

Saifool swear that Anwar sodomized him. And now the father of Saifool wants Anwar to swear that Anwar did not sodomize Saifool. Now where does that leave us? One say he did it and the other swears that he did not do it? So who did it?

Confusing?

Why don't we strap the two of them on the MixFM's Lie Detector test? Don't you guys out there think it would be great?

I don't see a point of swearing. I can swear since when I was a kid and some boys thought me how to swear at other people. And now this Saifool must have just learned how to swear and the logic of swearing. No one cares if you swear or not. Strap yourself to a lie detector if you dare.

Things are getting more stupid each day. Sigh.

PS This is not a politically motivated blog. I just whack people who act and do stupid things.

The Jokers University

I have not written something interesting for a while now. Here is my opinion on the recent UiTM farce. Oh yes, it is a farce because it is just higher education and it is not like putting your mother for sale.

Sometimes I wonder how the students there were educated. You will notice that I used a past tense "were" because they are not educated at this moment.

It was just a suggestion by the Selagor's MB to let a small percentage of non-bumi students to enter and they make a fuss out of it. Why?

I think they are afraid. They know that within themselves, they can achieve the best score and be the best student. That is just within a closed circle. Competition among students in UiTM is no encouraged. If there is one, they will need to stop it by demonstrating for the world to see. And the world will laugh at them for their silly attitude. Yes, if I told this to my Aussie and US friends, they would say "Huh?"

Wake up silly boys and girls. Yes BOYS and GIRLS because all of you are still not mature enough. If you are afraid of competition, then do not continue your education because in the job market, the competition is tougher.

I bet that even their top students cannot beat me in any academic test. By the way, our education system is so bad I will not even bother to lift my brain to beat them. I might even give the lecturers there a good fight and they would probably loose too.

I am not racist and I believe that education is for everyone. And that everyone should compete once in a while for the highest position. When I was studying overseas, it showed me how lacking our education system is.

To the frogs of UiTM, you can croak all you want. If there is no competition to prove yourself, you are nobody. That is why they have the Olympics to prove yourself to the world. You are just a frog under a coconut shell.

The state of Malaysian Sports

First a big congratulations to our Olympic Hero Lee Chong Wei. Despite all the odds against him he can get a silver medal. What do I mean by all the odds?

First there is a political obstacle. Our sports is all riddled with politics. Look at our poor hockey team. They were once ranked 3rd in the world behind India and Pakistan. And Malaysia can give these big names a some fight. But look at us now? The South Koreans and Germans can even whip our hockey team without breaking a sweat. Look at the state of our national football. EPL was not really popular in the 80s and more people watch our local state teams compete. But now, we only watch EPL while the local football team can rot for all we care. Sports must be kept professional without any meddling from politics. So BN, keep your hands away from sports.

Second is money. Money and politics is quite related. I really pity those guys playing football for the nation as they do not even earn enough for themselves. It is even worst for the state teams. The only sports that you can make money is badminton, but let us face it. How many people actually make a lot of money from badminton? Look at how the footballers are paid in Europe and US. Yes, even in US where the football is not as popular as here, you can actually make a living out of it. We need to make sports like something of a professional job that you can earn a living from or else most parents will not even think to let their kids play basketball for the country or even a club.

Third is there is no direction for any of the sports including badminton. You don't believe me? Who will be Lee Chong Wei's replacement? For the past 1 year or so, there is no one. If he is injured then that's it. What is the turn around plan for our football team? Are we there yet? Who are the people that is going to replace the aging athletes? Your guess is as good as mine. Since there is no direction, there will be no proper training.

Fourth is no proper training program. We are talking about programs that will enable our athletes to compete head to head. Let me give you an example. Look at the body built of Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. Can you see the difference? While Lin Dan's body is full of rippling muscles, Lee Chong Wei's body.. well more of a bone. Athletes are trained from young age as you can see in England where a number of their footballers and in US where the basketball players are trained from young age. Also there is a structured program to train these athletes. A proper diet to build up the necessary body to compete and also the proper workout other than the in game training to get the body conditioned for the game. I have been reading up on body conditioning and diet for sports and I can say I am practicing it now. To my surprise, even with my age (I am near 30 now) I can give the guys in their early 20s a good fight in a basketball court. These players I am talking about are not ordinary Joes, they represent their respective school previously. I can even jump higher now.

Fifth and final is the mental conditioning of the athletes. I pity Lee Chong Wei for having to take the pressure of the nation in his hand. Who does he have to turn to? In some professional sports, there are psychologist who would help to mentally condition the athletes so they can perform their best. We only have our untrained coach. No offense, but mental conditioning is very different from physical coaching.

The fact that Lee Chong Wei manage to get a silver with these 5 obstacles, is a testament of his achievement. the same goes for Nicol David. Did you know that she worked really hard to get where she is today? And she trained during her tender age with the right condition. That is why she is a success today. There was no government sponsors. No one even think that she can succeed. But now the government is clamoring over her and claim that she is a success of Malaysia. I beg to differ. She is a success of herself.