Ayah (1949-2007)

Ini coretan duka seorang anak yang tidak bersama ketika pemergian ayahnya…

Dulu ayah sambut
kelahiranku
Tapi semalam aku tidak mengiringi jenazahnya

Aduhai...
sedihnya hati tak terperi...
tak kala ayh pergi
tak dapat aku bersama mengabadikan ayahanda tercinta...

Hatiku sedih
hatiku pilu…
merah mawar padaku lesu
ku jerit pada dada laut hiba hatiku
namun hatiku masih menangis…
mengenang kasih ayah
kasih yang selembut cahaya purnama
yang kini hanya tinggal kenangan
dalam dasar sanubari seorang anak di perantauan

Aku menangis lagi..
Ayah telah pergi selamanya…
Tak perlu aku cari kerana
ayah tak akan ku temui bila aku pulang nanti

Untuk ayah…
hanya doa dan air mata

Ya Allah,
Tuhan yang hidup selamanya
kupohon rahmat dan kasih Mu untuk ayahku...
kasihanilah ayah sepertimana ayah mengasihaniku dahulu
ayah tak pernah kecewakan hajatku,
maka Kau penuhilah hajatnya agar diampun dosanya,
luas dan terangilah kuburnya,
jadikanlah tempat ayahku bersemadi sebagai taman-taman syurga
terimalah amal baiknya,
sedekah jariahnya,
kasih ikramnya...
dan jadikanlah segala amalan kami anak-anaknya
Kau terima sebagai amalan anak-anak yang soleh.

Ku pohon ampun buat ayahku,
kupohon kasihMu ya Rahman, ya Rahim,
Tuhan yang tidak mati dan hanya Kau yang kekal abadi..

Mohd Arshad Anoh passed away on 21 Zulhijjah 1428/31 Disember 2007

Unit Pricing

Unit pricing is the way how we can help consumers to make a better buying decision.

Supermarket price buster

The Myth of Malaysia's Miracle

From time to time we need to re excess our economy. May be this article can be one of our reference point:
The Myth of Asia's Miracle
Paul Krugman

Identiti di alam siber

Identiti di alam siber

Oleh MOHD. NAHAR MOHD ARSHAD
From Utusan Malaysia, 25 Oktober 2007

Nilai Beraya di Kampung

This article was published on a day before AIdilfitri 1428. I was in Tasmania - Nilai beraya di kampung

CIMB Needs to Improve Its Customer Service

I called CIMB branch in Tmn Melawati (03-22956100) on 29th Sept 07 just to know how much I have to pay for my car insurance and road tax (grant is with them). The person who answered sounded very unfriendly and told me that the grant was already ransgered to Wisma Nusantara, KL.

She gave this no 03-20581188 and after several times trying, I got through just to be asked to call this no 03-20552187. Several times trying, I got through and the girl at the end of the line again was very unfriendly and directed me to call this no 03-20552034. No one picked up the line.

By the way, I called from Australia for this and I really need their assistance.

Clearly, the CIMB management needs to see this matter seriously as your operational workers need more trainings on hospitality. It’s ashamed to see big corporate like CIMB is poor on the basic of doing business. You want my mney but you don’t provide good services to me…

Tunduk Kehendak Tuhan

This article was published in Utusan on 26th Sept 2007 with a lot of ammendments.

This is the full version:

Salam perantau merupakan ruangan hangat musim perayaan terutamanya bagi mereka yang berada di luar negara untuk menyampaikan salam rindu dan salam Aidilfitri kepada keluarga dan kenalan di tanahair. Bukan setakat itu sahaja, salam yang disampaikan merupakan tanda ingatan terhadap tanah tumpah darah tercinta. Anak-anak Malaysia bertebaran di serata dunia dengan pelbagai tujuan dan misi. Berpisah dengan keluarga, rakan-taulan dan tanahair tercinta adalah pengorbanan yang dibuat kerana ingin melihat nusa menjadi sebuah negara yang lebih hebat suatu masa kelak.

Berhijrah mencari ilmu, bekerja, menyertai misi keamanan dan pelbagai lagi yang dilakukan anak Malaysia, semuanya merupakan proses membina modal insan dan modal sosial negara.

Kini, kemudahan teknologi telekomunikasi dan maklumat (ICT) memudahkan perhubungan. Di mana sahaja kita berada, berita Malaysia mudah diperolehi. Mungkin perkara ini tidak dikecapi mereka yang berada di luar negara sebelum zaman Internet.

Selaku anak rantau, melihat Malaysia dari kejauhan sememangnya berbeza dari melihatnya di tanahair sendiri. Melihatkan berita-berita jenayah yang saban hari begitu menggusarkan jiwa, kita terfikir mengapakah dalam kesungguhan kita memajukan Malaysia dengan ‘acuannya sendiri’, adakah kita sudah tersilap acuan?

Cerita kehilangan kanak-kanak, pembunuhan, rogol, dadah, rompak bersenjata dan pelbagai lagi jenayah berat yang kerap muncul di dada media massa terus menimbulkan persoalan kemelut kemasyarakatan.

Hakikatnya, Malaysia merupakan sebuah negara indah yang mewah. Saban tahun, bajet negara yang dibentangkan terus berusaha membela kebajikan rakyat. Gaji dinaikkan, pendidikan diberikan, taraf kesihatan dipertingkatkan, kualiti alam giat dipulihara, insentif untuk rakyat memajukan diri terus disua; namun, mengapakah perkara yang tidak kita ingini masih terus terjadi?

Tidak cukup dengan cerita jenayah, kehilangan jiwa rakyat Malaysia di jalan raya juga membimbangkan. Bila tiba musim perayaan, angka korban tidak pernah menunjukkan pengurangan. Had laju diawasi, namun jiwa kita apabila di jalan raya tidak lagi menghiraukan orang lain. Betapa Malaysia kehilangan sumber kekuatannya setiap kali ada jiwa melayang di jalan raya. Bukankah perkara ini dapat dielakkan jika kita bersikap lebih bertimbang rasa?

Hujan emas di negara orang, hujan batu di negara sendiri; lebih baik di negara sendiri. Itu mungkin kata-kata dari anak rantau Malaysia suatu masa dahulu. Kata-kata itu tetap sama dalam jiwa anak rantau Malaysia sekarang. Bezanya, Malaysia selepas 50 tahun kemerdekaannya tidak lagi berhujankan batu kerana kita dihujani intan permata, sehinggakan ramai orang luar sanggup menjadi anak rantau di tanahair kita.

Sebagai anak rantau, saya gembira melihat intan permata yang menghujani Malaysia. Semoga Malaysia terus dihujani intan permata dan alangkah baiknya jika kita melangkah setapak lagi dengan lonjakan paradigma berganda – membina sikap budiman terpuji. Yang utama hanyalah satu; melihat masyarakat Malaysia benar-benar berjiwa merdeka. Merdeka dalam erti kata tunduk dengan kehendak Ketuhanan.

Hanya dengan ini rasa aman dan selamat akan wujud dan kkewujudannya terjamin. Ia dating bila mana setiap jiwa punya rasa tanggungjawab terhadap Tuhannya, lantas tidak lagi menyakiti jiwa lain untuk memenuhi kehendak nafsu sendiri. Dalam erti kata lain, keperluan masyarakat menjadi keutamaan, manakala kepentingan sendiri dikemudiankan.

Brain-drain and muscle-gain

When intelligent people leave a country and less educated migrants come in, we better think of some strategies to stop this.

A case to consider:

Skilled Workers Deserve True Visa Reform
from BusinessWeek Online -- Most Popular Stories
The programs for bringing foreign workers to the U.S. are deeply flawed. They're driving down wages and discouraging Americans from pursuing high-tech careers.

1st class wet market

Yes Johan Jaafar is correct to say that we need to improve our wet market to meet the status of a modern Malaysia. Not just that, I've wrote before that the place we call home also must be upgraded. House and office buildings in Malaysia are of different quality. We have first class office buildings but majority of us stay in houses poorly built and fail to consider the well-being of the people.

History revised

The Federation of Malaya became an independent nation on Aug 31, 1957.

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, the first prime minister, proclaimed:

"...The time has now arrived when the people of the ersekutuan Tanah Melayu will assume the status of a free, independent and sovereign nation among the nations of the world and ... a onstitution for the government of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu has been established as the supreme law thereof and
provision is made to safeguard the rights and prerogatives of their highnesses the rulers and the rights and liberties of the people and to provide for the peaceful and orderly advancement of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu as a constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy...."

Read:

CONSTITUTIONAL LANDMARKS IN MALAYSIA: THE FIRST 50 YEARS (1957-2007)Alliance, the force behind Merdeka

2020 next 2067

PM on Malaysia after 100 years of independence - Full text of PM speech

Wealth of nation and well-being of people

Wealth of nation if measured in term of material figures alone will miss out the well-being of the people. This is what is happening in Japan. We don't want this to happen to our country.

The Rise of Japan’s Lazy Youth
from Newsweek International Editions - Top News
Once dismissed as lazy youth, Japan's army of the underemployed are starting to demand more work.

Corporate Malaysia

Q107 Corporate Malaysia

First quarter report card
It was a good beginning for corporate
Malaysia, which came in with positive results in the first quarter of 2007, writes OSK INVESTMENT RESEARCH.

e-Govt

How we deal with government agencies in ten years to come? I believe the Internet will be the mainstream channel. A lot of delivery issues could be resolved if today we invest seriously in improving our nation's inter net infrastructure. Going forward, improving the Internet infrastructures should be the main fiscal spending done by the government.

• Web services can upgrade public sector delivery

Proton

Challengers facing Proton:

1. Saturated car market in Malaysia. Ratio of adults to car at 2.4:1
2. Intense domestic competition
3. Perception of consumers especially on Proton's quality though the post-Gen2 models have shown great improvement
4. Political intervention
5. Need to consider wide spectrum of stakeholders

Suggestions:

1. Diversify into other industries
2. Tap the new markets
3. Promotion, promotion, promotion (seldom seen Proton's ad on tv)
4. Quality control esp the vendors
5. Give Proton greater autonomy
6. Proton cannot please everybody. It's either business or....

News on Proton:

1. Proton posts RM591mil loss
2. Analysts: Proton has to pull up its socks
3. Khazanah sets year-end target for Proton revamp
4. Proton to fill key positions in revamp

They need some lessons

Directors, accountants and auditors who involve in publicly listed companies must be responsible (in fact, all of us must be responsible in whatever walk of life we are in) in undertaking their jobs.

From investors' point of view, it is frustrating to find that those who are given responsibilities to handle our hard-earned money, irresponsibly manipulate the system/misuse the money for their "self-interest". My advise to them, "Open your own company (sole-proprietorship) and there you can do what ever you like without involving other peoples' money".

• SC: High standards to prevail
• Punish those who manipulate accounts
• Bursa is consistent

Q1 2007 economic performance

From The Star: First-quarter growth at 5.3%

The place we call home

What is your imagination of your dream house? I believe it is not just about a place to sleep and rest but a house should be a heaven to a person. Be it inside or outside the house, we want a place that can give us serenity and tranquility when we approach it and what more when we are in it.

Given the scenario of rapidly developing Kuala Lumpur, are you happy with your neighbourhood?

It is a fact that prices of real estate in KL is very high relative to other places in Malaysia, but I don't think many of us satisfy with the amount of money that we pay for our resident compared with its size, surrounding, neighbourhood etc. In other words, we don't get good value for our money.

Think of this; it's a huge development gap between the quality of our house vs our office buildings in Malaysia. First class office buildings but third class housing.

Read this and this

Brain drain study

As Malaysia continues to invest heavily on education, more studies need to be done to understand returns to education. With more conclusive findings in the study, a better perspective to analyze the issue of brain drain in the country could be undertaken.

• Reassessing the Impacts of Brain Drain on Developing Countries

Malaysians readiness for retirement

Start your retirement plan early or else... counting on the nest egg

When we're 70

Add to the list of rich Malaysians

How the bull market can make some people rich

Again on public servants pay rise

Public servants' pay rise ranging from 35 - 7.5 % has caused few concerns:

1. Rising price especially due to demand-pull inflation
2. Stronger economic growth via higher consumption expenditure and feel good factor (wealth effect)
3. Fiscal deficit position of the government.
4. Wage adjustment in the private sector
5. Impact of the above mentioned points over other working groups i.e self-employed
6. Prediction of the next general election.

Read some analyses from the Starbiz

Corruption-free Malaysia

We need to be more serious in fighting corruption. In the latest corruption perception index, Malaysia's rank has dropped from the previous one. In this context, fighting corruption alone is not enough. We also need to build better perception internationally if we want to improve our country's rank.

- See a working paper on Making Malaysia Corruption Free
- Open tender to improve transparency

IRB should improve it services

IRB should improve it services especially its online portal. Ease the tax payers' dealings with IRB, then many are happy to pay their taxes. Tax thought

Pay rise contributes to economic growth

This is my opinion on the issue - interview with Utusan Malaysia

Happy for the public servants' pay rise

What I say in Utusan Malaysia

Price increase

An interview with Prof. Dr. Pazim from UM

Fast-food advertising ban

Fast food advertising ban was suggested as the way to reduce the alarming problem of obesity among the Malaysian kids.

I think this is not a good form of government intervention. Consider this argument - The forbidden fruit

Monopoly Malaysia

Synergy Drive - a new milestone in monopoly-Malaysia.

Why we are moving away from competition?

Maintenance issue and the discredibility of the maintenance works done are costing million of Ringgit.

Yes the government can spend a lot of money to achieve high economic growth, but this is not the way we want it to be!

Columbia looks bullish

Prospect of Columbia.

Malaysia is better. We need promotions, big promotions to the world.

Price increase

Wheat price has increased by 15 cent and this has sparked public dissatisfaction over rising price of daily necessities lately.
Hope for wage increase is mounting now. Understandably the lower income group really suffer.
I consider the upward pressure of controlled items such as oil & diesel, cooking oil, wheat, chicken etc is the effect of price control mechanism. Once you impose price control, the market mechanism is no longer flexible to adjust to the supply and demand. In the long run, the government can't no longer subsidize/support the price control without having to release some of the burden to the producer/consumer. So far the trend seems indicating that the consumers bear the burden most of the time.
Producers could effectively protect their interest because of their strong lobby on the government.

New gen of workforce

Are we ready for them? Gen Yere and Gen Ywomen

Study now, pay later

Student loan such as PTPTN is easy to get. But be aware of the burden of debt service in the future - Study Now—And Pay And Pay And Pay Later

Get the experts' views

Evolution, Immigration and Trade

Sharpen our competitive edge

Vietnam is a new challenger in a very competitive Asia Pacific economy.

Malaysia really needs to sharpen its competitive edge in order to remain relevant in this kind of intense global economy. We cannot still day dream of previous achievements.

Graduate employment

Is the current Malaysia's labor market like this?

Undergrads' 25 Most Wanted Employers

Science-based priority

It is clear that we are preparing to become a developed country by giving priority to science-based fields of study. Scholarship awards by the government can be one sign of the gear shifting.

Brain drain

In order to leapfrog to grow, we need to provide better incentives to achieve brain gain or else we will suffer from brain drain.

External vs Internal

There are huge disconnects in play here between what we know and how we act; between what we think and what we say; between our ability as achievers and our financial underachieving; between how we present ourselves to the world and how we really feel about ourselves inside; between what we deserve in our lives and what we resign ourselves to; between the power we have within reach and the powerlessness that rules our actions.

Semangat Untuk Bangun Semula

Oleh: MOHD NAHAR MOHD ARSHAD

KISAH kebangkitan rakyat Jepun dari kemusnahan bom atom yang diledakkan di Hiroshima dan Nagasaki; serta beberapa episod kemusnahan bandar raya mereka akibat gegaran gempa bumi seperti di Kobe menggambarkan betapa keazaman yang jitu mampu merubah sejarah duka sesebuah bangsa.

Dalam tempoh 50 tahun Malaysia merdeka, kita bersyukur kerana negara kita secara amnya selamat dari malapetaka besar. Namun, mutakhir ini, kejadian bencana alam semakin menjadi-jadi dan kita perlu lebih bersedia menghadapinya. Banjir besar yang melanda Johor dan beberapa negeri lain baru-baru ini adalah ujian terbaru buat kita.

Untuk bangkit dari sesuatu kemusnahan berskala besar seperti ini sememangnya cabaran bagi kita semua. Mangsa banjir yang kehilangan segala harta benda dan hanya tinggal sehelai sepinggang perlu memulakan kehidupan bermula dari kosong.

Dalam keadaan kita sudah tiada apa-apa lagi yang tinggal, hanya harapan dapat dijadikan azimat untuk kita kembali bangun. Kesedihan dan tekanan akibat kemusnahan yang menimpa perlu diterima dengan hati yang redha dan lapang agar kita tidak bermuram terlalu lama lantas terlupa untuk bangkit semula.

Biasanya, apabila berlaku sesuatu malapetaka besar, yang kaya boleh jatuh miskin dan yang miskin boleh menjadi lebih miskin. Cuma yang fakir mungkin merasa saksama kerana kini kita semuanya sama sahaja. Lantaran, peluang untuk semua kembali bangun memulakan hidup yang baru.

Mereka yang dahulunya fakir dan miskin wajar melihat bahawa musibah alam ini telah menyebabkan yang kaya turut sama seperti mereka ketika ini. Garis permulaan untuk memulakan kehidupan kini adalah sama. Justeru, berlumbalah kembali secara sihat untuk memajukan diri.

Buat yang kaya, yang mungkin telah jatuh miskin, ini merupakan ujian hebat. Mereka yang diuji dengan ujian yang hebat dan mampu bangkit kembali akan menjadi insan yang lebih hebat dari sebelumnya. Mungkin Tuhan ingin menjadikan kita lebih hebat dari dahulu maka ujian ini dicubanya ke atas kita.

Mereka yang terselamat pula janganlah berdiam diri melihat dari kejauhan. Atau lebih buruk lagi, ada yang cuba mengambil kesempatan. Hakikatnya kini, kita turut diuji sama ada mempunyai hati suci dan murni yang sudi menghulurkan bantuan.

Bantuan walau sekecil mana pun bukanlah tugas kita untuk menilainya. Biarlah kita ikhlas membantu dan menghulurkan tangan. Hati kecil pasti akan puas dan gembira apabila melihat mereka yang ditimpa kesusahan mampu berdiri semula berkat keikhlasan kita berderma.

Ujian kali ini besar maknanya untuk sebuah negara yang sudah 50 tahun merdeka. Kepantasan untuk kita memulihkan segalanya, malah untuk mencipta yang lebih hebat dari yang sebelum ini, bakal mengukur tahap sebenar semangat dan keupayaan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara merdeka. Maka, semangat merdeka ini jugalah yang kita perlu ada untuk bangkit dari ujian pada kali ini.

Utusan Malaysia, 27 Jan. 2007