Friday 21 December 2012

The Most Handsome Man in the World?


“I am a rich man, I am powerful, good-looking, wealthy"

This is the exact words of a man. He must have all the key ingredients of a successful man.


"I am popular..., I have film star status... A celebrity (of) Hollywood level"

This man must have likable character or good look. A celebrity of Hollywood stature usually has outstanding look and style.
 

You may be surprised it if I tell you that both quotes belong to the same man. He is probably the most 'handsome' or 'attractive' man in the world since he has good look, wealth and popularity. Now, the traits of a man with good look and success of Hollywood level. Who can you think of?



Tom Cruise


Brad Pit



Justin Bieber




Any of the above? There are many good looking and successful men in this world. The above names are just a few suggestions. I do not wish to offend any of the good looking men in the world. Well, just in case.


Let's leave 'good  look and success' for a moment and look at other quotes made by mankind.


"I cannot be responsible for my son. I don't screw him, I don't sleep with him..... So whatever he does, I don't know."

The person making this statement seems to suggest one has to sleep with another person to know what the other person is doing.


"I agree that Company A's directors include my husband, and my three children while Company B is owned by my husband and children. I did not make it my business to know what it is. I did not make it my business to know... It's our family culture that while we are staying in the same house, we lead very independent lives

Company A and Company B were reported to have undertaken transaction that was unauthorized and against government policy. 

The person, who is quoted here, does not  think she should or can know about the other person that she is sleeping with, even though they sleep together as husband and wife.



What is glaring to us? Both quotes do not seem to in sync. Earlier quote on 'to sleep is to know' a person contradicts the latter quote that 'sleeping together is not to know each other'. However, these 2 quotes are consistent in that 'one does not know what one's son is doing'. Not trying to be sexist but there was no mention of daughter in both quotes.

Some may argue that there is a moral breakdown of family values by persons making statements in the above quotes. Husband and wife do not seem to know or care for each other. Parents do not know or do not care for  their children. One goes as far as saying that one can only know about his or her son if he or she sleeps with the son. Some may question if these people belong to a family at all.

Many questions jump into one's mind after reading the quotes. Are these people part of our Malaysian society? Can we expect any of them to be good parent or spouse? Can they be leader of our society? Who do you think would have said the above? Which country do they come from?


Let's put all the quotes made together in category to know the background:

A
"I am a rich man, I am powerful, good-looking, wealthy. I am popular..., I have film star status... A celebrity (of) Hollywood level"

"I cannot be responsible for my son. I don't screw him, I don't sleep with him..... So whatever he does, I don't know."

Both quotes in this category came from the same man. Do you still think that he should be the most  'handsome' or 'attractive' man in the world?


B
"I agree that Company A's directors include my husband, and my three children while Company B is owned by my husband and children. I did not make it my business to know what it is. I did not make it my business to know... It's our family culture that while we are staying in the same house, we lead very independent lives"




Statements in Category A came from Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz is a Malaysian political leader from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and is a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of parliamentary affairs. He is also currently the de-facto Law Minister.


Statements in Category B came from Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is a Malaysian political leader and the former Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in the Malaysian cabinet. She is the Chairlady of the Women's wing of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and therefore also the Chairlady of the Women's Wing of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.


 






 

Wednesday 7 November 2012

SIGN OF A TIME


I recently received a picture of interesting road signs in several countries. Road signs are erected at the side of roads to provide information to road users. They can tell us some facts about a country:




Each road sign usually convey a simple message to road users. For example, Thailand is famous for elephants, Australia is popular for kangaroo. As for Malaysia, is it famous for snatch thieves?

When i first received this picture, i thought it was a joke. I of course laughed about it. I only realized that the 'Beware of Snatch Thief' road sign was real when i traveled along Jalan Telawi in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Bangsar is an affluence residential area of Kuala Lumpur. I see plenty of the road signs along Telawi area of  Bangsar. They are real!!

This is surprising since Malaysia has been ranked by the Global Peace Index (GPI)’s 2011 report as the safest country in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. Home Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein was blowing trumpet about it. Singapore is ranked the 2nd in SEA. While Singapore may be commonly known as a safe country in South East Asia, it is ranked behind Malaysia. Astonished? Well, there are experts who have doubts on this claim by GPI. Mr Ong Kian Ming, an academician and political scientist, did a detailed analysis on this claim and presented his views.

I have traveled to Singapore many times in recent years. I can understand how safe that country is. I have seen ladies, in public area like a pub or cafe, who leave their handbag on the chair and mobile phone on the table when they go to toilet. Their valuables are in tact when they return from toilet 10 minutes later. I know that Brunei is a oil rich country. Bruneians do not even have to pay personal income, sales or capital gains tax. In a nation this rich, naturally the crime  rate must be low and the country is very safe. I find it hard to accept a claim that Malaysia is safer than Singapore and Brunei.

If we are that safe, why do we need 'Beware of Snatch Thief' road signs all over Telawi area, which is the heart of Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur?

Neither the pictorial description nor the wording is hinting a low crime rate scenario. The message of this road sign is not in anyway a mild warning to beware of snatch thief.






We should instead do what the Singaporean does. They put up signs saying that 'Low Doesn't Mean No Crime".






















Do you agree with me?

If you have other experiences or knowledge on this. Please share here.











Friday 12 October 2012

The Most Romantic Dinner in the World

This is possibly the most romantic dinner in the world that i have ever come across. This dinner was hosted by a 29 year old Malaysian young man called Low Taek Jho (or more commonly known as Jho Low). It was said to be a dinner for a wedding proposal to Taiwanese singer, Elva Hsiao (萧亚轩), aged 33. You must watch the video to feel it. Looking at some pictures are just not good enough. It is only a 5 minute video. You wont regret watching it.


The dinner was held at a private beach of Atlantis Hotel, Dubai. You can see that the dinner was exclusive, only both of them were at the dinner.

Elva is a well known female artist in Taiwan releasing quite a few hit songs in Taiwan over the years. Whether there was a marriage proposal or not, she must have felt lucky to be treated with a 1 million British pound or RM5 million dinner by Jho Low. Just one dinner, k. Not a diamond that can last forever.

Free flow Cristal champagne all paid for by Jho Low
Looking at the way Jho Low spends money, one can only guess that he is a billionaire. He became famous in Malaysia and possibly in the world for spending a staggering 3.5 million Euros or RM14 million to buy gigantic bottles of Cristal champagne for Paris Hilton during a night in St Tropez, France. Apparently Jho Low decided to splash out on the champagne on Paris Hilton after the socialite had come face-to-face with her ex Doug Reindhart who was in the same club as them. According to club revellers Doug tried to compete with Jho Low by buying four gigantic bottles of Cristal but that was no match for this Malaysian man who then went onto buy the club’s entire supply of Cristal. Jho Low also bought more than 40 bottles of Cristal champagne in Lindsay Lohan's 23rd birthday at the Angel Ball after-party at 1Oak, New York. He is reported to be flying around the world in private jets and very close  to reality show star, Kim Kardashian Now the saying is that 'one never have a champagne buying fight with Jho Low, you will lose'. Despite a born Penangite, Jho Low does not seem to carry the typical Penangite traits of being down-to-earth and thrifty. Jho Low is reported to have used Malaysian government owned company's money to buy a white Ferrari for Kim Kardashian.


Jho Low and Paris Hilton
Jho Low and Paris Hilton

















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Mr Low is the youngest son of Datuk Larry Low, a former shareholder and director of MWE Holdings Bhd, which currently has a market capitalisation of RM400 million. Jho Low is made a popular household name in Malaysia by the Star newspapers in 2010. The newspapers featured him on front page and run exclusive articles on him. Not an opportunity that an average 28 year old Malaysian man could usually get. In the articles, no opinions or comments of his friends, relatives or school mates were published. The Star summed up Jho Low's success formula as 'Right time, Right place, Right people'. His formula is in marked contrast to the richest people in this world like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Warren Buffets, world's greatest fund manager and investor, talked about hard work and being thrifty. Bill Gates created personal computers for almost every households. Steve Jobs made the very user-friendly iPod, probably the most intuitively fun to use iPhone and iPad. Each of them has many years of strong and proven track record in providing goods and services. Of course, they made plenty of money in between.

'Right time, Right place, Right people' formula sounds more suited for connection business? This formula may be required in instance where the bidder of contract may not qualify for the tender criteria. It was reported that George Kent, a listed company with current market capitalisation of RM230 million, was leading a consortium and awarded RM1 billion contract to extend Ampang LRT. George Kent was the highest price bidder, and not the lowest, of the tender. Owner of George Kent is mentioned to be the golf buddy of the Malaysian Prime Minister. Recently, it is reported that two companies that failed the tender criteria were awarded with the largest government quotas to supply paddy seeds to Malaysian farmers. The Agriculture Minister, Noh Omar, who approved the tender awards insisted that the criteria were met, despite it was Ministry of Finance which highlighted the discrepancy in tender criteria fulfilment.

Jho Low is apparently very close to wealthy personalities in Middle East and manage their money. He has created a few billion US dollar funds since he was 20 years old. As a money manager, Jho is definitely very successful. His stature should be quite close to Warren Buffet. It is a matter of time that international publishers will seek to write books about Jho Low.

Logically speaking, if I am an investor of Jho Low' funds, I am probably worried about my money left with him, when I see the way he spends his money. I give him benefits of doubt that the money spent was all his. He must be a billionaire and earns a very good income. Notwithstanding, I will be curious whether he is making enough money for the funds or if he is making more money for himself. I should be scrutinizing very closely the capital invested and income generated by the fund where my money is. It is intriguing for him  to tell the Star that his Arab friends where the ones who spent the money in those parties. I stand to be corrected but I neither see any ethnic Arabian  in his dinner with Elva, nor any mention of Arabian names in many of the news with regards to his parties with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

Jho Low is a director and group adviser of UBG Bhd, a listed company reported to be owned by family of Sarawak chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. He is also rumored to be in control of 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a government entity, that was established to drive strategic initiatives for long-term economic development for the country by forging global partnerships and promoting foreign direct investment. 1MDB raised RM5 billion under a guarantee of Malaysian federal government in 2009.

Hypothetically, as long as Jho Low is spending his own money, his investors should be happy. If he spends his investors' money indirectly by diverting some return from his investors' fund, his investors may not be too happy. If he is spending directly or indirectly some other people's money which may or may not be related to government money, he may cause many people to be unhappy in Malaysia. Jho Low is enjoying high profile and flamboyant  lifestyle. He has to make extremely good income by ordinary Malaysian standards. After all, this is a country where 80% of the households are making less than RM3,000 per month income.

Come to think of it. Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak should not be somewhat selfish and keep Jho Low's roles to only 1MDB and development of Razak Exchange in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur that was previously military base of the country. Razak Exchange is named after the Prime Minister's father and is Najib's pet project. Instead, he should make sure that Jho Low manages all the important large funds for the people of Malaysia. This is where Jho Low's forte is. PNB is a good place for him to start with. He can help to uplift the income level of Malaysians who subscribe to the funds by increasing the return on investment of those funds. We cannot possibly be a developed country by 2020 when 80% of our households are still earning less than RM3,000 a month. Can we?


A few lovely picture of the romantic dinner at a private beach of Atlantis Hotel, Dubai.