Are You Paying Attention, Ong Tee Keat?

Today's piece by The Star has something interesting about car sales drop and hire interest rate hike in Malaysia. This is indeed predictable but the BN government is doing nothing so far to alleviate this problem.

PETALING JAYA: Car buyers will have to pay more in monthly instalments now that hire purchare interest rates have gone up.

Just a few months ago, banks offered interest rates at around 2.5%. Now, the rates are between 3.4% and 4.7% for new cars.

Maybank hire purchase senior manager Nor Siah Othman said the bank had experienced a drop of about 40% in car loan applications in the past two months due to higher rates.

She also advised car owners to restructure their loans to stretch the monthly payments longer after a few years of repayments if they find it a burden to service their loans.

A freelance car salesman identified only as Teo said a buyer taking a RM42,000 loan would have to pay about RM54,000 over seven years - about RM4,000 more compared to the RM50,000 paid when the interest rate was 2.7%.

AmBank group public relations manager Norlidah Abd Rahman said not all banks charged as high as 4.3%.

“If the car bought now did not carry extended warranty under comprehensive insurance, the interest rate could be as low as 3.6% - 3.9% too,” she said.

A hire-purchase executive from a major bank here said the rates were not expected to fall any time soon as banks were anticipating Bank Negara to raise the interbank rate that would affect the interest rates for housing and car loans.

She added that the Hire Purchase Act did provide for a variable rate option for car loan holders based on the base lending rate used by banks mostly for housing loans.

“But most customers do not choose the variable rate; most people prefer the fixed interest rate because they are lower,” she said.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association president Khoo Kah Jin said interest rates for new cars were not that high at between 3.5% and 3.7%.

He said there was no reason for used car interest rates to be as high as 4.5% - 7.5%.

Khoo said the association had always pushed for the interest rates for used cars to be only 1% higher that of new cars.

The current economic status in Malaysia is at the low point meaning as the result above, car sales are dropping. Chances are at the long run, the shops that sells second hand cars could had their businesses affected badly by this scenario.

One part of the reason why sales dropped is the high amount of import duty and taxes that forms part of the cost. If the government wishes to have every working citizen to own at least a vehicle, that's where the import duties and the taxes will have to drop. To offset the high amount of interest rates. People want to have good cars but could not do so because of the high import duty cost bundled together at the original cost.

So, right now, being the Transport Minister, you Mr. Ong Tee Keat will have to do something drastic to address that. Are you paying attention to this, Mr. Ong? MCA presidency is second to this matter right now. I'm helping you to priortize the order of events. You better do something drastic, frankly. This is my second time of me reminding you what you have to do.

Cut off that Mickey Mouse taxes.

If you are not paying attention, then there's something wrong with you and you should quit.

In This Time of Problem, You Need Either Michael Moore, Mr. Payback or a Leftist

I was watching CNN while going for my gym exercise a few hours ago and saw news on CNN that UK lorry drivers are preparing to protest over high fuel prices ($10 USD per gallon for diesel) and demanded Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his government to act. Likewise, fishermen from Portugal and Belgium are prepared to start a protest over the fuel that they have to pay per barrel. On the other hand, Sarkozy is suggesting to the EU to implement a tax cap limit since nations are getting a lot of tax money from every liter of oil paid.

Yes, in Europe, prices are higher and a big portion of it is including of taxes that you pay to the government. This was far in contrast of Venenzuela were people paid only 12 cents per gallon.

The OPEC cartel is actually right. The supply is adequate but the real fault of price hikes was due to speculators who are desperately cashing into this with the weak dollar. Last week, the US Congress grilled the Oil 5 people claiming that while they reaped the profits they did not help the public in their burden. I guess this is a solid proof where Fukuyama is made to eat his own words. Remember that he famously proclaimed that communism is dead. The thing is communism is not dead and it is taking another form that we shall see soon.

If there is a mass protest over petrol prices, perhaps you might need Mr. Payback. I remembered reading those Punisher comics, where the famous novel, Welcome Back Frank featured a copy-cat vigilante named Mr. Payback. Mr. Payback is obviously a reflection of famed leftist Michael Moore, a favorite hater of George Bush but put in overdrive. Remember the movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas? That's another example of Mr. Payback movies, the belittle attempt a little man to take down the capitalist swine who enjoys profits from whatever they had.

Here's a great dialog line from Mr. Payback:

Payback for the misery you've caused! Payback for the communities you've destroyed. Worldwide Investment Corporation - the great and the good! A finger in every pie! Millions of dollars pass through your hands each day! Millions of gallons of blood are splashing on those same hands!

You invested in Larson Aircraft Corp. Built airliners with substandard engines. Losing a lawsuit would be cheaper than refitting the planes, you figured. 275 people died when Flight L-901 piled into the mountain - but you didn't care. You were wrong about the lawsuit. Closed down the factory in Fairville, Kentucky. Cost 3000 people their jobs. Fairville became a crime-ridden scum -- but you didn't care.

You set up a new factory in Taiwan. Your workers pay and safety standards are some of the lowest on the planet. You colluded with local authorities to combat unrest in the workforce. Over a hundred of union organizers were killed by police death squads -- but you didn't care.

You people are criminal scum! You sit here in your fancy boardroom with your thousand dollar suits on and you think your hands are clean -- but you are wrong! You are lower than the filthiest hood on the street! You are guilty! And now it's time for PAYBACK!

Gee, if Michael Moore said that, then every capitalist swine will sure come after him. But yes, the statement is coming back in reality to the current situation that we're facing now. But then, Mr. Payback killed some idiots who claimed that he talks bullshit and they were punished for their insolence. If you are a leftist, yes, the blood is now on the hands of rogue traders and speculators and you would really wish to give them a lesson they will not forget. That's just the precursor to the world financial crisis and the riots triggered by economic crisis. Perhaps it could also be the trigger for the 7-year Tribulation as what the Book of Revelations is all about?

America is about going to fall, but the question of when is circulating around. Since most oil is traded in dollars, nations would moving to trade in the alternative Euros if the price gets unbearable. When all nations trade petrol in Euros, bye-bye USA. Their money is just paper only.

Singapore has kick start in combating inflation by saying that they would really want the currency to appreciate against the dollar (currently at 1.36) to reduce the import rates. But what about Malaysia? Instead it has dropped to $3.24 and Dollah Badawi (read Dollah Kata Sekali Lagi - Ubah Gaya Hidup Anda) has bullshitted the US Treasury and experts report that ringgit is undervalued. It is true but he's not listening.

Now back to the point. If Mr. Payback is real, he's going to shoot the daylight robbers like Arnold did against the cops! (read: Shoot the Speculators!)

It's Last Call!

On Wednesday, at lunch with my usual friend, we were discussing on Bedol Napoleon's shock that the crime rate of the nation had rose by another 13 percent. And a measure to help reduce crime rates is by installing CCTVs (Close Circuit Cameras) around buildings in towns.

I must say that this implies that the tenders for CCTVs are now open and the winner of the contract is not judged by the quality and bidding levels, but instead it is to the preferential Malay-first tender. And you know that means that the riches gained from the contract is given to one group, not everyone. Just imagine that installing CCTVs worth about $5000 per building in about 1000 buildings in the Klang Valley alone can net about $5 million in profit to whoever wins the award.

If you agree with my inference, then congratulations - you are a real-thinking Malaysian.

But CCTVs alone is not enough to combat crime. Even if you have the CCTVs there, the police still could not track the identity of the killer of Nurin! The rules of engagement, the standards of law enforcement still remains at a abysmal and unacceptable level. The police recently had misused or violated the standards set by utilizing unnecessary resources against things like the HINDRAF thing.

After reading that thing, I felt that what Dr. Farrukh Saleem said about the literacy level in a Muslim-majority nation is much lower than a non-Muslim-majority nation is definitely right. From the statement of Abdullah Badawi, this clearly means that he doesn't really understand a lot of the current affairs of the whole nation. He's a flip-flop and decisions are left to the 4th Floor guys to do it. I actually stumbled upon an e-book by an organization claiming of 70 reasons of why Abdullah Badawi is weak. Some points are sensible but not all are to be accepted.

Now back to the Sharlinie thing, it's clearly that the same man behind the Nurin murder.

Johor is one state in the Peninsular that is the most notorious. The amount of criminal cases in that state is far more compared to the number in Klang Valley or even in Penang. I suppose that it is either lack of enforcement or people's attitude of a man is an island thing that could be the cause of the thing. (See latest Malaysiakini case: MIC Man Shot Dead in Johor). Remember the Tengku Goh thing? It happens more in the south than in the central or the northern region.

The media has been reporting signs of election fever coming around the corner. So, it's clearly that it's set on 15 March. Why? Two reasons: the school holiday week and secondly, to prevent Anwar Ibrahim from competing in the politics arena. They all knew that he would be eligble for contest after April 2008, so why wait for him?

It's now the last call for the police force and the government. No identity has been established - the name of the killer - but a photofit. If they cannot catch the killer by the time election is around the corner, I can have a good guess that BN would be suffering a much heavier defeat compare to 1999.

I don't have to do over-the-top rant as Uncle Bernard do or be more sarcastic as my buddy blogger Howsy would say but Musa Hassan's job credibility is in stake. He had been entrusted by Abdullah Badawi through a two-year contract extension. Failure to that means loss of trust to the police force. After all, they have been hit by criticism of brutality act in the rallies. Need I say more?

Is the Mainstream Media Sulking?

I am wondering whether following the anger and mob reaction by the government and some quarters of over the Bersih rally last Saturday, the spin-doctors have instructed the mainstream media under the control of the BN-component parties to write the post about the so-called another Bersih rally at the Batu Buruk.

Well, for those who fight for press freedom and those who believe that the country is in turmoil would say that Bersih has accomplished its Saturday objective. But those in the Bolehland ruling elite are cursing under their breaths over their latest defeat against the people.

So childish and sulking over the defeat that they, the spin-doctors have instructed the newspapers to show this articles in the papers.

NST: No Show at Batu Buruk
The Star: Planned Assembly Fails to Materialize

I supposed that ZAM was embarrassed over the fact that the international community was shocked to hear his remarks over the live Al-Jazeera interview following Bersih rally. Still being humiliated, he and the 4th floor boys decided to mislead the people again with the news article above. But, the question is, were they mislead by others and boasted their thing by having their underlings to write that in the paper? I guess it's a taste of their own medicine for trying to mislead the public over the Bersih rally matter.

A check on the Bersih site has no indication that there was an assembly at Batu Buruk. A check at Anwar Ibrahim's blog reviews that there was no agenda at Batu Buruk, but at Mecca.

All in the end, according to Malaysiakini is that the Malaysian Human Rights commission decided to launch a public inquiry against the incident in September.

The bottom line? The spin-doctors of the AAB administration are sulking over the defeat at the Rally. I supposed that they lost badly instead of expecting a win as what the Son-In-Law wanted. When the PM said, "Saya pantang dicabar!" last Friday, all he got was "Rakyat Pantang Dicabar!" on Saturday.