The True Colours of OTK keeps revealing...

Ever since well before the nomination of MCA election begins, I do not have good impression of Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat. To me, he's the guy that keeps on trying to grab headlines and trying to act on behalf of the party even before he is the President of MCA.

After the election where he officially sits on top of MCA, his true colour begins to showed. Acting as if MCA is his, this dictator begins to sideline Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek from any important party post, and begin his one man dynasty show. Such a rift between him and Dr. Chua that they openly go at each other in the press and Chinese dailies even reported that he has never mention Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek's name even once as his deputy president.

Now, MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has effectively closed the door on Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek returning to the cabinet. He said Dr Chua’s current position as the head of the party’s government policy monitoring bureau was best suited for him as he was the former health minister. Let's see what's Dr Chua's reaction and actions to this...

A good time to buy property???

I'm sure that although many of you out there must be thinking that apart from keeping cash is the best option at this difficult economy moment, many out there still pondering the chance to jump into other investment such as buying properties. True to say, because of the worldwide meltdown of financial difficulties, the property sector is one of the most heavily hit area. Many experts and analysts are saying and predicting that because of the slowdown period, it's a good time now to buy property and get a little bit more of discounts.

I cannot say I disagree with such statement that now it's consider a good opportunity to grab a unit of property, be it for investment or for future family planning, but one must also be realistic and aware that in the state of Penang, property prices is one of the most expensive if not the most expensive area in Malaysia.

Take a look at the chart attached. The cheapest you can get is a 700 sq ft apartment at the cost of rm150k. Now for a normal person with 1-2 years of saving from working here in the island, it's not totally impossible but it's still a BIG ask. Don't forget that you will still need to pay the 10% downpayment, all the legal fees and insurance for your house and then the monthly interest and installment from the amount of loan you took from the bank. Of course there are many other considering factors and concerns for those who have other commitments. So be wise and make the right decision as buying a property is not just like buying any vegetables or meat from the market. Once you commits to it, you will be tied up for a long long time...

The Light Waterfront Township

IJM Land's flagship project, The Light will take place in the first quarter next year. The first residential project called The Light Linear to be launched in the first quarter will have a GDV of RM150mil while Light Point with a GDV of RM90mil will be launched a few weeks after that.
The Light Linear will have 328 units with built-up from 1379 to 1513 sq ft, while the more spacious The Light Point units are from 1807 to 4000 sq ft.

The Light Waterfront, a RM4.5 bil residential and commercial development of Penang island's eastern coastline, will be developed over 12 years. The residential precinct will have 1186 residences, including waterfront villas and condominiums.

The commercial precinct will comprise office buildings, four hotels, retail malls, dining and entertainment facilities, a seafront park, floating restaurant and facilities for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

Japan into recession, 1st time since 2001

Oh my god!!! Japan has slipped into recession for the first time in seven years as the global financial crisis mauls its export-dependent economy, the 2nd country after Singapore in Asia.

Japan joins Germany and Italy on the list of major economies that are now officially in recession, despite emergency steps by world powers to try to stem months of turmoil on financial markets. I can never imagine this will happen to Japan, our Asia powerhouse...If now it's Japan, then any country can be the next one :(

Japan's economy, the second largest in the world, unexpectedly contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter -- 0.4 percent on an annualised basis -- after shrinking 0.9 percent in the second, the Cabinet Office said.

The last time Japan fell into recession -- which is usually defined as two or more consecutive quarters of economic contraction -- was in 2001 after the Internet bubble burst.

So like many other experts said, keep cash is the best option now. Always be patience and do not act on emotions...be wise and be critical :)

Petrol price reduced again....but still not at the old price :(

Petrol and diesel will be sold 15sen cheaper per litre from Tuesday onwards following the Government’s decision to lower fuel prices in tandem with the downward trend of global oil prices.

The pump price of RON97 petrol will be RM2 a litre from RM2.15 while the retail price of RON92 petrol and diesel is RM1.90 a litre, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said in a statement on Monday.

The new prices are effective from midnight Monday.

He said this is the fifth downward revision since August in honouring the Government’s promise to the people to lower fuel prices if oil prices dwindled in the world market.

Najib hoped traders would also lower prices of goods and services following the reduction in fuel prices to enable the people to reap the full benefits of cheaper fuel.

The people should continue to use petrol and diesel sparingly despite the lower price in line with the government’s efficient energy consumption plan, said Najib, who is also Finance Minister.

Fuel prices were last reduced on Nov 1.

The Star latest update 17 Nov 2008

Arsenal's season as good as over before the half way mark?

The picture says it all. In only 13 premier league games played so far. Arsenal have already lost 4. Their number 4 lost was inflited at home yesterday by Aston Villa with the scoreline 0-2. Their previous 3 loses were to Fulham, Hull and Stoke City. I cannot help it but to admit that the premier league crown will not be Arsenal's this season and looking at the performance and trend so far, they might not even made it to the top 6 come May next year. Why are they so inconsistent this season??? One week they performed so good but the next week they were shot back down to earth...speechless!

Penang Bridge Run TShirt + Goodie Bag collection

This year's Penang Bridge Marathon tshirt and goodie bag collection was held at Queensbay Mall from Thursday to Saturday. I personally didn't went to collect the stuff myself as I have some helpful friends to do the work for me, but based on their feedbacks, the organizer did quite a good job.

The distribution and handling was very efficient and everything sorted out properly in order waiting to be pick up by the participants. There were not long queues all the time and many people went away satisfied without needing to wait for long to collect their stuffs.

Picture above are the paper bags sponsored by Digi where in it will be all our goodies from the sponsors. I'm not that lucky though because my friends from Fun Run category got the Digi cd holders while I got the toilet sanitary spray :( Luckily I have a friend who said that I can have it if I really wants it. Hooray! Besides those, I got myself a small pack of biscuit, a digi pen and nothing else. Not really that much goodies...

This year's tshirt is really not that nice. The back is nice with the run logo, but at the front, it was plain with the state government logo on the left hand side. Really not my kind of shirt. Furthermore, full marathon, half marathon and quarter marathon people gets white tshirt while the fun run people gets orange colour tshirt....I would rather want the orangie tshirt than my white one. I have too many white tshirt already!