Ox Year and PS

Still in time to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Ox Year. Hope the Ox will be a very strong one to pull through the slowing down market by giving an unexpected bull run.

Whatever the economic reasons, during this festive season there is the high spirited celebration of family ties, cultural practices, sumptous of good food and not forgetting the blast of fire crackers even though it has banned in Malaysia years ago. But the sound of fire crackers are heard less this year compared to previous years. This is one of the sign that people are spending only on the necessity only.

This jotting was done at my wife's hometown which is in the state of Pahang. The house is situated in a Chinese new village. Most of the single storey houses in the village are built from wood with zinc roofing although there are some which are already rebuilt with bricks and cement tiles roofing. It is no more a laid back village as expected because town center is just a short walk away. The bus station is also situated nearby.

The usual fast food - KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds - are at the town center since few years ago. The old cinema, where an autographed poster of Jackie Chan's movie " Who Am I" was pinned on the board, was teared down about two years ago. Part of the movie was filmed at a nearby primary jungle. On the site now is a block of three storeys shop houses and Guardian Pharmacy already opened it's latest branch in one of the shops.

Whatever it is, what is Chinese New Year minus the "balik kampung" feeling? My kids are having fun re-connecting with their cousins - not through chasing the neighbours chickens but going after the "enemy" with the Play station games. Hmm.... sign of change in the way kids are engaged nowadays. - Loka

Double Death President

United States of America will sworn in their 44th President today. Barack Hussein Obama will be the first Afican-American to claim the most powerful job not only in the USA but also the world.

During his campaign for the US presidency, Obama's clarion call for Hope and Change are heard loud and clear through out. Add-on with a back ground like his, Obama will be hard pressed to deliver whatever his promises since the Democrats primary until his election on Nov 4, 2008. His performance will be monitored not only by Americans but also leaders and people from all over the world. His actions and foreign policies are ecpected to set new direction for a ever hopeful international audiences.

People are putting high hopes on him to change the world to a better and peaceful place to live in. But then Barack Obama is just as human as anyone and on top of that he is a politician. Human values in him may want to answer calls to the needs of the crying babies at Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, North Korea and all places that USA has interests but the politician instinct in him will only response to matters which are of interest to himself and his own nation only.

From the moment on the first day he steps into the White House he is no more the Barack Obama that can decides everything on his own but will be surrounded by many advisers, consultants, strategists, military, lobbyist, medias and trails of other interested parties with their respective agenda, hidden or in-guise. He is no more in total control of himself. He may seems to be in charge but shows can be deceiving. It is payback time for all who had supported him to sit in the Oval Office. It will not take too long for us to see what Barack Obama really made off. Is he really what he is perceived and expected to be by people in USA and all around the world?

As mentioned many times before, we will see the true colours of a person(politician) when given powers to govern the destiny of many. And it is not necessary black as Obama might try to portray himself as a white. So, do not expect too much from this Hawaiian. He might change as he promised.

And based on Chinese numerical beliefs, as the 44th president it does not fares too good for him as the number four in Chinese is read "shi" or "sei" in Cantonese or "si" in Hokkien which means death. That is double death! He was elected on Nov 4 and he was born on August 4th too! "Shi" (four) is always stucked with him.

Hope you can Change that too, Obama! - Loka

Najib need to work harder

As known by now Umno lost the Kuala Terengganu by-election to PAS which won by 2,631 majority. Abdul Wahid of PAS receives 32,883 votes while Umno's Wan Farid got 30,252 and independent candidate Azharudin Mamat lost his deposit when able to garner only 193 votes.

There are few points to ponder from this result.

1. If this is taken as a yardstick of premier-in-waiting Najib Razak's popularity, it shows loud and clear that he need to do more to earn his right to be the next PM. Not just from Umno's delegates but from the common people.

2. Did Umno candidates contesting in the forth-coming party election provided the full support to ensure thier party's victory or they are more concerned with their own political well-being?

3. The increased of Malay voters supporting PAS, is it due to PAS assertion to implement hudud and qisas?

4. The Chinese voters continues supporting BN, does it means they rejected DAP's buddy-buddy with PAS? Or MCA's election machinery managed to convinced them to reject PAS?

5. With additional seat for PR in parliament, Anwar Ibrahim re-energized himself to continue the plan to take over the federal government.

6. Development politics does not provides the impact on the electorates as before. The promise of continuous development and deputy minister for Wan Farid does not convince enough to support BN.

7. The Chinese voters gained a windfall or durian runtuh with the millions poured to the Chinese community and schools. But does this also cause the Malay voter to be unhappy with the federal government. - Loka

PAS supports DAP?

It looks like the DAP are going all out for the Chinese voters in the Kuala Terengganu by-election by giving MCA a head-on fight. Even though DAP is not fielding any candidate for the by-election, they are fighting nail and tooth for the 11% Chinese voters to throw their support to the PAS candidate. If PAS wins this round with the Chinese support then DAP can claim that the Chinese already deserted MCA and the real Chinese champion now is no more MCA but DAP.

Is DAP putting in too much effort for the sake of reducing MCA's influence amongst the Chinese community? What will be the price that DAP have to pay later when PAS gets stronger and more accessible to the Chinese community? As the Nik Aziz had said about Umno on the derailed plan to enhance PAS-Umno cooperation, " one does not get bitten twice by the same snake from the same hole twice"?

Has DAP forgotten the the thrashing they suffered in the 1999 general election after the Chinese voters deserted them due to their close cooperation with PAS? PAS won more seats than they can ever imagine while DAP experience one of the worst general election results. Lim Kit Siang even lost in Ipoh Timur and with that also the Opposition Leader position in Parliament to PAS president Hadi Awang.

On the other way around, if there is a by-election now which is contested by DAP against BN in a mixed seat, will PAS gives the similiar support if not more to ensure victory for DAP? Based on precedents and the insistence of PAS on the Islamic State and Hudud issue, it will be very slim chance for this to happen. Maybe PAS wil provide a gesture of "goodwill" is by not contesting the seat themselves!

DAP Chairman Karpal Singh has been very clear in his stand that there shall be no Hudud law or Islamic state for this country. Karpal has been very consistent in his stand but it seems some DAP leaders are still playing buddy-buddy to PAS for whatever reasons they know better. If DAP leaders are not careful, this external issue will be the catalyst of leadership split and downfall of DAP. - Loka

Are hypermarts really patriotic?

It seems the hypermarkets are having a competition to attract consumers to their outlets especially to shop for Chinese New Year goodies. Full page promotions and offers were splashed daily in the newspapers announcing special offers on selected items. These offers are a good choice for the consumers to compare prices to save every sen for each item.

Once a consumer steps into the hypermarts looking for the offered items, it will not be surprising to find a notice announcing the said price cut items are out of stock. This might give the consumer the feeling that they had been cheated. Many had already gone thru this before. You go into a hypermart thinking to grab the special offer item but can't get one because it is out of stock and you ends up filling your trolley with other not-so-competitive promotional items.

Well, that's the intention of the hypermart anyway. The purpose is to attract the consumers into their hypermart and once your are inside, what will stops you from dropping the other items into the trolley.

If consumers thinks that the hypermarts are such a patriotic lot with high corporate social responsibility that responses to the government's campaign for price reduction, think again. How many items are price reduced compared to the total items in the hypermarts? And of most of the price cut items, how many are really popular items which are in demand by consumers?

Even if the selected price cut items are of popular items, do the hypermarts really cuts their profits too? Not really. The hypermarts will still demand for the same margin from the suppliers. It is the suppliers that have to bear the extra cost of any price cut items. If any suppliers do not give in to the hypermarts demands, their goods will only be available on limited volume in the respective hypermarts. The hypermarts are becoming too powerful in dictating the distribution of the suppliers products. The hypermarts are just making a good PR move at the suppliers expenses and with increase sales volumes too when consumers go in droves to their hypermarts to buy the items on offer.

But then as consumers, as long as the prices are slashed, we don't care as long as we pay less. We will only be affected when the products we want are not on the shelves because the suppliers declined to submit to the hypermarts lop sided pricing policy. The hypermarts will stop ordering goods from the particular supplier to force it to accept the hypermarts terms. Unless the supplier is also a huge multi national company and its products are always in demand and available in every nooks and corners. Then the supplier will be able to dictate their own terms. One of these companies is Nestle, which items like the Milo brand chocolate drink and Maggi instant noodles are purchased and consumed by nearly everyone in country. But this type of supplier are not many in town. - Loka