Malaysia: Gulf Dinars are Coming!

Walla,just in time to be the fillip for the drying up of investments from elsewhere. What luck to be included in the investment target countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The GCC countries are now keen to invest in three most important nations in Asia namely China, India and Malaysia to boost bilateral trade. This was reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI).

According to the Secretary General of the GCC Chambers,GCC countries are no longer keen to invest in Western economies anymore.

“The trend has changed after 9/11. We are looking more towards China, India and Malaysia to make investments,” he said.

Stating that India’s capital New Delhi is a “key partner” of the Gulf Cooperation Council and that “cash-rich” countries were now “increasingly looking towards India”, Qatar has said it will invest a whopping US$ two billion in the country.

Qatar, which has the highest per capita income in the Arab region, has plans to invest in India’s infrastructure and other promising sectors reported the PTI.

India is a key trade partner of the GCC and cash-rich countries were now increasingly looking towards India to park their investments

China: Potential 10% GDP for 2010

These days, we have so many people saying positive things about the management of the Chinese economy. Today the Chinese Academy of Sciences,an official think tank forecast China’s gross domestic product (GDP)to expand around 10 pct in 2010,mainly driven by investment and domestic consumption. This was reported in the official Xinhua agency today(7 February 2010).

Let us read Xinhua's report.

"Strong first-quarter growth of 11 pct will slow slightly for the rest of the year, with the pace of expansion dipping just below 10 pct in the second half, the Center for Forecasting Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in the report, which was issued at the weekend.

Growth in the third and fourth quarters will be 9.5 pct and 9.8 pct respectively, it said.

Foreign trade will rebound as the global economy improves, but overall net exports will be a drag on growth, bringing GDP expansion down by around 0.5 pct.

Exports will rise 16.6 pct and imports by 18.9 pct, with the overall value of foreign trade up 17.6 pct.

The government’s economic stimulus plan, which aims to bolster the Chinese economy amid the economic slowdown, will continue to drive investment, but growth will slow to 25 pct from 30.1 per cent in 2009, the report said.

It also forecast a 3.1 pct rise in the consumer price index as the economic revival, ample liquidity and inflation expectations drive up prices.

While seemingly mild given the extent of China’s monetary stimulus over the past year, the higher inflationary expectations are likely to worry those already concerned about the possibility of economic overheating.

China’s GDP last year grew 8.7 pct. The median 2010 GDP forecast of economist polled by Reuters late last month was 9.5 pct.

Native Expressions 1: Good To Know

This is the first of my series of postings on native English expressions. I have taken it from Boyd Lafayette De Mente's book,"Cheater's Guide to Speaking English Like a Native".

1. Wing it:

This expression refers to the wings of a bird. It gives an image of something moving or flying. ‘Wing it’ means to do something or move forward without any specific method or plan, just doing what is appropriate or right at that time.

E.g.

Sarah has no plan. She is just winging it.
The manager did not want us to wing this project. We must have a plan of action.
Okay! If that is what the Chairman wants, we’ll have to wing it!

2.Push Comes to Shove:

This expression refers to reaching a stalemate, when some drastic action is required to make progress.

E.g.

When push comes to shove, he always manages to come up with some workable solution.
We need a new marketing programme before push comes to shove.
Their team is especially good when push comes to shove.

3.Water it Down:

Mixing water with some other liquids to make it thinner or weaker is known as ‘watering it down’. This term is now also used in the sense of making contracts, commitments and comments in general weaker.

E.g.

No sooner was the contract signed that the manager began trying to water it down.
She watered down her criticisms when she saw how upset I was.
If we water down the demands, management may just accept our proposal.

4.Warm up To:

Begin to like someone usually as a result of getting to know them better over a period of time because of something they do or say.

E.g.

Martha really turned me off at the beginning, but I gradually warmed up to her.
During our second meeting, we gradually warmed up to each other.
The new accountant is really difficult to warm up to.

5.Up a Tree:

When a person doesn’t know the answer or has no idea of what to do about a situation, he or she is said to be up a tree where the options are definitely limited. This phrase can be traced to the practice of climbing trees to escape predators or some other danger and then being stuck there.

E.g.

If you do that, you are going to be up a tree for sure!
When it comes to things like that, he is always up a tree.
I got myself up a tree by making a promise I couldn’t keep.

The Terubuk Fish: Delicious But Dangerous!

I think it was only lately that I partake of the notorious terubuk fish.It is also known as the longtail scad. A freshwater fish, it is found or cultured in brackish water.

Why you may ask that it took me that long to sample this fish?

The basic reason is it is full of bones. Some are fine and hairy while others could be forked and hard as well.

To eat this fish, you must take maximum care. Always eat the fish separately. Never chew it together with rice. Take out the longer forked bones. Some people would just eat the soft hairy bones but for those with sensitive throat, best that you eat the fish with utmost caution.

The skin of the terubuk fish with its scale is edible. The flesh is sweet. It is a good fish to savour when fried or roasted over charcoal fire.


I have not eaten it cooked with any form of curry.

Have you tried the terubuk fish?

EPF: The 2009 Dividend Second Guess

A Bernama Report today speculated that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) dividend will likely pay a higher dividend compared to the 4.5 per cent paid out in 2008.

EPF chairman Samsudin Osman said this was due to the local share market’s stable position and good investment returns.

“A meeting on dividend rates will be held this month, while an announcement on it will be made in March,” he told reporters, here today.

In December, EPF announced that it obtained RM5.5 billion in profits in the third quarter last year, which was an increase of RM696.32 million (14.51 per cent) compared to RM4.8 billion in the previous quarter.

EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said EPF funds had now increased to RM361.09 billion compared with RM353.93 billion in the second quarter last year.

For the year 2008, 12 million EPF members received a dividend of 4.5 per cent. This was lower compared to the 5.8 per cent paid out for 2007.

So what is your guess for the 2009 payout.

Many would be thankful if it could just equal the payout rate of 2007.

What do you think?

English Expressions: Into the Psyche of the English World

Boye Lafayette De Mente’s book,”Cheater’s Guide to Speaking English like a Native”, is a good book if you intend to increase your fluency of the language through the mastery of common English idioms and expressions.

Why should we study these then? The native speaker uses proverbs, metaphors, similes and a host of colloquial expressions in everyday speech. These have evolved over time, some over centuries. Using them reveals the cultural values and attitudes of the English speaking people.

The Americans, the English, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders do have special words only peculiar to themselves as they speak them in their respective countries. It is certainly good to know them and to be able to use them when occasions call for their contextual usage.

I would be blogging some of the more unique ones that have not become clichés or passé in my subsequent postings.Some may have but continue to be in current usage.

Non-native English Speakers are just as Good

There is a fallacy with regards to English-speaking native teachers. In fact, the pertinent question to ask is " Who is a native-speaking English Language teacher?". Also, where can he or she be found?

The sad fact is there are not many genuine English Language speakers left out there. The English Language teachers that is much in demand are those who are native in the first place. Then they must have the pre-requisite certification. You may not need a PhD or a Masters in English to teach in the subject. Unless you want to lecture in the univsersity in such aspects as English pedagogy, phonetics and research into the structural-technical aspects of the language,an Advanced TESOL Diploma is very good indeed and so are those Diplomas and certificates that commensurate with the standard of teaching required be it at the elementary level, pre-intermediate level, intermediate and advanced levels.

I think the international schools may be doing it right at the moment, weeding away native speakers who do not actually speak good English. Teachers from Texas with a drawl as well as those English teachers from Poland, Russia to Wales who speak English anyway they want but the right way, just would not do.

Today, we have more non-native English teachers world-wide then native teachers. As such, it would pay for such countries like China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to source such teachers particularly from Malaysia, Singapore, Hongkong and possibly India. They certainly would fill the bill though they will not speak with the native nuances of stressed words or sentences.

The other thing which is important is to ensure these non-native teachers are familiar with English expressions so that they can impart these to their students. This will certainly make these students' lives so much easier when they leave for tertiary education in USA, Australia,NZ and the UK.