A Poem So Surreal

I think Salleh Ben Joned truly captured the mood of Latiff Mohidin's poem," In the Midst of Hardship," which was written in Bahasa Malaysia. The words used may not be the best but it brings to the fore the stoic nature of rural folks in Malaysia, perhaps in the early days where life was simple and greed was not strong.

The poem describes the humility of rural folks. The nature of their wealth is limited to bare essentials which include a few farm animals.Happiness is also easy to attain and pleasure comes just from joking and rolling home-made cigarettes and smoking in a social context between husband and wife. Despite returning empty handed, they did not show despair on their face;they accept the failure at face value.If they should lose their albino buffalo,they will take it in stride as fate.

As the title suggest, this poem is obviously trying to convey the hardship that a family in a village is facing after a big flood and how the family handle it. However, the big theme is not only the hardship itself but the optimism of the unfortunate”. Lines 6 and 7, "but on their brows there was not a sign of despair" reflects just this. This was accentuated by the happiness within the despair in the last 2 lines of Stanza 3 which reads, "now they are in the kitchen,making jokes while rolling their cigarette leaves".It takes a lot of courage and strength to see the silver lining and to move on after that. Yet, that is exactly what this family is doing. They’re spending time together, enjoying each other’s company and may be gratifying on the fact what they still have themselves against what was lost.

As a plantation boy, I can associate with the poverty of rural life and the difficulty of looking beyond the monotony and hopelessness of each passing day.

Let us appreciate Latiff Mohidin's classic, "In the Midst of Hardship"

At dawn they returned home
their soaky clothes torn
and approached the stove
their limbs marked by scratches
their legs full of wounds
but on their brows
there was not a sign of despair

The whole day and night just passed
they had to brave the horrendous flood
in the water all the time
between bloated carcasses
and tiny chips of tree barks
desperately looking for their son's
albino buffalo that was never found

they were born amidst hardship
and grew up without a sigh or complaint
and they are in the kitchen,making
jokes while rolling their cigarette leaves.

Singapore: Luxury Homes on the Rise

If property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng is right on the money, then the prices of prime luxury homes could charge back to their dazzling 2007 highs by the end of this year or perhaps next year. This is the report from the Straits Times today (16 January 2010.

'This ultra-rosy outlook assumes the world economy continues to improve, the City Developments’ executive chairman said during an interview in response to a question posed by The Straits Times.

Of course, his forecast that high-end prices will rise is not new. Plenty of property consultants have been tipping a rise in the high-end sector this year.

But the degree of optimism of an industry leader such as Kwek could turn heads — and he insists he is not simply talking up the market for his own ends.

“People say I like to talk up the market. It is not that I like to talk up the market. It is that more often than not, I would say I am 90 per cent correct in predicting the market,” he said.

“This can only arise from my many years of experience, from the mistakes I learnt from, from the intuition that I have. I also understand the psychology of people.”

In fact, he does not want to see prices rise too rapidly. “I hope the increase will not be so dramatic as to provoke concerns,” Kwek said.

A return to the previous peak levels is possible by the end of this year, and if not, then by next year, he said.

“My reading is that the rich Chinese buyers will come one day,” he said.

The integrated resorts (IRs) will help to draw many foreigners here, and some of them may decide to buy a home here if they like the IRs, said Kwek.

Last year, it was the turn of mass market and mid-tier properties to rise — driven largely by demand from upgraders.

In contrast, the high-end sector witnessed an exodus of all-important foreign buyers and has yet to get on track for a significant recovery despite some tentatively good signs.

Kwek feels luxury home prices can easily jump by more than 10 per cent this year as they are still about 25 per cent off the previous peak.

The higher the market goes, the greater the number of buyers, he said. Conversely, when the market slips to a low point, many will not want to buy, he said.

Kwek’s views were, to a certain extent, shared by Colliers International director of research and advisory Tay Huey Ying.

She believes luxury home prices could reach or surpass the previous peak by the end of the year on an average basis.

“Our basket of super high-end or luxury homes peaked at $$3,174 (RM7,617) per sq ft (psf) in late 2007 and early 2008. As of the end of last year, our prices were only 9 per cent off the peak,” she said.

“However, this luxury segment is not likely to achieve another record price this year, given the expected modest growth in the global economy.”

Indeed, there are still downside risks to reckon with, said Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of research for Southeast Asia, Dr Chua Yang Liang. For instance, the speed of economic recovery in the sluggish United States is uncertain, he said.

The high-end market will not necessarily move as one, and some projects may outshine the rest.

“Selective luxury projects with a good location and finishes may attempt to puncture the previous peak levels when our economy further improves in 2011,” said Chua.

Naturally, Kwek hopes to be among those to stand out from the rest. He is preparing to introduce a new brand in possibly the next three months.

He said he is still tying up loose ends on the 228-unit W Residences project on the Sentosa Quayside site, where a W Hotel will also be built.

The residential part of the project could be priced from about S$2,500 psf to S$3,000 psf, and will be his second branded project here, after St Regis Residences.

Other projects that his Hong Leong group and City Developments intend to push out soon include Cube 8 on Thomson Road and 76 Shenton on the former Ong Building site.'

So,what do you think? Will this enthusiasm and talk of a regrading of luxury home prices in Singapore impact on Malaysia's 'My Second home' programme with the coming on stream of the 2 IRs?

We will see.

Malaysia: The Second Coming of Federalization

When Malaysia first heard the jubilant cries of "Merdeka" in Malacca and the resonance of it on Merdeka Day, 31st August 1957, every right thinking man on the street thought of the true essence of a federation, akin to the USA, was born.

The new Malaya was supposed to have a federated system and states will have some residual powers.Despite a federated structure, states could act and operate different from the Federal Government in limited matters. To date, only Sabah and Sarawak which joined the Federation in 1963, could continue to yield some residual powers of its very own particularly with regard to immigration.

The other states and federal territories all came under the big brother control of the Federal Government. The federal whip was in full control until recently. Apart from the sultans which are guardian of the Islamic religion in their own states, erosion of state powers were seen in land matters,local government, town and country planning, fire services and lately water services.

It was only after the 'wake-up' call of 8 March 2009,that the Federal Government realized that it has bitten more than it can chew. The clawing back started at the Sultanate level where the few sultans showed brilliantly their state powers to over-ride the selection of the Chief Minister by the then Prime Minister.

The loss of the 5 states allowed major political reconstruction. Kelantan had its own theological way of doing things which was quickly emulated by Kedah. Perak had a mixed government of sorts and worked the middle way. The PR Government lost Perak 9 months later due to many reasons, some obvious while others,undoings behind closed doors. Some changes did occur in Selangor in spite of internal problems on the side of the PR Coalition government. However, they have started a citizen programme where senior citizens were provided with insurance cover which included burial expenses. The 'No Plastic Day' beginning on Saturdays started this year.

Penang somehow had a freer hand after DAP became senior partner of the state They started on civil and community services. First came the 'No Absolute Poverty' programme. Cash was doled out to remove the problem. Then it was the 'No Plastic Day' campaign at the supermarkets and now the ruling that physically challenged drivers no longer need to pay for parking charges. They have also won international accolades and have brought more investments into the state.

I believe, with the better revenue in the state coffers, more will be done in these PR states.

That is not all. The very fact that PR governments have reached out to the people at the local level has now prompted the Barisan Nasional leaders both at the state and federal levels to be more citizen-conscious. We now have 50% student travel card on KTM, better LRT and bus transport for KL/PJ folks and the opening of 1M medical clinics. A medical school will also open in May at UTAR that will cost only some RM250,000 to complete. Premier Najib has also done many things, albeit ad hoc and small, but it is a good beginning.

So, do you see the silver lining of the 8th March General Election?

Political competition does beget citizen gains.

Spectacular Annular Eclipse of the Sun

The longest, ring-like solar eclipse of the millennium started on Friday, with astronomers saying the Maldives was the best place to view the phenomenon that will not happen again for over 1,000 years.

US space agency Nasa said on its website the eclipse was annular, meaning the moon will block most of the sun’s middle, but not its edges, causing it to look like a ring.

This blockage will last for 11 minutes, 8 seconds, an annual duration Nasa said would not be exceeded until Dec 23, 3043.

The “ring” will be seen in a narrow stretch spanning Central Africa, the Maldives, southern India, northern Sri Lanka, parts of Myanmar and China. In Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, it will be a partial eclipse, NASA said.

Astronomers said Male, the main island of the Indian Ocean island nation the Maldives, will be the best place on land to witness the eclipse as it will last there for over 10 minutes.

In India, the eclipse gave an added auspicious edge to the Kumbh Mela festival where thousands of people immerse themselves in the Ganges river, an act believed to purge all sins.


“Today is a combination of a moonless night and a solar eclipse that (is also happening) during the time of Kumbh Mela. It is a very rare phenomena,” Baba Ram Vilas, a Hindu monk in saffron robes, told Reuters Television on the banks of the Ganges river, where the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years in a different city.

“Taking a holy dip during the solar eclipse is a very pious act. It is very auspicious, it is very fruitful and it can get one salvation,” Hindu priest Babu Ram Sashtri added in Haridwar.

[Students view an annular solar eclipse on a projector attached to a telescope in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. – Reuters pic]

Students view an annular solar eclipse on a projector attached to a telescope in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. – Reuters pic
Astronomers said the eclipse started at 0514 GMT in the Central Africa Republic, peaking at around 0700 GMT and ending completely at 1007 GMT.

“Many amateur astronomers have taken time off work and spent a lot on money on travel to see it,” said Lin Qing, head of the Sheshan Station of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China’s official Xinhua news agency.

“We will travel across China simply to witness the magnificent astronomical phenomena,” Lin said.

The eclipse, the first of its kind to cross over Sri Lanka since 1955, sent sea birds along the oceanside capital of Colombo looking for a place to roost for the night, shortly after lunchtime.

A pelican looped over the city as the skies darkened from the north and the eclipse neared its peak.

“Wow, it’s marvellous,” said an army officer, who was on security duty in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo. “This is the first time I have seen this kind of eclipse.”

According to astronomical websites, the last annular eclipse occurred roughly 1 year ago, January 26, 2009. The next one will happen May 20, 2012.

Malaysians: Their Main Concerns

VISA did a study on the main concerns of the Malaysian public.

What are these?

Cost of living, salary changes and personal debt are the top three financial worries

In the survey conducted between Aug 21 and Sept 23 last year, 69% of Malaysians said they were extremely concerned about the cost of living expenses while 62% and 59% were worried about salary changes and personal debt respectively.

Interestingly, the survey found that Malaysians were less worried about the value of their retirement fund and portfolio, and fluctuating interest rates.

On the other side of the spectrum, 25% of the respondents surveyed also said they were more confident about their personal financial situation compared to six months earlier although 52% felt there was no change.

Only 23% indicated they were less confident than earlier.

Sixty-six per cent of Malaysians also said they were more concerned about the impact of the global financial crisis on the local economy.

The survey involved 5,520 respondents aged between 18 and 65 years, of whom 500 were from Malaysia.

The rest were from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan.

Visa country manager Stuart Tomlinson said Malaysians were being practical during the current economic climate by focusing on managing their concerns, providing themselves with a level of security and peace of mind.

“For Malaysians, potential changes in salary levels are also of concern,” he said, adding that across the region, consumers were looking to see how they could manage their expenses, savings and job security, rather than macro-economic conditions such as exchange and interest rates.

So, it looks like the 'here and now' is of importance rather than the fear of money depreciation or nest eggs.