Happy New Year

The year 2009 almost come to an end and there are a lot of interesting events that were happening in the year 2009.

Luckily there are no major untoward events occurs throughout the year.

Looking forward to the year 2010 and wishing happy new year to everyone.

Hopefully, the year 2010 will bring peace and tranquility to all nations of the world.

New Four-Car Train for Kelana Jaya Line

One of the LRT stations along the Kelana Jaya Line

Kelana Jaya Line LRT now have new four-car trains as opposed to two-car train previously.

The four-car train has a capacity of 800 passengers.

The train is the newest version of Bombardier Transportation’s Advanced Rapid Transit Mark II driver-less trains, which are designed in Canada.

The new set of trains will ease passenger congestion using the facilities especially during peak hour.

However, the effectiveness of the new trains to reduce congestion still depend on the frequency of the train plying the kelana Jaya Line.

With the increase in the capacity of each train and adjusting the appropriate frequency of the train will definitely solve the overcrowded passengers problem as in the past.

According to this report, 35 four-car train had been ordered and the deliveries of all the train will be completed until the year 2011.

The two-car train of the Kelana Jaya Line.

Don't Blindly Follow GPS Direction

This news headline is the result of over dependence on technology.

This is a classic story of an elderly couple faithfully follow the GPS shortcut and eventually get stranded.

The news headlines blamed the incidence on the aging GPS technology and the custodian of the GPS provider, the Air Force Space Command, vehemently defended their state of the art technology. Instead the GPS provider suggests that the GPS devices, such as Garmin,  that the elderly couple were using that might not be functioning properly.

In case that you are using one of the GPS devices, make sure that you input the destination correctly and along the way make sure that you cross check the suggested route with the physical landmarks along side the roads.

That make me think of getting one of those Garmin GPS devices as a route navigational system. I think the benefits of having such a device is more than the chances of getting stranded as a result of using the devices.

Another case of blindly following GPS direction is happening HERE in Portland, Oregon.

Ready to Quit Smoking!

Thinking about quitting smoking! Better now than later since cigarette prices will go up again early next year.

What amazed me is that despite all of the sin taxes, the price increase, cigarette smoking is still getting popular and the effort to quit smoking seemed to be not popular among heavy smokers.

I bet smokers have their own reason for not quitting smoking despite all of the hurdles thrown in front of them. Eventually, due to its high price, smoking can be an elite culture and even worst can become another underworld culture similar to those of illegal drugs.

As for myself, I have my own reason for not smoking until now.

Another Case of Fatal Bus Accident

Should there be an accident, especially if it is involving bus, every time there is a festive season.

According to the Star, ten passengers died while two were injured, one seriously, after a double-decker Sani Express coach skidded and hit a road divider at KM272.8 North-South Highway heading north eight kilometres from the Ipoh Selatan toll plaza at 1 am Saturday.


Based on the report, all of the fatalities involved only those who had been seated on the lower deck of the bus.

The two drivers and 36 other passengers were unhurt.

According to the report, the bus skidded onto the road barrier to the left and veered to the divider on the right before coming to a halt.

The metal barriers on the left of the road had pierced through the bus causes the fatality and also injuries.

Such accident could had been prevented if the driver stays alert throughout the journey and also if the metal divider along side of the road is designed and built properly.

Condolences to all of the relatives of the victims in this accident.

Note: Picture above is just for illustrative purposes only.

Confused!

PC160651e
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Signages are used to guide or inform drivers while they are on the road.

However, some of the signages are placed wrongly and causing confusion.

Especially, when you are in the middle of looking for a space to park your car.

In the picture above, the signages are so confusing.

Two arrows (showing the direction to park your car) pointing in the opposite direction plus a signage for no parking zone and a cone.

They could have use other mean to indicate that the parking spaces is currently closed.

How Much You Have to Pay for Data

This mishap can happen just to anybody if the cellphone operators just keeping quiet about it.

As reported, a 13-year-old teen from Hayward, California downloaded about 1.4 million kilobytes of data last month and slapped with a cell phone bill of mearly USD22,000.

The problem started after his father adding his son to his plan and he wasn't expect that the bill will be that much.

Usually, anybody can use their cellphone to download anything from the internet without knowing how much the amount of data that they had downloaded. Even if they knew the amount of data downloaded, they will not know the amount of money incurred. The cost of the downloading activities only can be known after receiving the bill a month later.

The exorbant charges can be reduced usually by subscribing to the unlimited data plan. However, the plan is only valid for each individual phone number. By adding additional number to the family plan will need to have additional subscription to the unlimited data plan.

Another approach is to have the cellphone operator putting a limit to the amount of data that can be downloaded each month. The limit can be imposed by requesting customers to specify the maximum amount of money that they are will to pay each month. By doing so, the customers will have a peace of mind without worrying about the amount of data charges incurred next month.

Another Effort to Reduce the Digital Divide

According to Star, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will build more communication towers in Sarawak to ensure more rural people get connected to the Internet.

Thank you to MCMC for trying to closing the digital divide even further especially in this part of the world. Hopefully, the effort to increase the usage of ICT among the rural users will be beneficial to all. The most important aspect of the ICT is to open up the users to online advantages especially in the aspect of education.

According to the news, the MCMC will build 257 more towers from next year to 2013 to provide for wider coverage.

So far they have built more than 400 towers state-wide under the broadband and community broadband centre initiatives.

KLIA'S First

PC160654e
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Wondering why I shot this picture?

This picture was taken at the KLIA Airport. If you notice the picture is about men and ladies room.

It has been a standard sign to have a picture of men or lady to indicate the respective room.

What I found only in KLIA is a unique colour stripe at the entrance of the respective room. For ladies room, the colour is pink, whereas for men's room, the colour is grey.

If you ever encountered this unique colouring system somewhere else please let me know and chip in your comment below. Otherwise this is what I called KLIA's first since the colouring system is only available at KLIA, so far.

Just wondering why the room need to be differentiated using the unique colouring system as if the standard sign of men and lady is not enough. If you have any ideas on the reason for the colouring system please writes in the comment below.

Otherwise the only reason why the need to have the colouring system that I can think of now is that if anybody due to the urgency beyond his or her control just don't have time to look for the right sign, at least he or she will have time to notice the differences in the colour stripe at the entrance (only if they are not colour blind) so that they will not end up in the wrong room at the wrong time.

Pharmacy Fest

Specialist Clinic Pharmacy of the Kuching Hospital has launched Pharmacy Fest recently. As shown above, the usual way of getting prescriptions is by visiting the pharmacy during the designated hours. The waiting time to get the prescription varies depending on the number of subscriptions being processed at any one time.

In order to provide alternatives to users, the pharmacy had launched the Pharmacy Fest which allows users to collect prescriptions without hassle. The subscription can be ordered in advanced (minimum of three days) through fax, sms, email or telephone. After three days, the prescription can be collected immediately without having to wait for a long time at the counters. The detail of the pharmacy fest is as shown below.

Personally, I would like to congratulate the management of the pharmacy for having such forward thinking in order to reduce the burden of users.

Another Historical Gold for Malaysia

After 20 years of waiting, finally Malaysia bags another gold in the SEA Games men's football competition after defeating Vietnam 1-0 in the final played at the Main Stadium of the National Sports Complex in Vientiane on Thursday.


Malaysia last won the football gold in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 1989, with a 1-0 victory over Singapore.

Congratulations to the team and we are proud of you.

Malaysia's Team Lotus F1

F1 Spectators
Originally uploaded by mybigbro

According to the Star, Malaysia’s Team Lotus F1 has named Jarno Trulli (Italian) and Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) as its drivers for its debut in Formula One next year.

The third driver, or shall I say backup driver is Fairuz Fauzy (Malaysian). May be Fairuz can be the number two drivers after several races in the future.


Congratulations to Malaysia's Team Lotus F1.

Or may be it is still too early to congratulate the Team. Wait for next near, hopefully the team can perform very well in the Formula One.

Congratulations

Congratulation to Azim and his bride for their weddings.






Congratulations to Rosmanizam and his bride for their wedding.

I am wondering why both of the brides eyes were closed when the pictures were taken.




Location of the wedding ceremony for Rosmanizam, located in Batu Kawa.

My Next Strategy

This article in a blog motivates me further to continue jogging and brisk walking more frequently. According to the article, how healthy we are depending on how much physical activity we get as we aged.

So my next strategy is to maintain regular jogging or brisk walking and for each session will ensure that it will last not less that 45 minutes.

Another Fury Mishap

Picture above is for illustrative purposes only and nothing to do with the following incident.

If your house is located just a few feet from roadside, do you ever wondering about runaway cars or worst runaway oil tanker hitting your house?

Or, Do you wish that oil tankers or any hazardous goods vehicles should use specially dedicated hazardous goods route (if any) to transport their goods?

Well, the nightmare of a house located beside a road comes true based on the following tragic news.

In the News (courtesy of Star): Three people, including two siblings, were burnt to death when an oil tanker exploded after crashing into a house at Kampung Ulu Klawang, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan on Saturday.

The tanker, due to faulty brake, lost control of the wheel causing it to skid and crash into the house located beside the road.

The tanker overturned and caught fire killing its driver and two siblings whose bodies were found in the burning house. The siblings were believed to have been asleep when the accident occurred.

The lorry exploded two or three times and firemen took about one and half hour to douse the flame.

What do you think about this tragic accident? Is it the fault of the drivers or it just happen that the house is located besides the road.

Travelling Via Low Cost Carrier Terminal

Upon arriving at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) in Sepang, there are several transport alternatives to go to Kuala Lumpur. There are several express bus services carrying passengers directly to Kuala Lumpur and other destinations.

However, in this posting I would like to share my experience using a newly (just within several months of service) introduced KL Transit Service at the LCCT. Upon arriving at the LCCT arrival terminal, you will only notice that there are counters for express bus services and taxi service.

For KL Transit service, there is only a banner informing passengers to proceed to Bay 6. As a first timer, I am not sure what Bay 6 mean and where it is located. They should provide more information to passengers regarding the availability of bus services for KL Transit Service. The picture above shows the bus at the Bay 6. Even at the Bay 6, there is no information on how to use the bus service. I just try my luck to board the bus since there is no driver or bus attendant within sight.

Learn more about KL Transit Service HERE.

The bus departed at designated time and it is very reliable (always on time). From LCCT Bay 6, the bus travelled to Salak Tinggi KL Transit station. Upon arriving at the Salak Tinggi Transit Station, I wasn't sure on how to pay for the service. I asked the driver whether I should pay him for a ticket. He asked me to proceed to ticket counter at the Salak Tinggi KL Transit Station to pay for the ticket.

I asked the ticket counter whether I can pay for the bus ticket only. The answer is positively "NO". By using the bus service, the passenger has to pay RM 12.50 (the price is inclusive of the bus service and KL transit) and the next destination is Kuala Lumpur Sentral. Well, considering the reliability of the KL Transit Service and the speed of the Train, the fare is reasonable.

I think they should improve on the passenger information system so that more passengers can use their service.

The picture below shows the bus waiting at the Salak Tinggi KL Transit Station.

Stretch of Roads To be Avoided During Downpour in Kuala Lumpur

According to this report, during heavy downpour, there are several stretches of roads in Kuala Lumpur that first to experience flooding and should be avoided.

A stretch of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway (only during really heavy downpur lasting several hours), Jalan Pudu, Jalan Chan Sow Lin, the Federal Highway and several locations in Wangsa Maju.

No Sugar, Please!

The Government is mulling the idea of abolishing the sugar subsidy. According to this report, the price of sugar will increase by almost 70%.

The reason for abolishing the subsidy is to promote healthy living to all citizens and at the same time will save the Government more than RM700 million.

The effect of  abolishing the subsidy:

• May be people will reduce sugar intake.
• If they insist on taking sugar, they have to pay high price for the sugar.
• Skyrocketing all items that are related to sugar such as cakes, beverages, etc.which will increase inflation.
• Increase in sugar smuggling activities. Previously from Malaysia to other countries. Now with the increase in the price will icrease smuggling activities of sugar from other countries into Malaysia.
• Immediate shortage of sugar in the market because most of the suppliers did not want to sell the sugar because they are waiting for the increase in the sugar price to reap more profit.
• Immediate shortage of sugar also due to consumers started to get panic and they are purchasing sugar in large quantities.

As of me, all this while I prefer to drink black coffee without sugar.

However, I still require some cakes or cookies to come with the coffee. By then, the price of those sweet items will be beyong imagination.

Sri Aman Waterfront

View of the almost completed waterfront in Sri Aman, Sarawak. The waterfront is on the riverbank of the Batang Lupar River which is famous for its tidal bore.

Once completed, the waterfront will serve several purposes.

• One is to strengthen the riverbank from further erosion.
• Another is to beautify the riverbank.
• Third is to allow people to view the tidal bore phenomena closely at the waterfront.
• The last use of the waterfront is as venue for the annual boat race held in Sri Aman.
• Of course, there will be a lot of other uses of the waterfront and if you have a good idea please feel free to chip in the comment below.

Picture below shows the almost completed waterfront along the river bank of the Sg. Batang Lupar.

Another Amendment

At last, they are going to consider protecting consumer for online purchases. The Consumer Protection Act will be amended to cover online purchases.

Hopefully, the amendment to the act will be passed in the coming Parliament so that consumers would be able to bring the matter to the consumer tribunal over purchases they made online.

For more information, refer to this report.

Receipt Please!

In an effort to prevent taxi drivers from charging unscrupulous fees to their customers, all taxi drivers are required to produce fare receipts to their passengers starting next year. I wonder why this measure wasn't taken earlier and I keep on wondering how on earth that the relevant authority will enforce this measure. Will they stop every taxi and demanding that the driver provide them with a proof of the receipt. Such a measure will only give inconvenient to the passengers.

Read more about this issue in this report.

Personally, I support the measure but I am quite sceptical about the outcome of such measure. Overall, the taxi drivers have to change their attitude but most of the time they only will change the attitude if there is an effective enforcement being taken against errant drivers.

Unnecessary Traffic Jam

I had to drive to Kuching yesterday for a meeting at 9 am and decided to drive just after 8 am to avoid traffic jam along the route. However, I and most of the road users had to endure unnecessary traffic jam as shown above and I kept on wondering what was going on because most of the time the traffic jam wasn't that bad along the route.

After patiently crawling along the route then I realize what causes the severe congestion. Just look at the picture below and everybody's time is wasted due to inconsiderate workers collecting rubbish along the road.

Since the road is a popular road to Kuching, the workers should have carried out their works early in the morning i.e. before rush hour so that everybody's time is not wasted.

That is one of the major reasons for unnecessary traffic jam in Kuching or in other place in Malaysia i.e. due to inconsiderate people hogging the busy road. Their action causes so much lost of opportunity time for other road users.

So as for myself, I had to endure for almost an hour in the traffic jam which usually took only half an hour to reach my destination. Luckily, I managed to arrive at the meeting place on time since I had decided to drive earlier than usual that day.

Traffic Congestion Reduction

According to this report, the operation at Tanjung Puteri Custom Complex will be operational 24-hours. All this while I thought that the operation at the custom complex is already 24-hours since it is the major entry and exit point to our neighbouring country i.e. Singapore.

With the round the clock operation, the congestion due to heavy lorries on our road will be lessen since most of the lorries can travel at night.

However, hopefully, the export-import industries will use our own ports instead of our neighbouring ports to exports goods overseas in order for the local ports to be busy.

The local ports from now have to improve further their services to attract more customers due to the stiff competition.

Working Mum Will be Happy about This News

Image by edgeplot via Flickr

According to this news report, the Government seemed to be ready to adopt the concept of working from home for the Civil Service. 

The concept of working from home will be very beneficial especially for working mum. As of now, most of the talented mum will have to quit their job due to family reasons. If the concept of working from home is implemented, the working mom can still do their job but they are doing it from home.

The concept is also workable because currently, the important aspect of the job is outcome based driven. If the concept of working from home can increase productivity, then the outcome based concept can be adopted.

However, not everyone can work from home because only certain job specifications are suitable to be done from home. For example, in the case of Public Works Department draughtsmen, they can certainly work from home because their performance are based on the completion of their drawings. Regardless of them working from home or at the office, as long as they can deliver their drawings on time, I think they already performed their duties.

Of course they have to come to office from time to time in case there are meetings that they have to attend or they are required to do certain tasks outside of their job scope.

If you have some other example of jobs that are suitable to be implemented from home, I am very happy if you can chip in you comments below.

Operating Gas Station in Malaysia

All the while we have been filling in gas into our gas guzzling vehicles in Malaysia without realising the predicament of the gas station owners. Based on this news report REPORT, it seems that all the while, the gas operator only being given sole proprietary license which mean that they cannot transfer the license to their next of kin.

No wonder, I always found out that there were some instances somewhere in Malaysia where the gas stations were remodelled or left idle for certain period of time may be associated with the issue of allocating license to different owner for the station. I might be wrong here.

Based on the report, some 3,200 petrol station operators nationwide can now change their business licences from sole proprietary to private limited, a move to allow the operators' children to take over the business.

Also, the government increased their commission rate from 9.5 sen to 12.19 sen per litre of petrol and 4.5 sen to seven sen for a litre of diesel from June last year.

Now, doing the Gas Station business is not bad at all. But I don't think everybody can venture into this business, otherwise all of the place will filled with Gas station.

Promising Future for Public Transport

According to this REPORT, by the year 2012, the waiting time for LRT (Light Rail Transit) will be reduced from currently every three minutes to every two minutes as a result of additional 6 additional trains added in the future. The additional train is said to have four compartments as opposed to two compartments for the existing train. Hopefully, all of the LRT stations, especially underground stations, have enough doors to cater for the additional compartments.

Hopefully, the additional trains will be able to reduce the passengers queueing time at the LRT stations during peak hours. If the congestion level at the LRT stations is improved, then more users will be attracted to use the service because it is more comfortable and convenient to passengers.

I wish that the improvements will be a little bit sooner i.e to be implemented by the year 2010.

Travelling Via KLIA Transit

KLIA Transit is a convenient way of travelling from KLIA to any of three destinations along the way from KLIA to KL Sentral. The three stations are Salak Tinggi, Putrajaya/Cyberjaya, and Bandar Tasik Selatan.

It is a convenient way of travelling to Putrajaya. From Putrajaya, there are several choices for mode of transport, i,e Putrajaya Bus or taxi services.

The travel time and train schedule can be found HERE. The departure time for the train is every 30 minutes.

The train service is very comfortable, convenient, reliable and also the price is reasonable. The fares for the service can be found HERE.

For your information, the train always depart and arrive on time based on the specified schedule.

Using the KLIA Transit, from KLIA to KL Sentral, the one-way fare is RM35 and the travel time is 35 minutes with three stops. If you use the ERL train, the one-way fare is also RM35 and the travelling time is 28 minutes without stop.

If you are travelling on a budget, you can stop at any of the three stops along the way and then purchase a new ticket to KL Sentral and the total cost of the tickets from KLIA to KL Sentral is RM 15.70. You can refer to this fare schedule for the calculation. For example, if you stop at Putrajaya & Cyberjaya Station from KLIA, the ticket is RM6.20. Then, the ticket from Putrajaya & Cyberjaya station to KL Sentral is RM9.50. Thus, the total price is RM 15.70. However, you have to wait for another 30 minutes at the particular station for the next train to arrive. So your total travelling time will be longer for additional 30 minutes. You can use this alternative if you are really tight on a budget and you are not in a hurry for any meeting. If you are in a hurry, you have to use ERL Express for that purpose.

Thus, forgiving the convenient direct ride from KLIA to KL Sentral and have to go through the hassle of alighting the train, getting out of the station, purchasing another ticket and re entering the station, you can save more than 50% of the ticket price.

You can pay a much cheaper price if you stop at Bandar Tasik Selatan station and transfer to the KTM commuter line. However, the travel time can be a little bit longer since the KTM commuter is a little bit slower and has to stop at several more stations along the way before it arrived at the Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

From KL Sentral you can ride the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to get to your final destination and you can save even much more as compared to using the taxi service.

Expensive Parking

IMG_3789
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

If you one of those who have to drive to work in Kuala Lumpur, most of the time you will have no choice but to park your car at one of the empty lot converted as parking areas. The charge is based on per entry basis and the rate is very demand oriented.

In the above picture, the charge is RM8 per entry. If you parked your car for a day let say 8 hours then the rate is about RM1 an hour given that you did not have any urgent business that force you to drive your vehicle. If you do, then your RM8 is only for a few hours and if you are unlucky you have to re-enter the parking lot and pay another parking ticket.

The charge can be very expensive if you only wanted to park for a short while. For example if you only wanted to do some transaction in a bank, you will have no choice but to pay the expensive parking rate for nothing. I think the operator of the parking lot knew that most of users are so desperate to find a parking place that most of the short term users will have to use their service.

The operator will change the rate based on demand. If the demand is so high, the rate can go up to RM10 per entry (I think they can even go up to RM20 per entry). If the demand is low, the rate can is reduced to RM5 only.

Well, if you have a piece of land in the heart of a city, don't develop the piece of land. But, charge people for using the land. In this case, you can work out the mathematic on the average daily income that they reaped from the users.

Therefore, unless there are efficient and comfortable public transport especially during peak hours, users can park their cars at home and ride the public transport which is much cheaper.

Tambang Fares

IMG_3750
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Just captured this picture yesterday and oh boy the rate is so cheap. "Tambang" is a small boat service to cross the Sarawak River. It is a convenient way of commuting to and fro for both sides of the river. Each side of the river has its own attraction. One side is water front and the other sides are mostly residential area, new Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) building, Palace, etc.

In case that you have the opportunity to travel to Kuching, make sure that you try the "Tambang" boat. Most of hotels are located near the water front and the Tambang is a convenient way to walk around the city and visit the new DUN building.

Free Flights for Mum and Baby

According to this News Report, a mum and her newborn baby will get free flights for life. Can we say that it is a lucky day for the mum and newborn baby delivered during flight for winning a free for life tickets using the airline? Usually, airlines discourage pregnant women especially if they are very near their due date to travel by air because they can deliver their babies anytime within the period.

Even though the women did not have the intention to deliver her baby in flight, the experience can be scary since there are no proper medical facilities available during flight. Furthermore, there is a slim chance that there is a medical doctor travel along during the flight. For the mom, luckily there is a medical doctor travelling on the same flight helping her throughout her ordeal.

While the mum and her newborn baby got their precious presents of their lifetime, what about the experiences of other passengers on the same flight? They have to experience additional flight delays since the flight was diverted to other nearby destination due to the emergencies.

Not all airlines reward their passengers for delivering their babies on board. May be due to their corporate responsibilities, majority of airlines give some form of rewards to the mum and newborn babies. So, any women out there can take the opportunities in case that they are lucky enough to earn some kind of reward but the risk is very-very high.

What about the place of birth for the new born baby; Will it be KLIA airport, or Airasia seat No. 23A, or midair over the State of Selangor. If you have any ideas or any good suggestions, please put down your opinion in the comments below.

Gunung Gading

Gunung Gading
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Gunung Gading national Park is located in the Lundu District, southwest of Sarawak. The Park is located near the beaches at Pandan and Siar.

There are waterfalls in the upper reaches of Sungai Lundu which is a popular recreational destination for both local and foreign visitors. The highest peak of Gunung Gading is 900 meters high and the more adventurous visitors can take a hike right up to the peak.

The world's largest flower, the Rafflesia tuan-mudae (bunga pakma) can be found at Gunung Gading. At full bloom this giant flower stretches nearly one meter in width.

Mount Gading is under the care and jurisdiction of the National Park & Wildlife Division (Forest Department Sarawak). They have built accommodations and trekking facilities within the park. The Park is just 5 minutes drive from Lundu town or about 2 hour's drive from Kuching. Visitors can choose either day-trips or overnight stays when visiting the Park.

For more information regarding the Gunung Gading National Park, visit HERE.

Internet Connection

It seems that the internet connection has some effect on Foreign Investment as pointed out by this news report. I had experienced how the bad internet connection can affect your online life. Without having access to the line based broadband internet connection, I had to resort to the wireless internet connection and you always experienced some nightmares whenever you wanted to download or upload some large files.

However, it is not that bad because I can still rely on the nearby Cyber Cafes which have the faster internet connections. Most of the Cyber Cafes are using very fast satellite internet connection to support their businesses. Even though their locations are far away from major development, they are still having the luxury of high internet connection.

If I understand it better, for other business owners such as Gas Stations, they also are using some kind of satellite connections for higher internet speed. Therefore, I don't see any problem for any big companies who wanted to do business in this country to get very high speed internet connections.

As individual users like me, I had some problems with the mobile wireless connections. But, after getting my line based broadband connection, so far I have not experienced any slow connection. Now, I can update anything online without wasting my time going to the Cyber Cafes or without wasting my time waiting for the slow downloading time.

Emkay Stories

Image by nancyarora2020 via Flickr

This Report is about the story of how Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal, turned himself from a civil servant as a senior assistant district officer (ADO) into a tycoon in property development; the Emkay group that had since sold nearly 50,000 units of residential and commercial properties worth in excess of RM8 billion.

It is about an Emkay gallery that has a story of its own when the then Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal was about to leave his office when an elderly Chinese man came over wanting to have a word with him.

The turning point quotes that the elderly Chinese man left for him to ponder is "I may be rich, but I don't have the authority vested in me like you. It's very unfortunate that both authority and wealth don't mix most of the time. In reality, you can perhaps choose one but not both. It's all about the choice that you must make."

Indeed, the young Mustapha had a great deal of authority as ADO and the elderly man had left Mustapha thinking -- which would be better, authority or wealth?

Soon after, Mustapha left the civil service and made a fortune in property development; his company, the Emkay group.

Siar Beach Resort

Last Saturday had the opportunity to spend some time at Siar Beach. Siar Beach is located in Lundu. which is about an hour drive from Kuching. There are several resorts at Siar Beach. One  of the resort that we visited is the Siar Beach Resort. The resort has several self contained bungalow units perfect for family vacation. The room is fully air-conditioned and have cooking facilities.

Furthermore, the beach front is only a few steps away from the resort. The Siar Beach is a bay area and the current is not very strong and the water is perfect for swimming.

Will go there again soon to bring along family members to enjoy the breezy ocean front.

Causes of Recent Tremors in Malaysia Being Answered

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

It is very lucky for Malaysia for being far away from all of the disaster prone areas such as earthquake and also typhoon. For example, the recent spats of typhoon pounding the Philippines and Vietnam only reached Malaysia in the form of thunderstorm and rainfalls.

However, according to this report, there are since the end of 2007, 40 tremors were recorded in Malaysia but the significant fact was that 37 incidences of these seismic activity occurred along the fault line in Bentong, Pahang. The three others recorded were in Manjung (Perak) and Jerantut (Pahang). I was reported that Bentong alone had recorded 29 cases of tremors, also known as 'temblors'.

Also, according to the experts, none of the tremors occur at the Titiwangsa Range which is the country''s backbone.

The report also mentioned that here are 13 seismology stations operating in Malaysia, capable of detecting quakes and tremors that occur in the country. Seven are in Peninsular Malaysia with the rest in Sabah and Sarawak.

The recent tremors in Malaysia is due to a restabilisation process of the earth''s structure at the fault line in the areas. The process followed the movement of the earth's layers in the wake of the large-scale earthquakes that happened in the past few years such as the Dec 26 in Aceh, Indonesia, Nias (Indonesia) on March 28, 2005 and Padang (Indonesia) on Oct 1, 2009.