Counterfeiting has been a lucrative business that has affected many industries worldwide. Copying and reproducing the design of famous brands and products have allowed many of these “pirates” reap billions of dollars in profit and cause billions of dollars in loss for the owners of these brands. The latest fiasco of counterfeiting or fake does not come from the fashion industry but is from the semiconductor business. Recently, there have been cases where customers who ordered Intel processors from Newegg received fake processors instead of the real deal. Newegg has issued a statement claiming innocence and blamed its supplier for the “fatal error”. Whatever the case may be, I suspect that the country that has been involved in fake eggs and tainted milk is once again shown the world that no matter how much money it may seem to have, it is far from overtaking the United States as a economy super house with incidents such as this.
-image from www.gearlog.com
Full story on the unboxing of a fake intel processor at gearlog.com here.
August 31st, 2009 will mark Malaysia’s 52th year of independence. Half a century has past for this developing country in the heart of South East Asia and I wonder what achievements have we made as Malaysians.
Well wonder no more. Below are the achievements that we have made since August 31st, 1957. The list includes both the good and the bad.
Feel free to add to the list through the comment box.
1. Gained independence from the British (Good)
2. Creation of national schools or Sekolah Kebangsaan – to establish unification of Malaysians (Good)
3. Creation of Vernacular schools – Malay, Chinese and Indian school (Some say its good, some say its bad)
4. Creation of NEP (National Economic Policy) – establishment of quotas for the Malay (60% of the population) because they were lagging in the economy (It was good before the heavy abuse by the politicians as a vote gaining tool)
5. A country where her people can live harmoniously together, until the Politicians started using “Race Politics” for their own gain (Good at first, bad because its the main political tool nowadays)
6. Establishment of the Royal Malaysian Police (Police Diraja Malaysia: PDRM) – Well the History of the PDRM goes back to the 1400’s during the Malacca empire (according to Wikipedia) but PDRM are making headline nowadays for their action against peaceful demonstrators. PDRM loves to fire tear gas at them. Their reason, to calm them down. IMHO, the PDRM is the one that needs to calm the f down. (Good before, Bad now)
7. The building of Petronas Twin tower, once the world’s tallest building but has now be taken over by Taipei 101. – (Good. To show that Malaysia can actually build an office building commissioned by Korean and Japanese Engineering firms)
8. Creation of KLIA and Sepang F1 (Good)
9. The lost of majority seats in the Parliament by the ruling national party (Barison Nasional) – (Good)
10.After 52 years of independence, Malaysia is still harmonious albeit the many social unrest – robberies, snatch thieves, car window smashing robberies, illegal immigrants (Good, considering we have problems that need to be solved. Freaking goverment and PDRM are just playing the race politics and firing tear gas)
11. ISA (BAD..BAD…BAD)
After all these years, I am still proud to say, AKU ANAK MALAYSIA. Bukan Cina, Bukan Melayu, Bukan India atau Lain-lain.
AKU ANAK MALAYSIA!
My beloved country, Malaysia was sucked into chaos yesterday (Aug 1, 2009) when two groups, those for and against the controversial ISA (Internal Security Act), took the streets in what was supposed to be a peaceful march from the heart of Kuala Lumpur (Masjid Jamek and SOGO) to the Royal Palace but was met with brute police intervention. Each of the groups was supposed to hand in their memorandums regarding the ISA. The Anti-ISA group wants the government to abolish the draconian law of ISA which allows the government to detain indefinitely anyone suspected of undermining the stability of the nation without trial while the Pro-ISA maintains the need for a law, created to capture and put to trial Communist Members back in the 1960’s <–Click here for wiki on ISA. The ISA has been the subject of abuse by the government and there have been many horrors stories related to the ISA.
The Anti-ISA rally was dispersed by the Royal Malaysian Police through unnecessary shots of tear gas and chemical-laden water. A supposedly peaceful march turned into a scene of police abuse and brutality. “There was no need for the firing of tear gases or the chemical-laced water to disperse the march because it was a peaceful one”, said one of the rally members.
While elsewhere:
Malaysia, once a peaceful and developing country, is now faced with heavy corruption from all levels and ever increasing crime rate. Many Malaysians, feeling unsafe, even in their own homes during broad daylight, are taking matters into their own hands <– click for news . They are organizing their own crime watch groups, similar to that of Rukun Tetangga back in the days. (I foresee an opportunity for a new group of elite security forces for hire, consisting of foreign or local ex-police or ex-military personnel). The government has abused their power while the police force is good for nothing.
IMHO:
Malaysia needs change badly but I don’t foresee it happening overnight. Even the French Revolution lasted for 10 years and within the lost decade, many people sacrificed their lives for such change.
Let all Malaysians rise to the tyranny of the Government and make the necessary changes for a better tomorrow for our future generations.
We need a Malaysia for all Malaysians with low crime rate, high job opportunities, zero – corruption and Freedom of speech and press!
A very entertaining and amusing video from wallstats.com and mint.com. It depicts what can you do with a Trillion dollars. Our current budget deficit is at a mind boggling 1 trillion dollars and it is still growing…
I was reading an article about the Credit Card Act 2009 online and I thought about rehashing what the government has already published on the white house website here. Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY14] and signed by President Obama on May 22, 2009, the CARD Act of 2009 brings about the issue of long term credit card reform. Among the issues pressed by the act are:
strong and reliable protections for consumers.
forms and statements from Credit card companies must be in plain language and in plain sight (full disclosure prior to signing up)
Consumers can shop and choose their credit cars without being taken advantage of by the credit card companies
Credit card companies who are found to deceive and cheat consumers in any forms of abuse shall be held accountable
And the main elements of the act, as reported by the White House, are:
Bans Unfair Rate Increases
Prevents Unfair Fee Traps
Plain Sight /Plain Language Disclosures
Accountability
Protections for Students and Young People
There is a good article at www.personaldividends.com that talks about how the Card Act 2009 will affect you. Read it here.
I got the image above from the web and it does reflect the ugly truth that most American media tries to cover from the American people. Many of the truth are hidden from us because most American media are very selective in what they report or print and if they print such an unpleasant headline, it will affect the ratings, which eventually will affect sales.
Most Americans want to hear or read only pleasant things and by reading a headline such as “Losing In Afghanistan”, Americans will feel as if they have been slapped with the biggest FUCK YOU in their faces. For the past 8 years many have suffered enough because Americans were duped into electing a past president that have sold us the idea that the War on Terror that can be won in a “short and swift manner”.
We will always have fools living in their own world thinking that the everything in this world is based on a book that is 2000 years old. Nothing wrong with being religious, but there’s definitely something wrong when someone is on the extreme end.
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