Fuel of choice - Petronas

When I first started driving, my first choice of fuel was Mobil.

That's because I was a fan of the McLaren F1 team which was sponsored by Mobil.

Back then, I even used its Mobil1 lubricant oil for my car.

My second choice was Petronas as at that time I considered the Suber Petronas team as my second favourite F1 team.

That was until I fell in love with someone who preferred Shell.

Yup, I actually switched to fuelling up at Shell stations for a few years because of that.

Later on, that person switched to Petronas and I followed suit.

I know, it sounds stupid, but that's how I ended up using Petronas fuel till today.

I only go to the others if I can't find a Petronas station.

Well, I'm quite happy with Petronas now.

Makes me feel patriotic too, okay.

After all, its Mercedes AMG Petronas team is the F1 champion for the past several years now.

Even though I'm no longer a big fan of F1, it feels good to see the team sponsored by the national oil company doing well.

So, that's the story of my fuel preference.

Today, there was this story,

Government defends Petron as its fuel provider

I think the story by Bernama was weirdly written.

But never mind, this is why the story comes about,

excerpts;

It issued the statement in response to criticism from former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and PAS Deputy President Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man on the appointment of Petron Fuel International into the panel of fuel suppliers for government vehicles via its indent cards. 

Okay, it's actually because of Mirzan Mahathir's interests in Petron more than anything else.

Honestly, I don't really care about such allegations of nepotism anymore.

I have accepted the fact that Malaysians don't care about it.

That's because PKR, DAP, and Pribumi Bersatu which top leadership include family members are doing well.

So, I'm nowadays fine with it too.

Turns everything into a family business. It doesn't matter.

This is Malaysia Baru, okay.

Well, whatever it is, I think I'll stick with Petronas.

It's Malaysians' after all.

Petron....err, I don't even really know the brand lah.

If I feel like switching one day, I think I'll go to Shell.

Reminds me of those days when I was so in love....hahaha.

Eh, here's a song,

Cheers.

Missing love on Sept 1

This is my friend and me via Line last night,

My friend is the masseuse from Thailand whom I wrote about in this post,

• 
  
• Learning from a masseuse

excerpts;

She has a nine year old daughter back home and she is also supporting her elderly father.

We mostly talked about that as she massage me.

How's Aom doing at school? Is your father well? That sort of things.

Yes, she's a real friend.

I was in the East Coast early last week when she told me that she was rushing back home to Thailand because her father's condition took a sudden bad turn.

Her father was 87 years old and wheelchair-bound.

As I wrote in the previous post

excerpts;

She used to work in South Korea but switched to Malaysia after her father got really sick a few years back.

She needed to be nearer to home because of her father's condition, she said.

She wished she could go back to Thailand altogether but has to instead continue working here as she needs the extra money to fulfill her responsibilities.

I actually admire her for being such a strong woman.
 
Whatever it is, I'm glad that she managed to be there for her father till the end.

I really hope that she'll be alright because I know that she loves her father very much.

Her father raised her by himself because her mother died when she was about four-years-old.

It was actually quite heart breaking to think that in his old age, his daughter has to work abroad as a masseuse to support the family.

He was a paddy farmer.

Despite all the talks about how advanced the Thai paddy industry is, its farmers are still not doing very well.

I actually learnt from my friend that life is still tough for her family and most other farmers in her country.

Actually after listening to her, I think our paddy farmers in Malaysia are generally doing better with the help from the government all these years.

But of course these days

Paddy farmers worry over possible end of Bernas import monopoly

Hopefully the government is doing the right things and things will not be too bad for them.

Anyway, I think I'll just rest at home today.

I actually miss my mother very much after receiving news from my friend last night.

Not unlike my friend, my mom is now taking care of my grandparents.

It's not easy taking care of elderly people.

My mom also got sickly herself sometimes these days.

I pray that my mom, grandma and grandpa are okay.

That's all.

Here's a song for today;

Ciao.

About possibly more expensive goods and services

I'm now at a Subway joint in Shah Alam, waiting for my cousin.

That's my dinner.

Steak and cheese sandwich with lots of veggie. And Coke.

Not exactly healthy food but who cares, right.

Still got about an hour before my cousin is finished with whatever she's doing.

I'm fetching her home for the long weekend because she can't drive.

She's the one who enrolled at UiTM that day.

Well, I don't mind doing these sort of things.

Nothing much to write actually. Just killing time.

Okay may be I should tell you all this.

I think the prices of goods and services will go up quite a bit once the SST is implemented on Saturday.

In fact, some have already went up.

Just this morning my friend told me that the price of pre-cooked pizza she normally buys at Aeon Big supermarket has gone up.

It used to be RM4.70 per piece but now RM5.20.

I know, you all may say pizza is not an essential item, but that's not the case with my friend.

You see, my friend has a son who is with autism and the boy eats mostly pizza and roti canai. Seriously. He doesn't eat rice at all.

And for pizza, he only eats either those at Pizza Hut or that one prepared at Aeon Big. He doesn't even eat those at Domino Pizza.

Well, that's how it is with children with autism.

So, my friend has to bear with this. Hopefully the price will not go up further after the SST is implemented.

Another thing such as these which worries me is this story,

Higher consultation fees at private clinics soon

Well, everyone should buy health insurance, I guess.

That's even include the lower income people. Just in case.

Otherwise it would be difficult.

You know lah how it is to get treatment at the government clinics and hospitals these days.

Always crowded and very long queue.

Let's say your baby got fever, I think it would be quite a bit to go to a government hospital or clinic instead of going to a nearby private neighbourhood clinic.

Like it or not we will be paying the higher consultation fees soon.

I only wish for the government to do something to lessen the rakyat's burden on these sort of things.

The current PH government is supposed to be better than the BN government.

So, hopefully that is true...that things will not be so bad.....especially once the SST kicks in.

Well, SST is better than GST, right? That's what they told us ya.

Whatever it is, I think everyone should heed this advice;

Spend wisely once SST has been implemented – Fomca

Just in case la. Who knows, maybe SST is after all not better than GST.

You know lah, these days, people said something but it turns out into something else.

Okay, need to go now. My cousin just called and wanted me to pick her up now.

Ciao.

Confusion over Soda Tax and Forest City

Yesterday was a bit confusing.

In the morning there was this story,

Govt mulling soda tax

 to encourage healthy living: Dr M

but later in the afternoon there was this one,

Sugar price drops 

as govt weighs soda tax

I think the government needs to coordinate better on these sort of things.

Otherwise people would say it has a jumbled up policy.

Didn't they discuss these first at Cabinet meetings?

Then there were these comments,

A soda tax is not going to 
solve the obesity problem — The Galen Centre

Tax sugar and not 

just soda, say academicians

Well, don't know lah.

Then there was also this announcement yesterday morning by Dr Mahathir as quoted by Reuters,

Malaysia says Forest City 

project off limits to foreign buyers

which is a complete opposite of this one by a minister earlier this month,

Minister: Foreigners can buy 

freehold properties in Forest City

I hope Dr Mahathir can sit down with his ministers and tell them to shut up and let him do all the talking.

Just like it was during his first 22 years as a BN PM.

Better that way.

Whatever it is, Dr Mahathir's announcement yesterday was as good as killing off the project.

Well, I was not really surprised as getting at Forest City was one of the handsome old man's GE14 promises,

But then again the developer later in the day issued this statement,

Forest City developer believes 
Dr M's statement 'taken out of context

These are the most interesting bits,

excerpts;

“Today’s comments do not correspond with the content of the meeting between Tun Mahathir and Founder and Chairman of Country Garden Holdings, Yeung Kwok Keung,” said the company.

The two, according to the statement, had a 40-minute closed-door meeting on 16 August 2018, prior to the prime minister’s visit toBeijing.

“During the meeting, Tun Mahathir reiterated that he welcomes foreign investments which could create employment opportunities, promote technology transfer and innovations that could benefit Malaysia’s economic growth and job creation,” said the company.

CGPV said it had complied with all laws and regulations with the necessary approvals to sell to foreign property buyers.

Well, I hope the developer is right. That it was just a misunderstanding.

Otherwise, we may likely be in trouble with not only the Chinese but also other potential investors.

You shouldn't say this today but say something else tomorrow.

People are going to be scared of you when you do that.

Meanwhile, down in Johor,

Exco: We're trying to 

make sense of PM's comments

Hmmm....that's understandable.

I wonder what the Johor palace, which has significant interest in the Forest City project has to say.

Somehow I suspect that another announcement will be made later to straighten things out....and the project will be all right.

You see, I was against those projects along the Tebrau Straits earlier than everyone else such as in this post on Sept 3 2014,

Meanwhile in Johor...the song remains the same

(you can check earlier similar posts in this blog's archive)

but I don't think shutting it down now is a good idea.

That's because there will be severe backlash if we do this now after it has already started.

If it has not started yet, then it's a different story.

I think even Dr Mahathir knows this.

So, see lah how.

For now we just relax.

After all, these days, words and promises don't really worth that much.

Tomorrow, they would say something else.

Just wait for things to really happen, okay.

A day at UiTM and what others may do to it

Been a busy weekend.

Spent the whole of yesterday at the UiTM main campus in Shah Alam.

Chauffeur duty for my cousin who registered for an English degree course at the university.

Not really a pleasant experience though.

The traffic jam within the campus was horrible and the registration process was also not very smooth.

I felt that the facilitators didn't do a really good job at managing the whole thing.

UiTM should do better on this next time.

They must do more to improve so that people don't say bad things about the university, such as when its graduates were being called slow learners which is not true.

Well, that aside, all the best to my cousin.

Hopefully she will enjoy her studies there and I'm quite sure she'll come out of it with better English than mine.

Honestly, my English is quite bad. and I don't want my cousin to end up like me.

But I also hope that my cousin would not end up like some of those pricks who think so superior of themselves just because their English is better than others'.

Having excellent command of English does not mean oneself is superior in everything, okay.

I don't believe that anyone should claim that he/she knows everything and being right all the time.

Let's say one's expertise is the English language, that does not mean he/she is also a political expert.

Being able to speak the language fluently doesn't mean that what were being said were right.

I always cringe whenever I met someone who think that he/she knows about everything, such as when people who never even lived or worked in my home state of Johor writing as if knowing everything about it.

But then again, this Malaysia Baru seems to be okay with that.

Look at this one they are going to have at Sunway University;

Yup, a white guy from a Singapore university is going to tell us how to have constitutional changes without changing the constitution.

It's being bandied as Malaysia Baru's prospects.

I guess such constitutional change to be recommended will affect bumiputera institutions such as UiTM, among others.

That's because one of the main complaints against our constitution is in regards to the bumiputera rights.

Whatever it is, I wonder if the guy had ever advised Singaporeans on how to improve their constitution...without changing it.

Sunway University.....I studied there for a while when it was still a college in PJ but quit because I felt it was not good enough.

Seriously, at that time, for the course that I took, I felt that UiTM's was better.

Let's revive the crooked bridge project

A friend forwarded this via WhatsApp early this morning;

“Dia (Tun Abdullah Badawi) akan bersara (sebagai Penasihat Petronas) kerana kita tidak memerlukan penasihat lagi. Penasihat kadang-kadang tidak memberi nasihat, jadi saya fikir kita membazirkan wang jika kita hanya membayar gaji kerana kita boleh memberikan wang itu kepada rakyat,” kata Perdana Menteri [1]

Sebagai rekod Dr Mahathir telah memegang jawatan Penasihat Petronas bermula akhir 2003 hingga awal Mac 2016. Sepanjang tempoh 13 tahun perkhidmatan beliau, rizab tunai Petronas telah bertambah dari RM37.178b (Oktober 2003) kepada RM120.731b (Disember 2015). Pertambahan sebanyak RM83.533 bilion atau purata RM6.42 bilion setahun. [2][3]

Pak Lah telah memegang jawatan Penasihat Petronas bermula 1 April 2016. Sepanjang tempoh hampir 2 tahun, rizab tunai Petronas telah meningkat daripada RM121.492b (Dec 2016) kepada RM164.7 bilion (Mac 2018). Pertambahan sebanyak RM43.2 bilion atau purata RM21.6 bilion setahun. [3][4]

Jadi memang benar. Bayar gaji Pak Lah sebagai Penasihat Petronas membazir. Bayar gaji Mahathir sebagai Penasihat Petronas berbaloi.

Memang jenis tak boleh tengok orang lagi hebat dari dia ke macammana?

Rujukan:

[1]
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/2018/08/21/laporan-giliran-pak-lah-pula-digugur-sebagai-penasihat-petronas/)

[2] Laporan Kewangan Interim Petronas Q3 FY2003

[3] Laporan Kewangan Tahunan Petronas 2016

[4] Laporan Kewangan Interim Petronas Q1 FY2018


Honestly, I'm not really sure what I should comment on this.

Well, except maybe on the argument of how Pak Lah seems to be doing better than Dr Mahathir as Petronas adviser.

Ya, I do wonder what Pak Lah actually advised Petronas that it managed to accumulate better average cash reserve those two years than when Dr Mahathir was the adviser for 13 years.

Bear in mind that the oil and gas industry was suffering from weak global prices those two years.

Or is it because unlike Dr Mahathir,  Pak Lah really didn't advise Petronas on anything thus giving the clever people there better freedom to do their best for the national oil company.

Don't know lah. As someone sang "You say it best, when you say nothing at all" :)

Anyway, I think Dr Mahathir just wants what's best for Petronas.

You all know lah what he thinks of Pak Lah since he gave the premiership to the guy back then.

Pak Lah cancelled quite a bit of Dr Mahathir's initiatives at that time.

In fact, I was among those who were unhappy with Pak Lah over all that and was supporting Dr Mahathir's quest to oust him.

True enough, Pak Lah quit after BN's less than satisfying performance in the 2008 general election.

Of course, these were before Najib, who was much supported by Dr Mahathir became PM in 2009 and his eventual destruction, also by Dr Mahathir in the recent GE14.

Well, now Dr Mahathir is back as PM.

Come to think of it, since he is about to ensure Pak Lah's departure from Petronas, I do wonder if the handsome old man has plans to revive his initiatives which were cancelled by Pak Lah that many years ago.

Being a Johorean, the one that I really like to see being revived is this one;

Yup, the crooked bridge or scenic bridge, which ever way you want to call it.

If I remember it correctly, Pak Lah's decision to cancel the project was the final straw that made Dr Mahathir went against him.

It was also one of the main grouses he had with Najib as the guy refused to revive the project after replacing Pak Lah.

But of course that was before the full blown war between them and all the 1MDB accusations.

Well, never mind all that now.

I just want to see Dr Mahathir reviving the crooked bridge project which will enable the water of Tebrau Straits to flow again.

That's the main reason cited for the project. Currently, the water is blocked by the Causeway. It's stagnant and stinky.

I think I remember Dr Mahathir said back then that it can be done.

Really, I don't mind the Singaporeans getting irritated again over this one.

After all, it's jolly good fun having a bit of quarrel with my Singaporean cousins.

Just a bit, okay :)

Oh, this is the song about being a Petronas adviser, I guess;

Kluang girl and Dr Mahathir in a Proton

This is the story of the video

Meet the girl who opened 

and closed Dr M's window

excerpts;

According to a Sin Chew Daily report, Tan Shu Rin is a second-year Malaysian student in Shanghai's Fudan University, who is majoring in broadcasting.

The 21-year-old student, who hails from Kluang, is an intern with Nuance Communications.

Nuance is collaborating with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to develop the voice command system, one of which would be used for the Malaysian market.

The report quoted Tan stating that she had practiced numerous times with the voice command prior to Mahathir's arrival.

She was also not sure if Mahathir would enter the vehicle she was in, as there were five others as well and was delighted when the premier picked hers.

What was not mentioned in the story was that Shu Rin is a graduate of Chung Hwa High School Kluang.

That's my mother's school. I'm sure she's proud of Shu Rin.

My mom was as pretty as Shu Rin when she was as young as her. She's still beautiful today, okay.

And like my mother, Shu Rin pronounces R properly. Proton, not Ploton.

Otherwise the car windows may not opened.

So, I'm okay with Chinese schools and their graduates. You all can check this blog's archive for that.

By the way, I believe Dr Mahathir must have quite a bit of fun during the visit to Geely's facilities.

As mentioned in the story, the handsome old man was not happy when Geely tied up with Proton back then.

He even said Proton is no longer a Malaysian national car.

Maybe he will change his mind after the visit to Geely.

Well, Dr Mahathir already said that he's now okay that Proton is working with Geely.

Maybe now we don't need to proceed with the third national car and another round of auto industry protectionism.

Seriously, I don't mind Dr Mahathir making a U-turn on this one.

Let's wait and see.

By the way, I'm just glad that it was Dr Mahathir who was with Shu Rin trying out the car....instead of Anwar.

I don't trust Anwar, okay.