Not yet a high income nation, but living at high costs

Hello, it's been a month plus since I last wrote on this page. I've been a little exhausted at night after work, which explains my absence from blogging and in fact, on social networks. I'm not saying that I haven't been on facebook and twitter whatsoever, because I do still go on these sites but on my mobile. Anyway, boring rantings aside, the main point of my writing today is to share my personal opinions on the living costs in Malaysia. 

Ever since I started working and earning my own salary for personal expenses including transport, clothing, food and groceries, I am beginning to appreciate how fortunate I am to be working with my current company, Amway, that manage to offer me a good starting salary, unlike many other food industries which take advantage of fresh graduates by offering very low starting salaries. I know many of you might think that fresh graduates cannot ask much, but I don't think what I am asking is overly ridiculous. I mean, some companies are offering me salaries below MYR 2000. Come on, even my supervisor/lecturer who was in the industry TEN (10) years back started with a pay of MYR 1800. How is it that after 10 years, the starting pay hasn't increased, whilst cost of living has increased tremendously? Furthermore, science graduates who paid higher tuition fees than business and commerce graduates are offered much lower starting salaries. If this isn't under appreciation of science graduates, I don't know what or how to describe it. The government who claims they want to attract more of the younger generation to take up the sciences, how are them young ones going to be attracted to choose a career in sciences if the prospect is so dim? It's no wonder many science graduates have switched or are switching to marketing, management, sales and commerce jobs, because they get better pay in these fields. I'm not complaining that those who're in the mentioned fields are very well paid, but I'm just reiterating the fact that science graduates are very under appreciated.

Speaking of living costs, I personally feel that our cost of living is very high. Most of you might think that cost of living in Malaysia is relatively cheaper than many other developed nations like Singapore, Australia and UK, but I beg to differ. If you're converting currencies to see which country has higher costs, then obviously things might still be cheaper in Malaysia. However, if we compare on a dollar-to-dollar basis, Malaysians are paying much more for equivalent items across these nations. For instance, in terms of food and groceries, a litre of milk in Malaysia costs about MYR 5.0 to MYR 8.0, depending on the brand purchased. The equivalent in Singapore only costs about SGD 3.3. A loaf of bread in Malaysia costs about MYR 3.5, whilst a larger loaf of bread in Australia costs only about AUD 1.5. Even hawker food in Klang Valley are becoming as expensive as MYR 4 for a small portion and up to MYR 6 for a large portion. In Singapore, I can still get similar dishes at SGD 3 for a medium portion and SGD 4 for a large portion. A tall cup of Starbucks coffee in the UK might cost only about GBP 3 or less, and in Singapore about SGD 6, whilst in Malaysia is about MYR 11. No matter how one is filthy rich in Malaysia, the monetary value of the item is still more expensive than in the UK and Singapore.

As for clothing, a basic tank top from H&M in Malaysia cost MYR 19.9 whilst in Singapore, the same item costs only SGD 7.9. A belt from ASOS, which costs only GBP 10.0 is about MYR 50.0 in Malaysia. Of course we have to take into account the currency conversion in this case, but my point is that among people who're earning the same figure in their respective currencies, Malaysians are spending more of their salaries on equivalent items. Yesterday, I got myself two basic tank tops and a polo tee from H&M Singapore at only SGD 33.7. Today, I got myself another tank top and a polo tee from H&M KL at MYR 59.8. Do you get my point? My friends who have been to Hong Kong told me that the H&M there is even cheaper than in Singapore and Malaysia after currency conversion! And Hong Kong is one of Asia's high income nations! 

Another basic necessity in this country which is overpriced is the public transportation. My travel expenses to and from work daily costs about MYR 7.5, and this is also because I am getting the 50% fare discount on the KTM line as my monthly income is less than MYR 3000. Otherwise, my daily rail expenses may come up to about MYR 11! However, I still find rail and bus fares exceptionally expensive if compared to that in Singapore. Furthermore, in Singapore, passengers who use the EZ-Link stored-value cards for electronic payment are entitled to 15% fare discounts on all their public transportation including MRT, LRT and buses.  The same can be said for UK's Oyster cards and Hong Kong's Octopus cards. Here, our Touch n' Go  cards doesn't even offer rail and bus fare discounts. On the contrary, there might even be additional surcharge of 10%  for payment such as car parking fees. How is it more convenient and affordable for consumers, I really don't know. Recently, I took the Express Rail Link train from KL International Airport to KL Central Interchange, which costs a whooping MYR 35 for single journey! When I took the MRT from the city to Changi International Airport, the ride only costed SGD 1.70! 

So in conclusion, one who thinks Malaysia have low cost of living is either a non-citizen from a higher income nation or is a citizen who is filthy rich. Otherwise, I assume the person must be somehow mad. 

British Invasion

So this year I am fortunate enough to see two of Britain's talent perform live in KL: Joe Brooks and Spector! If you don't already know, I'm a sucker for many things British, including British music. The Joe Brooks Trio made their way to KL earlier this year in March, and they were somehow in Segi College Subang Jaya for the meet and greet event few days before their showcase at KL Live on March 3rd. My sister who's a student at Segi, was involved as a volunteer for the event at Segi and managed to score some passes for their show on Saturday, so the lucky me got to go see them perform live! Can I just stress that Joe Brooks is so handsome, and that his outfits are simply stylish and awesome? Joe Brooks (main vocalist and guitarist) together with Matthew de la Garza (drummer) and Clinton Barbers (keyboard) make up the Joe Brooks Trio. 

The Joe Brooks Trio - Clinton, Joe and Matt

Then I saw Spector just three weeks back on October 6th, when they performed at The Stage at Avenue K. Spector is composed of Frederick Macpherson (main vocalist), Jed Cullen (synths and guitarist),  Christopher Burman (guitarist) Thomas Shickle (bassist), and Danny Blandy (drummer). Their KL showcase was specially presented by Topman and Universal Music Malaysia. I have been listening to Spector a few months back and never in my mind would I ever thought I'd see an indie band from Britain perform live! So when Topman announced that they're bringing Spector down to KL, I was mad excited! However, to redeem their showcase tickets, I needed to spend above RM 200 in a single receipt at Topman KLCC or Mid Valley. I thought my hopes of seeing them were gone because I didn't have anything in mind to buy at that time. But I was in luck once again, when my sister told me that her friend had scored multiple tickets from Capital FM for their showcase. So I got to see them for free! Their performance was brilliant of course! And they looked dashing in Topman, especially Thomas and his light blue blazer coupled with his awesome pair of leather pants!  

My Spector ticket

Spector

Thomas Shickle

Jed Cullen

Frederick Macpherson

Christopher Burman

Danny Blandy

I'm quite glad that both Joe Brooks and Spector aren't mainstream. So naturally, the crowd at their showcase wasn't as crazy as those of mainstream artists, such as the k-pop concerts I attended last year. I know I'm selfish to say this, but I enjoy and prefer them to be out of mainstream music. That way they can write and compose music to their own personalities without the pressure to hit the mainstream billboard. I mean, let's face it: mainstream music these days are more to being addictive than meaningful. Look at Psy's Gangnam Style and its worldwide success, even though the lyrics are simplistic and doesn't make much sense to its non-Korean audience. 

Meeting these guys in person are definitely two of my highlights of this year! I am so blessed and grateful and thankful to have had the opportunities! What more, I managed to get their autographs, so I am very very satisfied indeed!

Photos of Spector taken from Yin

myBurgerLab

Finally, I've visited the much hyped about myBurgerLab! The place is fairly new (about a month old?) but people have been raving about the omnomnomnomlicious burgers there. I've been wanting to go with my uni mates ever since their opening week, but it's been quite difficult to fit everyone's busy and hectic working/research schedules, so the plan has been postponed multiple times up till yesterday. The plan was to  celebrate Ms. Su Lin and Mr. Victor Lee's birthdays this month.

The long wait wasn't even over as when we arrived at the place, their staffs told us that we have to wait at least an hour long (queue, order, and waiting time) to get our food. Their business hours are from 5.00 pm to 10.30 pm, but the queue begins at about 4pm and by 7-8pm, they'd be sold out! Their food is THAT good. We were there at about 5.30 pm but the queue was already a loop long. The other dilemma about this place is the limited seats available (literally!), so people really do just seat, dine and leave - no seating down and taking your sweet time whilst other patrons stand and stare at you waiting to be seated. I personally think for such a great business they're having at the moment, they'd be earning enough to open a new outlet soon (a larger one with more seats I hope!). Lucky for us, our waiting time was altogether about 45 minutes, which was much shorter than expected. Many of my other friends had experienced longer waiting time, and some were even disappointed when the place was sold out as early as 7.30 pm on a weekday. 

Now, as with any post about food, let the pictures do the talking! To really understand the hype, you need to head over to their outlet in Sea Park, Petaling Jaya to savour every bite yourself :D

Everyone knows we have to show a picture of the place's name or we weren't there

With Ms. Suja and Ms. Su Lin (the September baby)

Ms.  Boey Yee and Ms. Mei-Jean

Hungry? Omnomnomnomnomnom This Burger! 

A+ Beef version (There's also the chicken version) (RM 15.00 ala carte, RM 21.00 set with fries and bottomless soft drink)

Chicken and Egg Dilemma (RM 15.50 ala carte, RM 21.50 set)

Since most of us ordered the famous A+ (actually 5 out of 8 of us ordered this, both beef and chicken versions) and the Chicken and Egg Dilemma, so that's all the pictures I can show in this post. For more information about their menu, you may visit their official Facebook page and see their photo albums! 

myBurgerLab

14, Jalan 21/22

Sea Park 

46300 Petaling Jaya

What did I think about the food? It was dog's bollocks. Highly recommended, although you do have to head there as early as 4 pm to beat the queue and to ensure you get a seat. Most of their chicken dishes are fast-selling, so those who can't take beef, you need to go early. Pricing is not your ordinary burger cheap,yet not too expensive. The staffs are friendly too! You can call their guys Lengzhais (Handsome guys) and the girls Lengluis (Pretty girls) - they will respond! Haha :) 

After dinner, we had a short chill out session at Starbucks to meet up with Ms. Michelle who couldn't join us for the burger session because she was working till 7 pm. 

 Group photo (Myself, Suja, Mei-Jean, Boey Yee, Michelle, Su Lin, Siew Yin and Victor)

Photo credits to Ms. Meena Sundra, who (sadly) doesn't appear in any of the pictures here. 

McKayla is NOT impressed

The Ministry of Education in Malaysia has manage to gain local and international (hopefully not) limelight with their recently endorsed "guidelines" to identify the LGBT "symptoms" so that parents can take "corrective" measurements. According to this article, there are four notable symptoms each of gays and lesbians: 

Symptoms for gays:

1. Have muscular body and like to show their body by wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes; 

2. Prefer tight and light-coloured clothes; 

3. Attracted to men; 

4. Like to bring big handbags, similar to those used by women, when hanging out. 

Symptoms for lesbians:

1. Attracted to women; 

2. Besides their female companions, they will distance themselves from other women; 

3. Like to hang out, have meals and sleep in the company of women; and 

4. Have no affection for men.

Firstly, know that Malaysia does not support LGBT rights and its community. However, we are NOT the only country in this world that does not support this cause. My personal opinion is very simple, I have nothing against anyone's individual lifestyle, be it sexuality or religious practices. What I find blasphemy is that the government thinks that being LGBT is something that needs "fixing". Even our neigbouring republic Singapore doesn't support LGBT, but we don't see the government going around the island to identify and "fix" them. Is the Education Ministry too free? Why are they coming up with such "guidelines" when they're supposed to be involved in education policies? It's no wonder the national education system in Malaysia is depreciating after independence. Both Malaysia and Singapore inherited high quality education systems from the British, but look at the vast gap between Malaysian and Singaporean education now. Malaysia has to try to follow and keep up with our neigbouring republic's standards. If the Education Ministry is so free to identify LGBT individuals, they should be cracking their heads to bring Malaysian education system back on track to its former glory. Get your priorities SORTED. 

According to the guidelines above, does this now means:

Men

1. Only fat and overweight men are straight? And because wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes are gay, is the country going to ban sales of V-neck shirts or ban basketball jerseys? 

2. Obviously straight men won't wear tight clothes, they're overweight, remember? All men might be banned from wearing light coloured clothes because it is deemed to be gay.

3. Does the ministry think people don't know what gay means?

4. Oh god, they might ban Burberry in Malaysia because most of the men bags are huge, like those of women. 

Women

1. Seriously, we're not stupid. But we think your ministry is. 

3. Don't most girls do this? Hang out, eat and have sleepovers with their girl friends? If hanging out with girls are considered lesbian thing to do, the country might start abolishing all-girls school.

If the guidelines hold, then the northern states of Kelantan and Terengganu, which practice gender segregation in public should be considered as promoting LGBT, since people are restricted to hang out only among their own gender. 

The whole "guidelines" and "symptoms" is plain retard. Worse, you want to "fix" them. For how much longer does this nation plans to gain international attention for the wrong reasons? I just feel sorry for most Malaysians who can't be proud of calling themselves Malaysians because of some extreme retards who makes the rest of us look like we're still living in the stone ages. In fact, I think even then, people don't try to single out and fix LGBT. 

Even McKayla Maroney is NOT impressed with the MoE's ridiculous piece of trash they call "guidelines and symptoms" 

London 2012 - Enlightenment & Festival of the Flame

My London 2012 experience continued with the Paralympic Games. I was disappointed that Astro did not air the live coverage of the entire sporting event like they did with the Olympic Games, but I guess costing factors must have played a part in their final decision making. Nevertheless, they covered both the opening and closing ceremonies live, along with daily highlights of the Games. Although, I still wished I could have watched some of the live coverage because I am curious to know how these Paralympic athletes compete in their respective events.

The Games began with the opening ceremony entitled "Enlightenment" on Wednesday night. The ceremony differed in concept altogether from that of the Olympics. Whilst the latter paid tribute to British history, literature, and digital age,  the Paralympic ceremony paid tribute to scientific discoveries. Stephen Hawking (British physicist who suffers from a motor neuron disease, leaving him almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak) himself appeared during the ceremony, and said (through a speech synthesizer) "We live in a universe governed by rational laws that we can discover and understand. Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious". 

Some of the prominent scientific discoveries which were featured during the ceremony include the Big Bang theory, Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity (featuring the audience biting their given apples at the same time) and the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator in the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland (featured at the start in the film Angels & Demons). Lucky for me, as a science graduate, I was able to understand the concepts featured throughout most of the ceremony. The highlight was definitely the entrance of the Paralympic flame, which was brought in by former Royal Marine Joe Townsend, who descended from the Orbit tower into the stadium via a zip-line, passing it on to David Clarke (representing GB's blind football team), who then passed it on to Margeret Maughan, Britain's first Paralympic gold medalist for the honour of lighting the famous cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Umbrellas - A nod to British weather

Thomas Heatherwick's masterpiece 

The apple - a nod to Sir Isaac Newton

Unlike the Olympics, I didn't watch any of the events on television, so I couldn't name some of my favourite moments from the Games.  However, I still keep up with some updates via online news and the official Games website. I am proud for my fellow Malaysians Hasihin Sanawi and Ziyad Zolkefli, who brought home a silver and bronze medal in the their respective archery and shot put events. My only disappointment is how little attention these great Paralympians get from fellow Malaysians. I am also disappointed with the lower incentives they receive from the government compared to that given to the Olympians, when they have achieved equivalent triumphs as those of Dato' Lee Chong Wei and Pandelela Rinong. I personally feel Paralympians deserve so much respect for being able to achieve tremendous feats given their personal limitations. They are the ones who truly inspire generations to come. 

The closing ceremony which took place on Sunday was one which truly celebrated the athletes and the people who have been involved in the Paralympic Games for the past 11 days. Called "Festival of the Flame", the ceremony celebrated the seasonal cycle of ancient and modern festivals with a journey through autumn, winter, spring and summer, serenaded by performances from British rock band Coldplay. In fact, the ceremony was somewhat like a Coldplay concert, and being an avid listener of the band, I enjoyed most of the performances that night. Initially I was wondering why Coldplay did not perform for the closing ceremony of the Olympics, but now I know why!  They definitely gave one heck of a closing performance for the Paralympic Games with an unforgettable night of great music and artistic performances. Some of the  best performances that night were definitely Paradise, Clocks, Strawberry Swing featuring the British Paraorchestra and Every Teardrop is a Waterfall. 

Coldplay

Fireflies, representing the end of autumn

Fireflies during the performance of Paradise

The Sun King

The ceremony also saw Ireland's Michael McKillop and Kenya's Mary Nakhumicha Zakayo being awarded with the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award by Dr. Whang Youn Dai herself for best exemplifying the Paralympics spirit during these Games. What's my favourite moment of the ceremony? No, it was not the performances by Coldplay, but the entrance of the flag bearers into the stadium, who proceeded to form a heart shape at the center of the stadium, representing the love we shared for the Paralympians, who have captured our hearts and minds for the past 11 days. It's always a great sight and feeling to see different nations of the world gathering in peace and unity in the name of sports. 

The heart of  flag bearers from each Paralympic competing nations

LOCOG Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe and president of the IPC Sir Philip Craven both received standing ovations from the audience for their heartfelt closing speeches. 

"Finally, there are some famous words you can find stamped on the bottom of a product. Words, that when you read them, you know mean high quality, mean skill, mean creativity. We have stamped those words on the Olympic and Paralympic Games of London 2012. London 2012 - Made in Britain" - Lord Sebastian Coe.

"Before I close I want to link Stephen Hawking's words about changing perceptions across multiple dimensions from the ethereal opening ceremony, to the words of a five year old called George Glen. A few days ago George was reading a book "Treasure" with his mum, Emma.  The first page showed a man with an eye patch, a hook for a hand, a parrot on his shoulder and a wooden leg. Emma asked George who the man was, expecting him to say "a pirate". But he said "Well he only has one leg, he must be an athlete" - Sir Philip Craven. 

The ceremony concluded with the most extravagant display of fireworks over the Olympic stadium and river Thames, and a Union flag bearing the message "Thank You London, Thank You UK" projected on Britain's Houses of Parliament. Definitely no better way to end the Festival of the Flames than fireworks itself!

Fireworks to end the six weeks of spectacular summer sporting extravaganza!

Photos source from London 2012, the official Games website.

London 2012 - A Symphony of British Music

The closing ceremony of the London 2012 was absolutely dope! If you are my generation or elder, you'd probably enjoy the ceremony, which was literally a British invasion concert. Entitled "A Symphony of British Music", the ceremony boasted a line up of Britain's best music and performers, spanning across the 60's (maybe earlier too? I am not sure how back some of them artist date) up to the latest acts. I purposely connected my television to the stereo system to have the best sound system for the performances throughout the night. Boy did I enjoyed myself singing to some of the world's most famous tunes. Of course, there were several performances which I particularly enjoyed over the rest, but all in all, it was a superb ceremony to celebrate the close of the Games. 

The night kicked off with "Rush Hour", which definitely depicted the chaos of Britain's daily rush hour, with the honking of cars on the streets (you get this a lot on Malaysian roads too, so the familiarity was ironic). "Street Party" was next, and of course, being a Directioner, I gotta love One Direction's performance! Their outfit was simple, but speaks high street fashion. Liam was particularly good looking that night, and even though it was just a short performance, they got me singing along to a remixed version of their hit debut single What Makes You Beautiful. What I loved about this segment is the splash of different colour outfits worn by the performers (mostly young talents), which totally gives the entire party a vibrant feeling and getting the audience to sing along to the tunes. 

Rush Hour

A feature of London's famous skyline landmarks - Tower Bridge, London Eye, Clock Tower (now Elizabeth Tower to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee) and the Gherkin 

Street Party performers in splash of colours

One Direction performing What Makes You Beautiful

As Olympic tradition, the entrance of the flag bearers and athletes into the stadium at the closing ceremony was not according to their nations, but to come out together to fill up the stadium. The new twist though, was to have some of the athletes coming through the audience and making their way to the large Union Flag at the centre of the stadium. Definitely a wonderful sight to see all the athletes coming in together and celebrating the Games regardless of their nationality. 

Flag bearers

Parade of athletes into the stadium

The athletes of the London 2012 forming the giant Union Flag

The real party then started with "A Symphony of British Music". There was definitely music for people of all ages with performances from Queen, John Lennon (obviously not himself, but an artistic image of him was featured on stage), Kate Bush (she did not perform live though, but a 2012 remix of Running Up That Hill was recorded for an artistic segment of the ceremony), Annie Lennox, Fatboy Slim, Jessie J, Muse, Taio Cruz (I totally didn't know he is British) and many more. There was even a section to pay homage to the British fashion industry, which featured some of Britain's top fashion labels such as Burberry, Victoria Beckham, Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith. But the highlight of this entire segment was of course the performances from Spice Girls! Who doesn't love them? Like seriously, if you haven't heard of them, go find out about them already. It felt as if they weren't even broken up from the last time they performed together! Victoria Beckham is as smoking hot and posh as ever, and Emma Bunton is as sweet and cute as ever. The only sad thing was how short their performance was. I was totally expecting more from them given how successful they were and how every Spice Girls fans wished for them to have a reunion performance. Nevertheless, their medley of Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life probably stole the audience that night! This was then followed by Liam Gallagher singing Wonderwall, which was definitely a nostalgic moment because I grew up listening to this song. Eric Idle of the comedy group Monty Python provided a dose of good laughter with his humourous performance of Always Look On The Bright Side of Life. 

The Spice Girls performing on those cute little London cabs. They were phenomenal! 

Tribute to British fashion industry

Eric Idle

Then came the handover ceremony from host city London to Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Rio's presentation was filled with rich Latin music and samba parade. Bring it on Rio 2016! I am gonna work my way to fly over to Brazil to watch the Rio 2016 Games! 

Fireworks accompanying the handover ceremony from London to Rio, in Brazil colours

Celebrating Rio 2016!

A somber moment followed as the Olympic cauldron was "opened" or lowered to feature all 204 individual stem and petals in a flower-like structure. I seriously thought the flame was going to be extinguished immediately following the opening of the cauldron, but boy was I surprised by another highlight (and definitely one of my favourite) performance from Take That, who sang Rule The World. Come midnight, the flame was officially extinguished, signifying the end of the Games of the XXX Olympiad. Once again, this amazing cauldron by Thomas Heatherwick is one beautiful piece of art. I think I teared a little when the flame was finally extinguished to reveal the charred copper petals. The ceremony ended with a medley performance from The Who (for those of you who don't know, the opening themes of all three CSI franchise are performed by them). 

The Olympic flame burning night and day throughout the Games

The opening of the Olympic cauldron into a flower-like structure of individual stems and petals

Take That singing their hearts out to Britain and the world with Rule The World

And the ceremony ended with a display of fireworks

What a spectacular way to end the London Olympic Games experience. I'd like to give a shout out to the athletes, especially swimmers and divers who have entertained and inspired me throughout these Games, keeping my sports spirits alive despite quitting competitive swimming years ago, and to the host city for pulling off two quintessentially British ceremonies with a bang! 

Photos source from London 2012, the official Games website.