Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Economics Photography

[618] Of budget day, competitiveness ranking and cats in washing machine!

Malaysian 2006 national bajet budget is fast approaching. One of few things that I wish is that the government won’t run populist policies, like preventing fuel prices hike for instance. In fact, I do hope, however unlikely it might be, an introduction of floating fuel prices regime in the end future. Gradually, of course.

Worry about inflation? Let the government worry about fiscal-side and let the central bank worry about monetary policies. It’s time we differentiate the two institutions clearly. By differentiate, I do mean an independent central bank. There are proofs that countries with independent central bank have significantly lower inflation.

Worry about unemployment due to lower inflation? Ah, that’s another problem. Rest assured however that in the long run, both inflation and unemployment don’t matter!

While some of us are nervously wondering what awaits us in that Pandora’s box, we must realize that there is more than one way to skin a cat or cats. One way is to wash them rigorously in a washing machine.

Another wish is total elimination of income tax and introduction of consumption tax. (wait, we’ll have both income tax and consumption tax in 2007! Somebody is cheating us!) In short, full cost accounting. Heh, a green’s wet dream.

A not-so-bad news in the eve of budget day is the recently released World Economic Forum’s competitiveness ranking. Malaysia’s ranked 24th out of 117, up seven rungs from last year.

And, erm, no cat was harmed in any whatsoever way.

Inconvenienced? Well, the mother cat was pretty mad. Very.

p/s – cool stuff! KoRn with World of Warcraft!

pp/s – added Primate Noise to my blogroll.

ppp/s – Santa is real! Be afraid. Be very afraid because the Danish Air Force learned about Santa the hard way.

Categories
Solar car Sports

[617] Of beautiful Ajax without a finish

I watched Ajax played against Arsenal last night. Somehow, the match reminds me of why I like Ajax in the first place � huge but local, young yet technically skillful, a darkhorse but feared by many. But Ajax has always have problems with its finishing ever since Ibrahimovic and Mido left. This was hurtfully apparent last night.

Arsenal’s first goal was swift and punishing. I’d wish Ajax hadn’t been so relaxed.

Arsenal’s second goal is another story altogether. It was a penalty and it’s definitely a lie. Reyes dived in the penalty box and even the commentators cast doubt on the referee’s decision to award Arsenal a penalty kick. Even if the decision were appropriate, Reyes was offside and the linesman had clearly raised his flag. Somehow, the ref chose to ignore that.

When Ajax’s captain, Tomas Galasek tried to talk to the ref about that penalty, the ref refused to listen. Instead, Galasek was booked with a yellow card. Some of Ajax’s fans at Ajaxtalk.nl mourn that the ref was biased to his fellow countryman, Reyes about that penalty. I don’t know about that but I know the ref sucks.

Immediately after the penalty, Ajax’s then rushed to Arsenal’s penalty box and scored.

Yet, it wasn’t enough and again, the statistics – possession, number of shots, corners – is not reflected in the result. Cruel as it is, only the final result that matters in the end. Realization of this cruelty is what most Ajacieds – fans, players and coaches alike – are unable to grasp on.

The game itself was entertaining despite I was clearly frustrated. Nevertheless, Ajax players were fantastic and exciting. Babel, Pienaar, Rosenberg, Galasek and Boukhari did a lot of good stuff to the ball. Ajax as a team played great passing and attacking style. Yet, it never really managed to cash in on its many opportunities that it created so elegantly.

If only Ajax has another Ibrahimovic, Ajax could be a force to reckon with. It’s clear that many of Ajax players like Sneijder, Pienaar and other that I’ve mentioned earlier are maturing into great players.

p/s – a guy talking about World Animal Day in Malaysia. Or lack of.

pp/s – this entry also reminds me why I hate Italian teams so much.

ppp/s – Michigan clinched third place in WSC. Dutch Nuna 3 secured first place while Australian Aurora 101 managed second.

Categories
Politics & government

[616] Of campus election foolishness

This week, college students throughout Malaysia are polling to elect Student Representative Council members. Pro-opposition student groups allege that there are several irregularities going on however. They also claim unjust policies are being implemented by universities’ administrators to make it harder for them to participate in the election. As an act of protest, pro-opposition groups have decided to boycott the election.

A boycott could have a myriad of effects on many players. Unfortunately, the boycott is affecting the pro-opposition badly while their rivals are free and unscathed. Reason is, the boycott effectively hands over sufficient number of seats to pro-government student groups while the pro-opposition gains practically nothing.

As such, future ruling by the Student Representative Council will ignore pro-opposition’s dissenting views simply because pro-opposition won’t have noticeable voting power in the council.

If the pro-opposition groups hadn’t boycott the election, they could have a number of seats in the council. With their representatives, they could vote for an enquiry over the alleged irregularities and unfair policies. Thanks to the pro-opposition bright leadership however, such notion is harder to realize. Moreoever, their groups will become irrelevant this time around.

For the pro-opposition student groups’ leaders, c’mon, think for a sec. Do you think your opponents are losing sleep because of your boycott? Hell no! They are probably jumping joyfully while trying to lick their free fat, fat candy. Only a group of fools would disfranchise themselves and the pro-opposition groups are that fools.

As for now, I simply hope that none of the pro-opposition student groups’ leaders will lead any opposition political parties in Malaysia. If they are, then the opposition parties will have a lot of problems.

p/s – Ajax is up against Arsenal in a few hours. I hope Arsenal will get a good beating though I myself are unsure of Ajax’s recent performance.

Categories
Kitchen sink Science & technology Solar car

[615] Of happy 7th birthday, Google?

Seven pieces of cake with chocolate coating and seven strawberries on top are seen today on Google’s front pape. Can’t click on the image but the image is located at http://www.google.com/logos/7th_birthday.gif (sorry but I will not hotlink it. I hate hotlinking and I wish you do too. To see it, copy and paste the URL manually into your address bar).

Also, personalized Google finally gets to the front page?

p/s – Michigan’s currently second in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. w00t!

Categories
Sports

[614] Of poor injured Wolverine

Something that’s unheard of during my four years at Michigan – Michigan is unranked.

The winningest team in the history of college football team is unranked for the first time in more than seven years.

Michigan fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday, ending a streak of 114 straight weeks in the rankings, which was the longest in the nation. The last poll that didn’t include the Wolverines was Oct. 18, 1998.

Michigan is 2-2. I’m 2-2, too and there goes the national championship.