Posted in General on Jan 29th, 2007
I’m all flustered up this morning. My wife received an SMS saying a friend has succumbed to cancer. Our second friend in 12 days. Kean Beng was our ex-colleague from the old Ban Hin Lee Bank days. I got to know him first when he joined the bank in Pulau Tikus at the height of [...]
Posted in Careers on Jan 26th, 2007
Scam. The very word spells danger, unease, regret among people who have fallen victims to scam artists. Everytime I hear this word, I keep thinking about the illegal pyramid schemes that cheat people out of their money. I also keep thinking about the infamous Nigerian email scams that somehow continue to con gullible people worldwide [...]
Posted in Chess on Jan 26th, 2007
LAST weekend was unusually busy for me. I had hoped to spend my time in quiet enjoyment over a few games of chess at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) team tournament but some last-minute developments dictated otherwise. So, if you can permit me this week, I will just ramble along to share a few thoughts [...]
Posted in Mutual Fund on Jan 24th, 2007
Here is a comparison of the top 10 largest investment holdings for each of the three global property funds available here in Malaysia: ING Global Real Estate Fund (31 Dec 2006) (Source: ING Funds Distributor, LLC) * Land Securities Group (UK) 3.8% * Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd (Japan) 3.7% * Westfield Group (Aust) 3.6% * [...]
Posted in Careers on Jan 23rd, 2007
About two weeks ago, I was at a local university to discuss a project with them. Our conversation turned to the proficiency of the English language among the new student intakes. The lecturers I was in discussion with said that every student that enters the public universities is required to sit for the Malaysian University [...]
Posted in Rockwills & Estate planning on Jan 21st, 2007
I had been out of the house the whole of today and have only just managed to switch on my laptop to catch up on my on-line news. Surfing to the New Straits Times website, what do I see as its main article of the day? Lo! A story with a most intriguing headline: RM40 [...]
Posted in General on Jan 21st, 2007
It was not an easy weekend for me. You see, one of my old school friends – one whom I’ve known since primary school days – passed away. Beng, our macho sea-faring ex-captain, fought a hard fight against the Big C and never gave up until the end. Though he stayed in Sabah for much [...]
Posted in Chess on Jan 12th, 2007
WHEN I wrote three weeks ago on the challenges that local chess coaches will face from organisations that are able to bring in qualified foreign coaches, I was prepared for criticism. Sure enough, some of the local coaches were outraged. One said the capabilities of local coaches were not any less than those of foreign [...]
Posted in Investment on Jan 1st, 2007
Happy New Year! I wonder what the New Year will bring to investors in Malaysia. Q4 2006 had brought a lot of cheer to investors with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index crossing the 1,000 points on 7 Nov 2006 and then surging to a new high of 1,096.24 at the year’s end. Will the optimism [...]
