Legal Cat-asthrophe

Household debt clean-up : A personal journey

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

Personal financial stability is not something easy to resolved. If you were ever in an economy classroom, either during high school or as part of your college or university degree, no matter how much you understand the concept of 'want' and 'need', believe me, you will never get to feel the 'forcefield' pulling you to spend on the unnecessary thing in life, until you have 'disposable income'.

Whoever invented modern credit is evil. Financial institutions, be it banks or cooperative or finance companies, is always on the prowl for you to take whatever they can give you in the form of credit cards and personal loans before you have even step out into the real world and become part of the 'workforce'.

However, how else can you afford the basic thing in life if not for credit? It is a Catch-22 situation as most of the basic needs like food, a place to live and transportation cost money. Coupled that with the self-appointed financial guru who propagates the need to own your own place and transport (though this now seems to have been losing steam), you will feel left out if you don't own a house or a car by a certain age. Then to make matter worse, you live in a world where everywhere you turn, you are bombarded by advertisement promoting so many things like a brand handphone, a computer, a tablet, the need to travel to see new places and more expensive version of your need.

That was what happened to me.

In my years of living, I have bought more than one house, sell a few, kept a few; bought a few cars, sold a few, had two cars at one time, one car at another time, owned cheap cars, owned expensive cars; bought more than one personal computer for my house, left it dusty before buying a newer version; owned a tablet; a few smart phones. All this thanks to the supposedly disposable income I have which I increased to more than 10-fold thanks to the easy approval of credit cards and personal loans. Some are obtained through 100% loans which allow me to buy cars and houses (it doesn't exist for awhile in Malaysia but it is making a comeback through various affordable housing scheme)

When 2012 arrived, I am more than a few hundred thousand Ringgit Malaysia in debt. One thing I have always made sure is to never have any arrears in any of my installments. My business helped me to make sure of this but it is not a perfect personal financial stability that I aspire to have. So, I started to get my personal finance in order.

I listed out my debts which include a car, a house, an Amanah Saham Bumiputra (ASB) loan, a personal loan and a few credit cards which when tabulated comes up to more than RM100,000-00 disposable income but are mostly maxed out. Some of the credit cards are there as I have taken a balance-transfer credit card to lower down the interest charged on my other credit card debt. I was surprised that more than half of my drawing from my businesses goes to paying the credit card debt. And yes, the first thing to a cure from an addiction is to admit that you have a problem. Then, look for a solution.

Another myth in this modern age is to make sure you have savings for your old days. Yes, that is not bad advice. However, how about living your old age without debt and having a stream of cash supplementing you? That is equally important right? Without delay, I listed my assets and see whether I can match my liabilities.

My assets seem to be part of the problem too. A house still under a mortgage. An ASB certificate which is not mine. A few unit trusts. The car is never an asset as it is always a liability. After calculating all this, I find that it is easier for me to cancel a few loans such as the ASB loan and the few credit card, especially those which have high interest charged to it every month. Then I decided to sell my car which was already 6 years old this coming May and bought a cheaper car. I then did one of the most surprising decision ever, even to me. I put the current house I am living in on the market. At a very steep price. Canceling the loans allow me to be liquid as dividends are paid for the ASB for 2011, unit trusts are sold with cash as payment and the car was sold at a good price.

The journey is not over yet. I have only cleared 30% of the debt I have. I still have to see whether I can get the price I want for my house. What I do after will require another entry. As I cleared a few of the credit card debt, banks which always on the look-out for someone who has more than he can spend is already calling more offering me new loans. Then, my feet, knowing me, starts to itch to travel somewhere far.

Let us see how much of the 'want' I can resist so I can totally clear up the debt.

Social media ROI : A personal experience

2012-01-16T23:32:00.000+08:00

As a lawyer and an author, I use social media extensively to promote my service and my only book. As lawyers in Malaysia are not allowed to advertise their service conventionally through mass media like in the newspaper or the local television, social media is a blessing.

I always read on so many publication, articles by social media practitioners and experts, about the return on investment (ROI) when you invest in social media. There are so many ways for you to invest in social media. You can do it yourself. You can have a staff within your company to update your social media pages. You can contract it out for a company which claims to know how social media work. You can even spend millions of Ringgit to try to get new clients through social media.

Yes, social media's ROI is about how much time you spend on a FREE platform in order for you to get some form of returns. Amazingly, people who use social media seems to always keep on protesting when any form of change happens to this free media. A few years back, you can only get to be well-known if you work hard and pay. Social media still requires you to work hard but rarely do they ask you to pay, except for the data usage bills either through your handphone network or fixed line connection.

Here are my social media connection. As a person, I am on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Google+. My book and my legal firm have pages in Facebook and Google+. I also have two blogs. One is where I write about legal issues and property, which I use nowadays as a place to draft writings which I then submit to magazine, newspaper and even will form part of my next book. The other is my personal story about life, marriage, holidays, travel and such.

If you ask me, I believe there is no boundary between the either blogs as I never believe what you did at work or in business will not affect your personal life or vice versa. So, type my names : Khairul Anuar Shaharudin or my internet name : kruel74, in Google or whatever your favourite search engine, you can find me in either one of the listed social media (or maybe a website or two). Oh, I utterly believe in social media that all my businesses (I have a few) do not have websites.

Now that you know where you can find me on social media, let me tell you how much I gain from social media. In a nutshell, I gain more than 50% increase in 2011 in comparison to 2010, from the investment I made through social media. I got businesses from people who know me as a blogger, I got business from people who know me by chatting with me on Twitter, people ask me through Facebook about property issues and then ask me to take care of their legal matters and the blogs contribute by getting editors and producers to feature me either by asking me to write or being guest in radio show.

Last year alone, I was writing for the local daily, the Sun newspaper as I was 'found' in a Facebook group which consist mainly of young people who invest in property, Property Talk and Lifestyle, by a member who is a sub-editor; and that entry resulted in me being on BFM Radio talking about the article which was first an entry in this very blog, after the producer of the 'Property Show' found me through a connection in LinkedIn, Niki Cheong, who is a columnist in the Star, another local daily, who is now in England pursuing his study. Can you see how social media plays as an investment which in turn may (or may not) resulted in you getting rare opportunity.

However, as much as you invest in social media, if you only writes and sit behind the screen and hope to be discovered, you are wasting your time. All the social media cannot help you achieve any returns if you don't meet people, talk to them and let them know who you are and what you can do.

BFM Radio interview No. 2

2012-01-05T15:43:00.002+08:00

My second interview on BFM Radio was done on 27th December just after the Christmas holiday but was aired on BFM Radio on the last day of business in 2011, a Friday, 30th December 2011. I hate the fact I used the word 'actually' too many times. That seems to be my nervous tick but all in all it was better than my first interview in 2010 where I seems to be banging on the table a lot (you can't really hear it in the recording).

You can hear the recording in 2010 in four segments here on various topic :

Broadcast on 24-04-2010

Broadcast on 01-05-2010

Broadcast on 22-05-2010

Broadcast on 12-06-2010

The topic this time around was on Bumiputra property with some pointers on Malay reserved land too. Here is the link :

Investing in Bumiputra lots

Biggest property news in Malaysia in 2011 Part 2

2011-12-29T11:19:00.002+08:00

This is the continuation from my first blogpost on the 'Biggest Property News in Malaysia in 2011 Part 1'. In the first part, the issues were about affordable houses; the effect of MRT on the land cost and the tussle between the landowners and the MRT Corporation on the land acquisition process. The second part covers some of the news affecting investors in 2011 and the few mega property projects in the Klang Valley announced by the private sectors.

Here are four other property news in the limelight in 2011 :

5) 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in the news

Announced in 2010 as a fully government-owned sovereign wealth management fund with various fingers in various pies including; a joint-venture with PetroSaudi International Limited to invest in oil and gas and real estate which has since made 1MDB, according to their website, RM425 Million profit through part divestment; the building of Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) in the 30 hectares of the Imbi area bordering Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Sultan Ismail and the MEX highway and the building of Bandar Malaysia at the current Sungai Besi airport which will offer affordable houses.

1MDB was in the news at the end of 2011 due to the funding that they were said to have received from the government a subsidy of RM1.11 billion in the 2012 Budget although they raised a sukuk worth RM5 billion in 2009; the lack of work on KLIFD; and the acquisition of the 495-acre land parcel which was the Royal Malaysia Arm Force (RMAF) Sg. Besi airport which will be turned into Bandar Malaysia.

The first news is opposition's fodder which claimed that 1MDB seems to be getting funding which it does not need. The second news was finally put to rest with the tender process announced by 1MDB for major foundation work for KLIFD due to take off in early 2012. The last news ran smack into the competitive nature of other government agencies which have already been tasked with building such houses as the price of houses at Bandar Malaysia was announced to be between RM220,000-00 and RM300,000-00.

Here are links you can go through about 1MDB :

- 1MDB official website

- News about Bandar Malaysia in Sg. Besi

- News on the tender process on KLIFD

- The need for fund for 1MDB

6) Return of the mega property projects

At the start of 2011, the mega projects seem to have lost some steam due to the property slowdown within the well-known area of the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur, or so it seems. This happened even when someone bought a RM38 Million penthouse condominium at The Binjai on the Park near KLCC in middle of 2010. It seemed then that the days of the launches of mega property projects in Malaysia are numbered. Then a few announcements which made headlines dispelled this notion. Some of these property developments were old news with new owners or new managements. Some were new projects which seemed to have been planned a long time ago but were just recently launched in 2011. Here are two of the most notables mega property project launches in 2011.

There seemed to be a lot more of property launches as we entered the middle of 2011 as opposed to the quiet 2009 and 2010. It is so much so that banks have started to be choosy in giving out loans. One of it those that made the news was the launch of a new mega development project by NAZA TTDI of their KL Metropolis at where the Matrade building is now situated. Spanning 75.5 acres, it is envisioned itself as the new international trade and exhibition district. Developed in the span of 15 years, it will be done in 3 phases. The gross development value is estimated at RM15 Billion and was launched by the Prime Minister in October 2011.

SP Setia, once a favored property counter on Bursa Malaysia, has finally launched its long awaited KL Eco City in November 2011, which is located at a narrow piece of land at the former Kampung Haji Abdullah Hukum. Located at the opposite of the always busy Midvalley City, one can just imagine the hectic traffic situation of the area bordering Bangsar and the New Pantai Expressway, once it is completed. It will comprised of mixed-used commercial and residential properties which will be placed in a few towers within the 10.1 hectares of land. It is also said to be the first mixed-used commercial property to receive the currently sought after Malaysia Green Building Index (GBI) standard and will be completed in 10 years.

Links on the projects stated above and news on mega property projects :

- KL Metropolis website

- News on launch of KL Metropolis

- KL Eco City website

- News on the launch of KL Eco City

- Wrap up on mega property launches for 2011

7) Real Property Gain Tax

The tax treatment on the disposal of property was changed in 2010. Between April 2007 until the end of 2009, the Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) was given a holiday. Due to the property market condition within those year, the move was done to fire up a lackluster property market as the world's economy took a tumble. When it was reintroduced in January 2010, the tax treatment for RPGT was totally a different animal than what it was before April 2007.

Before April 2007, RPGT was tiered according to how long you have owned the property. RPGT is calculated based on the profit you make when you dispose of a property at a maximum of 30% within the first year of ownership but becomes 0% on the sixth year of ownership. This only applies to residential property. With commercial property, the amount of 5% from the profit will have to paid as RPGT even after the fifth year.

When it was reinforced (the law was never abolished but was just put on hold) in 2010, the tax treatment for the disposal of property was given a flat 5% tax from the profit you make if the sale was done within the first 5 year of ownership of the property. The way RPGT is collected also differs with a 2% of the transacted price has to be paid before being refunded by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri once it is checked and cleared.

Now, in 2012, after it was announced in the 2012 Budget in October 2011, the RPGT was changed again. Starting from January 2012, RPGT will now be two-tiered. within the same vein when it was reintroduced in 2010, RPGT, which is taxed on any profit gained from the sale of a property will beat the rate of 10% for any disposal below 2 years of ownership. Any property disposed after 2 years of ownership but less than 5 years will still have a 5% levy but none will be levied after 5 years of ownership.

Links on the issue of RPGT :

- My blogpost on RPGT in 2012

- Official portal of LHDN

- Online brochure of RPGT by LHDN

8) Regulation for banks in giving out property loans

In 2011, as announced in Budget 2011, in order to slow down the overheating property market and to stop property speculator in damaging the economy of scale for genuine buyers, especially those who are in need of affordable houses, the government changed the rule on the amount of property loans given by financial institutions at any one time. Using Bank Negara Malaysia as the enforcer, financial institutions can only gives out housing loan in the margin of 70% for anyone who has more than 2 properties. It means that if someone who already has 2 properties bought using housing loans, the next property loan he takes will be limited to a margin of 70%. This does not deter anyone who is cash rich to buy more than two houses and still speculates.

The rule had affected sales of properties as only genuine buyers may now buy property and not speculators. The news of the change of how housing loan is given out by banks through a new ruling by Bank Negara Malaysia did not help, either. It was decided in not so many words, the criteria on the margin of loan and maybe the interest rate levied on a property loan will now change due to the way a housing loan application is calculated. On the table but not yet announced or implemented is the new rule where the calculation for an application of a housing loan will be based on nett income of a borrower and not the current usage of gross income. It may even means that one person or one household with incomes below RM5,000-00 can now only own one property below the price of RM300,000-00. It will be in line with the promotion of affordable houses by the government though.

The links on this not yet determined its accuracy news can be found below :

- News on the nett income calculation for housing loans

- Banks may offer more competitive home loans

- Round up of Budget 2012 on property and construction sectors

These are all the news I consider worthy to be mentioned as the biggest property news in Malaysia during 2011. Some are already being implemented and some are coming days. From what I see, there are only a few keywords to the news : Affordable houses and Curbing Speculations.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

Biggest property news in Malaysia in 2011 Part 1

2011-12-27T13:19:00.001+08:00

Everyone is doing a list, so why shouldn't I? Furthermore, 2011 has been an exciting year for the property market in Malaysia. Not every news is necessarily can be considered as good news. It seems that there are property news for everyone in Malaysia.

Those low-income group who never owns a house received various news about houses which they now can afford. Those who had just graduated and started working can now afford to buy a house. Those who have worked a few years and found it hard to buy property can now afford to do so. The business communities are getting new business enclaves. Speculators in property prices especially those who buys residential houses got their fair share of news too.

Let us go through these news which can be found the whole year of 2011 :

1) MRT finally got off the ground

Of course, one of the biggest news this year is when the government decided to finally integrate the public transportation system by having the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) as the final piece in the puzzle that has never been completed properly. Klang Valley public transports are always fragmented with KTM's Komuter, LRT, Monorail and a few bus companies plying the route. Launching it in July 2011, after announcing it back in June 2010, Dato' Seri Najib, Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that he hopes that it will finally solve the woes of the city dweller by allowing them to park their car from wherever they are staying and ride public transport to work or wherever they need to be in the city.

The biggest news which came in light of the MRT project, among others were :

a) Its alignment as to where the train will passes and who will benefits from it;

b) Land acquisitions which had threaten a few heritage sites and the issue of land surface acquisition vs. underground land for the projects. Among notable cases which were filed in court due to this matter were by businesses in Jalan Sultan (Chinatown), Jalan Imbi and Jalan Bukit Bintang;

c) The possibility of the rise of land prices wherever the MRT will pass and the issue of MRT Corporation getting involved in property development;

d) The issue of the contracts awarded and whether the right companies were given the right jobs. This is one issue which will never fully resolved as this RM40 Billion project has so many interested parties.

Some news and link on MRT :

- KVMRT Official site

- News on the launch

- News on some controversies surrounding MRT

2) My First Home Scheme

My First Home Scheme covers houses (first or second hand houses) between the price of RM100,000-00 to RM220,000-00 for first-time homeowner. In the 2012 Budget, the maximum price for this scheme has been raised to RM400,000-00. The scheme is given in the form of 100% housing loan provided by various financial institutions which include Maybank, CIMB Bank, Affin Bank and RHB Bank, among others. The 100% housing loan is due to the arrangement where the first 10% payment to buy the property will be guaranteed by Cagamas Berhad and has a maximum tenure of 30 years. This means that the 10% will be paid by Cagamas and the buyer will owe the amount to Cagamas. It is only open to Malaysia citizen below the age of 35 years old with household income of less than RM3,000-00. This scheme is already open for application and the executors for this scheme are the banks. You can check the scheme at any participating banks.

Here are some news and links on the My First Home Scheme

- National House Buyers Association interview in iProperty.com

- My blogpost on My First Home Scheme

- The Star coverage on My First Home Scheme

- Slow response to the Scheme and controversy

3) Perumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (PR1MA)

Launched in May 2011 and is known as 1Malaysia People's Housing Scheme/Perumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia, hence the acronym PR1MA. Unlike the My First Home Scheme, the executor for this project is a new entity which acts much like a housing developer. It will identify locations around Malaysia and build houses for people who fulfill certain criteria. The corporation is called 1Malaysia Housing Program Corporation has been established and as of today, two projects have been launched under it. One is in Putrajaya and will be built by PR1MA itself and the other one is a joint venture between PR1MA and Sime Darby Property in Bandar Ainsdale, Seremban. The mode of allocating the property to the masses is through balloting.

The price of the houses in this scheme are between RM100,000-00 to RM220,000-00. The criteria to be eligible for this scheme is that the applicant must be Malaysians who never own a house before (first time homebuyer) and has a household income of RM6,000-00. Some of the features for the houses build by PR1MA include the exemption of stamp duty, eligibility of 105% loan from selected financial institutions with the 5% to be utilised to pay insurance and legal fees and a lock-in period, where the housebuyers cannot sell the house within the first 10 years of ownership. An Act of Parliament has been enacted for this scheme and was passed in early December 2011.

Some links on PR1MA :

- PR1MA official website

- News on the passing of the PR1MA bill in Parliament

- News on the first balloting in Precinct 11, Putrajaya

- Announcement on Bandar Ainsdale

- My blogpost on the difference between PR1MA and My First Home Scheme

4) Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad to build 10,000 houses in 2012

The seemingly current bridesmaid's company to the government's effort in providing affordable houses. May even be asking itself why is it sidelined while these news on My First Home Scheme and PR1MA filtered in. At the end of 2011 SPNB can be seen to be back in the news. As explained by the Prime Minister when the PR1MA bill was tabled in early December, PR1MA will concentrate to build affordable hosing in the urban area whilst SPNB will still build affordable housing in the rural area. The statement by the PM is supposed to solved the problem on the overlapping functions of these two government agencies.

It was announced at the end of 2011, SPNB had signed an agreement with Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) which will provide financing for the 10,000 units of houses which SPNB had been tasked to build in 2012. The cost was estimated at RM650 Million with the government subsidisind the building of the houses with a RM200 Million subsidy and the balance will be financed with the housing loans provided. This is with each house estimated to cost around RM65,000-00.

For the past few years, SPNB has been offering affordable houses in a various categories which overlap what PR1MA has to offer. Among them were Rumah Mampu Milik (Affordable Houses) and Rumah Mesra Rakyat (Rakyat-friendly Houses). An example of the former is Alam Prima which is located in Section 22, Shah Alam and the latter can be found in various small town in Selangor such as Kuala Selangor and in rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak. SPNB is also the agency in charge to revive abandoned projects around the country and to act as the contractor to build more government quarters.

Depending on how you see it, there is a lot of overlap between the government agencies in providing affordable housing to the masses. One other question which beg an answer is how will the government ensure that nobody will abuse the offer of so many affordable houses by various government-linked companies. There is also the issue about the term of 'affordable housing' when the government raised the limit of My First Home Scheme's house price to RM400,000-00 and even now contemplating to raise the household income eligible for the scheme up to RM7,000-00.

The links on SPNB :

- SPNB official website

- Vote buying using affordable houses

- New understanding between SPNB and BSN

- My blogpost on affordable offered by Federal government and the Selangor state

klia2 : Why not?

2011-12-02T10:48:00.001+08:00

I was invited to a briefing by Malaysia Airports (MAB) at the Courtyard Garden somewhere in Jalan Dungun, Kuala Lumpur. After braving the horrendous traffic and the heavy rain, I managed to arrive slightly before 8pm. The moment I stepped into the restaurant, I was surprised to see a familiar face which I have seen in various media before. It was the face of Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, the CEO of MAB. Then as cards were exchanged, the names that I saw on the cards were surprising too as all the top managements of MAB were there. There were the Sr. GM of Operations, Dato' Azmi Murad and GM of Corporate Communications, Nik Anis, among others. It made me curious but excited for the session to start.

The moment the briefing starts, with Tan Sri Bashir taking the lead, I can say that it was a public relation effort by MAB with the social media. When I look around the room, I can see a few familiar faces like Christopher Tock, Patchay, Thomas Yap, Daniel Cerventus and Firdaus 'Feeq' to name a few who are part business, travel and lifestyle bloggers. As the briefing was going on, they were basically tweeting about what was unveiled in front of their eyes. The briefing was on the specifications of the new klia2 which will be completed in 2013. And it started with this Youtube video :

After the video presentation, Tan Sri Bashir announced that there are no low cost terminal in the world for them to use as a reference, hence klia2 was built according to the need of the low cost operators such as AirAsia. Then Tan Sri Bashir gave us the facts and figures about the size of the terminal : 257,000; the contact stands : 68; the capacity to handle how many passengers : 45 Millions; the fully automated Baggage Handling System (BHS); a dedicated runaway (Runaway 3) an aerobridge (where plane can taxi below it to go from one side to another after landing and save time) and connectivity between KLIA and klia2. He also told us how MAB increased the capacity according to what is asked by AirAsia. The whole list of what klia2 has to offer can be found at MAB website : Latest News on klia2.

That was the kosher part of the briefing and as expected, questions came fast and quick with most of those who attended the event wanted to know what is the controversy that seems to be created by AirAsia. If you don't know anything about what is the stand-off between AirAsia and MAB is all about, read this blogpost by Tony Fernandes : Say no to airport tax increase and this report by Malaysian Insider about the issue (a two sided version and read the comment section to) : MAHB removes AirAsia anti-tax hike posters, stickers. So, this controversy is all about a hike of RM7-00 in contrast of us never knowing we had been paying airport tax through airlines we've flown in the pre-AirAsia era.

Here is my two sens worth.

The new klia2? Nice and amazing. I was told they are trying to emulate Dubai and Changi. There's hotels, there's retail experience and good restaurants/food outlets. Good and well. Here's a question I asked and didn't really get an answer. Will you have a resting area like what Dubai and Changi have for those who doesn't want to pay any hotels or whatever additional cost. A settee or a reclining seat which you can sleep on for 2 to 3 hours and a bathroom with shower facilities and such. The answer was not fully given meaning, they may not have it.

Then the issue with AirAsia. Sorry to say, I don't agree at all with AirAsia. This carrier thrive on every sen it collects from its consumer. Simple mathematics will show that they have been collecting additional charges without explaining why and which seems to go only into their pockets. And the eccentricities of its own, one Tony Fernandes which is trying so hard to be the next Richard Branson (whom he has a close relationship with) does not show any regards for others. Yes, he did bring low cost carrier in a big way into Asia but he is not the solve all, end all solutions. He still has a long way to go. And with an increase of airport tax, he is losing RM7-00 which he can play with to tax his next passenger. For all you know, anticipating an increase, he will increase his charges first. MAB is having a tough time as Tony is popular and a smart businessman.

I fly on leisure quite a lot and AirAsia is not my instant choice. I know people use AirAsia if they planned ahead and with their marketing strategy and their pay first, fly later promotion, they are quite popular. klia2 maybe relevant to be a better choice than the current LCCT but I may not be one of its frequent user when it comes into being. If the price increase of RM7-00 is to make sure klia2 will be a better terminal, for me, I would gladly accept it.

As for me, as I have tweeted after the briefing, what I find to be the best information I got from MAB is that a Victoria Secret's pop-up store has opened in the satellite building in KLIA. As for someone whose both kampungs are within the vicinity of both airports, I have long ago given up on having an airport which will benefit them as truthfully, it does not. Here is my long ago blogpost on the matter : How I lost my kampung...

Abandon housing project solution in Malaysia?

2011-11-17T12:02:00.001+08:00

In Malaysia, there was once this institution called Danaharta. It was owned by the government. It goes around helping banks with high non-performing loans to manage and finally settled this problem. It was in existence from 1998 to 2005. It was a non-profit organisation with impossible Key Performance Index and it managed to settled all the problems in the banking industry with an act enacted by Parliament. It saved a banking industry. It was ahead of its time. It was the brainchild of a genius in the government then and it was run by people who were really good at what they were picked for. Now, Danaharta has become Proharta and is a private entity.

During the existence of Danaharta, it did got involved in abandon housing projects as Danaharta was given the power by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad Act 1998 gives it the right to acquire, manage, finance and dispose of the assets and liabilities of a financial institution in trouble. And the bulk of the financial institutions that were in trouble were dealing with abandon housing projects. Although Danaharta was not established to save abandon projects, it became so. During the period of 1998 until nearly 2005 (even later), you can see Danaharta taking the advertisement spaces in major newspaper to sell off properties like factories, commercial properties and even residential. Danaharta was also known to revive abandon housing projects, clean up the management and sell it off too. It did made a tidy sum before closing down shop.

Was before there was Danaharta, the Bank Negara Malaysia also had an entity called Tabung Projek Perumahan Terbengkalai or now better known as TPPT. It was established in 1990 and ceased in 1992 after reviving 19,000 units of properties. It used a fund under Tabung Pusingan Perumahan Kos Rendah which was provided by Bank Negara Malaysia. Nowadays, TPPT Sdn Bhd has moved away from its office in Bank Negara itself and is another housing developer in Malaysia which used its early days as reviver of abandon housing projects to sell new and completed houses. Here's a link to its website (a bit outdated though) - TPPT Sdn Bhd.

In the housing industry nowadays, since years ago, we seem to be facing the problem of housing development being abandon long before the housing project is completed. It is a bit of a mystery why a law which was enacted since 1970s didn't address the issue of abandon projects. What the law before 2007 had was clauses which ask housing developer to have RM200,000 in its Housing Development Account at any one time and this is the only money supposedly they need to maintain if they want to be in operation. There are penalties which the enforcing authority under Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) imposed but are usually paid by the culprits of abandon housing developments without any problem.

The amendments to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 in 2007 was supposed to add additional penalties and address the issue of abandon housing development. It did stop the fly-by-night establishment of new property developer who circumvent the law by being a bit clever. Here was the scenario in early days of the 2000s. These law benders, some of them have legal background, circumvented the law by building houses without being penalised. The law stated that any person who build more than four (4) houses and sell it for profit is considered to be a housing developer and whatever they do is considered to fall under the housing development law. What these developer did was to sell bungalow plot without any property built on them under one agreement and another agreement is signed for a bungalow to be built on the property. So, they became outside the law before the amendment in 2007 which states that any housing development that KPKT found to be similar to housing development will fall under its purview.

Now, the first bill of the amendments to curb the housing development is on its way through Parliament. The news on 17th November in The Star Property mentioned among other that fines will be increased to RM50,000-00, housing developer need to refund cancelled Sale & Purchase Agreement within 30 days with fine starting from RM250,000-00 and RM5,000-00 for each day of non-compliance and the best of all, the Housing Development Account will now be 3% of the housing project development total cost and not just RM200,000-00.

I find the new law to be refreshing as it will ensure only housing developer with deep pockets to enter into the business of housing development. There will be complains about certain housing developers to not being able to meet the requirement and we can already hear the Real Estate and Housing Developer Association (REHDA) breathing down the neck of the Minister trying to tweak the Act to suit them but I really hope KPKT and Attorney General office will stand firm on these amendments. National House Buyers Association (HBA) will agree to the amendments as they have been fighting for so long for a solution to the issue of abandon housing projects problem. Here are one of their view on abandon project : Cleaning up abandoned or stalled housing projects

In the meantime, I am also hoping that another effort will be made by the government on all the abandoned housing developments around the Malaysia. The last I heard it was spearheaded by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB) which is also tackling the issue of affordable housing. The problem with an institution such as this is when they have to deal with the state governments which sometimes are a bit slow in giving their approval to help the process along. My suggestion is either an institution like Danaharta or TPPT should be given all-encompassing power again or SPNB should be given more power and allocation which can take over and manage the abandon housing development.

Google+ Page of Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina

2011-11-10T15:29:00.001+08:00

I have always believe in utilising social media even before the term was popular. When I was told by a friend about Google+ Page, which is kind of but not exactly like Facebook Page, I straight away jumped at the opportunity to create my medium sized legal firm's Google+ Pages. Unlike the unsearchable Facebook Page, here's a searchable alternative.

Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina's Google+ Page

Or, if you are more into Facebook :

Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina's Facebook Page

Here is the Google+ Page for my book :

Ask the Lawyer!'s Google+ Page

and the Facebook page :

Ask The Lawyer's Facebook Page

And for the past two weeks, I have been appearing in articles in online and offline publication. One is an interview by the Sun, a local newspaper about my book and they took excerpt from 5 questions which can be found in my book and another one where I was interviewed by Malaysian Insider, a local online news portal, about affordable housing in Malaysia (they got my name spelled wrong - 'Anuar' was spelled as 'Anwar' and I gave more leads which the reporter followed through than actually giving much about subject matter itself)

The Sun's interview picture :

and the link to the Malaysian Insider article :

Affordable housing the new way to win votes in Malaysia

Real Property Gain Tax in 2012

2011-10-24T14:58:00.001+08:00

The 2012 Malaysia Budget was announced a few weeks ago and one of the thing that was announced was the change in the Real Property Gain Tax in 2012. In order to understand the tax that was levied before, let us go a bit further. Pre-2009, the time before the Real Property Gain Tax was tweaked to inject some excitement into the property players in Malaysia.

The Real Property Gain Tax was not what it was today. It was a charge of a whooping 30% for any property disposed 2 years from the date it was bought (the date on the Sale & Purchase Agreement or whatever form of transfer which allow a person to own land in Malaysia). It goes down as the year goes up. 20% for the third year disposal; 15% for fourth year disposal and 5% for fifth year disposal. And after the 6th year, no tax is levied. Here's a little secret, this Rates of Tax was NEVER repealed. It was just suspended by a decree in Parliament and it was passed through debate. And it was done in 2009 for the Budget 2010.

The change in 2009 was as a measure to excite the market and the market was excited that it got confused when the rate was 5% for only some of the years and not across the board. Under pressure, an announcement was made at the end 2009 so that any sale done by anyone after January 2010 was taxed at 5% whatever the year it was disposed. That is much, much lower than the 30% right? However, the government does want you to pay the 5% regardless whether you will be taxed or not. As long as you sell your property and make a chargeable gains or simply said, a profit, you need to pay that 5%. Only after looking through all the documents filed by your lawyer or yourself, and if you profit is not taxable according to the rates of tax, only then will the money be refunded.

Then, a change is now at hand which will be in force in 2012. For any property sold after it was purchase for 2 years, a 10% tax is levied. That is not so bad right? Just hold the property you have invested in to make money for 2 years and then sell the property. If you don't have the time to wait, factor in your Real Property Gain Tax cost into your profit. And there are other factors you can add into the selling price of the property. All your cost to buy, maintain and even sell the property can be factor in. Such as your legal fees, your renovation cost and your advertisement cost (even your real estate agent cost). When you send your Real Property Gain Tax form, send the Inland Revenue Department the receipts for all the said item. And please remember, you can get once-in-lifetime exemption for the property you have lived in all your life which you consider as your private residence.

Although the change in the tax regime for property acquisition is good, it will not help speculators to stop speculating. Government seems to forget a few things when they formulate their strategy. They still have not make property ownership easier for those who are under the Malaysia My Second Home campaign. For now, the participants of the scheme need only to put in some money and show proof of the deposit. They should just tweak it so that they are allowed to buy properties in certain areas and put in a caveat about when and how it can be transferred. That can create ripple effect for that area and maybe a new set of tax rate can also be levied on them. Please remember that Malaysia still has one of the cheapest property prices in the region (in contrast with Singapore and Hong Kong)

Altium @ Damansara Perdana

2011-10-06T13:28:00.001+08:00

Does Petaling Jaya need a skyscraper? Actually, there is no real skyscraper in Petaling Jaya and that Telekom Tower you see when you use the Federal Highway is not one. That is in Kuala Lumpur. A few weeks back, I was invited to the launch of a new skyscraper in Petaling Jaya, specifically at the busy and vibrant Damansara area. It was also to announce the ambassador for this new commercial building.

The said commercial development is The Altium at Damansara Perdana. And the said ambassador is non other Jojo Struys, better known as a TV personality and columnist with The Star. The developer for the project is AQRS, The Building Company.

The Altium is a unique building which marries Green and Technology. The Altium consist of three main components. The Prime, a 22-level Grade-A MSC compliant green corporate office; The CEO Suites, 12-level SOVO Suites, a lifestyle and work solution business suites and The Pulse, a 3-tiered retail and F&B podium, a place for social and business networking.

To see more of the Altium, here is The Altium homepage.

Mind-fucking students' mind

2011-09-13T16:40:00.001+08:00

What do you actually do when you go to university?

Learn? Yeah, right. Only 10% of all students really study at all time. The other time? They will be hanging around doing nothing and some even goes the distance doing various delinquencies. Where else most people learn how to smoke pot.

I was not the naughtiest or the learned student in my batch of '98. I studied locally and I never work for anyone. I build my business from scratch and the road was not rosy at all. So, I do know a few thing about being an entrepreneur. Not being related to any royalty or politician in Malaysia will take me longer to drive that Ferrari.

My ranting above is related to an experience I had this morning.

I was asked to be a part of a project related to making local university's students to think outside the box. As I was busy bullshitting the student council members who was enraptured with whatever all that I can think of including embracing social media and even a dose of real life situation vs. life in the university, the lecturers who is supervising them came in.

I bet she was horrified at what I was telling the students. Especially when I told them about their alumni members who are now making a living by singing and doing public relations unconventionally.

She then expertly divert the students attention to the need to use their mind to focus on how to read case law while applying various techniques to do more research. I did divert her mind that I do understand their need to be educators by saying the alumni members used their legal trained mind to apply it to their everyday business.

I tweeted just now, I think as much as the project is under the patronage of their Vice Chancellor, the best way to make the students competitive when they enter the job market in one or two years with a high income is to make them realised that the world out there is big and a law degree doesn't help you gain more money or even make you get ahead of your career unless you really apply common sense and teach the teachers to think outside the box.

At the back of my mind, I was actually thinking, the students who are now successful adult, no thanks to the oppressive nature they were asked to learn, are what they are due to the oppression. Whatever it is, when the slot I was given comes, the only way I can make them see the way the can be successful is to mind-fuck their young minds.

Only then can they truly see the light...

Hari Raya pictures from KSH

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000+08:00

As people nowadays rarely take pictures for Hari Raya, our small legal firm decided to hold a picture taking session with us wearing proper baju Melayu and baju kurung, the traditional dress of Malaysians. It starts off with us clowning around, then a proper group pictures, pictures of the departments in our firm and then a stand alone picture for most of us. As a firm, small gestures and event like this makes the bond stronger.

Anyway,

Have a great Eidul Fitri from all of us

Affordable houses schemes in Malaysia are not going the USA way (yet)

2011-08-18T13:09:00.002+08:00

A friend on Twitter, Mr. @YouTiup thinks that Malaysia is heading the USA way in our affordable houses effort due to the similarities between our program and theirs. He got the idea through an article entitled 'White Picket Fence? Not So Fast' in the New York Times. America has been subsidizing homeowners and housebuyers with a few tax breaks and subsidies. The first paragraph of the article basically states the subsidies and tax breaks that homeowners/housebuyers got : Mortgages subsidies are given through government sponsored financial institution known as Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac (read about them in this article by History News Network); Americans get federal income taxes deductions for mortgage interest payments; tax deductions from state and local property taxes; and favored treatment from capital gains from sale of primary residence.

Malaysia has just launched two programs which are similar in the veins of USA affordable housing program. We have a My First Home Scheme which covers houses (first or second hand houses) between the price of RM100,000-00 to RM220,000-00 for first-time homeowner. It is a 100% loan provided by various financial institutions which include Maybank, CIMB Bank, Affin Bank and RHB Bank, among others. It is a 100% loan as the first 10% payment to buy the property will be guaranteed by Cagamas Berhad and has a maximum tenure of 30 years. It is only open to Malaysia citizen below the age of 35 years old with household income less than RM3,000-00. This scheme is already open for application and the executors for this scheme are the banks.

The second scheme has been launched in May 2011 and it is called 1Malaysia People's Housing Scheme or better known as PR1MA. A corporation called 1Malaysia Housing Program Corporation has been established and a CEO has been appointed. As of now, only a few information can be obtained from PR1MA website. The price of the houses are between RM220,000-00 to RM300,000-00. Unlike the My First Home Scheme, the executor for this project is a new entity which act much like a housing developer. It will identify locations and build houses for people who are eligible. As for who is eligible for this scheme, they must be Malaysians who never own a house before (first time homebuyer) and has a household income of RM6,000-00. Some of the features (unconfirmed) including exemption of stamp duty, eligibility of 105% loan from selected financial institutions with the 5% to pay insurance and legal fees and a lock-in period where the housebuyers cannot sell the house within the first 10 years of ownership. An Act of Parliament will be enacted for this scheme.

Other than these two schemes, let us note a few tax treatments that homeowners in Malaysia are currently under. As for now, there is a blanket stamp duty discount of 50% for any houses bought by anyone, either first hand (from housing developer) or second hand houses below the price of RM350,000-00 which will be in effect until 31st December 2012 and a 20% discount for stamp duty for any Islamic finance instruments, including house mortgage, which for now doesn't have an expiry date. There is a real property gain tax (RPGT) of between 30% to 5% for any sale of property owned by any homeowner below 5 years. On the sixth year, the RPGT will not have to be paid (Correction : The current rate for RPGT is 5% flat rate for any profit made for property sold below five years). Is there mortgage interest deduction in Malaysia? It is only applicable for loans to improve rental property. Between 2009 and 2011, mortgage interest deduction is applicable for first home too. It is also important to note that currently, a housebuyer who is buying his third house can only get 70% mortgage from any financial institution.

Let us go back to the New York Times article and compare it to Malaysia situation. Foremost, let us look at the question whether Malaysian houseowner is guaranteed by the government in any way? Except for the 10% of the My First Home Scheme, there is no mortgage guarantee. As the financial institutions which disburse the loan are private institutions (although some are Government Linked Companies or owned by them), we don't have a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. As for tax-break, I don't think we get much of it except as listed above. Total exemption from stamp duty in Malaysia does exist in pockets of housing development areas through application to income tax office which are mostly given to low cost housing although there was a blanket exemption once circa 2000 and 2005.

To say that we are totally safe from a sub-prime crisis is to be totally optimistic. Home ownership is always in danger of being exploited by speculator (as any investment is). We do have a few cautionary tales and questions we should ask the government. Among them is whatever happens to the earlier government-owned affordable housing company like Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad which currently are building low cost housing for kampung folks and affordable housing below RM100,000-00. Financial institutions for now are very prudent and does not offer those 100% or 110% mortgages which were rampant in the early 2000s. We don't have financial institution which dishes up mortgage without you having to prove your income and get a reliable guarantor for your loans. Housing developers, especially new ones are investigated and need to pre-qualify to ensure they are reliable. Bank Negara Malaysia need to ensure they never return to their free-wheeling days of early 2000s. We hope the government is not going to flood the market with unwanted affordable houses with the PR1MA scheme. Make sure the first-time housebuyers are genuine and can afford the mortgage even to the point of regular spot-checks that they are living in the house that they bought and not turning it into a very lucrative income generator.

So, to answer Mr. @YouTiup, with prudence, we are not going down the road of the USA. Yet....

Kuala Lumpur suburbs living

2011-08-16T14:49:00.000+08:00

Kuala Lumpur seems to be in need of more vibrant suburbs to attract more people to live there. Suburbs is defined by Wikipedia : Residential areas for a city or a residential area reachable through commuting. Suburbs can be those which have its own administrators and political autonomy or it relies on the big cities that these suburbs are connected to. Kuala Lumpur and a few of the big cities in Malaysia already have suburbs but we consider most of them to be cities too. We never label a few of the known suburbs as such. Tokyo, London, New York and Sydney are a few of the cities which have people commuting using cars, trains and other public transports into and out of it every day. Most accept it as a way of life. Does Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur for that matter actually have suburbs?

Let us look at the few known suburbs around Kuala Lumpur based on the daily commuters who comes and goes into it.

Kuala Lumpur or more known as KL, is a vibrant city on account of it is the capital of Malaysia. Most of the people who works and have offices in Kuala Lumpur doesn't live in it. Most live at towns such as Shah Alam, Klang and Petaling Jaya, which are known to be cities themselves. There are smaller town within these cities like in Klang where you can find Bandar Bukit Tinggi or Shah Alam which has Bandar Setia Alam or Petaling Jaya which has Subang Jaya and Damansara. These towns are so vibrant that although they are suburbs, they are so unlike the well-known American suburbs where people have quieter lives and easier traveling options. Traffic jam are norms which people here have to deal with.

There are quieter suburbs but are not favoured by many of KL-ites due to it being just that, quiet. Cyberjaya, a technology-skewed city which is surprisingly quieter for a place which is attracting foreign and local conglomerates like HSBC, Google and KRU Studios, to name a few well-known brands. There are other town like Nilai; which is more famous for its China-goods shopping; Bandar Enstek; a project by Tabung Haji Property with international school and a Coke bottling plants in the near future; and the most vibrant of it all is Seremban; which is experiencing a second coming where traffic jam on weekends have now become a norm.

On the north of town, there are Rawang; which seems to be back alive and might just save the once ghost-town of Bukit Beruntung; Batu Caves and Gombak; which are now known for more than just the place of worship for Hindus and rockclimbing. In the south of Kuala Lumpur, Kajang and Bandar Baru Bangi are areas which is now filling up to the brim thanks to highways such as Besraya and LEKAS.

All around Kuala Lumpur, we have suburbs which seem to be thriving and catching up on the vibrancy of KL. The only space still not invaded, for now, seems to be the area leading towards Pahang as most of the area there are hills and the problem with slopes have put a damper on development there. However, I don't think that will last long before someone finds way to build more houses there. Some of these suburbs are successful in their capturing the spirits of suburbs where people can actually relaxed after returning home and some have to deal with what any other growing cities like increase crime rates.

With proper planning, suburbs can be the saving grace of Malaysia problem with affordable living. Young people with disposable income who is looking for homes need to accept the fact that city living is expensive. Not all people can afford to work and live within the city. Especially when you want to have houses with gardens and a bit of space for yourself. There are further burdens which come with city living like stress. Some of these housing developers should consider suburbs as a way to market their products and priced their houses below the RM200,000-00 with good design and more space. It may just be a gold-mine for them.

Everybody else is doing it, why don't we?

Are we creating a ticking bomb?

2011-08-10T00:00:00.000+08:00

I once wrote in May after I came back from Mumbai about the need to make sure everything is equal for everyone in Malaysia, especially in the urban area. I was hoping for no one to get left behind in the modern Malaysia. People tend to forget that in order to live comfortably with nary a sign of garbage or have great food served to us, we need to have helps that we keep on complaining without any regards about their well-being or how well their livelihood is.

In Mumbai, slum is a way of life, people get individual title to the small area they are living in and actually now become a tourist attraction. Not sure if it was due to the Slumdog Millionaire movie or it was an initiative started by Indian government long ago.

Now, we saw a city like London which seems to be the place to be by the rich around the world with so many celebrities owning property worth millions and even billions there, in a state of uprising. Then people start asking, is there a deeper meaning from the the dissatisfaction the younger generation than just the killing of a young father allegedly by the police in north London.

One report quote a young guy going into an candy store and comes out eating ice cream and chocolate. Laughable right? What if the guy can never afford candy and ice cream? Still laughable?

Malaysia is currently planning affordable housing in a few segments around the Klang Valley. One is called the First Scheme Housing and another the affordable housing called PR1MA. In the state of Selangor, they have their own affordable housing scheme which is spearhead by their own state linked company. The governments seem to realised the need for affordable housing areas.

However, how many fairy tales have we heard as a child about the jealousy of the poor looking at the ivory tower of the rich. While the children of the poor get the lesser opportunity of getting good education and time to play, the children of the rich grows fat and using money, get more than they deserved.

I know the intention is good but I hope the execution will not create a ticking bomb which might blow up one day. If not now, one day...

Book Sale!

2011-08-08T11:03:00.001+08:00

My publisher, True Wealth Sdn Bhd, is having a book sale for 72 HOURS starting from Tuesday midnight, 9th August 2011 until Thursday midnight, 11th August 2011. True Wealth is own by Azizi Ali and of course, most of his book about property investment and gold investment are a part of the title.

Furthermore, all orders above RM150 will be entitled to a FREE book (of their choice) and the person with the highest order will be given a RM400 discount voucher to attend their upcoming Gold Investment Workshop!

Go NOW to True Wealth's website Book Planet for more details. And while you are at it, why not buy my book. Just click here :

How to choose a book title?

2011-08-04T13:06:00.002+08:00

I always have a title in the back of my mind before I write anything, especially a book. It is actually how I start working on a book or a blog post. It is a starting point for me to start drafting and then properly write. I can't say that has always been the case but my computers are full of drafts and unfinished manuscripts. All have titles although it might not have an end or in some cases, even a beginning.

So far, I have published but one book, in two languages.

Let me tell the story how I decided on the title of my one book : 40 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Residential Property in Malaysia.

Quite a mouthful right? I know. But I did adjust it from a much longer title, if you can believe that.

My first title was : 100 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Property in Malaysia. This was the title I pitched to Azizi Ali when I went to see him. You can follow that story in the blogpost : How did I published my first book?. And that story has everything to do with the title of my book too.

When I pitched my idea to Azizi Ali, the title I presented to him was '100 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Property in Malaysia'. It was supposed to be the definitive book on property law which a person buying any type of property in Malaysia would need. If the buyer is a layman or even a lawyer, he or she will only need my book to refer when they buy either a house, a shop or a plot of land.

Azizi, as a book writer and publisher said to me : Why don't I make the title "101 Questions.... or 99 Questions...." which odd number can be a much 'nicer' number. I actually concur...

That was the initial plan. Then I started writing....

That was how I discovered writing is not an easy job. Trying to put two words together then a few more to make a coherent sentence is not easy. Turning legal words into layman term is not an easy task.

So, I cut the number down to 80 which makes the title into '80 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Property in Malaysia'.

Then I discovered that I will have too many questions to answer if I want tow write about every type of property. I decided to change my approach to narrow my topic down to residential property. The title became '80 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Residential Property in Malaysia'.

As writing becomes a labor due to work, I tried to find a reason to narrow it down further, which include cutting the number of questions from 80 to 70 to 60 to 50. It hovered between 60 and 50 for a longest while. I also tried to narrow it further from writing about all residential property to just those residential property sold by housing developer and as ridiculous as it sounds, the title did once became - [insert number] Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Residential Property from A Property Developer in Malaysia.

In the end, when I sent the first manuscript, I settled more or less on the current title which was '44 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying A Residential Property in Malaysia' and when the second draft was sent, it was finally settled between the publisher and me that the title will be -

40 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD

ASK YOUR LAWYER BEFORE

BUYING A RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY IN MALAYSIA

Home Ownership Programme Expo 2011

2011-07-29T19:01:00.001+08:00

I am going to be an invited speaker at the current Home Ownership Expo 2011 at Level 4, PWTC between 29th July until 31st July 2011 which is organised by Barisan Nasional Youth. Check the event more at this link : BN Youth HOPE 2011

Here are some details :

On 30th July, between 11.30am - 12.00pm will be speaking about 'Affordable Housing: Common pitfalls and mistakes'

On 31st July, between 12.30pm - 1.00pm will be speaking about 'Buying your first property from a Housebuyer perspective'

And on 31st July, between 3.30pm - 4.00pm I will be speaking on 'Legal issues when you buy your first property'

Affordable houses in Malaysia Part 1

2011-07-12T15:18:00.004+08:00

How wonderful it is to be in Malaysia now. One day the Federal government launched the PR1MA housing scheme labelled as affordable housing while the next day, the Selangor state government briefed a select few, including our legal firm, on an affordable housing scheme which is totally different in nature from the one launched by the Prime Minister.

I actually told a few people that this is the benefit of having competing political parties controlling different segment of the government (one holding the Malaysia Federal government's rein whilst another holding the rein of the richest state in Malaysia, Selangor). In my personal opinion, only a status quo will benefit Malaysians in general for the next general election. If the change is vice versa also may bring lots of benefit too.

Let us look at what are on offer for all Malaysians in term of affordable housing. I got an image to help with difference of affordable housing by the Federal government and by the state government, which was presented to me by a Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor senior officer when she briefed us on the differences during the Seminar Perumahan Mampu Milik Selangor 2011.

As the picture cannot be viewed properly (and is written in Bahasa Malaysia), let me break down what is written on the slide there :

The difference of the 'Affordable Homes' proposal between the Selangor government and the Federal government :-

Selangor government

1. The household income is below RM5,000-00;

2. The price of the property is below RM120,000-00; and

3. The target group are : (a) Those below the age of 35;

(b) Those in their golden age;

(d) Those who doesn't a house yet; and

(e) Owners of 5 years old low-cost houses (RM42,000-00 and below)

Federal government

1. The household income is below RM6,000-00;

2. The price of the property is between RM220,000-00 and RM300,000-00; and

3. The target group are those who doesn't own a house yet.

So, in my opinion, there are not much difference between the two proposals. It must be noted that the Federal government already has a First Home Scheme which is priced between RM100,000-00 and RM220,000-00, hence the affordable homes for the Federal government being as such. Just that they seems to be a window of RM42,000-00 and RM100,000-00 which is not covered by the Federal government scheme.

It seems that the real winner here is the rakyat and the double winners here are those who live in Selangor.

In my next blogpost about affordable home let us look at how did we reached the plateau for government to launch schemes such as seen above.

Malay Wedding favors

2011-07-08T08:28:00.001+08:00

It seems that the middle of the year, I have been inundated with weddings invitation. It is so much so that I have to miss a few as there were so many of them. One of it was my cousin and as one of the ‘orang pangkal’ or in English, close relative, I have to be at the groom’s house nearly the whole day (regardless whether I did anything or not during the event itself. As it was the first cousin from my youngest uncle of my mother’s side, the event was quite grand. A week before, my sister-in-law was getting engaged to the man of her dream to and being Malay, that too was a grand event as you can see from these pictures :

In most of these weddings, one of the things lacking after spending nearly most budget on preparations and clothes is the door gifts. You can consider it as those wedding favors you can find at Malay wedding. That was until I found www.jonfactory.com which seems to be selling Malay wedding favors. When I checked their address which is located at : JONFACTORY OFFICE/SHOWROOM, 27 – A – B, JALAN 17/45, 46400 PJ SELANGOR, I emailed them at inquiry@jonfactory.com. I also found out I can call them at 0122056669 too.

My sister-in-law wedding will be at the end of the year. I am thinking of gifting her these Malay wedding favors. Look at the wedding favors by JonFactory.com here and tell me what do you think :

Bersih 2.0 : Semangat Hang Tuah atau Hang Jebat?

2011-07-06T23:30:00.001+08:00

Dalam masa beberapa lagi, tarikh 9 Julai akan muncul dalam kehidupan rakyat Malaysia. Tidak seperti hari-hari lain, ia telah dinantikan oleh pelbagai pihak. Sama ada sebagai orang yang turut serta, orang yang cuba memberhentikan ia dari berlaku atau hanya sebagai pemerhati, dari jauh dan dekat. Apa yang saya maksudkan adalah perhimpunan atau perarakan yang telah dilabel sebagai Bersih 2.0. Saya telah cuba mengupas sebelum ini di dalam satu blogpost bertajuk Can I not make a stand? yang secara mudah bertanya adakah setiap rakyat Malaysia mempunyai pilihan dalam hal Bersih 2.0 ini atau tidak? Ia lebih bersifat subjektif dari objektif dan hanya meminta setiap individu menilai dan berfikir sendiri.

Namun begitu, sedang saya memandu di sekitar Bandar Sunway, saya ternampak satu kain rentang yang mengatakan bahawa bangsa Melayu diperalatkan dalam perhimpunan Bersih itu. Ia secara tak langsung merujuk kepada orang yang mengepalai perhimpunan Bersih itu bukan berbangsa Melayu. Amat jelas kain rentang itu memberi amaran kepada bangsa Melayu untuk tidak menyertai perhimpunan tersebut kerana ia diketuai oleh bangsa lain.

Bukankah ini polemik bangsa Melayu sejak dari dahulu? Jika kita melihat semula sajak Melayu oleh Usman Awang (saya pautkan di sini melalui Scribd.com, kita dapat melihat senarai sifat orang Melayu dengan jelas. Dan ia bukan dikurung kepada beberapa jenis sifat sahaja tetapi ia memuji orang Melayu sebagai orang yang mampu menilai sendiri dengan pemikirang yang matang sama ada dia perlu mengikut telunjuk orang atau dia akan mengambil tindakan yang dirasakan sesuai untuk sesuatu situasi.

Mengenai semangat Melayu yang sentiasa kita rujuk, tentu semua yang pernah membaca pelbagai hikayat sastera amat maklum tentang bagaimana Hang Tuah dan Hang Jebat bertarung di atas istana kerana Hang Jebat percaya bahawa Raja Melaka yang disanjung pada ketika itu perlu disanggah. Hang Tuah pula tetap setia dengan Rajanya walau apa pun arahan yang dikeluarkan oleh Raja.

Bersih dikatakan akan cuba menyampaikan hasrat mereka kepada Institusi DiRaja yang dikatakan dapat menyelesaikan masalah pilihanraya yang dilakukan adalah tidak adil dan terlalu banyak yang boleh diperbetulkan oleh Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya Malaysia. Diharapkan Institusi DiRaja tidak hanya dijadikan alasan tetapi benar-benar dihormati oleh pihak yang memanggil diri mereka Bersih. Sehingga kini, dapat dilihat terlalu banyak pihak menggunakan Bersih 2.0 untuk kepentingan masing-masing, sama ada menyokong atau membantah perarakan ini.

Untuk yang masih mencatu penyertaan mereka pada hari itu, mungkin semangat salah seorang dari pahlawan Melayu zaman kurun itu perlu dirujuk. Semangat Hang Tuah kah atau semangat Hang Jebat kan yang akan dialirkan pada 9 Julai nanti agaknya?

Property transaction in Malaysia - Part 3

2011-07-04T08:30:00.000+08:00

Highrise during a sunrise

As a continuation from my previous post about how purchasers of property in Malaysia purchase a property with title in cash, here is an infographic on how a buyer of a property in Malaysia purchase a property without title (such as condominium, apartment, land which is still hasn't been subdivided, to name a few). Both blogposts still deal with the purchase from a housing developer (in contrast if it is a subsale, where you buy a property through the secondary market) :

HOW DO YOU SUMMARISE

PURCHASE OF PROPERTY WITHOUT TITLE

FROM A HOUSING DEVELOPER USING CASH

Purchaser pay 10% purchase price and sign Sale & Purchase Agreement

Housing Developer signs

Lawyer stamps the agreement and gives each party a copy of the agreement. Original copy should be handed over to the Purchaser

Property is constructed according to the description of the property as provided in the Sale & Purchase Agreement. With each completion of the construction according to the Third Schedule of the Sale & Purchase Agreement, the Housing Developer will send a certification from his architect showing proof as such and request for payment to be made.

Purchaser makes payment according to the progress claims send by the developer where the Purchaser has 14 days to do as such which can result in interest accrued if payment is late.

Within 36 months, construction must be completed. This includes the common facilities as listed in Second Schedule of the Sale & Purchase Agreement

When the property’s construction is 92.5% complete, upon fulfilling Clause 25 and 26 of the Sale & Purchase Agreement, vacant possession is given to the Purchaser and the Housing Developer can request for another payment to be made. Purchaser can now move in into his new property

Housing Developer must submit an application to the appropriate authority for an application to subdivide the said land or building and show written proof to the Purchaser of such application and acceptance. Payment of 2.5% of the property can then be made by the Purchaser.

The warranty period for the property will last for 36 months but payment of the final balance purchase price of 5% must be made to the lawyers appointed by the Housing Developer as the stakeholder for the payment. Within this period, claim for any defect on the property and common facilities can be made and paid for by this stakeholder money as provided under Clause 25 of the Sale & Purchase Agreement

Housing Developer must have at this point, at their own cost and expense, as expeditiously as possible, apply for subdivision of the property into parcels and obtain a separate strata title under the Strata Titles Act 1985

Property transaction in Malaysia - Part 2

2011-06-30T00:15:00.003+08:00

One of the idea I am toying with while writing the sequel to my book is the mapping of the many property transactions which are a staple of Malaysia property market. Again, this will be from the perspective of a lawyer and not from a housing developer, real estate agent or the authority (Malaysia's Taskforce to Facilitate Business called Pemudah has issued their own version). This is from years of experience and through what is garnered from the law of Malaysia.

I still don't know how I am going to present it in the book as my book is a question and answer series but here is a preview of the simplest property transaction in Malaysia. When a property buyer buys a property already issued with title from a housing developer and is paying it by cash. Am hoping for some feedback on this :

HOW DO YOU SUMMARISE

PURCHASE OF PROPERTY WITH TITLE

FROM A HOUSING DEVELOPER USING CASH

Purchaser pay 10% purchase price and sign Sale & Purchase Agreement

Housing Developer signs

Lawyer stamps the agreement and gives each party a copy of the agreement. Original copy should be handed over to the Purchaser

Purchaser makes payment according to the progress claims send by the developer where the Purchaser has 14 days to do as such which can result in interest accrued if payment is late.

Within 24 months, construction must be completed.

When the property’s construction is 92.5% complete, upon fulfilling Clause 22 and 23 of the Sale & Purchase Agreement, vacant possession is handed over to the Purchaser and the Housing Developer can request for another payment to be made. Purchaser can now move in into his new property

Housing Developer must deliver to the Purchaser the original individual title deed of the property with a valid and registrable Memorandum of Transfer. Purchaser must then register the property at the relevant land office and pay the full stamp duty as determined by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri. Payment of 2.5% of the property can then be made by the Purchaser to the housing developer.

The warranty period for the property will last for 24 months but payment of the final balance purchase price of 5% must be made to the lawyer(s) appointed by the Housing Developer as the stakeholder for the payment. Within this period, claim for any defect can be made and paid for by this stakeholder money as provided under Clause 25 of the Sale & Purchase Agreement

How did I published my first book?

2011-06-29T00:34:00.002+08:00

The books I wrote

I saw a tweet yesterday by @self_publish : Instead of "I Published a Book," Tell "the Story Behind the Story". Interesting tweet right? And it made me realised the one common question by anyone who got to know me through social media as an author. I actually never think of myself as a great author and there is a valid reason for this. I always do badly in my grammar. I will always need a good editor. After I published my first book, I realised the point of having editors and how infuriating is an editor's job.

So, how did I published my first book?

I did write about it long ago but it was more of an announcement with a bit of the stories of how the book got published. The blogposts are; I wrote a book and now someone wants to publish it : the story of how proud I was that someone like Azizi Ali, a property investment writer wanted to publish my book; Before you buy that house ask your lawyer this : which was a draft of what the book is finally was and Writing workshop : the second blogpost ever for this blog which was the story of the writing workshop by Azizi Ali which led to him publishing my book. As they say, to have a blog is to keep a diary. If the journey is writing, I consider this blog as the map which charts it. It is where I drafted, mapped out and it is also where I sharpen my writing skill.

If you read any of the blogposts I listed above, it would show how I started my writing journey by going to the workshop offered by Azizi Ali. And if you go further back, you will get to know how I decided to go to that workshop as I thought I was already at a plateau which was a comfort zone in terms of work. I was thinking as I have read Azizi Ali's book since early 2000, I might as well learn something new on how to write a book by attending his workshop. I went to attend his workshop and then I went one step further. I pitched an idea for a book to him. A book which I know how to write and is about the lifeblood of my business : the conveyance of property in Malaysia, specifically on the function of lawyers.

With Azizi Ali, the man who decided to publish my book

After I went to the workshop on how to write books, I started writing. It was thwarted by my discovery of blogging. I became an avid blogger and I learned how to better my writing. I write on various issues about law and even wrote a few fictions spurred by events in my own life. I would post a blogpost every day. It took its toll on my book. I set to write my book in 2008 but by August 2009, I was still writing. When I got to know about a book by another lawyer writing within the same vein being published by Azizi Ali's publishing company, True Wealth Sdn Bhd in September 2009, I finally took the initiative by locking myself in my house for nearly a week, finalised the draft for the book and sent it to my publisher. That was the start of the editing process which saw the English version of the book to be published on 31st January 2010. The Bahasa Malaysia version took a much shorter time to write as I translated it myself and it was finally out by 1st May 2010.

I guess what finally motivated me to finish writing is the need to beat another person from writing what I had in mind first. I never realised that True Wealth may talk to other writers out there who can write a similar title like mine. When it was published, I found out it was on Number 6 in a well-known local bookstore chain : MPH Bookstore. It is still being sold and can be bought online through that store or through my publisher, True Wealth online store : Book Planet.

The lesson I learned is this from blogging and writing : Although I was engrossed in self-publishing myself on the internet, it didn't give me any returns unlike the two versions of my book which have been a form of marketing for my legal firm.

That, in itself, as they say, is another story....

Can I not make a stand?

2011-06-26T22:53:00.000+08:00

For the past two weeks, the word on the street of Malaysia is the Bersih 2.0 which is the sequel to the Bersih demonstration which was organised in 2007. With the help of Wikipedia entry on Bersih 2007, it is done then to hand over a list of demand to our King, the Yang di-Pertuan Agung, considered as the highest authority in a democratic Malaysia. Some say, it was initially started by Hindraf, a group of the minority Indians who were demanding government to elevate their way of life for the better.

The rally was done through word of mouths and short messaging system which was the equivalent of Twitter in those days. Red herrings were used for the group to confuse the authority. The end result, due to the clashes between the protesters and the authority, you can described the Bersih rally in 2007 in one word : Chaos. The end result they say is the biggest lost the Barisan Nasional government ever had in the General Election 2008.

That is what I know about Bersih (some which is there in the Wikipedia link and some from conversations I had with friends). And I did not participate. As I told my friends and on Twitter, what I remembered about the Bersih rally in 2007 is the joke being told in most of the show by Douglas Lim, a famous Malaysian comedian. It is the Malay and the Indians being the people in the rally but the Chinese couldn't be found as they are the one making money as they are the one selling the yellow t-shirts which were worn by the protesters that day.

And now they are going to do a Bersih 2.0 on 9th of July. Led by the former President of the Bar Council. From what I gather at the start, there was no political element. Just that the opposition was a part of it. Then it became a rallying point for the opposition. Then suddenly there was a road-show to gather support. Then it became global as similar rally is supposed to be done in New York (if I am not mistaken). It was like a Wow! How big can this thing go event. Will we see a Thailand type of revolution which does not go anywhere or like Egypt or Bahrain or Yemen? That is only the Bersih part of it. How about these other two opposing rally by Perkasa-led NGOs and UMNO Youth. Can someone say "Collision course"?

Or will the government managed to contain it? Interesting is the least descriptive word for anyone who is watching the event unfold on the sideline. They have remanded a bunch of people and they have just charged people with trying to restart the communist movement in Malaysia again. The word being used to charge them is "Waging war against the King" which was used once and resulted in an army-like Al-Mau'nah leaders to be hanged and imprisoned for life. The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Internal Affairs Minister, the police and various people have issued warning and even issued threats to the rally organiser, to say the least.

People say as a lawyer, you need to be opinionated and you must fight for justice. Yes, that is what people expect a lawyer to be. I was a criminal lawyer once. It was during the most interesting time to in Malaysia politics. The firing of Anwar Ibrahim, the then Deputy Prime Minister and the supposed revolutions which comes after it. Hear the sarcasm in my words. I didn't involved myself in any of the street revolutions happening weekly then. So were most of my friends who are opinionated lawyers too living in Seremban. Although my then business partner was a member of the opposition. Although it was interesting to be there. And I am still a lawyer who considered lawyering as my profession. Am I a bad lawyer to not fight for a cause but just do my job?

So, I post this question on Twitter today : Can I support free speech but not #Bersih?

Here's my conversation on Twitter after I posted that question yesterday. I am using acronyms to protect the identity of all the tweeters who were conversing with me :

JL : Me too RT @kruel74: Can I support free speech but not #Bersih?

RF : Me too. I'm not supporting traffic jams + unnecessary bad press either. “@kruel74: Can I support free speech but not #Bersih?”

ML : @kruel74 isn't that the fundamental of democracy? We supporting what wr want to support?

SG :Yes, why not. I'm having a change of heart too about #Bersih. RT @kruel74: Can I support free speech but not #Bersih?
JZ : Interesting Q! RT @kruel74: Can I support free speech but not #Bersih?

S : @kruel74 but elections are not necessary clean so what are you doing about it?

LK : Free movement lah, boss. U dun support BERSIH's 8 requests, eg no corruption, clean elections, etc ?

RF : XD Hence, the irony of "Bersih". Fighting something dirty with something that will cause a bigger mess.

S : @kruel74 hmmm i always thought these inconveniences are to be suffered once in a while for the greater good :) :p

RF : @kruel74 Haha...wish they were well planned. Prefer a higher conspiracy of justice more than an annual show ;p

B : @kruel74 so how you think they should fight it so it will not turn into bigger mess?

S : @kruel74 hmmm i always thought these inconveniences are to be suffered once in a while for the greater good :) :p

B : @kruel74 I am alway wary of the 'greater good' part, depending on who, when, how it is said :P

CT : @kruel74 most of the time this "bigger mess" are police-led :D

RF :Takes two hands to clap :)

B : from what I experienced or watched in those rally clips, more like one hand forcing the other to clap

B : that is expected.

B : engaging each other despite some disagreements is a good sign of upholding free speech.

RF : Oh, the other hand clapped back, but it's not a desired response XD

B : hard to clap with unequal hands :P

RF : It's equal alright. Just not properly clapped XD

S : how it is equal? 1 of d hands definitely has more advantages. The body prefers it more to call d shot

B: This requires offline discussion la. Clearly 140 chars isn't enough.

R : i support free speech, n rights to assemble also. if police allow,sure no problem '@kruel74 Can I support free speech but not #Bersih'

In between those conversation, I did inserted these conversations to probe further discussions :

@kruel74 : Just curious how free speech is wholehearted supported by some but selectively by others

@kruel74 I think fr this healthy discussion we can see there is a divide abt how change shud be made

@kruel74 : Online discourse is a start, logistically easy n more participants can join in or at least observe

The simple point I am to make here is that, some just think we already have a clean and fair election. Some think there's a problem with the system but marching around town is not the answer or the solution to repairing it. Some think we need to remind the government of the need to ensure a fair and just election. Some think that ballot boxes is the answer to the problem we are having and 2008 has shown the way by an unprecedented opposition wins over the government they can only dream about. Some just want it to be done and over with. Most actually to me are the silent majority which people keep on harping as the one who really matters.

Oh yes, this is also an opinion. Opinionated enough?

Joint Management Body / Committee Part 2

2011-06-24T17:00:00.000+08:00

Continue from Joint Management Body / Committee First Part

The power to form and to govern the Joint Management Body comes from the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007. A Joint Management Body must be established within twelve months from the handover of vacant possession from the housing developer to the buyers. It is the responsibility of the housing developer to convene the first meeting which agenda has been spelled specifically in the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 including how many quorum is needed for the meeting to be legal, the election of the office bearers, how much the maintenance charges to be charged to all buyers, taking over of insurance of the buildings from the housing developer and any matter in connection with the management and maintenance of the common property with the strata development. The Joint Management Body is a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal which needs to be registered with Commissioner of Buildings. It can sue and be sued. The Joint Management Body members are the developer and the buyers of the strata property.

The Joint Management Body will be managed by a Joint Management Committee or the office bearers which were selected at the first meeting which will act as the management for the whole strata development. The Joint Management Committee shall comprise of the housing developer and a minimum of five buyers and a maximum of twelve buyers. No one can hold office more than three years and a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer shall be appointed among the committee members. The Joint Management Committee shall hold an Annual General Meeting every year and an Extraordinary General Meeting can be convened if a requisition in writing by one fourth of the buyers in the strata development or through a direction of the Commissioner or if the Joint Management Body thinks it is fit to do so. Basically, the duties and powers of the Joint Management Body are spelt out in the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 which include the proper maintenance and spending of the building maintenance fund to manage the common property within the strata development, imposing, collecting and recover any charge on each units within the strata development, insuring the strata development and dealing with any insurance claims, keeping a record of all the buyers in the strata development, maintaining and auditing an account which relates to the building maintenance fund and to make, enforce and regulate the house rules to manage the strata development properly.

To be continued where I will be commenting on the JMB / JMC

Joint Management Body / Committee

2011-06-22T19:47:00.003+08:00

The Joint Management Body is only relevant to strata title development which has not been issued strata title. As individual title for strata housing development will only be issued a few years after the buyers get the vacant possession of the property, the management of the strata development will be in the hands of Joint Management Body. Joint Management Body or its acronym known as JMB is still a very new concept in the Malaysian property landscape after the amendments to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 and the introduction of the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007. Amendments were also done to a few other Acts of Parliament such as Strata Titles Act 1985, Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 and Architect Act 1967, among others. Most of the amendments were related to the final approval of a housing development and the management of strata development before strata titles is issued and a proper management is formed under the Strata Title Act 1985.

In order to understand the position of Joint Management Body, we need to see the law before the amendment. Before 2007, when the buyer of a strata property gets vacant possession, the management of the property will be in the hands of the housing developer who built the property. Until the strata title is issued, the buyer will pay maintenance charges and any other charges relevant to the property he bought to the management which is controlled by the housing developer. The management can be the housing developer itself or contracted out to asset management companies with licensed to do so. The management of a strata title property, using the money received from the buyers of the strata property will in turn manage the common facilities within the compound of the property. They will also pay third parties to insure the strata property, collect rubbish and ensure there is water being supplied to each unit of the strata property. All these responsibilities are spelt out in an agreement between the housing developer and the buyers called Deed of Mutual Covenant. When individual strata titles are issued to most buyers of the strata property, the management will then be passed to a body called Management Corporation.

As the arrangement before 2007 brought around a lot of problems for the buyers and even the management, which is basically the housing developer, through feedbacks received from all stakeholders, the government decided, a proper management comprising of the housing developer and the buyers need to be emplaced to manage strata property which has not been issued strata titles for each unit yet. That is where Joint Management Body comes in. Joint Management Body is the management which comes into existence within one year of handing over of vacant possession of a strata property until the issuance of strata titles to owners of the strata property. Joint Management Body also has a government body to manage it and settle any dispute arising out of managing the strata property. As most disputes by buyers of strata property are the buyers’ complain on bad management of the strata development by the housing developer and as for the housing developers on the lack of awareness of the buyers on their responsibilities when they live in a strata development, the amendments in 2007 tried to address these matters.

....to be continued in Part 2

7th World Islamic Economic Forum (a post mortem)

2011-06-14T15:10:00.083+08:00

I am now back in the office after more than a week in Kazakhstan for the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum. Imagine my surprise when most of my social media friends are interested whether the Prime Minister was really marrying off her daughter than anything about his presence at the Forum or any of the bilateral meets he was in. That's politics I guess, which I am not a part of at all unlike those few personalities like Khairy Jamaludin whom I hung out with as we were attending events at the Palace of Independence, the venue for the Forum.

As a delegate of the 7th WIEF, what did I managed to garner? Some will say attending forums like this are a waste of time and will cost you a bomb. Some forums could be said to have caused me a dent but this one is considered the lesser of all those other forums. My real cost was the flight tickets I had to forked out. It would have been cheaper if not for the late confirmation by other Malaysian delegates which would have gotten us a cheaper deal for the flight tickets from Air Astana (the only Kazakhstan's national carrier). As for my accommodation, let just say I knew a few persons who allowed me to bunk-in with them. The fee of USD500 which are charged on any delegates

The 7th WIEF consisted of 3 days. On Day 1, it was the Young Leaders Network Forum and the Women Entrepreneurs Forum together with the Marketplace. The Young Leaders Network Forum targets those who wants to connect and meet with all those Muslims who have made it as CEOs and have been contributing to Muslims growth worldwide. We have speakers from Malaysia, Kazakhstan, banks, corporations, individuals, artistes, coordinators and NGOs. The Women Entrepreneurs Forum did the same but the issues are skewed towards women. These two forums finished in the afternoon at 5pm but most of the delegates stayed for the whole 3 days.

As for the Marketplace, showcase by visual artistes and performance are shown. Here are some of those performance :

Day 2 : Grand Opening by President of Kazakhstan, keynote speeches by Prime Minister of Malaysia, Vice President of Indonesia, President of Djibouti, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan and President of Islamic Development Bank. It was chaired by Tun Musa Hitam, the Chairman of World Islamic Economic Forum. Then the forums started in the afternoon and you had to make a choice of either going to two plenary sessions with regards to various topics or go to see more performances and talks about arts.

Day 3 : There were only plenary sessions which included one topic close to my heart as an Islamic finance practitioner entitled 'Islamic Banking : Raising the Bar'. They also had some scientific discussion about food safety, food security, halal industry and a few others.

What I managed to gain :

1) Contacts from those who travel from Malaysia with me as we are stuck in the same airplanes, airports, hotels and conference halls;

2) Meet and greet with personalities I can only imagine trying to meet in Malaysia like ex-Prime Ministers, Ministers, television personalities, singers and such;

3) Meeting foreign delegates whom I either managed to garner businesses from or connect with clients of mine who were also there at the same time;

4) Promoting my books either among delegates or dignitaries;

5) To a lesser extent, manage to get to know new culture (and food);

6) Actually had a mini-reunion with a few of my schoolmates who have now become Malaysia foreign service officers;

Was it worth? Short answer : Yes. Long answer : Depends on what I do with all the contacts I have found there.

Here's the link to my book fanpage to see whom I have given my book to :

Malaysian personalities and my book

Islamic economy is all about risk

2011-06-01T13:34:00.000+08:00

In 4 more days, I will be flying to a foreign land called Kazakhstan to attend the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum. I have heard of Kazakhstan but I never dream I will ever go there. Let us not start on the Borat references when people mentioned Kazakhstan. As there are a few of my friends going there, with their separate reasons, and most of them are on Twitter, we have been discussing what we may find there. It seems that one common theme we found out is that they have a very close relationship with horses. They ride them, use them in their everyday live and they even eat horse meat.

However, let us look at why at Islamic finance and Kazakhstan. Why would anyone would want to bring something new to a new frontier? Wouldn't it be risky if something goes wrong? Why don't we compete for a piece of the pie in London or New York? Or maybe even Singapore? At least, all these countries have the facility which will help Islamic financial institutions to gain footings and spread out. Anyone who knows about the politics of Islamic finance (yes, there is politics when you want to establish a strong foothold as the hub of anything to do with finance) will know why.

Malaysia has long want to establish itself as an Islamic finance hub. Our nearest competitor was once Bahrain. However, all those old-moneyed financial hubs like London, New York and Singapore wanted the oil-dollar which is synonym with Islamic finance. Kazakhstan is a new frontier. No one actually know what to expect from this country. What people know is that they were part of the former Soviet Union and they have oil. So, why don't Malaysia take a risk and market our expertise as the expert in Islamic finance. And no one can deny that as we have a lot to offer in Islamic finance. It is much like the trip I did to South Korea with an Islamic bank in Malaysia which is trying to introduce Islamic finance to South Korea.

Where do we stand in Islamic finance? We have Malaysia Islamic Finance Center which is basically a one-stop center for anything to do with Islamic finance. My second degree which comes from International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) is also a MIFC initiatives. Banks and other financial institutions have opened and are opening branches in Malaysia as fast as our Central Bank can issue them. Our own banks have forayed into other market and even our food franchises like KFC has break into new markets like India and Cambodia. And yes, also the World Islamic Economic Forum which is in its 7th year.

World Islamic Economic Forum wants to be the platform like World Economic Forum is. Group discussion, place for announcement of new initiatives for Islamic finance, roundtable discussion among the Islamic finance players either on the government level, authority level and Islamic financial institution level. It was held in Kuala Lumpur last year and I attended most of the forums. Other than forums, it also showcase talents like painters, musicians, filmmakers, artistes and thinkers in Islamic world under the Marketplace. That is why my friend Altimet, who can be considered as the Malaysian feel-good rapper with songs like Syukur and Kotarayaku, is going there too.

It is important to note that Islamic economy is not just limited to Islamic finance. Islamic economy include everyday commerce, food, creative endeavors and every commodities which conventional economy also trade in as long as it doesn't deal with anything prohibited by Islam like alcoholic drinks, pigs or any other things not allowed under Islam, free from any elements of riba', gharar and maisir. It must also be based on real economy in contrast of making money out of nothing such as speculation. The short version of Islamic finance principal is 'No Risk, No Gain'.

This time around as we are there while we are attending the forums, observing showcases and basically being in the thick of things, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and other social media links which you can add us on through the links below (just hoping we can get good internet connection) :

Links for updates :

Facebook : kruel74 Facebook
Ask The Lawyer Facebook page
Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina Facebook page
Altimet Facebook page

Twitter : @kruel74 Twitter page
@altimet Twitter page

And to know more about the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum, here is the link to their website : 7th WIEF.

Intellectual Property is the next frontier

2011-05-27T13:38:00.000+08:00


A brand like a football club is built from the ground up

When we turn 7 years old a few years back, my partner and I decided we need to have some semblance of future industries our legal firm should look at and break into. We choose two industries which branched out from law. One is Islamic finance, hence why I was in the the first part-time class of Certified Islamic Finance Professional in the International Center for Education for Islamic Finance in 2007. The other branch of law which we concentrate on is Intellectual Property. Which was why my partner took an LL.M course in Universiti Malaya in which one of the subject she specialised on was intellectual property. Needless to say, as both of us had graduated, I am the Islamic finance expert and she is the intellectual property expert in our firm.

Why do we think intellectual property is important? It is quite an impossible task to explain as Malaysia is so well-known to flout the intellectual property of movies and music that the movie studios in Hollywood realised they can't fight the intellectual property pirates and changed the way movies and music are released here. Yes, that is why we usually get movie premiere so early that the rest of the world is still waiting for the movie reel to arrive at their movie theaters. Intellectual property in Malaysia also suffers from the uncaring attitude of brand owners. Not many think spending some money to protect their brand is worthwhile. Some only do it when they get to know their intellectual property rights were infringed.

A car brand has the most things to protect in term of intellectual property

There are a lot of arguments about intellectual property is actually making life harder for those who produced certain products but didn't become part of the system like commodities-growers. However, if you want to break other markets, you cannot expect the same rules apply to you in any other country. We either adapt to it or you will be left behind. Registering you intellectual property in advance can even actually help small business prosper and even take down giants of intellectual property like what happened to McDonald twice in Asia.

A camera brand well-known in history

The story of McDonald losing the name of McCafe in Singapore in a landmark case and the name of McCurry in Malaysia is well-known. Nowadays, you can see the name McCafe being used in most of McDonald's spin-off cafe within McDonald's stores worldwide. However, it was once owned by an unknown brand owner in Singapore.

A film studio which churn out movies and have a theme park is another

Looking back into Malaysia, it is important to point out that the Malaysian authority in registering the intellectual property in Malaysia has made things easy to register a brand. They are also quite helpful in doing so. Just check how easy for you to register a brand and to protect it at MyIPO website. And of course, my legal firm do offer intellectual property registration and protection. We have the team to help you register while you will be given the protection if your intellectual property rights ever being infringed.

Of course, Malaysians, either as individual or as a corporate entity are breaking new grounds as we are known to produce artistes of varying degrees outside of Malaysia. I have found friends asking about who owns their work if they get paid for doing it and I have found those being sued for not knowing that they have infringed some intellectual property rights. I think education on IP is one missing link in Malaysia's attempt to be an intellectual property powerhouse. Maybe being one of the well-known 'pirates' country does not help our cause...

Malay Reserve vs. Bumiputra Unit (Property)

2011-05-19T11:00:00.004+08:00

This is an excerpt of part of my second book or consider it as a sequel to my first book '40 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOUR LAWYERS BEFORE BUYING A RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY IN MALAYSIA' which is still to be published. It is an attempt by me to differentiate the meaning of Malay reserved property and bumiputra property or better known as bumiputra unit in housing development. As it is still a work in progress, to be proof-read and edited, due to my skepticism in my success in explaining these two terms without all the controversies, I am still open to criticism but please keep in mind of me trying to explain about the current situations with regards to the two terms than trying to give new meanings to the two issues. Here goes :

A property which has been labeled as a Malay reserved property and a property which is known as a bumiputra property are two different types of properties. Each type of property can be transacted but there are restrictions on any transaction done on them. A whole lot of chapters have been devoted to the word ‘Malay reserved’ and ‘bumiputra’ but let us look at the differences of these types of properties according to the land law in force. A Malay reserved property is always marked with the word MALAY RESERVED on the individual title. Some called such individual title as the Red Grant or Geran Merah due to the red ink which is used to write those words.

As for any property which is known as bumiputra unit, there is rarely such label on the individual title of the property. In the usual case, the Sale and Purchase Agreement will determine whether the property is a bumiputra unit or not. In certain state, the label ‘Bumiputra lot’ can be found in the restriction-in-interest and in much rarer case, you can find the label ‘Bumiputra lot’ labeled much like as the case with Malay reserved property. The term bumiputra lot relates on the bumiputra quota set on the housing developer by the authority. In some cases, the quota is set for the whole development and requires the bumiputra ownership to be of certain percentage at any one time without any mention of it at all on the Sale and Purchase Agreement. That is why the control for any transaction of a bumiputra lot is in the hand of the housing developer which sell the property in the first place.

Who can transact a Malay reserved property? According to the Malaysian’s Federal Constitution, a Malay is defined in Article 160(2). In that Article, there are two criteria of a Malay. The first criteria is for a Malay person to profess to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, and adheres to Malay customs. Second, the person must have been either domiciled in the Federation or Singapore on Merdeka Day, or born in the Federation or Singapore before Merdeka Day, or born before Merdeka Day to parents whom one of them was born in the Federation or Singapore (collectively, the "Merdeka Day population") or is a descendent of a member of the Merdeka Day population. These are what defined Malay in the Malaysia’s Federal Constitution and is used to define the word ‘Malay Reserved’ on any individual title.

Here is the general rule on the transaction of Malay reserved property. A Malay reserved property can only be transacted between Malays. An owner of a Malay reserved property cannot sell it to a non-Malay or a foreigner. The signature on the Sale and Purchase Agreement can be witnessed by a lawyer but any document which is use at the land office for any transaction, such as Form 14A of the National Land Code which is use to transfer the property from one party to another, must be witnessed by a Registrar of Mineral and Land, the District Officer or Assistant District Officer of any land office. It does not has to be the officer of the land office where the property is situated but the signature of the transferor and transferee must be witnessed by either one of them.

As for bumiputra property, the restriction is imposed on anyone who is regarded as a bumiputra. Anyone who is regarded as a bumiputra is given special privileges and is reserved certain quotas on certain matters including property. They are even given a special discount when buying a property from a housing developer. There is no specific clause which define the word ‘bumiputra’ in the Malaysia Federal Constitution unlike the word ‘Malay’. However, in Article 153 of the Malaysia’s Federal Constitution, it is mentioned that there is a quota for Malays and natives of any states of Sabah and Sarawak. This has been used to define the word bumiputra which also relates to bumiputra lot in a housing development.

For bumiputra property, as it is a quota set on housing developers but is rarely written on the individual title for property sold with title, the housing developer will controls any sale to the general public and make sure the quota imposed is met. Usually, the amount of thirty percent of the total houses sold is set on the housing developer to sell to bumiputra buyers. A special price, which is usually set at seven percent discount, is usually given to any bumiputra buyers. When you buy a bumiputra unit from a housing developer, and get a bumiputra discount, your property is restricted from being sold to non-bumiputra. There are exceptions to the rule in certain cases. In the case where the property is not labeled as a bumiputra unit on any of its documents, either on the Sale and Purchase Agreement or on the individual title itself, a bumiputra owner can apply using a consent to transfer to transfer the property to a non-bumiputra buyer. If you bought a property without title where you must acquire consent from the housing developer of the property to sell the property, the housing developer may have to consider whether at that particular time whether the quota of the bumiputra units in the whole scheme is at the current percentage of the quota imposed on the housing developer initially by the authority.

Office We Apps : Easy as long as you have an internet access

2011-05-12T11:23:00.000+08:00

Wouldn't you want to access documents anywhere you go? If you are tech-savvy, you may have been doing it since the Office Web Apps were launched middle of last year. However, it is only available officially in Malaysia on 3rd February 2011. Yesterday, 11.5.2011 to be exact, the official launch was done in Kuala Lumpur by Microsoft. To see what it is all about, you can go to this Microsoft link.

At the launch, we were given a preview (or more of a briefing) by Mark Ma, Head of Online of Microsoft Asia Pacific, of what we can do with Office Web Apps, if we haven't done it yet. We can actually use all the familiar Microsoft Office like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote application by accessing them through the web browser. There are limitation to what you can do but most of the features are there.

In term of saving your work when you use these applications on the web, we were told, as Office Web Apps gives users the highest fidelity with files created and viewed in Microsoft Office, no matter which Office version the user uses, the file's formatting is preserved from the desktop to the Web App and back again. As part of Microsoft Windows Live service, Web Apps is also integrated with Hotmail and Windows Live SkyDrive which give users 25GB of free online storage. I wonder how the buying of Skype by Microsoft will be integrated into the dynamic of this Web Apps.

You can share documents with password-protected folders and give different permissions to different people. Those who open up a document sent by a user can open the link without opening up their Office applications on their PC. Co-authoring is also allowed so that multiple users can access and edit the work.

At the event, we heard how Mariana Hashim, a writer-producer and founder of Mariana Hashim Production, a mother of five tell us how she uses Windows Web Apps to write, share her writings and ideas with colleagues or other collaborators, check her children homeworks while checking on her other works. There was also Shayanee Indra, the Managing Director of WS Securities, who uses Microsoft Office Excel as a time-sheet to check on her security guards among others.

As for me, as a lawyer, I can use this to check on works at the office when I am traveling, discuss new ideas with my colleagues and send my offices the work I have done while I am on the move. As I can access the documents on smartphones and tablets, I can also send instruction to edit something on a documents too.

Property Transaction in Malaysia - Part 1

2011-05-10T16:36:00.000+08:00

One of the most common question that I am usually asked is how long does a property transaction takes. There is no straight answer to this question as the answer depends on a few factors :-

1) Who do you buy the property from? - If your answer is from a housing developer, then the answer can be found in the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966. In this Act, it has been decided long ago when it came into force, a housing developer has 2 years to complete a property which has a title (called landed property once) and 3 years to complete a property without title (narrowed to strata property only once). However, if you buy a secondhand property from another person (which can be a company or an individual), the transaction can be more complicated and take a timeframe of 3 months to more than one year. It will further be complicated if the transaction involves auction property and the auctioneer is a financial institution;

2) Are you buying the property in cash or financing it with a housing loan? - When you buy from a developer, you will be billed according to how much has the property being built. If you can pay in cash, you can budget the time and the amount that you need to release according to the progress of the property being built. If you are taking a housing loan, what you have to worry is the amount that you have borrowed is released according to the billing, in which if the timeframe of 21 days is not followed, you may be charged with interest;

3) What type is your property? - Despite the belief all properties are created equal, that is rarely the case even if the property is situated within the same area. A landed property with an individual title is different from a landed property without title. A strata property with title is different from a landed property with title. A property with title, with a requirement for a consent to transfer, is different from a property with title, without a requirement for a consent to transfer. Each type has its idiosyncrasies and laws which govern how each type of property is transferred from one party to another;

4) Where is your property situated? - In Malaysia, as each states govern their own land law, it makes all the differences if your property is situated in Selangor or Kelantan. If your property has a requirement where you need to get a consent to transfer from the state government when you want to transfer from one party to another, it will take longer in one state than another. In Selangor, there was one time where each land office has a different application form and not all application form are created the same;

5) Who is the lawyer handling your case? - Last and not least, although many may not believe it, the choice of lawyer is important. As I always have and will always do, I advise them to check each and every lawyer they are or will be dealing with the Bar Council which has an updated website to the very day a lawyer is suspended or struck of the roll. However, as each service given by each lawyer or legal firm is subjective, you can only hope the lawyers recommended by the housing developers or that cousin who opened up his or her own legal firm can serve you in your property legal need. Especially if you are buying property in the secondary market or from an auction;

These are just guidelines but in my 12 years of practice, are true to a certain extent. Am trying to put this list into my book with more details.

Hope nobody is left behind in future Malaysia

2011-05-05T13:06:00.000+08:00

I just came back from Mumbai, a city amazing in its culture and history. Not that India is far off from Malaysia. It gained its independence just 10 years before us in 1947. So, in terms of being ruled by its own people, they are nearly the same as Malaysia. However, although people like to think otherwise, economically, they are far ahead of us. More than a few richest people in the world are actually from India or of Indian origin. Here is one of the most expensive home (although it looks more like a high-rise building than a home) which is located in Mumbai. Owned by one Mr. Ambani, owner of Reliance group of India and the 4th richest man in India :

Let us not make an apple to apple comparison but let us look at the disparity between the rich and the poor there. Yes, what people said about Indian slum is true. You can see it everywhere. However, the most expensive real estate stretch in the world is also in Mumbai. Marine Drive is a 3 kilometer long coastal road full with colonial and art-deco building. Price of per square feet can be between RM1,500 to RM3,000. And that is just for a normal apartment. 5-star hotels and well-known business are there in Mumbai.

Malaysia now is in the threshold of moving forward to be a developed economy. A report by Asian Development Bank (ADB) says that Malaysia can be one of the 7 countries to kickstart the Asian Century. Being lumped with China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, powerhouses in their own right (some I think are so advanced that we dwarf by comparison), I think we need to slow down a bit and look back. I think some in certain institutions should pause and think whether we have all the basis covered before rejoicing about being one of the seven countries.

As I was pointing out in a few of the links I posted in my legal firm Facebook page and my book Facebook page, just look at the articles in major online news site for the past few weeks. Some are saying good things about our credit outlook with bank loan growth being in tandem with economic growth. However, some are warning about uncurbed spending by the people especially with easy credit. I know our Central Bank is dishing out major changes to ensure people are not spending more than they can chew but some of these people are already living from foot to mouth.

As for housing (which comes back to what is happening in India), houses are getting ridiculously expensive and major town are growing farther and farther away from the main artery where people are working. How far should we move further away so that we can go to work and find that we have enough to pay for the basic necessity? Conversation that I had with people of Mumbai revolved around them just surviving there to ensure their parents/children living in their village to have a better life.

That First House Scheme is good but a house without furniture is or basic necessity is just like a 10' by 10' slum area in Mumbai. People will always strive to have a better life and what is life if you go around day in day out living just to put some food on the table for your family? I know government is working on it but let us also hope, there will be no one being left behind....

Property without title

2011-04-26T16:16:00.000+08:00

Property without a individual title is common thing in Malaysia. Housing developers have been selling them for quite a long time, especially those housing developers which are connected to state government. Either they are the joint-venture partner of state government agencies or the state government agencies themselves. Due to the nature of business in the early days of government, these state government agencies are allowed a few 'exemptions' and they can sell without having to obtain individual titles first before selling them.

Once, they were even exempted from using Schedule H or Schedule G, the standard Sale & Purchase Agreement, that housing developers are required to use to sell houses. Only when the property law in Malaysia caught up with them in 2007 does the playing field is leveled for all. State agencies or government-linked companies have to apply for individual title like any other housing developer. That is basically the history of property without title. When it was going on, other housing developer seen the things being made possible, it become a norm in Malaysia for the sale of property without title.

In these past week, I was asked to explain by friends and potential clients about property without title. The questions revolved around whether are the any advantages or disadvantages of owning a property without title and whether you can sell it. As to advantages, there are basically not much different between a property with title or without title but you do have to do a registration when you an individual title is issued for the property. In Malaysia, although the time has been cut tremendously, it can still take a 5-year wait for some property for it to happen. And when that happens, be prepared to pay the full amount of stamp duty for the transfer. The stamp duty starts at 1% for any amount below RM100,000-00 and climbs to 3% for property costing above RM500,000-00.

As for transfer or sale of property without title, you can do it at any time, including while an individual title is being issued to you (which will require you to register it with the land office). What you need is actually a good lawyer who understands property law, with special emphasise on sub-sale (property transaction involving second hand property) and proper negotiation with the purchaser. You will use a document called Deed of Assignment which assign you all the beneficial and legal ownership of the property to you. This is actually the document which substitute the Form 14A in National Land Code and is your proof of ownership.

One of the issue of having a property without title is your relationship with the housing developer which you buy the property from. It is their prerogative whether they want to allow you to transfer the property to your purchaser or not. They may allow it and all the Sale & Purchase Agreements relating to the property will be acknowledge as the proof in ownership and all the Deed of Assignment in existence will be the proof of transfer of ownership. All these documents will lead to the latest owner's name who bought the property to be registered on the individual title. If the housing developer doesn't allow for 'direct transfer', they will register it on the first owner's name and then a transfer has to be made to the latest owner.

These are the basics of owning a property without title although there are other issues which need to be considered. I am now researching them to be included in the sequel to my book. Oh, one final thing, a property without title need not be strata development but can also be landed property especially gated community property.

MAS Airbus A330-300 Joyride

2011-04-18T16:35:00.000+08:00

It was early morning last Thursday the 14th of April and I found myself in a queue to go for a joyride on the new Malaysia Airlines, better known as MAS, new airplane : A330 - 300. A bit of a question mark to some (as evident by a question on Twitter I've received) as most airlines in the world are harping on the new A380 that they have/will received. Well, MAS seems to have ordered these A330 4 to 5 years ago and they have just starting to receive it now. They will continue to receive another 15 of these A330 in the next few years and even has an option to purchase another 10 airplanes.

Here's a link to a report by the Star Online on MAS fleet renewal program : MAS fleet renewal program.

What is the different between the current A330 and MAS current fleet. It seems that it can travel longer and farther with less fuel. That is more for MAS to take advantage of. The route that this new A330 will be Beijing, Perth, Delhi, Brisbane, Osaka and Shanghai.

What is the benefit for the passenger? It seems that the new aircraft has a better entertainment system like a touchscreen and the one I consider as the best change is the placement of the phone-like control for the entertainment system which is now just below the screen than when it is now for the older model which is at your handrest. I hate it as it bothers me when I need to stow it away.

However, other than a few tweaking here and there (there was supposed to be a very soothing lighting system which I can't really see when it was on show as the cabin was so lighted by the hot day), unless they can translate the savings that they get into flight tickets price, I can't see the big advantage consumers can feel from these new fleet.

I have a sentimental reason to love MAS, and I actually flew MAS to London last September when another couple who was travelling with us want to try out the A380 which plied the same route (with a few transits). I've flown MAS to various destinations and as many will use other airlines to get the advantage of lower tickets price and better airplanes, I may stick to my choice when travelling to certain destinations.

I am only hoping MAS will keep on adding to its fleet with new aircraft and with London and Sydney being one of the route it will use the A380 on, I am hoping when it is delivered, I will fly on them to either destination.

S.E.X - Sony Ericsson Xperia arc

2011-04-07T14:52:00.000+08:00

Yes, I know that the title is a bit misleading but when I was having a discussion with some of those at the launch event for Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, I told them I think it would have piqued some interest with that tagline. S.E.X which is short for Sony Ericsson Xperia arc.

Anyway, we were invited by Maxis who got the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc with a lead time of one month and before anyone want to cry out "Monopoly!!!", they can get it without any plan too.

So, what is on offer?

PRICE :

Retail price (without any plan) - RM2,099-00

With 12-month contract with Maxis - RM1,749-00

With 18-month contract with Maxis - RM1,599-00

With 24-month contract with Maxis - RM1,499-00

Where can you get it for now? Sony Ericsson Exclusive and selected Sony Style stores nationwide

What it has to offer :

- Powered by Google Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread)

- 8MP Camera with ExmorR for mobile

- Reality Display of Mobile BRAVIA Engine (yes, the television display) which makes image 33% brighter

- Large 4.2" multi-touch display with mineral glass and 16m colours

- HDMI-connector which allow you to connect to any television with HDMI connection

- 8.7mm at its thinnest part

Additional free add-ons content (Worth RM429) - HDMI cable IM820, in-car charger AN401, 8GB memory card, screen protector and Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headset

Colours : Midnight Blue and Misty Silver

More details can be found at :

1-800-88-9900

http://www.facebook.com/sonyericssonmalaysia

www.sonyericsson.com

Some of the pictures at the launch :

Nikon Malaysia 10th Anniversary Celebration

2011-04-01T15:41:00.000+08:00

I am actually wondering how can a brand so old only arrived in Malaysia 10 years ago? Maybe it is the 10 years anniversary of Nikon (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Maybe before that Malaysians has to import Nikon camera to enjoy it.

I am also wondering why this guys actually thought I have Nikon DSLR camera or any DSLR camera for that matter. I love photography and I think if I do have a hobby, photography might be it. However, all my pictures are taken using my smartphone, which, as of now is a Blackberry. And the pictures below are taken using it.

I do appreciate the invitation though so let me do a blogpost to promote the 4-days event.

It was the media event which I was invited and I had fun playing around with the Nikon cameras on display and looking the skills of those professional photographers who love using Nikon cameras. Some pictures from the event on 30th March 2011 :

What happened during the event was the GM of Nikon Malaysia, David Ng, officiated the opening of the celebration of Nikon Malaysia 10th Year Anniversary and the Nikon Club for public users of Nikon cameras.

If you go here between 31st March and 3rd April, you can expert photography talks by mizzStudio, Stefan Chow of Singapore, Ahmad Zamroni of Indonesia, photoshooting contest and as evidence on the pictures above, all type of Nikon cameras on show either DSLR, Coolpix, binoculars and accessories.

For the love of cameras and beautiful cameras, even if you are not using a Nikon, you should make a stop and go to Midvalley Exhibition Center. To check out more, go to Nikon 10th Years anniversary page and join Nikon Club Malaysia, and you can follow them on Twitter here and join them on the Facebook page here.

12 years in the legal industry

2011-03-28T14:00:00.000+08:00

On 10th March 2011, I took my whole office (or those who were present that day in the office) to lunch to celebrate another personal milestone. We had lunch at Itallianies in Empire Gallery Mall, at Subang Jaya.

I managed to stay within the legal industry, going into my 12th year as a lawyer and I think this will be the profession I am willing to be known when I die. Oh, yes, I don't think there is a point of retiring. I want to have an obituary which reads - Khairul Anuar : Lawyer.

Journey is still long. I will always sign off my personal email with : Lawyer, Author, Blogger. If ever I add more titles at the back, where I will rattle off what I am known as, not some titles awarded by others, I will still want the first title to be there.

Staying in one industry as people/friends I know fall off due to opting out or due to some disciplinary issues, I am proud to be associated with a legal firm and with a long-standing business partner whom I have known for nearly 20 years. We still have big plans for our medium-sized legal firm and I hope we will still partners in the next 20 or 30 years. And I also hope all the staff I have on my payroll now will make it with me too.

Here is some pictures of the celebration and as I have hoped since 3 years ago when I started this lunch treat, this will not be the last :

Pelaburan Hartanah Untuk Dekad Yang Baru

2011-03-22T18:54:00.000+08:00

On 2nd April 2011, I am going to be on the panel of Azizi Ali's seminar, yet again, for the fourth time. If the other seminars were presented in English, Azizi seems to change his audience to concentrate on those fluent in Malay for this time around. The other seminars were all conducted in English and entitled : Property Investment for the New Decade. I will be answering any questions regarding the sale and purchase of a property in Malaysia which of course relate to my book : Ask The Lawyer

You can get the detail of the seminar on 2nd April through this link : Millionaire Planet seminar

Here is a bit about who is Azizi Ali :

MENGENAI PENCERAMAH

Azizi merupakan penulis, penceramah dan jurulatih kewangan #1 Malaysia. Beliau telah menulis lebih daripada 30 buah buku terlaris mengenai kewangan seperti Jutawan dari Planet Jupiter, Winning at Property Auctions dan Bagaimana Hendak Menjadi Tuan Rumah Jutawan. Beliau juga telah memberikan ceramah di seluruh Malaysia mengenai perihal kewangan. Beliau juga merupakan kolumnis bagi Malaysian Business, Personal Money dan StarProperty.my.

Selain menulis, memberi ceramah dan menguruskan perniagaannya, beliau turut menjana portfolio hartanah yang bernilai lebih RM5 juta. Beliau memiliki hartanah di Damansara, Bangsar, Subang Jaya, Kelana Jaya dan USJ.

Azizi ialah seorang Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) dan turut memegang MBA dari University of Bath, UK.

My First Home Scheme breakdown : Choose your first property carefully

2011-03-17T15:08:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, on 8th March 2011, after announcing it in Bajet 2011 in October 2010, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak finally announced the mechanism for the First Home Scheme (Skim Rumah Pertama) in Malaysia. Malaysia is not the first country to have a First Home Scheme as a few other countries like Australia also has the same scheme for its citizen.

A few days, there was an announcement from the Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Chor Chee Heung, that they will amend the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act 1966 to ensure housing developer will be more accountable. This was said during the launch of SP Setia Berhad's smartphone application. According to the news report, which you can read here, he was to have said first time buyer to not be too choosy when buying their first property. That seems to be a contradiction from his first statement.

As announced by the Prime Minister, let us look at the breakdown on how does one get to be a part of this scheme :

1) You must be below 35 years old and never own a house before;

2) Your household income (combined income if you are married) must not exceed RM3,000.00;

3) You don't need to come up with the ten percent down-payment of the house which you want to purchase. This 10% will be guaranteed by Cagamas Berhad;

4) The price for the property must be below RM220,000.00. Some news report has put the amount to be between the price of RM100,000.00 and RM220,000.00;

5) Currently, a stamp duty discount of 50% is already being enjoyed through a stamp duty exemption given on any instrument of transfer and loan agreement instruments for houses priced not more than RM350,000.00. This means that the exemption of 50% will also be enjoyed by those who do not participate in the First Home Scheme. The exemption is given under Stamp Duty (Remission) (No. 3) Order 2010. The Valuation and Property Services Department has set the mechanism for one to get the exemption, they must give an undertaking through a statutory declaration which specifically said they have bought a property costing not more than RM350,000.00. This 50% discount applies for any Sale & Purchase Agreement executed between 1st January 2011 and 31 December 2012;

6) All the matters regarding the application to get the 100% loan (including the 10% downpayment for the property guaranteed by Cagamas Berhad) is handled by the few banks which has been appointed by the government as the financiers for the First Home Scheme. Some of the banks are Alliance Bank, Standard Chartered As-Saadiq, CIMB Islamic Bank, AmBank Berhad and Maybank Berhad. These banks should have a product which relates to the First Home Scheme;

The mechanism for buying a property under this First Home Scheme is stated below :

1) Go look for the property and pay a booking fee to a housing developer of your choice. Make sure you choose a reputable developer if you are buying it from a housing developer and if you are buying it from another individual, make sure you have check thoroughly the property;

2) Inform the vendor that you are going to apply for the First Home Scheme;

3) Choose the bank which participate in the First Home Scheme and apply for the loan. You must proof to the bank of your eligibility to apply under the scheme. Supply them with your proof of income and information about the property you are buying;

4) When your loan have been approved, appoint a lawyer to handle the transactions with regard to your Sale & Purchase Agreement and loan agreements which will prepare all the undertakings for the First Home Scheme;

5) Monitor the progress of your property and your loan (including the repayment)

Basically, this news is good for the young working adult in the whole country but you will be hard-pressed to find any house at the price of below of RM220,000-00 within the city areas. It may even be a way for the government to move the concentration of people populating city centers. However, this will only bring another question : When will the issue of connectivity be resolved? Here's hoping to the MRT project is one of the answer.

Social Media ROI

2011-03-14T18:15:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, I braved the traffic in Kuala Lumpur city center to go to Kuala Lumpur City Center or better known as KLCC to go hear two American talked about Social Media ROI. It was hosted by Social Media Club KL or better known as #SMCKL. A commendable effort by a few individuals whom I am not sure why or what is in it for them to host these events but that event was the 12th event held by them since it was first held. I only miss one of the event. In KL that is. As they now have a Penang chapter, which they have held twice.

Microsoft rep giving us an overview of their new offerings

As I had suspected the topic is not really relevant to my industry, which has everything to do with legal. Having websites, social media connections like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and such can help a legal firm gain recognition without having to resort to advertising which is totally banned in Malaysia. We are only allowed to exist and find some creative way to market ourselves. What most legal firms do is meet up with our intended targets which we hope will be our clients, present them with our company profiles and hope for the best. With the advancement of social media, this is not the case anymore (for some).

Selling book as they give an overview

I have been using social media as a form of marketing since 2008. Starting with this blog, I then created a Facebook page which I then follow up with a Twitter existence. LinkedIn is another place I elevate my existence as a professional. It was a good existence as I have thousands of people following me on Twitter and become friends on Facebook. However, as social media is new in 2009, I didn't managed to get any return on my hours of investment I spent on all those social media. Then, mobile telecommunication like my Blackberry made it easier to respond to queries and comment on matters of interest.

In 2010, as I join various groups at meeting or some popular known as Tweetups if it is done through Twitter, I become more well-known as a lawyer. With my books being in circulation and as I add another Facebook page for it, the circle of people who know me become wider. Eventually, I have so many clients from social media. I can say that my ROI for social media has increased to nearly 10% since I start. As a medium-sized legal firm, with no website (I hate maintaining it, though I know it's importance), I consider that as a good return on investment.

So, if you are interested, here are the links for my Facebook pages, Twitter handle and LinkedIn profile :

Twitter Profile : @kruel74

Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina Facebook page : Khairul, Suhaila & Hazlina

Ask The Lawyer Facebook page (My books) : Ask The Lawyer

LinkedIn Profile : LinkedIn Profile

Corporate Governance : Where Art Thou?

2011-02-22T17:22:00.000+08:00

The company where I am an independent non-executive director sent me to a corporate governance half-day course on Friday to refresh us on the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance. It was a very basic course where we told what we need to make sure as we govern the company which we are supposed to oversee.

Since at the start of the session, I have a bone to pick with the speaker. He is a senior partner of an audit firm in Kuala Lumpur. Well-known and well-respected (the firm, not him). As he starts the session, you can see that he was just going with the flow and not really trying that hard to give any input on what he is quoting from the Code. Of course, he did say at the earlier part that his firm helped in amending part of the Code in 2009 after all the corporate crisis which toppled huge conglomerate like Enron, which resulted in the closure of Arthur Andersen, a well-known audit firm then.

Another issue which I had with him is his way of siding with whatever the management is well-known to do. Not really giving a solution. More like agreeing to the fact that we have problems like family business which still thinks they own the company and government link conglomerates which can't decide against government policies even if the shareholders (especially the minority shareholders) will suffer due to that decision.

As there were a few VIPs in the audience (including my chairman who was a former mayor), he keeps on shooting of names which I consider to be skewed to the western countries while ignoring any mention of Malaysian companies. He did mentioned Sunrise Berhad as an example but ignore other good company with good corporate governance. I was looking for him to quote Singaporean company, at the very least but he failed to do so. Although he did say the term 'corporate governance' was coined by western authority after the failure of their companies, he fail to look at the success (or the failure) of Malaysian companies. He seems to be too afraid to thread on one of the toes of the VIPs in the audience.

When he finished his presentation, and when he asked for questions from the audience, I brought up two matters :

1) His lack of examples from Asia or Malaysia specifically which he answered that we do have a few companies but he wants to bring worldly issues to our intention (while he did used the word 'China-man company, which is so much closer to home);

2) I suggested for him to suggest to Bursa Malaysia to ask for all public listed companies to take at least one director from two institutions which has tried to initiate a pool of independent directors. Those institutions are Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) and Malaysia Alliance of Corporate Directors (MACD). Maybe in the end, if there are too many corporate fraud why not all public listed companies are required to take any independent directors from the lists these two institutions have compiled.

On my own personal note, as much as I realised the need for accountants to be in audit committee, remuneration committee, nomination committee and the Board of Director proper, all other professional professions seem to be secondary. I wonder whether these two institutions MSWG and MACD will recognised the need for other professionals like lawyers so they can advice in legal matters (I did give inputs in court cases which happens in our company) or if the company deals with education, a senior educator. I just hope they realised that different company need different perspectives from different persons.

Growing through strategic partnership

2011-02-07T12:31:00.000+08:00

This year mark another milestone of sort for our medium-size legal firm. We have add another strategic partner of sort to our fold.

Syamsuriatina Ishak had been at the helm of her own legal firm Azmi & Co. for some time and we have been having a strategic alliance with her since 2009 where she was our counsel for files which needed an experience lawyer such as her as the lead. It was a good alliance and as she was running a solo operation, we have been asking her to join since we started the alliance.

Why we wanted her so much is due to the component that seems to be missing from our legal firm for quite some time. A litigation department which has a senior lawyer as its lead, a junior legal assistant, clerks and a system which can manage all the trappings of managing litigation files. We had it all except for the senior lawyer. I have left the litigation world and for now can only manage resources in legal firm better than anything else.

Syamsuriatina or Tina as she is better known is a senior lawyer who is very active in so many law organisation like Selangor Bar Committee (where we first get to know her) and the Bar Council (as of now she is into her second term as a Bar Councilor). She has done so many cases in court and even has been part of legal team going to Federal Court. In short, she can stand on her own as an experienced litigation lawyer.

She did ask for some time as it is not easy for one to just close shop and join another institution just like that. So, we waited. And as of 1st January 2011, we now have Tina as another important component in our legal firm. She is the Head of our legal department and we hope with her addition our legal firm will soar to new heights (cliche, I know, but it doesn't make it any less something we want to achieve). Now, we can accept all type of litigation department without having to resort to pass to other legal firms.

As a 11 year old firm this coming September, we do realise we have to keep on growing one way or another. We may not be the perfect organisation or being in a perfect industry but we do think we contribute in our small way to the country as we have at any one time 15 people who depends on us to ensure they can take home their paycheck. We cannot fail them in any way as we have promised to keep employing them and pay them for what they are worth. A simple mission statement which every business should have, if you ask me.

Working trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2011-01-19T21:40:00.000+08:00

I was invited for a working trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to witness the opening of the Sarpino's Pizzeria, a franchise owned by a company in which I am an independent non-executive director of. Although some may say a working trip is a nice gesture by the company, as an independent director, who get paid to call every judgement (bad or good) that a company makes, the liabilities that come with it is no child-play. An independent non-executive director is like a prefect overlooking any misconduct by the Board of Director in a public listed company.

The working trip was a first for me as I have always ensure an arm-length relationship with the management of the company. So, most of the time while I was in Phnom Penh is to actually look at other food businesses being conducted by other Malaysian companies which among others are KFC and Tutti Frutti. There are also other obvious business interest such as banking like Public Bank, Maybank and CIMB Bank; and not so obvious such as Axiata and maybe a few others which may not use the same brand name as the one in Malaysia.

Of course, as an independent director, I will have to ask probing question whether the company expect to make money and what is their expansion or the exit strategy for the business. What I like about the food business is that it is a cash business which bottom-line is about cost management against marketing. It may not be a popular work but as the saying goes "It maybe a dirty job but someone has to do it".

Sarpino's Pizzeria is founded in Canada. They seem to be expanding either in Malaysia or in Southeast Asia like countries in Vietnam and Cambodia. In Malaysia, specifically in Klang Valley, they have a branch in Subang Jaya and in Singapore, they are at 20 locations. In Cambodia, they now have 2 locations and there are more to come. All

Sarpino's is more of a gourmet pizza than fast-food. Our company only holds the master franchise in Cambodia for now. With this new venture, I hope it will generate new income for the company. As much as food business is about food, McDonald's founder's quote about franchise business is more about "real estate" than anything else is something we need to remind ourselves.

2010 : 2 achievements which made it memorable

2011-01-07T20:00:00.001+08:00

I have been posting so many updates on these two events that I seem to be beating it to death by blogging about it again and again. However, when these two achievements are the only events which I take it as another landmark of my still young life, I need to make a marker for them on the only life highway I own.

So, let make it short as you can see through my other postings how much I treasure these milestones.

One was adding a title to my name as a published author. Never mind the fact I was targeting to be a fiction writer but my books (same book, different language, both written by me) are out there being sold and can be found in most of the bookstores in Malaysia like MPH, Popular and even Kinokuniya.

The English version is '40 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying a Residential Property in Malaysia' whilst the Bahasa Malaysia version is '40 Soalan Yang Patut Anda Tanya Sebelum Membeli Rumah Kediaman Anda Di Malaysia'. One was out on 1st February 2010 and the other on 1st May 2010.

Through these books, I was invited to be speakers in seminars and talks. Through it I can be found in the web as more than just a lawyer or a blogger (or more of a social media whore). I have a Facebook page for these books and I am constantly checking the availability of these books and even update my search for it. Now both books are in its second print. Seem like people are buying it.

After that achievement, I was told in October, a week before my birthday, I am a graduate of International Center for Education of Islamic Finance (INCEIF) in Certified Islamic Finance Professional. Add another title of CIFP at the back of my name. Building my legal firm into a force to be reckon with on Islamic finance.

These two are just but small achievements as they are selfish indulgence.

This year, I want to be more proactive in contributing to society. Looking for a worthwhile project or maybe even projects.

As I tweeted before :

My 2011 resolution is

to be resolute in my resolutions

My book still selling....

2010-12-20T11:56:00.000+08:00

As an author and an owner of a brand (yes, I consider the book as my brand), I know the need to constantly remind people (or tell people who don't know) that I have a book out there, titled '40 Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer Before Buying a Residential Property in Malaysia' and its Bahasa Malaysia equivalent titled '40 Soalan Yang Patut Anda Tanya Peguam Anda Sebelum Anda Membeli Rumah di Malaysia'. The former was released on 1st February 2010 which is on its second printing run and the latter on 1st May 2010.

Of course I consider this as one of the highlight of my career as a lawyer and also as one of the landmark in my life. Although I have a few more projects in the near future (and not so near future), I can consider 2010 has been a great year for me. I will do some sort of highlights of the year in a few more days.

In the meantime, I just checked the Bestseller list of my distributor, MPH Distributor, which is a part of the MPH Bookstore group of company and lo and behold, my book is on the bestseller list again. Although when it came out it only reach No. 6 on that list, it was a proud moment for me and now, after a few months, it is back on No. 14 for the week ending 12th December 2010. It may be due to the special price they are selling it at the MPH Online website. You can now get the book at the price of RM23.92 which is a 20% discount of its RM29.90 price. So, go the site and buy one as I can only managed to find 11 copies of it at MPH Subang Jaya in my hunt for it.

I am now writing my second book on the same subject and the topic will still be about buying houses in Malaysia. It will still be under the same 'Ask the Lawyer!' brand and you can follow my progress through my Facebook page : Ask The Lawyer! books written by Khairul Anuar Shaharudin. You can even post questions for me to answer and suggest what questions should I tackle in my latest book. I have listed issues about the land, built-up, strata issues, Joint Management Committee, Management Corporation, Gated, Gated and Guarded Community and a few general issues as part of the book.

My article in LoyarBurok.com

2010-12-14T11:27:00.000+08:00

This article was written when we still had half a month before the Bar Council election was over. I was commenting on the year-in, year-out, same face, same offering of the Bar Council election being served up to the public. And why is Bar Council election should be more than any other normal professional association election as Bar Council has so many hands in so many pies especially those who can't find justice in the justice system.

What is 'LoyarBurok' is explained at the site and reproduced here :

"loyar burok" = noun, colloquialism: one who is full of hot air; one who enjoys to talk a lot about things that serve no useful purpose...

Am currently writing a few more articles for them and hoping to publish more.

Here was my article (it is in Bahasa Malaysia) :

Pemilihan Majlis Peguam: Kuasa Golongan Peguam Elitis Sukar Ditembusi

18 November, 2010

By Khairul Anuar Shaharudin

Sebelum saya dianggap ignoran (ada ke perkataan ni?) atau tidak faham bahasa, biar saya jelaskan bahawa saya sesungguhnya tahu yang pemilihan ke Majlis Peguam pada setiap tahun hanya boleh dilakukan oleh peguam dan bukannya orang awam.

Namun begitu, kepentingan Majlis Peguam telah berkembang dari setahun ke setahun sejak ia ditubuhkan sehinggakan ia bukan sahaja menjadi saluran untuk para peguam sahaja tetapi ia adalah tempat untuk orang awam mendapat keadilan apabila keadilan tidak dilayan oleh sistem yang ada.

Tanpa Majlis Peguam, mungkin tidak ada sesiapa yang akan memberi komentar kepada pelbagai undang-undang yang dibahas di dalam Parlimen atau melawan habis-habisan sebarang ketidakadilan yang berlaku di pelbagai segmen masyarakat di Malaysia.

Apakah sebenarnya peranan Majlis Peguam? Badan Peguam adalah satu badan yang ditubuhkan di bawah statut yang kini dikenali Akta Profesion Undang-Undang 1976.

Ia adalah badan berkecuali yang bertujuan menegakkan peraturan undang-undang dan keadilan serta melindungi profesion undang-undang dan orang awam. Semua peguam yang mempunyai sijil amalan guaman secara otomatik menjadi ahli biasa Badan Peguam. Di bawah Akta tersebut, Majlis Peguam mentadbir Badan Peguam.

Dalam kiraan terakhir Badan Peguam mempunyai lebih dari 13,000 orang ahli. Semua peguam-peguam ini layak mengundi dan menjadi calon ahli jawatankuasa Majlis Peguam.

Majlis Peguam mempunyai 36 ahli Majlis yang 12 darinya dipilih melalui pemilihan tahunan melalui undi pos yang diedarkan kepada semua ahli biasa Badan Peguam. 11 pula adalah Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Peguam Negeri-Negeri Semenanjung dan 11 wakil yang dipilih semasa pemilihan Jawatankuasa Peguam Negeri-Negeri Semenanjung. Dua lagi ahli Majlis adalah bekas Presiden dan bekas Naib Presiden tahun yang baru lalu.

Proses pemilihan Majlis adalah mudah di mana setiap ahli menerima sampul yang mengandungi biodata setiap calon yang layak dan kertas undi yang mempunyai nombor siri. Satu sampul yang telah ditaip alamat Majlis Peguam juga disertakan dan sesiapa yang mempunyai masa untuk melihat dan ingin mengundi hanya perlu memangkah kotak di sebelah nama-nama calon tersebut.

Secara amnya, ini semua amat mudah. Namun begitu, ahli biasa Majlis Peguam yang menghantar semula kertas undi yang telah diisi amatlah menyedihkan. Menurut Kempen Candidate Watch oleh Jawatankuasa Peguam-Peguam Muda Kuala Lumpur, hanya 23% dari 13,000 ahli Badan Peguam menghantar semula kertas undi mereka.

Ini sebenarnya amat memalukan untuk satu badan yang ingin pilihanraya umum diadakan dengan lebih bersih, menggalakkan demokrasi serta pemahaman perlembagaan yang lebih baik.

Bukankah jika mandat yang diterima oleh calon-calon dan akhirnya yang terpilih menjadi ahli Majlis Peguam adalah dari sekurang-kurangnya 50% dari ahli Badan Peguam, ia akan menunjukkan bahawa Majlis Peguam disokong kuat oleh ahlinya. Jika 100% atau lebih dari kadar keluar mengundi pilihanraya umum, itu akan menunjukkan satu perkembangan yang lebih baik! Ini nampaknya hilang di benak pemikiran peguam-peguam yang ada.

Namun begitu, peguam-peguam tidak boleh dipersalahkan secara total. Kebanyakan dari mereka terasa mereka dianaktirikan dengan program-program yang diadakan oleh Majlis Peguam sendiri. Walaupun Majlis Peguam menyatakan bahawa ia melindungi peguam, ia jarang diperlihatkan oleh tindakannya.

Kebanyakan peguam menganggap Majlis Peguam hanya mengawalselia insurans indemniti profesional dan sijil amalan guaman mereka. Selain dari itu, Majlis Peguam lebih bertindak sebagai polis kepada peguam dengan usaha mereka menangkap peguam yang bersalah dalam menyalahi pentadbiran wang pertaruhan atau dalam pemberian diskaun kepada anakguam mereka.

Hanya sejak dua, tiga tahun kebelakangan ini barulah Majlis Peguam mengadakan program pembelajaran seperti “Getting Started” dan pentadbiran pejabat peguam yang lebih efektif agar peguam-peguam sedar yang mereka mungkin pandai menjadi peguam tetapi belum tentu pandai mentadbir urus pejabat guaman yang mereka miliki.

Tidakkah Majlis Peguam sedar yang pencegahan adalah lebih baik dari penyembuhan?

Masih ramai peguam-peguam yang ingin berkhidmat tetapi merasakan Majlis Peguam dikuasai oleh golongan peguam elitis yang menyebabkan ia sukar ditembusi. Calon-calon yang menawar diri mereka sebagai ahli Majlis pada tahun ini pernah berada di dalam Majlis Peguam sejak mereka masih muda dan ada yang semenjak tahun 1980-an lagi!

Tidak adakah peguam-peguam muda yang sanggup mengorbankan masa dan melakukan kerja secara sukarela tanpa bayaran (peguam di dalam Majlis Peguam tidak dibenarkan dibayar elaun atau imbuhan kecuali elaun perjalanan). Mungkin inikah yang menjadi halangan untuk Majlis Peguam mempunyai nafas baru.

Atau adakah perjuangan mendapatkan keadilan untuk pelbagai lapisan masyarakat di Malaysia seperti orang asli, pesalah juvana dan pelarian politik dengan penubuhan pelbagai jawatankuasa dan jawatankuasa kecil yang banyak di bawah Majlis Peguam menyebabkan Majlis Peguam tidak mampu memberi perhatian yang adil di dalam usahanya mentadbir hal-ehwal peguam sambil memantau undang-undang dan kerajaan yang ada.

Saya tidak pernah mendengar rakan peguam saya yang dengan rela hati pergi ke Majlis Peguam apabila menghadapi masalah di dalam perniagaan atau pentadbiran kes anakguam mereka. Mereka akan lebih percaya nasihat rakan-rakan peguam mereka. Peguam juga mempunyai masalah terasa lebih pandai dari semua profesion yang wujud kerana hakikatnya peguam memang perlu pandai dalam semua bidang untuk menjadi peguam yang efektif.

Oleh itu, adakah pemilihan ahli Majlis Peguam penting untuk peguam dan masyarakat? Di zaman di mana tanggungjawab sosial korporat menjadi sebarang entiti korporat yang wujud di mana sahaja, tidak syak lagi, ia adalah penting.

Soalannya sekarang, kenapa susah sangat peguam hendak mengundi dan memilih siapa yang boleh mengetuai mereka. Peguam-peguam muda pernah menuntut agar dibenarkan menjadi ahli Majlis Peguam. Di manakah mereka? Dari 32 calon di tahun 2009, tahun ini hanya 26 calon sahaja yang menawar diri untuk dipilih.

Mana semangat sukarelawan peguam di Malaysia? Yang tidak bertanding kerana sebab tertentu telah menyatakan kenapa mereka berbuat demikian, tetapi yang tidak pernah menawar diri mereka langsung? Atau berada di dalam mana-mana jawatankuasa? Macamana nak jadi calon kalau tak pernah menjadi ahli jawatankuasa?

Ya, memang tidak mudah untuk menjadi apa jua di dalam apa jua badan terutama secara sukarelawan. Mungkin kita boleh anggap ia satu cara kita memberi semula kepada masyarakat.

Dan mungkin, sekiranya kita ikhlas dan kita dapat berkhidmat bersama-sama, nama kita akan harum bukan sahaja di kalangan peguam tetapi masyarakat. Barulah, jika kita dapat gelaran “Dato’”, ia memberi makna.

Khairul atau kruel74 (yang digunakannya di dalam Twitter) merasakan dia lebih dikenali sebagai seorang ahli perniagaan dari seorang perguam walaupun namanya ada di papan tanda sebuah pejabat peguam PJ. Dia gemar bersosial di dalam sosial media yang selalunya dibawa ke dunia luar kerana dia percaya hidup ini terlalu pendek untuk dilalui seorang diri. Ikutilah Khairul di Legal Cat-asthrophe

1431 : A Good Hijrah Year...

2010-12-06T12:20:00.000+08:00

It was a year I wish to remember for a long time. So many things happened. I will probably talk about this again when 2010 ends in a few more weeks but a Hijrah year just gives it more meaning. And with Hijrah and Anno Domini interlocks each other for the past 3 to 4 years, we can count all our blessings in one swoop.

The barakah and the rezeki all comes from our Maker and it shows that as long as you live, blessings can still come in many form.

Let me say that I have made so many new friends through social media and had done (and I hope contribute) to so many causes, I just have to say, social media is a new passion which will not go away that easy. Going to connect more and give back more as much as I can

Whatever it is, just wanna wish, for now :

SALAM MAAL HIJRAH 1432

Don't forget to say our doa' before Maghrib to close the 1431 year and to say our doa' to welcome the 1432 year tonight.

So, this is what luxury holiday means....

2010-11-29T17:59:00.001+08:00

I once stayed in the local Ritz-Carlton as a wedding anniversary getaway with my wife where it claims that it has a 24-hour butler service. Although they do attend to my whims nearly the whole time we were them, their efficiency and claim they are available all the time, was a bit untested as we were in the mood of being left alone than being attended to.

Then, I was asked by a long lost friend whom I just recently got reacquainted to come and join her at a Villa in Phuket. She did asked me whether I can get away in the middle of the week, and as I can do that, I did. Off I when to Phuket with a one-day lead time with my wife.

Basically, it was heavenly. The place is nice. More than nice. We have a cook (two actually) who will attend to us everytime we were in the villa. We have a concierge who arranged everything. A driver. Basically, I now know how royalty lives. Oh, and there were 2 English Lords are actually living within the Estate.

The villa is 3 storeys, has 5 bedrooms, a family room, a swimming pool on the top floor, a billiard table, a ping pong table, a massage pavilion, iPod docking stereo units everywhere, a kitchen and 2 kitchenettes.

We had a massage on the morning of the second day. We went horse riding, which was a first for both of us. We played mini-golf. We ate seafood, with my wife eating a RM123-00 lobster as big as her head. Basically, we just had a very, very short luxurious getaway. Don't get me wrong, only the villa is paid for. The other expenditure, we do have to foot the bill ourselves.

And it was fun to live like royalty.... It is a big industry here in Thailand which offer villas and full service apartments and hotels for tourist and vacation clubs. Basically, it is hassle free, as long as you have the money.

Photo-shoot for Transitions lenses

2010-11-23T17:00:00.001+08:00

I was part of a seeding program for Transitions lenses which more information you can find out here. Don't ask me why I was chosen. I don't exactly remember when I was given this opportunity. I think it was 6 months ago that I received an e-mail asking me whether I want to be part of the seeding program for Transitions lenses. I received a letter stating which spectacles vendor was chosen as vendor for me to book the lenses. I went there and the shop assistant was clueless as to the program. Only when I showed the letter did they agree to do it for me.

It was sorted soon enough and although I had to pay for the frames, I consider it quite a saving as I found out these Transitions lenses can be quite expensive. So, I got my spectacles after a month as the chosen vendor did a bad job in cutting the lenses for the frames and it had to be re-cut a few times. I did advised them to stop being too honest as I didn't expect the lenses that early as I had just picked-up a new spectacles which has clear lenses and wasn't too eager on a new one. And this is the reason I am not mentioning the vendor's name here.

I finally managed to get the lenses after nearly 2 months and I worn the spectacles ever since. What I love about it is that it is really clear when there is no UV light. However, at first, I just couldn't see the significant change when I go out under the sun. However, after some time, I get use to wearing it and I actually abandon all the other sunnies I have.

Then, a few back, I was asked to give a feedback and kinda model for them. Kinda...because I am not really sure where and how will they used my image. I do get something out of it but in kind more than in monetary value.

So, here are some pictures from the shoot... (feeling a bit vain)

Proton's Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) 2010 win

2010-11-16T11:13:00.001+08:00

Watch this video by APRC TV and see what Proton has been up to lately :

As the jury is still out about the latest Proton model, Inspira, which is a re-badged of Mitsubishi Lancer, it seems that Proton does have hope in other part of the world. Motorsport that is. With Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson in different cars, Proton managed to get a One - Two podium finish at the China APRC Rally. Both of them used Proton Neo which is the current wanna-be rally racer choice of Malaysian highway, if you ask me.

If you listen closely to the youtube video, it would have said, "the new Proton team" which shows that Proton did made an impression in the APRC rally circuit as they managed to secure that podium finish. Proton still has a long way to go as they need to win at least the Asia Cup to be more noticeable but this is a great way to start.

Whatever comments or any feelings you have on our first national car maker, Proton, I think they do have vehicle models they should emphasise more like the Proton Neo which is quite popular among urban youth. Everyone knows that the first car that most working adult in Malaysia would buy when they start to work is a Proton. So, don't deny they do makes life easier for the average Malaysians.

So, why don't we applaud them for a job well-done.

p/s : I too think the Inspira is a Mitsubishi rip-off but it is still a good business coup by Proton.

p/p/s : All photos and video are from FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship website.

Peugeot 207 : A car to rival those other B-segment sedans out there

2010-11-09T23:58:00.000+08:00

On November 3rd, I was given the opportunity to go and see the launch of the new sedan by Peugeot. Peugeot 207 was launched with a simple ceremony but had a few dignitaries like Malaysia former Prime Minister (who was kept being mentioned as The Fourth Prime Minister) and a few representatives from Automobiles Peugeot like Mr. Gregoire Olivier who is their CEO of Asian Operations. Tun Dr. Mahathir was the one who launched the event and lauded Nasim Sdn Bhd as one of the successful AP vendor which came good and became a car producer itself other than a car distributor.

Peugeot has given the rights to distribute Peugeot brand in Malaysia to Nasim Sdn Bhd and Peugeot 207 is the first Peugeot to be produced in Malaysia. Malaysia will also As well as Malaybe Peugeot manufacturing hub for the region. sia, there is plan for it to be exported to other right-hand drive Asian market like Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. According to SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, CEO of Nasim and Joint Group Executive Chairman of the Naza Group of Companies. Peugeot 207 will be exported immediately and will be featured at 2011 Bangkok International Motor Show. The target is for a sale of between 5000 to 6000 units within 2011.

What is the feature of Peugeot 207?

It has a 1.6L engine, leather-wrapped steering wheel, automatic air-conditioning with pollen filter, an instrument panel made by luxury-watch maker, Jaeger, a multifunction display, sensor-activated automatic headlights and wiper.

Other than that, it has an MP3/WMA CD player with USB and auxiliary functionality connected to a six-speaker system, Bluetooth connectivity which can be paired with a handphone, semi-bucket front seats, a boot with 420 liters capabilities and of course the sleek body design of Peugeot which has 15-inch Interlagos alloy wheels.

In term of engine, it has a 1.6L engne which produces 110 hp at 5,800 rpm and 149 Nm of torque at 4000rpm. It has hydraulic variable power steeringwith a four-speed adaptive automatic transmission which comes with Tiptronic capabilities so it can be manually driven. It has a sport mode transmission and even a traction mode to provide more grip on slippery surface. Fuel consumption which is at 6.1-liters per 100km (mixed cycle) is quite good.

It also has ABS, electronic brake distribution, emergency brake assist, 2 smart airbags, a rolling code immobilizer, 'follow-me-home' functionality for the front headlights and auto-hazard warning lights upon sudden and heavy-braking.

For me, with the price of RM72,888-00 on the road price, this is a value-for-money car and as the title said is a car to rival those other B-segment sedans car out there.

P1 Wimax : Stronger, Wider, Faster

2010-11-02T18:26:00.000+08:00

As a 2-year old company, P1 or its real name, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has really made advances which they can be proud of. If you look at their offerings under a microscope, of course, they have warts and all, like any other company, but as someone who had been given a chance to associate myself with them since early 2009, during the launch of their mobile broadband called Wiggy, I have a tendency to view them favourably. I actually bought their stocks in the hope of making a profit like what most people would have said when they see Microsoft or Apple Inc. then and now.

So, on 20th October, a few days before the the ad campaign could be seen in all media around town, especially the newspaper, we got a bit of a preview. It is to launch a new offering by P1 where you can subscribe the home and mobile broadband together in one package. With the tag of Getting Stronger, Wider and Faster with kids wearing superhero costumes and saying words like Getting Stwonger and such, it shows kid of 2 years old doing amazing things. The all-in-one 4G 'Super Broadband' package also comes with a 'Super Quota' which can be shared between the two.

P1 Wimax also re-brand itself to be known as P1 4G now to show that it is offering 4G connectivity. As this is published, you would have seen the new ad campaign and it will be on billboards, monorails, print medias, radio and TV. They did address the voices of a few unsatisfied customers within the hall that day in which they admit some of their shortcoming and they also acknowledge the growing competition of broadband deployment. For more information, do visit www.P1.com.my.

Here are some pictures from the event which ended with us having dinner on the rooftop of P1 HQ :