I read this morning's paper about what people say about Dr Sulaiman. That he was a warm person. And I do agree eventhough I have met him only once. It was in a lift in Kuching at the Holiday Inn. That was way back in the early 80's when I was home from university for a break. He must have been the education minister then which of course I wasn't aware of. Within that short span of time (the lift was just for one floor up) he was able to connect with me as a student and how much the country values students as assets of the nation. And the lift door opens and he wishes me well before leaving and I felt empowered.
But then, it is a common thing for Sarawakians. We bond at the societal level. We all love our state. That love must been instilled by the teachers and the school. Everyday during the downtime in classes, teachers engage in chats with the students. How we the students are the future of the country. When the teachers say that and connect with each individual student it can be powerful. It is a form of empowerment.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Why I can't wait for my 1 year Maxis contract to be over
I am a fairly tolerant person on a typical day. Today my patience is challenged. As corporations grow bigger, the average consumer becomes smaller until its concerns and frustrations remain its own and consumers just have to swallow whatever rubbish is dished out at them.
I fell in love with the Apple iphone and that is the start of my problem with Maxis. I had been a Digi user and been reluctant to change out of Digi. Although Digi has some limitations with the quality of the service but Digi's customer service is superb and Digi has always been able to assist me in making full use of the telecommuication service. As an example, I remember standing outside my office building one day and looking at my Palm treo with its conference call feature I decided that while waiting for my husband to pick me up I might as well call my friend in LA and conference in another friend in Kuching and I managed to do that with Digi and that was way back in 2001, 2002?
I was excited that with the Apple iphone I can now make conference calls with my family members who live in other states. On this day, when my elder sister turns 50 I had hoped to use my Apple iphone to connect my family members just so we could all wish my sister a 'Happy Birthday'.
Now in 2009, I have the state of the art phone, the latest iphone, and I can't even connect members of the family within Malaysia. I was puzzled so I called Maxis Customer Service at 123 and was told that the conference call feature is a value added service and if I wish to activate the conference call I need to pay a deposit of RM1000. I was stunned that for Digi I did not have to activate anything but with Maxis it is not RM100 but a RM1000 deposit. I am puzzled that if there is no restriction on my international calls why should Maxis worry about how I make those calls.
I am really hoping that Maxis will be able to catch up with international telco providers like Digi. Is it because Maxis does not hire the right people? I am surprised that only the top brass people are listed on their website and they are not contactable. The switchboard is afraid to put me through to anybody other than David Keong, the floor manager of Customer Service at Sunway. Presia the switchboard operator tried her best but no one at HQ wants to take up the issue. No one from HQ felt able to call me back. It is clearly a policy issue and I do expect someone more senior than the floor manager of Customer Service to address this issue.
I just want to have an Apple iphone and I am saddened by the fact that with a more sophisticated phone I am now unable to use a feature which I was able to use freely although I had not seen the need to use it frequently. Should we be patronised by telcos who forget that they are a service provider and how can authorities allow such an arbitrary imposition of RM1000 deposit for conference calls when I expect only to be making at a conference call locally. If the telco is concerned about bills running too high, shouldn't a credit limit be imposed instead. Furthermore Maxis is the redistributor for Apple iphone and yet Maxis as the telco provider is barring conference calls.
I fell in love with the Apple iphone and that is the start of my problem with Maxis. I had been a Digi user and been reluctant to change out of Digi. Although Digi has some limitations with the quality of the service but Digi's customer service is superb and Digi has always been able to assist me in making full use of the telecommuication service. As an example, I remember standing outside my office building one day and looking at my Palm treo with its conference call feature I decided that while waiting for my husband to pick me up I might as well call my friend in LA and conference in another friend in Kuching and I managed to do that with Digi and that was way back in 2001, 2002?
I was excited that with the Apple iphone I can now make conference calls with my family members who live in other states. On this day, when my elder sister turns 50 I had hoped to use my Apple iphone to connect my family members just so we could all wish my sister a 'Happy Birthday'.
Now in 2009, I have the state of the art phone, the latest iphone, and I can't even connect members of the family within Malaysia. I was puzzled so I called Maxis Customer Service at 123 and was told that the conference call feature is a value added service and if I wish to activate the conference call I need to pay a deposit of RM1000. I was stunned that for Digi I did not have to activate anything but with Maxis it is not RM100 but a RM1000 deposit. I am puzzled that if there is no restriction on my international calls why should Maxis worry about how I make those calls.
I am really hoping that Maxis will be able to catch up with international telco providers like Digi. Is it because Maxis does not hire the right people? I am surprised that only the top brass people are listed on their website and they are not contactable. The switchboard is afraid to put me through to anybody other than David Keong, the floor manager of Customer Service at Sunway. Presia the switchboard operator tried her best but no one at HQ wants to take up the issue. No one from HQ felt able to call me back. It is clearly a policy issue and I do expect someone more senior than the floor manager of Customer Service to address this issue.
I just want to have an Apple iphone and I am saddened by the fact that with a more sophisticated phone I am now unable to use a feature which I was able to use freely although I had not seen the need to use it frequently. Should we be patronised by telcos who forget that they are a service provider and how can authorities allow such an arbitrary imposition of RM1000 deposit for conference calls when I expect only to be making at a conference call locally. If the telco is concerned about bills running too high, shouldn't a credit limit be imposed instead. Furthermore Maxis is the redistributor for Apple iphone and yet Maxis as the telco provider is barring conference calls.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
cost of transfer pricing
For older tax practitioners, it probably is easy to recall that one of the tax maxims is that tax compliance should not be overly taxing and onerous on the taxpayers. Ideally, tax should not carry additional cost beyond what is required in the ordinary course of business. As far as possible, it should be a fairly easily quantifiable sum with sufficient certainty.
Yet, in the present era of transfer pricing compliance, businesses, particularly multinationals are required to prepare lengthy transfer pricing documentation not unlike an annual report, which I daresay, like annual reports, a lot of the print is hardly read or appreciated. These documentation require specialists in the field to prepare and which contributes nothing to the businesses and in many cases produce end results that are at best a ballpark figure and at worse, a wild guess.
In that backdrop, it seems odd that there is a global trend for collecting tax based on transfer pricing documentation. This trend should be reviewed. Is it just about collecting some taxes? Do businesses really think the transfer pricing exercise helps them understand what the true transfer price is between them and their related parties. Is it a case of the tax authorities wanting to collect more taxes and the businesses playing along, simply because a business' true costing for its pricing whether related or otherwise could never be revealed for obvious reasons vis a vis its competitors.
If it is really just a matter of collecting taxes, shouldn't the OECD and the tax authorities gather and reconsider a way to collect taxes, which does not require businesses into revealing its true costing for its pricing potentially threatening its business core, nor does it depend on broad economic theories, not unlike the concept of efficient market hypothesis which carried so much weight in the 80s only to be shot down in more ways than one in the 90s in that can markets ever be efficient or is it inevitably affected by noise. Let's get real, theories are theories. Businesses succeed or fail for reasons only peculiar to itself and no one else. For instance one keyman falling sick could potentially bring a multinational down. How can there be true comparables, even if there is another company selling exactly the same product type when so much goes beyond just the product, such as marketing. More so when the global economy face challenging times, every business will undertake measures of its own to cope in order to survive. Can corporate decisions be dissected into its components just by looking at its public financial records in order to compare similar factors like working capital levels, inventory levels etc.
Tax collection is about taking money from taxpayers. It can only be constitutionally appropriate if the laws which provide for the tax is clear and unambiguous. Can the laws be clear and unambiguous in the context of transfer pricing if such laws or rules require some mathematical extrapolation based on some economic theory on pricing in order to arrive at the tax liability.
Countries like Malaysia new in attempting to compete in the global arena ought to take a step back to see if they would truly want to jump into the play 'which the rich can afford to play'. One wrong tilt of the dice could mean a company closing down its business in Malaysia and that would mean loss of jobs. Malaysia is also not a high income country that is generating huge profits for multinational corporations for it to be easily replaced as a location. But that is digressing, the issue should focus on whether such an exercise is productive or merely a waste of corporates time and money when much focus should be placed on productive income generation, just so the taxman can collect its dues.
If it is about collecting tax revenue, would it not be easier to just ask for contributions similar to cess. Contributions can simply be based on turnover, agreeing on an affordable rate for businesses to pay. Take it out of the tax legislation and appeal to the corporate social responsibilities of corporates. After all it is at best a ballpark sum. The difference is it makes everyone feel empowered and happy with what they are contributing. Multinationals feel welcome to operate in Malaysia just by making contributions to the country's tabung. Malaysia then is truly boleh.
Yet, in the present era of transfer pricing compliance, businesses, particularly multinationals are required to prepare lengthy transfer pricing documentation not unlike an annual report, which I daresay, like annual reports, a lot of the print is hardly read or appreciated. These documentation require specialists in the field to prepare and which contributes nothing to the businesses and in many cases produce end results that are at best a ballpark figure and at worse, a wild guess.
In that backdrop, it seems odd that there is a global trend for collecting tax based on transfer pricing documentation. This trend should be reviewed. Is it just about collecting some taxes? Do businesses really think the transfer pricing exercise helps them understand what the true transfer price is between them and their related parties. Is it a case of the tax authorities wanting to collect more taxes and the businesses playing along, simply because a business' true costing for its pricing whether related or otherwise could never be revealed for obvious reasons vis a vis its competitors.
If it is really just a matter of collecting taxes, shouldn't the OECD and the tax authorities gather and reconsider a way to collect taxes, which does not require businesses into revealing its true costing for its pricing potentially threatening its business core, nor does it depend on broad economic theories, not unlike the concept of efficient market hypothesis which carried so much weight in the 80s only to be shot down in more ways than one in the 90s in that can markets ever be efficient or is it inevitably affected by noise. Let's get real, theories are theories. Businesses succeed or fail for reasons only peculiar to itself and no one else. For instance one keyman falling sick could potentially bring a multinational down. How can there be true comparables, even if there is another company selling exactly the same product type when so much goes beyond just the product, such as marketing. More so when the global economy face challenging times, every business will undertake measures of its own to cope in order to survive. Can corporate decisions be dissected into its components just by looking at its public financial records in order to compare similar factors like working capital levels, inventory levels etc.
Tax collection is about taking money from taxpayers. It can only be constitutionally appropriate if the laws which provide for the tax is clear and unambiguous. Can the laws be clear and unambiguous in the context of transfer pricing if such laws or rules require some mathematical extrapolation based on some economic theory on pricing in order to arrive at the tax liability.
Countries like Malaysia new in attempting to compete in the global arena ought to take a step back to see if they would truly want to jump into the play 'which the rich can afford to play'. One wrong tilt of the dice could mean a company closing down its business in Malaysia and that would mean loss of jobs. Malaysia is also not a high income country that is generating huge profits for multinational corporations for it to be easily replaced as a location. But that is digressing, the issue should focus on whether such an exercise is productive or merely a waste of corporates time and money when much focus should be placed on productive income generation, just so the taxman can collect its dues.
If it is about collecting tax revenue, would it not be easier to just ask for contributions similar to cess. Contributions can simply be based on turnover, agreeing on an affordable rate for businesses to pay. Take it out of the tax legislation and appeal to the corporate social responsibilities of corporates. After all it is at best a ballpark sum. The difference is it makes everyone feel empowered and happy with what they are contributing. Multinationals feel welcome to operate in Malaysia just by making contributions to the country's tabung. Malaysia then is truly boleh.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Marriage
Marriage vows is not about love. It's about commitment, not between the couple, but a commitment to the children of the marriage.
Between the couple it is only about whether there is love or not. Commitment is about the children.
Marriage vows should be relooked. Are the vows relevant? Should it be reworded? Should it be more like a tripartite agreement with the children as an additional party.
Between the couple it is only about whether there is love or not. Commitment is about the children.
Marriage vows should be relooked. Are the vows relevant? Should it be reworded? Should it be more like a tripartite agreement with the children as an additional party.
Whitney Houston
I was just watching Oprah's amazing interview with Whitney Houston. Whitney was explaining what she went through over the last 8 years or so after 'Bodyguard'. As a big fan of Whitney, I have watched that movie over and over. Somehow I felt that Whitney was probably affected by that movie where her character had to give up love for her career. Although I watched the interview with the view of wanting to know Whitney's account of what happened to the lost years as if it was a loss, at the end of the interview, I felt it is not about loss but about life. What came through to me is Whitney's strength in choosing love. It may seem that she gave up a critical time of her career for passionate love. And why not. As much as career must be grasped hold of during the prime of life, so is passionate love. That moment gone can never be re-captured. One experiences love differently at different stages in life.
It takes courage to love wholeheartedly and it looks like she did just that. It is not about what Bobby Brown did. It's about what Whitney did. It's about giving one's heart wholeheartedly. It's about chance. It's not about whether the marriage was good. When a marriage fails, it's not about failure or regret. The love that first sparks the marriage is still as wondrously real as ever for that moment. It is better to have experienced that love than never ever.
I look forward to listening to Whitney's new album 'I look to you'. In choosing to live life, Whitney inadvertently connects with the real world. Her experience has made her singing ever more relevant, like in real life opera filled with emotional depth and maturity.
It takes courage to love wholeheartedly and it looks like she did just that. It is not about what Bobby Brown did. It's about what Whitney did. It's about giving one's heart wholeheartedly. It's about chance. It's not about whether the marriage was good. When a marriage fails, it's not about failure or regret. The love that first sparks the marriage is still as wondrously real as ever for that moment. It is better to have experienced that love than never ever.
I look forward to listening to Whitney's new album 'I look to you'. In choosing to live life, Whitney inadvertently connects with the real world. Her experience has made her singing ever more relevant, like in real life opera filled with emotional depth and maturity.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Goods & Services Tax
There's uncertainty and sort of excitement in the air about Goods & Services Tax (GST) as we approach the Budget 2010 announcement. In the papers, people are talking about the urgent need for the implementation of GST to fund government spending.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Cooking
It's a great day today for me. Why? I actually got myself to the bangsar wet market. There I bought some fresh meat and some dried mushrooms and a packet of curry paste. Then I head over to tmc and bought some shiitake and spinach. And I cooked a combination of fried beehoon with mushrooms and spinach and also pork curry.
I feel such a sense of achievement. And i must say that Nigella's book on How to eat was really quite inspiring in the sense that she was saying cooking is not about following one recipe after another. It is more of cooking what you like to eat and i figured that i ought to start with my favourite foods. And I like my food to be properly paired and I just think the best food combination has to be fried beehoon and curry. The taste of each mouthful is just amazing. The richness of the curry and the simplicity of the beehoon yet good enough to eat on its own. With that the impetus is naturally there to follow the sense of taste. I can visualise how my mum would cook those dishes from all those times spent watching her cook. Though I didn't get to use the exact same ingredients but the essence of the dish is ingrained in me. And i just follow through from the preparation to cooking it. I guess in a way, cooking is really a matter of mimicking an impression that is in the mind, gauging the taste that is a part of us.
I hope that with this first step, the menu for the next day and the day after that would flow seamlessly. And that somehow gives me a sense of life's purpose and my role in the connection between one generation and another. Next I want to go down the lane of my days in Monash where i would do a one pot meal essentially with chicken, mushroom and potatoes.
I feel such a sense of achievement. And i must say that Nigella's book on How to eat was really quite inspiring in the sense that she was saying cooking is not about following one recipe after another. It is more of cooking what you like to eat and i figured that i ought to start with my favourite foods. And I like my food to be properly paired and I just think the best food combination has to be fried beehoon and curry. The taste of each mouthful is just amazing. The richness of the curry and the simplicity of the beehoon yet good enough to eat on its own. With that the impetus is naturally there to follow the sense of taste. I can visualise how my mum would cook those dishes from all those times spent watching her cook. Though I didn't get to use the exact same ingredients but the essence of the dish is ingrained in me. And i just follow through from the preparation to cooking it. I guess in a way, cooking is really a matter of mimicking an impression that is in the mind, gauging the taste that is a part of us.
I hope that with this first step, the menu for the next day and the day after that would flow seamlessly. And that somehow gives me a sense of life's purpose and my role in the connection between one generation and another. Next I want to go down the lane of my days in Monash where i would do a one pot meal essentially with chicken, mushroom and potatoes.
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