Digest on Malaysian News

Hello Chinese and all Malaysian, this year you will be celebrating your 2009 Chinese New Year in a recession. For some of you, it may be your first recession.

Your parents, may be out of work soon.

Hell, you may be out of work soon.




What can you do? Here are some suggestions.

1. You also do not need 3 sets of new clothes. Please spend wisely.

2. Cutback drastically on non-essentials like bak kwa and mandarin oranges which are bad for health anyway. If you get sick, you have to spend even more money on hospital bills. In fact, in Malaysia, poor people cannot afford to get sick.

3. Adjust your expectations. Some of you may be bruising over the fact that you did not receive a company red packet or bonus. Just be glad you still have a job. You are not a unique and indispensable snowflake.

4. Have a home-cooked reunion dinner. Skip fancy restaurants and the like of KFC and McD. Stock up lots of Maggie mee. Eat less eggs unless you can rears some chicken at your backyard.

5. Tell your bank that you wish to repay the principle on the housing loan not the interest. If your interest is calculated on daily rest (ask your loan officer), pay your housing loan every week (divide it by 4) instead of every month to payup your loan faster. In fact, Bank Negara allowed commercial bank to introduce monthly loan repayment instead of weekly repayment. Why? So Malaysian commercial bank can make more profits.

6. Take all the red packet money you received, and donate it to a local charity. Make sure you get a receipt so you can use it to reduce your personal income tax.

7. If you boss tells you to work during the holidays, you bleeding work. And don’t whinge or whine. Be grateful you still have a job.

8. Forget about buying original CD or DVD. Get the ciplak version from the night market.

9. Reduce your traveling and car pool if possible. But you don't have to use our public transports because it sucks.

10. Reduce your beer intake. If you still want to drink, go to kopitiam and order beers there. It's much cheaper drinking beers and kopitiam.

For those of you who don’t think they will be impacted by the recession, spare a thought for the less fortunate members of society. Donations of cash, rice, canned sardine and edible items and other items will be greatly appreciated by folk who have nothing to celebrate.

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