Colin Charles Agenda

Rudd wants fuel subsidies in Asian countries to be removed. He thinks it artificially inflates prices across the region.

Malaysia recently had a 40% increase in fuel prices, where the old rate was RM1.92, and the new rate is RM2.70 (there is still a 30 sen subsidy).

Now, lets investigate the cost of living, and discuss earning power (therefore, spending power).

Australia has the concept of a Federal Minimum Wage (FMW), which currently stands at AUD$13.74 per hour. If you work a 40-hour work week, for 4 weeks (notice that this then gives you a 13 month pay cheque), that’s about AUD$2,200/month, and a yearly income of about AUD$28,579.20. Yes, even for flipping burgers at McDonalds, you get at least 2.2k/month!

Malaysia has no concept of minimum wages. With foreign labour available relatively cheaply, fresh graduates tend to earn RM1,800/month. Flipping burgers at Burger King? I hear (OK, I lie; I’ve seen this advertised outside a BK store) the salary rate is about RM560/month (that’s a measly RM3.50/hour).

OK, so the tax laws are different. Australia exempts you on your first $6,000/year. Malaysia has over 10 million workers, and only about 1.2 million pay taxes (you are tax exempt if your monthly salary is less than RM3,000). In fact, those in the highest 28% bracket currently stand at a paltry 38,500 people.

But the cost of living, is also different. A book, that costs USD$20, will cost about AUD$25-30 in Borders; the same book will cost RM85 in Malaysia! Its no wonder, Malaysians are said to not read very much.

So, books aren’t necessities. Lets look at milk. 1L in Australia would set you back AUD$2.03 (this being Pura Milk, which I’m fond of drinking). 1L in Malaysia (Dutch Lady) would set you back RM3.39. Ouch! Dollar-to-dollar, that is a $1.36 difference for an essential item.

Back to fuel… Its hovering at about AUD$1.60/L, and $1.70 is not far off. Think about paying RM2.70/L, with talk of it going up in the near future, also not far off. Then remember, the difference in wages. And take into account the cost of living.

Remember, in Asia, Malaysia isn’t deemed “bad”, or “third world”. In terms of development (South East Asia, at least), it stands next to Singapore.

Rudd, mate, if you’re not pushing for higher wages, don’t bother pushing for an end to petrol subsidies.

In what I call a great advertising scheme, Leora Zellman, a blogger, photographer, brand evangelist, etc. is offering her sexy body as ad space.

Her body will cost you on an hourly basis, she’s mostly logo focused, but will also wear schwag, like t-shirts and caps. Buy her back, butt, or chest, they all have varying prices. If athletes do it, why not us regular Joe’s, right?

Well, its not like we all don’t do this. I wear t-shirts with penguins, dolphins, and various other bits all the time. In fact, I haven’t bought a t-shirt in over nine years.

Will this work? Maybe. At a geek conference, every other geek is probably wearing stuff with logos on them. Might be useful for new products? I’ve never actually looked at a t-shirt and thought to myself, “Hmm, I need to check that URL/product out”. Maybe other’s have?

Reminds me of the time Leah Culver sold advertising space on her laptop. Also, on another tangent, Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur spoke about Amanda Congdon using her body to promote her content, Leo basically saying it wasn’t smart. Check out net@night episode 51 for more.

Well Leo, most of the popular blogs in Malaysia, are “photo blogs”, of people “camwhoring”, i.e. showing themselves off in places. Is it sustainable? Maybe not. But will it bring popularity and money in the short term? Probably yes. Some even go on to getting fame ;)

Anyways, enough ranting on this. Best wishes Leora, and to all the other “camwhores” out there.

I threw the idea of a BarCamp Malaysia a few years back, and it was mostly shot down amongst the free and open source community members. The reasoning behind it, largely was because it was assumed that we could have the same amount of discussion at a bar (over beer), and there would be a lack of participation from the attendees.

The “Web 2.0 types” though seem to be getting their act together, at organising a BarCamp Malaysia. Kudos to them, I hope it’s a success (and there will be many, many more to come). I’d attend, but its the weekend right after OSCON, which I mentioned on the Facebook wall of one of the early event planning meetings. Apparently, nobody listened.

I’ll try and be at the next event planning meeting, to see what morsels I can pick up, and keep everyone updated. Maybe more hacking sessions up in the highlands, like how Aizat and Ditesh went to last weekend, would rock (I’d have gone, except I was in Melbourne).

Fireangel doesn’t like her drinks watered down. Neither do I.

However, it seems to be common practice in Kuala Lumpur. Anywhere I go, it seems like beer is watered down. It doesn’t matter if its more “exotic” beers like Kilkenny or Hoegaarden; it also happens to the common local beers like Tiger. Its just a sad thing.

Take for example, the RM28 for a pint of Hoegaarden on tap (ok, its a few bucks more, but when you buy 18 beers, they seem to give you a discount). This at Deutsches Gasthaus 2, in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). Its definitely watered down. The atmosphere is nice, the service is fabulous, the range of beers available are definitely impressive (lots of imported stuff, in bottles), but I don’t see myself returning by choice, if all I get is expensive, watered down beer.

The one place I found that serves good draught beer, is Decanter, located in Sri Hartamas. Its relatively cheap, non-watered down, but sadly they only serve Tiger beer (I’d prefer Carlsberg on tap, any day). Backyard in Sri Hartamas also seems to be true blue beer.

Where else in the Klang Valley does one get real beer?

It was reported recently that Maxis (my current mobile provider of choice), will offer an anti-spam service for cellphones.

Once you get MessagePlus, which costs RM1 per month, you can start blocking spam. Where do I get most of my spam from? Maxis information services!

So, while this magical service is the first in the world, is this just because Malaysia lacks an extension to the Do Not Call Register?

MessagePlus also includes an auto-reply feature for SMS messages. Think of this like vacation mail, in traditional e-mail. Vacation mail that costs money – you’re charged on a per SMS basis, ranging from between 5-15 sen per message.

It seems Maxis has a new business development manager, Nikolai Dobberstein. And the idea of sending spam, and charging folk to stop receiving the spam, seems like its just gold! Excellent idea for business development, I’m sure.

Me? I’ll live with the spam. And when mobile number portability shows up (find link), I might move to another sensible provider.

A useful statistic? Malaysia’s SMS use is ranked at sixth in the world, for total SMS volume.