Never Judge a Book By Its Cover

Watch the video and you'll know what i mean. I can't post the video here so you'll have to click the link below to watch it. This woman is so famous now she's all over CNN and BBC World News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

CIMB to Shut Down 60 Branches Permanently

CIMB BANK Bhd will proceed with plans to close about 60 branches as part of its rationalisation plan but it will not involve any retrenchment, said chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak.

The bank was embarking on its third phase rationalisation plan, which was consistent with what it had planned since merging with Southern Bank in 2006, he said.

Employees at the affected branches would be redeployed, he added.

"We had 400 branches when we merged. Our first phase was to reduce our branch network to 385 while the second phase was to reduce it further to 365", Nazir said, adding that the third phase would see the number of branches cut to the "optimal size" of 320.

At the same time, CIMB will continue to open new branches but with the aim of having the optimal size of 320 branches.

CIMB opened two new branches in Sabah this week. One in 1Borneo hypermall on the left-hand side of the main entrance and the other one ... erm ... i'm not sure.

CIMB currently has over 360 branches nationwide and is the second largest bank in Malaysia by market value. The largest bank in Malaysia by market value is Public Bank which is one of the only two remaining fully Chinese-controlled banks along with Hong Leong Bank while Maybank is only the third largest bank by market value despite having the most branch and ATM in Malaysia.

The Westpac Bank ATM (A Joke)

This video won the short film competition at the Melbourne international comedy open season. This is entirely a joke and strictly has nothing to do with Westpac Bank Limited, Australia. Enjoy the video YOU CHEAPSKATE ;)

Malaysia Blacklisted !

Yes. You read it right. Malaysia has been blacklisted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last week during the G20 summit in London Excel Centre. Well, to be precise, it is the Labuan International Business and Finance Centre (LIBFC) that was blacklist by OECD. Three other countries that are blacklisted by OECD are Phillipines, Costa Rica and Uruguay.

The non-cooperative centres are accused of harbouring foreign tax avoiders who park billions of dollars out of reach of their home authorities.

Singapore, Brunei and Switzerland are on a separate grey list of countries that have agreed to improve transparency standards but have not yet signed the necessary international accords. Also on the grey list are Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Chile, Guatemala, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bahrain, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Andorra, Antigua, Aruba, Gibraltar, Grenada, Montserrat, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and Grenadines, Samoa San Marino, Turks and Caicos Islands and Vanuatu.

The lists were made public as the Group of 20 leaders from rich and developing nations declared at their London summit that the age of banking secrecy was over and that they would no longer tolerate shady havens draining away badly needed tax revenue.

Tax havens that refuse to sign anti-secrecy agreements face expensive sanctions under an unprecedented global effort to catch illegal tax evaders.

Among the sanctions being considered by the G20 are the scrapping of tax treaty arrangements, imposing additional taxes on companies that operate in non-compliant countries, and tougher disclosure requirements for individuals and businesses that use shelters.

An estimated $7 trillion of assets are held offshore and, according to pressure group Tax Justice Network, developed countries lose $180bn a year in evaded taxes.

So, exactly how much $1 trillion is ? Well, $1 trillion in simple math is equivalent to $ 1,000,000,000,000.00

RBS Stormed

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has had a horrible year, with its stock falling from 154 to 7.29 within just a few months. It was the largest bank in UK after Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) but it is now the smallest of the "Big Four UK Bank" with Barclays Bank taking over its number two spot and the newly founded Lloyds Banking Group (founded with the merging of Lloyds TSB and HBOS in January 2009) advance to number three. It was on the verge of bankruptcy and almost insolvent. But this is the ultimate insult. Their building in London was smashed and invaded by anarchist protestors.

Demonstrators broke windows at the RBS branch in Threadneedle Street, threw missiles and smoke bombs and some forced their way inside. The building was daubed with graffiti, including the slogan "thieves", and activists vandalised the branch, throwing out computers, chairs and office equipment.

Double Standards of Malaysians

Many Malaysians are keen to do their but to save energy, and therefore, the environment. But i'm amazed that at ATM machines, Malaysians act differently.

For withdrawal transactions, the system will ask if a receipt was needed and most Malaysians will habitually press "Yes". But once the receipt is printed out, they don't even read and throw it straight to the rubbish bin located next to ATM.

What's the point of participating in the 60-minute Earth Hour then ?

DOROTHY PHANG,
Selangor

**Taken from STAR Newspaper "View" section dated 31 March 2009

She is so right ! I have noticed the same thing too. Basically everyone will simply press "yes" when the message if they want a receipt appears on the screen without even given much thought to it and right after they get the receipt, most of them will just have a quick scan over the balance stated and then dump the receipt to the the dustbin beside the ATM.

Certain banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered will tell you how much is your current balance in your savings/checking account after a withdrawal is successfully made. Why do you still need the receipt if you are just going to have a quick scan over the balance and then toss it away ? Why request for one if you don't keep the receipt for your record ? Duh ! Some people are just so dumb !

Everyone should just apply for online banking nowadays so you can keep track of the transactions going on in your account. You can perform IBG as well as making payment online. It's so convenient. Of course online banking carries certain risks but your account is safe as long as you do not reveal any of your bank information, password and ID to anyone over the phone or internet. Any bank would NEVER call you to ask for your password or login ID or IC number. You also need to make sure the "url" is the correct one before you login as sometimes you might be in the phishing site that looks like a carbon copy of the real one. I now have online banking with all my bank accounts except Citibank but that wouldn't matter since i'm going to zero out the fund inside next month and close down the account.

Losers in the Long Run

The champions of Bahasa Malaysia who took to the streets are doing a disservice to the Malays. Looks like they want their race to be a failure.

Wanting English to be taught for Science and Maths does not make us lesser Malay. Do we have soul if we Malays are lacking behind universally or fail to be employed ?

I love my race. I love my language. But it does not put food on the table. It does not enable my children to compete globally.

Let's take a reality check. 60% of the Malay graduates are unemployed. They do not perform well in job interviews because of the English handicap.

So the multi-national firms tend to employ the non-Malays. The non-Malays who go to the same school can be good in Bahasa Malaysia, English and their mother tongue.

Malays will continue to be the losers if the language in schools is just Bahasa Malaysia. I think the so-called proponents of Bahasa Malaysia should instead do something to address why the Malays are not fluent in English and some even fail their Bahasa Malaysia in exams.

Scan the newspaper now and we see many international companies, foreign embassies and foreign universities offer scholarships. But who got them > Who got the coveted Asean scholarships ?

It is not because the Malays are not intelligent. But not being fluent in English has made them less confident to sell themselves well. Do we have to rely only on JPA and Mara to further our studies overseas ?

When i got back to my hometown in Pahang, i am happy to know manay relatives' kids got straight As. But these kids are shy to speak English for fear of being teased and rebuked. I have come across remarks like "oh eksyennya, cakap Mat Salleh" (such a show off, speaking in English !)

Another sad thing is the standard of English is deterioting in our foreign service.

A newspaper report said out young diplomats are no longer able to write communiques. That is why the government still retained many ambassadors on contracts although they are well past retirement age.

When are we going to have world class diplomats like the late Tan Sri Zain Azraai or Tan Sri Razali Ismail, who were tutelaged by Tun Ghazali Shafie ?

And where are our artistes on the internation stage ? They are on par with others in terms of English, they are contented to be jaguh kampung - with a few exceptions. It is such a shame when even Indonesian leasers are now well-conversant in English.

I know rather well one or two of the proponents of the Bahasa Malaysia.

We always converse in English and they are fluent at that. Why do they want to deprive our future generations to be as good as them in English ?


ISZAN ISMAIL,
Petaling Jaya.

**Taken from STAR Newspapar Malaysia dated 19 Match 2009