EC Trust's New Office

The photos above show the last batch of boxes to move to our new office.


This week is a very hectic week for our company because we are moving to our new office. Yeah !!!! We are currently packing our files into boxes and all these boxes will be carried out of our Financial Park Labuan office on Saturday, 2nd September 2005. This was how the new office looks like when we bought it..........


The office has its own personal guard when it was bought. Amazing !










This is how it looks like now..................................






The body guard was fired because he cannot find the culprit who stole the garbage bin at the back alley. So, we appoint the neighbour's dogs to guard the new office. Dogs are men's best friend.





I will post the photo of the complete office next week.

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka !!!!!!!

Malaysians annually celebrate National Day on the 31st August. Malaysia comprises of 13 states and 3 Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya & Labuan). West Malaysia (a.k.a Malaya)became an Independant state on 31/08/2005. East Malaysia joined West Malaysia to form Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

Malaysians comprises of various races such as Melayu, Chinese, Indian, Iban, KadazanDusun and other ethnics. The national religion is Islam but freedom of religion is practiced and protected under the Federal Constitution.

This year's National Day is viewed with mix feelings amongst the various race in Malaysia. There has been a lot of racial sentiments being discussed publicly. The politicians are monitoring these racial issues with trepidation. Old social contracts are raised. New social contracts are promoted. The new generations has demanded better treatment from the present government with regards to distribution of public contracts, transparency in the government machinery, allocation of admitted students in public universities and aid in succesful sports performance that is dominated by non-Melayu.

Only time can tell if things will change for a better country for all Malaysians.

Atama - My Tribal Roots Hip Hop Album

Just got myself this Audio CD by a local Sabahan DJ called Atama. His debut album sells like hot cakes and this is very impressive. The concept of the album is unique bcos it has 'Interludes' i.e. spoken words about the local tribal warrior/hero. The cool thing about the album is the fusion between the KadazanDusun songs with Hip Hop style beats. It works because there are people buying this stuff for the 'Aramaiti' session.

The album was criticised for 'distorting' the purity of the KadazanDusun songs it has mixed in the album. I say this is Boolsheet. Without the exposure this album generates for KadazanDusun songs, no one gives a hoot about local KadazanDusun songs or its artists.

Some say it copy the concept of 'APL Song' by the Black Eye Peas. I say "So What?". Every song copies other songs. Nothing new about it.

It reminds me of the Japanese Rap songs with the catchy beats and ryhme. The only thing I think needs improvement is Atama's image. Can someone give him some image tips? He looks like this guy from Ruffedge.

Labuan - Malaysia's Own Offshore Financial Services Jurisdiction

I can say only one out of every ten Malaysians knows that Labuan Island was gazetted as Malaysian's Offshore Financial Services Jurisdiction in 1990. LOFSA is the authority that manages the offshore financial services. Anyone can open an offshore company with one of Labuan's 19 Trust Company. EC Trust is highly recommended for its expertise in worldwide tax laws. The offshore company's trading profit is taxed at 3% per year and no tax if the company is an investment holding entity.

LOFSA is currently promoting Islamic Offshore Financial Product to support Bank Negara's target to be the region's top Islamic Financial Product Jurisdiction.

The other attraction of Labuan is its rich history with the Allies during World War 2 that liberated the island from Japanese Occupation. A War Memorial (below) was built to remember those who have died during the said war. A Labuan Landing Day is celebrated every 10 years to remember the last day of the occupation.

Labuan Island is a nice place to work and relax. It is a duty free island and any items that is highly taxed can be bought at its cost price. Any serious shopper can take a 20 minutes flight to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Email me if you want to know more about Labuan Island.

Photo courtesy of www.pbase.com

Haze in Malaysia

We Malaysians go through this haze every year. The haze is caused by smoke from the open burning either our own rural areas or Indonesia (Sumatra or Kalimantan).

However, this year is the worst haze that our friends in Klang Valley ever experienced. The Air Pollution Index (API) reached 450. There is a possibility that all residents in the high-API areas will be ordered to stay home until the haze subsides.

The Indonesians are being accused of causing the haze and there is nothing the Indon government can do about it. It might have not be this bad if the wind that came from the south equator do not turned north-east.

This is what we Malaysians have to put up with being a natural neighbour to the bush burning peasants.

Photo copyright is owned by www.kiat.net

Playstation 2 - My Escape From The Real World

Playing video games is my favourite passtime. It borders into an obsession. I have the SCPH 5000 model that rocks!!!! Bought it in Imbi Plaza for RM900 in 2003. I have about 50 PS2 games in my collection now and I only finished Final Fantasy 10 !!!! I am almost done with Shadow Hearts:Covenants.

I started playing computer games since 1996 on an Amstrad PC. I played PC games ever since and witnessed the progress of the PC games industry ever since. The only glaring improvement was the graphics area. The resources needed to generate the graphics in a PC games increased manyfold.

Then I discovered PS One in 2000. It provided a different 'feel' to the PC games. I still can play my PS One games on my PS2 console. My favorite game for PSOne is Vagrant Story. I fell in love with the characters. Currently the best game developer for RPGs is Square Enix.

Playstation gamers are a cult itself. Within the cult, there are many members with different game-taste. Some gamers likes RPG, Fighting, FPS or Sports. I like RPGs.

When I pick up the PS2 gamepad, I am transported to another world. Its the best way to forget the real world we live in day to day.

AF3 - Anti climax of all AFs

Just as i expected. Mawi won AF3 and he also won the other 2 prizes (Best vocal & Best Showmanship). The Malay media branded him a phenomenon i.e. a rare occurence. Adlin AR (one of the juries) said the truth about Mawi. He represents an idol all Malays are looking for and AF3 is a total Malay show. Why other races watches the show, is a different issue. To me, the only true Malaysian AF is AF 1. AF2 is a voting contest between West and East Malaysians. AF3 is a Melayu show all the way. Syabas Mawi !!!
Photo above is courtesy of Mawi Fan Club at Yahoo.

Look at the other talent show, Malaysian Idol. That is real talent. The judges are nasty, the contestants are semi-pros, the songs and MCs are multilingual. I guess the only reason why it sucks is the packaging of the show. It is soooooooo B Grade. What happen to Jacky anyway?

Akademi Fantasia 3 - Finalists 6 August 2005

Hooray !!! At last we in Malaysia will see the Final Concert for Akademi Fantasia #3. I think Mawi will win cos he has led the votes so far. Felix will get the 2nd spot. This guy is great and will go far. Marsha has good vocal but she can't really perform. Amylea is the best performer so far. She seems melodramatic but hey, that is what being an artist all about. Drama......

I like Akma but her Beyonce-style dance routine screwed up her votes. Her fans were obviously offended. Overall, this batch of students are good. But Mawi-bashing news in the early weeks of AF3 screwed up the votes. His fans rallied behind him and defending him and that is where he gets the votes until today. Serve you right, Astro jury prick !!!!!!!! Its not Mawi's fault, its the Astro management fault if they think the votes now is not reflecting the quality of the show. Its a popularity contest, dammit !!!

Photo above courtesy of Astro website.