Sabah Budget 2012

Today, in less than a couple of hours time, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman will table the State Budget for 2012, during the state assembly sitting.

Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, last year during the 2011 Budget tabling.

Among the highlights in putting the people's well-being first (as mentioned in the budget pre-tabling press statement) , are:

a) emphasizing on agriculture, tourism and manufacturing,
b) poverty eradication,
c) youth and human capital development,
d) balanced development statewide,
e) development of basic infrastructure and facilities

This is the general idea of what we will be hearing this afternoon, a full detailed report to be expected in the local dailies tomorrow.

Note that the government has been telling us all along that we have strong economic foundation and that we have a strong state reserve. While strong economic foundation is quite straight forward factual, "strong reserve" statement is debatable and requires elaboration on the part of the government.

Last year the Chief Minister tabled a RM3.07 billion budget and if the revenue rose as claimed then we can look at probably RM3.4 billion budget this year.

Coming back to strong reserve as reported by Bernama yesterday, that would imply that the state have a lot of money. I do not have access to the state government's account but there was a mentioned in Daily Express not too long ago that it is still using Cash Accounting in its financial reporting. Read about the difference of Cash Accounting and Accrual Accounting here.

Such accounting method does not give a true reflection of the financial position of the government of Sabah. The government would just need to defer payments of its long term liabilities for few years and you will immediately see 'surplus' in its annual report. Does 'few years' of withheld payment sound familiar to you - especially those in long term government contracts or concessions?

I bet it does. In fact, too familiar that some are getting fed-up with the waiting game.

It is no surprise that some opposition leaders are claiming that the state government does not have money and we are spending money that we borrowed. Now look at this objectively and for once don't look at it as political.

Check that your house is in order financially, see if you Buku 555 is not too stuffed and come up with that budget appropriately. Don't withhold payment unreasonably!

Kurangkan tambahlah hutang tu!

Go Ahead, Farting is Healthy

Question: Does everybody fart?

Ok I know, I should've used passing gas instead of that cute little word farting. Anyway, here is food for today:

Source: Daily Express, Nov. 6, 2011

In case the image doesn't work on your display I'll repeat the text bit for you:

"Without exception! Gas ends up in the large intestine from air that is swallowed and from the action of the bacteria that live there. It is mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide with some hydrogen and methane mixed in, with tiny amounts of skatole, indole, methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide and dimethyl sulfide to give it a stinky smell. Everyone farts but some people take enough care with the release that they are rarely caught out."

There you go, release the gas to a glorious sound, it's healthy, totally green act on your part and it does not hurt anyone around you. Ok, maybe a little.

Thanks for farting reading.

fart

iPhone 4S Uptrend Pricing

My wife and I were passing by City Mall, Kota Kinabalu a couple of days ago and came across the same retail shop she had a first glance of her current Galaxy S2 earlier this year. This retailer seem to have the upper hand in terms of getting new smart phones early in their product lines.

While we were able to fiddle with the S2 for considerable amount of time last time around, the white iPhone 4S set was out of touch (not literally), it was nicely wrapped in plastic and the salesperson did not allow us to unwrap or switch it on to have a better idea. It was understandable considering at that time not a single premise has this set yet.

I'm fine with the no-fiddling house rule. What irked me was the price tag of RM3,399 for a 16GB variant. That is roughly USD1,085 compared to an unlocked set in the United States of USD649 (RM2033). In Singapore, unlocked set is retailed at SGD948 (RM2,316).

I suppose this is all about brand and people's perception and acceptance of certain products coupled with shortage of supply. But at RM3,399 I just think one should wait for the dust to settle and then decide if that amount of money is well spent.

A more likely pricing scenario (I believe still few more weeks away) is as follow:

*iPhone 4S prices are derived from Unlocked iPhone 4S retailed prices, Singapore

So, there you go. Don't pay un-necessary money unless you are a person who wants everything on the dot, or you are buying this for a very, very special occasion and hence money is not an issue in your equation.

Every time this company comes out with a new iPhone, for a similarly specced unit there will be a drop in recommended retail price. This is a common trend for electronic gadgets and iPhone should not be an exception. The above table shows the summary of their previous launchings, and taking 16GB variant as an example the price was lowered on every subsequent release. Expect the same for the 4S.

For a more street-priced feel of iPhone 4S in Singapore, visit here.

For an insight of the overpriced sets in Malaysia, visit here. By the way, this reseller offers iPhone 4S, 16GB here at RM3,099. Still exorbitant.