Jaxon’s Review

Starting today, consumers in the peninsular will have to pay more for electricity, that is if they use more than 200 kilowatt hour (kWh) per month.

Average users will have to pay around RM5-8 more

My average monthly bill is around RM70 a month under the old tariff of 21.8 sen per kWh and subsequent 28.9 sen per kWh unit. My household is using about 290 kWh per month.

Under the new tariff, I will have to pay about RM75 a month for the same amount of usage.

One little piece of good news, is that there will be no change to the rate for the first 200 kWh of usage.

The bad news is the charge per kWh unit will now be increase to 30 for the subsequent usage between 201-400 kWh.

Calculate your headache

Below is a rough estimate of our headaches, sourced from Tenaga Nasional Bhd website, assuming there are no drastic changes in the way we consume electricity.

Which category of users are you? If you are in the low-kWh type of users, the tariff increase won’t be too hard to take, especially if you are in Selangor because you now get to enjoy a free water amounting to 20 cubic metres a month or an equivalent of RM11.40.

Here is a screenshot, also from Tenaga Nasional website, of the new tariffs.

Too bad I don’t have the old ones. It would be good to make a comparison.

The government today announced the extention of petrol and diesel subsidy cash rebate to owners of private vehicles up to 3,000cc in the interior areas of Sabah and Sarawak.

But even with the new rebates, I’m still screwed. My car is 2,800cc but I won’t be eligible for the rebate because I’ve brought it to Peninsular Malaysia where I am currently working.

As you know in the peninsula, only cars up to 2,500cc are eligible for the rebate. So no matter what measures the government is introducing to lighten the burden of the people, I’m still not qualified to take it. It’s the case of head I lose, tail you win.

Man, I’m screwed. For me, there’s nothing that can mitigate the effect of the fuel price increase, except to swallow everything — lock, stock and barrel — and hope that my stomach could take it. Not even the cash rebates announced by the government can lighten the burden.

Here’s what the government said:

“Owners of cars up to 2,000cc, as well as pick-up trucks and jeeps up to 2,500cc, will get RM625 for each vehicle while motorcyclists with vehicles up to 250cc will receive RM150 each.”

But I don’t have a motorcycle and my Toyota pick-up truck has an engine capacity of 2800cc. In any which way, I’m screwed.

Tengah malam tadi barang naik lagi. Bukan alang-alang. Melonjak-lonjak sehingga tidak keruan. Kusangkakan subsidi sampai ke pagi, rupanya subsedih di tengah hari.

Jika beginilah keadaannya, dari kenaikan sampai keturunan, tiadalah kedudukan.

A 24-year-old Singaporean blogger who wrote the f-word in reference to a race, was arrested for posting what the police said might “wound the racial feelings of another”.

According to a statement from the Singapore police:

On 20 May 08 at about 9.45 pm, Police arrested a 24-year-old Chinese man at his residence at Paya Lebar Way for posting contents in his blog which may wound the racial feelings of another person. A computer, believed to be used to post the suspect’s blog, was seized for investigations, which are ongoing. The case came to the attention of the Police on 19 May 08 when Police received two reports complaining of the alleged posts by the suspect.

Under Sec 298 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person, causes any matter however represented to be seen or heard by that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.

Deputy Commander of Central Police Div HQ, Superintendent Lee Ping Yue (Ms), stressed that Police take a serious view of such irresponsible blog postings in a multi-racial society like Singapore and will expend all efforts in tracking the perpetrators. [Source]

This is what he has written (the asteriks are mine): Read the rest of this entry »

Destroy their habitats, kill them for trophy, smuggle them in illegal pet trade, put them in cages for display… and worst of all, turn one of them into this!.

Me? In a euphoric-and-confused state of mind. The thought of an era dawning must have been too overpowering that even after going to bed in the wee hours at 4.30am last night, I woke up at 7am today, heated the water and stirred my 4-year-old kindergarten-going son out of his sleep, telling him it’s time to go to school.

Then I realised it’s Sunday!

If you are as old as me, you would’ve heard this song by Roger Waters, the creative brain behind the progressive rock band Pink Floyd.

Hey, this song is kind of apt for the situation that has presented itself over the past 12 hours…

I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning
But, oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning

Satellite buzzing through the endless night
Exclusive to moonshots and world title fights
Jesus Christ, imagine what it must be earning
Who is the strongest
Who is the best
Who holds the aces
The East
Or the West
This is the crap our children are learning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

Now the satellite’s confused
‘Cause on Saturday night
The airwaves were full of compassion and light
And his silicon heart
Warmed to the sight of a billion candles burning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Billy

I’m not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology’s sword from the hand of the war lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Sylvester
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
…