Home is where the heart is
Archive for February, 2008
Toto 10 Million Hong Bao Draw Winning Number
4Tomorrow is the day for the Singapore Toto 10 Million Draw. This is the annual special draw during the Chinese New Year by Singapore Pools.
We just placed a some bet for tomorrow’s Toto draw. Hopefully will strive big this time. For these have not yet bet and not sure what number to buy. Please use the Toto Number Generator from kcgce.com below to pick your lucky numbers
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Top of the Yahoo Search – Malaysia Election 2008
1I just noticed this morning that my previous post of the Malaysia Election 2008 appeared as the top 3 results from Yahoo Search for Malaysia Election.
Let me share SEO tips with you on how to do this. (more…)
Singapore’s 2008/09 budget highlights and what does this means to you
0Following are the highlights of Singapore’s 2008/09 budget delivered by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Parliament on Friday.
KEY POINTS:
- Singapore 2007/08 budget surplus at S$6.4 billion.
- Manufacturing investment likely S$16 billion in 2008.
- Rising cost of living a major concern.
- There is limit on Singapore dollar appreciation.
- To adjust tax policies to stay competitive.
- Research spending to be increased to S$7.5 billion by 2010.
- Tax deductions for R&D to rise to 150 percent from 100 percent.
- To keep business cost competitive against other cities.
- To defer another S$1 billion of public construction projects.
- Corporate tax rate of 18 percent is competitive.
- To introduce tax incentives for family-owned holdings and insurance brokers
- To drop estate duty immediately.
- No cut in personal income tax this year. Grants 20 percent income tax rebate capped at S$2,000.
- To tax all alcoholic beverages based on alcohol content.
- Expects 2008/09 budget deficit of S$0.8 billion.
FINANCE MINISTER’S COMMENTS:
ON INVESTMENT
“Our pipeline of manufacturing investments remains robust with EDB expecting S$16 billion worth of investment commitments this year, on top of the same volume last year.”
ON INFLATION
“We seek to moderate imported inflation through our Singapore dollar exchange rate policy. There is a limit to how fast the Singapore dollar can appreciate without hurting our economic performance and growth, and eventually causing wages to fall. An overly strong Singapore dollar can bring inflation down, but at the cost of lower growth and higher unemployment. This is why, while we can mitigate imported inflation through MAS’s exchange rate policy, we cannot insulate ourselves completely from the effects of global inflation.”
ON COMPETITIVENESS
“We will also adjust our tax policies so that we stay competitive, support the growth of our SMEs, encourage risk-taking as well as strengthen our role as a financial and business hub.”
ON BUSINESS COST
“We have to keep our business costs competitive, and not let them run ahead of the cities we are competing with.”
ON COPORATE TAX
“With our 18 percent corporate tax rate and the enhancements we have made to our partial tax exemption scheme last year, our corporate tax regime is competitive.”
ON ESTATE DUTY
“I have therefore decided to remove estate duty from our tax regime, with effect from today. It is not just a practical or expedient measure, but one that on balance will be in our collective interest.”
ON PERSONAL INCOME TAX
“We will not be making any further move on personal income tax rates this year. But we will continue to watch this and ensure that we are always able to attract and keep talent in Singapore, including those at the top end.
“I will give an income tax rebate of 20 percent for all resident taxpayers for year of assessment 2008.”
ON ALCOHOL TAX
“With effect from today, all alcoholic beverages will be taxed on the basis of their alcoholic content.”
Malaysia 12th General Election on March 8
1Malaysia Election Commission have announced the 12th Malaysia Election to be held on 8 March 2008. A day after Malaysia PM Abdullah Badawi disssolved Malaysia Paliament. This did not surprise anyone anyway. 8 March 2008 is a Saturday coinciding with the school holidays. Nomination day is fixed on Feb 24, a Sunday.
This time around, I’m going to make my way back to vote for my representative. But I’m back not for election only as my NiangZi’s Brother wedding dinner to be held on Sunday, 9 March 2008.
As all expected BN (Barisan National) will rule again with Two-Third Majority.. (more…)
Malaysia Parliament Dissolved on Feb 13
0As many media anticipated Abdullah Badawi dissolves Parliament on Feb 13. The hints was the 13 is one of his favorite number.
The date of election will be announce tomorrow.
Please use the Electoral Roll Checking service of Malaysia Election Commission to check from your polling station, parliament and state seat of your area.
News extracted from Bernama
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at noon today announces the dissolution of Parliament at his office in Putrajaya with effect from today until 16 May 2009; 15 months earlier than the expiry of its five-year term, to pave way for the 12th general election.
The prime minister also advised all the state governments, except Sarawak, to dissolve their state assemblies to enable the state elections to be held simultaneously.
He said he had an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin this morning and had received his consent to dissolve the 11th Parliament.
The dissolution of this Parliament was made 15 months before the expiry of its five-year term on May 16, 2009.
The Election Commission (EC) is expected to meet soon to fix the dates for nominations and polling.
Political observers had forecast that the polls would be held early next month, with nominations expected in the last week of February, based on the EC practice of fixing only 10 days for campaigning in several past elections.
Under Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution, a general election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of Parliament. However, the EC practice after 1969 has been to hold the election within 16 to 20 days of the dissolution.
The 11th general election was held on March 21, 2004, 17 days after the dissolution of Parliament.
A total of 222 parliamentary seats will be contested this time, three more than in the last election due to the new seats in Sarawak following the electoral delineation in 2006. At the state level, 505 seats will be contested.
Before today’s dissolution, the BN held 199 seats in the Dewan Rakyat and the opposition 20, with the DAP holding 12, PAS six and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and an independent, one each.
Feedback from opposition parties.
Genting 2008 Countdown Photo
0Finally the photo of the Genting 2008 countdown trip is ready. I’m sorry for the long wait. All of the photos were taken by Samsung Z170 Handphone. This is the 3G phone from Starhub’s plan. The quality of the picture is surprisingly good. Most of the photo took in the Genting Indoor and outdoor theme park. Unfortunately we did not manage to capture the countdown firework as we could not even see it with our naked eyes.
Photo taken by the back camera of Samsung Z170
Photo taken by the front camera of Samsung Z170
Slideshow of all Genting Photo
Genting Countdown 2008
Happy Chinese New Year 2008
1This new year is the first year I drive back home from Singapore. As a results the drive back to Klang was smooth one.
We have choose to leave earlier on Feb 1 Friday afternoon. In total Niangzi and I took 6.5 days leave for this
