Perils of an Expatriate life

Dear Thelma,
Reading the letter from 'blissful Mama' In love but in crisis!! I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to her, and I appreciate your 'diplomatic' wording of your reply and advice to her. You are really trying to help her, and put a positive spin to the matter so that you will not make the situation worse than it is. But speaking as an ex-expatriate, I would like to share my views of some perils of a family man working alone in a foreign country. The stresses are real, but so are the perks and the elevated stature that normally such a posting gives. I personally think that the husband is not telling the "exact" truth, when he says .." that sex makes him feel sick and weak (and) He constantly falls ill....." Coming from a previously happy marriage and a passionate wife, he must have loved the sex part of the marriage. If he loves his wife still and with the availability of Viagra, Levithra and Cialis, he would have still managed a happy marriage each time he returns from Dubai. I would read another reason for his sudden "disgust" with sex. It's most likely he is enthralled in a hot steamy love affair in the Middle East. With his expatriate earnings and elevated stature, many ladies will succumb to that heady 'mixture' of power and money. It's a natural aphrodisiac. Of course sex with his wife will make him "weak and tired", he has expended all his energy on his new found obsession.

I think it is the "correct" thing for you to say to 'blissful Mama', but I just want to let you know it is more likely a 'sinister' reason for the man to behave the way he does. It is a bit naive to think otherwise....

Carlsberg.. how to increase Sales.

Dear Carlsberg,
We were distressed to read this bit of news this morning CARLSBERG PROFITS DOWN 22% and this is inspite of our unwavering and fervent efforts supporting the Golden Brew during Friday nights at Restoran Kor Kee in PJ Old Town (behind the decrepit bus terminal). We feel that even though you have a beer that beats the "others" pants down, you have not done enough to protect and increase your market share. We are sorely disappointed with your marketing team. In order to prevent further slide in your profits and to push Carlsberg to the Winner's pedestal, which it deserves, we humbly suggest the following:

• Increase your efforts to prevent the "Import" of foreign beer which, in spite of heavy duty, is selling cheaper than Carlsberg. A few examples of the foreign beers:.... Kingfisher Strong, Bavaria, Hollandia, Roberts Stout, San Miguel, Blue Ice, etc etc.
• Petition the Government and the Local Authorities under the Human Rights Freedom of Action principle, that Malaysians must be allowed to drink any brand of beer in coffee shops and the 'dirty' restaurants. Limiting the shops to sell (God Forbid) Tiger and Heineken is a breach of our constitutional rights. Talk to the Chinese coffee shops and dirty restaurants that it is to their benefit to provide more choices of beer, as that would naturally attract more dinner crazy customers
  
• Finally, and this is the most important suggestion; we do think you should employ lady promoters to push Carlsberg, more frequently, and most essential, send them to Restoran Kor kee on Fridays... Preferably filipinas, as they understand how we feel

REASON TO REDUCE TOLL FARES,... A FACTUAL STORY

I just read this column Paying toll to sit through traffic jams and observe that there is apparently yet another development to the "Rising Toll Saga". It was mentioned that " A few weeks ago, rumours surfaced that some former employees of UEM Group want to take over PLUS. They want to bring down toll rates by at least 20% and do a lot more for the rakyat." This is coming after recent agreement by the Government and the Concessionaires to reveal the contents of the Toll Operations Agreements to the Public, and to the reluctance of the Governement to re-negotiate the lopsided contracts, and the need to pay compensation to the concession holders, in the event the contracts are breached, and toll fares not allowed to be increased, as per agreements. Much water has flowed under this "toll fare" bridge, and the arguments for both sides of the question will continue, to the frustration of the road using public.

Let me tell a factual story and put things in perspective. In 1996, one of the largest infrastructure construction and toll operations company in Malaysia, which I will call 'A', entered into a joint venture agreement overseas, with the government of an Asian country, which shall be 'B', to rehabilitate an existing segment of a highway, and to also construct new segments through one of the busiest sections of the country. Government B was responsible for the acquistion of land for the road, called the right of way(ROW), and Company A will bear all the construction costs, provide the systems and also training for the operations and maintenance of the completed highways. The joint venture agreement (JVA) signed between A and B, among other things, stipulated the Revenue Sharing arrangements. The JVA stipulated that until the construction costs, finance charges and interest have been FULLY recouped by Company A, the toll revenue (nett of operations costs) shall be shared in the ratio of 90:10 to A and B respectively. However, when those costs including loans, finance charges and interest have been fully recovered by A, the revenue (nett of operations costs) shall be shared in the ratio of 40:60 between A and B respectively. Unfortunately company A eventually disposed off the business to a local Investor, as Govt B could not raise the funds to acquire the ROW for continuation of the project.

Now what does the story tell us? It shows us undeniably that there is a need for concession companies in Malaysia to re-visit the toll rate, once they have collected sufficient revenue to repay their loans and other finance costs. It is then clearly immoral for these concession companies to continue raising toll fares, AND for the Government to approve it under those agreements. The fact that Company A in my story can agree to take a 50% less revenue in Country B after recovering their Finance costs shows that there is no need for such high toll fees, after the completion of construction of the expressways. It is not surprising then that the former UEM employees, in proposing to buy over PLUS, has also proposed to cut the toll rate by 20%.!!

The moral of the story? However which way the government decides to resolve the high toll fare issue for the public, the end result MUST be the drastic lowering of toll fares. We, the public have suffered for too long. Let us not wait longer...

Illegal smuggling of wildlife

Illegal smuggling of wildlife