Inflation ..

Have you ever wondered why things are expensive these days. It seems to me that shops in KL - any shop for that matter from the teh tarik shop to the most glitzy one in the Pavilion - sell goods at prices which are a lot more than say a couple of months ago. The prices of the goods a couple of months ago were more than those of the previous couple of months and so on. In other words, prices have been escalating. The goods that have been in stock or have remained unsold for six months have increased in prices !

The shops in KL seem to be not unduly worried about inventory not moving as fast as business practice dictates. For the shopkeepers believe that if the locals are not buying, well, there are the tourists that will buy them. For the tourists, especially those tourists from the Middle East and Euro countries, the goods appear cheap when compared to what they get in their own countries. Why, even the Rolex watch is cheaper here than an identical one in Switzerland itself. Not of course for the American tourists, because for them the goods are horrendously expensive.

He's at it again ..

As expected, this man called Lee Kuan Yew, cannot resist saying bad things about the Malays. Well, just the other day, Mahathir said something about the Malays in Singapore who have been marginalised by Lee Kuan Yew. Mahathir said that the Malays have had no opportunities in Singapore and that they were not as prosperous or have good jobs as the other Singaporeans, especially the Chinese. [To the casual observer, he finds that the Malays in Singapore are either drivers, security guards, salesmen, low-level government staffs or stall operators; he never finds them looking like exceutives, or uniformed military personnel or police of high rank].

What Mahathir said created a great deal of flak from among the Singaporean Malays who refuted that, hey, we Singaporean Malays were much better off under the present Singapore government than the Malaysian Malays under the BN government. They said they preferred to be under the PAP government. Well, just about today, this Lee Kuan Yew fellow, was saying in his latest book that Singapore's greatest worry was potential threats from the Muslim neighbours, meaning Malaysia and Indonesia. Lee Kuan Yew sees that Malaysia and Indonesia have been envious of Singapores's success and that's why their neighbours especially Malaysia are trying their level best to sabotage Singapore's port. Dey ! every businessman in the world try by subtle means or direct to sabotage the business of his competitor. Don't tell me that the camera shop in Singapura plaza doesn't hate his next door shop selling the same thing that he does. If he could, he would blow up his competitor.

Not only that, Lee Kuan Yew, went on to claim that the Malays in Singapore take their Islam religion too seriously (short of calling them being too fanatical about Islam) to be more integrated with the other races. In fact, according to him, being a strong believer in Islam, presents an obstacle to his plan to integrate everyone. What he means is that you Malays in Singapore, if you want to be treated the way we treat our Chinese and Indian citizens, you have to be less religious than you are now and we will see what happens how you are treated. Better still for him if the Malays give up their religion or their nationality.

My advice to the Malays and other Muslims there is to stick to what you have always believed in and practise your religion as well as you can. Don't exchange your belief or your way of life as a Muslim individual in favour of prosperity. Remember, Lee Kuan Yew and his cohorts believe in the Singapore dollar, not in God. For them, God only exist in churches, temples and shrines, and His presence is only invoked when they swear.

Update 25/01/2011: What Lee Kuan Yew has just said in his latest book about the Malays and the Muslims in general serve those Singaporean Malays right. The old man believes that the less the Malays and Muslims care about their religion the better it is for Singapore to be successful in its scheme to integrate all the major races there. While not just a while ago, Singaporean Malays lambasted Mahathir for saying that the Malays there have lost their sovereignity by being marginalised by the Singapore government, to wit by Lee Kuan Yew himself.