Bila Gambar Berbicara 3

Satu lagi gambar lama yang aku jumpa on Uncle Naguib's Facebook.

Gambar ini diambil oleh Uncle Naguib semasa Angah Midah came back to Malaysia for holiday.

Seingat aku, gambar ini diambil pada tahun 1991.

Di sebelah aku adalah sepupu aku, Mimi. Mimi adalah cucu perempuan sulung arwah Cikgu Jaafar. We were very competitive, back then in our school days. And she was the national youth shooter champion.

Next to her are my two sisters, Mira and Lia.

Behind us is the rumah pusaka Cikgu Jaafar. Well, it was not in its original built from 1960s. It was renovated in 80s to replace its kitchen and to install the tangga batu, three in total.

Can you see the Proton Aeroback? If I'm mistaken it was Kak Ja's first car. Kak Ja is the first in family to further study overseas! She went to Japan on JPA scholarship to do engineering degree. 

Behind the car, the was a small structure. Guess, what was that? Hehehe, that was our dapur kayu. My mother used it to cook ketupats, rendang and sambal for all Raya celebrations until late 90s. That was when my father renovated the house for three time, to replace half of the rumah tengah and dapur.

When I returned home in 2000, the dapur kayu was gone and mother cooked everything inside the house using gas cooker.

Sent from my iPhone

Satu Petang Purnama Ketujuh

Sementara menanti minda ini bangkit untuk menukilkan sajak-sajak terbaru, izinkan aku menyiarkan kembali koleksi sajak peribadiku di Aku dan Sajak untuk segmen Ulang Terbit, pada setiap hari Khamis.

Satu Petang Purnama Ketujuh

Satu petang Isnin
pengakhiran purnama ketujuh
aku ke situ lagi
bersama buah hatiku nan satu.

Mengadap laut terbentang luas
mega yang kian ditelan gelap
camar riang pulang ke pangkuan
desir ombak berdendangan
beriringan bayu dari seberang.

Appa, Tata tak datang lagi?
betulkah Tata tak mahu temui Prisha?
Tata sayang Prisha, Appa?

Tata ada bersama kita, sayang
dia sentiasa di sisi kita
pejamkan matamu, en magalay
percayalah… Tata sayangkanmu.

Bayu berterus-terusan ke pengkalan
menyapu lembut wajah kami
membelai manja ikal rambut Prisha
selesa melihat kami berteleku di situ.

Mari kita pulang, Prisha
malam kian dingin
Amma tertunggu-tunggu di rumah
juadah menanti dijamah.

Sebentar, Appa…
Prisha nak ucap selamat tinggal
tapi Tata masih bergelingan
jangan nangis, Tata
nanti Prisha datang lagi.

Dia bangkit, gapai tanganku
pimpinku pergi
aku nangis dalam hati
anakku temui datuknya
terima kasih, Tuhan…

Appa, nanti kami datang lagi
satu petang Selasa
penghujung purnama ketujuh.

(Doaku buat mangsa tragedi pelantar jeti runtuh di Pengkalan Sultan Abdul Halim, Butterworth pada tahun 1988 yang mengorbankan 32 orang awam)


Hasmi Haron
Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
12 Ogos 2006

11:45

Nota Kaki:

1. Ketika tragedi ini berlaku, penulis masih di sekolah rendah di Melaka.
2. Ini adalah karya kedua penulis tentang tragedi, tetapi karya ini mengangkat tragedi 'buatan' manusia.

New rules won't hurt consumer financing segment

The article was first published on Business Times.

'New rules won't hurt consumer financing segment'

Muhammed Ahmad Hamdan
2013/07/10

BANK Islam Malaysia Bhd does not see the new regulation on household debts introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia recently as having a negative impact on its consumer financing segment.

Business development director Khairul Kamarudin said Bank Islam is, in fact, optimistic of achieving around a 20 per cent growth in its consumer financing segment this year.

"We welcome the new regulation by Bank Negara. We don't see it affecting our consumer financing segment as we have been practising similar guidelines since two years ago," Khairul said after launching Bank Islam's new Visa platinum credit card here yesterday.

Bank Negara last Friday announced that commercial banks must now set 10 years as maximum tenure for personal loan financing and 35 years for property loans.

"Ninety five per cent of our property loan borrowers has tenures of below 35 years.

"Our personal loan segment only offers a maximum tenure of 15 years, compared to other banks that offer personal loan tenures of more than 20 years," Khairul said.

Housing loan segment accounts for 50 per cent of Bank Islam's consumer financing portfolio, while personal loan is 30 per cent.

"We believe that Bank Islam has strong product distribution channels which will support the growth of our consumer financing segment," he added.

The new rules set by BNM were to curb excessive household debts and to reinforce responsible lending practices by key credit providers.

This is in light of the country's increasing household debts - averaging at an annual rate of 12 per cent over the last five years.

Khairul said Bank Islam expects to secure between 25,000 and 30,000 new subscribers for its new Visa platinum credit card by year-end.

"The target is relatively low as it is based on the industry's performance. Nevertheless, we will run various campaigns and initiatives to attract new subscribers for the Visa platinum credit card, including those who have already subscribed from other banks."

Currently, Bank Islam has a total of 138,000 active credit card members, including 2,000 Mastercard platinum credit card holders.

Its consumer card segment, which comprises 1.6 million cards, constitutes about five per cent of the bank's total consumer financing portfolio.

GST will be neutral to business costs

The article was first published on Business Times.

'GST will be neutral to business costs'

By Norhisham Hussein

THE introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) to replace the current sales tax and services tax (SST) system has been a long-standing issue in Malaysia.

First mooted in the 1980s, GST has been put off countless times due to the public's doubts over it.

Much of the criticism of GST fall into three distinct categories:

* GST is hard to comply with, as it requires proper accounting and audit systems;

* GST is "regressive" since it is a flat tax and doesn't take into account the income level of consumers;

* GST is supposedly inflationary since it is applied to the prices of all goods, at all stages.

All three criticisms have some validity but not to a degree that critics will have them to be.

First, because of the multi-stage nature of GST and input tax credits, businesses incur no tax liability. Businesses paying GST on raw materials can offset this cost against the GST they collect on sales, which gives them an incentive to invest in the systems. GST, therefore, also does not have a "cascading" cumulative tax effect.

In other words, GST will be neutral to business costs, unlike the sales tax, which is levied at the manufacturing stage and incorporated into the input cost at the retail level.

Second, the regressive nature of GST should be balanced against the equally regressive sales tax. In fact, the government can make GST somewhat more progressive than the sales tax, as basic staple goods such as food can be "zero-rated", i.e. not charged GST at all.

Certain other consumer items that are deemed beneficial, such as books, are typically often zero-rated as well.

Third, the historical evidence regarding the implementation of GST and other ad-valorem taxes (VAT) across the globe shows that, at worst, such taxes cause a one-time increase in the final prices of consumer goods.

There have not been cases where the introduction of such a tax has caused a systemically higher rate of inflation. Consumers only pay the final tax rate, not the cumulative effect of GST levied at each stage of production.

In cases where GST/VAT system has replaced a pre-existing sales tax system, the evidence suggests final prices change very little, and in one case (Canada), have actually fallen.

At the level that is being discussed (circa seven per cent) relative to the sales tax (10 per cent), the likelihood is that GST will cause little movement in consumer prices, if at all.

The arguments against GST are thus weaker than they appear at first blush.

To counterbalance any weaknesses, a GST system causes far less market distortions and is much more efficient than the SST, while promising to yield higher tax revenue at lower tax rates.

Consumers will see how much tax they're incurring on consumer goods, unlike under SST where the tax burden is "hidden". No tax system is perfect, but a GST is much less imperfect than many assumed.

Selamat Menunaikan Ibadah Puasa

Assalamualaikum.

Aku nak ambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa kepada semua umat Islam. Semoga ramadhan kali ini lebih baik dari tahun-tahun sebelum ini.

Dan tahniah kepada famili dan kawan-kawan yang juga berkeputusan untuk berhijab. Semoga Allah taala berikan istiqamah dan akan
kekal berhijab santak akhir hayat.

Tahniah untuk kepada Fizul dan Nadiah di atas berita gembira itu. Semoga segalanya selamat, in shaa Allah.

Allah selamatkan Kak Aida

Happy birthday Kak Aida. All the best in your undertakings.

Moga murah rezeki, berkat usia dan bahagia sentosa.

Bestnya dapat belon! The cake was nice too.

Pedihnya di pagi buta

Aku tak tahu nak kategorikan apa post hari ini. Cuma aku harap tak ada yang loya membacanya.

Pernah tak korang kena paper cut? Tangan atau jari yang dilukai dengan bucu kertas. Sakit kan! Aku pun selalu juga kena, terutama kalau cuba nak masukkan kertas dalam mesin pencetak atau photocopy machine. Tak pun kalau sedang distribute handouts! Sakit tapi terpaksa control macho sebab depan orang ramai.

Pernah tak korang kena hiris jari? Sakin kan! Aku pun pernah juga alaminya ketika mengupas mangga kuini atau kentang. Itu bahananya kalau tak suka gunakan peeler. Apa reaksi spontan korang? Picit jari dan sedut darah ke?

Pernah tak korang tergunting ketiak? I don't to elaborate, nanti ada yang muntah pula. Aku cuba-cuba nak trim bulu ketiak dengan gunting. Tiba-tiba tergunting kulit ketiak aku. Sakit okey!!! Tu lah, orang suruh cabut, dia gatal-gatal nak gunting. Hah, rasakan!

Bertambah pedih apabila aku mandi pagi ini. Dan lagi pedih apabila aku semburkan deodorant ke tempat luka itu. Arrrggghhh!!! Masa tu baru teringatkan Mak di rumah :(