Let's Take a Breather

As always there's so much running through my mind to the point that I have no idea what I want to write. There's the ever-popular topic about politics especially since 6 states in Malaysia is about to go through elections. I am not sure if we can call it general election, so I will just call it State Elections. 6 states will be going through that, Selangor (where I will be voting), Negeri Sembilan, Kedah (where my father was born), Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu and Kelantan (where I am currently at). This will decide on who will govern the states for the next 5 years or until the State Assembly is dissolved.

Previously, the whole nation went through a General Election where Parliament and State Assemblies tend to be dissolved around the same time to make way for a general election. Ever since our screwy politics started happening, some states had their elections earlier, some had it at the same time with the 15th General Elections (when parliament was dissolved) and some will be having it on the 12 August 2023.

Predictions? Much of status quo but inroads into Selangor and Kelantan. Kedah? Some inroads. Terengganu will be too close to call. Penang inroads. Negeri Sembilan status quo.

But I will not be talking about that.

Then in my previous post I spoke of the tax regime and how our salary has been artificially held back. I've been working for the last 30 years now and yet we are still hearing a starting pay of RM1,300 to 2,000 a month for fresh graduates. Most of learn economics or knows about economics, imagine how much of the value of the RM1,300 to 2,000 has been eroded due to inflation. Yet, employers unabashedly continue to offer such rates without any feeling of guilt.

No one seems to be asking the question, how can people afford homes? How can they afford to buy cars. With the lower end of salaries hovering around RM2,000 to 3,000 and houses at least RM400,000 in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor how can people get this most basic of necessities? But is it that simple? Just increase the pay and all will be well? Unfortunately, not. There's a lot more to consider. Competition, competitiveness, profit motives, affordability. So it's not all that simple.

Then again, I am not going to talk about that either.

Then on Tumblr (yes, I am there too) I read an article about bullying. In this instance the story was about a boy that had different orientation and was constantly bullied. He sought help from his school from teachers right up to his Principal to get the bullying to stop. According to the story, they did very little. One day things came to a head when the victim cannot take it anymore, after incident of the latest bullying, he took a cafeteria tray and bashed his bully. Nothing happened to the bullies before, and nothing happened after, what did happen was the victim was scolded and expelled. The story didn't say what happened next, but this may result into something ugly if the boy didn't manage to pick himself up.

This is the situation where being pushed to their limit, they decide to fight back sometimes causing them to become shooters, bullies themselves or in fits of desperation and depression they may even decide to end their own lives. A few years ago, I had such a discussion on Facebook, why people become violent, why children are planted with thoughts to end their own lives. Sometimes pressures are so immense that they feel that they have nowhere else to go. In my previous life as an auditor, I always remind me, and my team members never push anyone against the wall. They just might erupt, and things can get ugly.

How can that be changed? Keep communications channel open. That helps. I too need a lot of help with that. Sometimes we decide to keep things to ourselves and by the time we or anyone realise it, it may already be too late. So, keep on talking, keep on communicating. No matter how unpleasant it can be.

However, I am not going to talk about that either.

So, what will I be talking about?

Well, my time was quite full this week. My second man was on leave so had to cover a lot more grounds. I was attending a webinar and an online class at the same time. I am also managing my finances. A lot of work to be done. Managing my son's enrollment into university. It was between doing a foundation and diploma. He wants a little transition, so he has chosen to do a foundation course. He needs to enjoy his free time a little longer, so he will begin in November instead of September. Starting university can be overwhelming so having that transition will help.

It will be a nice little build up before he sits for his degree a year later. He is now 18. When he goes for his degree, he will be 19. By the time he graduates he will be 22. Good buffers to decide on what to do next. His interest is in programming and coding. He already self-taught himself with Java and SQL. He finds Python challenging. I think he is also working on C++. Exciting area that he wants to embark into, with AI looming large, block chain being used for almost everything, exciting years lies ahead. My knowledge is severely limited even though I learnt BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN and I tried to dabble in C+. So now I am just happy that I can still remember slash commands on BIOS.....

Or maybe, I won't talk about that either.

Anyway, for my readers lately I've been trying something new. Do visit and say hello to my posts in Instagram, Tik Tok, Tumblr apart from my posts at X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Linked-In. Talk to all of you later.