About 250 retail items under the 1Malaysia brand are sold at KR1M outlets at a much cheaper price than other brands, without sacrificing quality.

So far, none in Sabah.

(1) at LRT Station, Kelana Jaya (first KR1M shop), launched on 22nd June 2011
(2) at Pusat Komuniti, Bandar Tun Razak, KL: launched August 2011
(3) at Kuarters DBKL Pantai Permai, Pantai Dalam, KL: launched 26th August 2011
(4) at Aras Bawah, Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi Dan Kepenggunaan (KPDNKK), Persiaran Perdana, Presint 2, Putrajaya: launched 14 Sept 2011
(5) at Pasar Wangsa Maju Section 4: launched 12th October 2011

Supposedly 20+ more by end of 2011.

The infomercial (in Malay):

Popularity: 1% [?]

On 27th September 2011 it was reported in the local press that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) is targeting its System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) to at most 540 minutes for 2011.

So far they’re on track, with 381 minutes as of 11th September 2011.

In 2010, it was 687 minutes i.e. each person personally experienced more than 11 hours of electrical power interruption.

In 2009, it was a staggering 2,867 minutes for Sabah, and 72 minutes for Peninsular Malaysia.

In fact, it was much worse in previous years:

Compare that to South Johor‘s 111 minutes in 2010. Under the Iskandar Malaysia 10 (IM10) plan, it aims to reduce the number to less than 10 minutes by 2015.

That’s world class indeed; hopefully it’s equally stable too, so that one can find samsung mobile batteries at the source and be sure that it doesn’t break down too often.

Apparently, according to IEEE Standard 1366-1998 the median value for North American utilities is approx 90 minutes.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Update 10 December 2011

Date started: September 2011
Name: Ms Lim
Age: 47
Location: KL
Occupation: insurance broker
Money lost: RM1.02 million
Scammer claims to be: a 48-year-old Canadian chemical engineer with Petronas in Tereng­ganu
Scammer is in fact: as yet unknown
How met: a website for singles (online matchmaking site)
Modus operandi: got the victim to fall in love with him without even meeting up. Then create sob story of being in financial trouble and ask for RM1 million loan. Once that’s done, disappears.
How ended: finally realised that she’s being conned when he stood her up in early December 2011

——————————
14 September 2011

The following are some examples of cases of Malaysians being cheated of huge amounts of money by Africans utilising the infamous 419 / parcel scams.

Note: On 10th May 2011, Daily Express reported that so far in the year, 2 Sabahan women were cheated of more than RM1 million each by people they met on Facebook. Are Sabah women the most gullible?

Date: September 2011
Name: Madam X
Age: early 50s
Location: Petaling Jaya
Occupation: ?
Money lost: almost RM500K
Scammer claims to be: a British Army Brigadier-General stationed in a middle eastern country
Scammer is in fact: a Nigerian
How met: a website for singles
Modus operandi: scammer claims to have USD20m, needed to take it out of his present location, asks Madam X to help channel to Malaysia, offers 50% as commission on condition that money wired to various countries to “facilitate transfer”
How ended: Niece managed to convince her that she’s being scammed.

Date: May 2011
Name: (female)
Age: ?
Location: Shah Alam
Occupation: ?
Money lost: RM1.1 million
Scammer claims to be: a British man
Scammer is in fact: a group including Nigerians and Bangladeshis
How met: Facebook
Modus operandi: after befriending, tell that he needs her bank account number to bank in money from his contract with Petronas worth millions, but first she needs to help him pay for stamp duties and insurance fees in order to get his contract sanctioned, because “he can’t afford it at that time”.
How ended: victim runs out of money

Date: June 2010
Name: ? (female)
Age: 73
Location: Georgetown
Occupation: ?
Money lost: RM155,000
Scammer claims to be: a British man
Scammer is in fact: a Nigerian
How met: online instant messaging
Modus operandi: take several months to win trust, then tell victim that he has sent expensive gifts. An accomplice pretending to be a Customs officer would then call to tell that the gifts are stuck in Customs due to an offence and a fine needs to be paid to a bank account.
How ended: money paid, communications cut off.

Date: December 2009
Name: ? (male)
Age: 55
Location: Kuala Terengganu
Occupation: pensioner
Money lost: RM124,340
Scammer claims to be: Katherine Khalifa of Liberia
Scammer is in fact: a Senegalese (?)
How met: internet
Modus operandi: after befriending victim, scammer sends boo-hoo email telling him that she’s in jail and needs help to withdraw millions from her dad’s account, in return he’ll get some of the money.
How ended: money paid, communications cut off.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’ve always wondered why the outward journey seems longer than the return trip, especially if it’s by road. My mother explained that this is because of our new-found familiarity with the route or road.

I found the answer a few days ago – a new study by Prof Niels van de Ven (Tilburg University, Holland), Leon van Rijswijk and Michael Roy concluded that it’s due to “different expectations.”

Lead researcher van de Ven said:

People often underestimate how long the outward journey takes and this is therefore experienced as long. Based on that feeling, the traveller expects the return journey to be long as well, and this then turns out to be shorter than expected. An over-optimistic prior estimation of the journey time leads to the illusion of the return journey being shorter.

They came to the conclusion after doing 3 studies involving 350 people.

The full text of the research is published in the journal Springer’s Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Kompleks Karamunsing (2010):
- ground flr: min: RM4.11 psf, max: RM5.87 psf
- 3rd flr: min: RM2.10 psf, max: RM2.75 psf

Wisma Merdeka (2010):
- ground flr: min: RM10 psf, max: RM25.13 psf
- 2nd flr: min: RM3.01 psf, max: RM4.50 psf

Plaza Wawasan (2010):
- ground flr: min: RM8.60 psd, max: RM12 psf
- 1st flr: min: RM3.73psf, max: RM5.71psf

Centre Point (2010):
- ground flr: min: RM8 psf, max: RM23 psf
- 1st flr: min: RM5 psf, max: RM7 psf

1Borneo (2010):
- ground flr: min: RM7.32 psf, max: RM10 psf
- 1st flr: min: RM7.32 psf, max: RM8 psf

As of first quarter of 2011, retail space:
- Kota Kinabalu: 4.5 million sq ft, population: 453K, 14.5% of the total population of Sabah
- Tawau: >300K sq ft, population: 398.5K
- Penampang: 261K sq ft, population: 122K
- Sandakan: 242K sq ft, population: 397.5K
- Sabah total: 5.6 million sq ft (38 shopping complexes), population 3.12 million i.e. 11% of Malaysia
- Malaysia total: 116 million sq ft; i.e. 20 times more than Sabah

Between 2000-2010, Penampang’s population grew by 3.9%, the highest rate in Sabah. In contrast, Kota Kinabalu’s rate is only 2.42%, Tawau 2.67%, Sandakan 1.3%. Sabah average: 2.34%.

Between 1991-2000, Penampang’s population grew by 5.78%, Kota Kinabalu 5.89%, Tawau 2.45%, Sandakan 4.98%. Sabah average was even higher: 3.92%

Malaysia’s population in 2010: 27.57 million, 25.5% live in Klang Valley.

Source:
Daily Express, 22nd August 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

I purchased some water taps of the Talent brand in mid 2010. They cost at least RM25 each.

On 17th July 2011 one installed in a shower broke after a soapholder hung on it was pulled out:

Then on 1st August 2011 another one installed in the laundry room also broke after a hose connected to it was pulled out:

After that experience, I’d definitely not recommend these taps. They look nice, with a matching price tag, but have proven to be very fragile. Taps costing half that price lasts longer.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Update 16 September 2011

Up till today I haven’t heard of any related arrest(s), perhaps the perpetrator covered his face at the material time with a scorpion exo-700 helmet or similar.

————
19 August 2011

Following a spate in the peninsula, copycat acid splashing has made its way to Sabah.

Around 2pm on 18th August 2011, Ling Siew Teen, 22 was alighting from her car in front of a supermarket in Taman Khidmat, Kolombong, near Kota Kinabalu when heard a man calling for her behind her back, and when she turned round, the man who was driving a Perodua MyVi splashed corrosive liquid on her. She was burned in the eyes, cheek, lips and chin.

Fortunately, it was reportedly not a “full strength” concoction.

Source
Bernama, 18th August 2011
Borneo Post, 18th August 2011

Popularity: 1% [?]

The covered outdoor car park at Central Plaza, Kota Kinabalu has been around for years but the owners have never bothered to improve its design, even after they started charging.

At first glance it looks rather nice with trees, and all-day multiple-entry parking for only RM1.50.

But if you look closer you’d notice that the trees are taking up precious space where a vehicle should be.

The space taken is so big that it takes a chunk off the parking space, so much so that cars would not be able to be placed all the way in.

Another thing is, there’s a car wash nearby, and the workers sometimes hung a volleyball net across the road, totally blocking it. It would’ve been much better if they value added their premises by selling car accessories like bentley rubber mats instead.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It was reported by The Star on 30th July 2011 that at the end of 2010, Malaysia’s population was 28.3 million.

In the once-in-10-year census exercise done 6 July – 22 August, it was 23.3 million in 2000, an increase of 5 million.

The 2010 Population and Housing Census final report can be purchased for RM25, but why bother when you can save money and trees – get the report at the Statistics Department’s website.

Some details mentioned by the minister:
- average annual population growth rate: 2% between 2000 & 2010. Between 1991 & 2000, it was higher, at 2.6%
- fertility rate 2.3%, lower than the 3% in 2000.
- 67.3% of population aged 15-64
- 27.6% of population aged 0-14
- 5.1% of population aged 65 & above, meaning Malaysia is not an ageing society: it needs to be 10%
- mean age of 1st marriage for males: 28, for female: 25
- census exercise recorded 14,562,638 males & 13,771,497 females
- all states except Putrajaya & Perlis had more males than females
- 91.8% of population are Malaysian citizens
- Bumiputra: 67.4%, Chinese: 24.6%, Indian: 7.3%, others: 0.7%
- Most populous states:
1 Selangor: 5.4 million (19.3% of country)
2 Johor: 3.3 million
3 Sabah: 3.2 million
- Highest population growth between 2000 & 2010: 17.8%.
- Urban population: 71%, compared with 62% in 2000

What the minister did not highlight, but is reported in the report is:

- Sabah has the highest percentage of non-Malaysians (27.7%). The next highest is Labuan at 14%, followed by KL at 9.4%. Ref: Taburan Penduduk & Ciri-Ciri Asas Demografi, page 11

Popularity: 1% [?]

It never ceases to amaze me that from a primary school in a rural area in Sabah I somehow ended up at a prestigious public school in the United Kingdom in the space of 6 years.

SK Rangalau Baru (nearer Tamparuli than Kiulu); apparently this satellite image was taken in 2003:

Felsted School, Essex:

A photo of the most-well known part of the school overlooking the cricket pitch:

To get a general idea of the difference in size, the dirt field at SK Rangalau Baru measures about 75m (top to bottom) and that field in the middle of Felsted School measures about 150m (left to right).

Both places hold fond memories. Felsted was like a dream, and has probably everything a school should have, but Rangalau Baru will always have the most natural composters ever, if you know what I mean.

Satellite photos courtesy of Google earth.

Popularity: 1% [?]