Lead A Purposeful Life

No matter your background, rich or poor .... the moment you hear Nick shares his life and his message, you will have tears because he connects with us on so many levels.

Try Dissing Feng Shui Market Predictions Again!!!

Well, you can argue and debate, but man ... the CLSA feng shui predictor has more rights than wrongs ... and eerily correct so far this year. Hope the chart continues to be correct, which means a swift rebound.

Being Malaysian

As the day draws closer to celebrating another Merdeka and Malaysia Day, the overall population runs the risk of not knowing our roots. How we came to be as a nation, as a group of people with so much shared history and legacy. As less and less of our population remember the time when they were around during the torturous Emergency years of 1948-1953 ... our country runs the risk of losing the very fabric of our existence.

As we marvel on grand property projects now, we talk of five figure a month jobs, we talk about traveling the world, buying the latest fashionable product, argue about share prices, look at your children living a normal life  ... all that would be very different had the 5-6 years of history turned out differently, and it could very well have.

I know all cinemas will be playing the national anthem for a week leading to Merdeka Day ... just how much of chest thumping will that bring. If you are not already feeling like a Malaysian, that tactic will do very little for you. You are not going to say, wow, I feel more Malaysian already. Sloganeering and antics are just so pathetic.

It would do brilliantly if we were to feature the following documentary by History Channel to all movie goers. How about broadcasting it 3x a day 7 days leading up to Merdeka? After watching it, you will feel very different about being a Malaysian. We are not that worthy ... so many army personnel, police officers, civilians, foreign soldiers, Gurkhas ... so many lost their lives to preserve a chance to lead a simple democratic way of life. So much collateral damage.

To have that 5-6 years of undeclared war following the horrendous Japanese occupation ... calling that period tough would be unfair and minimising the severe hardships all Malaysians who lived through that period. And that was just 60-70 years back.

We see remembrances of old foggies at graveyards in the papers every now and then, we flip flippantly through those news articles, we do not bother to even finish reading it ... In places like God's Little Acre @ Batu Gajah, the grand sacrifices by them allow us to be where we are. There are still many living heroes ... and they could very well shout now that the rest of the nation has been largely ungrateful, they could scream that if it was not for their sacrifices, we'd  not get to enjoy life as we know it now. They could, but they would not ... if respect has to be demanded, its not respect but a filtered down version.

Watch the documentary, make your children watch the documentary, be a true Malaysian. We should all know how we got here ... thus far.



p/s you know what is sad, this You Tube video has only 5,000 views ... yet we have hundreds of thousands for the cute dogs and cats or other inane stuff

Funnies From China

English is a hard language when its not your mother tongue ... things get lost in translation sometimes. In Malaysia it happens, in particular when we get zombies trying to do the English subtitles for movies. These are from China, in now way am I singling them out. Japanese ones are funny as well ... there are also the ones from India, Indonesia, Thailand ... but one at a time.






Some guys (assholes) should really go to the second room.




Hey, might as well be honest while you are at it!




The police/army are so considerate.


We certainly need this sign in Malaysia ... car showrooms and Pavilion.


Awww ... shucks.




I will definitely try that!!!


What an awesome gift for some of my friends the next time I travel to China.

Constructive, Vindictive Or Destructive

I am all for constructive analysis and commentary. An open progressive society should always have that. However, is our society somehow more like the cartoon below ... always finding something negative to say, ... never considering the backdrop or context. It is easy to just criticise and complain, somehow by shading something darker, it makes our pitiful life bearable. In much the same way, we run the danger of branding ourselves by what we do not like, we have no problem telling others what we don't like. How do people describe you? Is it "oh, she doesn't like lamb dishes, she cannot stand Sungai Wang complex, she hates Justin Beiber,  ...." or is it "she loves dogs, she goes gaga for Baskin Robbins, she loves to climb hills ..."

Cooking With Dali - Curry Pork Ribs

How to go wrong with pork ribs? This is my adjusted, tweaked, simplified recipe that all can try at home.

All the ingredients are pictured here. Note that I only used half of the belacan in that white paper box. Oops, you can't see the candlenuts (buah keras).

I don't really like to measure much, mostly agak-agak and taste along the way. Generally, for about 1.5kg of pork ribs:
- 3-4 big sized potatoes (get the ones from Indonesia, softer and nicer)
- 2 stalks lemon grass
- 6 to 7 candlenuts
- small piece of belacan
- A1 rempah for meat  (3-4 tbs)
- 12 pieces of shallots
- 6 pieces of garlic cloves
- 5 to 6 dried chilli (cut up finely)
- curry leaves
- tumeric poweder (1 tbs)
- 1/2 cup coconut milk

First, put the cut up ribs in a plastic bag, throw in 1tsp sea salt and 1 tbs white pepper and make sure they get a good rubbing down. Put in 3 tbs corn flour, close the bag and shake liberally. Check to make sure all are covered with flour. Put in fridge for at least 2 hours, the longer the better.


Here comes the muscle part, into your pestle and mortar, gradually add shallots, garlic, candlenuts, dried chillies, tumeric powder ... at the same time ....

Lightly grill some belacan till dry and fragrant both sides, drop in belacan int mix and pound. Trick is not to pound the whole thing into a paste, when its about 3/4 done, thats fine, it gives out better texture and aromas.

Fry the pork ribs in oil till brown. Set aside.


Use about 5 tbs oil, its ok, you can scoop up excess oil later. You need oil to fry the ingredients. Throw in the pounded paste, fry for 2 minutes, throw in curry leaves and lemon grass (bruised), fry for another 2 minutes. Then put in the A1 rempah. Fry for another 2 minutes.


Put in the pork ribs and mix gently, can add one to two glasses of water so that the sauce covers the ribs. Slow fire for 45 minutes, turning every minute or so in order for the thing not to be burnt. See the diced potatoes on the side, fry that in medium heat in another wok till brown, set aside.


You are almost there, pour in half cup coconut milk. Add the potatoes. Last trick, put in two tbs of sugar to round off the taste, and 1tbs of soy sauce. Taste and adjust to your liking. Simmer another two minutes and you are done.

Previous cooking postings:

http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/2012/09/cooking-with-dali-drunken-chicken.html

http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/2012/09/cooking-with-dali-pig-trotters-vinegar.html

http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/2013/07/cooking-with-dali-pasta-baby.html

Asset Class Returns As At 31 July 2013

July delivered a strong month of rebounding prices for the major asset classes. The red ink that dominated the numbers for June gave way to across-the-board gains last month, with US stocks leading the way. 

Although recovery brought some relief to asset classes in July, US equities continue to dominate the horse race. The second-best performing asset class year to date, based on the definitions below: foreign developed-market stocks (MSCI EAFE), which climbed 9.6% so far in 2013. Even so, that’s less than half the increase for US stocks.

If you look at the YTD figures, the only asset classes up were US stocks by a long way, followed by other developed markets equities, US REITs, US high yield bonds, foreign high yield bonds ... take out the foreign stocks and bonds, its all US denominated assets. Safe to say the rest of the world has been deflating their economies. It is also safe to assume that the QE tapering has started way way ahead for non US assets.

Again we get to the situation whereby the sins of US printing press is hurting the rest of the world while the US economy goes largely unpunished due to their reserve status. The rest of the world knows it, the US knows it. Global central banks and governments alike are still holding or even buying US papers, thats why. Will any of them start to throw US Treasuries? Will they dare to do it? Not that they are afraid of the US but the repercussions to the global economy. How bad is it to have a 20% correction in USD and a 20% correction is US stocks?

While we harp on US banks and big insurers being too big to fail, the entire US economy is exactly that, too big to fail ... to the rest of the world.