English Speakers

While English might not be the language that is used by the most people on earth, it is the most important international business language. If you are doing research, you will find most works being in English already.

The English Proficiency Index has just released statistics on where English is learned around the world and quality of teaching to find the countries with the highest proficiency of English as a second language:

Malaysia should never need to debate on the need to use English is Maths and Sciences, plus boost up the teaching of the English language, and reading of important novels and literature. It is a critical part of being connected to the world.

Imagine a pure Malay speaker, and another who commands both Malay and English well. Imagine how they would be using the internet - socially, for researching, for reading of articles, for communicating with friends and family, etc... one would be swimming in a pond, while other has the oceans of the world to dive into, for fun, for knowledge, ... the English language allows for options to be available to them who can use them well. 

Look at the table, why are we even on that table ... when you are a small country without a critical mass of consumers ... you need English to attract investments, to sell, to gain knowledge, to participate etc...

Yes, there are countries that do well with little or paying scant attention to English - China, Japan, South Korea, Russia... etc.. thats because their population base is big enough.

There have been prominent scientists, CEOs and high standing managers at global multinationals ... from Malaysia ... without English, those roles would never be an option for them.

The Table Says It All ...

Yasmin Ahmad Museum @ Sekeping Kong Heng

We all loved Yasmin Ahmad. Her Petronas ads are very much part of our culture in more ways than we can think of. Her works made us think, reflect ... and be the better person that we all can be, should be.

I am so glad Sekeping has started a Yasmin Ahmad museum @ Kong Heng in my hometown Ipoh. Currently it can only open on weekends as there are costs involved in the running, upkeep and to put up more of her works. The key level we need to get to is US$17,500 with 38 days to go. 

Go to the link below,  your consideration and magnitude will help immensely.


http://startsomegood.com/Venture/yasmin_ahmad_museum/Campaigns/Show/yasmin_ahmad_museum__yasmin_at_kong_heng

Rewards are in US Dollars

Levels of Support

• $10

  Personal message of gratitude that will be posted on Facebook.
  SUPPORT NOW!

  1 of 5,000

• $50

  T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.
  SUPPORT NOW!

  2 of 500

• $120

  Printed excerpts from Yasmin’s original movie scripts + T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.
  SUPPORT NOW!

  1 of 200

• $240

  RM100 vouchers to Plan B restaurant, Ipoh + Printed excerpts from Yasmin’s original movie scripts + T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.
  
  SUPPORT NOW!

  0 of 50

• $1,180

  1 night’s stay at Sekeping Kong Heng + Name printed in museum + Printed excerpts from Yasmin’s original movie scripts + T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.
  SUPPORT NOW!

  0 of 50

• $2,360

  Booklet with Yasmin’s handwritten notes (limited to first 20 donors) + 1 night’s stay at Sekeping Kong Heng + Name printed in museum + T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.
  SUPPORT NOW!

  1 of 20

• $2,361

  Donate above $2,360 get: Vintage laser disc owned and autographed by Yasmin + 1 night’s stay at Sekeping Kong Heng + Booklet with Yasmin’s handwritten notes + Name printed in museum + T-shirt printed with Yasmin’s signature + postcard set. All Rewards will be shipped for free within Malaysia only. Please include additional $10 for shipping outside of Malaysia.

- See more at: http://startsomegood.com/Venture/yasmin_ahmad_museum/Campaigns/Show/yasmin_ahmad_museum__yasmin_at_kong_heng#sthash.MTYQQmZW.dpuf

Food Review: Tim Ho Wan

After the initial rush to try Tim Ho Wan having subsided, I managed to secure easily a table with my friends for lunch at their outlet @ One Utama. 

Surprisingly, it was half empty on a working weekday at 12.30pm? Where are the crowds?

I know One U very well, there are a few towers of offices nearby, you can see them thronging through the mall every lunchtime by the hundreds. I guess I know the reason after looking at the menu prices.

(thats the whole menu, exactly 25 items only)

They are a bit on the high side in terms of price, and hence its not really something most office workers can have lunch here twice a week cause its going to be between RM30-40pp for dim sum each time. Having said that, the place at Mid Valley is still full during lunch time, and I think thats because we have a lot more tourists, the ladies who lunch, the lepaking executives having "business meetings" there.







(the century egg & lean meat porridge  10/10)

The fish skin were well done as they were coated ever so slightly with flour unlike other places. Its good, but its not dim sum in my books. (7/10)

The turnip cake was 'clean tasting' if you know what I mean. I have had better, decent though. Chilli sauce disappointing. (8/10)




(fried fish skin, fried turnip cake)

Beef "balls". Its ok as there are a lot of herbs and spices inside which detracts from the essence of beef. Not my kind of dish. (7/10)

The baked pastry bun (basically a baked charsiewpau) was heavenly. The crust was thin and kind of fluffy, fillings were great tasting, not too sweet. (10/10)

The failure: pai-kwat (pork ribs black bean) ... tasted too much tenderiser (4/10).

Hargow, is well made. Good but not the best.  (8.5/10)

Surprisingly, my favourite dish was the Malay cake (mar-lai-gou). Springy, fluffy and the brown sugar taste was blissful. The best I have ever had. I would go back to THW again and again just for this. (10/10)







Having garnered a Michelin star for a simple shop in HK, naturally gave way to loads of funders to open more outlets. Expectations will be high, and they are being put up there to fail as new international food outlets are hard to maintain quality control. Basic product sourcing could be different and/or difficult.

I will be as true as I can reviewing the food, even though I am half expecting the food not to be as good as their reputation.

Good to note that they have only 25 items on the menu. No need to be everything to everyone. I don't think you can be very good if you offer too many dishes.

There are 4 dishes that I rate as exceptional, and I would come back for them again and again: (all rated 10/10)
Mar-lai-gow (Malay cake)
The porridge ... HK style, very meeen (smooth) and obviously the soup stock is clean and flavourful.
The charsiew puff ... puff said.

Plus their dessert, kwai-far kou I think. I have tasted many versions of this in other places but was never impressed. THW's version you can smell the flowery aroma, and the flower sweetness, the sweetness does not appear to be sugary ... its quite a blissful simple and clean dessert. 10/10 as well.

Conclusion: not everything on the menu is that good; its pricey; but there are enough dishes that are soo... good you would want to come back again and again. 

p/s I did not try all 25 items, so those I did not rate means I have not tried them - they could be good... or bad.

RM50 Million Donation By Koon

Proposed Rm 50 million donation to Penang State Government for building student hostels

by aaronhee | Sep 26, 2015 | Life, Nation | 0 comments

(posted on koonyewyin.com)

On 15th Sept 2015, I met the Penang State EXCO which has accepted my Rm 50 million donation under the following terms and conditions:

I wish to donate Rm 50 million for building student hostels to help students studying in Penang, especially students from poor families, in their access to tertiary education.

1. All the RM50 million and the subsequent profit from the rental and other income must be used for building hostels and other associated buildings for the use of students studying in Penang. These students can come from Penang and other states in the country or even be foreign students in keeping with Penang’s need to draw on the best talent from a globalized world.
2. All construction contracts exceeding RM10,000 must be open to competitive tenders.
3. A task force will be established to take full charge of the donation programme and the implementation of the hostels. The task force is to be composed of 7 members; 4 members to be nominated by the Penang State Government and including the Chief Minister as Chair, and 3 members to be nominated by myself or by my nominee.
4. I will be appointed as Adviser to the Task Force. The role of Adviser must be spelled out and agreeable to me. This position will be a life long one. Any change to be made to this position has to be sanctioned by me or by the executors of my estate.
5. The State Government will be responsible for the following
6. a) provision of state land for the hostels and associated facilities necessary for sports, parking, etc.
7. b) recruiting and defraying the costs of a team of professional staff to run and manage the hostels on a commercial basis.
8. The rental rate must be competitive and profitable but at the same time must not burden the student residents.
9. Koon Yew Yin and his estate reserve the right to authorize the state government to use a portion of the net income to establish a Koon Yew Yin Charitable Foundation to help poor students through loan scholarships to study in Penang.
10. To honour my donation, I wish to have a tablet prominently displayed in the hostel complex with the following words inscribed

Recipients of Koon Yew Yin scholarships and residents of Koon Yew Yin’s hostels have to promise that when they graduate and are financially solvent, they will help other poor people.

9. The entire complex of student hostels is to be named Koon Yew Yin Residential Complex. Each hostel in the complex is to be named after the fundamental rights of citizens such as Liberty, Justice, Equality, Fraternity, Freedom, Integrity, etc.

The Penang Government has allocated a piece of land with an area of 60,000 sq ft situated directly opposite USM which has a student population of 18,000 students. USM has hostel accommodation for only the 1st year students.

The land is zoned for high rise flats up to 36 storey high.

I have appointed my wife, Dr. Lim Teck Ghee and Architect Lee Thean Hock as my representatives in the management committee.

My architect has just started planning and designing for the project.

This photo was taken immediately after my meeting the Penang EXCO. From the left are Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, my wife, the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and I.

The above photo was taken immediately after my meeting the Penang EXCO. From the left are Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, my wife, the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and I.

Note: All my wealth is from share investment. I have written in my will that all my remaining assets will be donated for charity preferably to help poor students. I have been giving scholarships in the last 8 years and up till now, I have given about 300 scholarships. All my scholar recipients do not need to pay me back the money I spent on them but they have to promise me that when they are financially solvent, they must help other poor students.

I trust some of my scholarship recipients will continue to do charity to help poor and needy students after I die.

I believe some of my followers who have benefitted from my share investment advice, will do charity to help poor people.

We all must bear in mind that we cannot take our money along when we die. After we have given a good education to our children and discharge all our responsibilities, we must do charity to help the poor.

I know it is difficult to give away some of our hard earned money at the beginning. But gradually, we will feel happy in giving away money to help the poor to make them happy. We all must remember that our ultimate aim in life is happiness. When you see poor people happy, you will also feel happy.

I hope this announcement will encourage some readers to do some charity to make people happy. I hope this announcement will encourage some readers to do some charity to make people happy. Even a kind word can make a difference.

Moon My Cakes - The Annual Rant!!!

 Well, every year I brace myself for what will be the new fangled flavours for mooncakes. Ta-dah ... last year takes the cake (pun intended). Its Angry Birds mooncakes!  I think its a brilliant marketing strategy, its taking China/HK by the proverbial storm. Is that raining bird shit ... no, its just kids throwing their Angry Birds mooncakes in the air for effect. Now we even get Nasi Lemak ones.

This is for the benefit of new readers of this blog who have only been visiting for less than a year.

Each passing year, we get further away from tradition. Is this fusion or variety or just plain stupidity. I am talking about mooncakes. The whole thing marks of a scam.

Who doesn't know that the cost of a mooncake is minimal really compared to their exorbitant selling price. Why do you think almost every restaurant sells them? There must be a global collusion to sell these over priced things - its a Chinese mafia I tell you.

At best, the mooncake festival can be an excuse for family togetherness. The actual reasons and history for how the festival started are pretty flimsy. Its more stuffs of legends and fairytales than rooted in reality. But anyways, since the Chinese culture has no solid God/religion, where everything goes (the world is full of deities and buddhas as the saying goes), hearsay and stories evolved into things cultural, which in turn becomes tradition, and finally morphs into a marketing extravaganza.

Since it is stuff of legends and fairytales, its not rooted deeply in anything really, and is open for interpretation. It used to be just lotus paste and black sesame. Throw in the egg yolks if you want. NOW you have: lotus with dried sambal; green tea with pu'er; dragonfruit with blackcurrent; spirulina; the omochis; the ice cream ones; the durian paste; pandan sweet corn; capuccino; yam gingko nut; chocolate strawberry fondue; the various types of skin covers; oreo; chocolate walnut brownie; charcoal powder with wolfberry; Charcoal Infused Mocha Milk Tea; Snow Skin Japanese Potato with Custard; Fragrant Corn with Soft Yolk; Royal Jade Jelly; Nutty Chocolate with Yolk; Snow Skin Raspberry; Bluberry; Snow Skin Silky Vanilla Chestnut; Snow Skin Black Sesame; Green Beans with Cheese; chocolate peanut praline; blueberry blackcurrant cheese; chestnut Japanese jingsa; .... enough already... we are all losing the plot!!! Heck, I can even create an apom balik black sesame eggyolk ikan bilis flat moon cake... its all marketing baby!

Go back to the roots of the tradition. Why do we have Mooncake Festival? Its for family togetherness, its really for the kids ... I remember as kids I loved the festival, the lanterns and candles. I liked that connection, knowing that my dad and grand dad probably played with similar lanterns, similar candles and ate the same kind of mooncakes 50 or 100 years ago. That's the tradition that connects, and the kind you want to pass on to the next generation.


Above: lanterns for sale around Mid-Autumn Festival.


Not that anything about the mooncake thing is true, however, its cultural and it carries values, things we want to pass on - whether the festival is rooted in true events is not material anymore.

Hence, please you bloody marketers, do not cheapen the tradition. We want the connectivity. I will still want to buy the basic lotus paste or black sesame... and also the baked fish-shapes / pig-shaped mooncake biscuits ... because they all remind me of the past which I longed to remember and the people I do not wish to forget.


Of course, variations is a strong strategy to differentiate in a product/event that has "almost zero veracity" in truth or religious text. You don't find the Catholics changing ONE IOTA of the sacrament through the ages. Hence differentiation will continue cause no one cares, everyone is out to stand out and make money or get the latest "bling".

This year let me give you my HAZE Mooncakes, looks like smog, taste like freshly burnt tropical forest with a strong charcoal aftertaste - happy moonlike festival!!!

Regional variations in China

There are many regional variants of the mooncake. Types of traditional mooncakes include:

• Cantonese-style mooncake: Originating from Guangdong province, the Cantonese style mooncake has multiple variations. The ingredients used for the fillings are various: lotus seed paste, melon seed paste, ham, chicken, duck, roast pork, mushrooms, egg yolks, etc. More elaborate versions contain four egg yolks, representing the four phases of the moon. Recent contemporary forms (albeit non-traditional) sold in Hong Kong are even made from chocolate, ice-cream or jelly.

• Suzhou-style mooncake:: This style began more than a thousand years ago, and is known for its layers of flaky dough and generous allotment of sugar and lard. Within this regional type, there are more than a dozen variations. It is also smaller than most other regional varieties. Suzhou-style mooncakes feature both sweet and savoury types, the latter served hot and usually filled with pork mince.

• Beijing-style mooncake: This style has two variations. One is called "di qiang," which was influenced by the Suzhou-style mooncake. It has a light foamy dough as opposed to a flaky one. The other variation is called "fan mao" and has a flaky white dough. The two most popular fillings are the mountain hawthorn and wisteria blossom flavour. The Beijing-style mooncake is often meticulously decorated.

• Chaoshan (Teochew)-style mooncake: This is another flaky crust variety, but is larger in size than the Suzhou variety. It is close in diameter to the Cantonese style, but thinner in thickness. A variety of fillings are used, but the aroma of lard after roasting is emphasised.

• Ningbo-style mooncake: This style is also inspired by the Suzhou-style. It is prevalent in Zhejiang province and has a compact covering. The fillings are either seaweed or ham; it is also known for its spicy and salty flavour.

• Yunnan-style mooncake: Also known as "t'o" to the residents, its distinctive feature is the combination of various flours for the dough and includes rice flour, wheat flour, buckwheat flour, and more. Most of the variations within this style are sweet.

Making Sense Of The Syrian Refugee Crisis

The refugee crisis in Europe basically emanated from the Syrian failed revolution against Assad. Forget about that dispirit, Syria now is torn and kalam-kabut with various parties trying to gain the upper hand.

This cartoon is very FAIR and HONEST in trying to explain the issues surrounding the current crisis. There are a lot of concerns on the issue of Islamisation of European countries, crime, integration issues, etc... Watch this and don't get all riled up over nonsense pervading our multimedia.