MESHIO.COM

When tackling most problems, it’s often good to have an active approach.

Sometimes, however, it’s also good to look at the problem from a “passive” perspective. One good problem that would benefit alot from a “passive” approach is your income source.

A mentor, currently earning 6-figures income (per annum) in a giant corporation, sums it up by saying, “All these figures are just temporary. There’s absolutely no security. You should focus on building your passive income instead.”

Are you putting more focus on your paycheck or working hard building up your passive revenues?

“Our banking hours are 9.30am to 4pm. All banks are like that.”

That’s the typical reply you get when you are few minutes late to the bank, as the security guard closes the glass door and looks at you like you’re a leper. Most of the banks are also Monday to Friday only.

If there’s a bank that is open on Saturday, that’s one bank that would definitely win my support. I don’t even mind if it’s closed on Monday. Saturdays are when most people are free to do their bankings.

Talk about putting customers first.

Average price for a wan tan mee is now RM3.80.

2 years back, a friend who started out her wan tan mee stall together with her husband started selling their hand-made noodles at RM2.70.

Almost 40% increment, in 2 years.

Back in 1993, the stalls alongside Lian Seng Garden’s main road, Ah Sau (阿嫂) is only selling it for RM1, with almost the same ingredients.

Almost 380% increment in 15 years, about 25% increment every year.

Government continues to tell her people inflation is at 8.5%.

I never thought this would be possible given the way the Country is managed by the current ruling government, but I must give credit when credit is due. The Government should be complimented for making serious effort to go electronic, although compared to other neighbouring countries, we are not exactly very “ahead”. Sometimes, we just need to stop complaining and appreciate what we already have ;-)

However, as much as the process can be computerised…it doesn’t mean that the result will be pleasing to the end users.

Here’s one of the gems that I found from the navigational nightmare at www.gov.my- Online Business Registration.

I’ll keep it short here so that you can also start using the wonderful online services provided by our Government. It’s really a time-saver!

1. To get started, you must have Internet Explorer. Yes, a stupid but nevertheless an important requirement.

2. Next, you must register as a www.gov.my member to show your patriotism. Click here to register.

3. Once you become a member, you can now choose the type of business you want to register. Click here to see all the business types available.

4. To start entering your business details, you should login here. You would also be required to make a payment of RM 5 for a one year subscription.

5. You can also renew your existing businesses here at this link.

That’s it. It’s going to save you lots of money and trips renewing and managing your businesses with this neat online service provided by our Government. Since we’ve already paid for it (tax), we might as well utitlize it.

So, what’s the deal with this new Maybank2u (M2U) website?

Yes, there are finally getting rid of the ugly website which has been active since I started using Maybank2u in 2002. Of course, they’ve added many features along the way, but the ugly structure has remained intact. Here it is:

Just look at the clutter! If you are a first time user, you might thought someone just hacked Maybank2u!

Now, let’s look at the new M2U website which would be made available to the public sometime in mid October. Drum roll please…

To view the old site and new site superimposed together, click here.

Revamping a website is no easy task. When you are aligning a few tables, including a new link or adding a new product banner, you are basically “updating” the site. But when you are going to revamp a website, a whole lot of issues need to be taken into consideration. From the backend system all the way to the impact the revamp will have on your branding, this resource-intensive undertaking will cost you lots of money and time.

Before you start revamping a website, you’d better have a very clear idea of what you intend to achieve from the revamp. If the purpose of the revamp is to reduce operational cost in the 400 physical branches nationwide, would the reduced operational cost justify the revamping effort?

Who would benefit most from the revamp? Is this going to be a customer-oriented revamp? Or is the revamp a move to migrate away from the existing legacy platform? Of course, only Maybank’s own management would have the answers to all these questions. As an observer, I can only speculate based on the things I’ve seen.

After having some hands-on experience with the pre-launched M2U, it was quite obvious that the revamp was a major cosmetic upgrade.

I am estimating the cost of the revamp from between RM 500K to RM 1 million (this figure has been generated using “Pluck From Air” algorithm).

The revamp however did not introduce anything new to the way online banking is done here in Malaysia. The login page procedure remains the same, my favorite fund transfer features are there, the pay bills features are also there, only this time, there are more merchants in the list. Basically nothing “revolutionary”. The only difference is that the links are in much more organized than the previous M2U edition. Maybe there are alot of changes behind the scene, but I definitely cannot tell from my first hand experience with the new site. Since the site is still being fine-tuned, there is no guarantee I won’t be seeing this screen.

Here’s a screenshot of the new M2U’s dashboard:

I was actually expecting more of a functional upgrade of M2U. Yes, the cosmetic upgrade looks really good, but it’s not going to change my online banking experience dramatically.

Alrite, here’s what I really want from my online banking platform.

I want my logon page to appear in the homepage, so that I don’t have to click on a logon link which redirects me to a logon page. Let me logon straight from the homepage. It will save me a considerable amount of time. Yes, I know I could bookmark the logon page, but why can’t you just let people logon from the homepage?

I want a sign-in seal. This would allow me to avoid being tricked into a phishing page. Although I don’t fall for such cheap shots, I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry. This sign-in seal idea’s been around for quite sometime, why don’t you start using it?

Since it’s never a good thing to be everything to everyone, I suggest M2U allow me to personalize my banking experience. Let me choose the service that I would most commonly use and keep the rest out of my sight. In short, don’t stuff things down my throat.

For the past 6 years, I’ve been using only 3 types of services:

1) Checking my account balance and statement
2) Fund transfer
3) Pay my bills

You might want to recommend me features such as subscribing to the latest IPO offerings, or renewing my car insurance. Thanks but no thanks; I would look it up under “View Other Services�? if I am interested. Otherwise, please don’t clutter up the page with things I won’t be using.

Let me customize my own dashboard into something like the following:

Also, I would prefer that you do not show me things that are not relevant to me. For example, in the screen below, you have a “Loan�? tab. I don’t have a loan with you, so that tab is totally irrelevant to me, and there’s nothing I can do with it anyway. Why not just remove it until I sign up a loan with you?

Also, I have a suggestion which can further make M2U the preferred choice for online banking. Provide an Application Programming Interface (API) that will allow online businesses and business that uses online transactions to interact with your banking platform. Something similar to PayPal. This will help a lot of budding online entrepreneurs and reduce a lot of administrative business processes. This way, you will directly increase your subscriber base by another tens of thousands.

This also means you should avoid integrating lifestyle elements into your website. The fact is you cannot integrate everything under your portal, lest you want M2U to turn into a departmental store front. Let the businesses do it independently. Provide them with the API that allows them to easily integrate their payment solution with your platform. You should just do what you do best- to provide seamless and reliable online transaction which makes online shopping a great experience. Stop turning M2U into a lifestyle portal. Let me reiterate again: You are a bank and you should focus on doing what bank does best- providing a reliable transaction platform.

Introduce online banking services that would truly make M2U remarkable. Connect M2U customers directly with Western Union or even PayPal.

Another issue I have with the new revamp is that you seemed to have forgotten that Malaysia is a multi-cultural society. By just translating M2U into Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil, I can guarantee that you will see a surge of new subscribers. Please do that in the next revision. At least as a form of corporate social responsibility.

That is basically the kind of online banking experience I am expecting. Maybe not from this version of M2U, but I do hope that in the next revamp, the items in my wishlist will materialize.

While the launching of a financial institution new website might sound rather serious and formal, the organizers definitely provided a very good place for all the attendees who are mostly bloggers like me to network with each other. It’s also through this event that I finally met KC Lau, the man behind the widely-read kclau.com. Here’s a picture of the only two PF bloggers at the event.

Thanks Pin for the snapshot! KC, hope you don’t mind I leeched the photo from your site :-D

Also here are a few other journals by other attendees who were at the event:

http://www.websitesolution.com/2008/09/08/maybank2u-20-sneak-preview-the-launch/
http://kclau.com/website-review/maybank2u-20-exclusive-preview/
http://blogjunkie.net/2008/09/maybank-puts-its-users-squarely-in-the-drivers-seat-with-m2u-20
http://www.suanie.net/2008/09/10/maybank2u-20-preview/
http://www.redesignmalaysia.com/
http://www.shoppingnsales.com/blog/?p=22
http://nigelais.blogspot.com/2008/09/m2u-20-exclusive-preview.html

I signed up for the package on a fateful afternoon back in February 2008. The package was RM 178 per month. Since it came with a HP Laptop, I am suppose to be tied to the package for the next 24 months, which comes to RM 4,272. Thus far, from February to September, I have paid RM 1,246 for this sub-standard product.

I’ve officially discontinued my Maxis wireless broadband on 9th Sep 2008.

There’s only one reason why I would want to pay for a wireless broadband service- mobility. Since I am always running around, I need internet access on-the-go. Yes, before I subscribed to the broadband service, I have to ensure that my appointments are made at a place with wifi connections, or at least “close to a Starbucks”. You also get to learn which Mc Donald’s are run by stingy managers. You also know which Old Town branch has got broadband but provides no power outlet, which is a very obvious message that customers with laptops are not welcomed (hint: Aman Suria). So, I thought by having a wireless broadband package, I could end the Hunt for Wifi Zones once and for all.

Let’s look at what they’ve quoted on their website on Minimum Contract Period:

We believe in giving you the best assurance when you use our service. As such, we are providing a seven (7) days cooling-off period. This allows you to test whether you like the service and whether the indoor coverage in your specific area is adequate to deliver the speeds you expect. During this 7-day period, you can discontinue our Maxis Wireless Broadband Service without any handling fee. Simply return the modem and telephone set (if applicable) in good working condition in its original packaging to our Maxis Centres (KLANG VALLEY: KLCC, Sunway, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Cheras, Selayang, Pavilion, Berjaya Times Square PENANG: Northam, Bayan Baru, Prai JOHOR BAHRU: JB Kotaraya, Taman Molek).

For full clause of their no minimum contract period, check here.

When I first signed up, of course there was no such clause. This must have come up to reduce the number of complaints. 7 days to test out the connection is actually too short. Why? Since you need mobility, you definitely need to test out the connectivity in a few destinations. Unless you can cover many places that you are most likely to travel to in these 7 days, then having this 7 days cooling period is as good as nothing. So, to really exercise your cooling-off period rights, make sure you schedule a cross-border trip across the country the moment they pass you the tampon.

Also, after the 7-days period, the no minimum contract period is as good as USELESS. That’s because you would still need to pay a hefty fine of RM200 for handling fees if you are to stop using the service in less than a year. RM200 for handling what? That’s literally daylight robbery. So, why didn’t I stayed on for another 4 months to qualify for the handling fee waiver, which would mean that Maxis will absorb the RM200 handling fee? Maxis has provided me a service I could barely use, and I don’t see that changing in the next 4 months. If I am still subscribed to the service, I would continue to fork out RM712 for a useless device. So, which is the lesser evil? The RM200 pickpocket or the RM712 robber wielding a parang? You might want to help Ananda Krishnan do the maths.

I happened to extensively travel between Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Johor. The quality of connection in Kuala Lumpur is still alright. The speed is fine, but the amount of times being dropped out during a connection is considerably high, say once in about half an hour. Even if you are not dropped out, chances are the downloading will just come to a stop, whereby you need to restart the connection again. Well, that’s in Klang Valley.

Now, let’s drive 180 kilometres south to the Historical City of Melaka. Over here, the symptoms are quite consistent in the past 6 months: the device will indicate it’s connected at 3G or EDGE, but essentially nothing comes through. Yes, you’ll be loading pages and pages of “Connection Time Out”, and if you are lucky, the Maxis broadband homepage loads.

And let’s go all the way down south another 120 kilometres to a small town called Kluang. It’s small, but the population is rather civilized and the 250,000 residents living here also deserve decent wireless broadband connection. Unfortunately, Maxis doesn’t think so. Hence, you are being served GPRS if you are really lucky and most of the time, it’s just 53.68Kbps, which is almost the same speed as your normal dial-up connection. Only, all these speed are just “lip service”. Like in Melaka, you don’t get any data while you “stay connected”.

I remember very well on the day as I was enthusiastically signing up for the broadband service, the Maxis Wireless Broadband representative was explaining to me how they are going to extend their coverage in time to come, and how the broadband connection works. Basically, the device will detect the connection speed that is available in the area, and if you look at the chart below, the slowest connection that the device can fall back on is dial-up.

This essentially means that I still get to connect at dial up speed in the worst possible scenario. However, they’ve never told me that even though you might be connected, there’s no assurance that the data will be received by the device.

Now, their favorite tag line is this: Speed of service is on best effort basis.

Ouch…whatever happened to consumer rights? Does that mean we get a discount from you if your package is performing below acceptable quality? That’s certainly not in my case. I have to pay in full every month even though I make complaints to them on a monthly basis, even when I am having problems downloading a decent web page. Just because you have that “best effort basis” clause, you can just tell all customers who are facing problems with your service, “What did I tell you? Stop whining, we are doing our best.” Is that the BEST Maxis can do?

Alas, this is my personal experience. I am not sure if there are any Maxis wireless broadband users who are having the same problems which I’ve had. If you do, please share it here. Also, there could be Maxis wireless broadband users who might have had a good experience, please share it here too.

To add to the challenge of unsubscribing, I asked the Customer Service dude what’s going to happen to my Laptop that came with the joint-promotion. He just gave me blank look and tell me to contact HP myself. So much for joint-promotion, it looks more like a joint-extortion.

I have heard good stories from many friends who are using CELCOM’s wireless broadband, which is essentially using the same HUAWEI E220 technology for the device. I have not used it myself, but if I am going to subscribe another broadband services in the future, I will definitely give CELCOM’s package a try.

To conclude my adventure, here’s another look at one of Maxis Wireless Broadband propaganda. They are quite smart to use all these “wild, jungle, animal” themes to sub consciously drill into our heads that you can go into the wild jungle like Indiana Jones and still able to work and surf the net with their service.

All I can say is that you shouldn’t sign up with Maxis wireless broadband if you need mobility. Period.

I am not alone in my quest to bring up the injustice that Maxis is practicing on their customers and ex-customers:

http://titoki.blogspot.com/2008/09/fuck-u-stimx-fuck-u-maxis-bb-fuck-you.html
http://crizlai.blogspot.com/2008/05/maxis-wireless-broadband-unreliable.html
http://www.planetmy.com/blog/maxis-broadband/
http://nccc.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=820&Itemid=99999999
http://www.consumer.com.my/message/index.php?itemid=1620

Don’t think twice when you are choosing your next wireless broadband package. In fact, don’t even think at all. No amount of perks or up front promotion will make it up for the distressing experience once you sign up with Maxis. You’ve been warned!

I’ve always been wondering why modern devices’ power cable and adapters comes in so many different shapes and sizes?

Is there a reason why they cannot conform to one standard format? You know, like how they did it with the digital content distribution. When the content consortium decided on one format, everyone must comply with it without exception. However, such is not the case with power adapters and cables.

If you travel quite a bit, I’m sure you would have experienced battery compatibility issues while you are on the road. Your friend uses a Sony Ericsson mobile phone while you are are die-hard Nokia supporter. As your battery low-power alert beeps itself to its own death, you realized that you’ve left your phone charger at home. And you start cursing your friend for not worshiping Nokia.

Same goes to laptops, the Thinkpad’s power adapter would never fit into a Vaio’s.

Why can’t they use the Kettle Plug’s logic? Every kettle in Malaysia uses the same plugs, regardless of their “ethnicity”. Hey, I can even use the kettle’s plug on my old CRT Monitor. I’m not asking all electrical equipments to use one single “format”, but at least every devices in their own category should have a standard format.

Beside making life miserable for consumers, I think there’s really no upside on how having multiple standards of battery adapters.

I’m no electrical engineer. I just thought if this is possible at all. You’ve got any clues?

Here’s a recent listing by Forbes: Asia’s 15 Youngest Billionaires.

Name	Net Worth (bil)	Age	Country	Sector	Company
Yang Huiyan	$7.40	26	China	Properties	Country Garden	Link
Wong Kwong Yu	$3.50	39	China	Retail	Gome Appliances	Link
Xiaofeng Peng	$2.50	33	China	Energy	LDK Solar	Link
Malvinder Singh	$2.50	35	India	Pharmaceutical	Ranbaxy Lab	Link
Shivinder Singh	$2.50	33	India	Pharmaceutical	Ranbaxy Lab	Link
Chu Lam Yiu	$1.90	38	HK	Consumer	Huabao Int’l	Link
Vikas Oberoi	$1.70	37	India	Properties	Oberoi Const	Link
Xian Yang	$1.60	34	China	Mining	Hidili Industry	Link
Anurag Dikshit	$1.60	36	India	Internet	Starluck Casino	Link
Robin Yanhong Li	$1.40	39	China	Internet	Baidu.com	Link
Ma Huateng	$1.40	36	China	Internet	Tencent Holdings	Link
Girish Tanti	$1.30	38	India	Energy	Suzlon Energy	Link
Zhang Cheng Fei	$1.30	38	China	Manufacturing	Nine Dragons	Link
Sameer Gehlaut	$1.20	34	India	Financial Services	Indiabulls	Link
Chung Yong-Jin	$1.00	39	S. Korea	Retail	Samsung	Link

Just like the recently wrapped up Beijing Olympics, the list is dominated by the Chinese, followed by India. The one and only entry from South Korea is ranked last in the Top 15 list.

Unfortunately, there’s a total absence of South East Asia entries. Whatever happened to the ASEAN initiative?

To quote the ASEAN Declaration…

The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are:

(1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and

(2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter

Ahem…look at Myanmar and their practice (or malpractice) of human rights (free registration).

Look at Thailand and their current state of affairs. Manipulated democracy or just pure power-craze?

Philiphines has their own MILF (not the married ones) to take care of.

Let’s not look too far, and zoom back on our own beloved homeland- Malaysia. We are not faring very well either in our political arena, with a potential of the ruling party being toppled this coming 16th September. It can either be viewed as an opportunity for a real change or it could just be a harbinger of chaos, which could just bring the entire nation down to their knees, while the Brits go, “I told you so.”

While ASEAN’s politicians are struggling to redefine their identities, recovering from internal conflicts and struggling with their addiction with power, the 2 major powers of the world is making leaps and bounds ahead of everyone in the game.

Interestingly, our 33-year old MP from Rembau, dubbed the World Richest Unemployed, didn’t manage to squeeze into the list above.

Reader Jason reaffirms my belief that the Malaysian students aspiring to become the next John Carmack or opening up the next Blizzard might need to re-trace their strategy if they are now stuck in a game-related course.

When you’re throwing down big bucks and potentially going into debt for that piece of paper, you want to make sure it’s as valuable and flexible as possible coming out the other end. Should you want something more specific, pursue it after you’ve got a good amount of background knowledge and skills.

Full article: Why your gaming degree may be a waste of time

The common advice when picking a particular major in University is to go for something broad, and then specialize later. This top-down approach allows you to look and experience the whole landscape of your industry, and then pick your own area of interest after carefully evaluating your available options. Same goes to dating, eh?

It’s a commonly known fact that the private education industry in Malaysia is a VERY profitable business. And some irresponsible institutions even go as far as to give empty promises and glittering career prospects where in fact, it was only but a beautiful mirage that they’ve painted.

Parents should also take responsibility in the courses which they are paying and sending their children off to. Ignorance on the parents part would not only result in wasting the education fund, but also cause their children to waste their time and money on the wrong “subjects”.

MSC Malaysia Status
The MSC Malaysia status is your passport to a host of privileges reserved for ICT and ICT-facilitated business. It is also a mark of world-class service and achievement. Companies with the MSC Malaysia status will benefit from an array of world class facilities and premises that provide just the right environment for a thriving and dynamic global ICT hub for the region.

MSC Malaysia status is awarded to both local and foreign companies that develop or use multimedia technologies to produce or enhance their products and services, and for process development. There are five types of applications available for the MSC Malaysia status.

So what’s wrong with this whole MSC thing? Will world class facilities and premises produce world class IT start-ups and give Malaysian IT companies the edge to compete with the giants of the world?

Ironically, the most profitable business in the MSC area is not ICT-related. It’s real estate.

If you happen to own oil palm lands near the district of Dengkil which is included in the MSC designated zone, you’ve just struck gold. To be eligible for MSC status, you must be located in the MSC zone. The idea of having a company physically there just to obtain the MSC status is totally absurd.

I had the privilige to work for 2 companies that hold MSC status. The first one was run by a team that specializes in getting grants and fundings. Yes, they’re very good with proposals and when they see the ministry of finance giving out so much money to “support ICT projects”, they immediately went to work on their killer proposals. They got the funds but nothing came out of the proposed projects.

The 2nd company I worked for had a more viable business model. In order to comply with the MSC requirement of having a physical office in the MSC designated zones, they rented an office in Cyberjaya. It’s about 1,500 square feet and the company stationed nobody there for the next 4 years. You can’t go wrong with the “MSC Real Estate Scheme”.

And now, they started this I-City thing in Shah Alam, and is inviting companies who wants to setup their MSC offices to consider renting a place there, far away from “civilization”. Now, that’s another up and coming “MSC Real Estate Scheme”.

Why in the world didn’t the MSC Management consider approving areas in Petaling Jaya or Subang where there are already alot of entrepreneurs and infrastructure ready? Whose interest is the MSC really taking care of? The ICT entrepreneur or the oil palm estates owners?

There’s definitely a better way to increase the ICT workforce and talent pool than to cram everyone into high tech oil palm estates.