PETRONAS Receives ‘Most Valuable Malaysian Brand’ Award for 3rd Time

For the third year running, the PETRONAS Group has captured the number one position in the Brand Finance’s league table of ‘Malaysia’s Top 50 Brands’. The brand ranking is based on the 2009 Brand Finance Report on Malaysia’s Intangible Assets and Brands produced by Brand Finance Singapore. According to the report, PETRONAS’ brand value for 2009 increased by 29.3 per cent to RM10.709 billion from RM8.279 billion in 2008, and has a brand rating of AAA- (extremely strong, with ‘+/-’ showing a more detailed positioning in comparison with the general rating group).
Brand Finance plc’s Chief Executive Mr David Haigh, who presented the award, said, “2008 saw the oil and gas industry operating in a highly challenging environment with escalating costs, forcing companies to incur high capital expenditures. Despite this, the PETRONAS Group managed to contain the impact of rising costs, and posted a 21.2 per cent and 31.5 per cent increase in revenue and net profit respectively from 2007. PETRONAS’ performance has also, in part, benefitted from the higher average oil price in 2008 compared to previous years.”
Mr Haigh added that PETRONAS is a company “that does its community service diligently, by quietly going away and doing it, which is quite different from most companies. PETRONAS always delivers and it comes out from the heart. That’s why PETRONAS is the No. 1 brand.”
Receiving the award on behalf of PETRONAS was Group Corporate Affairs’ General Manager for Strategy & Performance, Pn Noor Afiza M Yusoff. The award was presented at a ceremony held at Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur on 25 June 2009.
Trailing PETRONAS in the Top 10 list of the Most Valuable Malaysian Brands are Genting Berhad, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Maxis Communications Berhad, YTL Corporation Berhad, Sime Darby Berhad, Malayan Banking Berhad, Telekom Malaysia, IOI Group and Resorts World Berhad.
AirAsia Berhad emerged as the Best Performing Malaysian Brand. “It has bucked the trend followed by other airlines that have reduced capacity and frequency of air travel, thus demonstrating resilience, tenacity and prowess,” said Mr Haigh.
Moving forward, he noted that large and stable brands with significant reach and share of voice would “gain exceptional market share in 2009, as short-sighted competitors blindly cut brand support during these challenging yet opportunistic times.”
He added that the question that brand owners should ask is, ‘What should be done to prepare for the upturn of the economy?’ “Now is the time to prepare and invest; more deeply understand the drivers to your brand value; sharpen your brand’s positioning and key points of difference; ensure organisational alignment to support consistency of brand delivery; increase value by acquisition; and promote and internationalise your brand.”
The Brand Finance Report on Malaysia’s Intangible Assets and Brands is based on an independent and unbiased analysis, according to Brand Finance Singapore. The objective of the report is to highlight that Malaysian companies can do more to leverage the value of their intangible assets and brands.
According to the report, the total value of Malaysia’s 50 largest brands and brand portfolios is RM61 billion, representing a 5.8 per cent decline over last year’s study. In addition, the brand values of most companies have decreased, especially for those in the banking industry due to the subprime crisis that affected the global financial market.
The Brand Finance Report uses the ‘Royalty Relief’ methodology, which is based on the notion that a brand holding company owns the brand and licenses it to an operating company. The notional price paid by the operating company to the brand company is expressed as a royalty rate. The Net Present Value of all forecast royalties represents the value of the brand to the business.

Nik Aziz Back Paddles - "Any Teaching that Rejects Islam is Deviationist"

This is why a mualim (muslim jurist/scholar) like Nik Aziz cannot be trusted as a politician. Instead of apologising for equating Muslims who are members of UMNO and Muslims who support UMNO with 'Ayah Pin', Nik Aziz says, "It could be (interpreted as seditious) because I said nationalists and communists were the same in a figurative way. It is the same with deviationist teachings, (to me) all concepts that reject Islam, we call it deviationist." (see http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/30644-nik-aziz-ceramah-not-seditious).
While any teaching that rejects Islam is deviationist, Nik Aziz went too far by suggesting that UMNO and its supporters were no longer part of the fold, equating them to Ayah Pin.

Thus, what he said was tantamount to sedition.
Differences in juristic opinion on the administration of Islamic law cannot be considered deviationist. But in politics, it would seem that anything is fair game.

Satria Neo CPS - Proton Gets It Both Right and Wrong

The first time I saw a picture of the Satri Neo, I became convinced that it would be the car to replace my Waja 1.6L (M). However, when I actually test drove one, I said, "No, not gonna happen".
In terms of its shape, this car can really turn heads. But up close, you start seeing all sorts of design oversights that would cause you to whinge.
The most troublesome is the misaligned driving position, in that the steering is off-centre to the left in relation to the driver's seat. Over the long run, this misaligned position would cause back-aches.
When I brought it up with a Proton bigwig, he said half jokingly, "I don't know what you're talking about".
Clearly, he had no choice but to be in denial. Proton had already committed to producing the Neo with such a serious defect that to rectify the mistake (which involves product recalls) would be financially ruinous.
Nonetheless, I must say that the CPS engine in the Satri Neo CPS is quite good. With some more tweaking, it can easily produce about 140 Bhp, which is 15 Bhp more than its factory specification.
And if you really have the money to spare for engine tweaking, you should also weld and bang into place a bucket seat that's properly aligned with the steering wheel (as much as possible).
But if you're going to go down that path, you might as well do something about the over-flared wheel arches. Proton has done nothing to compensate for the sunken-wheels look that the Neo CPS comes with now, especially in the back.
This makes the Neo CPS look comical and even hideous.
Oh, well. This is probably to be expected. After all, Proton is known for getting things right and wrong at the same time.

Conduct Unbecoming of a Mualim

Kelantan menteri besar Datuk Nik Aziz said at a ceramah in Kampung Laloh, Kuala Krai, "Umno is a deviant group, similar to Ayah Pin. UMNO and communists are the same. UMNO is a socialist party because they reject Islam. UMNO is a Malay party but not an Islamic party." (see http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Frontpage/2589532/Article/index_html)

This is exactly the kind of holier-than-thou attitude that I find despicable and unbecoming of a mualim (Islamic scholar) of Nik Aziz's stature. I reject his proclamations that UMNO is not Islamic because of his extremist view of equating UMNO to Ayah Pin.

At the end of the day, UMNO is made up of Muslims who have a different opinion on the administration of Islamic Criminal Laws, not kafirs (non-believers or non-Muslims) as alleged by Nik Aziz.

Calling itself PARTY ISLAM does not make PAS Islamic, Nik Aziz's foul mouth being a prime example of this.

The success of PAS in legislating Islamic Laws of Crime and Punishment does not make PAS Islamic all by itself, especially when Malaysia is not ready for it. Nor does the sloganeering of Hudud make PAS Islamic.

PAS will not get my vote come the next general elections or for any other election for as long as it holds on to its extremist viewpoints.

Pot calling kettle black! Extremism is a form of deviant behaviour.

What a crying shame.

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Addendum: Nik Aziz is a hair's breadth away from proclaiming UMNO members and supporters kafir (non-Muslims) but has refrained from actually using the word.

PAS has gone down this path before but has learnt that the backlash would only serve to undermine its political influence. After all, PAS cannot afford to alienate the majority of Malay Muslims who support UMNO if its aim to form the next Federal Government is to be achieved.

Even more twisted is PAS' Machiavellian pact with DAP, which is avowedly against the implementation of Islamic Criminal Law. PAS' so-called Pakatan Rakyat with DAP and PKR is nothing but a 'marriage of convenience' based on nothing more than 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'.

Ironically, PAS deems it permissible to be in bed with a political party like DAP, which is avowedly against Allah's Had (legal limits) pertaining to crime and punishment, but deems it not permissible to even be in talks on uniting the Muslim ummah (community) with a Muslim dominated UMNO that doesn't reject Hudud outright.

This is how confused and twisted PAS has become. Don't let the white turbans and skull caps fool you into thinking that PAS' politicking is truly based on Islamic religiosity.

Right now, PAS is farthest from being the Islamic party that it proclaims itself to be.

Frekking Google Map Malaysia #&*@!

Oh, how I love to cruise the roads in my Ford Focus S2.0 early in the mornings. But this morning is not one of those mornings.
Having plotted out my journey using Google Map Malaysia, I thought it would be easy-peasy getting from Subang Jaya to Melia Hotel in Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur. Boy, was I wrong!
As can be seen in the Google map above, Melia Hotel is marked as 'A', when in fact, it is about 1 km away due west on Jalan Imbi.
So, there I was going round and round looking for Melia Hotel and getting frustrated by my failure to find it based on what looked like a simple enough location. In the end, I resorted to a more conventional method - I stopped and asked.
Frekking Google Map Malaysia!
And this is not the first time Google Map Malaysia frekked up.
A few weeks back, I wanted to go to the Macy's Warehouse Sale in Shah Alam. Google Map Malaysia gave me simple enough directions but none of the major road names coincided with the road signs on the Kesas Highway.
The result? I got lost and had to resort to the conventional way of asking for directions.
Why the frek do I need Google Map Malaysia if I have to call Macy's or stop people on the street to ask for directions?
Amazingly enough, all the hullabaloo this morning could have been avoided had I re-checked my schedule.
It turned out that I was about one month early for my course at Melia Hotel!

Twlight has a New Playmate - Brush Brown

My new housing area in Glenmarie Cove has lots of wild dogs of the Telomian kind. These dogs are beautifully sleek.

They're hardy and look like Dingos, except that they're more ash-brown than yellow in colour.

This morning, I had a lucky find - a puppy Telomian who was happily tailing a security guard on a bike doing his rounds.

"Itu anjing you, ke?" I asked. (Is that your dog?)
"Tara... ini ikut saja...," the guard replied. (No, he's just following me.)

"Wowiee!" I said to my son.

Apparently, Twilight didn't approve, at least in the beginning. She growled and yapped at the little Telomian, causing it to hide behind a bin.

I quickly went to the puppy, picked him up and brought him home.

Twilight growled and yapped all the way, but as soon as we reached home, she started warming up to the little guy.

The family has decided to call the little puppy "Brush Brown" - he looks fluffy like a brush and is, well, brown.

Brush and Twilight are now best of friends.

Unfortunately, Twilight doesn't seem to know her limits. At times, she overwhelms Brush so much that the little Telomian puppy goes into fight mode.

And he's so cute when he does.

Despite being so little, he's fierce. What a true Telomian he is :)

Attempted Break-in at USJ9 House

USJ is starting to be really unsafe, or at least that's the feeling that I'm getting these days. It used to be a really nice place to stay, but after yesterday's attempted break-in, I'm glad I'm moving to my new house in Glenmarie Cove.
If you look at the picture above closely, you'd see that the thief attempted to smash the reinforced pad-lock open. Good thing the padlock is tough and the thing it's holding on to appears tough as well (though somewhat bent now).
I've triple-reinforced the back, which is why there was no attempt to break into the house from the back (at least as far as I could tell).
Funny thing is, my neighbours are around, which makes the thief one daring bastard.
I suspect he pretended to be family and had a set of duplicates. But since the padlock to the front door is new, he couldn't get in, hence the attempt to smash the padlock away.
And how would he have duplicates? I've inadvertently left my house keys in my car when I sent it for polishing more than a couple of times. And my former maid used to wonder off with the keys whenever she left the house without permission.
So, it's quite possible that my house keys could have been duplicated as a result.
Let's hope the thief doesn't get more brave and ingenious any time soon.