SG Housing Agents are Unprofessional; Crap & Dirt!

In my quest to look for a place to stay, I have encountered many agents. I have come to one conclusion, most agents, if not all, are crap! I have heard of all of this before, from others who have had bad experience with them. But dealing with them really can cause you unnecessary pain and distress.

Let me enlighten you on some. It is a booming market here in SG, whether you want to rent of buy a place. Which has probably given the agents the right to grow a nose so high that they look upon any potential home seekers as dirt.

F**k you, agents. We are the customer! We are the ones paying you to find us a place, not the other way around. BTW, here in SG, both the landlord and the rentor both pays comission to the agent! Yes, it's dumb, but that's the practice here.

I came across an ad in the papers, claiming to have rooms in certain areas, etc. I called up and he said he had no more rooms now. Ok, so I told him if he had any rooms, he could let me know. He responded rudely saying he does not have time for this and insist that I call him to find out myself. Barger! Who is the customer now? Scrap one agent of my list.

Then I decided to post online to potential landlords to contact me directly. In the end, another agent called me, at 11.10pm at nite. He called up and told me that he had a room to view NOW! He did not even introduce himself, and I was still wondering who the f**k he was. He just said that the owner is coming home at 11.30pm and ask me to go there immediately. I told him it was late but he insist I get there by 11.30pm. I told him no and he said he'll called me back. Till now, there's no call. As**ole!

When I first arrived here in SG, I was a bit surprised why every ad that I called in the papers was an agent. It seems to be a norm here in SG that nearly 99% of all potential landlords engage agents to find suitors for their unit. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can become an agent. You do not need a license or training. All you need is a unit for rent or a rentor. Then why the heck are the landlord still engaging agents?

Most agents, if not all, are independent agents. Meaning that they do not have any agency or a damn big database of customers. He could be having only ONE unit for rent, which is probably his neighbour's or his friend's. Even those that tie up with housing agents, are only for namesake, so that they have a nicer namecard! Or they can reccommend a potential rentor to another agent who has a room, whom he happened to bump into at the agency. Then they can share the commission.

When you engage an agent, what most of them do is post an ad online, at no cost (which you and I can do easily, without costs as well) or stick an ad the size of a post it note on the notice board at the bus stands. But they still prefer to engage agents. Beats the heck out of me why they do it. Maybe they feel proud that an agent got them a rentor or an agent can get them a better rentor.

Wake up landlords! Agents do not do what you can do yourself! He does not screen your potential rentors. He sends you the first person who calls him. He could be a mass murderer or the unabomber, and the agent won't even care. All he cares is his commission.

In Malaysia, if I wanted to rent my room out, I would just hang a sign in front of the house. I can post online myself as well. If I post an in the papers, it would be maybe RM20 for one whole week! It's still cheaper than paying the damn agent.

Unlike Malaysia, it is very much easier to advertise. There's more or less only 1-2 major newspapers to advertise. And there are only a few prominent websites to advertise. It is so simple my 12 year old nephew could probably get me a dozen tenants to choose from. I still cannot understand the logic in someone paying an agent in this hot market. SG landlords, wake up lar! Stop pampering the damn agents. Let them know who's boss!

Looking for a new place to stay

It happened, a tad bit earlier than I expected, my landlord asked me to move. I was already planning to move, just not this early, maybe in January 08, when I expect to have more free time.

Instead, she just dropped the bomb on us. Suddenly last weekend, after lunch, she told us she's giving us one month's notice to move out. I have no arguement, since I was not interested in staying there very much longer. But the timing is a bit out.

I am not too bothered about the reason, even though I know more or less what it was, one for pride, the other for monetary reasons.

The only thing on my mind now is to find a place to stay. The problem is I am not free this week and I will be back in Msia next week. And the subsequent weeks I will be busy. But I still have to look anyway.

Anyone out there has got a room or unit to rent, just drop me an email or you can just leave ur contact in the comments section.

Handy toys

I was in JB a couple weeks back. Came across this shop in City Square selling some really cute items. Have a look.

What do you think this is

No, it's not a flexible hand held vibrator if that's what you are thinking. But you are not too far off. It's a massager of some kind.

It's called a handi massager

What you do is u put the over your shoulder and the fist starts thumping on your back. How more lazier can you get.
What else is there? Here we have a small hand with 2 fingers sticking up showing the peace sign. You'll never guess what it is being used for.

PEACE!

It's an EYE MASSAGER! Yar! It's here. Just for massaging tiring eyes. For those of you who spend the whole day looking at the monitor, whether for work, surfing the net or surfing porn, you need not worry about tiring eyes again. Just put it under your eyes and let it massage while your colleagues look at you with envy.

The Eye Massager

Wait! There's some more. Featuring the HAND!

The HAND! Mind the turtle

Do you know what the hand does? It massages, that's right but where? On your shoulders! When you get back and feel really tired and there's no one to help, have no fear, the hand is here. Just lie down and put it on your shoulders and let if do all the work. If you don't like the idea of another hand groping you, you can always opt for the turtle.

Have someone massage ur shoulders

And finally the Flexi-Hand Massager.

They come in many colours

Wrap it around your body

Just put it around your body and let it do all the groping, errr, massaging that you want. It's flexi!
How much more innovative can they be. And to think I found this all in a TOYS store, called Action City. I think if you buy all these and combine it, it would cost less than 150 bucks, less than 10% of an OSIM Massaging Chair. Worth a buy, don't you think.

Interview with Nazri Aziz: The video clip, the walk, the panel

I was damn sleepy this morning. Actually dozed off at my desk a couple of times. I browsed throught the net looking for something interesting to read. And I found this. Actually I read this interview on Malaysia Today's website, but this link is directly to NST's website, just in case anyone is doubting the authenticity of the interview.

You really have to read the interview to know what kind of people are running the government today.

Excerpts from the interview

Q: Some 1,000-2,000 lawyers were involved in the Bar Council walk. Are you saying that that many lawyers have been misled?

A: Only 1,000 went to the ground. There are 13,000 registered members of the Bar.

Q: You don’t think 1,000 is enough?

A: 1,000 of 13,000 — is that a majority? What’s the big deal? In a democracy, the minority cannot control the majority. The minority does not speak for the majority.

Remember what he says, the minority doesn't count. Your voices are not heard. What the heck is he talking about

Q: So, if you wanted to be convinced (that there is a crisis), you would need 7,000 lawyers to walk?

A: Even then, it’s still not important to us, because the lawyers are not the only people who use the courts. The ordinary people use the court in their disputes.

It must be a majority of the population who feel that there is a crisis. Otherwise, there is nothing.

Q: So, what you are suggesting is, if people are unhappy with the judiciary, they should vote BN out?

A: Ya

Q: But what if people want a BN government, but they also want you to ensure a clean judiciary?

A: So then go talk to the judges — why talk to us? I’m the Executive. How can they ask me to sack the chief justice (CJ)?

It's telling you no matter what you do, it doesn't matter. You voted them into government, so live with it or don't vote for them.

Q: Can the commission be appointed by consensus or stakeholders?

A: Why stakeholders? Stakeholders are people too. Do you want to have an election?

You know what will happen — people will campaign to become members of the commission and then they’ll be compromised, because they want to be chosen by the people.

And then the judges will have to kow tim (settle) with them again — it’s the same thing.

Are we to change just because 1,000 lawyers are unhappy? The Constitution must be amended by two-thirds of MPs; and the two-thirds represent the majority of the people.

If we MPs are not convinced, how can we amend the Constitution? We can’t listen to the views of just 1,000 lawyers. Since when was the view of 1,000 lawyers more important than that of the 11 million who voted for us?

Lawyers are not the only stakeholders. It is also the people in the streets — they are the ones who go to court.

Q: So, you don’t think it’s important to try to address the worries of these people?

A: No. It’s not important. Why do you put so much importance on bloggers? You know what rubbish has been written in the blogs?

He said it again. Your views and mine are not important. I am getting nauseous.

Q: Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said the reason they walked was that they felt all their appeals were falling on deaf ears.

A: It will fall on deafer ears, I can tell you.

Q: The Bar Council claims that they have never been able to get an appointment with the CJ.

A: He’s retiring anyway.

I told them, “Fairuz is also a human being. Kalau you criticise, criticise, criticise dia — dia mana mau layan you.” (If you keep criticising him, he won’t entertain you).

I can get a lot of things out of you if I talk to you nicely, but if I start shouting at you, do you think you will accommodate me? No way!

Huh? What is he talking about? He's the facto law minister. OMG! He's an actual minister in government!

Q: But you are more than an ordinary person. You are also the de facto law minister.

A: But you cannot divorce me from the fact that I am also a human being.

Q: That’s very irresponsible.

A: Human beings, there are ways, how you do it. You want something, you talk. You don’t shout, and then expect to get something, no way.

Q: What if the video clip is genuine, but the person doesn’t want to come forward?

A: That’s not our problem. We have already set up the panel, it’s for them.

So what is his role as a minister? Give lame answers for interviews? I just lost my appetite.

First Malaysian sub launched

Malaysia's first submarine

Early in the morning I saw in the Star, First Malaysian sub launched. I thought, "Wow! Malaysia really did it! Malaysia built their own submarine! Malaysia Boleh!"

It was going through my mind which company did it. DRB Hicom? Proton? Perodua? Then I continue to read the article. It seems it is one of two submarines we bought from Russia. We ordered it in 2002 and after 5 whole years do we only get it. What a ripoff!

Perhaps the headline is too misleading. It should not be First Malaysian sub launched. It should me First Malaysian Sub Bought, launched. I think I may just go and buy something Malaysian haven't got yet, and call it Malaysia's first. Maybe I can get into the book of records. Malaysia Boleh!

Owww, my neck hurts like hell.

Yesterday on the way to work, it was raining, coincidently I forgot to bring my umbrella. So as I was running to the bus stand, I slipped and fell flat on my back. A minor gash on my left hand (got bleeding lar). But my neck hurts like mad. It hurts when I move my head, in any direction!

Went to the panel doctor to treat the neck. Wanted to get some pain killers and muscle relaxant. Instead the doctor treat the gash on my hand. She actually bandaged it! In Malaysia, a doctor would just wash it and ask you to go home.

Anyway, the nice doctor even gave me a tetanus jab! And all I needed was probably some paracetamol and muscle relaxant. She was even nice enough to give a MC. At first, like a hero, I told her I did not need a MC. But she gave me anyway.

Was still contemplating whether I should take the rest of the day off, which I did in the end, luckily. By the time I got home, my neck was hurting even more! I could not move my head at all! I think my shoulders are swollen and I had problems even lying down. So I doubled my dose of painkillers. Slept almost the whole day.

It still hurts. And I am at work. Barger! Should have asked for one more day MC. Owwwwww! It's still hurting. Think I'll take some more painkillers ...

The Iceman Cometh - Raikkonen wins!

A fitting end to a great season of Formula 1 racing. It's been awhile since the title have gone down the wire till the last race of the season. Finally, the driver many claimed as "nearly there" won the Driver's Championship on the final race. I believe that the best and deserved driver won.

A close race to the end. Kimi with 110 pts to take the crown. Hamilton & Alonso 109 pts each, but Hamilton came in 2nd, because he won more 2nd places than Alonso. Truly fitting, with the rookie upstaging the crybaby.

Even till the end, there is still controversy with BMW and Williams having irregularities in car fuel. McLaren is still appealling. Frankly, I believe Kimi deserves the crown.

The flying Finn have finally won it. Go Kimi!

Wah! We are now a space power

An analysis in the Star on our "space programme." I can only say, my thoughts exactly.

Wah! We are now a space power

ANALYSIS BY AZMI SHAROM

YOU might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our space programme.

Actually, that is not accurate. We don’t really have a “space programme”, do we? After all, it’s not like we are pushing the technological frontiers and designing cutting-edge manned spacecraft.

No, to be more precise, we have an astronaut-training programme. Whoa, whoa, that is not true either. We didn’t train anyone; we paid the Russians to train our astronaut.

Oh, blow it all. That is still wrong. He is not an astronaut; he is a cosmonaut. The terms, according to Nasa, mean different things but, according to the Russians (and us), they mean the same thing.

Oh, this is all so confusing. All right, all right, let us start over again.

You might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our paying the Russians buckets of money – the amount of which the Malaysian public is not 100% sure about – to train a bloke to be a spaceman (as accurate a definition I can think of, because he is a man and he is in space).

Yes, it is true. This wonderful achievement of the country – to find a handsome, clean-cut, healthy, intelligent fellow and pay someone else to get him into space – is being sneered at in some cynical quarters.

If you happen to be one of those people, I say to you: tsk, tsk, tsk. Where is your sense of patriotism? Where is your child-like optimism?

Going into space is a big deal. Just ask Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, two space tourists who did not have the luxury of buying Russian jet fighters to contra the costs of their cosmic flights. Coincidentally, one of the nasty things people are calling our Malaysian spaceman is “space tourist”.

For your information, unlike the two gentlemen mentioned above, our spaceman is not a tourist. No, no, no. He is going to do experiments, important experiments.

Apart from important experiments, he is going to be doing so much good in other ways. For example, he has opened the doors of opportunity for ordinary Malaysians. One of these days, I might go to space. To conduct experiments.

Don’t laugh because it is possible, for if the good doctor has proven anything, it is that if the Government is willing to spend a bit of money, anyone can go to space. Kind of like a galactic AirAsia.

Let us not forget all those little schoolchildren who are being inspired as you read this. They are going to know that Malaysia Boleh.

We can do all sorts of things. We are now a space power!

The next time their school computer lab collapses, or their teachers get demoralised due to poor pay, they can tell themselves that it all does not matter because we are a space power!

Last but not least, the spaceman is going to land on earth brimming with new scientific know-how. I am sure he will be able to use this newfound knowledge to help the country.

There is a great deal of high-tech equipment around that keeps malfunctioning. The traffic lights on Jalan Universiti, Kuala Lumpur, used to have a countdown, but it doesn’t work now.

And all that experience with space station to earth video conferencing will come in mighty useful in Dataran Merdeka, where the super high-tech giant TV screen broke down just when eager patriotic Malaysians gathered to watch the Soyuz rocket blast off.

So, all you naysayer types are very wrong and misguided. You should be like me and embrace our spaceman programme. Sit back and think of the glory that is “Malaysia the Space Power” while you unwrap a Raya ketupat.

Wait a minute; that is a great idea for a space experiment. How does unwrapping Raya ketupats fare in zero gravity ??

Dr Azmi Sharom is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya.

Electoral roll is ‘clean’

This was in the Star.

Electoral roll is ‘clean’

THE Election Commission has assured that the electoral roll in the next polls is clean, Berita Harian reported.

Its secretary Datuk Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor said that throughout the year, the commission had inspected and cleaned up the electoral roll.

Earlier, it was reported that some assistant registration officers had without authorisation allegedly moved the names of voters to other areas.

He added that the inspection and verification of names and other details were transparent.

The primary electoral roll had a list of voters verified earlier this year while additional electoral rolls contained the list of newly registered voters and those who had their addresses changed.

This statement is probably as synonymous as Nazri saying there's a witness protection program.

Points to ponder 2 - Globalisation

I just came out from a meeting. The meeting was attended by 2 Japanese, 1 Australian, 2 Malaysian, 1 Indian, 1 Singaporean; about a job in Singapore done by Japanese, Singaporeans, Australian, Malaysians, Thais, Bangladeshis, Chinese and Indians.

I wonder is that globalisation ...