The trade union leaders were hoping for closer to a 6% Employees Provident Fund (EPF) dividend as the economy and the fund’s investments have done well last year. They were also hoping that the Government will approve this figure because this is an election year. It was just 5.15% for the year 2006.

Last November, EPF chief executive officer Datuk Azlan Zainol said: “Our performance this year has been good. Our internal target is to give members 5.25% to 5.5% in dividend this year (2007).” Azlan had said that the EPF could afford to declare a higher dividend because it had done well in its investments. (source)

Well, it has just been announced that the EPF dividend for the year 2007 will be 5.8%. Am I happy? Not at all. It could have been much better. Are you? Oh, by the way, the KLCI dropped by another 54.12 points today ending at 1354.48. I am not affected as I don't buy any shares on the market. How are you faring and will it have a bearing on how you will be voting this coming General Elections? ;)

This is a song which my pal, Allan Cheah penned and made it to the finals of the MRSC 2007 recently. Loved it! Download the music here. It was recorded during a practice session and sung by Theresa Chan and Chayenne Tan with band members from KL Wesley.

YOU

You, You are my King
And You, You are my desiring

You, You are my Saviour
And You, You are my Redeemer

Pre-Chorus
You’ve set me apart since creation’s story
And raised me up to bring You glory…

Chorus
So I will worship you alone
Cause only You, will reign forever on Your throne
And I, will worship you always
Cause only You, are deserving of all praise
No one else could ever do
Only You

You, You are my Lord
And You, You are the Living Word

You, You are my true Friend
And You, you’re the Rock I can depend

(pre-chorus + chorus)

Bridge:

Only You could pay the cost
That would set me free
When You hung there on the cross
And you died for me
And that is why
That is why…

(chorus)

I hate plagiarism. I don't know why but I have utmost disgust for those who plagiarize. And worst, attempting to potray one as a teacher of some sort at that. Don't your parents or teachers teach you not to cheat or steal somebody else's work?z

Of late, I've been noticing a new blog pinging and trying to get reader's attention at Project Petaling Street. Naturally, I was attracted due to the interesting headlines used. Titles such as 10 Techniques for Finding Blog Readers and 19 More Strategies for Finding Blog Readers. The blog I am talking about is Lets (sic) Blog and the url reads http://blogs-secrets.blogspot.com/. Wow! Blog secrets. Little did I know that when I went over to read the blog, it is basically a complete cut and paste blog. The two articles were copied in toto from Darren Rowse's Problogger.Net website here and here.

A word of advice. Read Problogger.Net's FAQ. The relevant part which I wish to highlight here is this:-

May I republish posts from ProBlogger on my own Blog?
You may not republish full posts from ProBlogger without my direct permission (and in most cases if permission is sought I will still say no). Feel free to quote anything from this blog (within reason - ie a paragraph or two is pretty normal) with a link to it as a source, but keep in mind that this is copyrighted material. I regularly find people who do republish my articles without acknowledgment of source and/or without permission and pursue them to remove it.

Please don't embarass yourself by being a cheat.

It has been an eventful 3 months in Malaysian politics with the Barisan Nasional led government getting a couple of blows which threaten to shake their confidence in the coming General Election.

The first massive blow was arguably the lawyer's march for justice in Putrajaya calling for an end to the rot in the judiciary. This was followed by the Bersih rally attended by tens of thousands of people in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur which called for a free and independent election process, the Hindraf march near the British Embassy to submit a memorandum to Her Majesty the Queen, the refusal by the police to grant a permit for the Human Rights Day Walk, the apparent boos on the leader of the MIC culminating with prayers for the "late" Samy Vellu (which I think is definitely out of the line) and now, the resignation of the No. 2 man (as reported in Malaysiakini) in MCA - the Health Minister, for an extra-marital scandal which has come out in DVDs.

The MIC and the MCA have now taken a big beating. That is not all. Over in Sabah, Former Deputy CM-cum-Tourism, Culture & Environment Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat has brought a legal suit against the Kudat Town Board (meaning the State Government indirectly) over a dispute on the building of the world’s tallest Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) statue in Kudat.

I wonder if UMNO would be next to feel a heat. The indications from Perlis where Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (who is from Perlis but does not hold any post in UMNO Perlis) openly asked for the replacement of Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim seems to show that the show has just begun. It would be a very interesting General Elections indeed.