While I am not as knowledgeable about it as she is on this subject, as an expatriate having lived in Malaysia for 8 years now, I have experienced this dichotomy a few times.

For examples, as a true French, I like to discuss politics, religion and other “intellectual” subjects around a good meal with friends and family and am not afraid of having heated arguments about it with them. We usually end up agreeing to disagree when finishing our coffees and move on to digestive with a good laugh.

These kind of discussions and exchanges are rare in Malaysia. Traditionally, one do not challenge elders on such subjects. So most simply don’t talk about them.

Because of this, I believe many Malaysians feel a disconnect between themselves and politics or religion that is not healthy. They simply ignore these subjects until their lives are directly affected by it. They welcome the government hand-outs, but do not ask where these come from or what they cost. They do not challenge or question religious views they may hear from a neighborhood religious leader. And so on.

Modernity requires one to be able to question things and make his own choices. Which can be difficult to reconcile with local cultural values. In the end, it leads to a shadow world where all political discussion and debate happens online. As a result, opinions and pre-conceptions are reinforced, which create an ever bigger gap between the older generations who bid their times and wish to enjoy the benefits of traditional values, and the younger ones who wish to enjoy the benefits of living in a modern world.

If only they could exchange about it around around a good nasi lemak or nasi ayam so as to better understand where each are coming from…

I chose HP over other brands for three reasons: (1) it had the right specs, (2) its keyboard include a numeripad – always useful when you crunch numbers – and (3) the HP service centre is very close to my house. I never really had much problem with my laptops, so point (3) was not high on my list of priorities. In retrospect, I sure am glad I considered it in my decision!

Upon receiving my new unit, I took a few hours to set up my W7session, get rid of the many HP bloatware, and charge the battery. So far so good. My data is transfering easily, the connection is steady, and the computer is running smoothly. But as soon as I disconnect the DV6 from sector, the wireless card starts having difficulties connecting to the internet.

I play around with my router and DNS setting for a couple of days, before dropping by the HP service centre to see if they can find a solution for me. First good surprise, parking is easy. Second good surprise, it only took 5mn from the moment I step in and got my number to my talking to a service rep. I explain my problems, and then a technician come and check my unit. Of course, the card seem to be working then, but we still agree that we need to change the it. They order one, which should arrive within 3 days.

3 days later I come back, they install the new card, but upon checking that all things worked as they’re supposed to, the wireless signal keeps being lost. The HP technician is not sure what the problem is and decide to keep the unit for a few days to find a solution.

4 days later, I receive a call telling me that my unit is ready for collection. They installed a new network card and this one has been working smoothly in their centre for the past 24h. Unfortunately, after about 1h back home, I discover that the wireless signal still drops when I’m on battery. I go back to the service centre, explain the situation once again, and ask them to give me a new unit. Within 5mn they tell me they’re going to do just that. The new unit should be delivered within 14 working days.

It only took them 3 days to deliver my new unit. I turn it on, charge it, then try it on battery. Same problem. I stop myself from punching a few times at the wall, then, telling myself that the chances of having the same problem with 3 different network cards and two different units are slim, I once again fiddle around with my DNS and router settings, trying everything I know and spending two days checking for solutions online.

At some point, I decide to change the battery settings so I can keep looking for solutions without having the room lights on. At first I just play around with the generic power options, but in true geek fashion, quickly decide to check the advanced settings to optimize performance.

There, I discover that windows has a silly setting in their power option where the wireless adapter goes into “power saving mode” when on battery. I change the setting so that the wireless adapter always work at full capacity. Since then, my wireless connection has not dropped once. Yay !

I don’t know whether this setting is a Microsoft or an HP one, but I find it kind of dumb to have such a setting pre-selected… I mean, I guess it’s more of a challenge for the network card to stay connected to a connection when a laptop is moving / on battery than when it’s docked.

Anyway, I am sure glad to have found the solutions to all my problems. I am also glad to know that I can count on such friendly and quality service from HP. They always welcomed me with a smile, and never took more than 30 mn to give me an update on my problems. They changed my network card twice, and exchanged my unit when we could not find a solution to my problems. Great service all the way through. Thanks HP.

To make up for it, here is a nice video on Malaysia. In less than 7mn they manage to squeeze a lot of what makes this country special and such a great place to live in. Malaysia boleh !

I never understood why we have to change the time. Instead of going through this whole shenanigan every year, why not just change the time we do things? Those who like the “extra” hour of sunlight can always start and finish their day an hour earlier.

Time to get rid of this bad idea.

We bought a condo nearly 5 years ago, and I was already thinking that some of KL’s areas were frothy – Mt Kiara anyone ? I have been proven wrong. The market has not only kept going, it has risen at an incredible speed. Some properties have more than doubled in the span of five years, and the number of property gurus organizing seminars promoting their methods and the benefits of property investing followed the same trend, if not worse. In hindsight, I may have been too bearish back then. Still, like most bears, I stick to my guns and believe time is on my side. The bubble may pop anytime now. Here is why.

For one, Malaysia is well past the 75% household debt-to-GDP ratio. To put this ratio in perspective, the UK was at 75% and the US were at 85% before the 2007 crash. If you want to dig deeper into this ratio and its meaning, you can read the following IMF paper by Japelli, Pagano and Maggio published in October 2008 Households’ Indebtedness and Financial Fragility.

Secondly, speculation has never been higher since the mid-90s. Many developers started offering interest-free periods until completion in recent years, effectively absorbing holding costs. Speculators effectively gamble on a price appreciation by buying, holding until the property is near completion, then flipping the property before they need to start paying interests. If you add to this the fact that some banks offer loans to value of up to 90% and sometimes 100%, speculators end up gambling with very little of their own money. This kind of leverage brings awesome returns in good times, but they bring an economy to its knees in bad times – e.g. US, UK, Spain, Dubai, and many other.

These two trends worry me a lot. Especially when I hear investors like the one who was interviewed this morning on BFM, who do not even entertain the possibility of a downside to property investment. That upside-only myopia is the most dangerous of all. The Malaysian property market may have had a good run in recent years, and speculators made a lot of money. But, as the examples of the US, the UK and Spain clearly show, should the market turn around and start going south, the risks to the economy and the country are very dire.

As Andrew Palmer puts it so well in a special report on property by the Economist earlier this year: “Property is widely seen as a safe asset. It is arguably the most dangerous of all”