Looks like Malaysia is going all out to celebrate her 50th anniversary of independence. Of course some would insist it’s the 44th, but that’s another story. After Manchester United, now this.

Pete Sampras vs Roger Federer. The sight of that would make any sports lover, and of course even more so tennis afficionados salivate. Even when the cheapest ticket costs RM83. The most expensive: RM443. The match is supposed to take place at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam on 22nd November.

You can feel the incredible weight of the hype just by reading

“One of the greatest duels in the history of tennis will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as part of the celebrations of Independence (Merdeka) and the 50th Anniversary of the Nation. Billed as the Clash of Times, current World No. 1 Roger Federer will take on his predecessor Pete Sampras in what promises to be an electrifying match-up. Two of the greatest tennis players ever will battle for pride and dominance over the past two decades in the sport’s history.”

What a genius idea:
- Everybody gets to watch a tennis match between the top player now and someone who used to be the top player
- The players get paid well and Federer gets some welcome pocket money: perhaps that explains the crazy ticket price. Federer might not get the 7 figures one normally gets from winning Wimbledon or any of the Slams, but hey, we get to introduce Malaysia to probably the greatest athlete who ever walked the earth. I read that even the great Tiger Woods is in awe of him.

But still, even if I could, I would not go see the match. Why? Because it won’t prove anything. What if Pistol Pete won? That he’s truly the greatest (say it like Muhammad Ali did) and that he should make a comeback like the Smiling Assassin Swiss Miss did before the cocaine thing retired her for good?

What if Federer won? That he’s the greatest ever because he just defeated the man who owns the most Slams, never mind that Pete has quit the highest level for some time already?

I doubt it that Federer would go all out just to win this match. He’s a professional, he’s got years to go, he won’t risk it. If it’s all about pride, any excuses could be given: not his day, carrying old injury, don’t want to aggravate injury sustained in last operation, weather too hot, food poisoning etc etc.

Basically I think it’s going to be like the Brazil vs Malaysia match before World Cup 2002. Brazil won 4-0 playing at half speed. Federer would do the same. There is no way The Pistol could match him anyway. This is a friendly match. It’s played for money. There could be a lot of on-court banter and joking. This is not a Grand Slam. The intensity is just not there. I don’t buy that. Pro wrestling is different.

Of course you can treat it as a pop concert. Just enjoy the spectacle. But music and sports performances are different.

Markus Frind said back in June 2006 that his more than USD900,000 Adsense cheque in February 2006 is nothing compared to the “USD20 million a month like the other sites my size” but has the other sites been identified?

Sabahan.com reported that ShoeMoney, in March 2007 made more than USD700,000 from affiliate marketing via Commission Junction. Has a bigger income from this stream ever been claimed?

On 30th April 2007, model Kate Moss, 33 did so, during the launch in Oxford Street’s TopShop, of a collection of clothes she designed.

She appeared for all of 12 seconds in the shop window modelling a red dress from the collection just before the shop was opened, like this:

While outside, everybody’s going crazy:

For that, she was paid a reported GBP3 million (RM20 million).

I guess it’s all worth it for Topshop, as people queued for up to 5 hours to get into the shop afterwards.

But what I found funny is that she was photographed looking so exhausted afterwards, still wearing that dress:

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According to Datuk G Palanivel, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development, the Welfare Services Department did a study and found that Kuala Lumpur beggars earn RM70 - RM260 a day (that’s RM1,400 - RM7,800 per month).

And of course beggars don’t pay any income tax, do they?

Factors affecting income are:
- number of days “working”; I assume the guys that earn more money than the salary of an average state government department director are working every day of the month.
- begging location; presumably if you beg at places where there are many people and/or high-class areas you could earn more
- how good they are at facial expressions and body language. If you are very good at putting on a sad face, then you will earn more

They make more than some “classier” professions: a receptionist in KL only earns about RM1,200 / mth.

What makes it a more attractive “career option” is that under provisions in the Destitute Persons Act 1977, no punitive action can be taken against beggars, including those that *pretend* to be one!

Interested? I can already imagine adventurous professionals or financially-desperate ones taking a week’s leave and fly to KL to test the waters.

The social stigma and loss of face aside, you are *not* breaking any laws and this is much better than attempting to solve your financial woes through loan sharks, am I correct?

Before you jump on the next plane to KL though, consider this: in November 2004, the Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said that the Act would be amended to make begging an offence.

And the amended Act is slated to be tabled in Parliament by the end of this year.

However, unlike some places like Medan, it will still not be an offence to give money to beggars. That means generous people don’t have to worry - it’s only the beggars that have to play hide and seek with the authorities.

Datuk Palanivel does not condone giving out money to beggars, but advised the public to refer them to the Welfare Services Department.

However, I think the number of beggars reported is too low to be realistic. The Department said up to July, there were *only* 284 beggars in the whole of Malaysia. If you think that’s a typo, the next sentence in the newsreport said out of that number, 13 are kids and 60 foreigners.

In the next paragraph, it said in 2006 there were 1,046 beggars in the whole country and in 2005, there were 911.

Source: Daily Express, 20th Sept 2007

As reported by Capgemini and Merril Lynch’s World Wealth Report 2007.

These people are called High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI).

Other highlights:

• Added up, HNWIs are worth USD37.2 trillion
• Highest growth in HNWI population: Singapore, India, Indonesia, Russia
• Most HNWIs live in North America (3.2 million), followed by Europe (2.9 million), Asia Pacific (2.6 million), Latin America (400,000), Middle East (300,000) and lastly, Africa (100,000). Actual wealth distribution follow the same pattern.
• Ultra HNWIs (UHNWI) are those with assets worth more than USD30 million - there are 95,000 of them worldwide
• There are almost 40,000 UHNWIs in North America, more than 20,000 in Europe, almost 20,000 in Asia-Pacific, about 10,000 in Latin America and a few thousand in the Middle East and Africa.
• HNWIs allocated their financial assets as follows: equities (31%), fixed income (21%), cash/deposits (14%), real estate (24%) and alternative investments (10%).

The report can be downloaded free of charge from Merril Lynch’s website.

Source:

• The Star
• The report at Merril Lynch’s website

The Star reported on 2nd September that according to a study done by Associate Professor Dr Tengku Aizan Hamid of the Gerontology Institute, UPM, 66.1% of Malaysians over 60 years of age earn RM510 or less per month. That can be considered poor.

The number of persons over the age of 60 in Malaysia is now about 1.4 million. This is about 5% of the population. By 2020, this number is expected to grow to more than 3.4 million.

That means there are more than 925,000 persons over the age of 60 in this country surviving on RM510 or less per month.

In fact, 5.7% (79,800 persons) has no income at all.

A mere 0.8% (11,200 persons) has an income of more than RM3,000 per month.

At the highest end, 0.3% (4,200 persons) has an income of more than RM5,000 per month.

source
The Star

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

The Star reported on 25th May 2007 that Expatriate Lifestyle has done a survey on 300 expats in Malaysia between December 2006 and March 2007. It should reflect the general trend among the estimated 100,000 expatriates in Malaysia. Combined with the Expatriate Lifestyle Media Information 2007 (link below), the findings include:

• They earn an average RM31,774 per month (household income). 36% earn between RM30,000 and RM40,000 per month, while 28% earn more than RM40,000 per month. That means almost two thirds earn at least RM30,000 per month. At the lowest end of the scale, 2% earn between RM5,000 and RM10,000 per month - perhaps this applies to the below 25 yrs of age group (there are 2% of them).
• Most are from European (non UK) countries (29%) followed by the US (22%) followed by Australia & NZ (16%) followed by UK (13%) followed by Japan (10%).
• Most are in senior management (22%) followed by middle management (19%). 13% are retired.
• There are more females (53%) than males.
• 62% of them have lived here for more than 3 years - more are staying in Malaysia long-term, due to comparatively low cost of living, culture, tolerant society and travel and living opportunities
• 43% owned their own homes
• 67% who do not yet own property plan to do so soon
• Average age: late 30s - getting younger than ever
• 79% bought their own cars; more than 6 in 10 still wanted to buy another, probably as a second car for their partners
• 73% went to bars more than once a week
• 44% were members of clubs and or societies
• 20% eat out every night
• 50% travelled more than 6 times for business and 6 times for pleasure annually
• they have a combined household income of about RM3.5 billion per month
• they would make 5.2 million shopping trips by end of this year
• they would buy 60,000 cars and homes within the next 2 years

Sources

• The Star
• Expatriate Lifestyle Media Information 2007 (pdf)

I picked on this from the World Bank case. She was supposed to earn the amount stated above, but in reality she got 9% more. USD224K is already a lot lah - even CISSPs only earn at the top end less than USD120,000 per year.

On 21st April 2007, the New Straits Times reported that DPM Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that the unit trusts are now used as the primary means to invest in the capital market.
Malaysia now has the biggest unit trust industry in the Asean region, with assets valued at RM121.8 billion at the end of 2006.
There are currently 38 firms offering 416 types of funds.

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