of miserly sum and pride

this is the first time i have ever paid attention to budget announcement and actually listened to the whole presentation- half on the radio, and half on tv. well, i started leaving bidor at 4.10p.m. and reached tm at 5 plus, hence the half-half way.

it was not as long as i expected...it ended at around 6.10p.m. so only 2 hours. the first 20 minutes was more like a summary of last year's expenditure i think.

usually i was only concerned about the bonus that i would get...and this year is no exception too, but i am also interested to know the other things in store for us. so i guess i am growing a bit budget conscious?? good eh...

ok, so some of the things that directly concern me

1. rm500 'gift' to be credited into the account in december. WAAAA!!! that is sooo little. can't even pay the insurance with that amount. this piece of information was only made available in the last 10 mins of the budget presentation. that was so cruel.
2. a relief of rm500 in tax for broadband subscription. hehe....just became eligible
3. increase of rm1000 for insurance and tax relief in tax...so it is rm7000 now
4. personal relief up rm1000 to rm9000....hmmhh....i wonder if i will have to pay tax next round
5. fuel subsidies only for malaysians and those who deserve it. i am in the group right...
6. ok....not sure if i get this correct...computer relief from 5 years once reduced to 3 years once. not that i am going to buy once computer....notebook...ermm.....???

that's all. overall, it is not such a 'surprising' budget right?? still lemah semangat when i think of the miserly rm500. a colleague said it was better than nothing, so i guess that is what i have to remind myself lor.

onto something else....

was watching snippets of china's 60th anniversary celebration on dvd which mom bought. she played it for grandma and grandpa downstairs on tv...and boy, was i proud of what china can show to the world. ok...i am not trying to sound unpatriotic, but the chinese blood in me just can't help beaming with pride. and of course grandma showers praises non-stop saying how other countries used to look down on china and look what it has become now.

i don't think any other countries can do what china did for the celebration. say what you want about the communist country, but they actually did it on such a big scale with such precision and accuracy that every performance fit into the big picture perfectly. and oooh...the pride in the chinese ppl, i could feel it vibrating from the screen. that was what touched me the most because i feel sad when i think of the real situation here. pride seems to flow from every open pore of the chinese.

does the media has anything to do with it?? think of all the negative news you see nowadays on the things happening in the country. we are showing the readers all the wrong things. all news that make it to the papers is all bad news. how much feel good news or proud achievements of malaysians get published and highlighted? on the other hand, whenever we hear news of china, it seems to be on the things they are able to achieve.

i think the media is important to instill pride in being a malaysian to all. and no- naming everything 1malaysia does not make us 1 malaysia.

*hmhh....the second part is like i am writing a paper to prove my point only