It’s A Scam!

by Joven Junip

It’s a scam. A phrase we have heard very often because it means that someone had been scam out of their hard earn money. What is a scam? According to the Cambridge dictionary, a scam is an illegal plan for making money, especially one that involves tricking people. It involves tricking someone of their money in simple term. The Businessdictionary.com defined it as a fraudulent scheme performed by a dishonest individual, group, or company in an attempt to obtain money or something valuable. Scams traditionally resided in confidence tricks, where an individual would misrepresent themselves as someone with skills or authority i.e. a doctor, lawyer, investor. Now with this definition, it is clear to what a scam is that are hotly debated in our local and international media. In this era of information technology, more and more information is shared among those online, hence we are more vulnerable to scam. According to Dr. Frank Mcandrew, PhD, a psychology professor from Knox college, Galesburg Illinois in his article entitled “Why We Still Fall for the “Nigerian Prince” Scam” at phycologytoday.com gave a general reason on why we still fall for this kind of scam even though we are highly educated. He mentioned that most of us profess unrealistic optimism about our own futures, our grades will be better next semester, a new job will be much better than an old one, and our next relationship will be the one that lasts forever and research shows that we consistently overestimate our knowledge, our skills, our intelligence and our moral fiber. In other words, we truly believe that we are savvy and that nice things are likely to happen to us. In my own experience working for a government agency that handle bankruptcy in Malaysia, fear of the unknown seems to be the reason why many people fall to the scam. For instance, in May 2018, we received 6 complaints. That were from those whom had the ability to question the scammer and check with us about the call they received from the high court employee or from a prominent lawyer firm. In which that they’re told they have a bankruptcy case and have less than 3 hours to bank-in a certain amount of money to this particular account if they don’t want to be declared bankrupt. These people whom does not know how bankruptcy presiding are all about and fear of being declared bankrupt, would just pay that demand. There was never a case to begin with. Those who came to ask for explanation on the matter are the lucky ones to escape such scam but we wonder how many people that had actually paid the demand? Normally these people as Dr. Frank say, is overconfident on their own knowledge and skill, would never report the crime because again, fear of being ridicule by others for not being able to distinguish between a real issue and a scam. An article in The Star newspaper on 24 September 2018 written by Chelsea L.Y Ng and Fatimah Zainal about the scam that was reported in Malaysia recently which is known as the Macau scam. The victim who is an account executive admitted to embezzlement and indirectly cause her bosses to be sacked because the embezzlements. What she did all because of love towards a British man that she only met once. Due to the future romance, she was fooled into giving millions to the man in 2013. This is a classic case of the Macau Scam which in a way, a variant of the Nigerian prince scam. In my view, this is not a direct scam but poor choices of the victim to actually do an act of crime by doing embezzlement to supposedly help out her lover. She knows it was wrong even before she noticed it was a scam so why did she did it? Was it in the name of love? It was the poor choices of an uninform individual that created this situation. According to the Star journalist Malaysia that is said to be prime hunting ground for the Macau scammers. There are a few survivors of this scam whom aim individual ability to handle panic situations. Intimidating their victims is also another technique, claiming to be a police officer coming to arrest them. Senior citizen is also their main target because senior citizen thought to be more prone to panic and are not able to think straight at the situations. Countless reports had been done by victims from various country around the world, but the authority sometimes would never able to get the culprit because the criminal would have withdrawn the money right after the money is bank in and by the time the authority launch an investigation the account would had already been closed. To get those whom open the account to be charged with scam they would need evidence and normally the victim would only have the phone number which can easily change and register under a different name, account number which could already be closed. No paper trail because it was on the phone information and it was time sensitive actions. The criminal would They always use the time factor to trigger the panic and hence get the victim to comply to their demands. Another characteristic that the victims would easily fall to is their flimsy attention to detail. For example, if the scammer used this particular bank as his reference, those whom are sure they do not have any business with that bank would not have fallen for such tactics but then again if their doubt occurred because once they did apply for something but cannot remember when or if it ever got approved, this is when the scammer would have a door opening to grip the victim to believe their scam. Always understand the procedure of what the scammer are trying to convince you. Time is always a factor in the scammer plan, if they do not allow you time to gather information on the matter and even time to gather fund for example, it most certainly be a scam. More information is your amour against such scammer. Hence it would be worthwhile to invest in some time to understand how things work.

Bank Negara Malaysia: Malaysian Houses Are Not Affordable by most Malaysians. The reason why.

Written by: Mikhail Muttaqee Mahayudin

Figure 1: via NST

Bloomberg reported on 11 October, that most Malaysians do not have the capabilities financially to buy houses. As the homes that is sold on the market are too expensive.

“Rising home prices have added to the grievances of Malaysians grappling with the cost of living since a goods and services tax started two years ago, and as the government removes subsidies on daily items including petrol and sugar,” the report read.

Figure 2: via Bajet.com.my

Based on Bank Negara Malaysians (BNM), Malaysians are unable to afford houses is not due to the strict lending rules on loans but because the houses are not simply affordable. This was also mentioned by the previous government Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani speaks about the mismatch between housing and supply demand. Because of the oversupply of high-end properties which as a matter of fact what most Malaysians can’t afford. There is also no demand for it.

BNM with the launch of “Housing Watch” a platform that provides information on the issues of development related to the housing market in Malaysia. Consumers are provided with information that is related to policy measures and home financing assistance, among the platform. The data shown on the website is that loan approvals are for key cities that near 70% or higher. This further shows that the bank does not need to loosen the lending but actually to the effort for the property industry to cut cost according to the supply and demands.

The growth of household income does not tally with the growth of house prices. The demand for housing is greatly affected by the household income. But the household income is so much lower than the house price hence, some Malaysians could not buy a new house.

“It’s a tricky situation,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive officer of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t think it’s right to say that there’s no problem with financing. But lending rules have to be both strict and balanced at the same time, otherwise, we’ll have more non-performing loans and that is not good for anyone in the country.”

Comparing to global standards Malaysia was 4.4 times the median annual household income in latest available data, which make the housing market majorly unaffordable.  About half of the people living in Kuala Lumpur own a home Demand is set to rise: the median age of Malaysia’s 31.7 million people is 28 years and the nation’s urban population is growing at an average 4 per cent a year, among the fastest pace in East Asia, according to the World Bank.

The issue of not having enough income and houses being too expensive. The developers should focus on building houses which people can afford not building expensive houses and then tries to push the consumers to buy the houses. This is beyond some consumers to pay.

Some developers are slowly starting to fill the demand. Mah Sing Group Bhd, the nation’s third-largest, is selling apartments within 5 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur’s centre with prices starting from RM328,000 for a 650 square foot unit. That’s within the maximum price a family on the city’s median income could afford.

In order to overcome this issue to decrease the affordability, BNM proposed five strategies

  • Centralising affordable housing initiatives
  • Reducing the cost barrier to provide more affordable houses
  • Rehabilitate the household balance sheets by enhancing financial literacy
  • Improve the rental market by strengthening legal framework
  • Setting up a housing database and applicant registry to plan and allocate affordable housing

Therefore, if this problem is unchecked it will grow more over time. Let’s hope the authorities will implement the aforementioned strategies to overcome this issue and make houses in Malaysia more affordable.

Significant Comeback at a Significant Age : Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

by Anida binti Mohd. Tahrim

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad is a figure who was born on July 10, 1925. Happily married to Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali, Tun Dr. Mahathir was a Prime Minister of Malaysia for a period of 22 years from 1981 to 2003, administrating Malaysia as the longest serving Prime Minister before the recent comeback. Tun Dr. Mahathir who was born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah became a medical doctor and started his political career in 1946. In 1976, Tun Dr. Mahathir rose as the Deputy Prime Minister, and in 1981 Tun sworn as the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Tun Dr. Mahathir however plunged a bombshell in the midst of the three days national conference of United Malays National Organization (UMNO) by announcing his resignation on June 22, 2002. This article will discuss various perspectives and angles on how the international media approached and evaluated this significant prolific individual, not to mention the success that he has brought to the opposition parties for winning the recent GE-14, but the opportunity to get to know also who is Tun Dr. Mahathir from their eyes of international media.

In 2015, Post Magazine, a British magazine which first published in 1840 posted a write up with a headline of “Why Mahathir Mohamad Can’t Keep Out of Malaysian Politics”. The article highlighted on how Tun Dr. Mahathir adapted to the life of an ordinary person the moment he stepped down on October 30, 2003. Tun Dr. Mahathir spoke to the writer, Chris Wright on June 20, 2015, 12 years after he has resigned as a Prime Minister that it was very unsettling for him to move away from a position of power to being just an ordinary person. Tun Dr. Mahathir even thought it was a good timing for him to relax and write his memoirs. Jokingly shared that he should retire and not to interfere in any political matters, knowing that policy is not implemented correctly triggered him to have his say. The discussion also led to a query on Tun Dr. Mahathir’s view on the freedom of the press. Chris Wright quoted Tun Dr. Mahathir explaining that there is no such thing as an absolute freedom of the press, not even in the most advanced countries in the world. Tun Dr. Mahathir emphasized that ‘there are things you just don’t say’ as it may destabilize the environment of a nation that has three races and 29 different tribes.

Due to the long tenure as a politician, his observation continues on any matter involving Malaysia political scene. The significance of his age has always been a part of news and media headline. Based on the article published by Mail Online on the 8th January 2018, with a headline of ‘Malaysia’s Mahathir, 92, Eyes Comeback in Opposition He Once Crushed’, Tun Dr. Mahathir was stated as a leader who is helming the opposition party that he used to opposed to when he was in power. Mail Online or also known as dailymail.co.uk is the website of the Daily Mail, a newspaper in the United Kingdom also wrote that Tun Dr. Mahathir is seen as the oldest leader who will be back to his post as a Prime Minister if his coalition party wins in the general election. In related to the success of the opposition party winning GE-14 headed together by Tun Dr. Mahathir, Bloomberg, a private media company headquartered in New York wrote an article with a headline of ‘Mahathir Wins in Historic Malaysia Power Shift’ highlighted that his objective is not to seek revenge but to reinstate the rule of law. Bloomberg also quoted a statement by Bridget Welsh, a political scientist at John Cabot University in Rome who specializes in Southeast Asia stating that the situation occurred is considered as Malaysian tsunami across the board and the country with Tun Dr. Mahathir as the game changer. BBC News through a news article on 7th May 2018 with the headline ‘Malaysia Elections: Could Mahathir Mohamad Make a Comeback?’ started the article with a description of a video where Tun Dr. Mahathir was looking in the eyes of a young Malay girl explaining that he is already old and has little time left to rebuild Malaysia, perhaps because of the mistakes that he has made in the past.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, a figura who is going strong at 92

 

With the victory of the historic GE-14, news of Tun Dr. Mahathir sworn as the latest Malaysia Prime Minister was published by many international media, highlighting his shocking comeback at his remarkable age, sworn based on a stunning result and the impact that he will implement as the latest Prime Minister. Financial Times on May 10, 2018 published an article with the headline of ‘Mahathir Sworn in as Malaysian Premier After Stunning Poll Win’, while Al Jazeera came out with a straight forward headline which was ‘Mohamad Mahathir Sworn in as New Leader of Malaysia’. The Telegraph concluded the ceremony by emphasizing Tun Dr. Mahathir’s age as the highlight of their headline, ‘Mahathir Mohamad, 92, sworn in as World’s Oldest Elected Leader After Shock Win in Malaysia’, while The Wall Street of Journal instilled an impact of foreign investment in Malaysia by sharing a headline ‘Malaysia’s Mahathir Sworn In, Signals Tougher Line on China’.

 

Tun Mahathir sworn in as Malaysia’s 7th Prime Minister