Malaysia Money Matters

It was bound to happen eventually - the lax way the government wastes money, leakages everywhere and so on. In the long run, this downgrade is probably a good thing. It is a wake up call that we have to DO SOMETHING concrete to move our economy to the next step! Off the top of my head, with but a stroke of a pen, the government should: Impose GST - not just to broaden the tax base but to create more oversight into businesses; lets face it, there's way too much cooking of the books. How can business tax be almost equal to personal income tax? (Govt tax revenue sources by petroleum: business: personal is roughly 33:35:32) Shut down / tightly control the money changers and remittance houses - they are the key channel for fund leaving the country under the radar. Banks have to monitor and report to Bank Negara on fund flows but these organisations don't have to. Why? And it's already proven that funds from corruption by politicians have left the country this way. So ...

I have been entertaining the thought of adopting a child for quite some time now. However, it will probably be only a pipe dream because given the realities of raising a child single-handedly is not something I can handle in terms of energy and time. Financially, I guess I'm ok but that is only the tip of the iceberg. So what brought this about was that a friend of a friend is getting a child, single also. And really, he's in no shape to do so. Not financially stable, no family support here (they live in East Malaysia, a flight away) and ermm not matured enough yet, I think. Although who is to say, maybe getting a child will force him to get his act together. Anyway, since this blog is all about money, I thought I'd break down the adoption issue in terms of the real costs involved and hold on to your hair, what I'm about to say is not very pleasant: First - there are 2 ways of adopting here: one is through the Welfare department, the other is to find your own baby...

Just to get this off my chest: Why do poor people take their children to expensive private hospitals then expect the public to donate money for their kids' treatment? I've had personal experience with government hospitals (HUKM) and it has been positive. The doctors and nurses are good and the cost is reasonable. I know this sounds heartless but I think these people should do the right thing and go to a government hospital. After all, that's what its there for. Maybe there's something I'm missing but I believe the level of specialist care is just as good, if not better at a govt hospital. I'm sure the private hospitals are just scaring these low-income folks into a lot of unnecessary procedures, then suggesting to them to go to the press to solicit for donations from the public to pay the exhorbitant bills of the private hospitals. This whole snobbery about going private has got to stop amongst those who really cannot afford to go there. Don't like it, bite ...