Malaysia Budget 2014

This is the first time I posted Malaysia Budget in my blog, reason being I felt that it's relevant to my life, comparing to earlier time. Maybe I'm more mature and started to relate myself to the country development and change in policy, I don't know. But I read through everything and it's important for me to know. Somehow, newspaper fail to share with me what's the actual implementation, and I search online and got this data. Sharing here for your reference as well.

 

I've highlighted some pointers important for middle income group like me, hope it's helpful.

 

 

CIVIL SERVICE

* Pensioners will receive a special financial assistance of 250 ringgit to assist them meet the rising cost of living.
* Government to give a half-month bonus for 2013 with a minimum payment of RM500 to be paid in early January 2014.
 
CASH HANDOUTS
* Cash handouts to households with a monthly income of below 3,000 ringgit will be increased to 650 ringgit from 500 ringgit.
* For individuals aged 21 and above and with a monthly income not exceeding 2,000 ringgit, cash handouts will be increased to 300 ringgit from 250 ringgit.
* For the first time, cash assistance of 450 ringgit will be extended to households with a monthly income of between 3,000-4,000 ringgit. Rising cost of living borne by the lower middle-income group.
* To implement all cash schemes, government will allocate 4.6 billion ringgit which is expected to benefit 7.9 million recipients.
     
REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX
* For gains on properties disposed within the holding period of up to 3 years, RPGT rate is increased to 30 percent.
* For disposals within the holding period up to 4 and 5 years, the rates are increased to 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Malaysian property firms with exposure to this tax change include UEM Sunrise,  Mah Sing Group and Tropicana Corp .
* Raise the minimum price of property that can be purchased by foreigners to 1 million ringgit from 500,000 ringgit.
* Prohibit developers from implementing projects that have features of Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS), to prevent developers from incorporating interest rates on loans in house prices during the construction period.
* Financial institutions are prohibited from providing final funding for projects involved in the DIBS scheme. Malaysia's top three banks are Maybank, CIMB and Public Bank.
   
AFFORDABLE HOMES
* To further increase access to home ownership at affordable prices, an estimated 223,000 units of new houses will be built by the government and the private sector in 2014.
* Companies that specialise in affordable housing development include Hua Yang Bhd. 
* Government to allocate 578 million ringgit to the National Housing Department (JPN) for low cost flats consisting of 16,473 housing units.
* Malaysian's government to provide 80,000 housing units with an allocation of 1 billion ringgit under affordable housing scheme. The sales price of the houses will be 20 percent lower than market prices.
* Introduce the Private Affordable Ownership Housing Scheme (MyHome) to encourage the private sector to build more low and medium-cost houses. The scheme provides a subsidy of 30,000 ringgit to the private developers for each unit built.
* Preference will be given to developers who build low and medium-cost houses in areas with high demand and limited to 10,000 units in 2014.
* The scheme is for housing projects approved effective from 1 January 2014 with an allocation of 300 million ringgit.
   
TAX RELIEF
* Government proposes a special tax relief of 2,000 ringgit be given to tax payers with a monthly income up to 8,000 ringgit received in 2013.
      
GOODS AND SALES TAX
* To implement goods and services tax (GST) on April 1, 2015 -17 months from now.
* GST rate fixed at six percent, the lowest among ASEAN countries.
* GST replaces current sales tax.
* Basic food items, transportation services, highway tolls, water and first 200 units of electricity for domestic users per month to be exempt from GST.
* Sale, purchase and rental of residential properties as well as selected financial services are exempted from GST.
* PM Najib: "The reality is that inflation now is low at around 2 percent. The government is confident this will be the best time to impose GST as inflation is minimal and under control."
* Training grant of 100 million ringgit will be provided to businesses that send their employees for GST training in 2013 and 2014.
* Financial assistance amounting to 150 million ringgit will be provided to small and medium enterprises for the purchase of accounting software in 2014 and 2015.
   
CORPORATE TAX
* Corporate income tax rate be reduced by 1 percentage from 25 percent to 24 percent.
* Income tax rate for small and medium companies will be reduced by 1 percentage point from 20 percent to 19 percent from the year of assessment 2016.
         
INCOME TAX
* Government to give one-off cash assistance of 300 ringgit to low income households
* Personal income tax rates be reduced by 1 to 3 percentage points for all tax payers.  
* Individual income tax structure will be reviewed 
* Chargeable income subject to the maximum rate will be increased from exceeding 100,000 ringgit to exceeding 400,000 ringgit.
* Current maximum tax rate at 26 percent to be reduced to 24 percent
* Measures to be effective in 2015       

SUBSIDIES

* Subsidy programme to be "gradually restructured"
* A portion of savings from restructuring to be distributed in the form of direct cash assistance with the other half to finance development projects.
* To abolish the sugar subsidy of 34 sen effective October 26 2013.
 
IMPROVING BUDGET MANAGEMENT
* committed to reducing the fiscal deficit gradually, with the aim of achieving a balanced budget by 2020.
* To ensure federal debt level will remain low and not exceed 55 percent of GDP.
* Government to conduct audits on projects valued at more than 100 million ringgit during its implementation.
 
ISLAMIC FINANCE
* Securities Commission to introduce the a framework for Social Responsible Investment (SRI) Sukuk, or Islamic bonds, to finance "sustainable and responsible" investment initiatives.
   
AGRICULTURE
* Government to allocate six billion ringgit allocated for agriculture programmes.         
* Says to 243 million ringgit allocated for rubber, palm oil and cocoa replanting as well as forest plantation programmes. Main plantation companies in Malaysia include Sime Darby, IOI Corp and KL Kepong.
 
LOGISTICS
* Government to allocate 3 billion ringgit in soft loans under the Maritime Development Fund through Bank Pembangunan Malaysia.
* The fund is to provide financing to encourage the development of the shipping industry, shipyard construction, oil and gas as well as maritime-related support activities.
       
AVIATION
* To replace existing air traffic control and management system in Subang, a new air traffic management centre costing 700 million ringgit will be built at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
* Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Miri, Sibu and Mukah airports in Sabah and Sarawak to be upgraded with 312 million ringgit allocation. 
* Malaysia Airports manages and operates all airports across the country except for one in Johor.
 
PUBLIC INVESTMENTS           
* Public investments to reach 106 billion ringgit. Projects to be implemented include:
* A 316-kilometre West Coast Expressway. Locally listed Kumpulan Europlus Bhd owns 80 percent of the project, while IJM Corp owns the balance 20 percent.
* Double-tracking rail project along west coast Malaysia. The project is carried out by as a joint venture between MMC Corp  and Gamuda.
* Various projects from state oil firm Petronas under its 300 billion ringgit capex programme, including a Petrochemicals plant in southern Johor state.
 
INTERNET ACCESS
* To carry out second phase of high-speed broadband project with the private sector involving 1.8 billion ringgit investment. State-linked telco Telekom Malaysia Bhd is involved in the project.
*To increase Internet coverage in rural areas, 1,000 telecommunication transmission towers will be built in the next three years, with an investment of 1.5 billion ringgit.
*To increase Internet access in Sabah and Sarawak, new underwater cables will be laid within three years at a cost of 850 million ringgit.

Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf @ Bangsar

Over the weekend, my parents are around and my sister decided to bring us to a special place, which I quickly grab my camera to cover it for my blog. My sister told us that it's in the Bangsar Village, so off we go, and we ended up in front of Village Grocer. What possibility available in the Village Grocer, so curious but we keep our mind open.

Good news, whole family here, means more food coverage for you guys!
Bad news, it's non-halal, sorry for those Muslim's friends.


Village Grocer is located at the ground floor in the Bangsar Village 1, they are one of the anchor tenant for the place since long time ago, and you won't miss it once at the hall way. Don't put off by this lousy quality photos, lighting problem, because it's old building, so light is low, and paint is old also. Check out the entire post, it's a good place.

As you can see, most of the people are waiting in front of the village grocer, and 75% of them are waiting for their seats for a lunch at the "special place". What place is that? And it's located within Village Grocer.


Then we went in and reached the small pink opening with a signboard, Three Little Pigs with The Big Bad Wolf! That's sure a catchy name for a restaurant, but is it good? Let's find out.

Check out the advertisement, The Wolf's Favourite, interesting =)

Nam Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat @ Singapore

Been staying in Singapore for almost a year, and finally reaching the end of the project cycle where I started to have some free time after normal working hours. I took the opportunity to get my colleagues to show me the good food in Singapore, as I'm really falling back in getting resources for my blog!

This time round, they brought me over for a special best fish head steamboat in Singapore, and being a Malaysian, I'm always skeptical over food quality in Singapore, but they will show me what's meaning of good food in Singapore. We went to the famous Nam Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat in the city center.


Nam Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat is located at the corner shop along the cross roads of North Bridge Road and Jalan Sultan. It looks old and nostalgic, perfect setup for a good original Fish Head Steamboat that I'm looking for in Singapore. Somehow those famous shop in such setting in city center of Singapore is normally good quality.


Nam Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat is quite famous in Singapore somehow as told by my colleagues. Let's see what they got.

How Much Do You Need to Save for Your Children's Higher Education?

I came across this piece of article and can't help but to link it to my blog. Having a baby myself that's 2 years old now, automatically I'm attracted to such article and punching my calculator to find out my numbers. Good piece of guidance for parents out there, Enjoy =)



Picture coutersy of iMoney.my with link from here.

Leo Star Restaurant @ Kuantan

Moving on, introducing another highlight of an oldie foot outlet in the town of Kuantan, named Leo Star. It's famous and known by local as "la cha mien" means dirty mee. Some other foodies relate the name to the mee served in a dirty place, of course normally famous and taste nice. However, for this case, the way the mee presented is "dirty" or you might call it messy. The way it's served also dirty and very messy, but maybe that's why it's nice and famous? Let's find out...


Leo Star Restaurant located along the shops facing the main road. We went on the weekend, and there are plenty of parking there, no worries.


This is the uncle posing for me to take photos, he is basically the one churning out all the nice "dirty mee" from this messy place. Pay some attention to the working table for the chef. I don't dare to go too near, his face like want to whack me =P

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 & Putrajaya Night Marathon 2013

It's been almost 8 months since my last marathon run in the BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon 2012, and I'm actually registered to participate in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 on 30th June 2013. However, due to the bad haze situation, the date has been postponed to 29th September 2013.



I'm not well trained for this event, so it's actually a blessing in disguise to give me a longer duration to train up for the SCKLM2013 event.

Recently, the registration for the BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon 2013 also open up, so I registered myself also for a 21km marathon that will be held on 19th October 2013. It's only 3 weeks away from the SCKLM2013, but why not? 3 weeks are more than enough to recover for another 21km run.



Registration link for the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2013 is available here.

So I will be running both major running event on 21km distance, and I'm planning to push myself back into the 42km distance by next year. Got to give the Penang Bridge Marathon a miss this year, don't want to over stress myself. This time, I got more friends joining up, so nice to have more familiar faces pushing the boundary together, and many of them are first timer to the half marathon distance. Wish them luck, and train hard.

Cheers, keep running, and keep living life to fullest.

Choy Kee @ Karak New Village, Pahang

I planned a trip down to Kuantan earlier, so decided to do a little detour for some nice food along the route. After some survey, my friend recommended me to get some nice wild boar curry mee at Karak. Wild Boar Curry Mee is normal, available anywhere, what so special? Let's find out.


This is the place, Choy Kee, located just within the See Poi Lih Restaurant in the Karak New Village. It's not even a proper restaurant, just some chairs and tables setup along the five foot ways. It's the usual hawker setup in Malaysia, exactly how I like it. Such nostalgic feeling back in 60s or 70s.


Take a closer look, it is just a normal store serving wantan mee. What so special about this place? My friend told me that, the wild board is hunted fresh from the forest in the middle of the night, and cook on the spot to serve with the mee. I went like o_O" WOW! I've tried lots of wild boar wantan mee before, but hunt alive and serve immediately? Never, so it's a must try for me, guarantee freshness.

I talked to the boss, and he told me that they open from 1-2am until 6-7am! so he told me that if I happen to be on the highway in the wee hours, fresh wild boar is just a short detour away! How great, and I love it! Exactly what the old people said, early bird catches the worm! I might be posted to East Coast very soon, and such place exist to kill my hunger in the middle of the way is such beautiful.

River Nile Cafe & Bistro @ The Lost World of Tambun, Ipoh

With my job posting in Singapore, I'm running out of things to blog. I digged into my collection and surprisingly found this hidden gem that I missed out all the way from 2011. I doubted if I shall post it, because not sure if my experience still relevant or maybe the place has changed since my last visit. However decided to blog about it anyway, because it's a very nice place. An alternative dining place for folks in Ipoh, doubt many people know about it.


The place is located in the Lost World Tambun by Sunway City Ipoh. It's a little quiet here at night, but it's beautifully decorated and I love it.


This is the River Nile restaurant located within the Lost World Tambun, and looking at the photo alone, you would have to agree that it's a very nice place. The soothing lightings, beautiful plants, wooden table with Egyptian theme. Sunway obviously put lots of effort into this place. Those are the open air dining tables with bar for those that fancy some drinks and natural air.


There are internal section as well, fully air-conditioned with huge settings for lots of tables. The environment is very comfortable, and it's almost close to fine dining level, you will love it, and it's definitely a place for falling in love.

The Connoisseur Concerto @ Orchard Road, Singapore

This round, I will be covering a restaurant in the shopping mall along the Orchard Road in Singapore, giving some ideas on what price tag and quality to expect if you happen to be strolling there for a holiday. As we wandering around, we decided to find something that can't find in Malaysia, and this is not our choice initially, but we settled with it as we are tired, and it's time to feed our baby.


Choice we made, The Connoisseur Concerto, or simply called TCC as per photo above. They call themselves Art Boutique Cafe, and they specialise in coffee apparently. But somehow, the setup within the restaurant shows that it's more like a dining place than a coffee place, but it looks interesting enough for us to step in.

Lucky enough that with baby on tow, our dinner timing normally is earlier, and for that, we manage to escape the large crowd that swarmed the place with super long queue. Another usual sight for restaurant in Orchard at weekend dining hours.

Now let's see what they got to attract such a crowd.

Barossa Restaurant-Wine-Bar @ Holland Village, Singapore

I've been missing in action for a while from blogging because I'm transferred to Singapore for a short term job assignment since last August. Busy schedule, so didn't have much chance to hunt for good food in Singapore, but managed to get some last month when my wife & son come visit me. Taking the opportunity to taste some best food in Singapore. Introduced to Holland Village by my good friends, and I brought my wife & son over as well to find something nicer for both of us.

We longing for some good romantic Western food after separated for such long duration, and I decided on this corner restaurant along Holland Village.


Barossa Restaurant, taking up the corner lot along the famous Holland Village in Singapore. They also have a branch in Esplanade Mall, Singapore.


The restaurant is quite small, only manage to squeeze a few small tables in the shop, and the rest of teh tables are scattered along the corridor with open door concept. The lighting is nice, it's obviously designed for a good catchup and beer time with friends. We visited on Friday night, so there is this live music that only available in Holland Village Barossa every Thursday and Friday. Lucky night, some good foods, good drinks, and good music.

Let's go see what we ordered.