I was pretty much occuppied with stuff, work and all, that I didnt get much time to follow current happenings. Take for example the following news courtesy of The Star :
PETALING JAYA: Utusan Melayu Mingguan, a weekly Jawi newspaper by Kumpulan Utusan, was published for the final time on Jan 28.
The 67-year-old newspaper ceased publication due to declining advertising revenue and operational losses.
Utusan Melayu was first published as a daily in Singapore on May 29, 1939. Utusan Zaman, a Sunday edition, was published a year later.
The newspaper was in the forefront in shaping the minds of Malay nationalists before independence. After 1957, it moved its operation from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.
In January 2003, it became a weekly and was distributed only in the Klang Valley following a sharp drop in readership.
Kumpulan Utusan management declined to comment on the closure when contacted.
The fate of 20-odd staff at the newspaper is also unknown.
A source said that some were likely to be absorbed into the group’s other publications while others may have to leave.
“They are still negotiating with the management about their future,” said the source.
Kumpulan Utusan is engaged in four major businesses - publishing, printing, advertising and multimedia.
The group has two key newspapers, Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia, and four magazines - Mastika, Mangga, URTV and Wanita.
Or even the following news which is very saddening to my dearest pocket / wallet / bank account :
PETALING JAYA: The public should not speculate about fuel prices but wait for the government’s announcement, Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk S. Veerasingam said.
He said the ministry had set up a task force, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, to study the market situation on fuel.
“We have to wait for a decision from the committee and they have not met yet,” he told reporters after opening Amy Curry House here yesterday.
He also warned traders and restaurateurs against jumping the gun and raising the prices of goods.
He said a fair trade policy would soon be introduced to replace the Price Control Act 1946.
“We will hold roadshows throughout the country and introduce the policy to traders and businessmen.
Veerasingam also said the ministry conducted 260,038 raids and seized RM112,639 worth of goods since the end of last year.
He said the offences involved selling goods without price tags, trading without licence, failing to place trading licence in prominent spots and selling controlled-price items above the ceiling prices.
The following news brought no consolation whatsoever:
BY M. KRISHNAMOORTHY
KUALA LUMPUR: The 12,000 workers of Bumiputra Commerce Bank (BCB) have been asked to decide if they want to stay with the company or opt for a Mutual Separation Scheme (MSS), which allows them to discontinue their service with the banking group.
And they have been given six months, from November last year, to make up their mind.
The MSS is unlike the more familiar Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS), when employees are given less than a month to decide whether to quit their service or stay on with their organisation.
BCB Communications vice-president Joyce Ha said the MSS was planned as a result of a reorganisation of the financial institution.
“We are refocusing our business strategies and with more IT applications the required staff strength is lesser.
“The clerical staff are being offered 1.75 parts of their monthly salary for every year served with the bank and others are being 1.25 for every year served,” she said.
CIMB-BCB Group CEO Datuk Nazir Abdul Razak said those who did not choose the MSS and decided to continue their service after the six-month amnesty would be assumed as being ready “to do battle with us.”
He said there would be a new management that would have a new business model and work culture.
“There is no target in terms of number of staff that we will have. But we expect a reasonable number to take up the MSS as the organisational changes have been extensive,” he said in an interview here.
“We have had this at CIMB (Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd) for some time and find it an effective way of maintaining staff quality and morale,” Nazir said.
Responding to the matter, National Union of Bank Employees secretary-general J. Solomon said the MSS was a fair scheme as employees were given half a year to decide.
“This is the first time an MSS is being offered in the banking sector.
“As a union, we do not encourage members to leave their organisation,” he said. Last year, when Bumiputra Commerce Finance exercised its VSS, 48% of the 1,000 staff members took the option to leave but some were re-employed in BCB.
Yes indeed sirs, we are witnessing the signs of the times changing. Like the universe constantly expanding itself; uncurling itself from its spiral centre. The Jawi writing I must say is quite sentimental to the Malays and me personally. I learnt the basics of Fardhu ‘Ain while I was 10 in a JAIS sponsored school. And then some intermediate stuff whilst in secondary school.
Although I admit it that finding Utusan Melayu is quite challenging especially from originally being a daily, it was downgraded to being a weekly and lastly it was laid to rest to a not-to-distant archiving facility or your local garbage dump. I will follow-up this sub-topic later (much later I guess since my new workplace arbritarily categorized my blog as an ‘adult site’! Insult or an ego boost?).
Fuel prices, one thing about that phrase, it is usually followed with the words price and up. Hmm… here we go again on another price hike. I know it’s beyond our control particularly when there is a global demand from China for starters, and the topsy turvy international political scenario in the Middle East. To top it up, I read somewhere that the world’s oil reserves would last us for not more than 40 years I think. Oh boy!
Whilst you are down in the dumps, the third news sure hammers the last nail to your happy days coffin. With the stiff job market of today, we surely as heck dont need more unemployed people flooding it. Worse still, it’s the experienced bunch coming in to line up for jobs in addition to the freshly graduate crowds.
Yessirree, although I hate being a pessimist, years that lay ahead of today’s generation as well as the coming folks are not that bright. Well it probably wont be as gloomy as December (like the musim tengkujuh which for the record has became unpredictable) but may be a wee bit bleak for comfort.
I hope I am ready. I hope we all do. It wont be easy nevertheless not nearly as impossible as folding a map in one try. Even Superman with all his powers cant do that, so stop bragging! See ya in awhile peeps!
