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Skills specifications:
** Java EE, EJB, JMS, Web Service, JAXB, JAX-WS, JMX, AOP, JTA
** Websphere, RSA, Eclipse
** Struts, Swing, RCP, JSP, JSTL
** socket, thread, Quartz, Hibernate, iBATIS, JFreeChart, JasperReports, bouncycastle
** CVS, Subversion, JUnit, Ant, Hudson, CruiseControl
** JQuery core, JQuery UI, JQuery custom plugin
** equities, technical analysis
Thursday, 15 December 2011
All You Need To Know About Rumours and Speculation (the Triple Filter Test)
This is a most important, funny but revealing story about the greatness of Socrates,. Somehow, it applies totally to the way stock markets operate, by and large .... rumours and speculation, how do we go about accepting them or filtering them.
------------------------------------------
Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumour or
spread gossip.
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.
One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates,
do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you tell me I'd like you to
pass a little test.
It's called the Triple Filter Test."
'Triple filter?" asked the acquaintance.
"That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you talk to me about
Diogenes let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Socrates, "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell
me about Diogenes something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is
what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?"
The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was shagging his wife.
------------------------------------------
Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumour or
spread gossip.
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.
One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates,
do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you tell me I'd like you to
pass a little test.
It's called the Triple Filter Test."
'Triple filter?" asked the acquaintance.
"That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you talk to me about
Diogenes let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Socrates, "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell
me about Diogenes something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is
what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?"
The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was shagging his wife.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
A Badly Conceived Election Budget Allocation
By Koon Yew Yin
Recently the leading state newspaper in Perak carried an article which contained details of the Perak State Government’s budget for 2012 which was tabled before the State Assembly on 21St Nov. 2011 (The Ipoh Echo, Issue 133, 1-15 December 2011).
Among the key items of planned allocation in what is clearly a pre-election budget aimed at buying votes for the present state government in the coming elections, the most problematic is the RM 60 million fund set up to assist first time house buyers by providing the 10% deposit as required by Banks to purchase a new house.
I sympathise with the plight of first time low income house buyers and agree on the need to assist them in helping with home ownership. I can also understand the populist intention of the programme. However, this programme – as it is currently designed - is not only likely to fall short of its noble goal but will result in grief to the Perak administration.
I can already foresee the following difficulties:-
1. What will happen if the buyers cannot pay the monthly instalments to the banks? A Housing Loan Manager of one of the leading banks told me that the bank can issue the first letter of demand after the defaulter fails to pay up only after 3 months. Also that the bank is able to initiate legal action only after 3 letters of demand have been sent out. In all likelihood, the legal procedure to recover the property will take 6 months or more. Hence, it could take more than one year at least for the Bank to evict a defaulter. By the time the house is reprocessed, it would be in such a deplorable condition that the Bank will not be able to recover its loan and administration cost in most of the cases. To sell a reprocessed property, the bank also has to advertise to invite bids. In most cases, the Bank will not be able to get the reserved price in the first auction. If this happens, the bank will have to reduce the reserved price by 10%. If the second auction is not successful, the reserved price will have to be reduced by another 10%.
2. What will happen when a buyer cannot pay back the 10% to the State Government? Does the Government have the necessary machinery to recover the debt? As you can see above, there are laws to protect the poor men. Even the commercial banks with all the rules and regulations in place, still have difficulties to recover their money, how can the Perak State Government expect to do better?
The administrative cost to recover the debt is not only likely to be considerable but could also exceed the 10% loan outlay. This will further impoverish the state by diverting resources to unproductive expenditure.
What this means is that any recovery of loan funds will be much less than what has been dispensed, leading to a short life span for the so-called “rolling” fund.
I hope all members of the Perak State Assembly will consider these comments seriously and delay the implementation of the scheme until a later date when all the design and operational kinks and problems are fully understood and accounted for.
A better planned and more stringent housing loan scheme is needed for the state if it is to be sustainable. The unseemly haste with which this poorly designed scheme is being pushed through for the coming elections will surely backfire on the state government and all Perak subjects.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
How MF Global Collapsed by over Hypothecating and Who is Next?
Sam CK, my good friend and classmate in secondary school back at St. Michael's Institution, is a prolific finance writer. I think he wrote a goodie on hypothecating. A worthwhile read. Does this apply in Malaysia? Maybe we should have a lot more transparency as I do think this happens a lot in "local stockbroking firms". When you as clients pledge your shares for margin facility, do you know if the broker uses your shares for something else? If we are not transparent, we will only ask question when the whole thing blows up in our face. Are there parameters, are these parameters being regulated rigorously? Is this an unregulated issue? How does it differ from broker to broker? Is the information available to SC on a regular basis? Can we know as well? Or is this totally forbidden (think not).
By: Sam_Chee_KongDec 13, 2011 - 06:24 AM
Another month another new implosion. Europe really seems to be stuck in a financial black hole, unable to free itself out of it. Before we even have time to digest all those exotic treasury products like CDO,CDS,MBS, ALT-A, Sub-Prime, Swaps and , now there is this new toy called ‘Hypothecation’.
What is Hypothecation ?
Hypothecation is the practice where a borrower pledges collateral to secure a debt. The borrower retains ownership of the collateral, but it is "hypothetically" controlled by the creditor in that he has the right to seize possession if the borrower defaults. A common example occurs when a consumer enters into a mortgage agreement, in which the consumer's house becomes collateral until the mortgage loan is paid off.
The detailed practice and rules regulating hypothecation vary depending on
context and on the jurisdiction where it takes place. In the US, the legal right for the creditor to take ownership of the collateral if the debtor defaults is classified as a lien.
Re-hypothecation is a practice that occurs principally in the financial markets, where a bank or other broker-dealer reuses the collateral pledged by its clients as collateral for its own borrowing or in a process call Churning.
The detailed practice and rules regulating hypothecation vary depending on
context and on the jurisdiction where it takes place. In the US, the legal right for the creditor to take ownership of the collateral if the debtor defaults is classified as a lien.
Re-hypothecation is a practice that occurs principally in the financial markets, where a bank or other broker-dealer reuses the collateral pledged by its clients as collateral for its own borrowing or in a process call Churning.
In the US, re-hypothecation is capped at 140% but in Europe it is unlimited or up to the imagination of the borrower. What does it mean when it is capped at 140%?
Under the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's Regulation T and SEC Rule 15c3-3, a prime broker may re-hypothecate assets to the value of 140% of the client's liability to the prime broker. For example, assume a customer has deposited $500 in securities and has a debt deficit of $200, resulting in net equity of $300. The broker-dealer can re-hypothecate up to $280 (140 per cent. x $200) of these assets.
But in the UK, there is absolutely no statutory limit on the amount that can be re-hypothecated. In fact, brokers are free to re-hypothecate all and even more than the assets deposited by clients. Instead it is up to clients to negotiate a limit or prohibition on re-hypothecation. On the above example a UK broker could, and frequently would, re-hypothecate 100% of the pledged securities ($500).
Hypothecation is similar to a Margin Lending Account with no limit. To illustrate, our normal Margin Lending Account will only lend as much as the securities or cash that is deposited. How much to lend is up to the discretion of the Broker’s Risk Management Department. If you are having just cash then you may get leveraged up to 200%. But if you are pledging securities then the amount to be leveraged depends on the value and risk factor associated with the securities, normally less than 100%.
For simplicity, say MF Global purchased $5 million of Irish bonds. It would then use these same Irish bonds as collateral for a loan of €5 million (or thereabouts) under the repo with an obligation to repurchase the bonds at the end of the repo. When the Irish bonds matured it would be due to receive €5 million - a sum which it would use to pay off the repo at the end of the transaction.
How MF Global Hypothecate its Customer’s funds
MF Global is an outfit whose business model is based on earning interest on it’s customers funds. Financially it has never been on the smooth ride and actually struggling for quite a while. In 2007 it earned about $2 billion from its operation but dropped to about $500 million in 2010 due to the fact that interest rates are falling all over the world due to the on going financial crisis. Governments of the world tried to prop up their economies by reducing their interest rates and hence this hits the bottom line of MF Global.
With income dropping, MF Global needed to do something, next come the new CEO Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey Governor and Goldman Sachs CEO, to turn around the business
Since there is a lax in the British regulatory control, US companies such as MF Global and Lehman Bros are able to take advantage of this loop hole by forming their UK subsidiaries. By forming MF Global UK, it will be able to take advantage of the UK’s unrestricted or no statutory limit rule to maximize its re-hypothecation.
As a result, a customer’s assets in the US can be transferred to the UK for re-hypothecating without them knowing. This may explain why more than $1.2 billion of MF Global customer’s funds in the US are missing because it already transferred it to its subsidiary in the UK.
This is actually what happened to Lehman Bros and through their UK subsidiary Lehman Bros International Europe transferred most of the customer’s assets in the US to Europe. It is then re-hypothecated many times and when the market turned against them Lehman Bros collapsed.
How MF Global collapsed
Initial investigation reveals that much of MF Global’s debt is attributed to it’s exposure to the repos or repurchase agreements in European Sovereign Debt instruments, in this case bonds. Repos is another way for bank to raise capital by selling bonds to investors and later to repurchase at a higher price they need to pay for the bond price plus the interest rate (or repo rate).
This can be described as following, say the repo rate is 1% and the bond yield is 5%. Then by using the clients money and other collaterals such as stocks, MF Global is able to hypothecate the amount that is available to purchase the Eurozone bonds.
The interest rate due for the repos (the repo rate) was 1% and the coupon payable for the bonds 5%. This would give MF Global a 4% profit for doing nothing but sitting in between the two trades. Further, provided the bonds paid more than 1% then the cost of the repo would be covered and the transaction would generate a profit with virtually no cost for MF Global.
The interest rate due for the repos (the repo rate) was 1% and the coupon payable for the bonds 5%. This would give MF Global a 4% profit for doing nothing but sitting in between the two trades. Further, provided the bonds paid more than 1% then the cost of the repo would be covered and the transaction would generate a profit with virtually no cost for MF Global.
The only problem for MF Global was that it leveraged itself up on an enormous Eurozone sovereign debt position. This leverage created an exposure that was many times over its asset base. With no balance sheet constraints (repo-to maturity are generally off-balance sheet), MF Global manage to leverage a net long sovereign debt position of $6.3 billion- a position that was more than five times the firm’s book value, or net worth.
MF Global’s mistake was that although it wasn’t exposed to the risk of counter party default on the bonds (because of the EFSF guarantee), it still remained exposed to the ongoing costs of maintaining the transaction, such as margin calls, as well as other transactions such as interest rate on loans from other banks which charge inter bank offer rates.
Leveraging is a double edge sword, if done right it helped to increase returns but if it is done wrong then it will amplify your losses and if not careful will bring you down. With MF Global’s leverage reaching 40 to 1 by the time of its collapse, it didn’t need a Eurozone default to trigger its downfall -all it needed was for these amplified costs to outstrip its asset base.
Another thing is that re-hypothecation transactions are off-balance sheet and are therefore is not an entry in the balance sheet and hence difficult to track. Off-balance sheet transactions can, and frequently do, appear on multiple banks’ financial statements. What this creates is a chain of counterparty risk, where borrowers re-hypothecate using the same collateral over and over again.
According to a letter from KPMG to MF Global clients, when MF Global collapsed, its UK subsidiary MF Global UK Limited had over 10,000 accounts. MF Global disclosed in March 2011 that it had significant credit risk from its European subsidiary from “counterparties with whom we place both our own funds or securities and those of our clients”.
The IMF estimated that even before 2008, US banks are receiving more than $4 trillion worth of funding from Europe through re-hypothecation. A review of filings from some banks reveals the following.
Goldman Sachs ($28.17 billion re-hypothecated in 2011), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (re-pledged $72 billion in client assets), Royal Bank of Canada (re-pledged $53.8 billion of $126.7 billion available for re-pledged), Oppenheimer Holdings ($15.3 million), Credit Suisse (CHF 332 billion), Knight Capital Group($1.17billion),Interactive Brokers ($14.5 billion), Wells Fargo ($19.6 billion), JP Morgan($546.2 billion), Jefferies ($22.3 billion) and Morgan Stanley ($410 billion).
In essence the three biggest entities that are involved in the re-hypothecation business are JP Morgan ($ 546.2 billion), Morgan Stanley ($410 billion) and Credit Suisse ($332 billion) and together they add up to more than $1.2 trillion. Another thing to note is that the Canadian banks also accounted for more than $120 billion in re-hypothecation.
Canadian banks are known to be conservative as compared to its US counterparts are able to avoid any scrutiny all this while because all these transactions are off balance and hence not appeared on the balance sheets. This makes it very difficult to detect.
In short, MF Global has set off a chain reaction to events that will be very difficult to comprehend and even with the concerted actions by the central banks of the world will find it difficult to halt the process.
Such practice can only happen when there are concerted efforts by different parties due to greed, crony capitalism, moral hazard and corrupted behavior of regulators that eventually led to such a situation.
Such practice can only happen when there are concerted efforts by different parties due to greed, crony capitalism, moral hazard and corrupted behavior of regulators that eventually led to such a situation.
For the part regarding MF Global’s crony capitalism and moral hazard, it had already been pretty much covered in Janet Tavakoli’s article on ‘MF Global Revelation keeps getting worse’, dated Nov 22.
Jon Corzine’s answer to Congress that he doesn’t know where the $1.2 billion in missing money is akin to a rapist telling the judge ‘No your Honour, I didn’t rape her but I just make love to her’
The failure of MF Global with $41 billion in assets is the eighth biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Who is Next?
With MF Global’s collapse, it also help exposed Europe being a fertile ground to breed ‘Financial Terrorist’ or ‘Financial Jihadist’ for that matter, that only know how to unleash the ‘Financial Virus’ or debt instruments that is affecting everybody including themselves.
It also helped to explain why Europe’s financial crisis seems like no end in sight. Even though it had tried various measures but there is not a solution in sight because the problems that is affecting Europe seems much more complex that we thought. Looks like there are many more financial time bombs in the complex world of Structured Financing have yet to explode.
Jon Corzine during questioning, mentioned that one of the largest institutional shareholders (owners) is Fidelity and this inevitably let us to ask “ Who is Next? ”, to fall in the house of cards.
Jon Corzine during questioning, mentioned that one of the largest institutional shareholders (owners) is Fidelity and this inevitably let us to ask “ Who is Next? ”, to fall in the house of cards.
by Sam Chee Kong
cheekongsam@yahoo.com
cheekongsam@yahoo.com
Investment Banking with experience in Capital Raising, Hedging and Risk Management.
B.Econs, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia
Post Graduate Diploma in Treasury Management, Treasury Management School of New Zealand
Post Graduate Diploma in Treasury Management, Treasury Management School of New Zealand
My Master, A National Treasure
This is probably the most significant posting I had done thus far that does not involve business or politics. I have delayed posting on this as I wanted to go through the treatment first before writing on the man. I mean, I could have written a wonderful piece just on the recommendations and experiences of my close friends and colleagues that have gone to him.
Where shall I start? OK, just based on real life experiences of those who are close to me. The entire Tong family (Bukit Kiara Properties) absolutely swear that he is the master of masters when it comes to acupuncture (and dentistry as well). To me, you can probably find many great dentists, but to find a real Master in acupuncture, thats a whole different ballgame.
I am not big aficionado of Chinese medicine or acupuncture initially. I guess you have to go through the whole shebang to appreciate the real life changing effects from a master.
My business partner and very close friend went to him after 15 years of persistent gout problem, he will get his heavy attacks at least once a month, as regular as a woman's period despite being on the maximum daily dosage allowed on the whatchamacallit-purina thing. He has been to the best doctors over and over and still nothing. He had a few sessions and went off his medication, he has not had any gout problem for over 2 months now.
Another friend of mine had a daughter around 8 years old but has never had appetite for food. She eats very little of everything, even candies or ice creams. Naturally, the parents have been to numerous specialists as well. She absolutely got her appetite back after a few treatments. yes, seemingly unbelievable but as parents you literally have tears running down your eyes to see that happen after years of frustration and heartaches.
A CEO friend of mine whose father was at terminal stage owing to long suffering diabetes condition, and losing a leg already to it, but has never been able to have a good night's rest for the longest time. A couple of sessions and he slept soundly and was very happy when he could finally sleep well. He passed away recently but at least he managed to get good rest every night in the final few weeks. The pain management by Dr. Law was probably one of the best gift his family could have given to the patient.
Before I share my own personal experience. Let's look at what acupuncture is. Acupuncture can treat respiratory threats such as acute sinusitis, acute rhinitis, common cold, acute tonsillitis, bronchial asthma and acute bronchitis. It is effective for the eye: acute conjunctivitis (pinkeye) and near-sightedness in children.
For treating gastrointestinal disorders: hiccups, gastritis, hyperacidity, ulcers, constipation, diarrhoea, paralytic ileus and colitis.
Muscular and neurological disorders such as: migraine, headache, paralysis after a stroke, bladder dysfunction, pain in the ribs, frozen shoulder or tennis elbow, Meniere's disease, bed wetting and osteoarthritis.
Why is Dr Law a master? I call him that and many of his patients will call him that after benefiting from his skills. He is a master because he is precise. In 1985 he developed a computer program relating to acupuncture and the best time of the day to treat certain disorders. He has developed his own diagnostic machine that can tell him all he needs to know from your one ear and his needle hooked to the machine. He also uses the machine to detect the exact point on your body, marking them before putting in the needles. Many other acupuncturists rely on guesswork and estimation.
He has even managed to detect hepatitis using his machine with his needle at your ear. There are many other cases which are not the norm for acupuncturists, which he has managed to treat well: such as epilepsy, reducing cholesterol, lowering blood pressure to the extent of stopping Western bp medication, and even weight loss management.
Dr. Law is the founder and President of Malaysian Acupuncture Society from 1982-1993. He has successfully treated 60 drug addicts in 1982 during a stint at the Pudu jail, totally weaning them off drugs with acupuncture. The results were recorded in a research report "Using Acupuncture To Deal With Drug Withdrawal and Drug Addicts", which gained acknowledgement from WHO.
Dr. Law is a generous spirit, he devotes 3-4 hours for two nights a weeks to treat the under privileged at a certain center. In the past he has ventured to northern Thailand to treat the poor as well.
Well, who needs acupuncture? Everyone really. Dr. Law will basically get your vital organs to function much better. Owing to the largely sedentary lifestyles of most, we will get our usual aches and pains, kidneys and liver not functioning optimally. Instead of them operating at 60% or 70%, why not get them to be at 90% or better. Its certainly not just for old folks as I see plenty of people in their twenties and thirties coming to the center as well. Many of his patients fly in from overseas for regular treatments as well.
Dr. Law Chin Han, born in 1946, graduated from the National Defence Medical Centre, Taiwan with the degree specialising in Acupuncture in 1972. His office is located in Selayang. Its a very neat 4 storey corner shoplot and he occupies the whole thing. Ground floor is reception, there is a lift, 1st Floor is for Acupuncture, with 8 beds and 3 nurses. 2nd floor is for dentistry. He has his own farm where he grows organic fruits, you can sample his farm produce at the clinic, they are free for all, the durian ice cream is very good, sometimes you get rambutans as well and many other fruits.
The address: MERIDIAN ACUPUNCTURE & STROKE REHABILITATION CENTER / LAW DENTAL SURGERY (LASER CLINIC) 21, Jalan 3/3C, Sri Utara Batu 7, Off Jalan Ipoh, Batu Caves. Tel: 03-62518913, Mobile: 019-2157762
Mondays 9.15am-7.00pm
Tuesdays 9.15am-5.00pm
Wednesdays 9.15am-7.00pm
Thursdays 9.15am-1.00pm
Fridays 9.15am-7.00pm
Saturdays 9.15am-7.00pm
Sundays 9.15am-1.00pm
On Jalan Selayang, you will go past Taman Wahyu and see Tesco on your left, turn left just after Esso station, turn right and you will see Meridian Acupuncture.
My Own Experience: I have high blood pressure, much of it is hereditary, without medication my bp will be 150/110. For the longest time, even with medication, it will go to 130/90 at best. Seriously, after a few sessions, I have cut my medication in half, and my bp is steady at 122/82, how unbelievable is that. Dr. Law assured me that if I continue to monitor my bp at home, and keep reducing the medication, I should be drug free within 6 weeks. After that its just regular maintenance visit to his clinic once a month.
He has also been treating my inner body organ-fats, my kidney and stomach for better digestion, metabolism and reduction of gut size. The vain-pot in me also had him reducing my soon to appear double chin, he is amazing. There are other points he will occasionally take care such as reducing my appetite and improving my blood flow.
It is recommended that you take a blood test first at another clinic and show him the results. He needs the info on your cholesterol, LDL, HDL and prostate if possible. Be honest and tell him everything that bugs you. I had sinus that I didn't even know I had, which was why he said I slept with my mouth open, leading to loud snoring, dry throat, susceptible to cough. etc. I must say the needles next to my nose were a bit of a pain, but now I sleep with my mouth close and snoring has subsided.
Once in the clinic, the doctor will ask you your history and then proceed to diagnose you with his machine, needle on your ear, from there he will be able to tell how healthy you are. He does not need more patients, he does not need more money, hence he is not the type that tries to drag out your healing process for his benefit.
This and many other reasons is why he is a National Treasure. If anyone is more deserving of a Tan Sri-ship, I know of no one other than Dr. Law. Its not only Chinese who come to his clinic, he has lots of Malay and Indian admirers as well, and a few Datuks to boot.
He will then mark out the spots with his machine and needle on the points for the actual needles, telling you what each needle is for. Usually he uses 8 needles per patient but if you can withstand it, he can use more needles. The needles are then hooked to another small machine. The nurse will explain which button hooks to which needles, you yourself will turn on and control the electronic pulses to those needles. The higher the pulses, the better the treatment. Of course, its all up to your level of comfort, no one is pushing you to take stronger than what you are willing to take. You are supposed to increase the pulses every few minutes.
Is the entire process painless? No, but its not as bad as some people make them out to be. I do not have a high tolerance of pain at all, in fact after a while it can become addictive like massage. I now doze off after 15 minutes for the 30 minute treatment, it gets so comfortable, seriously.
Now, I have no aches or pains anywhere and feel more refreshed after each night's sleep, like someone pumped more oxygen into my bloodstream. The great thing about acupuncture is that you are not asked to ingest any medication, no invasive medication that leaves lots of bad stuff in your body, no invasive stuff that whacks ten other things around your body when trying to kill one alien object.
Do your self and your family a great favour, improve the functioning of our organs, rid of our body toxins, eradicate our aches and pains - what have you got to lose? seriously, Dr. Law does not need the money. One session is RM100, or you can sign up for a course of 5 sessions for RM400. The more loyal ones will sign up for the extended package of 21 sessions for RM1,200.
Why isn't more people more aware of his existence? Maybe because its an Eastern treatment methodology, there are also good ones and not so good ones, and Dr. Law is one of the evry best for sure. For over 40 years, he has been doing wonders for many, and his charitable works as well. I and many who have benefited from his expertise, skills and generosity of spirit, applaud him.
My Master, Dr. Law Chin Han (from my iPhone)
Where shall I start? OK, just based on real life experiences of those who are close to me. The entire Tong family (Bukit Kiara Properties) absolutely swear that he is the master of masters when it comes to acupuncture (and dentistry as well). To me, you can probably find many great dentists, but to find a real Master in acupuncture, thats a whole different ballgame.
I am not big aficionado of Chinese medicine or acupuncture initially. I guess you have to go through the whole shebang to appreciate the real life changing effects from a master.
My business partner and very close friend went to him after 15 years of persistent gout problem, he will get his heavy attacks at least once a month, as regular as a woman's period despite being on the maximum daily dosage allowed on the whatchamacallit-purina thing. He has been to the best doctors over and over and still nothing. He had a few sessions and went off his medication, he has not had any gout problem for over 2 months now.
Another friend of mine had a daughter around 8 years old but has never had appetite for food. She eats very little of everything, even candies or ice creams. Naturally, the parents have been to numerous specialists as well. She absolutely got her appetite back after a few treatments. yes, seemingly unbelievable but as parents you literally have tears running down your eyes to see that happen after years of frustration and heartaches.
A CEO friend of mine whose father was at terminal stage owing to long suffering diabetes condition, and losing a leg already to it, but has never been able to have a good night's rest for the longest time. A couple of sessions and he slept soundly and was very happy when he could finally sleep well. He passed away recently but at least he managed to get good rest every night in the final few weeks. The pain management by Dr. Law was probably one of the best gift his family could have given to the patient.
Before I share my own personal experience. Let's look at what acupuncture is. Acupuncture can treat respiratory threats such as acute sinusitis, acute rhinitis, common cold, acute tonsillitis, bronchial asthma and acute bronchitis. It is effective for the eye: acute conjunctivitis (pinkeye) and near-sightedness in children.
For treating gastrointestinal disorders: hiccups, gastritis, hyperacidity, ulcers, constipation, diarrhoea, paralytic ileus and colitis.
Muscular and neurological disorders such as: migraine, headache, paralysis after a stroke, bladder dysfunction, pain in the ribs, frozen shoulder or tennis elbow, Meniere's disease, bed wetting and osteoarthritis.
Why is Dr Law a master? I call him that and many of his patients will call him that after benefiting from his skills. He is a master because he is precise. In 1985 he developed a computer program relating to acupuncture and the best time of the day to treat certain disorders. He has developed his own diagnostic machine that can tell him all he needs to know from your one ear and his needle hooked to the machine. He also uses the machine to detect the exact point on your body, marking them before putting in the needles. Many other acupuncturists rely on guesswork and estimation.
He has even managed to detect hepatitis using his machine with his needle at your ear. There are many other cases which are not the norm for acupuncturists, which he has managed to treat well: such as epilepsy, reducing cholesterol, lowering blood pressure to the extent of stopping Western bp medication, and even weight loss management.
Dr. Law is the founder and President of Malaysian Acupuncture Society from 1982-1993. He has successfully treated 60 drug addicts in 1982 during a stint at the Pudu jail, totally weaning them off drugs with acupuncture. The results were recorded in a research report "Using Acupuncture To Deal With Drug Withdrawal and Drug Addicts", which gained acknowledgement from WHO.
Dr. Law is a generous spirit, he devotes 3-4 hours for two nights a weeks to treat the under privileged at a certain center. In the past he has ventured to northern Thailand to treat the poor as well.
Well, who needs acupuncture? Everyone really. Dr. Law will basically get your vital organs to function much better. Owing to the largely sedentary lifestyles of most, we will get our usual aches and pains, kidneys and liver not functioning optimally. Instead of them operating at 60% or 70%, why not get them to be at 90% or better. Its certainly not just for old folks as I see plenty of people in their twenties and thirties coming to the center as well. Many of his patients fly in from overseas for regular treatments as well.
Dr. Law Chin Han, born in 1946, graduated from the National Defence Medical Centre, Taiwan with the degree specialising in Acupuncture in 1972. His office is located in Selayang. Its a very neat 4 storey corner shoplot and he occupies the whole thing. Ground floor is reception, there is a lift, 1st Floor is for Acupuncture, with 8 beds and 3 nurses. 2nd floor is for dentistry. He has his own farm where he grows organic fruits, you can sample his farm produce at the clinic, they are free for all, the durian ice cream is very good, sometimes you get rambutans as well and many other fruits.
The address: MERIDIAN ACUPUNCTURE & STROKE REHABILITATION CENTER / LAW DENTAL SURGERY (LASER CLINIC) 21, Jalan 3/3C, Sri Utara Batu 7, Off Jalan Ipoh, Batu Caves. Tel: 03-62518913, Mobile: 019-2157762
Mondays 9.15am-7.00pm
Tuesdays 9.15am-5.00pm
Wednesdays 9.15am-7.00pm
Thursdays 9.15am-1.00pm
Fridays 9.15am-7.00pm
Saturdays 9.15am-7.00pm
Sundays 9.15am-1.00pm
On Jalan Selayang, you will go past Taman Wahyu and see Tesco on your left, turn left just after Esso station, turn right and you will see Meridian Acupuncture.
My Own Experience: I have high blood pressure, much of it is hereditary, without medication my bp will be 150/110. For the longest time, even with medication, it will go to 130/90 at best. Seriously, after a few sessions, I have cut my medication in half, and my bp is steady at 122/82, how unbelievable is that. Dr. Law assured me that if I continue to monitor my bp at home, and keep reducing the medication, I should be drug free within 6 weeks. After that its just regular maintenance visit to his clinic once a month.
He has also been treating my inner body organ-fats, my kidney and stomach for better digestion, metabolism and reduction of gut size. The vain-pot in me also had him reducing my soon to appear double chin, he is amazing. There are other points he will occasionally take care such as reducing my appetite and improving my blood flow.
It is recommended that you take a blood test first at another clinic and show him the results. He needs the info on your cholesterol, LDL, HDL and prostate if possible. Be honest and tell him everything that bugs you. I had sinus that I didn't even know I had, which was why he said I slept with my mouth open, leading to loud snoring, dry throat, susceptible to cough. etc. I must say the needles next to my nose were a bit of a pain, but now I sleep with my mouth close and snoring has subsided.
Once in the clinic, the doctor will ask you your history and then proceed to diagnose you with his machine, needle on your ear, from there he will be able to tell how healthy you are. He does not need more patients, he does not need more money, hence he is not the type that tries to drag out your healing process for his benefit.
This and many other reasons is why he is a National Treasure. If anyone is more deserving of a Tan Sri-ship, I know of no one other than Dr. Law. Its not only Chinese who come to his clinic, he has lots of Malay and Indian admirers as well, and a few Datuks to boot.
He will then mark out the spots with his machine and needle on the points for the actual needles, telling you what each needle is for. Usually he uses 8 needles per patient but if you can withstand it, he can use more needles. The needles are then hooked to another small machine. The nurse will explain which button hooks to which needles, you yourself will turn on and control the electronic pulses to those needles. The higher the pulses, the better the treatment. Of course, its all up to your level of comfort, no one is pushing you to take stronger than what you are willing to take. You are supposed to increase the pulses every few minutes.
Is the entire process painless? No, but its not as bad as some people make them out to be. I do not have a high tolerance of pain at all, in fact after a while it can become addictive like massage. I now doze off after 15 minutes for the 30 minute treatment, it gets so comfortable, seriously.
Now, I have no aches or pains anywhere and feel more refreshed after each night's sleep, like someone pumped more oxygen into my bloodstream. The great thing about acupuncture is that you are not asked to ingest any medication, no invasive medication that leaves lots of bad stuff in your body, no invasive stuff that whacks ten other things around your body when trying to kill one alien object.
Do your self and your family a great favour, improve the functioning of our organs, rid of our body toxins, eradicate our aches and pains - what have you got to lose? seriously, Dr. Law does not need the money. One session is RM100, or you can sign up for a course of 5 sessions for RM400. The more loyal ones will sign up for the extended package of 21 sessions for RM1,200.
Why isn't more people more aware of his existence? Maybe because its an Eastern treatment methodology, there are also good ones and not so good ones, and Dr. Law is one of the evry best for sure. For over 40 years, he has been doing wonders for many, and his charitable works as well. I and many who have benefited from his expertise, skills and generosity of spirit, applaud him.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Girls Overtake Boys (Was There Ever A Doubt)
In the state of NSW, Australia, girls have dominated the list of top performers. They are topping the state in their HSC results. Of 107 students who achieved the best marks in the state for one of their courses, nearly two-thirds were girls. What is the world coming to ??? ; )
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President of the NSW Board of Studies Tom Alegounarias said the figures reflected statistics in the Western world, where the retention rate is higher for girls and where girls are more likely to take language-based courses.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli presented the awards to 107 students today at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney, noting that the examination results were world class and the top students stood on an international stage.
"It's internationally regarded, and it's through the good work of Tom and the Board of Studies that makes sure that we keep it as an internationally regarded credential.
"But today, really, is about those 107 young people out there today excelling in their chosen subjects, and it's a great opportunity to acknowledge their hard work and their achievements," Mr Piccoli said.
The minister said he was also pleased to see a strong showing from regional areas. More than 20 of the students in the First in Course list are from regional areas, and two were living internationally: Edwin Guyandi, from the IPEKA International Christian School in Malaysia, came first in software design and development; and Yathushiya Mahenthirarasa had an outside tutor and topped Tamil continuers.
Most of the high achievers came from Sydney schools, including Yu Ying Shirley Huang from Baulkham Hills High School for English extension 1; Emme Louise Hoy from Northern Beaches Secondary College – Manly Campus for English extension 2; Daniel Altman from Emanuel School for mathematics extension 1; and Timothy Large from Sydney Grammar School for mathematics extension 2. Rohan Lucio Curtotti from Canberra Grammar School topped Latin extension.
Eight students were the best in more than one subject: Thomas Grainger from St Pauls Catholic College in Greystanes topped ancient history and business studies; Timothy Large from Sydney Grammar topped classical Greek continuers and mathematics extension 2, while his classmate Harry Stratton shared top honours in classical Greek continuers but also topped classical Greek extension and Latin continuers; Miranda Middleton from Pymble Ladies College was the best in French continuers and French extension; Jacob Neale from Hunter School of Performing Arts excelled in music 2 and music extension; Lauren Gaudion from St Catherine's School was best in Indonesian continuers and Indonesian extensions; Ariella Naumburger from Moriah College topped classical Hebrew continuers and classical Hebrew extension; Minh Thuy Thai from Canley Vale High School excelled in English as a second language and Vietnamese continuers.
p/s I deliberately left in the school names where the top achievers were from as I am aware that many parents are keen to send their kids to Sydney for their Year 9-12 studies.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/girls-dominate-top-hsc-results-20111213-1osg2.html#ixzz1gOgVvvhb
Goldman Sach Says China Is Oversold
FinanceAsia: A multitude of concerns have overshadowed China’s prospects during 2011, including slowing growth, rising inflation, ballooning local government debt, overheating property prices and mounting bad loans among the banks. But it is not all bad news. Goldman Sachs reckons that China will be able to maintain decent growth during 2012 and 2013, despite some risks remaining.
However, the substantial rise in lending is still a worry. Although China can loosen its monetary and fiscal policies to drive up growth, it has far less room than it did during 2008 and 2009. China’s total credit hit 197% of GDP during the first half of the year, up from 152% before 2008. In fact, China has a higher credit ratio than many countries with similar GDP per capita, such as Brazil, Thailand and Russia.
“Since the global financial crisis, China has levered up a lot,” said Michael Buchanan, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Goldman Sachs. “It has now used up that space [for easing policies] and needs to be a little more cautious.”
China recently cut bank reserve ratios by 50 basis points to avoid a growth slowdown. “China has already started to ease policies,” said Buchanan. “We do not expect any repeat of what we saw in 2008, but roughly speaking we would expect [the easing policy] to continue.”
Although risks exist, Timothy Moe, chief Asia-Pacific strategist at Goldman Sachs, said that the market has overreacted. “We think the market is pricing in concerns a lot more than it should do,” said Moe. “You have the biggest gap between the market and earnings that we have seen in a decade and a half.”
“We continue to maintain our relative preference for China versus the rest of the Asia-Pacific region in terms of equity returns,” Zhu added.
“We think that China overall growth for next year will continue to be fairly stable and strong,” said Helen Zhu, chief China strategist at Goldman Sachs. Despite revising down the eurozone’s predicted economic growth to -0.8% from 0.1%, Goldman Sachs estimates that China will grow by 8.6% in 2012, which is slightly higher than the market consensus of 8.5%. Predictions for most countries in the rest of the world are below consensus.
Goldman Sachs also points out that the 8.6% growth rate for China during 2012 is below the 9.2% growth achieved in 2009, while the global economy will grow by 4% — marginally stronger than in 2009.
There have been concerns about the health of government revenues given that land sales are expected to slow down after policymakers intervened to cool the property market. Taxation and fiscal revenues will provide the buffer, according to Zhu. Goldman Sachs estimates that total government revenue will continue to grow to Rmb16 trillion ($2.5 trillion) by 2015, up from the current Rmb12 trillion ($1.9 trillion), with the contribution from land sales declining to 10% in 2015 from 23% this year.
Goldman Sachs also points out that the 8.6% growth rate for China during 2012 is below the 9.2% growth achieved in 2009, while the global economy will grow by 4% — marginally stronger than in 2009.
There have been concerns about the health of government revenues given that land sales are expected to slow down after policymakers intervened to cool the property market. Taxation and fiscal revenues will provide the buffer, according to Zhu. Goldman Sachs estimates that total government revenue will continue to grow to Rmb16 trillion ($2.5 trillion) by 2015, up from the current Rmb12 trillion ($1.9 trillion), with the contribution from land sales declining to 10% in 2015 from 23% this year.
However, the substantial rise in lending is still a worry. Although China can loosen its monetary and fiscal policies to drive up growth, it has far less room than it did during 2008 and 2009. China’s total credit hit 197% of GDP during the first half of the year, up from 152% before 2008. In fact, China has a higher credit ratio than many countries with similar GDP per capita, such as Brazil, Thailand and Russia.
“Since the global financial crisis, China has levered up a lot,” said Michael Buchanan, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Goldman Sachs. “It has now used up that space [for easing policies] and needs to be a little more cautious.”
China recently cut bank reserve ratios by 50 basis points to avoid a growth slowdown. “China has already started to ease policies,” said Buchanan. “We do not expect any repeat of what we saw in 2008, but roughly speaking we would expect [the easing policy] to continue.”
Although risks exist, Timothy Moe, chief Asia-Pacific strategist at Goldman Sachs, said that the market has overreacted. “We think the market is pricing in concerns a lot more than it should do,” said Moe. “You have the biggest gap between the market and earnings that we have seen in a decade and a half.”
“We continue to maintain our relative preference for China versus the rest of the Asia-Pacific region in terms of equity returns,” Zhu added.
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