VEP in Johor, Malaysia

So it seems that the Malaysian government is unable to resist the temptation of quick and fast money afterall.

Despite the fact that the success of the Iskandar project in general is greatly dependent on the spending of foreigners (chiefly Singaporeans and Malaysians working in Singapore), it seem counterproductive for the  government to try gain additional tax revenue through the VEP, only to lose hundreds of thousands in the broader economy.

That said, the VEP isn’t confirmed yet, and given how things are done in Malaysia, there is a chance that there might be a U-turn in the decision ultimately (remember the ridiculous and extremely costly biometric custom system that caused massive jams and that was later abandoned?).

The government really needs to hire a better PR agency to vet the comments of their ministers, and other political leaders. I find it ludricrous that the Malaysian government took the suggestion from their UMNO youth so seriously to the point of implementation. Like, hello!  The basis for this suggestion is retaliatory in nature, and comes from a total political greenhorn! 😦

Here’s an excerpt of what the UMNO Youth Chief said…

 

“Even if we impose the fee, they will still come because where else are they going to go? They have no where else to go. They are still going to have to come to Malaysia.

“We don’t have to feel inferior about imposing the fee… they have no choice they are going to come. Let’s not feel so inferior… what is 10 or 20 dollars to them?”

“Let’s not sell ourselves short,” he said.

 

The main basis for the wanting to impose a higher tax seems like greed and ego!

To be very honest though, I am not surprised at how the Malaysian government is behaving – after all, they are not known to have a good track record in following through plans (think: crooked bridge, biometric system, etc). I guess this is the danger of investing in a foreign country. It could be that I am too used to the straight and narrow in Singapore (in this case, it’s a good thing) where the promises and plans made by the government are next to always seen through.

More importantly though, how does this impact one’s decision in wanting to make a move over into JB to live? Things have changed a lot in the last 2 – 3 years. When we first decided to move over to live in JB, the house prices were MUCH lower, the jams were predictable (and therefore avoidable), there were no massive plans for condos, and crime rate in Nusajaya in general was lower. It is definitely different now eh?

I still think living in JB has it’s perks, and I believe I will continue to stay here for a few more years as benefits (space, quality of life) still outweigh the cons. However, if Malaysian government implements the VEP, and the jams continue to worsen, and if the road systems in JB itself are not improved to ease traffic within the city itself, who’s to say Singapore won’t start looking more attractive again? 😛

Car break-in at Bukit Indah

Crime seems to be rising in Nusajaya lately…..and while I thought it’d never happen to me, I too became a victim of a car break-in recently.

It happened last weekend in Bukit Indah when me and some friends went for breakfast. We parked our cars along a busy street near Hock Sang restaurant and went off for breakfast. On hindsight, I should have double checked to make sure that my friend took his bag out of the car instead of just leaving it to chance that he’d remember. Personally, I NEVER leave any bag or valuable in plain sight unattended in my car, but in our rush (and constant excited group chatter), I forgot to check.

Anyway, my friend left his black haversack on the backseat floor and when we returned, we found the rear window smashed in and the bag gone! 😦

As my friend parked just behind my car, we managed to capture the entire event on camera (from the mounted front camera in her car). I’m sharing this video so you can see how the thief works…

 

My friend lost his SG passport in the process and had a lot of trouble getting back to Singapore. Just FYI, if you ever lose your SG passport, you need to go to the Singapore Embassy located in City Square (old JB central) to get temporary identification papers to clear customs. You will also need to get a local police report BEFORE you go to the embassy.

We made a police report and the experience was terrible. All I can say is that the policemen seemed very uninterested in wanting to solve the case.

Even though I managed to catch the entire incident on film and we are able to see the face of the thief clearly, I was told by the policeman that they did not know if they would be able to catch the guy.  When pressed to explain what he meant, he just said that even though we can see the face of the thief clearly, they did not know WHO this guy was and so it would be difficult to catch him. This is even AFTER we told him we suspect that there is a syndicate operating in that area (we discovered broken car glass windows on the grass near where we parked after the incident happened).

WTF?!!!!!! Like, seriously……based on his reply, it seems like the job of a policeman in  is to arrest people…not to solve crimes. Seriously, Malaysia boleh!

Anyway, please be careful if you will be out and about Bukit Indah area. Stay safe everybody!

Iskandar investors to face problems

I was wondering when would something like this happen…though the move might be rather late to rein in the crazy prices.

“The common mistake that most Singaporean investors have made in Iskandar is buying property that is too expensive for locals – though cheap for Singaporeans – and yet not in a prime enough location, not a good enough design, and not in a good enough environment where there will be enough foreign buyers to take up these properties in the future.”

So please,  do your homework before you buy.