"Stop Coddling the Super-Rich" by Warren Buffett

This article appeared in The New York Times yesterday and it was written by Warren Buffett, the 2nd or 3rd richest person in the world (depending on the ups and downs of the stock market). Anyhow, I believe that most people know who he is.

I have always admired him for simple lifestyle and not the show off type. I suppose many rich in Asia could learn a lot from him. He has used his position and fame to convince other super rich to donate their wealth. He himself is donating most of his wealth.

For those too lazy to look up the dictionary, coddling means to indulge or to treat a person like a baby. When you read his article, you will know what he means. The super rich in the US has somewhat "bought" Congress and they are actually getting away with murder in terms the little taxes they pay. They hire the top tax attorneys and accountants to get away as much as they can.

Warren Buffett probably sees that this cannot last any longer and if real change don't take place, the whole US economy may actually collapse and then the proverbial "goose that lays the golden egg" may also vanish and so will the wealth anyway.

Probably, in summary, giving some wealth away in terms of taxes may actually be a long term benefit to preserve the wealth.

Until the next time, cheers.

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

By WARREN E. BUFFETT

Published in The New York Times, August 15, 2011

OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. 

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors. 

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places. 

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. 

If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot. 

To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot. 

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends. 

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation. 

Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent. 

The taxes I refer to here include only federal income tax, but you can be sure that any payroll tax for the 400 was inconsequential compared to income. In fact, 88 of the 400 in 2008 reported no wages at all, though every one of them reported capital gains. Some of my brethren may shun work but they all like to invest. (I can relate to that.) 

I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering. 

Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country’s finances. They’ve been instructed to devise a plan that reduces the 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. It’s vital, however, that they achieve far more than that. Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country’s fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness. That feeling can create its own reality. 

Job one for the 12 is to pare down some future promises that even a rich America can’t fulfill. Big money must be saved here. The 12 should then turn to the issue of revenues. I would leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get. 

But for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate. 

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice. 

Warren E. Buffett is the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

In the spirit of the Ghost Festival (pun intended), The Sunday Star ran this article. 

Two main points from the article that I found rather interesting were firstly, that ghost prefer to appear to lawyers, not surprising, right? Luckily, I am an accountant by training. Maybe, ghosts find us "boring". Also, I wonder, why don't they like politicians?

Second is that if you are drunk or high on drugs, you are more likely to see ghosts. Again not surprising when you are in such a state. What you see may be real or imaginary. So, how can they differentiate?

Until the next time, cheers.

The Sunday Star, Sunday August 14, 2011

When the ghosts see red!

Taoists believe that spirits are at their most powerful during the seventh lunar month.
 

IT'S Hungry Ghosts or Phor Thor festival now. The Chinese equivalent of Halloween, the festival is still very much alive in predominantly Chinese areas like Penang, and believers are now busy appeasing the spirits through ritual food offerings, burning of joss paper, and stage shows.

According to Taoist ghostbuster Ong Q Leng, spirits are at their most powerful during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar but those released from the gates of hell are not harmful.

“The harmful ones are the restless spirits that roam the earth freely throughout the year,” says Ong, who claims to have seen them all, from office hauntings to eerie bodily possessions.

The 34-year-old spiritual healer shares some advice with those low on luck during this festival.

“Do not wear red this Hungry Ghost Festival. The spirits are drawn to red, so avoid anything red, including underwear. This is especially so if things have not been going smoothly for you these past few months.”

She also warns believers against going out past 9pm.

“Stay away from drugs and alcohol because it's easier for spirits to take over those who are intoxicated. If you are always alert, it's also difficult for people to cast a spell or charm you.”

Ong's caution may offer some “personal protection” against the unseen but hauntings are not limited to people.

The 65-storey Komtar tower in Penang which houses Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's administration has its fair share of stories about ghostly apparitions. Staff members who experienced unnatural phenomenon on one of the higher floors recently called in an Ustaz to conduct prayers and sprinkle black pepper, apparently to “cleanse” the place.

Law firms seem to be a popular haunting ground in old George Town, with chilling tales ranging from smelling burning incense late at night to seeing an old woman roaming the corridors.

A 33-year-old senior partner in one firm shares: “A feng shui practitioner came to our office once and saw a child running around. In fact, we had an employee who suffered a miscarriage and it is thought that the baby's spirit followed her to work.”

Another lawyer, who also declined to be named, relates how a client saw “another lady” in the conference room when there were just two of them.

“My boss too has a gift' for seeing these things'. One day, he saw an old woman wandering along the corridor but she vanished as he approached her. I've heard that during the Japanese Occupation, soldiers were beheaded here.”

At a developer's firm not too far away, the office workers have come to terms with sharing their premises with “unseen friends”.

“There have been many unexplained incidents; the air-conditioner starts even after it has been switched off and radio channels change randomly. A monk hired to cleanse the place failed to drive away the spirits, claiming there were just too many to capture.Every year during the Hungry Ghost Festival, we make offerings to the spirits here,” one senior staff confides.

Even cars are not spared the spooks. Writer E. J. Loh, 46, recalls how a nee-kor (nun) who performed the funeral rites for her premature baby, sold her car, claiming that the child's spirit was “disturbing” her. The nun had driven the dead child in a casket to the crematorium.

Ong, who offers healing, spiritual cleansing, feng shui tips and general consultation to her clients, reckons that seven out of 10 cases she sees are caused by evil spirits or black magic. Her clients are from different races and religions, and include Germans, Australians, people from China and Hong Kong, and Singaporeans.

She says she has seen cases of clients experiencing extreme body aches, youngsters speaking in old voices, and those who cannot stop sobbing or whose eyes and tongues are rolled back as they stare blankly into space.

“Whether it's Thai kong tau or Chinese mao shan (black magic), it doesn't matter. I will try to help as long as the victim trusts me.”

Ong, who always appears confident, is the first to admit she is not always this brave. Growing up, she says, she used to be scared out of her wits by apparitions she saw, which led to her stuttering as a child. But by the time she was 11, she was so fed up of being frightened that she started “scolding the spirits and threatening them not to bother her”.

Four years ago, while working as a sales representative, it dawned on her that she could use her “gift” to help others.

Her most recent success was helping 73-year-old Zainab Sulaiman from Kelantan. The widow, who lives in a wooden house in Kampung Penambang Bunga Emas near Kota Baru with her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, had been plagued with hundreds of mysterious fires which destroyed over 250 articles of clothing, mats, curtains, mattresses and many other things. Last month, Zainab made a trip to Penang to thank Ong.

For Ong, the more evil spirits she battles, the stronger and more alert she feels.

“I don't get tired although I sometimes work from early morning until past 3am.”

Temple medium Lai Seng Hee says the younger generation are not as sceptical about ghosts as you would imagine.

“The temple is always packed with devotees who include young Mercedes-driving professionals and businessmen,” he shares.

Lai, 47, goes into a trance at the Leong Hong Keong temple in Penang to assist Tua Pek (Grand Uncle) devotees to communicate with the deity.

The temple, which was established more than three decades ago, is dedicated to underworld deities - Tua Pek and Jee Pek (Second Uncle). Tua Pek - the Chief Inspector of Hades - always carries a fan while his assistant Jee Pek, carries a chain. Together, the brothers are known as Poh Tiao Pek.

Three nights a week, Lai goes into a trance until way past midnight. Devotees come from as far as Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Kedah with pleas to cure their illnesses, prolong the life of a sick loved one, or keep away evil spirits.

Lai's service was procured after the tragic and gruesome murder of three-year-old Ooi Ying Ying in 2007, a case that jolted the nation. Lai used a dried, wax-coated lime to communicate with the dead girl a method the former electrician learnt from a sifu (master) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The seance was filmed by a Hong Kong production company for a documentary.

Lai's expertise was also sought to help “collect” fragments of Ying Ying's soul and conduct rituals to appease her soul.

Lai says during the Hungry Ghost month, spirits of the ancestors will try to contact their living descendants.

“They don't mean any harm. They may have some requests or want to warn their families of some impending danger.”

Gay pastor to marry boyfriend

This article appeared today and is a hugely sensitive topic as most of you would agree but the fact remains that it is a reality of our modern life. Obviously some will choose to ostracise them whilst some would be much more understanding whilst most may just say "it's none of our business".

Whatever, we think, it takes some courage to come out in the open about it what more if you come from a conservative Christian family and a pastor. One interesting point to note is that both of them were also previously married to women. The Star in its printed version is a little different where it is also reported that the partner has a 14 year old daugther living nearby.

Anyhow, my 2 sens worth is that whatever out actions or decisions we make during our lifetime,  ultimately, we are only answerable to our creator at the end of our live on how we lived. That will decide what happens to us in our afterlife. It is not how others judged us although they can make it hell on earth.

So what's the final say? I don't know, you tell me!

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star (Daily Chilli), Sat, 13 Aug 2011

Gay pastor to marry boyfriend

Rev Ou Yang Wen Feng, a Malaysian gay pastor, is tying the knot with his African-American partner.

The couple is likely to wed by the end of this month or early September with ceremonies planned in New York and Malaysia.

Ou Yang said his partner - a Broadway musical producer - had popped the question on June 26, two days after New York City legalised same-sex marriages.

"He went to a church and wrote a song for me. He proposed at the end of the song in public," the 41-year-old told AFP in an interview in Hong Kong.

Ou Yang, who now serves at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in New York, urged gay men and women to speak out and help fight misconceptions about the gay community.

According to the MCC homepage, the church is part of an international movement of Christian churches reaching out to all, including homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals.

"When society discriminates against gay people, you only push gay people into the closet," said Ou Yang, a former columnist with Sin Chew Daily.

Ou Yang made public his sexual orientation in 2006 after divorcing his wife of nine years.

"She asked for a divorce and this is the biggest gift she could ever give me, she set me free. I owe her big time," said the pastor who grew up in a conservative Christian family.

Source: AFP
Published Aug 8 2011

Generation gap remains

A good article which appeared a few weeks ago. I saved it but due to the heavy workload, I have not able to upload this. When you read this, you can't help but to relate to what is being said. Anyway, who ever said that parenting in easy and you don't "retire" from being a parent. So, it's a lifetime job. We can only pray that we have taught the kids enough to do well on their own. I do not been material wealth but that they are well grounded on differentiating right and wrong and also have some solid religious beliefs.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, 20 July 2011

TEENS & TWEENS By CHARIS PATRICK
 
THE generation gap was a term popularised in the West during the 1960s, referring to how older and younger generations have different interests and communication styles at any one moment in time.

This is especially evident between tweens or teens and their parents.

Generational differences have existed throughout history, accentuated by rapid cultural change during the modern era, particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, culture and politics. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a time when parents and their teens did not have such differences.

In today’s context, if we are parents of tweens or teens, we are likely late baby boomers (i.e. post-World War II, born in the 1960s) or Gen X (born in the early 1970s).

Our teens and tweens, on the other hand, belong to Gen Z or the Net Generation (born between the early 1990s and early 2000s). What is the implication?

Young people used to grow up quickly, taking care of key responsibilities at home. Now, we no longer need them to do essential chores like farming, carpentry, milking cows or rubber-tapping – jobs that gave them a sense of usefulness and worth.

Even when teens work part-time, their earnings are not usually necessary for their family’s survival. Hence, teens have no status and no recognised place in society. In fact, we require them to be dependent and regimented until they acquire the education they need to find jobs in a technology-oriented society.

Today’s fast-changing world differs in many ways from the one we grew up in. In the good old kampung days, we would entertain ourselves with simple games such as marbles and catching spiders. Or we’d climb trees or play hide-and-seek. No one owned a TV at home and if someone in the kampung eventually did (even if it was just a black-and-white set), that household would be crowded with people, for obvious reasons. Then came colour TV, followed by VCR, when we could select what we wanted to watch whenever we wanted to. The only “high-tech” machine probably in our possession was the manual typewriter and by then, we thought to ourselves: “We have arrived!”

Remember the days we felt it was so cool to dance down the street with a Walkman playing a cassette tape? Pager beeping and you had to find a public phone to return call? The day you bought your first handphone and it was big enough for the ladies to use as a self-defence weapon? The list goes on and I can almost hear what my teenage client used to tell me: “Yeah ... last time policemen wore shorts!”

Fast forward to the 21st century, our teens and tweens now occupy themselves with PSP and Wii. They not only have a TV at home but it’s a matter of how many (in the name of preserving family harmony, no one needs to fight over the channels!), how big and how flat the TV is. They have not acquainted themselves with video tapes or VCR because they watch movies from Blu-ray players and thumb drives. In fact, as I am writing, we are moving into the era of Internet TV.

“What are cassette tapes and pagers? Can they be eaten?” they wonder. They now download songs into an iPod and you will see them dancing hip hop along the way.

Back in the early days of the mobile phone, people envied those who were able to own a handphone: “Wow, you have a handphone!”; today, if you don’t own one, the reaction tends to be: “You mean you don’t have a handphone?” or “You haven’t upgraded to a smartphone yet?”

Gen Z or Net Gen are often raised in dual-income or single-parent families. Aided by the rapid expansion in cable TV channels, satellite radio, the Internet and e-zines, they are incredibly sophisticated, technology-wise, immune to most traditional marketing and sales pitches as they not only grew up with it all, they’ve seen it all and been exposed to it all since early childhood. They will be more Internet-savvy than their Gen Y (born in the 1980s) forerunners.

Indeed, times have changed. To intensify the gap, teens are out of balance at the same time their parents are struggling with their own mid-life pressures. While teens are dismayed by each new pimple, parents may be agonising over each new wrinkle. While teens are thinking of the time ahead and the opportunities it will bring, parents are beginning to think of time remaining and the opportunities that are diminishing. While teens are gradually acquiring personal power, parents are often beginning to confront their own limitations.

Is closing the gap ever possible? We will take a look at it in a fortnight.

Charis Patrick is a trainer and family life educator who is married with four children.

The polarised world of politics

This article appeared in The Star on 28 July 2011. What I always liked by Marina Mahathir is that she speaks her mind. Not only that, her views are also very practical and well grounded. She writes without any hidden agenda and you don't have the feeling that she is trying to spin unlike a lot of columnists in the newspaper. Due to this, her article are always well received and do not feel a funny after taste in the mouth. I hope that she goes for a higher profile than the Aids awareness work she does and hopefully can knock sense into a lot of Malaysian leaders. 

Until the next time, cheers.

Musings By Marina Mahathir

Politicians of every stripe have two bad habits. Firstly, they think that those who don’t belong to any political party are incapable of having a single political thought. Secondly, when non-politicians think of a good populist idea, politicians of all stripes rush to hijack it.

 

George W. Bush, that giant of intellectuals, famously said after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks that “Either you’re with us, or you’re against us.”

Those words unleashed a world polarised by politics with no hope for peace, which necessarily requires a coming to the table of all sides to discuss common issues.

This “Us versus Them” mentality is an affliction that has befallen not only American politicians but many others around the world, including in our own country.

It creates an illness known as hyperpartisanship, which can be defined simply as “if you’re not on my side, you must be wrong.”

It’s the only explanation I can give for the consistently delusional statements that tend to come out from our politicians’ mouths.

To their minds, nobody can be right unless they’re on the same side.

Additionally, if you don’t agree with them, then you must surely be on the “other” side.

Politicians can’t seem to fathom anything but a bipolar world.

They can’t seem to get it into their heads that firstly, there may yet be a third (or fourth, fifth) way of looking at things, and secondly, that the ones with these different perspectives could conceivably be civilians.

Politicians of every stripe have two bad habits.

Firstly, they think those who don’t belong to any political party are incapable of having a single political thought.

They forget that every five years or so, it is they who insist that we think of politics when we go and vote.

Secondly, when non-politicians think of a good populist idea, politicians of all stripes rush to hijack it.

Non-politicians, otherwise known as civil society, then have to fight them off tooth and nail.

How many times have we had politicians turning up at big events organised by non-politicians and trying and making it sound as if it’s a big endorsement of themselves?

Some politicians are certainly more delusional than others.

Since Bersih 2.0 shocked them, they have been working overtime to demonise it.

It is one thing to badmouth the rally in the days before it happened but it’s quite shocking to see the pathetic attempts to paint it as a riot when it was clearly not.

From calling the teargassing “mild” to denying that the police had fired teargas into the Tung Shin Hospital, to trying to check the motives and bank accounts of those who went for the rally, our dear leaders insult us every day.

Yet all they have to do is, instead of surrounding themselves with sycophants who will only tell them what they want to hear, read all the heartrending and heartwarming personal accounts written by the many ordinary people who went to the Bersih 2.0 rally.

These were housewives, retirees and young people, all fearful of what violence they might encounter, but who steeled themselves to go and exercise their right to voice their opinions.

These were people who had probably never done anything more confrontational than argue with a salesperson in their entire lives, who faced teargas and water cannons fired at them by a government they probably voted in.

How much courage does it take to insult your own people from an airconditioned room compared to facing the FRU?

If our leaders think teargas is something mild, they should ask the FRU to try it on them.

I was lucky that day because I chose a route where the police decided not to deploy their gas and water cannons on us.

But many of my friends and colleagues were not so lucky. I feel ashamed that I suffered no more than tiredness, compared with what they so courageously went through.

And all our hapless leaders can do is call them names.

The people who went to Bersih 2.0 are Malaysians who will forever feel united and bound to each other because of that experience. Some may have been politicians and NGOs but so many more were just people of every race, religion, age and creed.

So many have said they never felt more Malaysian than they did that day.

At a time when everyone has been lamenting how divided we are, we came together. What more could we have wished for?

Perhaps we should take another leaf from Sept 11. In the wake of the death and destruction wreaked by the US government to avenge the World Trade Centre deaths, some of the families of those who died, horrified by such violent vengeance, started an NGO called Not In Our Name.

Perhaps those many decent Malaysians, the “silent majority” our leaders like to claim as their own, can come out and say that, even if they disagree with Bersih 2.0, they will not stand by and let their fellow citizens be insulted and abused in this way.

At least, not in their name.

Vatican ties bring good tidings

The issue of the Vatican ties with Malaysia will continue to be a discussion topics for a long time to come especially among the Catholics. This article appearing on 20 July 2011 is one that is written in a positive note. I hope that good intentions do not always give in to earlier frustrations or anger so much that we miss a good opportunity to have a better future.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, 20 July 2011

Comment By Lourdes Charles

Malaysia’s recent strengthening of ties with the Holy See can be politicised, ridiculed and criticised, or taken in good faith. If the latter is done, then there is a lot of good that our country can derive from Rome.

TAN Sri Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam is not exactly a household name but among the Christians, he is highly respected and revered.

The Catholic Archbishop of the Kuala Lumpur Diocese may oversee the spiritual welfare of an estimated one million Catholics in Malay-sia, but he is hardly seen or heard of by the people, preferring to stay clear from news and from controversy.

With political emotions running high in Malaysia, the 73-year-old Perak born has suddenly found himself tossed into the limelight with lots of criticism levelled against him.

Some accuse him of being a traitor to his religion. The reason – he was with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when the Prime Minister met the Pope.

They are upset that he was in Rome when there were unsolved issues affecting the community here in the country.

Among others, there is the Allah issue and the seizure and desecration of the Bible in Bahasa Malay-sia. And there is the difficulty in obtaining approvals for the construction of churches besides the removal of the cross from missionary schools.

Even a number of priests feel that Archbishop Murphy should not have been part of Najib’s entourage.

The detractors accuse Najib’s administration of scoring points, especially with the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak and for the general election.

Usually the archbishop or a bishop refrains from accompanying the head of a state to the Vatican.

However, in this case, the Catholic Bishops conference selected Archbishop Murphy as the head of the Catholic community to be pre­sent.

There are Catholics who see the noble gesture to establish diplomatic ties as historic and in the right direction. Surely a lot of goodness can be derived from having such formal ties with the Holy See.

After all, for years the Vatican, as the oldest diplomacy in the world, has been working towards having bilateral ties with Malaysia, and now that it has materialised, it’s best to keep politics at bay.

Many countries have looked to the Vatican for guidance, especially on education and on how to co-exist peacefully through its laws and philosophy.

Prime ministers and heads of state come and go, not the relationship between governments. It is here to stay.

According to Father Lawrence Andrew, Najib as the Prime Minister and an elected representative of the state, has moved forward and inked the ties.

“The channel of communication has now been opened between the two,” says Father Lawrence.

“And it is diplomatic relations between two states, and not with Najib personally,” he says.

“Let not emotions get the better of us. We will be traitors, betraying our nation if we think that Najib is the nation and attribute it all to him,” said the Catholic Herald editor, stressing that one must not take the ties with the Holy See as a problem-solving relationship.

Najib himself has come under fire from Muslims who have criticised his visit.

It is a political gamble for him too. The criticism shows how delicate it is to handle religious issues.

Certainly, name calling, accusations and casting aspersions run contrary to the teachings of all religions.

Malaysians should look beyond the ties. There are long-term benefits. As for the archbishop – whose motto is Mercy and Peace – his main concern and interest is his flock, and it is not an easy task.

Everyone should show restraint, look to the good in things, and not the ugly side.

Give peace a chance.