You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April, 2009.
i’ve just completed filing my taxes. i don’t know whhhhhy i’m always procrastinating. today’s the last day to file individual taxes in Malaysia. i did it through e-filing. LHDN (Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri or the Inland Revenue Board Malaysia) sent me an email in March, but well … something always gets in the way.
actually i’d thought of doing it when i was in Malaysia a few weeks ago, but didn’t hv the time. i did go to the tax office but went to actually sort out the cheque they had sent me last year which i received after the 3-month period is up. it’s not the LHDN’s fault. i didn’t open my mailbox for months because i wasn’t living at my apartment due to the stupid water problem and also because i wasn’t working. therefore, i avoided opening my mailbox coz i knew it was gonna be full of BILLS. i couldn’t handle it. made me depressed. anyway, that was really stupid. i was like an ostrich hiding my head in the sand. so, i missed cashing a cheque for quite a significant sum … well, for someone who wasn’t working! in fact, LHDN was very efficient coz i remember doing my taxes quite early last year … and i couldn’t believe that they had sent me the cheque in April.
so, i went to LHDN in Kelana Jaya the other day and talked to the officer … and told him what happened. he was very good. he said he’d send it to my mum’s house since i am now residing overseas. BUT the problem is, he said that since i had not filed my taxes from 2000 to 2004 … i have to sort that out, and they may withhold payments until it’s all done. but he said, when you get them … it’s gonna be a LOT. hmmm … so i said that one of the reasons that i never did my taxes before (before the e-filing system was implemented) because it looked too difficult and scary. although i have an aunt who does taxes, i didn’t want her to know how much i was making (or was not making … hahahahaha … ) plus i was jobhopping … then i was freelancing … then i went back to school. it was all so confusing that i just didn’t want to deal with it. and hey … with taxes … you better deal with it! the taxman will not leave any stones unturned!
so, anyway … he gave me sheets of back taxes forms for every year that i didn’t file my taxes. coz if my employers had paid PCB, that means, i should hv filed taxes, ie they hv records that i was actually employed! no getting out of it, ok! then, he said, on my next tript to Malaysia, i can meet up with them, bring all my documents and they will help me file my taxes. sigh. wading through those documents is what scares me. but actually, before i left for Brunei … i had organised my financial documents and i have one box filled with receipts and stuff that i haven’t sorted out. so, the next trip home will be doing just that. can’t have it hanging over my head anymore. but who knows, i might get a windfall out of this. heheh.
i’ve only started filing my taxes because of the e-filing system. it’s easy. well, the first time they introduced it in 2006, it think … it was a bit complicated. then, in 2007, it got easier. and now it’s easy peasy.
so, anyway … i had also sorted out my late payment for the 2005 tax which i did not get around to paying because it was all so confusing. i remember that year, when i went to pay at some bank … maybe PB or CIMB, i can’t remember, i was given this forms to fill, and i can’t remember why but i left, and due to always being short of money, i never made the payment. so recently i did. went to CIMB to pay it. just get a form and number and go to the counter. that’s it.
but today, i made the payment for last year’s tax returns via Maybank2u. again, it was a bit confusing initially, coz there is a field for kod bayaran or payment code. what the heck is that? and i didn’t want to call LHDN again using IDD card (such a lengthy process!) coz i had called twice already. so, i chose Bayaran Cukai Pendapatan (tiada skim ansuran). the installment number is weird, but just put ‘0′. that’s it. confirm. but before that, i requested for a TAC number.
anyway, i hope it has been processed successfully coz i’m a few hundred poorer!!!
April 01: let me just add that for those that has missed the deadline … don’t worry! just do it! or go to the tax office (i like the one in kelana jaya) and explain and they will help you.
for first timers … the first time is always hard, but if you go to the tax office, the officers will guide you on how to do e-filing online. then they will print out the documents for you and you can go make payment at the CIMB or Public Bank (if i’m not mistaken). normally your username and password is the same, which is your ic number. once you have registered your digital signature, etc … the second time will be easier.
i’m single and don’t have any dependents. so, i didn’t have much tax deductible items to lower my tax returns. the only thing i included in the form was amount for the computer i had bought last year. and i’d actually kept a few book receipts, but heck they are in malaysia, silly me. so, i didn’t have much to fill. oh, if you are a muslim, you might want to fill in your zakat total; it can be any zakat – fitrah, pendapatan, emas, etc…
so to make life easier … my life that is, i’ve decided to do these from now on:
1. keep a file of all receipts of tax deductible items, such as books, medicine for parents, medical checkups, etc …
2. keep all bank statements (coz i job hop a lot and sometimes i forget how much i earned!! well, u know, stimes during the probation period certain companies even deduct on your MC!). plus it’s also good for applying for loans or credit cards. you don’t have to ask the bank who will charge you for the statements.
3. EA forms … don’t lose them.
4. salary slips.
i guess that’s about it for now … off the top of my head.
but since i will be working in brunei for the next two years, i really don’t have to bother. hahahahaha. oh, btw … employees in brunei don’t have to pay taxes. imagine if one day the brunei govt decided to introduce income tax, i bet bruneians are really going to have a headache! even now, paying for car parking in the urban areas is relatively new and not entirely welcomed.
my aunt who visited malaysia got very upset with the tolls that’s like everywhere. in brunei, these things are FREE, bah!
the other day, a friend told me that my face looked smaller. like, i suppose, not so ROUND, like usually. LOLOLOL!
i didn’t notice it myself, coz when i do look at myself in the mirror, it’s when i wake up to brush my teeth … and my face is normally puffy. but today, looking at myself in the lift glass/mirror panel … i was rather shocked. i think i HAVE lost weight. a bit. not much. coz the bra that is usually tight now feels comfortable. and this really weird coz i’m PMSing. so i’m bloated. but the bloating does not get to the point of discomfort.
i’m hoping all the cycling and walking i had to do is helping with this minimal weight loss.
i’ve been overweight all my life. not grossly overweight. it fluctuates from 5-10kg. i was once just abt 5 kg above that ideal weight thing they say you should be for your height. i think its the BMI index. and i looked fantastic and lost a lot of weight when i was going through this bout of depression years ago and was bulimic. but i’m over that. coz it’s not easy vomiting food. it’s a state of mind, to put it mildly. that’s why it’s not normal.
anyway, i’ve always known that the only way i can lose weight is when i’m ‘poor’, ie i hv to watch my budget, limit the eating out … and when i walk. walking is the best way to lose weight for me.
but i am PMSing … so excuse me if i finish off my buttermilk chicken with rice. honestly, i’ve never had this in Malaysia. never even seen it on the menu … in Brunei, it’s everywhere. buttermilk chicken with rice or noodles or fries or whatever. but it’s really odd. the buttermilk chicken with rice that i’ve had so far, has got this curry leaves. it’s an odd combination. sometimes, they ask me whether i want some sliced green chillies on it.
back home, if i go out to eat at the stalls, it’s usually at the Thai Tomyam or the Mamak (it’s Indian Muslim) … so for dinner it’s usually Tomyam fried rice or Nasi Goreng Kampung or kerabu fried rice … and if at the Mamak’s, it’s usually roti canai, capati, roti telur or maggi goreng.
here, i mostly have the ayam penyet. good stuff. ph, and the McD of local cuisine: NASI KATOK. groooaaaan. you can’t hv this everyday. bad for the waistline. really bad.
but i haven’t been eating out so much since i moved department.
these past few days, i hv been going nuts over the almond pie from Fun Bread at The Mall, Gadong. I’ve had three so far this week. it’s so gooood. rich with almond flakes. RICH!
i wonder whether it’s the PMS, an increased metabolic rate or just plain greediness? 
FINALLY!
found this interesting and very useful blog for malaysian wannabe scriptwriters:
http://zainikosnin.blogspot.com/
the blog is in malay. it’s got some really good tips and guides on how to write scripts as well as how to prepare a proposal for submission to local tv stations. i think he’s great for sharing his knowledge. semoga Allah akan membalas jasanya berlipat ganda.
just a note: Bidadara Kota (okay the tv is on!!) is an interesting series about 4 ladies. written by Rina Khan. i think she might be THAT Rina Khan who also acted in the nineties. i think. yup. i’m right. found her on sinemamalaysia.com. thought she was interesting as an actor, but she’s also very insightful as a writer. and i found her blog which she does not seem to have updated since jan 2008 … err, kinda like my other 3 blogs. LOLOL! anyway, this is the link to her blog:
my, bf, who had been involved in a tv show when he was younger, said that my earlier unfinished scripts were lots better than the local ones that he has read. but then, he’s biased.
what i’m concerned about is format, structure … coz i write in english. do malay scripts follow the same format, or does it have to be in malay? zaini kosnin confirmed what my bf said. there was no real difference. they also use INT. EXT. etc and they didn’t use malay terms for this. so, my confidence level is slightly raised.
zaini also cited syd field … and incidentally i have a dogeared paperback copy of syd field’s guide: The Screenwriter’s Workbook. it was in the loo of my PJ apartment for a few months and survived the damp. yes. i do read in the loo. but mostly mags and trashy novels. hahahahhaha. ok. i confess. sometimes i read milan kundera and biographies also. i don’t advise students to do this though. books are sacred. shouldn’t read them in the loo.
anyway, i digress.
better go back to my script. still at Act I.
i have finally gotten over my brief 3 hr writer’s block by actually willing myself to write. no booze, no drugs, no smokes … just plain old willpower. oh, and a little help from The Nanny Diaries movie. i needed to watch a movie about the adult-child interaction and at the moment, this is what i have in my room. i am currently adapting my unpublished novel into a script which i hope i can get done before July, because that’s about the time i hope to go back home and show my script to someone … maybe Aziz M Osman or Yasmin Ahmad … or Tiara Jacquelina (but i think she’s on sabbatical now) … YEAH RIGHT! okay, i do not know any of these people. but … like Martin Luther King Jr said: I HAVE A DREAM!!!!
anyway, so was typing away with a little window of The Nanny Diaries on the left side of my screen, headphones on … lalalalalala … after like, the umpteenth time of watching my favourite parts, i channel surfed (well, i only have 5 channels (TV1, TV2, TV3, RTB1, RTB2) and discovered Bold & Beautiful was on TV2. Soaps are horrible but they can be like a drug. compelling. hahahaha.
anyway, Ridge is at it again. being indecisive. he’s questioning Brooke’s commitment to their relationship because she looks at Nick a certain way, when both Brooke and Nick and their son Jack were posing for a family photo. DUH! how stupid is he? and Taylor doesn’t act like the supposedly intelligent doctor that she is meant to be. I mean, come on, people! although it’s just soap opera, i wonder why the adults in B&B … are so weird. they keep playing musical chairs, exchanging one partner for the other’s partner, etc, etc … and when their children grows up, they follow their parent’s footsteps – swapping partners! sick or what. but like i said … compelling, very compelling. 
so, i had to stop writing my equally compelling script, get online and rant.
i mean, c’mon B&B people … get settled before you get old like Stephanie and can’t enjoy the sex! okay, i know it’s a ficitonal world, but sometimes art can imitate life?
it got me thinking … about my relationship and my friends’ relationships. when i say relationships, i mean those of us who are not yet in a MARRIAGE. so, anyway … one of my friend’s hubby (new hubby) thought i shouldn’t be with my bf now, coz i guess due to the fact that he’s a musician (and therefore, by career choice, unfaithful!) and also coz we’ve been together ages and are still very far from signing that dotted line. my other friend and i, on the other hand, thinks my friend’s new hubby is being a bit of a dork because he hasn’t told his first wife about my friend (and he promised he would before they got married) and he hasn’t yet found her a new place, letting her live in her grotty rented flat. okay, my friend is a second wife, and that’s ok. they’re both muslims. but well, sigh …
see, my point is … people outside the relationship may find a lot of things wrong about your relationship, but the only people that can navigate the relationship through the stormy waters are the both of you. ergo, brooke and ridge, etc.
so, even if i think Ridge is a spineless mama’s boy character … someone (in this case two) out there in tvland can still love him.
people enter into a relationship in spite of their weaknesses. and if they’re lucky, they become stronger, better people from being in that relationship.
okay, i’m done. back to my script!
arrrggghhh … three more days to do my taxes!!
there’s this old movie on TV2. i think it’s Hang Tuah with P Ramlee. There’s some sort of performance with gamelan and dancers. like wayang kulit in real life. struck me that that hypnotic gamelan music may be what techno is to people in the clubs. and the dancers had no expression just like clubbers moving their upper body with hands crisscrossing in the air on the dance floor but not really moving their feet. okay, i hvnt been to a club in 4 years.
Lily Marlin has awful casting. nuff said. and why do they wear those horrible wigs? don’t they know they look so unattractive? like the first season of Spa Q. i mean, i like Spa Q but those wigs were awful.
i have freakin’ writer’s block.
watched Privileged on RTB2. Megan is so anal. Lily is a disaster zone. Will is adorable.
i am an avid reader of The Malaysian Insider. mainly because of all the comments submitted by readers … hahahahaha. politicians don’t really have to get an expensive agency to find out what Malaysians think. just read the comments posted below the articles, and you can really guess what the average urban/suburban middle class multi-ethnic voter is thinking about in regards to politics as usual. Of course, the other reason i read TMI is because it’s design is user friendly AND it’s FREE! try getting on Malaysiakini without a subscription … groaan.
i also read Harakah online. to know what the other side is thinking about. it’s interesting how Harakah, thought of a few years ago as an old man’s party, has jumped on the Internet bandwagon a lot earlier than UMNO’s mouthpieces. Harakah is even on Twitter. ha.ha.ha. heck, even i don’t know (and at the moment is not interested) how to use Twitter. but a young colleague said it’s good for making cheap international calls.
oh, and i also read The Star. when in Malaysia i would also read NST, Berita Harian and sometimes Utusan Malaysia (but it’s really boring coz too one-sided). But in Brunei, i just rely on TMI and The Star. One thing i like about The Star (eventhough it’s owned by MCA) is that it does a lot of community-based events esp focusing on teens. they are good at this community outreach stuff. which i don’t see the other Malaysian papers doing so much.
at home, my dad will buy Utusan … it’s his bedtime, or naptime reading. he gets comfortable on the sofa, reads a few pages, then dozes off … this happens esp after lunch. even though dad says (and it’s common knowledge) that Utusan is very pro-Umno … he says it’s good to read to understand the Malay psyche. i don’t think it’s Malay as much as Umno. so … whatever. some of the stuff in Utusan is interesing, but i could never stomach the stuff by Astora Jabat. don’t think he’s on their payroll anymore. wonder what happened to him.
read that TMI is going to have a print edition. hmmm … i wonder whether tht’s going to be another NST. i say, a waste of paper. unless they are trying to reach the non-urban population who don’t go online. then they should create a Malay edition.
well … more profit for the paper lama guy.
honk honk … paper lamaaaaa, old newspaper … paper lamaaaa, old newspaper! heheheh.
oh, in Brunei, you can read Borneo Bulletin or The Brunei Times. These are the only two English newspapers published. Borneo Bulletin or BB is tabloid-sized AND tabloid. The Brunei Times or BT is broadsheet. If you read BT, you’d think life in Brunei is hunky-dory and crime free. but BB will pull you back to earth: smuggling, rape, incest. yup. it happens here too. but still … this place is a paradise compared to KL. muggings, snatch theft everywhere. urgh! and yes, i … like most women living in the Klang Valley have been mugged at one point in my adult life. Have handbag, be victim. Have handphone, be victim. so crazy. in Brunei, i can heave a sigh of relief. not having to look over my shoulder. but who knows? we can’t be too sure.
i just realised that wordpress greets me with ‘Howdy’ … yikes! sounds like a cheesy western. i mean, i don’t know how they actually use it in Texas but howdy on my screen looks kinda weird.
anyway, believe it or not … i’m online via WAVE. okay, the reason i am very surprised by this is because … since that major flooding in Gadong when there was no electricity (in some places) for 3 days … i couldn’t get WAVE connection in my area. and i had already bought a few WAVE cards at Sugar Bun. I don’t know whether it was my computer or what. but anyway, i’m happy that i can use my WAVE access. but i don’t regret my purchase of the DST mobile modem though. it is faster than WAVE. in this area anyway. only the annoying is that the DST popup that appears when you click on the icon does not tell you how much credit you have left. and you only know you are out of credit when your page hangs.
when i first arrived here, i thought that the only place i could get online access was at the cafes. most Bruneians (not many, to tell you the truth) i asked said they use a modem at home, connected through a fixed line. I didn’t want to get a fixed line coz i didn’t know how long i was gonna be here. For expats to get a fixed line connection, you gotta get a green ic. otherwise, they wouldn’t allow it. this is what a colleague told me. but who needs a fixed line if you have WAVE in your area? it’s all about mobility, my man!
had to post this. saw the last 40% of the Malay drama Intan Sayang Manja on i think RTM just now. very funny. and directed by Shahrulezad Mohamedin. just discovered that he is actually the talented young director of Emil Emilda (another hilarious work) among others. found only one photo of him. i have to say. HE IS GOOD! apart from my other fav director son of Zami Ismail, Hitler Zami who directed the crazy Dunia Baru.
but i will always hold Meor Hashim Manap at the top of my director’s list.
anyway, Jue Aziz plays the lead in Intan Sayang Manja. She’s very versatile and she glows on screen. I have to say, she’s one of my most favourite young Malay actors. i suspect she will go far only i hope she doesn’t screw it up with stupid scandals. hmm.
i hope they’ll show ISM again soon. very funny.
the islamic prog Qudwah is on RTM1 … a live discussion with three panel speakers including the famous Ustaz Ravi (Farid Ravi Abdullah) … the audience comprising indian muslims. anyway, Ustaz Ravi was talking about the use of ‘tangkal’ in the indian muslim community (heck the malay community uses this too) to ward off evil, etc. he said it’s wrong, syirik … coz why would you need an intermediate between you and God? just ask God, berdoa.
incidentally, when i was younger … like still babies/toddlers, my mum got us tangkal to wear. some kind of thread bracelet or necklace thing. sometimes they put it on the baby’s ankle. it’s kinda cool … heheh … only if you wear is as fashion … but as an amulet … well, muslims can’t do this. but mum said that was her ‘zaman jahiliah’ … a reference to the age of ignorance in the Arab world before Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) arrived bringing the message of Islam.
(tangkal – amulet)
i think Madonna wore some kind of tangkal too … a red thread on her wrist. personally, i think they shouldn’t allow her to adopt mercy until she gets over her middle aged angst. sure she has lots of money. but is she gonna do the child any good? who’s gonna be minding the baby? she loves to go on tour? what can she give? money? might as well provide a scholarship fund for these poor children. that would be more helpful. yeah, and maybe a food bank thing for babies so that they can get nutritious food and milk formula.
