Malaysian 1 sen coin to be phased out

The Malaysian government announced yesterday that by 01 April 2008, the ubiquitous 1 sen coin would no longer be legal tender. This effectively means that the consumer has about five months to get rid of whatever 1 sen coins they have lying around in their pockets, purses, cars and houses before it becomes a worthless copper coin. The Bank Negara says it will save RM18 million yearly on production of 1 sen coins with the implementation next year.

However, consumers are informed that ALL payment totals will be either rounded up or rounded down depending on the final total. I wonder whether the consumer will benefit from this move or will businesses stand to gain more? In the long run, I think businesses will stand to gain in the long run as I'm sure that prices of a lot of goods will be 'restructured' soon to take advantage of this situation. It's just another excuse for the prices of goods and services to go up again. Bah.

A space-y issue

So our very first Malaysian astronaut went up into space and came back down to earth safely. Should we break out the bottles of champagne? I dunno. With all that talk about sending the second fella up now, it's not very good news for me and my taxpayer ringgits.

The news today said that the second Malaysian astronaut could probably take off in the year 2010 - 2011 as the Russian space agency had offered. But I agree with the statement by Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Shahrir Samad that a second bid *may* eat into funds. In my opinion, it's highly likely that that will happen.

So gee, I'm paying to send a man into space. How exciting. Not!