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Insider Secrets To Cheap Flight, AirAsia Airlines

Naked-Malaysian — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:55:42 +0000

Tony Fernandez has brought new height to the word entrepreneur in Malaysia. He rose to prominence by turning AirAsia, a failing government-linked commercial airline, into a highly successful budget airline public-listed company. Fernandes was also instrumental in lobbying the then-Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in mid-2003, to propose the idea of open skies agreements with neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. As a result, these nations have granted landing rights to AirAsia and other discount carriers.

Unbelievable RM9.99 for a flight?

Datuk Seri Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964; also known as Tony Fernandes) is a Malaysian entrepreneur and the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., who introduced the first budget no-frills airline, AirAsia, to Malaysians with the tagline “Now everyone can fly”.

It was through Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry that Fernandes got to meet up with the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 2001. The wily Malaysian prime minister had a cropper in his hand, which he had been trying to unload for nearly two years.

AirAsia, the heavily-indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was losing money speedily. Instead of starting from scratch, Mahathir advised Fernandes to buy an existing airline instead. Fernandes mortgaged his home and sank his savings to acquire the company, comprising two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets (9M-AAA and 9M-AAB) and USD$11 million (RM40 million) worth of debts, for 26 US cents (one ringgit), and transformed it into an industry player.

Coming just after the 11 September 2001, undoubtedly the worst day in the history of commercial aviation when nobody wanted to fly, everyone thought that Fernandes had gone “crazy”, predicting that the company would fail miserably. Yet, just one year after his takeover, AirAsia had broken even and cleared all its debts. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent.

Tony likes girls very much

Fernandes says his timing was in fact perfect: Since 11 September 2001, aircraft leasing costs were down 40%. Also, airline lay-offs mean experienced staff were readily available. He believed Malaysian travellers would embrace a cut-rate air service that will save them time and money, especially in a tight economy. That was why he copied one of the world’s most successful no-frills carriers, Ryanair out of Ireland (which in turn is modelled after Southwest Airlines in the United States). Fernandes thinks that about 50 per cent of the travellers on Asia’s budget airlines are first-time flyers. Before AirAsia, he estimates that only six per cent of Malaysians had ever travelled in a plane.

Fernandes’ biggest achievement has been to turn the AirAsia airline into an international carrier. Before the creation of AirAsia, countries in the region did not have open-skies agreements. In mid-2003, Fernandes’ lobbying pushed Dr Mahathir to raise the idea with the leaders of neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. As a result, those nations have granted landing rights to AirAsia and other discount carriers. Fernandes has indeed set in motion the advent of budget carriers in the region.

Shara and Ilyana of AirAsia female pilots. AirAsia rocks!

Source: Wikipedia

Technorati Tags: 11 September 2001, AirAsia, Boeing 737-300, budget carriers, DRB-Hicom, female pilot, Indonesia, Malaysia Entrepreneur, Malaysian Insider, Ryanair, Singapore, Thailand, Tony Fernandez, Tun Mahathir Mohamad

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Malaysia Super League 2010 Kelantan 0-1 Kedah, The Stupid Gol Keeper

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:44:18 +0000

Lesson not learnt. The Kelantan soccer fans were again tested last 19 January night when Kedah scored one goal over Kelantan keeper silly mistake. Angry and furious at Syed Adney Syed Hussein, the former National Team 2007 keeper and former national coach, V. Sathianathan, a small number of Kelantanese almost repeated the same commotion at Bukit Jalil last November 2009 and ‘the police truck burning incidents’ in Sultan Mohamed IV Stadium in Kota Bharu month April the same year.

The latter stadium was in chaos once again last Tuesday seeing some fans throwing firecrackers and other object into the playing field.

Somehing is very wrong with Kelantan keeper. Should one asked if money got anything to do with it?

Riot and police truck burning in April 2009

It is known the Kelantanese are hardcore fanatics when it comes to soccer, and some are proud hooligans.

It is known Kelantan neighbors Thailand and supplies of heavy firecracker are easily available.

It is known Kelantanese do not accept losing at soccer, especially when caused by stupid mistake.

Lesson not learnt. The Kelantan fans need to learn anger management, the policing authority need to tighten security checks (firecrackers are illegal in Malaysia) and the players need not to play stupidly. Anyone please do something!

Technorati Tags: Kedah, Kelantan, Malaysia Deals, Malaysian Football, Thailand, youtube

Malaysia Beat Vietnam 1-0 for SEA Games Football Gold

Naked-Malaysian — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:33 +0000

Malaysia 20 years wait for gold in football at the SEA Games finally came through when Vietnam’s defender scored their own goal last night. The final result was 1-0.

The last time Malaysia has won was in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur SEA Games after defeating Singapore 1-0 at Merdeka Stadium. Malaysia went to final last night after winning the semi final against Thailand 2-1. Singapore successfully ranked no. 3 after defeating Laos 3-1.

Well done and congratulations to the All Under 23 ‘Harimau Malaya’ squad and coach K. Rajagopal for successfully make Malaysia proud!

The ‘winning’ came courtesy of an own goal by Vietnam’s Mai Xuan Hop’s in the 84th minute of a toughly-fought final. Match remained intense until the end of 6 mins extra time when many experimental thrill of Vietnam to score goals were successfully being thwarted or deviated on their own.

Harimau Malaya squad successful bid for gold began with 11-0 win against Timor Leste, 1-3 lost to Vietnam, 4-0 win against Cambodia and then beating Thailand 2-1.

The football gold medal was also Malaysia’s 40th gold medal in the 25th. SEA Games, Vientiane, Laos. The victory was all the more sweeter as the Malaysians had lost 1-3 to Vietnam in a group match on Dec 6.

Technorati Tags: Harimau Malaya, Laos, Laos SEA Games 2009, Malaysia, Malaysia Insider, Malaysia News, Malaysian Football, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste

Rasa Sayang Eh!

Naked-Malaysian — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:15:48 +0000

If there was a song that could really represent the spirit of south east asia region, then that song is Rasa Sayang Eh!. In Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and part of Thailand and the Philippines, Rasa Sayang Eh! usually sung to children by mothers and to celebrate visiting friends from far-away. If there was one true song that extend beyond the barrier of languages, countries and races, then this folk song would be it.

But that is in the past now. Rasa Sayang Eh! has recently caused a spat between Malaysia and Indonesia. Citizens from both countries exchanged harsh words over Malaysia using the song as backdrop for tourism advertisement. There was even a call for war from a certain country angry citizens.

A scene of few Malays pretending to be drunk singing Rasa Sayang Eh! from a Malay film of the same title. This film was produced in 1959 in Singapore casting Wahid Satay and Kasma Booty.

One can easily google what it’s all about. As the relation between the two countries has not improved much since then, people of today would no longer able to sing the song the way it was meant as before. It is ironic that a song once sung to commemorate newly found friends is now serves only to remind ourself with sentiment and hate to others. The way it is now, people will remember Rasa Sayang Eh! as a ‘friendly’ song that almost caused a war between two neighboring country.

Rasa Sayang Eh!

rasa sayang eh
rasa sayang sayang eh
eh lihat nona jauh
rasa sayang sayang eh

buah cempedak di luar pagar
ambil galah tolong jolokkan
saya budak baru belajar
kalau salah tolong tunjukkan

pulau pandan jauh ke tengah
gunung daik bercabang tiga
hancur badan di kandung tanah
budi yang baik di kenang juga

dua tiga kucing berlari
mana sama si kucing belang
dua tiga boleh ku cari
mana sama abang seorang

pisang emas dibawa berlayar
masak sebiji di atas peti
hutang emas boleh di bayar
hutang budi di bawa mati

Meaning

“rasa” means “feel”

“sayang” has several meanings in this song. its literal definition is “love” – the friendly kind.

in this song, “rasa sayang” means “to feel love” and “to feel so much love that one gets heavy hearted to release/leave.”

“rasa sayang” is usually sung among new friends, and frequently as one parts.

“lihat nona jauh” means “to see a girl so far away / moving further and further away” and this is the reason one feels “love” and “heavy hearted.”

Technorati Tags: Brunei, Folk song, Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysian, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand

The Feud Between Neighbors

The Feud Between Neighbors

Naked-Malaysian — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:19:14 +0000

If you want to know if someone is a good person or not, ask his neighbor. If you asked anyone closed to him/her like friends or with family ties, most probably they will tell only the good things. In modern days, neighbor are liked watchdog, they looked at you for your lackings, whatever might be your wrongdoings as their eyes hawked over for your dirty laundry. Neighbors supposedly talked about each others, good or bad, undiscriminately, usually behind your back.

So they say.

Bordering with Malaysia are Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia . These are Malaysia’s most immediate neighbors.

In not so old days, Singapore used to be just a district in Johore, one of Malaysia’s 13 states. Recently Malaysia has lost the Pedra Blanca or Pulau Batu Putih to Singapore in the International Court of Justice. The general Malaysian public was furious for losing a piece of land to a runaway island.

3 southernmost states in Thailand; Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani used to be part of ancient Hindu Malay kingdom Langkasuka, together with Kelantan, Perlis and Kedah of Malaysia’s northernmost. These 3 states, mainly consist from Malay muslim population, are now in turmoil with capital Bangkok over Muslim separatist movement.

The region of present-day Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Brunei around the early 16th century. The present-day Brunei is tiny compared to its glory days. Recently Brunei has officially dropped its long-standing territorial claim over Limbang, a northern division in Sarawak, ending the long-standing Malaysia-Brunei boundary issues.

The Philippines has dormant claim over Sabah as part of the Sultan of Sulu’s sovereignty, once a prize for helping the Sultan of Brunei against his enemies.

Indonesia has the most dispute with Malaysia. Historically parts of Malaysia used to be Indonesia and vice versa, depending on which period of civilization you looked at. Most favored by the Indonesian is the Majapahit era whilst most favored by Malaysian would probably be during the Malay Sultanate of Malacca. However, major parts of both countries were once united under the ancient Buddhist Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya on the island of Sumatra. Dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia nowadays mainly involved territorial claims and border related issues. Recently Indonesia has lost Sipadan and Ligitan island to Malaysia in the International Court of Justice, causing Malaysia’s subsequent claim over Ambalat. This and with other matters has caused the Indonesian public rewaging a ‘Ganyang Malaysia’ (destroy Malaysia) sentiment, once waged by the late President Sukarno over the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak and formation of Malaysia in 1963 . As of today, the Malaysia map is following what was once determined by the Bristish, as Indonesia’s by the Dutch.

So basically we are screwed and mainly surrounded with enemies as neighbors. In that case, should you wanting to know about Malaysia, check your sources, its better if you read it from us first hand.

Technorati Tags: Ambalat, Brunei, history, Indonesia, International Court of Justice, Malaysia, Malaysia Deals, Malaysia Insider, Malaysia News, Narathiwat, Pattani, Pedra Blanca, Pulau Batu Putih, Singapore, Thailand, Yala