My HomeTown's Hit By Double "Whammy(s)"

I was born in an island of Borneo. Now, it's called Sabah. My little small hometown is Sandakan, located at the east coast of North Borneo. Normally, noone knows about this place. It's quite remote from the rest of the big cities in Malaysia. Recently, the small city has been named as the Nature('s) City. Part of the process of naming is just another way of marketing strategy for touristic purposes. Let's forget about the name or the marketing strategy of my hometown development.

Personally, i think my hometown is hit by double whammys. First, the oil price has gone down tremendously and second, the world market is still gloomy. We might always think that small towns will have less economic impact with regards of the financial and economic downfall. If you think that way, I am sorry to tell you that this is not the case. A whopping drop in oil price has created a downward syndrome of oil speculation in the market, which results in palm oil price to be affected badly. Not only the oil price decreased but also the share market was in crisis. Speculations and over speculations create massive uncertainties in the market, which also result in the lost hope of consumer markets and investments.

My hometown, highly dependent on palm oil and timber industry, is going to face another downfall of business retraction. There are several projects of commercial zones of shop lots to be filled. Now, it will face problems of selling those shop units. Business in my hometown is nothing but a circle of people doing the same old thing or transferring from places to places. Without any influx of outside investment or external influences to the small town, the town will only slowly take time to expand. Sometimes, business will slowly lose out as well to other more experienced investors coming in. However, in the case of my hometown, the chances of investors coming in are less. The population is tremendously low. The economic expansion is slow. The technology and infrastructure are considered to be improper. Last but not least, human capital, in terms of education, is rather inefficient.

Coming back to the idea of Nature city, I don't see any reason to call it anymore. Timber industry and palm oil business, by rights, should have generated enough income to improve the town and diversify the business and industry of the economy. Too bad, I have not seen any improvements in terms of business activities. Importantly, the timber industry and palm oil business have created a massive destruction to our nature, especially the reserved jungle. We are on the verge of losing mother's nature and also the living standards. Corruption and bad management have destroyed the lives of others. The small town should have used the earned money to improve the city but now it has fallen to the same old path of wasting money, destroying mother's nature, and killing the town.

The Lost Violence of Holevent Town (Pt.4)

[Recap: Previously, I was trapped in a hut with an unknown army, and the Nazi armies were about to raid the hut. The American army and I had no choice but to run away from the hut. Time was running out and we had to face the consequences of being noticed by the Nazis.]

“Wat! Hey hold a sec! You’re telling me to run and the Nazis are here,” I asked the army in a very shocking manner. “Hell Yeah! You’ve got a problem with that," he replied in a way as he was used to it. Seriously, I didn’t deserve to be in a war or any other war. Life, itself, was quite challenging to live and yet people were having wars.

The atmosphere was still covered with a think layer of hazy clouds and at the same time, I could only imagine myself walking through the sky with an unclear midst of self-denying acknowledgment. The war was not real. Everything was just a dream. I closed my eyes and pinched myself to hope for a change for tonight as everything would get back to normal. A change for tonight could mean a lot for others who have lost their sons, families, relatives and friends. For me, I would get back where I came from, a small hometown with nothing except a large green field of love, freedom and hope and also a meaningful small cottage with lots of great experiences during my childhood. However, the devastation continued as I opened my eyes with the German armies getting closer to the hut.Sometimes, I thought of something. Maybe, a damage was done would forever remain with us, just like a scar. Anyway, I was not going to let my hope down. My journey continued with the attack getting closer. We, finally, ran away from the hut as fast as possible. At first, I was a little panicked and cold, but later, I was quite alright with it. Soon, everything seemed quite fine. I felt something. It was like running along with the wind of freedom and hope. It was wonderful.

Sometimes, a small hut, although selfless and small, was still meaningful to someone, especially me. It brought lots of fond and incredible memories. That moment reflected my great childhood life while I was running away from the hut. I felt like a kid, running around my wooden cottage with a sweet looking garden of vivid flowers on the ground. Life was meant to be colorful. I was not going to get back to where I was from. I felt very tired of finding my home through darkness and misery. It was so dark that it could lead one to a deep frustration of finding happiness. As every single mesmerizing gunshot fired, a picture of my sweet and wonderful memories flickered in my mind with a bright light. I had never run with such a great joy of freedom. I enjoyed this freedom of no sufferings and felt enlightened. Suddenly, a white and bright, powerful light struck me. It seemed my hopes were starting to fade away. I fell on the ground, hoping the same place where I used to lay my body on a large green field of flying butterflies, during my hometown sweet summer time. I hoped I could just rest in peace.

The Fre@kY Bever@ges You P@y For

Nowadays, if you go for a hawker's center and ask for a drink or food. You start to realize that drinks are getting relatively expensive. Well! I have been doing some short researches about the reasons. Most people might not know or not too sure why this is happening. Ask for a Coke that normally costs only a buck in a vending machine but it will cost you more in a hawker's center or some places. The answer is Economics.

Let me give you another great example of bar or pub business. Most of the time, bars or pubs will provide you free peanuts or chips and also charge you for drinks that even include plain water. Here is the reason of they are doing it. Chips or peanuts, although cost something, are cheaper than beers and other drinks. In order to attract customers to drink more, they provide free chips for the sake of getting customers going thirsty for drinks. In other words, chips and peanuts come hand in hand with drinks like beers or even cocktails. Therefore, normally, you won't order chips and peanuts without ordering any drinks at all. Customers will always get thirsty consuming peanuts and chips. As a result, bars and pubs will play a role to jack up the price a little higher, knowing that the customer will purchase a drink and giving you free peanuts or chips. Maybe even free services like open karaoke environment.

Same things apply in the business of some hawker's center. Eaters, who buy foods from the stalls, will also end up buying drinks. I have seen several hawker's centers are playing a special role in monopolizing a certain area. For instance, one will only find a drink corner with several food stalls. In other words, the food center might only allow one drink shop to be in business due to certain rights. Selling drinks generates tremendous amount of profit and the effort of running a drink business is rather easy and time-profit effectiveness. The monopoly effect allows drink shops to play with the price and causes competition to be absolutely none.

Sometimes, you also find a restaurant that rents out small booths of food stalls to others for business while the restaurant's owner will do the drink business. Again, most of the time, there is no way we purchase foods without drinks. On the other hand, most people can have drinks without food. Importantly, the profit margin of running drink business is greater than running food business.

If you start to complain about the cost of a drink getting more and more expensive. You might as well start to bring your own bottle of water. LOL. If you have questions and comments, feel free to discuss with me. Afterall, water is the best drink ever.