What Happened To This Abandoned Proton Savvy?

What Is Proton Savvy?

I know the name sounds weird. What has the word "savvy"to do with a car, right? For those of you who are unfamiliar with Malaysian-made cars, Proton Savvy is a 1.2L petrol-engine-powered subcompact partially designed and by Proton using Renault engine. You can read up the details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_Savvy.

Abandoned Vehicles In Malaysia

If you,as a foreigner, stay in Malaysia long enough outside of the tourist belts, it's not hard to find abandoned motorbikes, cars or even trucks at some residential areas or near some workshops. Personally I didn't see even one in Singapore through my 8 years of living there.

In The Begining

I found this abandoned car in my neighborhood at least 10 months ago. Obviously it was involved in a rear-end collision and was parked in front of a workshop. However no car body repair was carried out since it was there.

10 Months Later

Recently I noticed someone had stolen all the alloy wheels leaving the car sitting on 4 bricks and many of the car parts were gone You can see it's in a sorry state as shown in the pic below.

Why Not Make A Police Report?

If you have ever made a police report in Malaysia, you will know how time consuming and frustrating it was. By right the city council should have towed this car away to a junk yard after failing to contact the owner over a period of time,

Currency Exchange Rate - Singapore Dollar (SGD) vs Mallaysian Ringgit (MYR) And My Regret

Beautiful view of Singapore's colorful skyline from Marina Barrage at dusk. (Pic taken by papaja2008 from freedigitalphotos.net)

The second time when I toured the Republic of Singapore with my classmates 41 years ago, I could get one Singapore Dollar for every Malaysian Ringgit at a money changer.

I worked as an Engineer for Italian and American multinational companies in the city state for 8 years before I returned for good 20 years ago. On hindsight, my returning to my home country was one of the biggest mistakes I had ever made in my life. On the very last day of leaving Singapore, the Ringgit was traded at around RM2.20 to the Singapore Dollar .

With my mom and niece by the Singapore river in 1990

At the time of writing, the Malaysian Ringgit has plunged to an all-time historical low against the Singapore Dollar; i.e. RM2.75 to the Singapore Dollar. Look at this transactions at a money changer:

The left was a receipt dated today (June 10th, 2015) and the right dated 4 days ago.

I urge those Malaysians who are holding Singapore professional passes and Singapore permanent residents not to return to your home country, which I think is hopeless. Stay put and bring up your family in this clean, prosperous, very well-managed, corruption-free and technically-advanced country called Singapore.

Domestic Water Consumption Charges In Singapore & Malaysia

Singapore

After Singapore achieved its independence in 1965, the country faced a real or imaginary threat from its neighboring country, Malaysia, to cut off the water supply whenever there was a conflict between the 2 nations since Singapore relied heavily on Malaysia to import water from. However, for the past 20 years or so, the Singapore government under its very capable leaders had spearheaded the strategic planning and investment in research and technology to turn its weakness to strength and had earned international recognition in water management; and was emerging as a hydrohub, according to PUB.

This diagram shows how residents in Singapore get their clean water. I know many people don't give a shit about how and where they get their water from especially the rich or dirt rich who substitute plain water with branded "mineral water", milk, fruit juice, beer, liquor every single day or pay a very steep price for a bottle of so-called mineral water at fancy restaurants, pubs or nightclubs.

(Diagram taken from pub.gov.sg)

In the Lion City State, the Singapore national water agency,  Public Utility Board (PUB) charges domestic water consumption based on cubic meters per month and a 2-tier rates, i.e. up to 40 cubic meters and above 40 cubic meters.

The bill includes the water tariff, water conservation tax, water borne fee,  sanitary appliance fee, and GST. Details of which can be found here: http://www.pub.gov.sg/general/Pages/WaterTariff.aspx.

consists of the water tariff, water conservation tax, waterborne fee and sanitary appliance fee . - See more at: http://www.pub.gov.sg/general/Pages/WaterTariff.aspx#sthash.DasffETp.dpuf

The monthly water bill consists of the water tariff, water conservation tax, waterborne fee and sanitary appliance fee . - See more at: http://www.pub.gov.sg/general/Pages/WaterTariff.aspx#sthash.DasffETp.dpuf

The monthly water bill consists of the water tariff, water conservation tax, waterborne fee and sanitary appliance fee . - See more at: http://www.pub.gov.sg/general/Pages/WaterTariff.aspx#sthash.DasffETp.dpuf

The monthly water bill consists of the water tariff, water conservation tax, waterborne fee and sanitary appliance fee . - See more at: http://www.pub.gov.sg/general/Pages/WaterTariff.aspx#sthash.DasffETp.dpuf

Malaysia

So how is the situation in Malaysia which is well blessed with lots of rain and catchment areas? I ain''t gonna go into details but suffice to say, Malaysia doesn't even come close to what Singapore has achieved in terms water management and technology.

I have no idea how much water did you consumed per month on the average but let me show you the most recent household water bill below. Sorry, it was printed in Malay only.

In my case, a household of 4 just consumed 36.1 cubic meters. What was the damage? RM 16.75 (S$ 6.05 or US$ 4.44 based the on current exchange rate as at June 8, 2015) after deducting the water bill subsidy of the first 20 cubic meters of water.

If you were to use the same amount of water in Singapore, you would have to pay S$57.91.

Texas Driving License, Texas Tech University ID, USA Social Security Card And My Mazda Cosmo

These are some of the documents I still keep since I graduated from Texas Tech University and left the States decades ago. I looked like a gangster in my T.T.U. and driving license photos. I can't complain since the photos were taken free of charge.

I sat for the driving test when I was a sophomore at Texas Tech University. The test consisted of 2 parts; the first was answering dozens of multiple-choice questions electronically and the second was an actual driving test conducted by a police officer using a Japanese sub-compact car I borrowed from my American host family.

I appreciate the help of Ava Berry who not only lent me the car but also accompanied me to the Department of Safety where I sat for the test. Soon after I got my driving license, I bought a used Japanese coupe called Mazda Cosmo that was powered by a twin-rotatory-engine mated with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Many of you haven't heard of Mazda Cosmo let alone seeing one. Here is the pic of me with my newly-found Japanese babe at a apartment in Lubbock, Texas.

The T.T.U. student ID and driving license were also used as valid identity cards in all places in the States such as opening a saving and checking bank accounts, issuing personal checks and entering bars or clubs if the bouncers wanted to check whether I was under-aged.

In order to work legally, on or off-campus, I applied for a Social Security Card. For off-campus jobs, work permits were required in addition to a Social Security number for F1 (foreign student) visa holders.

Take A Walk Down Memory Lane - A Hand-Written Personal Letter From A Sweet Girl

Do you still get hand-written mails nowadays? I bet you don't. Hand-written letters were almost non-existent in many countries since emails, IMs, Facebook etc are so commonly used today.

One of the hand-written personal letters I received was sometime in mid June, 1987 and it was sent to me by a former Texas Tech University college mate of mine after she returned to Hong Kong upon her graduation. I was hunting for my first job in Singapore at that time.

I remember seeing her in Hong Kong at a hotel where I stayed for a stop-over flight to Kuala Lumpur from Lubbock, Texas. She was petite, feminine and well-manner and I would say she was wife material as well.

Let me show you the front view of the envelope.

And here is the rear view of it.

I don't know whether she sealed it with a kiss since she never used lipstick. Okay, I know you are probably excited at reading the content. Right?

Here you go (in Chinese except the last paragraph); if you don't know Chinese, it's never too late for you to learn.

It ain't a love letter since we were just friends. Anyway I cross out her name and her address to hide her identity. 

In Memory Of My High School Classmate, Eric Kwan

I was told yesterday that one of my Tsun Jin High School classmate, Eric Kwan, passed away.

Eric and I were classmate for 6 years. After we graduated from the school, we took different path and only met once in a blue moon. The last time I met him was at a gathering some 9 years ago.

His passions were taking photos, making and editing videos and he subsequently became a free-lance cinematographer.

I feel sorry for his family; he will live on forever in my memory.

I didn't get the chance to join him and other school mates when they flew to Australia for holidays but I would like to share with you one of the video clips he made and edited in 2006 and the other in 2005 during a trip to Sabah, East Malaysia:

(1)  https://youtu.be/kpGZuPnQi64

(2)  https://youtu.be/1B455vEeQvo

My Love Affair With Cars - Tools & Books

Many people whom I had met (even close friends) thought that I wasn't a hands-on guy. I didn't blame them because I looked like a gentleman and a bookworm. But you can't judge a person by his look anymore than you can judge a book by its cover, can you?

Since I was a teenager, I have been fixing stuff in my house or a handyman in other words. When my dad bought me my very first baby Fiat, I was thrilled and excited to collect the brand new car from the Fiat showroom.

I read every page of the Fiat owner's manual like reading a Playboy magazine the first moment I laid my hands on it. When I got the chance to observe car mechanics working on the car, I tried to take mental notes of the tools they used and the processes involved. Since then whenever I was free and in the right mode, I carried out basic and routine maintenance on the car and subsequent ones as well.

I ain't a professional "car doctor" but I do keep some basic tool kits either to work on my car or stuff that needs to be fixed at home.

Here are some of those:

(1) Hand-held spotlight with large reflector

(2) Multimeter

(3) 14-piece combination wrench set (8 to 24mm)

(4) Tool Kit - flat-head/Philip screw drivers, pliers, Allen key set, socket wrench, ratchet handle and extension

(5) Tool Box containing combination wrench set, box-end wrench set, Allen key sets, test pen, cutter,

Let me show you some of the books and owner's manual I keep and they are still in good conditions.


(1) My dad bought this thick hardcover book for me, which was printed in Great Britain, for me 40 years ago. Thank you, dad, for buying this book, which you and I had touched, although you passed away many years ago.

(2) I bought this book, printed in Great Britain, in Singapore 23 years ago.

(3)  I bought this car brand new and also the hardcover service and repair manual 15 years ago. This book was also printed in Great Britain.

(4) I still keep this owner's manual, together with other booklets and documents, that came with the car.

 

(5) I liked Jeremy Clarkson, a well-known British commentator, who hosted the widely-watched car TV series called Top Gear. 13 years ago I bought one of his documentary VCD.

 I love affairs with cars continues till now. If I could re-start my life all over again and take up Engineering, I would definitely pursue a double-degree in Automobile Engineering and Journalism. Hopefully that would happen in my next life.