OPM Workshop at BGF on 21/3 & 22/3

Itold Jason via WhatsApp that I could only commit to one day volunteering on Sat 21/3 as a workshop facilitator.

This is because on Sun 22/3 I have to attend the MAA AGM and also kyu grading at MAA HQ. As I have missed the last kyu grading I feel that this kyu grading and the AGM are too important to stay away.

Jason replied that he would confirm my status the next day. I think he needed time to talk to the BGF people about my case.

BR1M rejection appeal

BR1M 2015 Logo

Second Visit To LHDN
I decided to return to LHDN Cheras today after failing to submit my appeal for reconsideration of BR1M yesterday.

My appeal was rejected because the woman officer handling my case insisted that I submit my 2014 KWSP statement to show evidence of cessation of monthly contribution and submit a form signed by my wife declaring that that she has no monthly income. Apparently the letter from WBSB, my last employer, accepting my resignation with effect from July 2014 was not sufficient for her.

Counter #05
However today Anna, my wife decided to go to the LHDN office in Cheras with me. Compared to yesterday the reception hall was quite empty of visitors. I saw many officers managing the counters having nothing to do. After stepping inside the reception centre on the ground floor we proceeded straight away to Counter #05.

Almost Empty Reception Centre

I wanted to avoid meeting the same woman officer who attended to me yesterday. She didn't come across as customer friendly. As bad luck would have it her male colleague sitting beside her was busy attending to a visitor and the woman officer who was free was reading a newspaper leaving me with no choice but to deal with her. As I approached her for assistance she appeared to reconise me from my first visit.

After going through all the paper documents, including my WKSP statement she finally agree to accept my application by endorsing the first page with a date and a BR1M stamp. She told me to expect for a decision from LHDN by May. If there is no response by May I am supposed to check with LHDN for the status of my appeal application.

After insisting on an acknowledgement of my application she relented by stamping the LHDN email with a date and LHDN stamp but no signature.

2014 EA Form

EA Form

After no news from James since the middle of February I decided the time had come to call Thian Choon, my former boss from Wawasan Bersatu about the status of the EA form. He answered me almost immediately upon receiving my call.

He told me that the EA form will be issued by next week and asked how I wanted to get my hands on it. I told him to inform me in advance when the form is ready so that I can go to Wawasan Bersatu to collect it personally.

I need the EA form to file my 2014 income tax return via e-filling and the dateline for doing that is April 31.
This year will probably my last for filing an annual income tax return with LHDN.

Appeal for BR1M rejection

Notice board showing a sample of the BR1M
appeal form

Officers ready to receive the appeal applications

LHDN Cheras branch at Menara PGRM

The hall for processing the BR1M appeal application is located on the ground floor of the building. I was surprised to see more than 5 counters, each counter specifically assigned to process a particular category of rejection. Beside the counters for the processing of the applications there were two empty tables for the public to use. There were many people there who came earlier than me.

LHDN rejected my application under category 5. Category 5 refers to the application who is still receiving an income from employment. So I went to the counter responsible for processing category 5 applicants.

Including the application form I also submitted my Wawasan Bersatu resignation letter and also the latter's letter accepting my resignation as supporting documents to proof that I had stopped working since July 2014.

After going through the form and also the supporting documents the lady officer insisted that to show concrete evidence that I had stopped working I am required to submit my KWSP 2014 and 2015 statements. Apparently Wawasan Bersatu's acceptance letter is not good enough. She also required Anna to fill up a separate form stating that she has no income. I have a feeling that the officer did not believe me when I told her that I have no employment income.

KWSP Cheras Taman Shamelin Perkasa

At her suggestion I drove to Taman Shamelin Perkasa to look for the KWSP office. Although it was my first time visiting that particular branch of KWSP I managed to find it in Taman Shamelin Perkasa.

Once inside the building I went straight to a automated kiosk to get my 2014 and 2015 statement printed. The 2014 statement clearly shows that there were no more monthly contributions to KWSP after July

After leaving the KWSP I decided to return to TPJ instead of returning to LHDN. Anyway I also needed Anna to sign a form.

Keeping a cool head

Anjung Singgah

Inside the kitchen

The dining room outside the kitchen

As usual I stood outside the counter to arrange and hand out the meals and bottled water while the other two lady volunteers were inside the kitchen filling the plates with rice and vegetables.

By 12.30 pm I had given away almost all the meals on the counter except two. I didn't think that there would be any more coming in to eat the food and we were about to start packing when a lone burly man strode in.

For the reason that I could not understand at that time when I passed him one of the two remaining meals he glared and shouted at me angrily.

Instead of reacting to his aggression I put down the meal and asked him calmly and politely if he wanted the other meal on the counter. Then when I picked up and offered the other meal he realised what was happening. Almost as fast as his sudden outburst he apologized repeatedly for his offensive behavior.

In the first place I think he got offended and became angry mistaking me for another guy cutting in from behind to grab his meal. Then when I offered to pass him the other meal it dawned on him that I was actually the helper serving him food and not what he thought was another guy grabbing his share of the food.

I wonder what would be the outcome if I had lost my cool and reacted in kind to his verbal posturing and aggression.

Distributing the full moon gift packs

Iand Anna spent the whole morning and afternoon running around from one part to another of the city distributing these gift packs to relatives and friends.

First before we could start to deliver the packs we had to go to the shop in Puchong at 10.00am to collect them and also to settle the balance of the money owing.

We were disappointed when the lady boss said that her credit card machine was out of order and therefore we had to pay her cash. I remember she assured us when we made our order last week that the shop accepted credit card payment. I felt that she wasn't completely honest with us but decided to over look the matter as we were in a hurry to send out the gift packs.

As we didn't have RM643.80 in cash to pay her we had to drive a few blocks to Public Bank to look for a ATM machine to withdraw the cash.

By the time returned to the shop with the cash we had already wasted more than an hour of looking for parking and the bank. Stressed by the traffic congestion and the difficulty of find a lot to park the car I and Anna were getting a bit on our nerves as we entered the shop for the second time.

After lunch our first stop was at Nicholas and Amy's house in Sierra 16. By that time the weather had started to get hot. We didn't go inside but chatted briefly with Nicholas and Amy by the staircase before leaving for the next destination.

After Sierra 16 we headed straight for Peter Chew's house in Pandan Glades which was about 1 hour drive away. In Peter Chew's house we spent about 30 minutes chatting with Peter Chew and Angie.

From Pandan Glades we then went to Chin and my sister's house in Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut. Spent about 30 minutes before returning to TPJ.

As Nigel who was out of town we could not go straight from Segambut to his Koi Kinara apartment in Puchong. We decided to return home and wait for him to inform us when he was back.

5.00pm. Nigel sms to said that he had already reached home. On the way to his apartment I ran smack into a heavy downpour and flash floods. Although I was worried about the flash flood I decided to press on my journey to his apartment.

Fortunately by the time I arrived at the guardhouse at the entrance to his apartment the rain had stopped. I handed over the gift pack to him when he came down from his unit after waiting for aout 10 minutes in the car.

7.30pm. Arrived home rather exhausted by the whole day's running around and the extremely hot weather.

Weibin's first full moon birthday celebration

Sat 7/3/2015 Ipoh Pusing Public Seafood Restaurant

This baby boy, blissfully asleep in the arms of his grandma is unaware of the drama that is unfolding all around him

His family is busy holding a luncheon in his honour to celebrate his first full moon birthday.

Repairing the leaking concrete roof

Mr Yong applying sealant to the joints
of the metal flashing

Mr Yong inspecting the existing metal flashing

Trying to nail the flashing to the brick wall behind
the air conditioner unit is a tricky business

Tight corner. Lack of working space

New sealant to seal the gap for water tightness

Engaged Mr Yong our regular contractor to treat the leaking concrete roof above the kitchen. Due to normal wear and tear the existing sealant at the joint between the gi rainwater flashing and the plastered wall have opened up. rainwater seeped through the gaps in the joint into the kitchen below. 

He spent one whole afternoon adding new gi flashing and sealing the old joints. After sealing the joints he also applied a fibre reinforced coating to ensure that the leakage is completely plugged.

Paid him RM350 for the rectification work.

Reunion of old guys

What do old guys in their 50s, 60s and 70s have in common?

They all like to eat and drink together at the slightest excuse. For this occasion of the wedding dinner of Dr Tiong and Lilian Su at Restoran Golden Court in Bentong all the brothers-in-laws sat around Table 30 for a round of endless drinks, food and small talks. Likewise while the men were busy toasting each other their wives who are sisters would occupy another table exchanging gossips with their own kind.

Of all the old men shown in the picture Mr Yip, the bald and plumb guy in white shirt is the oldest and the most gregarious of all. After a few drinks he will become the spark of the group

Wedding dinner in Bentong

Tonight is Dr Tiong and Lilian Su's big day; their wedding dinner being held at Restoran Golden Court in Bentong

Restoran Golden Court which used to be located in the market area in the town centre has found a new home in a purpose built stand alone building at 1st milestone Jalan Tras. This impressive two storey building now houses the newest and biggest Chinese restaurant in Bentong

On this night there were three wedding dinners being held simultaneously. Ours were held on the first floor level while the other two were held on the ground floor.

The open staircase leading to the first floor has an impressive wall facade with decorative koi fish features stuck to the wall. At the centre of the stairwell the ceiling-hung chandelier further enhances the beauty of the staircase.

At the registration counter I was assigned to Table No 7. Table No 7 was the table where all the sisters sat together. As I thought there might be a mistake in assigning table numbers I decided to join the rest of my brothers-in-law at table 30

Nicholas and Amy came in at 7.30pm after being delayed by traffic congestion and loosing their way in the town centre.

The dinner started promptly at 8.00pm when the bride and groom's parents walked into the banquet hall to be closely followed by the beaming bride and groom. The groom wore a white suite while the bride don a red dress.

The groom's father dressed quite simply in a short sleeved white shirt, black pants and wearing sandals. They do look like the part of simple rural folks by the way they dressed> I would have thought that since their son was getting married they should wear something more appropriate to the glamorous occasion.

The food was good and in big portions.

All the brothers-in laws had a good time drinking and toasting each other. Yip the most senior brother-in-law was at his elements when under the influence of alcohol. As for me I didn't touch any red wine, beer or brandy. As I had to drive I stuck to Chinese tea.

The dinner ended at 10.30pm.

After the dinner we headed back to KL instead of staying the night in Bentong.