Will new laws affect drinking industry?

A couple of major new laws by the Ministry of Domestic Trade might have an impact on drinkers.

The Competition Act 2010, which will be enforced from January 1st next year, is meant to protect free competition and promote a level playing field for businesses, primarily to benefit consumers, and make this country more open and competitive. More details in a feature by The Star.

Provisions include those against price-fixing, tie-ins and price-discrimination. One that is of interest is entitled “Exclusive Dealing”, which prohibits unfair trading terms such as exclusivity. Will that affect the main players here such as the Malaysian beer industry?

Right now, most bars are forced to sell either GAB or Carlsberg Malaysia’s brands on tap. So if an outlet serves drafts such as Carlsberg or Hoegaarden, there cant be Guinness or Tiger draft.

Draft beers are getting more popular, but limited in variety due to allegiance to particular breweries

Which limits a consumer’s outlet choice according to which beer he prefers. And bar owners too have to agree to those terms and shut out the competitor, and in return get rewarded by the brewery in various ways.

It doesnt affect the liquor guys so much i guess. Moet Hennessy Diageo and Pernod Ricard Malaysia are the biggest, so this law might help the little guys.

The other relevant law is the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2010, which has already kicked in this month. Besides making sure all outlets display prices for all products prominently, there is a new provision, which makes it illegal to make unreasonably high profits, or profiteer.

The law also controls prices increases. Say the tax on booze or whatever product is increased by 5%. If the retailer then increases price disproportionately, he can be guilty of an offence, with massive fines up to 100k for individuals and 500k for companies. Consumers themselves are the primary enforcers of this law, and can contact the Malaysian Competition Commission to make a complaint.

This is to control the unjustified price increases by businesses in this country, which has been sending our standard of living downhill.

About time i say.

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Guinness FES old TV ad

This is some 80’s shit, when it was ok to confess on national TV that “Guinness Stout is good for you.”

REAL men, none of ’em plastic-eyed sissies u get these days, working their butts off to prevent d end of the world caused by a leaky pipe. Everyone could have fuckin drowned man. They’re heroes.

Dudes averted some major Armageddon crisis, then rewarded themselves after quitin time with Guinness. Haha! They should have bought the crowbar a drink.

Howdahell – they were wearing the same clothes later, but it was completely dry.

It was done in Malaysian too! Awesome. “Guinness Stout, Baik Untuk Anda.” Sgotta catchy tune.

Dunno watdefuck they doin tho. Shovin coal or sumtin.

Well, alcohol advertising hasnt changed much. Same ol over-screwed theme – u done well / u scaled new heights / reward yourself blah blah blah.

Right. Thanks. Gimme sumtin bold & fresh guys.

Anyway, I always say the 80’s were creativity’s dark ages, especially with entertainment, music, the arts and design. Am talkin bout everything from cars, movies, music and fashion.

I rest my case right here!

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Last chance to party like a star…

Yea! The Black Circuit Lounge 2011 is on this Saturday! And from last year’s experience, it’s fat. Good Scotch all over d place.

So like was explained in a previous post, get your ‘keep walking’ story in asap! Will give yall till April 5 (Tuesday). The event’s Facebook-page contest has closed, so this is your only chance to get entry.

2 sets x 4 VIP-access await!

 

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Flight number 150

… was to Langkawi last week for a company trip.

Where i hung in Langkawi...

Obviously i love travelling. I have been on an aircraft about 150 times now. Most were incident-free, except for two.

Once i was flying back from Sabah to KL, and bumped into a friend, who’s a doc. “Watsup man?”

He says with a big smile: “Escorting patient to KL General Hospital,” obviously happy to take a few days break in KL. Soon after take-off, there are complications, and i watch as he desperately performs CPR on the patient. Eventually, soaked in sweat, he calls it, and the plane turns back to offload him and the body.

I say to him “No luck eh? Maybe next time then! C ya!”

... for obvious reasons

The other incident was more recent when i was returning from somewhere in China. I noticed some activity mid-flight, and realize that an old man was in trouble. The crew kept paging for a doctor. No luck. I know CPR, but i’m no doc, so i remained seated.

Then i watch as the crew goes around and fetches the man’s family, grandkids, etc who are seated elsewhere. The old man dies.

Most passengers dont notice, and the crew then make it look like he’s asleep for d rest of the flight. Blanket n all.

Kinda weird flying with dead people in the cabin.

I lurv underwater bar stools

On my journeys via 747, I’ve only sat upstairs (the dickhead of the aircraft) twice. That wuz cool. I focused on the champagne of course.

The smallest aircraft i have been in was a 10-seater i think (single propeller), when i did my parachute jumps, twice in UK and once in Malacca.

I love the propeller-run Malaysia Airlines Twin Otters that fly into the interior of Sarawak and Sabah. Pretty small, and u can see the scene and pilots in action in front of you as there’s no door. They need to weigh u before they seat you.

There was even a band to entertain us at d pool-bar

Re drinks, i usually go for wine or cocktails. No thanks to fucking terrorists, there are now rules against opening bottles on board. Asian airlines (I still love MAS the most) obviously have d best service, while the rest of the world sucks. Some crew are real stingy with d drinks. No thanks to goddam drunks who cant hold their booze and start making noise. Dickheads.

Been lucky not to hit any major weather or turbulence. But of course, each time i try to take a piss, there’s turbulence.

For the first time in my life, i was served booze by bargirls in headscarves. Checkitout - Carlsberg AND Tiger draught in d same outlet. Rare.

Its been fun flying around d world. Will upload photos someday if i’m not too lazy. Been to about 30 countries now. Lookin forward to more!

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