“One ship drives east and another drives west
 With the selfsame winds that blow.
 ‘Tis the set of the sails
 And not the gales
 Which tells us which way to go.”
Emma Wheeler Wilcox

At the global level, the world appears to be a bit stormy these days. Greece is fiscally imploding. Ireland is on the brink. The USA is shaken, not stirred.

Trend Teasers

This article was featured in Homme Magazine- Issue December 2011
Submitted by Datuk Nicholas Zefferys

Just in the past few weeks, some social trends noted by the media here in Malaysia, (that apply equally well to other countries) have raised ‘alarm bells’. These include a swing towards obesity with attendant health implications, rising divorce rates, increases in abandoned babies, older parents being turned out by their children, and peer pressure to buy things that are not affordable just to be trendy and to appear “cool” or “glamorous”.

The scale and nature of this challenge is visible in ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040, our long-term forecast of global energy supply and demand trends.

The minimum wage for Malaysians was finally announced by the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia on the 30th of October 2012 setting a base wage of RM900 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak. Many arguments have been put forth either in support or against the need for a minimum wage. The majority of AMCHAM members are not adverse to such an idea and felt that a base rate of RM850 would have been reasonable considering the fact that many American companies give good benefits and provide decent working conditions for their valued Malaysian workers.

Distance was a factor. This huge continent was ocean bound with the Atlantic on one side and the Pacific on the other. That was why any outside explorers took so long to reach it. The first of these it will come as no surprise – were the Vikings (specifically Leif Erikson). Thanks to the long coast line of their country of origin in Europe – they became some of the earliest seafarers.

This website and the e-newsletter reflect modernisation of how we communicate with you. The technological age of interactive communication ‘any place - any time’ through a variety of devices is today’s reality. It is AMCHAM’s aspiration to become an invaluable channel for your timely use and to meet your needs and challenges.