By ZIEMAN
The Star
source : malaysia today
Muslims should not feel uneasy or offended if non-Muslims use the expression assalamu’alaikum (peace be upon you) to greet them, said Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin. He said there were non-Muslims who greeted Muslims with the salam in the proper manner and “with all honesty, that is, they truly wish us peace.” “Islam teaches us that an honourable greeting must be replied appropriately. Therefore, Muslims should answer such a greeting fully.” Dr Asri, the country’s youngest mufti, said this in a new weekly column in mstar, the Malay news portal of The Star. The Islamic scholar skyrocketed into the Malaysian consciousness after his bold comments last year on the need for religious authorities to stop snooping and spying on Muslims for khalwat (close proximity), urging them to look at the bigger picture and focus on the community’s more pressing problems. Since then, the 35-year-old mufti has expressed opinions on a range of issues, some of which have not exactly endeared him to some of his more conservative peers and segments of the public. In his column, Dr Asri will take questions from Muslims and non-Muslims who want to know about Islam and its application in daily life in a multi-ethnic setting. His views on the Muslim greeting was in response to the following question posed by a non-Muslim: In the Middle East, it is customary to greet people, including non-Muslims, with the salam – Assalamu ‘alaikum (meaning, “peace be upon you”) – and to reply to the greeting with the phrase, “Wa ’alaikum salam (“and upon you, peace”). However, in Malaysia, the greeting seems to be confined to Muslims. Why? Dr Asri said: “In Malaysia, the greeting is a cultural practice established by people in the past. It is a problem of comprehension and interpretation, which has resulted in the belief that Muslims are not allowed to answer the salam expressed by non-Muslims. “This has happened because of a confusion over a hadith (tradition) of the Prophet, who instructed Muslims to reply to the salam from the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) with the phrase wa ’alaika (and upon you). “During the time of the Prophet, non-Muslims who were hostile to Muslims sometimes cynically greeted them with assamu ‘alaikum, which means ‘destruction upon you’. “That is why the Prophet told Muslims to reply with wa ’alaika. The instruction contained in this hadith is not applicable in every situation.” Dr Asri encouraged Muslims to show that Islam projects an image of harmony and that Prophet Muhammad was sent to bring peace. “There is no problem with Islam. All this happen because of inaccurate interpretations, and we have to fix it.”
Comments
astina wrote:
well said mufti .Atleats he knows what he is talking about .Its common in middle east and India as well ..
04/05 10:26:17
Susen wrote:
Dr Asri is a smart intelligent young guy. I had met him before he became the Mufti.I agree most of his thoughts, but, his colloboratin with the gangster CM Shahidan Kassim, has torn down his reputation little bit. Being a Mufti for UMNO guys, makes him less favorable for PAS members especially.He should stay independent from any political platform. May Allah bless you!!
04/05 10:34:41
docomo00 wrote:
an UMNO stooge called by any other title is still an UMNO stooge
04/05 10:45:41
Ricobajaj6666 wrote:
Well done Tuan mufti...now you can see others converting to islam ..not because of this but because you have lowered your hostile stance towards everyone else.Now when you open urself yo assimillation we will all learn to get along...dont u all think so?..so far so good tuan mufti...keep going...
04/05 10:54:40
KopiO wrote:
Muslims in Malaysia has so many taboos. I have encountered this incident before when I greeted a muslim friend "assalamu’alaikum" but was given a cold shoulder. It was a real put-off for me and my muslim friend though I meant good. Kudos to Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri! His comment is based on reason rather than prejudice.
04/05 11:02:25
randavi wrote:
ALHAMDULILLAH...!!
04/05 11:04:37
duncanstuart wrote:
Someone who has his feet on the ground... good on you!
04/05 11:14:20
Menanti wrote:
Assallaamualaikum was borrowed or copied from the Greek Christians's Pax Vobiscum and so was inshiallah which is volente deo. Malay Muslims are generally ill-informed and narrow-minded.
04/05 11:14:54
BobSam wrote:
A breath of fresh airThis is leadership.Now pray for more leaders of this mold.Not leaders who act like monkeys, KJ, etc.
04/05 11:16:44
AngryTaxpayer wrote:
Since when was this ever a problem? During my growing up years in the late 70s and 80s, don't remember any muslims being offended when my dad greeted his malays friends with salam.Just where did all these extremist come from?!
04/05 11:35:28
Otak Udang wrote:
The Malays in Malaysis are very stupid and so how to take offen when you dont know any better? In my Udang travels I have never coe a cross a group of people who intellectually challanged as the Malays. I am ashamed of it.
04/05 11:37:30
johnleemk wrote:
This is just another example of how Malaysians naturally unite when politicians don't get in the way - we can already see it in bahasa rojak:http://www.infernalrambling...
04/05 12:18:13
Angryman wrote:
Muslims should not feel uneasy or offended if non-Muslims use the expression assalamu’alaikum (peace be upon you) to greet them, said Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin. ****************************************Why a simple greeting will offense a person, the answers are as follow:1. no confidence2. no self respect3. no EQ4. arrogant5. can't live together with others6. can't stay along with others7. self righteous If you meet someone like these, just say:"Fuck you.". Just ignore whether he is being offensed or not.
04/05 12:20:53
Being Human wrote:
It is the intention or substance of the greeting that is important. It is very unfortunate that many muslims are easily tyrannized by their emotions when they hear the salam from non-muslims (even when the intention of good). Except a few, most religions are not EFFICIENT enough to accelerate the mental and psychological growth of their followers. Rather they pin the majority of their followers (Dr. Asri the exception) to act from the basement of their minds.When religious followers are dominated by their animal brains instead of being more human, they will continue to be provoked by the behaviours on non-believers.
04/05 12:30:21
Peace Be Upon U wrote:
As a malay, I congrat Dr. Asri for this clarification. Melayu need to think outside the box.. Kesian..Even Jesus pbuh used the same salam,shalom, whenever he meets his disciples. One of the occasions was the last supper.Since Muslim also believe in Jesus pbuh as the righteous master, we Muslim can boast as at least the follower of Jesus pbuh in his noble way to greet people apart from other traditions he did before like fasting etc.Well done Mufti...Please also tell hamid othman to consider the request from chinese muslim community to have their own (design) mosque. What's wrong with that..Tempurung Muslims never see this as an opportunity to promote Islam as deen to all..Those who went to St. John's KL did their friday prayers in Masjid India,where the medium is Tamil.
04/05 13:07:05
Task Force 101 wrote:
I wonder why does a mufti have to come out with such statements. Are Muslims in Malaysia such dim wits and have a poor/shallow knowledge of their religion that it needs a shepherd to address even such basic manners.If the answer to the above is yes, then Malaysian tax payers better cry this weekend since for the last 22 yrs their money has been wasted to build mosques in every corner of a housing estate, Hari Raya "gifts" and islamic schools.I guess with poor intelligence even with all the assistance, malay muslims cannot get basic manners right. I think African Muslims with no education or plush mosques to pray in have better understanding of their Islamic religion.Thanks to our dictator and economic terrorist Mahathir, he has used Islam to divide and run a country to the ground and created monkey malays who snoop, steal, rape and pillage the country's resources and then drive in their BMWs to a mosque 5 meters from their house to pray 5 times. Someone should tell them, GOD is merciful only if you are TRULY SORRY for your actions. Its not like a Gov't contract where one perbincangan get you 10 contracts.
04/05 13:18:28
clearmind wrote:
My colleague's daughter is exposed to Islamic prayers in school. So if a Muslim gets offended when they hear non-Muslims recite bismillah, prayers, etc -they only have themselves to blame.I know most of these children make fun of the Muslim prayers & recitals when they are among their own - who can blmae them? We Muslims have "opened" ourselves to this kind of ridicule. We can also be guilty of causing shame to our religion...And forbidng others to salam is another silly thing we do...it has nothing to do with religion.
04/05 13:41:18
joeawk wrote:
We, in Malaysia are not allowed to wish a muslim as such. If I can remember correctly, there is a dakwa which forbid non muslims mentioning the name of Allah as well.Islam as practise in Malaysia is ridiculous, yet they still think and belieeve that they will be the only ones going to heaven.Many must have been disapppointed and escape to came back to the physical realm with their physical bodies and create havoc. How else can anyone explain the ills affecting muslim youth despite their religious studies and enforced daily prayers.
04/05 13:48:58
L0RD wrote:
wtf wrong with just salam sejahtera.
04/05 14:00:19
gintak wrote:
I recommend our country should get rid of syariah court which is redundant to other existing court like civil court.Waste our tax payer money only and create more conflict among malaysians.
04/05 14:12:54
Cranky old man wrote:
Three cheers to tuan mufti!!!
04/05 14:27:08
tokioRain wrote:
I personally dont have a problem with a non-muslim greeting me this way. In fact I am happy he/she takes the trouble, irrespective whether he/she understands the meaning or not. What the fuck is wrong with these malays?
04/05 14:28:02
gintak wrote:
Mereka kena belajar civik di sekolah. Jika menteri kita pun macam samseng (lihat dari gambar masa pilihan raya di ijok), apa lagi dengan murid2 sekolah dan generasi kita yang akan datang? Ikut saja lah.
04/05 15:22:18
badshah wrote:
nothing wrong in muslims use salam in malay too.....arab is an alien language...why not issue salam in malay instead
04/05 16:07:09
badshah wrote:
i wished a malay arabic salam a long long time back...he stoped saying it is "reserved' to muslims....i never had...and never will do arabic salam again
04/05 16:08:50
badshah wrote:
beaareful guys...this is just atrick to islamize us
04/05 16:09:35
mak jun yeen wrote:
SHALOM ALEICHEM
04/05 16:21:11
Taikohtai wrote:
ASSLAMU'ALIKUM to you all!
04/05 16:25:50
admiraltojo wrote:
Nothing holy about greeting anyone PEACE/Salaam/Shalom etc. In fact nothing holy about leading a righteous (NOT religious) life at all. What is all the fuss about in the first place?In fact, there is NO provision for a Mufti to exist at all, in a righteous life. In the pagan Arab religion, there are Muftis aplenty.Salaam
04/05 17:04:09
vigthegreat wrote:
Article 11
04/05 17:09:41
JJay wrote:
Yes Dr.Asri, you are wise man.Hope you are not be used as political tools of BN later.This is type of Muslim who can preach how fine Islam about. Not like the Stupid JAIS Gengster.
04/05 17:43:51
Iblisakti wrote:
I love to hear more original of Islam.
04/05 19:30:15
klmatsalleh wrote:
Enlightened comments for sure, lets hope the Mufti or Perlis is not targeted because of his forward & modern thinking.
04/05 21:40:53
KarmannGhia wrote:
And Matsalleh says it's ok for Muslims to use "HELLO" also.
04/05 22:58:37
jimihendrix wrote:
The problem in Malaysia starts with the education system. In primary 1 the educators start doing their damage to the innocent minds. Children who integrated so beautifully in the kindergartens, regardless of race or religion are slowly poisoned and the segregation begins in earnest, particularly by the Islamic religious Ustads and Ustazahs.By the time these children reach Form 5 the segregation is complete.Then what happens? The government sends them to National Service camps, as if 3 months will undo 11 years of damage to their minds.This guy here has got something interesting to say about this: http://plkn.info/node/13Coming back to the Ustads and Ustazahs, just last week my youngest daughter, who is now in primary 1 in a sekolah kebangsaan said to me that her Ustazah informed the class that "Malays should not say Assalamualaikum to Indians". Now this really, really confused my daughter, because I am an Indian Muslim married to a Malay. So you see the damage really starts with these idiotic and racist and religious ignoramuses who call themselves Ustads and Ustazahs.
05/05 01:31:06
MM2007 wrote:
.CARA RASUL MEMBERI SALAM..Berikut ini adalah cara Rasululah telah memberi salam kepada orang yang beriman:.Surah 6:54 " Dan apabila orang-orang yang beriman kepada ayat-ayat keterangan Kami itu datang kepadamu maka katakanlah: SALAMUN ALAIKUM. . .'.Jadi salam yang betul dan baik sesama orang Islam yg diajar Nabi ialah SALAMUN ALAIKUM. .Bagaimana pula cara Nabi bersalam dengan orang bukan Islam seperti orang jahiliyah. Sila perhatikan :.Surah 28:55 "Dan apabila mereka mendengar perkataan yang sia-sia, mereka berpaling daripadanya sambil berkata: Bagi kami amal kami dan bagi kamu pula amal kamu; SALAMUN ALAIKUM; kami tidak ingin berdamping dengan orang-orang yang jahil (Al Jahileen)..Maka cara bersalam yang baik dan semporna dengan orang bukan Islam yg di ajar Nabi ialah SALAMUN ALAIKUM juga..SALAMUN ALAIKUM ialah cara bersalam daripada Tuhan yang di ajar oleh Rasul. Inilah cara bersalam dengan semua orang (Islam dan bukan Islam) yang paling sempurna. Sila lihat ayat berikut :.Surah 24:61 ". . apabila kamu masuk ke mana-mana rumah, hendaklah kamu memberi salam atas diri-dirimu dengan yang baik dari Allah yang diberkati. Demikianlah Allah menerangkan ayat-ayat supaya kamu memahaminya..Jadi apabila kita masuk sebarang rumah pun, rumah orang Islam atau bukan Islam, kita mesti bersalam atas penghuninya dengan salam yang baik yang diajar Allah dalam Al Quran. Inilah salam yang diberkati Tuhan ia itu SALAMUN ALAIKUM..Apakah yang akan berlaku kepada kita jika kita tidak mahu ikut salam yang simple dan baik ini dpd Al Quran yang di ajar Tuhan ? Apakah 'big deal' sangat kita mesti ikut 'Salamun Alaikum' yang di ajar Rasul kpd kita dalam Quran ? Sila lihat sendiri :.Surah 58:8 "Tidakkah engkau memerhatikan mereka yang telah dilarang daripada perbuatan berbisik-bisik, kemudian mereka berbalik melakukan perbuatan yang telah dilarang itu serta mereka berbisik-bisik berkenaan dengan melakukan dosa dan pencerobohan serta kederhakaan kepada Rasulullah? Dan lagi apabila mereka datang kepadamu, mereka memberi salam hormat bukan dengan lafaz salam hormat yang diberikan Allah kepadamu dan mereka berkata sesama sendiri: Apakah sepatutnya kami diseksa oleh Allah disebabkan yang kami ucapkan itu? Cukuplah untuk mereka Neraka Jahanam, yang mereka akan dibakar di dalamnya; maka itulah seburuk-buruk tempat kembali.' .Jadi janganlah kita menolak ayat-ayat Quran ia itu ajaran Rasul kita yang mulia walaupun untuk perkara yang kita nampak sebagai paling remeh dan simple seperti memberi Salam. Sebab memberi Salam antara manusia bukannya perkara yang remeh. Memberi salam itu adalah sangat penting kerana bersalam itu adalah pembuka jalan, pembuka persahabatan, pengenalan saling menghormati, pancaran niat kita dan banyak lagi..Cuba kita fikir. Kalaulah orang Islam ucap 'salam sejahtera atas kamu' (maksud SALAMUN ALAIKUM) hanya kpd orang Islam dan tidak mahu ucapkan salam sejahtera kpd orang bukan Islam, sudah tentu maksud nya ialah 'Saya tidak pedulikan kesejahteraan awak kerana awak bukan Islam'..Maka dunia akan sah mengenali kita sebagai orang gila terrorist yang tidak mahukan kesejahteraan pun ke atas orang bukan Islam. Maka kita akan termasuk di kalangan orang gila. Sesiapa pun tidak akan mendekati kita atau hendak menjadi kawan kita, Akhir sekali kita akan menjadi miskin, bodoh, celupar, kurang sopan, ganas, terkebelakang, sumbang mahram, penipu, pencuri dan banyak lagi. Semua ini memang connected...
05/05 11:15:47
Friday, 4 May 2007
Sunday, 22 April 2007
BUY A CAR>>GOOD ARTICLE MUST READ
If you're like the majority of Americans, your attempts to purchase a car have left you feeling cheated, isolated, and degraded, more used than the burnt-out Pinto at the end of the lot. You've faced the half-truths, the shifty eyes, the blinding gleam of Super Bowl-style rings. You've sat for long hours in the drab interior of the dealership, staring at the plastic flowers in an attempt to divine whether a lockable gas cap is really worth $75. And you know to expect to be told that seven other people are dying to buy the car you just test-drove. The reason for your distrust and resentment is as clear as a squeegeed windshield. Dealerships have trotted out absurdly inflated list prices, hoping to ensnare every happy-go-lucky buyer who holds an open checkbook. The enemy runs salesmen at you like pawns in a Ruy Lopez opening -- applying relentless pressure, maneuvering constantly for a psychological advantage, attempting systematically to mislead you. They're directed around the board by the King -- the Manager -- to whom buyers are usually presented late in the bidding process. This man (why is the Manager always a man?) will be introduced to you as a fascinating fellow and model citizen, a long-time local resident who has Greater Interests than simply moving inventory; he's purportedly bookish, or maybe a water-skiing freak, or a savvy options investor. The whole scenario is well-rehearsed, carried out by automatons to the inaudible click of a metronome. No wonder today's buyer is short on patience. Why don't dealerships just swear off the current system, establish a prix fixe, and save everyone a lot of time and trouble? Some have, and for them The Fool offers a smattering of claps. The rest of the blackguards slog through their daily operations with our heartfelt disapproval. We can sit around whining, hoping that one day they'll mend their ways, or we can force the issue. As you might guess, our "Fool's Guide to Browbeating Your Car Salesman" does the latter. The aim here is to outwit the swindler, keep the bogeyman at bay. Following are 10 ways for the uncomfortable buyer to turn the tables on the opposition, possibly have a bit of fun at its expense (for a change), and save good money as well.
1. Shop Late
If you're not particular about the color of your vehicle, whether it has vinyl or leather seats, or power or manual locks, then wait till the last week of the month to go car shopping. Dealers are on a month-to-month quota system and have to make space for coming shipments. By the middle of the fourth week, you can bet that those with "product" on the lot are getting pretty impatient. Waltz in on the 25th of a month with a copy of "The Brothers Karamazov" under your arm and a small bag of popcorn. Tell them you're making the rounds for a new car, but don't know where to start. Feigned ignorance will serve you well in the long run.
2. The Best Price
Most of us don't have to feign ignorance when it comes to the long list of automobile accessories. We have no sense of their actual cost. It's almost as if dealers developed rear-window defoggers, anti-lock brake systems, and alloy wheels just to create a new class of uninformed buyers easier to prey upon. So don't stay uninformed. Get a copy of the "National Automotive Dealer Association Handbook" (NADA) at your local bookstore. It contains wholesale prices for both standard vehicles and accessories. Simply piece together the features and their listed costs to mimic your dream machine. You'll wind up with a highly accurate idea of how much your car should actually cost. An alternate method, clever and more elaborate, is to let the dealers value all the features for you. Once you've decided on a car -- let's make it the 1995 Honda CRX -- simply call up the first Honda dealer in your area and get in touch with a salesman. Let's say you've dialed up Honda-Edsel, where you've reached a chipper young man named Ronnie Lawson. Tell Ronnie you love the '95 model; tell him you're driving out his way and looking to buy; tell him all the things he wants so desperately to hear. Then ask him how much he'd mark up the car if you were to ask for, say, anti-lock brakes. When he quotes you a price, pause. Ask if he can go lower. In fact, start bargaining him down to the dollar, if you can stomach it. He'll probably be quite willing to offer you the lowest cost on brakes, or defoggers, or Dolby-sound speakers, or any given item, figuring that he can just knock up the price on some other feature. After all, you sounded SO eager to buy.... Now, having done this, hang up and proceed to the next dealer, and the next feature. No doubt you'll feel Foolish making a big deal about negotiating the cost of lighted vanity mirrors. Hey, who says you shouldn't have fun buying a car?! Push back into your livingroom sofa and talk the dealers' ears off. The less significant the item in question, the more relentless you should be. Go nuts getting the best daggone price out there on headlight washers, timed wipers, and car mats. At all times, bewilder the man you're dealing with. When you can't keep from laughing, fight $10 lower on the car mats, and tell him that otherwise he can just junk the car because you won't buy it. When you've run through the gamut of features, you'll have constructed the cheapest vehicle possible, and become a master barterer AND minor comedian in the process. Sure, you made some long-distance calls, and thus a sizable donation to the telecommunications industry... but you'll be dynamite at cocktail parties. And what's a lousy fifty bucks when you stand to save twenty-five times that?
3. His 3%
Determining the wholesale cost alone won't do you much good. You're not going to get the car for what the dealer paid, and he'll be the first to tell you that... over and over again. You have to give him his fair share to compensate him for coming into the office every day and hassling customers. So take the value you've pulled from NADA -- or your phone frolic -- and mark it up 3%, NO MORE. In ideal situations, you can cut into that 3% markup. After doing the math, make your offer. If the car is priced at $10,000, for instance, say these four words and leave the lot: "Ten thousand, three hundred." As you're traipsing back to your current set of wheels, the salesman will call out to you, wailing that the offer's unacceptable, that his company wouldn't make a red cent on such a deal, ad nauseam. Of course, this isn't true; they're turning a 3% profit, a cut that many will agree is more than enough for the "service" they offer. And about twenty minutes later, you can bet that they'll ring you up at home and tell you they have some Good News... could you come back in? They want to talk some more, and as usual they want you down at the dealership to do it. Upon arriving, you find that they may be willing to take your offer, but they'll have to charge you $400 for "dealer's prep." This is the fee for getting the auto to the lot, you're told. Malarkey! Cross it out and stick to your guns. The "dealer's prep" presumes that it's your responsibility to get the car to the lot. It definitely isn't.
4. Good Means Bad
As was just demonstrated, "good news" for a car buyer is always bad. Go to red alert whenever you pick up a ringing telephone and hear: "Hi [your name goes here], this is Ronnie Lawson at Mercedes-Yugo. Have I got some good news for you!" This threadbare utterance should turn your stomach. Whatever follows next can be expected to incorporate some of the dirtiest, least forgivable lies you'll ever hear. "Good deals" are just the same. A "good deal" is in point of fact an extremely regrettable one for you. If you're about to sign the contract and Ronnie Lawson tells you that you're getting a good deal on this baby, drop the pen. And I mean drop it! You're witnessing a phenomenon that psychologists call "projection." Ronnie is projecting his own feelings about the deal onto you. You won't make any friends at the dealership when you reopen negotiations then and there, but you have enough friends already, don't you? It's an unfortunate fact of human existence that in order to get a fair price for a new car, you'll have to drive it off the lot with the entire sales force shouting insults at you. We all prefer to be loved and respected, of course. Dealers know this. They offer constant positive reinforcement by patting us on the back and smiling affectionately at the very moment that they're cheating us. But remember, if a devil smiles and winks at you, you're doing something wrong. The goal is to have these devils hating your guts. Automobile dealerships are not wise places to seek positive reinforcement.
5. Avoid Trade-Ins
Many car buyers hope to unload their old car as part of a new purchase. This is, generally speaking, a boo-boo. Many people feel that listing a classified ad is not worth the hassle (also not true) and dealers love to exploit this: their offer for the trade-in will inevitably far undercut the open market price. Just as you should be insulted by the list price of a new car, you should be offended by their offer for your trade-in. Start by going to the "Blue Book," available among other places at your local bank. This helpful manual values cars according to the make, year, and mileage. If your vehicle is an automatic in good condition, you've just found its price tag. For standard transmissions, knock some bucks off. After you've located the fair price, go ahead and give yourself a 2% markup; you've earned it. Consider this the "seller's prep," or some such beast. When the dealer asks you why you're deviating from the Blue Book figure, remind him that you changed the oil dutifully every few thousand miles, didn't extinguish cigarettes on the upholstery, and kept the stereo consistently below volume 10. (If you failed to live up to these standards, just make up a list of your own.) A 2% markup is legitimate. Don't worry about the dealers; they'll clean the thing up and turn a nice profit. Of course, if you've taken unusually good care of your car, push the markup higher. If your salesman won't budge on his trade-in offer, fear not. Simply call up the very dealership in town that offers your make of car and let them bid on it. If you own an Audi, you can bet you'll get a better offer from an Audi dealership because they'll have an easier time selling it. Now that you have it, take that offer back to the bargaining table, explaining where you got it to the increasingly tired-looking Ronnie. And smile.
6. Work The Phone
Once you've outlined your offer in detail, be prepared for the brutal intermediate rounds of negotiations. To bolster your position, get back on the horn and start calling out-of-town dealerships. You'll need some firepower when your local salesman calls you to say that he can't find a buyer for your Volvo anywhere in your region of the country. Exactly what you've been waiting for. . . won't he be startled when you announce you've located a better offer 100 miles north! Oh, and while you're at it, tell him you're thinking about buying your new car up north as well. Then push back again in your couch and wait through the long silence. That long silence is music to a buyer's ears! Aim for it every time the phone rings and you hear, "[Your name goes here], this is Ronnie Lawson, Jeep/Eagle-Rolls Royce."
7. Apples & Oranges
Never let a salesman get you into a situation where he's trading you apples for oranges. Your trade-in and the new car are unique, separate vehicles; they should be valued separately. If the deals are kept separate, you'll stand a better chance of fairly pricing them. So just walk out when your salesman or his suave Manager tells you, "We'll give you back $200 on the new car, but unfortunately we won't be able to budge on our trade-in offer." Better yet, don't trade in your old car at all. If you want decent value for it, sell it separately (c.f. #5).
8. Hit The Road
If your current car can make the trip, don't hesitate to drive out of your way for a better deal. At the very least, you can use this option as a bargaining chip in your hometown showroom. If you're in Boston and can get a better deal in Maine, make that known in Boston. The salesman will probably remind you how inconvenient it would be for you to go all the way up there. Don't hesitate to remind him that you enjoy three-hour drives that land a thousand bucks in your back pocket. If only the rest of life were so inconvenient. In the same vein, don't hesitate to leave the lot during a bidding skirmish. Go for a sandwich, go for a walk, sit on a bench and agonize over The Motley Fool Stock Portfolio. Relieve the pressure by walking or driving away. Of course every time you return to the lot, Willy Loman will seem more impatient, less willing to bargain. But remember, behind every mask is an actor or a scoundrel.
9. The Lemon Test
If you don't have a trade-in and you think you're a brilliant barterer, challenge yourself: Prior to initiating negotiations to buy a new car, purchase a $200 used one. Attempt to trade it in. Give yourself ten points if in the final hour you've bid up your two-bit lemon to the $500-$1000 range, fifty points if you're getting $1000-$1500. Because dealers have so much success fixing these vehicles up and reselling them for more than they paid, they're often willing to chance the swap if it means selling a new car. Obvious risk is involved here; this strategy is not for the faint of tongue; you DON'T want a new car AND a bag of unsellable bones competing for space in your driveway. Nevertheless, The Fool knows such tactics have worked, and they do seem fiendishly clever.
10. The Local Hero
Why, when we know it to be patently untrue, do dealerships insist on playing up their managers as local heroes? One reason may be that these are the same cheeseballs you often see embarrassing themselves on local television advertisements. Whatever the true reason, customers are expected to be as excited to shake the untelegenic top dog's right paw as they are to drive off with a new car As mentioned earlier, your rendezvous with the Manager usually comes at a key point late in the negotiations. For instance, following your insultingly low offer, the frowning Ronnie Lawson has to go back and talk to the Manager. "He's been living and working here for twenty-seven years," Ronnie tells you, walking away, "and he's very involved with the community." The Manager comes down and affably -- always affably -- tells you a bit about the business, subtly explaining away the discrepancy between the dealership's reasonable price, and your unrealistic one. But if you leave it at that, you're missing an opportunity for some good, old-fashioned fun. The well-prepared Fool will bring to the negotiations a clean, white baseball -- just purchased -- so that at the very moment the Manager swaggers out front for introductions, the Fool can stick the cowhide in his face and bum a John Hancock. If these people want to be celebrities, give them a taste of the downside. Hound them for autographs.
In conclusion, it seems appopriate to remind the reader that conventional wisdom is something any right-thinking Fool shuns. For example, conventional wisdom about buying a car tells you to find the one that you like, bid on it, and accept the dealer's counteroffer. This quitter's mentality may be attractive to some; for our own part, we'd rather spend our years acting, rather than being acted upon. Another example of the drivel that issues from the mouths of the Wise tells you to pay up for quality. But that oversimplifies the problem, doesn't it? How much exactly should one pay up for quality? If a little moxie will save you a thousand dollars on the car you want, you didn't have to pay up for quality.
SOURCE :
http://www.fool.com/School/BuyaCar.htm
1. Shop Late
If you're not particular about the color of your vehicle, whether it has vinyl or leather seats, or power or manual locks, then wait till the last week of the month to go car shopping. Dealers are on a month-to-month quota system and have to make space for coming shipments. By the middle of the fourth week, you can bet that those with "product" on the lot are getting pretty impatient. Waltz in on the 25th of a month with a copy of "The Brothers Karamazov" under your arm and a small bag of popcorn. Tell them you're making the rounds for a new car, but don't know where to start. Feigned ignorance will serve you well in the long run.
2. The Best Price
Most of us don't have to feign ignorance when it comes to the long list of automobile accessories. We have no sense of their actual cost. It's almost as if dealers developed rear-window defoggers, anti-lock brake systems, and alloy wheels just to create a new class of uninformed buyers easier to prey upon. So don't stay uninformed. Get a copy of the "National Automotive Dealer Association Handbook" (NADA) at your local bookstore. It contains wholesale prices for both standard vehicles and accessories. Simply piece together the features and their listed costs to mimic your dream machine. You'll wind up with a highly accurate idea of how much your car should actually cost. An alternate method, clever and more elaborate, is to let the dealers value all the features for you. Once you've decided on a car -- let's make it the 1995 Honda CRX -- simply call up the first Honda dealer in your area and get in touch with a salesman. Let's say you've dialed up Honda-Edsel, where you've reached a chipper young man named Ronnie Lawson. Tell Ronnie you love the '95 model; tell him you're driving out his way and looking to buy; tell him all the things he wants so desperately to hear. Then ask him how much he'd mark up the car if you were to ask for, say, anti-lock brakes. When he quotes you a price, pause. Ask if he can go lower. In fact, start bargaining him down to the dollar, if you can stomach it. He'll probably be quite willing to offer you the lowest cost on brakes, or defoggers, or Dolby-sound speakers, or any given item, figuring that he can just knock up the price on some other feature. After all, you sounded SO eager to buy.... Now, having done this, hang up and proceed to the next dealer, and the next feature. No doubt you'll feel Foolish making a big deal about negotiating the cost of lighted vanity mirrors. Hey, who says you shouldn't have fun buying a car?! Push back into your livingroom sofa and talk the dealers' ears off. The less significant the item in question, the more relentless you should be. Go nuts getting the best daggone price out there on headlight washers, timed wipers, and car mats. At all times, bewilder the man you're dealing with. When you can't keep from laughing, fight $10 lower on the car mats, and tell him that otherwise he can just junk the car because you won't buy it. When you've run through the gamut of features, you'll have constructed the cheapest vehicle possible, and become a master barterer AND minor comedian in the process. Sure, you made some long-distance calls, and thus a sizable donation to the telecommunications industry... but you'll be dynamite at cocktail parties. And what's a lousy fifty bucks when you stand to save twenty-five times that?
3. His 3%
Determining the wholesale cost alone won't do you much good. You're not going to get the car for what the dealer paid, and he'll be the first to tell you that... over and over again. You have to give him his fair share to compensate him for coming into the office every day and hassling customers. So take the value you've pulled from NADA -- or your phone frolic -- and mark it up 3%, NO MORE. In ideal situations, you can cut into that 3% markup. After doing the math, make your offer. If the car is priced at $10,000, for instance, say these four words and leave the lot: "Ten thousand, three hundred." As you're traipsing back to your current set of wheels, the salesman will call out to you, wailing that the offer's unacceptable, that his company wouldn't make a red cent on such a deal, ad nauseam. Of course, this isn't true; they're turning a 3% profit, a cut that many will agree is more than enough for the "service" they offer. And about twenty minutes later, you can bet that they'll ring you up at home and tell you they have some Good News... could you come back in? They want to talk some more, and as usual they want you down at the dealership to do it. Upon arriving, you find that they may be willing to take your offer, but they'll have to charge you $400 for "dealer's prep." This is the fee for getting the auto to the lot, you're told. Malarkey! Cross it out and stick to your guns. The "dealer's prep" presumes that it's your responsibility to get the car to the lot. It definitely isn't.
4. Good Means Bad
As was just demonstrated, "good news" for a car buyer is always bad. Go to red alert whenever you pick up a ringing telephone and hear: "Hi [your name goes here], this is Ronnie Lawson at Mercedes-Yugo. Have I got some good news for you!" This threadbare utterance should turn your stomach. Whatever follows next can be expected to incorporate some of the dirtiest, least forgivable lies you'll ever hear. "Good deals" are just the same. A "good deal" is in point of fact an extremely regrettable one for you. If you're about to sign the contract and Ronnie Lawson tells you that you're getting a good deal on this baby, drop the pen. And I mean drop it! You're witnessing a phenomenon that psychologists call "projection." Ronnie is projecting his own feelings about the deal onto you. You won't make any friends at the dealership when you reopen negotiations then and there, but you have enough friends already, don't you? It's an unfortunate fact of human existence that in order to get a fair price for a new car, you'll have to drive it off the lot with the entire sales force shouting insults at you. We all prefer to be loved and respected, of course. Dealers know this. They offer constant positive reinforcement by patting us on the back and smiling affectionately at the very moment that they're cheating us. But remember, if a devil smiles and winks at you, you're doing something wrong. The goal is to have these devils hating your guts. Automobile dealerships are not wise places to seek positive reinforcement.
5. Avoid Trade-Ins
Many car buyers hope to unload their old car as part of a new purchase. This is, generally speaking, a boo-boo. Many people feel that listing a classified ad is not worth the hassle (also not true) and dealers love to exploit this: their offer for the trade-in will inevitably far undercut the open market price. Just as you should be insulted by the list price of a new car, you should be offended by their offer for your trade-in. Start by going to the "Blue Book," available among other places at your local bank. This helpful manual values cars according to the make, year, and mileage. If your vehicle is an automatic in good condition, you've just found its price tag. For standard transmissions, knock some bucks off. After you've located the fair price, go ahead and give yourself a 2% markup; you've earned it. Consider this the "seller's prep," or some such beast. When the dealer asks you why you're deviating from the Blue Book figure, remind him that you changed the oil dutifully every few thousand miles, didn't extinguish cigarettes on the upholstery, and kept the stereo consistently below volume 10. (If you failed to live up to these standards, just make up a list of your own.) A 2% markup is legitimate. Don't worry about the dealers; they'll clean the thing up and turn a nice profit. Of course, if you've taken unusually good care of your car, push the markup higher. If your salesman won't budge on his trade-in offer, fear not. Simply call up the very dealership in town that offers your make of car and let them bid on it. If you own an Audi, you can bet you'll get a better offer from an Audi dealership because they'll have an easier time selling it. Now that you have it, take that offer back to the bargaining table, explaining where you got it to the increasingly tired-looking Ronnie. And smile.
6. Work The Phone
Once you've outlined your offer in detail, be prepared for the brutal intermediate rounds of negotiations. To bolster your position, get back on the horn and start calling out-of-town dealerships. You'll need some firepower when your local salesman calls you to say that he can't find a buyer for your Volvo anywhere in your region of the country. Exactly what you've been waiting for. . . won't he be startled when you announce you've located a better offer 100 miles north! Oh, and while you're at it, tell him you're thinking about buying your new car up north as well. Then push back again in your couch and wait through the long silence. That long silence is music to a buyer's ears! Aim for it every time the phone rings and you hear, "[Your name goes here], this is Ronnie Lawson, Jeep/Eagle-Rolls Royce."
7. Apples & Oranges
Never let a salesman get you into a situation where he's trading you apples for oranges. Your trade-in and the new car are unique, separate vehicles; they should be valued separately. If the deals are kept separate, you'll stand a better chance of fairly pricing them. So just walk out when your salesman or his suave Manager tells you, "We'll give you back $200 on the new car, but unfortunately we won't be able to budge on our trade-in offer." Better yet, don't trade in your old car at all. If you want decent value for it, sell it separately (c.f. #5).
8. Hit The Road
If your current car can make the trip, don't hesitate to drive out of your way for a better deal. At the very least, you can use this option as a bargaining chip in your hometown showroom. If you're in Boston and can get a better deal in Maine, make that known in Boston. The salesman will probably remind you how inconvenient it would be for you to go all the way up there. Don't hesitate to remind him that you enjoy three-hour drives that land a thousand bucks in your back pocket. If only the rest of life were so inconvenient. In the same vein, don't hesitate to leave the lot during a bidding skirmish. Go for a sandwich, go for a walk, sit on a bench and agonize over The Motley Fool Stock Portfolio. Relieve the pressure by walking or driving away. Of course every time you return to the lot, Willy Loman will seem more impatient, less willing to bargain. But remember, behind every mask is an actor or a scoundrel.
9. The Lemon Test
If you don't have a trade-in and you think you're a brilliant barterer, challenge yourself: Prior to initiating negotiations to buy a new car, purchase a $200 used one. Attempt to trade it in. Give yourself ten points if in the final hour you've bid up your two-bit lemon to the $500-$1000 range, fifty points if you're getting $1000-$1500. Because dealers have so much success fixing these vehicles up and reselling them for more than they paid, they're often willing to chance the swap if it means selling a new car. Obvious risk is involved here; this strategy is not for the faint of tongue; you DON'T want a new car AND a bag of unsellable bones competing for space in your driveway. Nevertheless, The Fool knows such tactics have worked, and they do seem fiendishly clever.
10. The Local Hero
Why, when we know it to be patently untrue, do dealerships insist on playing up their managers as local heroes? One reason may be that these are the same cheeseballs you often see embarrassing themselves on local television advertisements. Whatever the true reason, customers are expected to be as excited to shake the untelegenic top dog's right paw as they are to drive off with a new car As mentioned earlier, your rendezvous with the Manager usually comes at a key point late in the negotiations. For instance, following your insultingly low offer, the frowning Ronnie Lawson has to go back and talk to the Manager. "He's been living and working here for twenty-seven years," Ronnie tells you, walking away, "and he's very involved with the community." The Manager comes down and affably -- always affably -- tells you a bit about the business, subtly explaining away the discrepancy between the dealership's reasonable price, and your unrealistic one. But if you leave it at that, you're missing an opportunity for some good, old-fashioned fun. The well-prepared Fool will bring to the negotiations a clean, white baseball -- just purchased -- so that at the very moment the Manager swaggers out front for introductions, the Fool can stick the cowhide in his face and bum a John Hancock. If these people want to be celebrities, give them a taste of the downside. Hound them for autographs.
In conclusion, it seems appopriate to remind the reader that conventional wisdom is something any right-thinking Fool shuns. For example, conventional wisdom about buying a car tells you to find the one that you like, bid on it, and accept the dealer's counteroffer. This quitter's mentality may be attractive to some; for our own part, we'd rather spend our years acting, rather than being acted upon. Another example of the drivel that issues from the mouths of the Wise tells you to pay up for quality. But that oversimplifies the problem, doesn't it? How much exactly should one pay up for quality? If a little moxie will save you a thousand dollars on the car you want, you didn't have to pay up for quality.
SOURCE :
http://www.fool.com/School/BuyaCar.htm
THIS CAR IS REAL....OR....??
I RECEIVE THIS PIC 5 YEARS BACK.. BUT THIS CAR STILL WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO BE LAUNCH MAYBE..
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Is the Sarawak Chief Minister suing Japan Times
Is the Sarawak Chief Minister suing Japan Times
Is The Sarawak Chief Minister Suing Japan Times In Japan, A Country With An Independent Judiciary And Unquestioned Respect For The Rule Of Law.
LIM GUAN ENG
Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud should not pick on Malaysiakini by threatening legal action but take on Japan Times in Japan, when Japan Times is the original source of the story of alleged corruption against him. Is Taib suing Japan Times in Japan, a country with an independent judiciary and unquestioned respect for the rule of law.For Taib not to sue Japan Times but only Malaysiakini would be puzzling when Malaysiakini is only reporting the original story by Japan Times. Japan Times news report on March 29 entitled ‘Wood carriers allegedly hid 1.1 billion yen income’ alleged a RM 32 million ringgit ‘commission’ was paid by 9 Japanese shipping companies over a period of seven years to a Hong Kong company said to be linked to Taib and his family. This was uncovered by Japanese tax authorities who deemed the payments made by the shipping companies as ‘illegitimate expenses’ since the Hong Kong agency, believed to be a paper company, did little ‘substantive work’ to justify the payments. According to tax authorities, the shipping companies had tried to disguise the payments as ‘business expenses’ to avoid tax. Malaysiakini Lauded For Its Unstinting Courage and Unyielding Principled Principled Stand In Defending Press Freedom And Right To Publish News Of Public Interest. DAP lauds Malaysiakini for being unstinting courage and unyielding principled stand in defending press freedom and the right to publish news of public interest without fear or favour and regardless whether it offends the high and mighty. Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan promised to fight the law suit as journalists have a duty to report on such matters, which is of public interest.Too few journalists have that courage to defend the truth or the right of freedom to publish or even carry out investigative journalism. Instead the mainstream media has been frozen with real and imagined fears to the extent that self-censorship has been refined to such an art that the censors could not do a better job. DAP considers it both refreshing and inspiring to hear the defiant words of Steven Gan who said the threatened law suit by Taib was aimed at muzzling malaysiakini. Steven Gan reiterated, “If by filing the law suit, Taib hopes to intimidate us, he is dead wrong. When we go to court, we have a long list of witnesses whom we plan to call - starting with the ACA and Japan’s tax authorities.” DAP fully endorses such sentiments. I have spoken to DAP lawyers, including DAP National Chair and renowned legal lion Karpal Singh, who have agreed with the party's commitment to offer our legal services and aid to Malaysiakini to fight this lawsuit by Taib. DAP is carrying out this commitment to Malaysiakini not solely for Malaysiakini but for press freedom in the internet. Public interest requires that this mother of all court battles between Malaysiakini and Taib must be won to preserve what is left of freedom of information for Malaysia in cyberspace.
Is The Sarawak Chief Minister Suing Japan Times In Japan, A Country With An Independent Judiciary And Unquestioned Respect For The Rule Of Law.
LIM GUAN ENG
Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud should not pick on Malaysiakini by threatening legal action but take on Japan Times in Japan, when Japan Times is the original source of the story of alleged corruption against him. Is Taib suing Japan Times in Japan, a country with an independent judiciary and unquestioned respect for the rule of law.For Taib not to sue Japan Times but only Malaysiakini would be puzzling when Malaysiakini is only reporting the original story by Japan Times. Japan Times news report on March 29 entitled ‘Wood carriers allegedly hid 1.1 billion yen income’ alleged a RM 32 million ringgit ‘commission’ was paid by 9 Japanese shipping companies over a period of seven years to a Hong Kong company said to be linked to Taib and his family. This was uncovered by Japanese tax authorities who deemed the payments made by the shipping companies as ‘illegitimate expenses’ since the Hong Kong agency, believed to be a paper company, did little ‘substantive work’ to justify the payments. According to tax authorities, the shipping companies had tried to disguise the payments as ‘business expenses’ to avoid tax. Malaysiakini Lauded For Its Unstinting Courage and Unyielding Principled Principled Stand In Defending Press Freedom And Right To Publish News Of Public Interest. DAP lauds Malaysiakini for being unstinting courage and unyielding principled stand in defending press freedom and the right to publish news of public interest without fear or favour and regardless whether it offends the high and mighty. Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan promised to fight the law suit as journalists have a duty to report on such matters, which is of public interest.Too few journalists have that courage to defend the truth or the right of freedom to publish or even carry out investigative journalism. Instead the mainstream media has been frozen with real and imagined fears to the extent that self-censorship has been refined to such an art that the censors could not do a better job. DAP considers it both refreshing and inspiring to hear the defiant words of Steven Gan who said the threatened law suit by Taib was aimed at muzzling malaysiakini. Steven Gan reiterated, “If by filing the law suit, Taib hopes to intimidate us, he is dead wrong. When we go to court, we have a long list of witnesses whom we plan to call - starting with the ACA and Japan’s tax authorities.” DAP fully endorses such sentiments. I have spoken to DAP lawyers, including DAP National Chair and renowned legal lion Karpal Singh, who have agreed with the party's commitment to offer our legal services and aid to Malaysiakini to fight this lawsuit by Taib. DAP is carrying out this commitment to Malaysiakini not solely for Malaysiakini but for press freedom in the internet. Public interest requires that this mother of all court battles between Malaysiakini and Taib must be won to preserve what is left of freedom of information for Malaysia in cyberspace.
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