object desire

when asked if i like malaysia, i tend to answer with an hedge.  there are good and bad elements to it.  i discuss them to explain myself.  i can tell most people don't really want to hear the answer, they tend to be asking in the way americans ask about the weather or the local baseball team.  it's filler conversation, i should just compliment the food/weather/people and stick to the cultural pattern.  but, there are things that get deeply under my skin.  rather than just accepting them as part of the deal, i work to find ways around them.  the most recent irritation is a something i didn't realize i wanted, or thought there would be time for later, but over the past few months has been a constant desire.

let me preface the next part of this conversation by admitting, i know this is a little bit nuts.  i can hear a friends saying, "your tendency to for absent-minded multi-tasking, mixed with love of speed and willingness to push limits" make me less than a perfect candidate for this.  i realize the above is true, which seems to me to be exactly the point.  i am not reckless ... well... what about ... if i am going to concentrate my addictions, in this case my need to push the edge, this appears to be the best of all options.

similar to my coffee addiction, this one comes with some accepted risk.  also, i am betting that it will actually help calm the voices.  part of my absent minded multi-tasking is that my mind is in overdrive and seeks stimulation, when the environment doesn't provide it -- it finds ways to provide it by itself.  with the waning ability to burn for hours through code, other distractions are needed.  a few months ago, while reading mens journal, i decided i wanted a motocycle.  not the racer in the magazine, but the blacked out v7 classic,  i have never been a custom chopper kind of guy, and the superbike strikes me as a penis extension.  but when i looked at the classic lines of this bike, it clicked.  i want one.  what's stopping me ... malaysia.

the issue is not like the christmas presents from amazon or custom bag from timbuk2, like most international sites neither of those companies will ship to malaysia.  the reason they give is the amazingly high level of fraud they see coming from my adopted land.  apparently, malaysians made a habit of having things shipped, and then they claimed they never got them and refused to pay.  i know this doesn't sound like something a malaysian would do... no, never.

i can get a moto guzzi in malaysia, the list price is RM 77,000 or US$ 24,839.  it lists in the US for $ 8,990... yeah the same bike is 176% more in malaysia.  unbelievable, well for someone who doesn't live here.  why is it so high?  the most direct answer is that it's malaysia.  there are formulas about import duties and approved permits, but that is political cover for the reality that people are getting milked.

earlier this year i decided i wanted to get in shape, and thought the rowing machine i have wanted since college would help.  i did my research, and discussed shipping it from the US.  shipping was a hassel for family members.  because companies refuse to ship direct i needed someone to have a big box delivered to them and then have it shipped to me.  the upside of this plan was that exercise equipment is exempt from import.  long story short, i bought local for twice the US price.  the reason given when i asked about the mark up?  import taxes.  i mentioned that there were no import taxes, the manager of the store smiled at me and said, "well that is true, but we are the exclusive importer".  the twinkle in his eye was ... part of living in malaysia.

there is a process to avoid a bit of the markup on the motorcycle.  i can buy in the US, have it shipped here.  we are then back to hassel of family members in the US doing the shipping.  but first i need to apply for and get an "approved permit" (AP or import licence) in malaysia.  then its simply paying 85 - 130% of taxes before it can clear customs.  there apparently are "rumors" that each step in this process involves malaysian officials with open palms, which because of my role i am not able to fill for fear of US jail time for "foreign corrupt practices" or lose of my job for playing by local rules.  the "rumors" insist not being corrupt would seriously delay, or completely derail the plan.

i know this seems like an intelligence test.

the american viewpoint on this is that i am paying US$ 8,990 for a bike, and US$ 15,849 (RM 49,132) for the ability to ride it inside malaysia.  i could pay marginally less if i go through a highly convoluted process and potentially put my career and freedom at risk; neither of which i am willing to do.  the other option is to delay the purchase until i leave the country.  this would fall into the 6 year delay i have had on using pandora, the two year delay i have had on using hulu (both because access is restricted due to fraud) or the long list of purchases i have not made locally over the years (because of 100% - 300% mark-up with most retail purchases).

when i started this posting i was going to explain why i was going to just suck it up and buy the bike.  i really want it.  i want to get around KL and slip through the grid lock, rather than sit in the traffic thinking about how much worse it is now than a few years ago.

i would like to have something fun to do, something that would help release the pressure.  but as i wrote, the resentment has bubbled back up.  that is the point of why i do not love malaysia, bullshit like this happens all the time.  i am back to saying, no way i am not going to play this game, i would rather buy three motocycles in the US with the same money.

this is an intelligence test, not for me but for the voters of malaysia.  i have the option of getting off this goat rodeo and moving back to sanity without protectionist tariffs and "rumored" corruption.  where is the demand for this to change?

enough of me bitching, yeah i love malaysia, the food, the people, the weather are all wonderful.  that really is what you wanted to hear right?

you know what would help this mood?  if i could go for a ride.