Malaysia: The Next Shopping Paradise?

By Therese Jamora-Garceau

Pinoys are indisputably champion shoppers. It's the kind of skill that wins prizes, as I learned during a recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, where a group of us Filipinos displayed not only world-class brand consciousness and mall-navigation radar, but also the ability to sniff out bargains from over 100 meters away.

The event was the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival. Launched July 5 and ongoing till Sept. 1, this nationwide sale offers discounts of up to 70 percent on both local and foreign brands (take note: electronic goods are duty-free all year round). Following the lead of countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, Malaysia created its own "shopping season" eight years ago to lure more visitors to the country. At present the Mega Sale Carnival takes place three times a year: in March, July, and the year-end sale in December.

No doubt Malaysia first entered the pop consciousness with the movie Entrapment, where Catherine Zeta-Jones slithered her way to the top of the Petronas Towers, KL's most recognizable landmark. Then Michelle Yeoh surprised viewers by becoming the face of Malaysia's "Truly Asia" campaign -- and letting the world know that she wasn't just Chinese but Malaysian-Chinese.

Fashion insiders are most familiar with Malaysia's inexpensive yet ultra-stylish homegrown brands: Vincci for shoes, Bonia for bags, Eclipse for mass fashion, and Zang Toi for high fashion.

We started our Malaysian discovery tour on the flight to KL. The easiest way to get there is through their national carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MH), with its daily afternoon flight from Manila, and two flights a week from Cebu. After operating at a loss in the beginning, the airline turned its fortunes around in two years and is currently updating its fleet of Airbus 330s and Boeing 734s. During the three-and-a-half-hour flight, it was the cabin service that stood out most. They dispensed hot towels in economy, and every time my seatmate leaned on the call button by mistake, an attendant would come running. Sure enough, I find out later that MH has been awarded Best Cabin Staff for over four years now.

Upon landing, KL's abundance of trees and orderly surroundings echo Singapore's "everything works" veneer, but Filipinos will feel right at home because of the prevailing mall culture, not to mention the all-day traffic snarls.

We were told in Manila that we were going on a "Shopping Safari," so we assumed we would be taken to a number of shopping areas and report on the bargains we found there. Little did we know we would end up participating in an Amazing Race-type challenge that would test our endurance and innate love of window shopping.

The competition -- in which media from 17 countries as far away as South Africa and the United States participated -- was a "treasure hunt" encompassing four malls in KL's downtown Bukit Bintang area. Two-person teams from each country would receive a set of 20 questions at each mall, which we'd have to answer and submit before getting the next set of questions at the succeeding mall. This meant we couldn't spend more than 40 minutes dalying at each stop, because we had to complete the entire task within three and a half hours or be disqualified.

Waning to do the Philippines proud, my teammate (Judith Juntilla of Business World) and I began the Safari at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, a glorious new mall boasting seven floors of almost any brand you can think of, from Forever 21 to Club Monaco to Hermés. After receiving our first batch of questions, we were reduced to wandering the mall's fifth and sixth levels trying to answer head-scratchers like "Color in disguise" (makeup shop The Natural Source was promoting a Camouflage Color line) and "This brand has been around for 80 years" (Speedo). The rules stated that we didn't need to go into the outlets to find the answers (oh, but we wanted to); rather, we had to look at signage and shop windows. Oh, well...

After we were done at Pavilion, we hurried down Jalan Bukit Bintang, fondly known to locals as BB Street, KL's equivalent to Singapore's Orchard Road. We crossed half of BB's stretch to receive our second questionnaire, only to be sent back the way we came. Unexpectedly BB was an additional stop on our safari, and we had to scur both sides of the street for answers.

Malaysia's Mega Sale Carnival, with discounts up to 70 percent off at Kuala Lumpur's premier malls, gives Pinoys a license to shop.

No trip to KL is complete without visiting BB, with its row of malls, restaurants, pubs, hotels and neon-lit nightspots. Malaysia's enviable 20.1 million tourists per year is increasing thanks to a fresh infusion of visitors from the Middle East, according to our Tourism Malaysia guide, Viji Arunasalam. Though KL's malls are usually open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Arab tourists, and now the Mega Sale Carnival, are keeping the shops and eateries hopping until midnight.

Sweating profusely after our humid exertions on BB, our third stop was Low Yat Plaza, a computer and tech mall that looks exactly like Greenhills in its labyrinthine layout of tiny stalls. Obviously this is the place to go for the duty-free electronics I mentioned earlier, but we were too busy surveying signs to really hunt for bargains.

After Low Yat we were so fatigued it took sheer will to proceed to the fourth stop, Sungei Wang Plaza. Our status as under-exercised journalists who report on events -- rather than actually participating ourselves -- was becoming depressingly apparent. But Viji, our extremely helpful, capable, optimistic guide, wouldn't let us give up. He practically dragged us to Sungei Wang, where I had enough wits left to register that it was full of edgy fashion boutiques by young Malaysian designers, including Zang Toi, the first Malaysian fashion designer to break through on the global scene. Toi even had an inviting café in front of his boutique that sold boxed pastries.

After Sungei Wang, there was just enough time to collect the last questionnaire, trek to final stop Berjaya Times Square and submit it blank, because we didn't have time to check out anything) before the contest ended at 6:30 p.m. Berjaya is notable for being Malaysia's largest shopping mall with over 3.4 million square feet of retail, entertainment and dining space. It also houses Malaysia's largest indoor family theme park, two Imax theaters and Borders Books and Music, one retailer among Berjaya's 1,000.

In Malaysia's campaign to woo shoppers, not only are all electronic goods duty-free, you also get an exemption on imported goods costing over 200 Malaysian ringgit (around P2,600). Other ways to get discounts are the Tourist Privilege Cards distributed at the airport, hotels and malls, and a tie-up with MasterCard, the Mega Sale Carnival's official credit card. Each transaction you make at a participating shop, eatery or spa with your MasterCard entitles you to an automatic entry and a chance to win RM100,000 worth of cash prizes.

As it turns out, I got my own modest taste of that. At dinner that night they announced the winners of the Shopping Safari, and while Viji thought our chances were good, we weren't so sure because of that blank questionnaire. Then, before we had made up our minds to slink out the door, officials from the Shopping Malaysia Secretariat announced that the Philippine team composed of Erica Paredes and Kat Cruz won a consolation prize of RM300.

Amid the euphoria and high-fiving, I couldn't believe it when they called my team number as well -- Judith and I had won the second prize of RM 1,000! All the prize amounts were in gift certificates to Parksons, Malaysia's most popular department store.

With our own money, we treated our abused feet to a celebratory half hour of reflexology afterwards (RM25, or P350). Then we had to excuse ourselves. Prize GCs in hand, we finally had our chance to go and shop.

Taken from The Philippine Star

The World According to Ma Boyle

On the best thing she learned from her parents:

"(It would be) survival. Sometimes you have a bad day, but there's a good day coming too. You shouldn't delve on 'I should have done this or I should have done that.' You can't do that. You just have to look to the next day. If you didn't do a good job today then you should just do a better job tomorrow because yesterday is never going to come around again."

On her role in product development:

"I probably criticize more than I create. When people ask me what I do, I say, 'Well, I verbally abuse as many people as I can every day.' We pay people a lot of money to go out and come up with new ideas and know what's 'in.'"

On the outdoors:

"The outdoors is wonderful. You shouldn't stay indoors; it makes you a very boring person. The outdoors does you a lot of good. I'm 84 years old and I'm probably in better health than most people. I do water aerobics thrice a week and I try to stay active by chasing after my grandkids."

On raising her kids:

"When my kids were growing up, we didn't have any money. You learn to cook hamburger 10,000 different ways. You learn about leftovers. And I can open up a mean can of tuna."

On the youth:

"It takes young people to come up with innovative ideas. They say inventors are mostly 30 and under."

On growing her business as a woman in a male-dominated industry:

"As long as you have a big mouth... It's become more acceptable for women now but back then, it wasn't. I remember one time, a guy called up and said, 'I want to speak to the president of the company' and I said, 'Speaking.' And he said, 'But you're a woman.' So I just said, 'You know, when I got up this morning, I noticed that.' Women aren't supposed to know anything but then I tell people, 'Who raised you, your father or your mother?'

"I never thought that, just because you were a woman, you shouldn't be given a chance."

Taken from The Philippine Star

The Journey

Every star has that moment when she knows that the journey has begun. For Judy Ann Santos, that came when her idol Julie Vega died. When she learned about the soap opera star's death, Judy Ann disappeared, first into her room, then into the bathroom. She turned the doorknob quietly, pushed the door shut and stood in front of the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror -- then she cried.

In a strange yet funny sort of way, it confirmed for Judy Ann that she would become an actress. She was upset over Vega's death, but at the same time, couldn't stop watching herself in the mirror as tears rolled down her chubby cheeks. The little girl was mesmerized by her own reflection. "Umiiyak ako talaga, tapos bumalik ako sa kwarto ko, at umiyak ako. Tapos pumasok ako sa banyo at tiningnan ko yung sarili ko sa salamin habang umiiyak ako. In short, uma-acting ako."

But the journey of Judy Ann Lumagui Santos goes back much farther than that. Growing up in Antipolo, this baby of the family -- she had two older siblings, Jeffrey and Jackie -- had to make do with very little. Their family was cash strapped, a grocery they had owned folded up, and the separation of her parents split their meager resources even further. Growing up, she didn't have many toys, but she relied on her imagination and her resourcefulness to make things fun. Rummaging through the stock of unsold goods from their defunct grocery, she pulled out unsoiled packs of starch, and sold them to neighbors. The money she earned, she gave to her mom to help her make ends meet. She kept only enough for herself to buy a rootbeer. Then she would pretend to get drunk. "Doon ako sa puno sa likod ng bahay namin. Naglalasing lasingan. At feeling ko, talagang nalalasing ako sa rootbeer. Nahihilo hilo talaga ako. Parang totoo."

As the family's little girl, Judy Ann was especially close to her mother. Her brother and sister were closer to their father. Judy Ann was extremely possessive about her mom, and tried, in her own childish fashion, to keep her mom's affections for herself. She wanted to stay wrapped in that protective cocoon forever -- and if that meant shutting out her mother's suitors after her parents broke up, then so be it, Judy Ann told herself. She didn't care. When she grew up and started to become an actress, her directors would use that episode in her life to motivate her and make her cry. "May nanliligaw noon kay Mommy [nang magkahiwalay sila ni Daddy] na hate na hate ko. 'Yun ang ginagamit na motivation sa akin na ngumalngal ako talaga, kulang na lang magpapadyak ako."

Mommy Carol tried to understand her youngest child, but at times, no matter what she did, Judy Ann stuck to her feelings. No one else, not even her beloved mother, could make her feel any differently. "Hindi naman naloka si Mommy Carol," she laughs. "Naiintindihan naman niya kung bakit ako ganoon, pero sinusubukan niya akong i-console, 'yun nga lang, hindi ko mapigilan 'yung emosyon ko eh. Hindi talaga. Hindi ko maitago." This unrestrained show of emotions would help her much later in life as she drew from it to take on challenging acting roles. "Selfish ako pagdating sa nanay ko. Ayokong may iba. Bunso kasi ako kaya ayokong may iba."

Even in her younger days, there were already indications of the actress that Judy Ann would become.

Of course, their trip together through life has not always been blissful. The mag-ina would go on to have their tampuhan, then when Mommy Carol left the country to work -- because of which she missed out on a great deal of Judy Ann's pre-teen years -- it gave them a chance to step back and take a good look at their relationship. "Sa lahat ng mag-iina, the time comes na nagkakaroon talaga ng misunderstandings at tampuhan. Ang katumbas ng tampuhan namin ni Mommy, pag nangyari, ligwak ang buong araw ko. But these things happen for the both of you to have a deeper relationship.

"Mommy and I, we had a lot of catching up to do, because most of my pre-teen years, wala siya. Kaya minsan, nasa proseso kami na nagkakatampuhan kami. Kaya pinagdadasal ko lagi is for us to have more patience and more understanding with each other. Dahil kapag magkasundo kami, ang saya-saya namin.

At home with her sister Jackie, Judy Ann grew up in Antipolo, where she first went to school and made friends.

"Anak lang ako. Di ko alam kung ano ang nagagawa kong tama o mali. Mas higit ang takot ko sa kanya, di ko alam kung paano ko siya i-a-approach. Minsan, nag-de-debate kami, na ang ending, mag-so-sorry ako. It pains me when she cries, pero proseso 'yon ng paglaki naming dalawa. Baby girl niya ako, bunso pa. So she's really very protective. Pero hanggang ngayon, kahit matanda na ako, I still long for her touch, her hug, her comforting words. When we were promoting Ploning, ang dami kong kinausap, sobrang pagod at stressed ako. Pagkakita ko sa kanya, naiyak na lang ako. Pero pagkatapos n'on, puwede na ako humarap sa mundo. Iba talaga ang yakap ng ina. Sila lang ang puwedeng magbigay ng ganitong klaseng pag-aaruga."

Taken from Starstudio magazine: Judy Ann Santos special issue

MY LITTLE SONG

Once there was a little song,
Whose tune was bright and gay.
And when I heard this little song
It sang my blues away.
Through rain and shine my life has passed,
I learned to live with fear.
Now true love I found at last...
Now that you are near.
As silence whispers to my ears,
And stays but not for long,
Reminds me much of someone dear
'Tis when I hear this song.
Just like a dream I had one day
Of love so right and strong,
So stumble and fall that I may
Yet still I'll love this song.

Gilbert Rombaoa, HS410

Taken from The Bosconian Forum