Living in JB

[Analytical Professor]

Was on holiday from Nov 20 - Jan 3 with my kids. And upon getting back had to focus on the kids and their education so was quite difficult to find time to login and post.

My apologies to all the members here for my laziness cause everyone has contributed so much to make this place so enriching especially for first timers.

I dun think they will allow us to do the MACS sticker at the Immigration complex at ST.

BTW i tried to use the MACS sticker twice at KLIA. On the first occassion i was allowed in based on my MACS sticker. On the second occassion i was told that MACS sticker was for entry only via JB and for all other entries into MY you have to fill up the white card.

But to the best of my knowledge no where does it state on the MACS sticker that using the MACS sticker is only to enter MY via Causeway or 2nd link.

Yap. Its open. Was hoping that I could apply for MAC over there instead of having to queue at he custom. I have no idea whether they provide this service. Will have to check it out one of these day. Btw, nice to see you back here. Where have you been?

 

[Analytical Professor]

The easiest part would be to deposit the RM1k. The harder part would be in getting the 1k back should you terminate your streamxy account

Anyone trust me to help me open the streamxy acct? Dun wish to invest the 1krm as deposit...

 

[Analytical Professor]

My wife was complainin about the internet speeds too in MY. So that reduces her desire to wanna shift fully into JB. The internet is really slow. Currently we are using a prepaid Digi Card which is the cheapest for on and off usage of the internet.... But the speed is real slow...
Wanna die waiting for the pages to load...

the consolation in HDB was the high speed internet. My God I was watching my trade yesterday and my god I had to reopen a trade 3x. There is no speed for market order only pending order how to survive!!!

...

 

[Coolsaint77]

My wife was complainin about the internet speeds too in MY. So that reduces her desire to wanna shift fully into JB. The internet is really slow. Currently we are using a prepaid Digi Card which is the cheapest for on and off usage of the internet.... But the speed is real slow...
Wanna die waiting for the pages to load...

Is the Time.com's ADSL available at your side?
I use Time.com's ADSL the speed is pretty good, MYR99 p/mth

 

[Analytical Professor]

I have been trying to pay my utilities bills in advance. But to no avail. Previously they had this company called TELCO which would accept advance payment of any amount that you may wanna make....

But now.... I dun seem to find any of the TELCOs open. MAybe they went bust.


I found a Post office in JB quite close to the Causeway. Quite a big post office. Its next to the MBJB office. Both the post office and the MBJB office are adjacent to each other and bang opposite the Waterfront.

At the MBJB office you can pay the Cukai Harta. Its quite fast and simple. Dun forget to get your old notice of payment required for the Cukai Harta. MAkes the process even easier.

Avoid going on Fridays (because of the prayer time) and on Mondays (first day of the week).

At the post office you can pay your Utilities bill. (There is another POS MAlaysia outlet at Aeon Bukit Indah as mentioned by Wuqi)

Parking is a bit of a problem at the MBJB office. Many park illegally. But then there are cops around too...

However no advance payments can be made... Why? Any alternative to make advance payments?

I did find out one method to make advance payments is by personally visiting the water and electric supply offices.

 

[Analytical Professor]

BTW my wife was quite happy to note that the following restaurants will open at ST apart from the MAcdonalds:

Wendys

Papa Johns (hope i got the spellin rite?)

Kenny Rogers....

Is the human traffic at ST sufficient to support these restaurants? Or would they leverage on the traffic from the highway?

Btw, nice to see you back here.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Not sure about that. I will have to check that out. Thanks mate.

Is the Time.com's ADSL available at your side?
I use Time.com's ADSL the speed is pretty good, MYR99 p/mth

 

[cathylmg]

BTW my wife was quite happy to note that the following restaurants will open at ST apart from the MAcdonalds:

Wendys

Papa Johns (hope i got the spellin rite?)

Kenny Rogers....

Is the human traffic at ST sufficient to support these restaurants? Or would they leverage on the traffic from the highway?

Yep. Heard about it too. MacDonald is standalone, all the rest situated inside the commecial hub. 2 storeys of F&Bs, 2 storeys offices and 1 storey private gym. I heard that Setia requires them under contract to be open by certain hours in the morning and everyday of the week. If not they will get penalty. Which is good for us. At least we don't go there just to find out that they are closed.:p

 

[cathylmg]

I have been trying to pay my utilities bills in advance. But to no avail. Previously they had this company called TELCO which would accept advance payment of any amount that you may wanna make....

But now.... I dun seem to find any of the TELCOs open. MAybe they went bust.


I found a Post office in JB quite close to the Causeway. Quite a big post office. Its next to the MBJB office. Both the post office and the MBJB office are adjacent to each other and bang opposite the Waterfront.

At the MBJB office you can pay the Cukai Harta. Its quite fast and simple. Dun forget to get your old notice of payment required for the Cukai Harta. MAkes the process even easier.

Avoid going on Fridays (because of the prayer time) and on Mondays (first day of the week).

At the post office you can pay your Utilities bill. (There is another POS MAlaysia outlet at Aeon Bukit Indah as mentioned by Wuqi)

Parking is a bit of a problem at the MBJB office. Many park illegally. But then there are cops around too...

However no advance payments can be made... Why? Any alternative to make advance payments?

I did find out one method to make advance payments is by personally visiting the water and electric supply offices.

Sometimes they will arrange them to come down to the Setia's office for collections. Just keep your ears open on which department is coming down on when. Heard before CNY that they are going to arrange for collection of Cukai Harta, don't know when. You can keep a look out for it. For utilities bill, if you are in a hurry, I think best location in terms of parking and securities is still POS Aeon Bukit Indah. Anyway still have to drive wherever you intend to pay.

 

[cathylmg]

My wife was complainin about the internet speeds too in MY. So that reduces her desire to wanna shift fully into JB. The internet is really slow. Currently we are using a prepaid Digi Card which is the cheapest for on and off usage of the internet.... But the speed is real slow...
Wanna die waiting for the pages to load...

Yep. Agree on that. I'm into stock market, can't imagin the slow internet speed too.

 

[wuqi256]

Ok so to answer some questions:

1. MACS can be applied at the Dangar bay place if you are a landed or property owner in the Iskandar region or satisfy criteria as an investor, etc

2. MACS can be applied at the CIQ if you are a frequent traveller (4 x and more a month)

3. MACS cannot be used outside of JB, its primary use is for ingress/egress via the 2 (current) checkpoints. It is actually stated in writing when you go to their website. The primary purpose is to facilitate folks travelling to the Iskandar region and to JB. KL is definitely not in Iskandar.

4. Streamyx is your best bet if you need fast and reliable internet. There is also another internet service that is 100 plus a month using satellite uplink. This has already been mentioned by a fellow forummer. The deposit can be taken back only a year after. The easiest way is to sign up using a Malaysian relative's name if you have one. Another way is to see if you can share one with your neighbour who already have Streamyx, a friend of mine is already doing that. He pays for his neighbours Streamyx and his neighbour only make sure that the power is always on for the modem. There are actually many ways to skin a cat.

5. Celcom is what i use and been using it reliably for the past 1.5 years now with no real issues. Its fast enough for most of my apps. I am only using the 384kpbs plan, now i think they upgraded it to 512kpbs.

6. Payment of utilities can be done (late actually) as they are not as eager to cut off your power or water supply over here. One of my learned friends actually set up internet banking to pay his bills. Again, this has been discussed previously and also by another forummer who suggested opening an account with BSN so that you can use your ATM account to pay your bills.

7. For the quit rent, you can pay online(link already provided in previous pages), for property tax, you can actually pay at the small single story house right beside the Perling Wet Market, you have to drive through into the carpark, its a small building but can save you lots of time. They close at 1-2pm and open again at 2pm i think.

8. For power and wiring problems, i have not heard of any besides what happened to Danteakc. To be safe though, you can check with TNB for a list of authorized electrical firms to do and carry out checks/rectification.

What i have learnt in life is, if you set out to find potholes, you will surely find one when you eventually fall into one.
I am still learning this lesson, mankind is (generally) adaptive, if you are determined enough, a solution will eventually
come into play, its the compromises that many are unwilling to make.

 

[wuqi256]

Sample tenancy agreement, my apologies Cathy, was down with flu the past few days.


This one you can do step by step:
http://www.lawyerment.com.my/library/fl/rles/agm/tnls.shtml

This one though has all the basics covered, you can also add additional clauses in case required:

http://www.asianheritagerow.com/SampleTenancyAgreement.pdf

 

[cathylmg]

Sample tenancy agreement, my apologies Cathy, was down with flu the past few days.


This one you can do step by step:
http://www.lawyerment.com.my/library/fl/rles/agm/tnls.shtml

This one though has all the basics covered, you can also add additional clauses in case required:

http://www.asianheritagerow.com/SampleTenancyAgreement.pdf

Thanks Wuqi bros. Btw, the flu bug is in the air, take care and rest well!

 

[ginfreely]

Yea the MACS sticker can take time. They take their own sweet time to process it. I was there on 2 occassions. Once to do it for my kids and on the other to do it for my wife and myself. On both occassions I had to wait for approximately an hour.

Now i have a question. My MACS sticker is due for renewal in June this year. Will the procedure be the same as applying for a sticker the first time?

Anybody has already renewed their MACS stickers yet? Please share your experiences with us.

I applied mine at CIQ, took about half an hour for the actual application, it was on a weekday though. At that time I also asked them about the renewal procedure and was told no difference.

 

[ginfreely]

Sometimes they will arrange them to come down to the Setia's office for collections. Just keep your ears open on which department is coming down on when. Heard before CNY that they are going to arrange for collection of Cukai Harta, don't know when. You can keep a look out for it. For utilities bill, if you are in a hurry, I think best location in terms of parking and securities is still POS Aeon Bukit Indah. Anyway still have to drive wherever you intend to pay.

Hi Cathy, what is Cukai Harta?

 

[wuqi256]

Yes Ginfreely is right. If using the 4 times in one month reason for the CIQ, remember to bring along a photocopy of your passport showing the last 4 stamps before your current trip. Also remember to bring along 4 passport size photos. There is no difference in renewal, only now don't need to do online first, they just changed to a different vendor i heard.

 

[ginfreely]

Yes Ginfreely is right. If using the 4 times in one month reason for the CIQ, remember to bring along a photocopy of your passport showing the last 4 stamps before your current trip. Also remember to bring along 4 passport size photos. There is no difference in renewal, only now don't need to do online first, they just changed to a different vendor i heard.

I guess I was in luck, I only brought one photo and my original passport there and fill up a form on the spot :p I must say the processing was pretty fast, I spent more time searching for the location of the counter.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Take care Wuqi

I can advise you on medications to be taken. He he...

BTW i found out that Tamiflu is becoming a drug of choice for flu treatment especially if taken at the onset of flu or within the first 48 hours.

was down with flu the past few days.

 

[Analytical Professor]

Mine's gonna expire in June too....

Sometimes its shift change, sometimes its printer down, sometimes its just the no of applicants....

Either way we look at it we gotta wait it out once a year.

And ofcourse make sure your passport has atleast 2 years left. Else they will ask you to go and renew your pp first.

They did that to me and my wife last year.

My MACS will expire in June this year too. Last year June I applied at 2nd link at around 11pm+ and they make me wait fir 1 hour for the next shift to take over and process..

 

[danteakc]

Take care Wuqi

I can advise you on medications to be taken. He he...

BTW i found out that Tamiflu is becoming a drug of choice for flu treatment especially if taken at the onset of flu or within the first 48 hours.

I strongly recommend for those who r down with flu n fever, proceed to Jusco Aeon at 2nd flr aka 1st flr, go and eat some Gui Lin Gao, thick and rich in herbs and drinks lots of water, especially evian mineral water. Get it from IMM Giant at 2.55 SGD per bottle. Dun get it from Jusco. Very ex at 3.55 SGD per bottle.

I had a fever and flu for a night and a half. Down 2 bottles of 1l Evian and Gui Lin Gao. Up and running the next day. Try it, natural and without the side effects. Do you know if you consume panadol it will stay in your body for 2 yrs before totally pass out? Also for those who giving birth or planning to get one, never never try to consume panadol. It will degenerate or have side effects on babies for both Husband and Wife.

Just kapoh.