The person that I knew is a former oil & gas services field engineer in Baker Hughes and currently serves as Kuwait Country Head at a leading Oil and Gas service company, after having worked over 12 years in the oil & gas industry, he realized that his life’s passion is in food and beverages.

He then traded his official Dishdasha (middle eastern official suits for men) and Gutra (head scarf) after working hours and weekends to a baker’s uniform and found culinary success in doing something that he loves – baking/cooking, frozen dessert, cookies, brownies and cheesecakes. But he comes not from a long line of cooks.

The fine skills in food preparation were learned from his mother who is renowned for her distinctive Kuwaiti dishes which she cooks for family and friends.

Good and Service Tax (GST) which was first announced by the Government of Malaysia in 2004 to be implemented in Malaysia on Jan 1, 2007, is now in the final stage of implementation study by the Government.

The GST addresses the need for the Government to ensure increased revenue flows in the coming years by expanding the tax base. Upon implementation of the GST, the existing Service Tax and Sales Tax in Malaysia will be abolished.

The GST will operate similarly to that in other countries with a GST or VAT (Value Added Tax) system. There will be two rates — a zero-rate which will apply to most goods and services exported from Malaysia, and a standard rate, yet to be announced, but expected to be less than 5%. In comparison, the GST rates of the closest neighboring countries are 7% in Singapore and Thailand and 10% in Indonesia.