Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Don’t just ‘cari makan’, take a stand
- Alarming number of illegals
- Polls panel insincere public relations move, say activists, Malaysians
- And the Winner Is?
- Rocky to lead media onslaught against Najib?
- Listing 1,100 capable bumi firms
- What is this country coming to?
- Was Muhyiddin behind Najib’s turnaround?
- Ringgit sukuk sales head for record as Gulf taps market
- EPF confirms buying London office block for RM740m
- Is the PSC yet another con job?
- Malaysia's 'Silent' Awakening
| Don’t just ‘cari makan’, take a stand Posted: 20 Aug 2011 12:44 PM PDT By Jeswan Kaur, FMT Fighting for what is just and right has its 'price', one which not many are willing to pay, especially writers or journalists. It explains then why the mainstream media had nothing favourable to write about July 9, 2011, the day when Malaysians fearing nothing joined hands in demanding electoral reforms. The conventional media instead lambasted the rally, themed 'Walk for Democracy' and organised by election watchdog Bersih 2.0 as being a destructive force aimed at disrupting unity among the people. Writing what the political masters dictate explains why the mainstream media has failed to regain its lost respect and credibility among the conscientious Malaysians. But then for a former newspaper man-turned-poet and novelist, the rally had every merit to it. So much so that Abdul Samad Muhammad Said or better known through his pen name A Samad Said made sure he was among the many Malaysians who supported the cause championed by Bersih. Pak Samad, as he is populary called, was a former editor of the Berita Harian in the 1960s and 70s. In May 1976, he was hailed as the Pejuang Sastera (Literary Exponent) by the Malay literature communities and linguists. In 1979, he was awarded the Southeast Asia Write Award and in 1986 he was bestowed the title of 'Sasterawan Negara' or national laureate, in appreciation of his contributons to the nation's literary heritage. So when Samad made news in connection with the election watchdog Bersih 2.0, it took many by surprise. In spite of the heavy police control on July 9, Samad, a poet and novelist, managed to walk, that too barefoot after his footwear went missing in a scuffle when the police fired tear gas towards the protesters at the Kuala Lumpur Sentral, to Istana Negara. He was only 200 metres away from the national palace gates when apprehended by the police. Prior to the rally, the Barisan Nasional government filed sedition charges against Samad and other leaders of the Bersih 2.0 coalition of NGOs. Stop the 'carma', take a stand However, arrest was the least of Samad's worry. Instead, he urged intellectuals to stop being 'carma' (cari makan) and dare take a stand against cruelty and injustice. He did not mince his words when he castigated the mainstream media which demonised the rally. "Writers seldom take a stand. Most of them are 'carma' and are always prepared to not take a stand. This has caused all the evil to grow and spread tremendously." "For the mainstream media, Bersih is dirty. I'm also surprised, why these experienced pressmen who have won awards here and there, can smear Bersih. I know they are from the 'carma' group. "Fortunately there is still a small number of writers who dare to take a stand, who know that Bersih is pure," Samad told the 250-strong audience who filled the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall auditorium under the close watch of several plainclothes policemen on July 3, days before the rally took off. Have Samad's words awakened the consciousness of the mainstream media writers or have they dismissed his call for them to fight injustice as a spur of the moment remark? Indeed, there is truth in every word uttered by Samad. To stand up against injustices or to perpetuate them, is for every writer to ponder. The 76-year-old unassuming Malacca-born poet then went a step further saying he would boycott all government events, his way of protesting the government's crackdown on the rally protesters. Paying the price for 'truth' Samad together with Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan and other activists was instrumental in organising the 'Walk for Democracy'. On June 28 this year, the septuagenarian Samad was hauled up for 90-minutes by the police who questioned him about his poem 'Unggun Bersih' (The Bersih Fire) recited at the 'launch' if the Bersih 2.0 rally on June 19. Besides 'Unggun Bersih', Samad composed two other poems, 'Peludah Warna' and 'Semarak Menyala', supporting the call by Bersih 2.0 for free and fair elections.
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| Posted: 20 Aug 2011 12:41 PM PDT By Martin Carvalho, The Star PETALING JAYA: The ongoing biometric registration exercise for foreign workers has revealed an alarming scenario of over a million illegals compared to legal workers. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the exercise should not be viewed lightly as the presence of too many illegals could undermine national security. The exercise, which also includes the registration of foreigners at entry points, could help weed out undesirable elements from making Malaysia their base or transit point, he said. "The presence of more illegal workers compared to the legal ones is a concern. "But we will be able to effectively deal with this through the 6P programme," he said here yesterday. Earlier in a statement, he said comprehensive data collected via the registration exercise would make it easier for the police and Immigration Department to investigate cases related to militant activities or human trafficking. He cited the handing over of three Babbar Khalsa International militant suspects to India last Tuesday and the arrest of 16 Chinese nationals under the Internal Security Act earlier this month as examples of the Government's effort in combating the global menace. He said the war against the syndicates and violent militant groups should not be viewed lightly. "Thousands of innocent lives have been sacrificed due to human trafficking and violence. I will not allow Malaysia to be seen as a transit or a safe haven for terrorists and human trafficking syndicates," he said. Hishammuddin also chided certain groups, in particular the opposition, for making allegations against the Government with regards to efforts to enhance national security via the registration exercise. "I am aware that many allegations have been made against our effort. However, they are unaware that it is being done in their best interest," he said. As of Friday, a total of 2,088,358 foreign workers had been registered, of whom 1,135,499 were illegals. The registration exercise for legal foreign workers began on July 13 and will carry on indefinitely while the exercise for illegals started on Aug 1 with the two-week deadline extended until Aug 31. |
| Polls panel insincere public relations move, say activists, Malaysians Posted: 20 Aug 2011 12:37 PM PDT By Boo Su-Lyn, The Malaysian Insider Some activists and Malaysians who joined the Bersih rally have dubbed the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform as an insincere public relations exercise by Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Their remarks came after the prime minister said last Friday that the timing of general elections would not depend on the panel's proceedings. "It appears that the PSC is not sincere and appears to be just an attempt to appease the people without seriously wanting to hear what the committee does," human rights lawyer Edmund Bon (picture) told The Malaysian Insider yesterday. Bon, who is also the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism & Human Rights (MCCHR) campaigner, added that Najib's statement on federal polls has confused voters. Women's rights activist Ivy Josiah said Najib's remarks showed that the PSC was merely a "wasteful" public relations move. "It's insulting the intelligence of Malaysians," Ivy told The Malaysian Insider. "It's very disrespectful to all of Bersih's efforts...Citizens turned up (at the Bersih rally on July 9) because we want a fair and even playing ground," added the executive director of the Women's Aid Organisation (WAO). Ivy also challenged the PM to specify the reforms that he had promised to implement immediately. Najib formed the panel some five weeks after electoral reform movement Bersih 2.0 took to the streets of the capital city on July 9 to call for free and fair elections. Nearly 50,000 people braved tear gas and water cannons at the rally despite a police lock down on the city.
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| Posted: 20 Aug 2011 01:07 AM PDT MASTERWORDSMITH On Aug 9, MAS and AirAsia had entered into a collaboration agreement to establish a framework to explore the possibilities of mutual co-operation. With that Tune Air Sdn Bhd, jointly owned by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Datuk Aziz Bakar, gets 20 per cent share of the national airline. Many have expressed their fears that the merger might lead to less competition and higher airfares to consumers. On the surface, it can appear as if Tony Fernandes is the winner of this development since AirAsia is directly competing with MAS. During the times when MAS was in the red, AirAsia was reaping profits.
If not for that move, MAS would have had cash flow problems. MAS at that time had little other assets to sell, having sold all its aircraft much earlier in 2003 to Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB) under the widespread asset unbundling (WAU) exercise — way before Datuk Seri Idris came into the picture. Eventually, the share price of MAS improved and some sang glorious songs praising Idris for helping MAS to turnaround. The 2004/2005 MAS annual report said: Malaysia Airlines' total revenue in 2004/2005 improved by RM2.6 billion to RM11.4These statistics differ from that of Wikipedia: 1. Prior to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, the airline suffered losses of as much as RM 260 million after earning a record-breaking RM319 million profit in the financial year 1996/1997. The airline then introduced measures to bring its P&L back into the black. For the financial year 1999/2000, the airline cut its losses from RM700 million in the year 1998/1999 to RM259 million. However, the airline plunged into further losses in the following year, amounting to RM417 million in FY2000/2001 and RM836 million in FY2001/2002. With these losses, the airline cut many unprofitable routes, such as Brussels, Darwin, Honolulu, Madrid, Munich and Vancouver. The airline recovered from its losses in the year 2002/2003. It achieved its then-highest profit in the year 2003/2004, totaling RM461 million. 2. In 2005, Malaysia Airlines reported a loss of RM1.3 billion. Revenue for the financial period was up by 10.3% or RM826.9 million, compared to the same period for 2004, driven by a 10.2% growth in passenger traffic. International passenger revenue increased by RM457.6 million or 8.4%, to RM5.9 billion, while cargo revenue decreased by RM64.1 million or 4.2%, to RM1.5 billion. Costs increased by 28.8% or RM2.3 billion, amounting to a total of RM 10.3 billion, primarily due to escalating fuel prices. Other cost increases included staff costs, handling and landing fees, aircraft maintenance and overhaul charges, Widespread Assets Unbundling (WAU) charges and leases. A former MAS staff Song Eu Jun had this to say:
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| Rocky to lead media onslaught against Najib? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 10:14 PM PDT
UPPERCAISE Word has been going around about what Rocky of Rocky's Bru (Datuk Ahiruddin Atan) would do next, after leaving Redberry group at the end of his contract in May. Speculation was that that he would once again be involved in media as point man for a new political campaign. He's planning a new blog… he's planning a new web site… Now a new blog fingers Rocky as leading an online media onslaught against Najib Tun Razak, the Umno president, whose precarious hold on the prime ministership looks even more tenuous day by day. Rocky had risen to prominence by using his blog and his network of blogger and journalist friends to campaign against the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government and the New Straits Times. When Abdullah was ousted and Najib took over a year later Rocky appeared to have become the voice of the new power establishment, with close ties to the new Najib appointees at the NSTP group. He made a loudly proclaimed return to the Malay Mail where he had once worked (and supervised its collapse as a free afternoon paper) before being pushed upstairs as editorial adviser after Redberry, primarily an outdoor advertising company, took control of the Malay Mail, Malaysian Reserve, a financial daily, and Bernama TV media sales. Now Rocky's out on the loose — and some say he's gunning for Najib. The latest is this posting at a new blog, Cat Out Of the Bag
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| Listing 1,100 capable bumi firms Posted: 19 Aug 2011 08:16 PM PDT (DAILY EXPRESS) - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the concept of meritocracy will be practised in the agenda to assist Bumiputera entrepreneurs, and the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) is in the process of listing 1,100 Bumiputera companies capable of success, on the stock market. The Government will assist the companies and the list will be announced in two-three months time, he said, while officiating the two-day convention, Empowering the New Economic Model: A Bumiputera Economic Jihad, organised by the Gagasan Badan Ekonomi Melayu (Gabem) Universiti Teknologi Mara. Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the Government will assist the companies to become bigger. "If the RM100,000 turnover this year can increase to RM1 million in three years time and if only operating within the country, the companies can then expand overseas. "This programme represents a new approach based on meritocracy among Bumiputeras with no question of cronyism but only help those who can truly succeed," he added. He said the switch in the approach towards assisting Bumiputera entrepreneurs based on meritocracy is seen as being better, as the previous method such as giving initial public offerings(IPO) through the Bumiputera quota, did not last long as the shares were resold on the market. "I want to state and you should not be shocked that of the 60 billion shares distributed to Bumiputeras at one time under the IPO, only two billion is left today. Why?" he asked. He said the Bumiputera shareholding had reduced as some investors were incapable of holding on to the shares concerned. There were some among them who sold the shares as the price increased but questioned where the profit obtained had gone. "If we want to help Bumiputera companies, they must prove their worth as committed and hard working entrepreneurs. I say to them, it is not who you are, it is not who you know but know how," he said. Meanwhile, the government is identifying the potential companies to be listed but needs some assistance in fulfilling the criteria of the Securities Commission (SC), so that it can be done. Najib also reflected on his time as the Pahang Menteri Besar when a lot of Bumiputera entrepreneurs met him, asking for his signature on project applications. "But when investigated, they were only seeking to make a profit or were 'rent seekers' and those behind them were not Bumiputera entrepreneurs," he said. He said if Bumiputera entrepreneurs did not change their attitude and work ethics, they would not progress in business, no matter how many conventions such as this was organised. "What we want are committed people, willing to strive to be successful, in line with the theme of this convention... meaning, not just the government helping, but all of you helping yourselves to succeed," he added. Najib said among the vendors to government-linked companies (GLCs) such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, were those who were comfortable remaining so, not wanting to change from that status to be self-sufficient. "Logically, if they had been vendors for five years, they should be able to stand on their own, and give other companies an opportunity to be one in turn," he added. Najib also said apart from Bumiputera vendor companies, Bumiputera Class F contractors should also migrate from that category to become that of a higher class and stand on their own. However, he said there were also successful Bumiputera companies and lately, there was one which had purchased an Australian company in the oil and gas sector. "What I would like to see is, successful Bumiputeras as big entrepreneurs, with public limited companies also having their own vendor development programme to assist other Bumiputera companies. "This is not just to the extent of providing welfare assistance but also assisting with the birth of more Bumiputera entrepreneurs who can help other companies," he added. Najib said the Bumiputera entrepreneur community must not be scared of change in the global business environment. "Instead, they need to overcome the global economic changes, which is seeing the emergence of two new powers in China and India," he added. Najib said he wants the Bumiputera community to be positive in undertaking change, so that when the country attains the status of a developed nation on January 1, 2020, the Malays and Bumiputeras will be also recognised as a progressive and successful race. He said the emergence of more non-governmental organisations apart from GABEM to fight for the economy of the race was positive, providing they were on the "same ship" with the government which has a clear direction in this regard. Touching on meritocracy, he said it is needed to encourage the culture of excellence among Malaysians but at the same time, "affirmative action" for the sidelined Bumiputera community could not ignored. He said the status of children growing up in Kenny Hills in Kuala Lumpur was different from those in the interior in Kg Bantal, Pahang. Also present at the event was GABEM chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Deputy Minister in the Prime Ministers Department, Datuk Ahmad Maslan.
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| What is this country coming to? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 08:13 PM PDT ALIRAN Will the rakyat be able to survive the power of the police – and that of the State, wonders Kee Thuan Chye. What is this country coming to? Many Malaysians are asking this question in view of the numerous actions taken by the police over the past week. First, they arrested 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members, including MP for Sungai Siput Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, and are now investigating them for resurrecting Communism and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. While on their way to a Bersih roadshow in Penang, they were arrested in Kepala Batas and found to have in their possession T-shirts bearing faces of Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin. They have been remanded for seven days. Communism? That's crazy talk. The Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) is long dead and gone. Chin Peng and Rashid Maidin are geriatrics. The party disbanded in 1989 after signing a peace treaty with the Malaysian Government, and its members were allowed to reside in Malaysia if they chose to do so. After 22 years of its being defunct and virtually forgotten, why is Communism still a threat today? And if it were – by some stretch of the imagination – are we to believe that this threat is manifest in these 30 PSM members among whom 14 are women, the oldest aged 64? A friend of mine who was at the court in Penang when the 30 were brought in told me they were just "a motley crew" of people who didn't look like they would carry a stick to fight, much less wage war against the Agong. "When I saw that, my faith in the system hit rock-bottom," he said. Kumar doesn't deserve this "And to see Jeyakumar in handcuffs was too much," he added. "He alone is worth many of our people in power put together. Top scorer in exams, a doctor, a man who has dedicated his life to helping poor people – he doesn't deserve this." Like my friend, I too knew Jeyakumar while at school. He was one year my junior at the Penang Free School, and I remember him well as a thoughtful, gentle person. He was soft-spoken, cerebral, and humble despite his well-to-do background. I find it hard to believe that someone like him would wage war against the Agong. Only someone stupid or deranged would consider doing that. He might be a socialist, but that's a far cry from being a Communist. Don't the police and the Government know the difference? To all intents and purposes, he is probably someone who transcends labels and merely cares for the poor. And why remand him and the others for a week? The High Court has since upheld this decision and said it is correct. Justice Zamani A Rahim said the case was serious. "It involves the security of the country, of everyone – you and me and our children." These 30 people are so dangerous that they are a threat to us and our children? Case number 2: Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate) A Samad Said was called in by the police and told he was being investigated for sedition because he had read part of a poem at the Bersih launch on June 19.
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| Was Muhyiddin behind Najib’s turnaround? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:43 PM PDT
Premier Najib Tun Razak's 'flip-flop' stand has vindicated doubts over his true intentions of setting up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) (Free Malaysia Today) - Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's 'flip-flopping' on his decision in relation to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) could result in the PSC being stillborn. DAP parliamentary leader and Ipoh Timor MP, Lim Kit Siang said Najib's disclosure yesterday that the general election could be held anytime and was not bound by the work of the PSC meant that the Barisan Nasional government was not interested in putting to rest suspicions of manipulation of the country's electoral process. "Najib's flip-flop statement has vindicated doubts over the true intention of proposals for the formation of a parliamentary select committee for electoral reforms," he said in a statement issued today. Five days ago Najib had given an assurance that the PSC on electoral reforms would allay any suspicion of manipulation by the government in the country's electoral process. Najib gave the assurances after announcing that a nine-man parliamentary select committee, led by a minister would look into electoral reforms. But his statement yesterday, after the Umno supreme council meeting, has spawned fresh speculations that Najib's flip-flop stand was due to pressure from Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. "Malaysians are asking whether Najib has backed down in four days from his implicit undertaking that the Parliamentary Select Committee would be a meaningful exercise and that general elections would only be held after electoral reforms had been effected because of the hardline pressures such as those emanating from Muhyiddin Yassin who had denied that there is any real problem with the electoral system and that only some minor tweaks are required," said Lim. Lim further concluded that the effectiveness of the PSC would rely purely on Najib's determination.
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| Ringgit sukuk sales head for record as Gulf taps market Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:33 PM PDT
Malaysia's government announced a spending program in 2010 to build roads, electricity plants and a rail-transit system aimed at easing traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur, over the next decade. Prime Minister Najib Razak said in March that Islamic bonds would be sold to fund the 48 billion-ringgit rail project, without saying when the debt would be sold or how big it would be. The Treasury has sold 26 billion ringgit of sukuk in 2011, up from 18.5 billion a year earlier, according to Bank Negara data. (Bloomberg) - Sales of ringgit-denominated Islamic bonds are headed for a record this year as Malaysia's $444 billion development plan boosts borrowing and Persian Gulf issuers tap the world's biggest sukuk market. Malaysian companies have announced plans to sell at least 6 billion ringgit ($2 billion) of sukuk by the end of 2011, on top of the 30.6 billion ringgit already raised in 2011. That will bring the total close to the record 38.7 billion ringgit raised in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings totaled 10.9 billion ringgit in the year-earlier period. Maybank Investment Bank Bhd., the top sukuk underwriter this year, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd. and Asian Finance Bank Bhd. all say they expect a record year for issuance. Investors have bought Malaysia's investment-grade Islamic debt amid political turmoil in the Middle East, and signs that Europe's debt crisis is spreading and that the world is headed for recession. "With Europe and the Middle East in crisis, money is looking at emerging markets, including Asia, and the appreciating ringgit offers good returns," Ahmad Najib Nazlan, deputy treasurer in the treasury and capital markets division at Kuala Lumpur-based Bank Muamalat, said in an Aug. 17 interview. Lower borrowing costs and the economic transformation program were also driving issuance, he said. The ringgit has strengthened 2.6 percent against the dollar this year to 2.9870 Friday. Malaysia is rated A3 by Moody's Investors Service and A- by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, the fourth-highest investment grades. The three companies rate Indonesia one level below investment grade. Global sales of sukuk, which pay asset returns to comply with Islam's ban on interest, has doubled to $16.8 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, rose 51 percent to $3.7 billion. Yields on Malaysia's benchmark five-year local-currency Islamic bonds have dropped 17 basis points, or 0.17 percentage point, this quarter to 3.466 percent Thursday, matching the lowest level this year, a Bank Negara Malaysia index and Bloomberg data show. The Bloomberg-AIBIM-Bursa Malaysia Sovereign Sharia Index, which tracks the most-traded government debt in Malaysia, climbed to 104.158, the highest level since it was created in September, and has advanced 3 percent this year. Malaysia's government announced a spending program in 2010 to build roads, electricity plants and a rail-transit system aimed at easing traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur, over the next decade. Prime Minister Najib Razak said in March that Islamic bonds would be sold to fund the 48 billion-ringgit rail project, without saying when the debt would be sold or how big it would be. The Treasury has sold 26 billion ringgit of sukuk in 2011, up from 18.5 billion a year earlier, according to Bank Negara data. The economy will expand as much as 6 percent this year, Razak said on Aug. 18, after growing 7.2 percent in 2010, the fastest pace in 10 years. For sukuk sales to beat the 2007 record, the "assumption is that we will continue on the path of economic stability," Bank Muamalat's Ahmad Najib said. "The impact is greater when the economy is doing well." Persian Gulf issuers have tapped the Southeast Asian nation's market this year, with Gulf Investment Corp., the investment company owned by the six GCC states, selling 1.35 billion ringgit of Islamic debt in Malaysia in two tranches in February and August. State-owned Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. is considering the ringgit market in Malaysia for a potential bond sale, chief financial officer Stephen Kersley said on Aug. 10, without specifying whether it will be a sukuk issue. Among planned offers, Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Malaysia's biggest power producer, said in July it will raise up to 5 billion ringgit this year. Emery Oleochemicals Group, the world's largest producer of plastic additives, will sell 480 million ringgit of sukuk in the fourth quarter, the Shah Alam, Malaysia-based company said Friday, citing group chief executive officer Kongkrapan Intarajang. Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd., a venture capital company owned by the Finance Ministry, will offer as much as 500 million ringgit of Sharia-compliant debt in September or October, it said last year. "Sales can surpass 40 billion ringgit this year given the ample liquidity in the market," Michael Lau, head of debt markets at Kuala Lumpur-based Maybank Investment Bank, said in an Aug. 17 interview. "There's easily 7 to 8 billion ringgit worth of sukuk in the pipeline that will be in the market before the end of the year." Sharia-compliant bonds gained 7 percent this year, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai U.S. Dollar Sukuk Index, while debt in developing markets returned 7.2 percent, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s EMBI Global Index shows. The difference between the average yield for sukuk and the London interbank offered rate widened three basis points to 243 Thursday, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai U.S. Dollar Sukuk Index. The spread between Malaysia's 3.928 percent dollar-denominated sukuk due June 2015 and the Dubai Department of Finance's 6.396 percent note due November 2014 was unchanged Friday at 235 basis points, Bloomberg data show. Islamic banking assets in Malaysia rose 16 percent in 2010 to 350.8 billion ringgit and accounted for 21 percent of the total banking system, according to Bank Negara's annual report released on March 23. The country had $94 billion of sukuk outstanding last year, accounting for 66 percent of the global total, the report said. "If I was a borrower, I'd love to come to the market at this time," said Zulkiflee Nidzam, the head of foreign-exchange and bond trading at Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Finance Bank. |
| EPF confirms buying London office block for RM740m Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:06 PM PDT Another investment: D2 Private sold the office block in St James's Square to the EFP for £150mil. (The Star) - The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) has confirmed that it has purchased an office block in St James's Square, London, where one of the tenants has one of London's highest rents. The EPF told StarBizWeek that it bought 12 St James's Square for 150mil (about RM740mil) from D2 Private, the leading Dublin-based Irish property investment company. The deal was completed on Aug 11. This marks the EPF's fourth property investment in London since announcing an allocation of 1bil for British property purchases about a year ago. Including this latest purchase, it has spent 634mil. The latest purchase is centrally located in one of London's most elegant West End squares. The seller D2 bought the building in 2006 for 60mil and refurbished the classic 81,500 sq ft Georgian building for another 20mil. Eighteen months after buying it, D2 rented the top two floors to hedge fund Permal Investment Management Services at what was then considered the world's highest rental ever at between 140 and 130 per sq ft. The West End market has failed to reach rents of that level since. Only earlier this year did they pass 100 per sq ft. D2 is founded by Deirdre Foley, and David Arnold. Foley was previously a director of the Quinlan Partnership and is D2's managing director while Arnold is a well-known Irish property developer and investor. The EPF last year handed ING Real Estate Investment Management and RREEF the mandate to invest 500mil each in central London on its behalf. So far the fund has invested outside the core West End in a bid to find investments that yield more than 5%. The EPF's three other property assets include commercial building Whitefriars in central London which it bought from Union Investment for 148mil in March. Whitefriars has a annual yield of 5.75%. Property consultancy Savills brokered that deal. Prior to Whitefriars, the EPF bought One Sheldon Square in Paddington Central for 156mil, and 40 Portman Square near Oxford Street for 180mil. The two properties have yields of 5.75% and 5.55% respectively. Properties in the city of London was among the first to start recovering from the financial crisis, rising in the second half of 2009 after two years of declines erased 50% of its value from city-centre office values. The pound sterling's 22% drop since September 2007 had helped make property more attractive to foreign buyers, according to a report by Bloomberg. Since 2009, when prices of London assets begin its uptrend, spending in London's prime real estate shows no sign of abating, a deep contrast to the overall state of the UK property market which has been soft until today. In the city, investors are turning to more affordable markets or riskier properties because of the shortage of prime real estate for sale and the high prices it commands. For the first half of this year, about $12.3 billion has been spent on prime offices, shops and homes in London, the most of any city, Real Capital Analytics's research shows. Last week's disorder and looting in London has not diminished the appeal of investing in the city, according to Jeremy Helsby, chief executive officer of Savills Plc. "There's no evidence of an unwillingness to invest in London," Helsby says after the property broker reported a 52% increase in first-half profit. "I can't think of any set of circumstances of London not retaining its status as a destination for international capital," he told Bloomberg.
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| Is the PSC yet another con job? Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:37 PM PDT
The government has a bad track record of implementing suggestions from past commissions, so how different will it be with the Parliamentary Select Committee? (Free Malaysia Today) - How effective will the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) be if it has no powers to enforce and implement its suggestion? How different will it be from past commissions whose findings have come to nought? These are the questions bugging Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel). Speaking to FMT, Mafrel secretary-general Shaharudin Othman said: "Before we even ask the question of who should head PSC, we should take a step back and ask why even have PSC. "Take the RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) on the the Lingam tape: even when they named the people involved, were there any actions taken?" he asked. "The Parliamentary Accountability Committee (PAC) is an organ in the parliamentary system which questions mismanagement. But what has it done? "Only when all the previous recommendations are looked into and some sincerity is shown in their implementation, will the PSC matter." Shaharudin said the PSC merely had the power to make suggestions which can easily be ignored by the government. "The composition of the committee hardly matters as results have not been seen based on previous government actions. "We have been living through many, many years based on promises. "If there is no drastic change in the way the government does things, then we are merely living in the climate of broken promises," he said. 'Opposition has more stake' Bersih 2.0 steering commitee member Maria Chin Abdullah also agreed. "The government must make sure that the recommendations are implemented. "This isn't about Bersih, the government or the opposition. The people will observe the progress and they are the ones who will decide at the end of the day," she said. She also pointed out that having a minister head the nine-member PSC was not going to help increase public confidence in the electoral reform process. She believed that the opposition should lead the committee as it had more at stake over electoral reforms. "If you look at all the recent allegations of electoral irregularities, it is the opposition which has been vocal about them. "The opposition should chair the committee because it has more at stake and more to lose. "The government seems to be quite happy with the current process so it reflects a bias. We hope the government will take into account public confidence. "If it goes on acting in its own interest, it will not inspire much public confidence," she told FMT. Maria Chin also noted that the nine committee members – comprising five MPs from the ruling government, three from the opposition and an independent – reflected a pro-government bias.
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| Posted: 19 Aug 2011 11:09 AM PDT By Natasja Sheriff, The Nation "In spite of all the attacks, the intimidation, the fear, that the government has put in, from race to violence to chaos and all that, the people have actually decided that they want to come forward to join this rally," Chin Abdullah continues. "No more being the silent majority. We are hoping that from here it will be a stepping stone towards a formation in the future of a more democratic movement in Malaysia." In early July, while eyes were on the unrest in the Middle East, another democratic movement was gathering momentum in Southeast Asia. Borne out of growing discontent with the ruling government, the people of Malaysia were experiencing their own awakening. Their movement for electoral reform, known as "Bersih" (meaning "clean" in the Malay language), reached critical mass on July 9, when an estimated 47,000 people took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, demanding action against voter fraud, press freedom and an end to "dirty politics"—slander and incessant claims and counterclaims of supposed sexual misconduct. The rally provoked an unprecedented government crackdown, widely condemned by international human rights agencies, leading to the arrests of more than 1,600 people. Police action has continued, with people frequently detained for as little as wearing a yellow T-shirt—a symbol of support for the outlawed Bersih movement. The reform movement has been growing since 2005, when a group of politicians and non-governmental organizations, dismayed at the level of fraud and corruption in the Malaysian political system, came together to form the Joint Action Committee for Electoral Reform. When the movement was revived in 2010 as the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, or Bersih 2.0—the now familiar moniker of the reform movement—the organizers made a strategic decision to exclude all political parties, including members of the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. Bersih 2.0 emerged as nonpartisan, civil society movement to monitor progress towards electoral reform. Without the involvement of political parties, organizers had to find other means to reach out to mobilize their supporters. "We planned all these roadshows at the nationwide level," says Maria Chin Abdullah, whose organization EMPOWER serves as the secretariat for the Bersih 2.0 Coalition, which would "entail us going to various states to explain the fifteen demands we had and why we prioritized eight of them." But the police took a harsh position against protestors. "Before we could even start our roadshow, they already arrested about thirty people," Chin Abdullah explains. With direct attempts to reach out to the public thwarted by the police, the movement took to social media. Facebook became the main source of information about the July 9 rally in Kuala Lumpur, and the Twitterverse lit up. A new generation, well-versed in the advantages of online activism and emboldened by the relative anonymity of social media, took courage from protestors across the Middle East and came forward to support the movement. On July 9, the number of Twitter users talking about the Bersih rally reached 19,188, according to the website Politweet. Both online and offline, many thousands of supporters wanted to make their voices heard despite the threat of the government's harsh preventative laws like the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA), frequently and arbitrarily applied to suppress dissent. Many Malaysians feel they are powerless to change their government, yet the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, which has held power since the formation of the Federation of Malaya in 1957, is clearly uneasy. The Minister of Home Affairs, Hishammuddin Hussein, outlawed Bersih for spreading seditious propaganda and for "affecting the harmony of a multicultural society." The police refused to grant a permit for the "Bersih 2.0" rally, and government ministers denounced the rally and its organizers. The government has also attempted to discredit the rally and its organizers by suggesting that the movement's real goal is to cause disharmony and racial strife. Fear of igniting racial tensions among the country's three dominant ethnic groups—Malay, Chinese and Indian—frequently colors the political rhetoric of Malaysia. References to the race riots that swept across Malaysia in 1969, leaving an estimated 169 people dead, are often cited as a warning to Malaysians who threaten the status quo, and are used to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Anil Netto, a Malaysian journalist who frequently writes on behalf of the reform group Aliran, explains that the government's tactics are erratic, and increasingly ineffective. "Initially they were speaking of foreign powers, the next day about communism, another day that Christian groups were getting involved. Many can by now see through these tactics and they are not carrying as much weight as they might have in the past." And attempts by the government to frame the rally as a threat to racial harmony appear to be unfounded—the movement cuts across racial and religious groups. "What was good about Bersih 2.0 rally, as everyone now knows, is that it brought out a more multi-racial component," says Chin Abdullah. "It's actually a Malaysian rally." It's also a movement in which women have played a leading role: Ambiga Sreenevasan, a lawyer and former chairwoman of the Malaysian Bar Council, is the leader of the Bersih movement, and a recipient of the US State Department International Women of Courage award in 2009; and Maria Chin Abdullah, a central figure in the Malaysian women's rights movement, is head of the Bersih Secretariat. Support also came from an unexpected quarter when Marina Mahathir, daughter of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, attended the rally. The government likely fears that the movement will result in electoral gains by the opposition in the 2012 election. After Bersih's first rally, in 2007, the opposition coalition gained control of five of Malaysia's thirteen states in the 2008 general election, a victory commonly dubbed a "political tsunami." "The government probably knows that these kind of reforms will strike at the heart of the current electoral process which has returned them to power since independence," says Netto. Ironically, the government has only served to fuel public anger and provided the Bersih movement with all the publicity they could need. "To be honest, we didn't even need the roadshows to raise the publicity of Bersih 2.0, the government did the publicity for us," says Chin Abdullah. "In spite of all the attacks, the intimidation, the fear, that the government has put in, from race to violence to chaos and all that, the people have actually decided that they want to come forward to join this rally," Chin Abdullah continues. "No more being the silent majority. We are hoping that from here it will be a stepping stone towards a formation in the future of a more democratic movement in Malaysia." |
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