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ZAID is with US!
Listing of FGV- looking our for settlers interests
Hasan Ali : Kalau datang dulu nampak mukanya, kalau nak pergi biarlah nampak belakangnya

Posted: 21 Dec 2011 03:45 PM PST

I wrote the above paragraph about two weeks ago and for the life of me I could not find a way forward. What should come next? That is until this morning when I saw Zaid's piece "Fighting for a better Malaysia" in Free Malaysia Today:

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/12/22/fighting-for-a-better-malaysia/

In that article I saw again in Zaid what I saw when he left Pak Lah's Cabinet in September 2008 and when he left PKR in 2010.

For Zaid it was always about anything else but him!

His resignation from Pak Lah's cabinet was not about him not being given the Defense, Finance or DPM post. It was not about him not being given any project or any contract. It was about his concern for the rights of Teresa Kok, Raja Petra and Tan Hoon Cheng.

In PKR he withdrew his candidacy for the party post of Deputy President as a sign of protest against serious allegations of fraud and electoral misconduct perpetrated by his opponent Azmin Ali – allegations that were proven to have substance in the party's elections held in 2010.

And today in his article in FMT he is writing not about Zaid Ibrahim or KITA but about Hindraf and Raja Petra.

He writes about remembering the contributions of these two towards Pakatan Rakyat success in the 2008 general elections. He writes about Petra relentless assault on the ISA and Petra tireless online campaign for the opposition.

And he reminds us of what Hindraf was able to do in mobilizing the poor and marginalized Indian community – a feat Zaid believes Hindraf will be able to do again come the 13th general election.

And then Zaid being Zaid, he takes a swipe at Petra and calls Petra a maverick that "will say and do things we don't approve of" and tells us that some of Hindraf demands, "were questionable and perhaps unreasonable". Vintage Zaid! Always telling it as it is!

Posted: 21 Dec 2011 09:01 AM PST

think, even while some of us differ in our views, this principle of restructuring, reorganizing, changing in order to arrive at better value, is acceptable. Also I am not averse to having experts run and operate the business. Example- KPF is the investment entity in Felda Holdings. The members of KPF get dividends, handouts, charity, assistance etc. they are able to enjoy because the commercial entity, Felda Global Ventures Sdn Bhd does the business for them. KPF's and the interests of others- public spirited individuals, minders (paid or unpaid) are to ensure the managers of the business do their work efficiently and create shareholder value.

Except that, I will always be circumspect about the term 'unlocking value'. Translate that into action and practice, what does the term mean? This term 'unlocking value' has taken different meanings in the context of business in Malaysia. It can mean anything. In the sad case of MAS for example, unlocking value has meant the sale of assets and the management of balance sheet bypassing managing the operations of the business. The truth is, a business depends more on managing its operations.

My understanding in unlocking value is however somewhat more basic- it means you produce more per acre if you are in the business of planting something, you get better price, you produce better quality, produce new products, become more productive, keep costs down. It's a bricks and mortar view of how an economic enterprise operates. You operate the real economy. Goods and services. It's the business operations.

As an analyst or investor I will look at these variables and parameters. At the same time, I have this cynical bias- no business unit can sustain profit on paper shuffling and share manipulations without the support of the business fundamentals. I am always suspicious at the managing balance sheet approach. You want to arrive at a clean balance sheet; you manage the assets and liabilities. You are fixated at the over consuming idea of having more value at assets over liabilities.

In felda's case that means to me, making sure plantations produce more and high quality yields, marketing, managing more efficiently and so forth. Creating prosperity through share manipulations, IPO and the stuff are initial spurts. What comes later- working on the fundamentals is what sustains long term benefits.

A close friend sent me a text. He says he doesn't understand why I oppose the FELDA Global ventures (FGV) listing. Don't I empathize with FELDA settlers? The indirect owners of the 880,000 hectares of palm oil trees are going to enjoy a windfall and you are objecting? Settlers are passive investors through their cooperative. The business and commercial aspects of the business has always been handled by Felda Global Ventures SB. That is the organization that operates and manages the business. Doesn't it make good business and economic sense to restructure the business into a single entity and create upstream and downstream business entities?

The most important element of this business in my mind is the land area. Now, these 880,000 hectares comprise of what? The land already owned by settlers or land not already owned by settlers or both? Since 1990, Felda doesn't enlist settlers anymore. Land not already owned by settlers or were not given out were all placed under Felda Plantations. These are not operated by settlers. They are run directly by Felda through their plantation business units.

Posted: 21 Dec 2011 07:28 AM PST

Oleh kerana PAS bukan parti saya maka saya tidak dapat memberikan komen yang tepat kerana saya tidak pernah berada di dalam parti itu. Oleh kerana tidak tahu apa sebenarnya yang berlaku dalam parti itu saya tidak mampu untuk memberikan komen. Saya mungkin boleh memberikan sedikit sahaja komen mengikut apa yang saya nampak dan dengar dan komen saya hanyalah berdasarkan kepada 'apa yang terbit, itulah yang saya tuai'.

Saya telah mendengar tentang Hasan Ali ini sejak beberapa lama dahulu. Beliau begitu resah berada dalam PAS kerana beliau telah dijadikan umpan oleh pihak yang berseteru dengan PAS agar PAS menjadi lemah. Beliau adalah orang yang kuat untuk menemukan PAS dengan UMNO untuk penyatuan orang Melayu Islam tetapi usaha beliau itu tidak pergi ke mana-mana kerana keseluruhan ahli PAS telah memberikan 'stand' yang tegas melalui muktamar parti itu yang bekerjasama dengan UMNO itu tidak berhasil.

Hasan di katakan agak 'obsess' dengan usaha menyatukan UMNO dengan PAS dan keputusan PAS tidak melayani cadangan UMNO untuk PAS bersatu dengannya. Ramai berpendapat kecenderungan Hasan untuk mendapat keuntungan peribadi beliau merupakan penyebab mengapa beliau mengambil stand 'middle left' dalam perhubungan di antara PAS dengan UMNO. Keuntungan yang di rasakan akan di perolehi oleh beliau jika PAS bekerjasama dengan UMNO ialah jawatan yang baik seperti MB dan lain-lain, lebih baik dari apa yang beliau sandang sekarang ini.

Bagi pendapat saya secara peribadi, Hasan patut meninggalkan sahaja PAS dan tidak berdolak dalik dengan susunan kata-kata yang mudah dibaca orang. Bak kata perbilangan, ramai boleh 'menyelam air dalam tunggak' Hasan itu. Hasan mesti faham dalam keadaan sekarang hanya ada dua posisi yang di ambil oleh individu yang bermain politik; iaitu duduk di sana atau duduk di sini. Politik hari ini memerlukan pendirian yang jelas kerana bagi pihak yang tidak berpuas hati dengan keadaan kepimpinan negara, mereka tidak mahu berketuakan mereka yang tidak di sini dan tidak di sana.

Bagi pihak yang menentang arus mereka mahu melihat pemimpin yang jelas mahu melihat pimpinan hari ini di ambil alih oleh pihak alternatif. Sebaliknya bagi mereka yang mahu mempertahankan pimpinan yang ada mereka perlu jelas duduk di sebelah pihak yang mempertahankan pimpinan itu dengan jelas dan nyata. Mereka yang cuba bermain politik mengikut jalan tengah pada masa ini pasti akan menghadapi masalah besar.

READ MORE HERE

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Khamis, 22 Disember 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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