A Financial Look at Singapore/Malaysian Property Scene

February 7, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/2009/01/2-major-defining-issues-for-malaysia.html

Thursday, January 29, 2009

The 2 Major Defining Issues For Malaysia & Singapore Property

1) The stock market effect in Malaysia – If you were to look at the financial turmoil in the past, namely, the mid-late 80s, the blip in 1994, the major monster of 97, the internet bust, the SARS effect, the tsunami effect and now the credit implosion… you can chart a very useful multiplier effect from losses in the stock markets. Prior to 2000, any kind of financial bust ups will see a lot of havoc and bad debts, ask any remisier… Following moves to limit contra and contango trades, this has removed a HUGE “leveraged disaster” from the domestic economy.

Najib’s Falacious “Majority” in Perak

February 5, 2009 by llmaelynn

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in a press conference on Feb 4 that though the Perak State Assembly is tied between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional at 28 vs 28, he had the support of three “friendly independents” for the Barisan Nasional to form a majority state government.

Najib’s claim of the majority of three is fallacious because his so called “friendly independents” — former PKR assemblymen Jamaluddin Radzi and Osman Jailu — had already resigned on Feb 1. When Speaker V. Sivakumar received their letters of resignation on Feb 1, he announced on the same day that he had accepted the resignations and declared: “They have stepped down as state assemblypersons with immediate effect???. Hence, these two men legally ceased to be assemblymen upon the Speaker’s announcement.

Dato Nazir Razak and Dr. Lim Teck Ghee on Economic Leadership and the NEP

February 5, 2009 by llmaelynn

Statement from Dato Sri Nazir Razak

“The Government must show economic leadership???

The global financial crisis is having a brutal impact o the world’s real economy. It is not just another economic slow-down, this crisis is shaking the core of the established world economic order. The Malaysia Government must show economic leadership beyond just orthodox fiscal stimulus and monetary measures, as major global economic dislocations and enforced reconstruction present not only severe challenges but also tremendous opportunities.

In this environment I believe these 5 key strategies should be considered:-

Who’s Been Busy For Nothing?

February 5, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/17630/84/

Published by malaysia-today.net

Thursday, 05 February 2009

The political scenario in Perak has been plunged into a state of utter chaos overnight, with assemblymen playing the vanishing game, hopping over, resigning and state assembly dissolved–taking the entire nation aback and unprepared.

Journalists are scrambling to get the latest updates, and before anyone could take a breather, MCA president Ong Tee Keat smashed out another shocker, “Hee Yit Foong’s hopover is mere fabrication which has kept the reporters busy for nothing.”

His words have left many with deep sighs: Who has actually been busy for nothing?

Pakatan Riding Over Storms in Perak

February 5, 2009 by llmaelynn

February 4, 2009

Just as Malaysians were held spellbound by another round of the country’s unique brand of “missing persons” politics, we are hit by another bombshell – the record-smashing move by the Election Commission (EC) to overrule a decision by the Speaker of a legislature to accept the resignations of members of the legislature.

When newly installed election EC chairman Abdul Aziz Yusof announced on Feb 3 that two assemblymen of the Perak state assembly should continue to hold their positions as assemblymen, despite having received a notification from the Speaker that these two have resigned, the EC was in fact telling the Speaker: your acceptance of those two resignations is no damn good, we don’t recognize it, so the two will remain assemblymen, and there wouldn’t be any by-election.

CPI Press statement On “The Perak Mess???

February 4, 2009 by llmaelynn

The Centre for Policy Initiatives lauds the statement by Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, that the Sultan will be “neutral, nonpartisan and free of having personal interest to ensure justice for the people???.

Amidst uncertainty surrounding the resignations of Perak state assemblymen for Behrang and Changkat Jering – Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu respectively – Raja Nazrin’s assurance that his father the Sultan of Perak has always upheld the principles of justice based on the sovereignty of the law and emphasising solidarity, cooperation, consensus and consultation, is indeed timely.

It is hoped that the national leadership will pay heed and take a leaf from the ruler’s book by similarly putting the interests of the rakyat first and foremost over political self-interest. The interests of the rakyat are best served when the pivotal and watchdog institutions of state work with scrupulous integrity and are autonomous. To borrow from Raja Nazrin’s wise words, this independence “helps in enhancing the effectiveness of the check and balance mechanism???.

Will Malaysia be monopolized by the few?

February 3, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2009/01/will-malaysia-be-monopolized-by-few.html

There is a need for greed in this post-colonial British country. It is the need for greed at a high speed that is killing the rakyat/masses fast.

From the need to monopolize plantations, public works companies, investment brokerages, private hospitals, television stations, media conglomerates, satellites beaming 100 channel televisions that turn kampong folks into soap-opera and Bollywood junkies, right up to airlines that need newer landing grounds that will also turn surrounding areas into Disneylands — Malaysians are now addicted the fascination of monopolizing.

The game MONOPOLY by Parker Brothers must have been a good socializer to the idea that monopolizing and being greedy is good. For decades the ideology of monopolizing has shaped the consciousness of Malaysians and monopolizers are considered heroes of the Malaysian-styled laissez faire world of corporate-crony-crypto capitalism. There is even a Malaysian version of the game MONOPOLY that is based on the cities of Cyberjaya and Putrajaya.

Raja Petra Kamarudin on Civil Disobedience

January 23, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/17149/84/

Published by Malaysia Today

22 January 2009

Civil Disobedience 101

Some have asked me about the meaning of Civil Disobedience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience). It’s actually quite simple. You defy the powers-that-be, but you do it in a passive, not active, manner. You do not resist. You just do nothing. And is this not what Malaysians are good at, doing nothing?

For example, when they charged me in court and asked me to plead ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’, I refused to enter a plea. I told the judge, “I shall not respond to the charges on the grounds that the charges are both mala fide and defective.??? The judge, however, took that as a ‘not guilty’ plea.

I then raised my voice and told the judge, “I did not plead not guilty! I said I refuse to respond to the charges.??? He still took that as a ‘not guilty’ plea and I now face trial.

In another earlier case, I pleaded ‘not guilty’ and the court set bail. I then refused bail and was sent to the Sungai Buloh Prison for three days. My wife came to prison at the behest of the prison authorities who were worried about my safety. Sirul and Azilah had threatened me in front of a senior prison officer, Thana, and they were worried that I might not survive prison.

More Freedom of Information?

January 23, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://www.thenutgraph.com/better-access-to-information

Published by The NutGraph

January 22, 2009

PETALING JAYA, 22 Jan 2009: The March 2008 general elections have increased prospects for greater freedom of information, with Pakatan Rakyat governments taking the lead.

Cover for the annual review by CIJ”The Selangor and Penang state governments have made public announcements to introduce freedom of information (FOI) laws in their states within the year,” Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) said in its 2008 review of freedom of expression in the country.

The review, which was released today, also noted the move, though unsuccessful, by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Member of Parliament (MP) for Subang, R Sivarasa, to initiate a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament on FOI.

It also commended Pakatan Rakyat MPs for committing to the setting up of a parliamentary caucus on media freedom.

Another breakthrough in 2009 was the Works Ministry’s release of controversial toll concessionaire agreements to the public, CIJ said.

However, CIJ still expressed disappointed with the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led federal government.

CPI columnist Art Harun on the BN’s failure in the art of war

January 22, 2009 by llmaelynn

http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2009/01/p036-debacle-bn-tragedy.html

Sun Tzu, the legendary Chinese general, who had also been credited with the authorship of “The Art of War”, posits that the art of war is governed by 5 constant factors or elements. They are:

    *
      the moral law
    *
      heaven
    *
      earth
    *
      the Commander
    *
      method and discipline

While the moral law “causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives”, the heaven would signify the natural elements such as day and night, cold and heat, which would have impacted any preparation for a war. The earth meanwhile signifies the distances, the size, the danger and security, the width and the narrowness of passages. The Commander on the other hand, must possess of virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness. Method and discipline are to be understood as “the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.”

During the P.036 by-election though, the BN had none of the above!