Shabery Cheek is Clueless as Minister of Sports for Malaysia

PR exercises..that's what Shabery Cheek is good at. Chatting to the badminton players and other sportsmen. But is this what is demanded of him by the rakyat? I don't think so. MALAYSIANS need a leader. A leader who can lead them to a new level, breakthrough achievement. For him, the KPI should be easy! Bring Malaysia's football team to the World Cup! Then the whole Malaysia will be united, rooting for the national team. Of course in five years (under his tenure) this may not happen. But the plan should be there. At the very least he must improve Malaysia's football team by several notches, Malaysia must win the gold at the SEA games. Easy piesy..I guarantee you everybody will like him if he can pull this off!! Understood??

American Express Blue Card (US)

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Petrochemicals Industry Good For Sabah? Says Tan Sri Bernard Dompok!

I am very worried about Malaysian government these days. Especially those coming from Sabah. Tan Sri Bernard Dompok has been questioning the logic of building a 502km pipeline all the way from Kimanis in Sabah to Bintulu, Sarawak. His reason, Sabah is deprived of possible development or benefits from the gas. It's hoped that at the very least, Kimanis will be developed into a petroleum city, the likes of Miri and Bintulu and may be Kerteh. He also suggested that a petrochemical complex to be built to help Sabah to reduce unemployment and improve the economy. The level of Tan Sri Bernard's resolve to make this happen really strong to the extent of him threatening to bring his party United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Dusun Murut (UPKO) out of Barisan Nasional. While all these seem wonderful on the surface, Tan Sri Bernard really has to dig deeper. I do respect Tan Sri Bernard for his efforts to solve people issues in Sabah, but the industry that he has been wanting to have in Sabah is definitely not a sustainable one. The prospect of petrochemical products or derivatives look very gloom at least in the next 5-10 years. PETRONAS' facilities in Sabah are struggling to keep their ends meet and Tan Sri Bernard is asking for PETRONAS to build a new one. Who says petrochemical industry is good for Sabah then?

A non-sustainable business is really waste of people's money. The money wasted in building the petrochemical complex which could easily run into billions (a SUNK COST) can easily be invested in something that really makes business commercial sense. So instead of asking PETRONAS to build a wasteful petrochemical complex, Tan Sri Bernard should really focus on high margin, high growth with global appeal industry which is sustainable in the long run. For this, he can get PETRONAS to lead its development and make the initial investments. This will definitely benefit both PETRONAS and Sabah government. It's a win-win situation. Sabah can model after Singapore and Israel. Start a service, high end industry. That will move Sabah faster (double digit growth each year) than a loss-making petrochemical complex.

I really hope Tan Sri Bernard will consider this in earnest.

Albert Buyou of Sabah Oil and Gas contractors Association also mentioned that in NST, dated 12 November 2008, "We have skilled locals who are being driven away to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Arab states because there is nothing for them to do." May I also mention Albert that even in Kerteh and Sarawak the skilled locals are being driven away to Middle East. So what's stopping the Sabahan to run away when even you have local oil and gas industry there? The key is the monetary compensation. They are being paid more than 7-8 times over in Qatar etc. Who doesn't compelled to leave by the way?

Be sensible Datuk. I know you intention is good but the means is just not justifiable. Think on the solution. There are many ways to reach the solutions.

Malaysia is falling into recession soon?

WHILE the world is reeling from what is possibly the worst global economic crisis since The Great Depression, most Malaysians have been too preoccupied with its own political drama to pay much attention to the financial meltdown. Everyone is busy talking about politics. The opposition taking over, the opposition not taking over; the PM stepping down, the PM not stepping down; who will become the new PM's deputy, who will not; is Anwar guilty of sodomy, is he innocent. Based on the newspaper headlines, many seem to think that it only affects the US, Europe, and other countries in the region. Malaysians tend to think that based on strong commodities and crude oil prices that Petronas is selling, we are somehow insulated from what is happening elsewhere.

Well, if they have been reading reports closely, they would see that palm oil and crude oil prices have plunged also. Local newspapers have not been reporting the meltdown on a big scale. The coverage is still mainly limited to the business or foreign sections, and tend to present the 'official' side of things.

In today's publication of The Star, the biggest English daily, a story on local banks focused on the positives. The lead story of the business section of The Star said that banks were turning cautious but have not put the brakes on lending to businesses.
It also stressed that the country's high savings rate and healthy foreign reserves would enable local banks to weather the global credit squeeze. As a result, perhaps not many Malaysians are even aware of the spreading fear in global markets. This sort of thinking is perhaps further boosted by the country's leaders who kept insisting that Malaysia's economic fundamentals are strong, rather than preparing the ground for what is to come -- slower economic growth, and perhaps job losses.

Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcob was quoted in today's papers as saying that Malaysia is unlikely to enter into a recession. He did admit however that "if the crisis creates a recession in the US and Europe, all countries will be affected."
Mass-selling Malay-language Utusan Malaysia played up Nor Mohamed's comments and made it their lead story for the business pages, with the headline saying "Malaysia confident will not fall into recession." Quoting the central bank, the government has said that both direct and indirect exposure of Malaysian financial institutions in terms of holding of securities linked to the US sub-prime mortgages and lending to entities associated with them, accounted for only 0.3 per cent of the banking system's capital base. Further supporting this argument is the fact that the Malaysian bourse also has not plunged to the depths seen by neighbouring Indonesia, which was forced to close for two days this week after huge falls.
But observers cautioned that Malaysians must pay careful attention to events happening elsewhere before they end up being taken by surprise. Some say this time, if the recession lands on Malaysian shores, it might well be worse than the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis.
First to go could be Malaysian exports, 20 per cent of which go to the US. A drop in exports could cause major job losses. This would then affect consumer spending and curtail growth.
We are already seeing the prices of commodities fall, particularly fuel and palm oil, two commodities which Malaysia depends on heavily for its earnings. This could result in a vicious bite soon enough unless prices recover. A big chunk of the Malaysian government annual revenue, about 46 per cent, comes from the petroleum funds. So falling oil prices could mean the government might have to crimp on building infrastructure and rural projects, like schools and drainage. Also, many palm oil growers are rural Malays in the government-backed Felda estates. During the Asian financial crisis, the sentiment against the government in the rural areas were negative because many growers found it tough to make ends meet. And job losses jumped as electronics factories closed or pared operations. Already in the papers, some companies have reportedly having difficulty in paying their debts as ringgit is declining while their debt payment is in US dollars. All these means that, like it or not, whether they pay attention to it or not, the global meltdown will soon enough knock on the doors of many Malaysians. (Hazlin Hassan: Straits Times Singapore)

Teresa Kok To Hire Bodyguards

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN opposition MP Teresa Kok is hiring bodyguards to protect her after the recent threatening SMSes and molotov cocktail attack on her family home.

She said she was advised by the police to hire bodyguards as a precautionary measure and for her own safety.

'I have been advised to look after my safety, that is why I am now in the midst of interviewing people to become my bodyguard,' she said outside the city police headquarters on Tuesday.

Ms Kok, accompanied by her father, had gone to the police station to get an update on the investigation of several police reports she and her family had lodged.

She said closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed in her family home in Taman Rainbow, Jalan Ipoh after two molotov cocktails were thrown at the house on Sept 27.

However, when asked if she would be installing CCTVs in her apartment, Ms Kok said there was no need to do so as she felt her condominium unit was safe.

Ms Kok is also seeking help from the police to provide police presence during her upcoming Hari Raya open house functions on Sunday and next week in Puchong.

'I have told the Selangor police chief about my Hari Raya open house plans. 'I hope the increase in police presence during the event would help deter any untoward incidents,' she said. -- THE STAR

Dark Horse Candidates for UMNO's Deputy Presidency

I was shocked to hear that Datuk Ali Rustam and Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will be contesting for the the number 2 position in UMNO. What I am worried about is the credibility that they will bring to MALAYSIA. Both have no significant track records that can be proud of. Both have never introduced or produced any distinctive competitive advantage for MALAYSIA to compete on the world stage, both knows little about economy and financial markets. I am just afraid things will get worse for MALAYSIA. Decisions made on populist views rather than concrete knowledge about the economy and what's best for the nation. Datuk Zahid has been spending his life as a minister in PM's office and holding a portfolio such as Transport and Communications are pre-requisites to a higher position such as the Deputy President of UMNO. How about Jazlan? Jazlan is rather an unknown candidate but with good educational background. But he is also yet proven in moving a state at least to a higher level. Well Muhyiddin is at least the best out of those three. Forget Datuk Seri Rais Yatim.

RapidKL CEO Shaipudin Shah Harun Resigns

This is a good news to everyone. The incompetent Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd chief executive officer Shaipudin Shah Harun has tendered his resignation yesterday. A call to Prasarana confirmed that Shaipudin had put in his notice but did not reveal his reasons for doing so or who his successor will be.

His move comes at a critical time for Ministry of Finance-owned Prasarana, which is the sole asset holder for all the public transportation firms within the Klang Valley and Penang, including the light rail transit (LRT) systems, public buses and the KL monorail system.

Shaipudin had held the post of Prasarana’s CEO and executive director since Feb 15, 2005, according to the company’s website. I was quite surprised to know that he previously worked with Citibank as their head of Finance as what he had been doing for RapidKL certainly did not reflect the quality required of that a Citibank Executive. Not sure why the study took ages. He should just skip the politicians while designing the route as politicians always allow different priorities to cloud their mind instead of straight people's requirements sense.