Petition exceeded 1,200 before end of the week!
Ahmad Sayuthi
*** Sorry for pasting this message which I had received this morning
here, if it was meant to be a private one. Can't find it in Google.
> I forgive you Sayuthi, may Allah bless your soul.
> Have a nice day, and be good. This will my last mail to you in this =
> thread.
>
>
> "Make a Mark and Take a Stand"
> Kamalul Zaman
> e-mails:
> kza...@pd.jaring.my
Since you've forgiven me for my nastiness, I forgive you for yours too,
Kamal. There's no point in prolonging it, regardless of who is right or
wrong. It certainly won't benefit either of us or anyone else at these
groups. Why be enemies when we can be friends and help each other, eh?
Maybe we'll meet each other someday and laugh about it over a Teh O
Beng and roti canai at Lorong Haji Taib instead of kicking and
strangling each other:)
Best wishes to you too, Kamal.
--
icq23582...@time.net.myasayuthi@softhome.net
alphaque.com star-techcentral.com 17040pasir mas, kelantan
Yap Yok Foo
>Since you've forgiven me for my nastiness, I forgive you for yours too,
>Kamal. There's no point in prolonging it, regardless of who is right or
>wrong. It certainly won't benefit either of us or anyone else at these
>groups. Why be enemies when we can be friends and help each other, eh?
>Maybe we'll meet each other someday and laugh about it over a Teh O
>Beng and roti canai at Lorong Haji Taib instead of kicking and
>strangling each other:)
>Best wishes to you too, Kamal.
What a nice gesture
Good for the both of you
The aggro is gone and you do not have this foreboding of
what else the other guy is coming up with next.
Uncle Yap will be happy to play host for this drink :-)
Ahmad Sayuthi
> What a nice gesture
> Good for the both of you
> The aggro is gone and you do not have this foreboding of
> what else the other guy is coming up with next.
> Uncle Yap will be happy to play host for this drink :-)
Aisey, the Teh O Beng will set you back by only three ringgit - where
got "Uncle Yap big-spender category"? Or do you mean some `other' drink
here which will get me arrested:) Pushing my luck here... Erm, since
it's at Lorong Haji Taib, err... you know... is `that one' sponsored by
Uncle Yap too? heheh!
Yap Yok Foo
>Aisey, the Teh O Beng will set you back by only three ringgit - where
>got "Uncle Yap big-spender category"? Or do you mean some `other' drink
>here which will get me arrested:) Pushing my luck here... Erm, since
>it's at Lorong Haji Taib, err... you know... is `that one' sponsored by
>Uncle Yap too? heheh!
No problem lah.
I will invite you to a nice cosy place with air-con and genteel
ambience. Better I invite by private e-mail.
Ahmad Sayuthi
> No problem lah.
> I will invite you to a nice cosy place with air-con and genteel
> ambience. Better I invite by private e-mail.
Thanks for the invitation, Uncle Yap. Sounds like a much better place
to be at than "Rumah Tumpangan Ah Beng":)
Oh, Dr. Liew and a few others here seem to have other ideas when I
mentioned "that one" at Lorong Haji Taib. I was referring to a no-
hanky-panky body massage by a male `tukang urut' lar. Wonder what Dr.
Liew is thinking about...? Got anything else there, doc? Maybe some
personal experiences during your bachelor days which you'd like to
share with us?:)
Dr. Liew
Me thought of "that one" not because of personal experience. I don't even
know where is Lorong Haji Taib. Is it near Jalan Chow Kit?
It must have been the words 'Ahmad Sayuthi' who led me to such an
association. :-P
Ahmad Sayuthi wrote
Yap Yok Foo
>mentioned "that one" at Lorong Haji Taib. I was referring to a no-
>hanky-panky body massage by a male `tukang urut' lar. Wonder what Dr.
>Liew is thinking about...? Got anything else there, doc? Maybe some
>personal experiences during your bachelor days which you'd like to
>share with us?:)
Aiyah, every Wednesday at 2pm Uncle Yap goes to a blind masseur
in Brickfields. He keeps me fit to run the hash
Anybody wants, my masseur is Master Leong 03-22722917
Please call after noon
Yap Yok Foo
16 March 2002
Burma plot signals last gasp of old regime
By Mark Baker
The coup plotters had assembled an unlikely arsenal: 27 rubber clubs,
two mine detectors and a gun. There were, however, some snappy new
uniforms and berets with badges featuring a peacock under a golden
crown.
The team came complete with an astrologer and "black magic expert",
whose accoutrements included a sword, triangle gongs and a frog. His
recruitment package was $US500 ($A954) a month, a mobile phone,
four-wheel drive and drum of gasoline.
It was perhaps unsurprising, then, that the architects of the alleged
conspiracy to topple Burma's military junta got no further than the
Chinese restaurant in central Rangoon - where they gathered late last
week to meet a senior army officer but were greeted instead by
military intelligence agents.
By late this week the episode was shaping as an event far more serious
than its bizarre ingredients suggested. It appeared to have signalled
the last gasp of an era in which the country was held hostage to the
ruthless whims of one man.
Those arrested were the son-in-law and three grandsons of General Ne
Win, the former dictator, now 92, who seized power in a 1962 coup and
whose 26-year isolationist rule reduced Burma from one of South-East
Asia's richest lands to a virtually bankrupt pariah state.
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Also in detention were the Air Force commander, the Chief of Police
and two regional military commanders.
Since he retired in 1988, the deeply superstitious Ne Win has been
seen in public just once - at a lunch he hosted last March for 99
Buddhist monks, an auspicious number he hoped would ensure he lived to
be 99.
The old general was believed to still wield considerable power over
the regime whose leaders grew up under his patronage.
Whatever influence he did command now appears to have evaporated.
Barbed-wire barricades have been erected and fresh guards deployed
around his residential compound beside Rangoon's Inya Lake.
While the authorities say the measures are only for his security,
members of his family say he is under house arrest.
According to government officials, Ne Win's son-in law, Aye Zaw Win,
and his three sons - all aged in their 20s - had sought the backing of
senior military officers to set up a new regime that would restore the
business concessions and social privileges that had been eroding since
Ne Win retired.
The deputy chief of military intelligence, Major-General Kyaw Win,
said the conspirators had planned to launch their coup on March 27 -
Burmese Armed Forces Day - by abducting the country's three most
senior generals from their homes and holding them at Ne Win's
residence until they agreed to sign over power to a new military
leadership team loyal to the old man. He said the group had engaged
Rangoon astrologer and black magician Myo Myint Aung to ensure the
best fortune for their scheme.
Late this week General Kyaw Win added the name of Ne Win's beloved
daughter, Sanda, to those on the list of principal coup plotters - the
strongest indication yet that the former leader is being implicated.
A senior diplomat based in Rangoon said: "It has been assumed for
years that whatever Sanda did was done with her father's knowledge if
not his support, and that she spoke for him.
"This is pointing to Ne Win. They seem to be trying to make a case
against Ne Win himself, but so far they have stopped short of accusing
him directly."
While few analysts believe any direct move will be made against Ne
Win, who is still widely revered as one of the "Thirty Comrades" who
led the struggle for independence from Britain in 1948, there is
little doubt that a concerted campaign is under way to isolate his
troublesome family.
Sanda Win and her husband have long been infamous in Rangoon for their
shady business dealings, albeit in a culture of pervasive corruption,
and their sons were known to run a gang called "The Scorpions" that
operated along the lines of a private army and ran rackets and
standover operations.
But the extent to which senior officers have been implicated in the
plot has fuelled speculation of a deeper rift among the ruling elite,
which is under intense international pressure to reach an agreement
with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on returning the country to
democracy after four decades of military dictatorship.
A faltering dialogue between Suu Kyi and senior military officials
during the past 18 months is seen to have divided the regime, with
perceived hardliners led by army commander General Maung Aye strongly
opposed to any political concessions, and allies of Lieutenant-General
Khin Nyunt, who is effectively Burma's premier, favouring limited
concessions to at least end the international sanctions that have
crippled the economy.
Some analysts believe Ne Win's family may have drawn support from
senior military officers anxious to put the brakes on any move towards
a power-sharing deal with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy,
which won a landslide election victory a decade ago but was never
allowed to form a government.
But the failure of the conspiracy appears, at least for now, to have
buried whatever differences there may have been among the senior
leadership as they close ranks against the challenge to their rule.
And, as a European Union delegation arrived in Rangoon this week to
examine human rights and political conditions ahead of the EU's annual
review of its Burma sanctions policy, military officials were quick to
insist that their response to the coup attempt would not affect the
continuing dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Dr. Liew
digging your own graves and trying to compete who is digging the deepest.
Our ancestors developed language to help us to communicate and understand
each other, not tongue slashing and definitely not calling each other's
ancestors names.
I hope both of you can stop abusing each other from now on. Because some
bystanders are really enjoying themselves at the expense of yourselves and
your relatives.
My condolences,
Dr. Liew
Yap Yok Foo wrote
> Please, make up and kiss and
> please please leave other family members out of this silly argument
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 28 March 2002
Hi-Tech Health Check
Malaysia is turning to technology as a cure for a shortage of trained
medical staff. A wireless hospital is the first step toward a
health-care system that could be the envy of the world
By Suh-kyung Yoon/KUALA LUMPUR
ON THE SURFACE, Selayang Hospital in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur is
like most hospitals: sterile and filled with white-coated doctors and
nurses. But there's a lot more to Selayang than first meets the eye.
Deep inside its walls, a network of wires connects 1,200 computers,
300 printers, 150 bar-code readers, 66 laptops and 77 servers
throughout the building. In fact, the hospital has more computers than
doctors and nurses, and more servers than specialists.
It's the world's first paperless, filmless hospital and it works by
wireless technology. Doctors here don't carry clipboards--there are no
paper files or X-ray films. Patients wear bar-coded bracelets that can
be scanned at any computer in the hospital to retrieve their vital
information and medical history via a wireless local area network.
An investment in technology for technology's sake? No. Selayang was
built to help plug the gap left by Malaysia's chronic shortage of
medical personnel. The idea is that by storing patient files in a
central database and automating processes like lab tests, doctors have
more time to care for patients. The hospital has courted controversy
in its short lifetime, but if it can iron out the glitches, Selayang
could become a model for public-health systems around the world.
"Selayang is what hospitals around the world should all be striving
for," says Dr. Elizabeth Robertson, director of the Cyber Medical
College, a department of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Glasgow, in Scotland. "Selayang shows that computers really enhance
patient care and even save lives."
The Ministry of Health invested 600 million ringgit ($157 million) to
build the hospital in 1997-98, at the height of Asia's financial
crisis. The hope was that a hi-tech hospital would ease the burden on
Malaysia's stretched medical service. According to World Health
Organization statistics, there are only 6.6 doctors and 11.3 nurses
for every 10,000 people in the country. In comparison, the United
States has 279 doctors and 972 nurses per 10,000 people. Even in
neighbouring Philippines, where per-capita income is just a third of
Malaysia's, there are almost twice as many doctors (12.3 per 10,000
people) and nearly four times as many nurses (41.8 per 10,000 people).
The problem is that Malaysia simply doesn't have enough medical
schools. The government used to provide scholarships to send medical
students overseas for training, but it cut back on the programme after
the financial crisis. "Malaysia needs more doctors but we can't
produce more," says Selayang's information-technology director and
emergency-room doctor, Mohamad Azrin Zubir. "So we're hoping IT can
help us provide better care for our patients."
Since August 1999, the hospital has gradually been made operational.
By next year its seven wings and 1,000-plus beds should be filled.
When nonemergency patients arrive, their experience is similar to
checking in at a hotel. Nurses key their vital information into the
central computer system and give them a bracelet bar-coded with their
file number. Everything that happens to the patient from then on is
computerized. All doctors have laptops at their desks. When they scan
the bracelet they can retrieve the patient's medical history, download
test results and record diagnoses.
"That's really the only thing most patients notice about the
hospital--that the doctor has a PC," says Azrin. "They don't know
everything else that's underneath."
Selayang keeps no paper files, storing everything from diagnoses to
X-ray images and prescriptions in databases. In the public-health-care
sector, that's revolutionary. "Most hospitals around the world still
use paper records and those that have computers don't have them hooked
up to a hospital-wide network," says Graeme Allen, IT director at AME
International, a European systems integrator that worked on Selayang.
"Each department keeps their own records so you have duplicate and
different information for the same patient in the same hospital."
SPEED CAN SAVE LIVES
In Britain, the government has set six levels of electronic medical
records, ranging from simply having patients' records computerized to
developing a fully integrated information database. Public hospitals
there are aiming to reach level three, which would allow doctors to
order tests electronically, by 2005. Selayang is already at level six.
That means doctors at Selayang can order tests and scans with the
click of a mouse and see the results on their PCs within minutes.
X-rays and magnetic-resonance-imaging scans, or MRIs, are rarely
output on film. Instead, they are transmitted digitally through
Selayang's intranet. Viewing these results on computer screens allows
doctors to magnify images, get exact measurements and compare them
quickly with previous results.
Blood tests are also ready faster. First, a nurse takes a sample. It
is then sent through a pneumatic delivery tube to the laboratory,
where a technician puts it into an analysis machine that is connected
to the PC network. The results are sent to the doctor's PC as soon as
they are confirmed by the technician. The whole process takes less
than 15 minutes.
That kind of speed can save lives, especially in the emergency room.
"In other hospitals, blood-test results could take hours--we'd have to
give the blood to a porter who would bring it to the lab, where a
technician would analyze it and then stamp the results, then the
porter would have to bring it back," says Dr. Siti Suhaila, who works
in Selayang's emergency room.
Time isn't the only thing technology has bought Selayang; it's
provided savings as well. The hospital saves around $2 million on the
cost of X-ray film each year. Savings have also come from having fewer
auxiliary staff, secretaries and technicians.
The hospital is one piece of a bigger e-health-care plan. Inspired by
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's vision for a Multimedia Super
Corridor, a $3.7 billion hi-tech zone in and around Kuala Lumpur, the
Ministry of Health is now looking at the potential role of technology
in public health. Pilot projects include a telemedicine scheme, which
would allow city-based doctors to offer care to the millions of
Malaysians living in remote rural areas. Another is electronic,
lifetime documentation of each citizen's health, accessible from any
hospital in the country. Selayang's computerized patient records are
the first step towards that goal.
In fact, the hospital is a prototype for the future. Thirteen more
like it will be built throughout the country in the next 10 years.
When complete, the national medical system will be one of the most
advanced and networked in the world. "Selayang couldn't have been
built anywhere but in a country like Malaysia, where the health-care
system is very centralized," Allen says. "When the Ministry of Health
comes up with a plan, all the hospitals fall into line. In the U.S.
and Europe, that would never happen."
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Still, it wasn't easy. In 1995, a delegation of Malaysian doctors and
IT professionals travelled throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S.
looking for tips on how to build a wired hospital. But they drew a
blank. No hospital had a complete institution-wide IT system in place.
They had to create an integrated information system for a hospital
from scratch.
The nerve centre that allows Selayang to function is called THIS, or
Total Hospital Information System. THIS links laboratory, medical and
administrative databases. It runs continuously and must never fail.
"Any kind of system failure or glitch is always serious," says Pang
Yee Beng, channels director at U.S. networking giant 3Com, who was
involved with the project from the beginning. "But at Selayang, that
could mean someone dying. The ministry's brief was to create a system
that was 99.99% reliable."
It took three years and 15 different products from some of the biggest
names in IT. Oracle's financial software was hooked into PeopleSoft's
human-resources platform, which ran on Compaq computers and Sun
Microsystems servers. Everything was then connected by 3Com ethernet
switches. Double and triple power and server back-ups guard against
total failure, while powerful security software ensures patient files
stay confidential.
As with any costly and novel investment, the hospital has its share of
sceptics. Politicians have voiced concerns that government money is
being wasted on a technological white elephant, that patient care
hasn't improved and that most of Selayang's doctors and nurses don't
even know how to use PCs.
No doubt, the hospital has important issues to iron out. Azrin
acknowledges it has gone through some growing pains and still has a
lot to learn. In the first months of operation, computer systems
failed frequently and the hospital staff jammed help-desk phones with
questions about how to use the applications. But now, he says most
aspects of the IT platform are running smoothly.
The biggest challenge at Selayang is changing the way doctors and
nurses work. "Our profession is not very technology-aware," says the
Cyber Medical College's Robertson. "We have traditions that stretch
back literally a thousand years, so there is great resistance to
change--especially if it involves computers and technology."
That's certainly true at Selayang. Some doctors are reluctant to let
go of their old ways, writing out diagnoses, prescriptions and lab
orders, and then asking nurses to type them into the system. They are
simply not comfortable with the new system. "We'd all been thinking
about full integration in terms of applications and technologies,"
Azrin says. "But the most important kind of integration is that
between people and technology. We're getting there--slowly."
http://www.feer.com/
Yap Yok Foo
24 March 2002
Byelection a test of Mahathir's popularity
By Kuala Lumpur
Campaigning officially began yesterday in a state byelection which is
a test of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's popularity in a
key constituency - the country's large ethnic Chinese minority.
Nominations closed for candidates in the byelection for the Ketari
district of eastern Pahang state's legislature, marking the start of
the campaign period for the poll on March 31 poll.
The result of the byelection will have no impact on ability of the
Mahathir-backed state government to rule, because it already holds 30
of the 38 seats in Pahang's legislature.
But the poll is an important test for Mahathir's federal coalition
government, which is on the rebound after losing ground to opponents
at 1999 general elections.
The government has won four of five state and federal byelections held
since the 1999 elections, when Mahathir won reelection but faced the
strongest opposition challenge in years.
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Since last year's terror attacks in the United States, Mahathir has
strengthened support among moderate Malay Muslims and ethnic Chinese
by cracking down on alleged Islamic militants. Dozens of suspects have
been arrested.
Moderate Malays and other ethnic groups have expressed concern about
the Islamic policies of Malaysia's largest opposition group, the
fundamentalist PanMalaysian Islamic Party.
Ethnic Malay Muslims are more than 60 per cent of Malaysia's 23
million population, and form Mahathir's traditional power base. Ethnic
Chinese are more than 30 per cent and most of the rest are ethnic
Indian.
- AP
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 28 March 2002
A FINE BALANCE
FILIPINO SOAPS ENCOUNTER RELIGIOUS SENSIBILITIES IN MALAYSIA
By S. Jayasankaran
Dolly Sta. Maria never misses Mis Tres Hamanas, a Venezuelan soap that
airs every weekday at four in the afternoon over ntv7, a private
Malaysian television station. Its Spanish doesn't faze her either as
the show carries Malay-languge subtitles. "I must see it," says the
69-year-old pensioner from southern Malacca state. "It's better than
Dallas," referring to the popular1980s soap opera revolving around a
Texan oil family.
Shows like Mis Tres Hamanas, which chronicles the life, passions and
times of an aristocratic Venezuelan family, could pave the way for
even cheaper Filipino products to penetrate the Malaysian market. "I
think Filipino soaps could do better in our local Malay market than
the South American telenovellas, "says a senior Malaysian television
industry executive. "They certainly have more local flavour."
They're also cheaper--by at least a third--than soaps from South
America. That could be why Measat Broadcast Network Systems, which
sells its Astro brand of satellite TV to more than 750,000 subscribers
in Malaysia and elsewhere, is planning to air episodes of Pangako Sa
Iyo, a Filipino soap opera sometime later this year. It will be the
first Filipino product to debut in the Malaysian market.
But don't bet on such soaps to flood the market any time soon.
Malaysian television programmers say that none of them, not even the
South American variety, are candidates for prime-time viewing. Market
surveys have revealed that these programmes don't have mass appeal,
unlike their Western counterparts.
Malaysia's ethnic mix generally ensures that the Chinese, who form 30%
of the population, prefer Hong Kong or Taiwanese shows while the
Indians, who make up 7%, plump for Bollywood-style episodes. "It's
good filler material and that's about it," the executive says of the
soaps from South America and the Phillippines.
In addition, the Filipino products have to be carefully tailored for
the Malaysian market. Malaysian television executives say that the
soaps tend to be overtly Christian--with crucifixes and churches
usually being very much in evidence. Ethnic Malays, who form the
majority (63%) in Malaysia, are all Muslim, so stations are careful
not to offend their religious sensibilities. Indeed, the Filipino soap
that Measat bought was sanitized for precisely those reasons,
according to Filipino television executives.
In a completely free market, however, Filipino shows could gain
ground. But there are also nationalist reasons why foreign shows won't
really take off in any way other than in niche slots.
Since the mid-1980s, Kuala Lumpur has tried to promote local
productions to foster a vibrant arts scene. But the shows, mostly in
Malay, are expensive and generally lack quality.
Still, they are hugely popular among the rural masses, which is why
state television both sponsors and gives them prime-time treatment.
Flooding the market with cheaper, though better, Filipino products
would have the influential Malay arts community up in arms, a
situation Kuala Lumpur would be anxious to avoid.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Filipino Soaps For the World
In an interesting twist to the globalization of popular culture, the
Philippines could become Asia's base for mass-produced television
entertainment, with markets stretching from Malaysia to Argentina
By James Hookway/MANILA
TRINA DAYRIT TAKES a deep breath before the cameras roll. "Whatever
you do," she tells her legion of extras for the third time, "don't
stare at the stars. They're only playing a role."
Keeping star-struck cast members from gawking at the talent is the
least of Dayrit's problems as she directs another daily episode of
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.'s flagship soap opera. First, there are the
hours. Pangako Sa Iyo (My Promise To You) is shot around the clock.
Three directors share the workload, but the actors have to snag some
sleep whenever they get the chance.
For the production team, that means a constant struggle to keep
18-year-old leading lady Kristine Hermosa looking fresh. It's often a
losing battle. "Oh no, she looks so tired," sighs an ABS-CBN staffer
as Hermosa traipses down a spiral staircase, next to the swimming pool
at the sports club where the day's shoot is taking place, for another
batch of promotional photographs.
Then there are the deadlines. Sometimes, editing is only completed
just before 7 p.m., when the Philippines' top-rated soap is broadcast
to an audience hungry to see how the previous night's cliffhanger was
resolved. Once, the show was delayed for half an hour because the car
bringing the videotape got snarled up in one of Manila's monster
traffic jams.
It's a gruelling business for sure, yet this new breed of soap opera
could launch ABS-CBN itself into the lucrative international market.
For years Filipinos lapped up a diet of Latin American dramas. Mexican
and Venezuelan actors would regularly visit Manila's presidential
palace when they toured the country promoting their shows. Entire
towns would stop in their tracks to watch season-ending finales. Now
ABS-CBN has learned the secrets of the soap trade and is pitching its
dramas not only to its Philippine audience, but also Malaysia and
Indonesia. Next up: Brazil and Venezuela.
The business model here is simple arithmetic. In the Philippines,
ABS-CBN has a market of more than 78 million people. Add Malaysia and
Indonesia, and there are well over 300 million people. Add Latin
America, and there are half a billion more viewers and scores of
television channels eager for the cheap programming that a Philippine
studio can readily provide.
A half-hour episode can be filmed in Manila for a fifth of the
$100,000 it costs in Mexico City, meaning that Philippine soaps could
prove more profitable even if they fetch a lower market price than
better-established Latin American shows.
"At the moment, this is just an incremental expansion of revenue for
ABS-CBN. They are selling something they would produce anyway to a
wider market," says Alex Pomento, an analyst at Manila's ATR-Kim Eng
Securities. "But it could take off. It all depends if foreign
audiences enjoy the same kind of soap operas we enjoy in the
Philippines."
Eugenio Lopez III, chairman and chief executive officer of ABS-CBN,
thinks the Philippines has a knack for absorbing foreign influences
and then remoulding them for the rest of the world to consume. It's a
talent that could help the Philippines step out of the shadow that a
resurgent China is casting over the wounded economies of Southeast
Asia. "Globalization is forcing all of us to broaden our horizons and
the way we think in order to survive," says Lopez, seated on a sofa in
his company's plush new headquarters. "And we need a much larger
market to survive."
The Philippines is already promoting itself as the world's back
office. Its Christian evangelists have adopted American preaching
techniques to sell religion from Hong Kong to Vancouver. Those same
creative skills are being put to use by a rash of software-development
firms that have sprung up here in recent years. ABS-CBN also has
plenty incentive to diversify. Last year, the company saw a 20%-30%
decline in advertising minutes as the local economy slowed, Lopez
says.
For ABS-CBN, globalization meant responding to the challenge of
Rosalinda, the rags-to-riches story of a working-class woman who found
love and acceptance among Mexico's elite. Produced by Grupo Televisa
S.A., the biggest media company in the Spanish-speaking world,
Rosalinda broke through cultural barriers and became a hit in
countries as diverse as Hungary, Israel and Russia.
Thanks to the Philippines' Spanish colonial past, Rosalinda grew into
a cultural phenomenon here. When its stars, Fernando Carrillo and
Thalia, travelled to Manila, they received a welcome that dwarfed the
reception rolled out to the Beatles some three decades earlier.
In the town of Ligao, more than 300 kilometres southeast of Manila,
the townsfolk nearly rioted when a power outage cut short the final
episode of Rosalinda on a giant screen in the town's square. It was a
tough act to follow, says Lopez. "But we knew we had to develop our
own soaps to compete."
So, in the summer of 2000, ABS-CBN sent a team to Televisa's
headquarters to find out just what it was that the Mexico City
soap-masters were doing right. What the ABS-CBN team discovered was
nothing short of a revelation. Whereas traditional Philippine dramas
are rather stodgy affairs full of pregnant pauses and over-long
close-ups of tearful faces, the Mexican soap operas were much
faster-paced productions, often with multiple plot lines to keep a
firm grip on their fickle audience.
"It's a factory," Lopez marvels. "The actors have earpieces for
prompts to tell them their lines. Often the actors don't even know the
story because they are working on three shows at once."
Once back from their Mexican trip, the ABS-CBN team began spreading
the word about what they had seen. The new technology and zippier plot
lines were quickly thrown into the development of a new drama series
that ABS-CBN was keen to promote internationally: Pangako Sa Iyo.
Producers also beefed up the video and audio quality to meet
international standards, while the names of the characters--Ina,
Angelo, Felicity and Betty--were simplified to make the show more
accessible for foreign audiences.
But the main innovation was in the way the story was handled. "We
speeded up the pace of the storylines, and there are now sub-plots
which weave in and out of the main story," says Dayrit, one of three
directors on the drama series. "This makes it easier to introduce new
characters or kill off the old ones. It also helps improve the
longevity of the show without it becoming boring."
Pangako Sa Iyo also needed a teenage lead actress to match the
demographic age spread in Southeast Asia, where half the population is
under 25. A nationwide star search began, and the producers found what
they were looking for in Kristine Hermosa, who was discovered while
accompanying her sister to another ABS-CBN audition.
The subject matter, too, was carefully screened. Catholic imagery, a
common feature in many Philippine television dramas, is largely absent
from Pangako Sa Iyo. It was a conscious decision, says Lopez, not to
alienate the Malaysian and Indonesian markets he was eyeing. "We are
careful to keep away from religion and politics. Themes that might
work here, such as incest or heavy kissing, might be taboo over
there," he says. "Sometimes scenes will be cut if they are too
risque."
Still, the show is fairly racy, at least by Asian standards. A typical
plot line for the show goes something like this: A handsome young man
called Angelo has an affair with Felicity, the daughter of a wealthy
businessman. She becomes pregnant, but Angelo falls in love with a
simple girl called Ina. Felicity decides not to tell Angelo about her
baby, but Angelo's ambitious mother, who wants her son to marry the
businessman's daughter, kidnaps her. Felicity will only be released if
she agrees to confront Angelo and force him to marry her.
It's a potboiler, admittedly, but the bold new approach is working and
Pangako Sa Iyo is trouncing Latin American imports in the Philippines.
In Malaysia, ABS-CBN has already sold the series to businessman Ananda
Krishnan's direct-to-home broadcast network and is now working on
Indonesia. Lopez says his company is also in talks with television
stations in Venezuela and Brazil. The show is taking off because,
while its actors and setting can appeal to the Philippines' Southeast
Asian neighbours, their Spanish names also make Pangako Sa Iyo
accessible to Latin American audiences.
Lopez is optimistic that ABS-CBN can build on this pilot show's
success. "With 200 million viewers in Indonesia, we can make a pretty
good soap," he says. Already, there are plans to create an
international subsidiary and list it on the Singapore stockmarket.
That would allow foreign investors to pump money into the business,
something they are barred from doing in the Philippines because of
restrictive foreign-ownership laws.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 28 March 2002
Survival Tactic
A tie-up of Malaysian phone companies has more to do with 3G licences
than long-term strategy
By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR
ON MARCH 13, Technology Resources Industries (TRI) and DiGiCom
announced that they would integrate their networks and infrastructure.
TRI is the second-largest cellular-phone company in Malaysia while
DiGi is the third. Both are listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
The move is the first step in the long-awaited consolidation of
Malaysia's telecommunications industry. But it may have more to do
with jostling for third-generation, or 3G, telephony licences than
with corporate synergy.
Malaysia has five telecoms companies. The government sees this as too
many, and it wants consolidation. But don't expect that from the
TRI-DiGi alliance. The companies' heavily qualified announcement hints
as much, urging investors to exercise caution, as there was "no
assurance" that the tie-up would achieve this government objective.
In another part of the announcement, however, both companies said that
they would set up a joint-venture company to bid for a 3G licence for
cellular telephony. The government has already announced that only
three 3G licences will be awarded. TRI and DiGi are betting that an
alliance will give them a strong chance at one of them. "It looks like
positioning to me," agrees Michael Greenall, the chief representative
at BNP Paribas Peregrine in Kuala Lumpur.
Two telecoms companies--national utility Telekom Malaysia and Maxis
Communications, the country's biggest cellular phone operator--are
sure-fire bets for 3G licences, because of their size. The TRI-DiGi
tie-up, say analysts, would settle the third slot, effectively leaving
Time DotCom, another telecoms concern now under state supervision, out
in the cold and ripe for takeover. Most analysts expect Maxis, which
will list in June, to absorb Time eventually.
But the new alliance could also be a defensive measure for TRI, which
is itself being stalked by Telekom Malaysia in a move that's been
endorsed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. With almost 2 billion
ringgit ($526 million) in cash, Telekom Malaysia can not only afford
TRI but needs it: The company has no cellphone business to speak of.
Any attempt on TRI by Telekom Malaysia, however, will have to get
round Tajudin Ramli, the controlling shareholder of TRI. Tajudin is
under increasing pressure from the Malaysian government and is
currently under police investigation for alleged management
irregularities in national carrier Malaysia Airlines, where he was
controlling shareholder and executive chairman until early last year.
The businessman left the airline after the government paid a
Tajudin-controlled company 1.79 billion ringgit for its 29% stake,
almost 250% of the market price at the time. The resulting public
outrage over what was seen as a blatant rescue attempt strained
relations between Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin, then finance minister
and Tajudin's patron. Daim resigned in June and Malaysia Airlines' new
management immediately ordered an audit of the previous management's
performance. The continuing police investigation is a direct result of
the management audit.
Since then, government regulators have blocked two attempts by Tajudin
to invest the net proceeds from the sale of his stake in the
airline--around 850 million ringgit--in TRI. Indeed, a corporate
figure close to government says that Kuala Lumpur wants Tajudin out of
TRI, and Telekom Malaysia in. The businessman holds a 22% interest in
TRI.
But Tajudin has resisted all efforts by continuing to show that he
intends to maintain his control over TRI. Last month, the company
carried out a successful recapitalization exercise to prune almost 4
billion ringgit of debt and Tajudin took up his share of a massive
rights issue. "It's not the action of a man ready to leave," says a
Tajudin associate. "I think he will go eventually but he wants a good
price."
Thus from TRI's perspective, the alliance with DiGi makes sense:
getting a 3G licence would give TRI added sparkle when it comes to
bargaining over price. But financial executives close to Telekom
Malaysia say that the utility will not pay a premium for Tajudin's
exit and will pay no more than 2.80 ringgit for a TRI share: they
closed at 2.20 ringgit on March 12. Whether Tajudin will agree is
another matter--so look out for more evidence of government
arm-twisting.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 28 March 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"I'd given up hope . . . I'm now 52 and too old for a government job."
Calcutta resident Ravindra Nath Halder, after receiving an invitation
for an interview at the West Bengal state labour exchange . . . 34
years after he applied.
"It allows us to get information from terrorists in a way we can't do
on U.S. soil."
An American diplomat explains why the United States has been secretly
sending detained Al Qaeda suspects to countries where torture is used
during interrogation.
"We have no indication to suggest that these were not Al Qaeda. We
think this was a good target."
Maj. Brad Lowell defends the killing of 14 people, including women and
children, when a U.S. fighter jet in Afghanistan attacked the vehicle
they were in.
"Once I reach the age of 60, if I still have a good body, I'll pose
for the centrefold."
Taiwan lawmaker Yu Yueh-hsia comments on her posing for the island's
edition of Playboy--fully clothed.
"They are ill-mannered. They are U.S. stooges, wanting to colonize us
again."
MP Mokhtar Radin during a parliamentary session in which Malaysian MPs
vented their collective spleen at neighbouring Singapore over a
reclamation project.
"Statements were taken and it was at this point that we realized that
what we thought had happened had not happened."
Rear-Adm. Geoff Smith, Australia's navy chief, clears up confusion
surrounding an incident in which asylum-seekers in a sinking boat were
reported to have thrown a child overboard.
"It was like announcing to the entire world that China's accountants
are untrustworthy."
A Chinese financial executive, quoted in the 21st Century Economic
Herald, responds to new stockmarket rules requiring listed firms to
submit their accounts to foreign auditors.
"I'm not interested in a kill fee."
Singapore opposition figure Chee Soon Juan complains about the
tendency of foreign news publications to reject his articles. Chee
says it's because they are reluctant to face the anger of the
Singapore government.
"The unlucky south dressing room will be given the full feng shui
treatment."
A statement from Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, which is hiring a feng
shui expert to lift a curse on the room; the past eight teams to use
the facility have gone on to lose their matches.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 28 March 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
GIVE AND TAKE: Robbers stormed into a bank in Malaysia and demanded
cash. But they were surprised to be approached by one of the
customers, all of whom had been herded into a corner. The terrified
man gave them an envelope of cash that he had planned to deposit into
his account, The Star reported. The armed raiders handed the wad of
money--the equivalent of $2,650--back to him, explaining that the gang
robbed banks, not individuals.
In an unrelated incident in India, soft-hearted robbers returned some
of their takings to a victim who politely asked for it. Armed villains
took cash and jewellery at a wedding-party heist in New Delhi, The
Indian Express reported. A dismayed guest complained that he had
travelled a long way to get to the wedding and would now be unable to
get back to Kashmir. Moved by his story, the villains counted out a
sum of money equivalent to about $24 and handed it to him for his
train fare.
Nice to see a touch of professionalism creeping into the Asian
criminal classes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONLY CHILD: A school in New Zealand has only one pupil. This beats our
recent tale about the two-student school in Malaysia. Nine-year-old
Shanneill Mancer says she would be happier if she had someone to play
with at the school, which has a tennis court, a swimming pool and
large playing fields. Shanneill gets unrivalled attention, the Waikato
Times said. "Mum says I will get a good start with the one-to-one,"
she told the press.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POINTED REMARKS: Reader Donald McKinsey was amazed to buy a Samsung
computer monitor and find instructions telling him to set it to face
the east. Was this to do with feng shui? Could be, he thought, since
the east is the direction of new beginnings. However, he set it up to
face south. It seems to be working perfectly well, so far.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STIFF PENALTY: A motorist in Australia tried to escape driving
penalties by claiming that his wife committed the offences, despite
the fact that she had died four years earlier. Robert James Thompson,
59, of Annangrove, New South Wales, told police by letter that it was
his wife who broke the speed limit three times using his vans, and so
she should be penalized. "It's just because my wife is dead that I got
caught," he lamented, according to Australia's Daily Telegraph. He now
faces much stiffer penalties.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STRAIGHT AND NARROW: Married men working for a company in China have
to be faithful to their wives or face the boot. Those found to have
mistresses are ejected immediately, and don't even get the usual
month's wage in lieu of notice. The tough policy comes from Pauline
Ngan, managing director of Hong Kong-listed Mainland Headwear Holdings
Ltd. She says the warnings to staff in Shenzhen are essential for the
welfare of the garment company and her workers' wives, most of whom
have been left across the border in Hong Kong. "A woman is already
making sacrifices and experiencing great stress taking care of a
family," the Apple Daily reported Mrs. Ngan saying. "Besides, as a
boss, I demand full commitment at work. A man who has a mistress will
certainly be distracted and under-perform on his job." She has set up
a box in her factory so staff can conveniently blow the whistle on
each other. A dragon lady she may be, but one with admirable
motivations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OH BOY: A young Sri Lankan woman asked a court to annul her marriage
on the grounds that her husband was female. The woman, in her 20s,
married a stocky, short-haired co-worker in a secret ceremony, but
continued to live with her parents. Three months later, she finally
told her parents that she was married, and went to live with her
spouse. Mum and dad turned up at the newly-weds' home and snatched her
back, the local press reported.
The groom, 27, stormed over to her house to retrieve her. But the
parents noticed that their daughter's husband had feminine mannerisms,
and the truth came out. The young woman has decided that she will
listen to mum and dad in future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INS AND OUTS: Signs at this building in Hong Kong should really warn
about the dangers of multi-ethnic pile-ups. The Chinese phrases
identify the openings as vehicle exits, while the English translation
explains that they are vehicle entrances. The photograph was taken by
multi-lingual reader Sef Lam, who commented: "People don't know
whether they are coming or going."
http://www.feer.com/
ignoramus
References: <Xns91D1A8A...@130.133.1.4>
<qri29u0nt8vuhdu19...@4ax.com>
<Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
<dq439uchahnvr4ff9...@4ax.com>
<Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
This will result in your postings appearing within an old thread. It
doesn't appear as a 'new' post with its own heading on some
newsreaders.
On Sun, 24 Mar 2002 07:33:30 +0800, Yap Yok Foo <yf...@pop.jaring.my>
wrote:
Yap Yok Foo
(ignoramus) wrote:
>YYF, FYI your post had these reference headers :-
>References: <Xns91D1A8A...@130.133.1.4>
><qri29u0nt8vuhdu19...@4ax.com>
><Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
><dq439uchahnvr4ff9...@4ax.com>
><Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
>>This will result in your postings appearing within an old thread. It
>doesn't appear as a 'new' post with its own heading on some
>newsreaders.
Don't really see the problem
I am using Agent 1.9 and the posting appeared as a new thread
FYI, the full headers are as follows
Path: news4.jaring.my!infeed.jaring.my!not-for-mail
From: Yap Yok Foo <yf...@pop.jaring.my>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.malaysia,jaring.general
Subject: FEER : Hi-Tech Health Check
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 07:33:30 +0800
Organization: Private
Lines: 190
Message-ID: <i34q9uk0bl9cd8nuj...@4ax.com>
References: <Xns91D1A8A...@130.133.1.4>
<qri29u0nt8vuhdu19...@4ax.com>
<Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
<dq439uchahnvr4ff9...@4ax.com>
<Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
Reply-To: yf...@pop.jaring.my
NNTP-Posting-Host: j150.crc25.jaring.my
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Trace: news4.jaring.my 1016926411 12869 61.6.98.164 (23 Mar 2002
23:33:31 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: use...@news4.jaring.my
NNTP-Posting-Date: 23 Mar 2002 23:33:31 GMT
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.9/32.560
Xref: infeed.jaring.my soc.culture.malaysia:505085
jaring.general:156160
Rot13
>>References: <Xns91D1A8A...@130.133.1.4>
>><Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
>><Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
> <Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
> <Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
Hmm... these are ID tokens of a certain chap here who had disappeared
since two days ago. Wonder why and how they've popped up so frequently
in these particular messages?
ignoramus
wrote:
>
The references headers shouldn't be there. Reference headers are used
to thread articles.
For example, the article <Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4> (from your
own headers, the last one) is from A.S. (see below). New articles
should have no reference headers at all, as it should be the start of
the thread.
Some newsreaders will thread, some will not....depending on the
settings.
From: Ahmad Sayuthi <say...@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.malaysia,jaring.pcbase,jaring.general
Subject: Re: Petition exceeded 1,200 before end of the week!
Date: 15 Mar 2002 09:09:51 GMT
Organization: Media Associates
Lines: 19
Message-ID: <Xns91D2AE8...@130.133.1.4>
References: <Xns91D1A8A...@130.133.1.4>
<qri29u0nt8vuhdu19...@4ax.com>
<Xns91D271F...@130.133.1.4>
<dq439uchahnvr4ff9...@4ax.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.121.122.29
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User-Agent: Xnews/L5
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Path:
news1.tm.net.my!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!130.133.1.3!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!203.121.122.29!not-for-mail
Xref: news1.tm.net.my soc.culture.malaysia:294286 jaring.pcbase:140171
jaring.general:68926
ikan_paus®
soc.culture.malaysia, Yap Yok Foo <yf...@pop.jaring.my> burped
something that sounded like this:
>From The Far Eastern Economics Review
>Issue 28 March 2002
>
>Hi-Tech Health Check
>
>Malaysia is turning to technology as a cure for a shortage of trained
>medical staff. A wireless hospital is the first step toward a
>health-care system that could be the envy of the world
What good is a hi tech hospital without anyone who understand how to
run it the way it's meant to be???
>By Suh-kyung Yoon/KUALA LUMPUR
>
>ON THE SURFACE, Selayang Hospital in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur is
>like most hospitals: sterile and filled with white-coated doctors and
<crap snipped>
>That means doctors at Selayang can order tests and scans with the
>click of a mouse and see the results on their PCs within minutes.
>X-rays and magnetic-resonance-imaging scans, or MRIs, are rarely
>output on film. Instead, they are transmitted digitally through
>Selayang's intranet. Viewing these results on computer screens allows
>doctors to magnify images, get exact measurements and compare them
>quickly with previous results.
Much crap I see. On Monday 25/3 my missus is down with an
unexplainable chest pain. Our GP quickly referred her to Selayang
Hospital the next day Tuesday 26/3 after subscribing a dose of
painkillers.
Now here's the funny thing : When we got to the Hospital, the counter
nurse read the letter our GP scribed and... "The only free slot for an
appointment with the specialist at the end of April. "
Then we're informed that "We only take samples here. It'll be sent to
HKL for testing."
The ultimate ball-kick "It'd be faster if you just go directly to
HKL."
Here we are with the patient in pain. And the next appointment will be
in April!!! What to do until then? Painkillers??
>
>Blood tests are also ready faster. First, a nurse takes a sample. It
>is then sent through a pneumatic delivery tube to the laboratory,
>where a technician puts it into an analysis machine that is connected
>to the PC network. The results are sent to the doctor's PC as soon as
>they are confirmed by the technician. The whole process takes less
>than 15 minutes.
Muahahahaha!!! Faster huh?? They told me it'll take a week for the
result to come back from HKL.
>The hospital is one piece of a bigger e-health-care plan. Inspired by
>Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's vision for a Multimedia Super
>Corridor, a $3.7 billion hi-tech zone in and around Kuala Lumpur, the
Inspire all you want old man. The retards you entrusted with your
aspirations are pathetic!!!
>That's certainly true at Selayang. Some doctors are reluctant to let
>go of their old ways, writing out diagnoses, prescriptions and lab
>orders, and then asking nurses to type them into the system. They are
>simply not comfortable with the new system. "We'd all been thinking
>about full integration in terms of applications and technologies,"
>Azrin says. "But the most important kind of integration is that
>between people and technology. We're getting there--slowly."
>
Really slow I see. In fact it has yet to take off...
FearLESS
process flow and eliminate all non-value added steps in old hospital
will easily improve the efficiency to several times.
E-hospital is just another legal channel to siphon off money from the
rakyat2.
ikan_paus? <fnarc@*take_this_out* yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<icn2auoep732nluka...@4ax.com>...
Yap Yok Foo
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
HOLY ORDERS: Discussions with God require approval from a senior
officer, a group of religious police officers in the Philippines have
been told.
The stern declaration came from Chief Superintendent Nicolas Pasinos,
director of the Western police district, after a prayer meeting was
held simultaneously by officers in 11 police stations. Consultations
with the Almighty need to be done during off-duty hours, senior staff
explained.
The officers had gathered to pray and light candles for colleagues who
had been posted to outlying districts. Director Pasinos threatened
administrative sanctions since the praying was "unauthorized as it was
done during office hours and without Pasinos' approval," The
Philippine Star reported.
Senior officers have demanded written explanations from "all
participants." The report failed to specify whether God too would be
told off, but I wouldn't put it past them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpt from a menu
"Fillet of Leather Jacket
in a saffron cream sauce and vegetable"
SHARP KNIFE NEEDED: I know the listed garments are soft and light
these days, but who knew you could eat them? This menu was discovered
in Grappa's Country, a Hong Kong restaurant, by journalist Kitty
McKinsey, who said: "We've all joked about steaks that resemble shoe
soles, but I've never heard of a restaurant that freely admits it
makes its fillets from leather jackets."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASKING FOR TROUBLE: An obsessive fan of the police received the one
thing he had not been able to collect--an arrest. Officers detained
Toshiaki Matsumoto, 27, a fisherman from Nagasaki prefecture for
forging police notebooks and selling them to other collectors. He "not
only admitted to the allegations against him, but was delighted to be
taken into custody," the Mainichi Shimbun reported. When police
stormed into his room and placed shackles on his wrists, the thrilled
man eyed the restraints longingly. "I wouldn't mind a set of these
handcuffs," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIS NUMBER'S UP: A man with a grudge made 300 nuisance calls to
torment his victim--and then discovered he had been dialling the wrong
number, police reported. Embarrassed phone-pest Koichi Kosuge, 27,
said the calls were intended to torment a friend of his "who had been
saying things behind his back," the Mainichi Shimbun reported. He was
shocked to hear after his arrest that he had made life a misery for a
51-year-old school teacher he had never met. Oops. That'll teach him
to double-check his victims' numbers in future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT A GAS: Motorists were showered with sewage after a septic truck
exploded in Wellington, New Zealand, I hear from reader Duncan Fisken.
Several parked cars were covered in sludge. The road had to be closed
for three hours while police disposed of a 50-metre trail of sewage.
Truck driver Joe Callahan said: "There must have been a build-up of
gas or something," The Dominion newspaper reported. Next: Baked beans
banned in Wellington.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL DRESSED DOWN: There was drama in Pattaya, Thailand, when a naked
Frenchman named Patrick Duvae threatened to jump from the roof of a
building. "The large crowd that had gathered in the middle of the
night on March 10 witnessed a tense situation, as well as perhaps more
of Duvae's anatomy then they might have wanted," the Pattaya Mail
reported. After 30 minutes, police persuaded the 55-year-old man to
use a ladder they supplied to climb down safely. But then he ran off
into the night "wearing nothing but a smile," the newspaper reported.
The police did not trouble him further, declaring they were happy to
see the back of him--and we mean that figuratively only.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CANNIBBLES: Everywhere, the old tribal conventions are dying out.
Police stopped members of a sect called the Kolayar 24th Manai Telegu
Chettiars from digging up skeletons from a graveyard in south India
and snacking on them. Members complained that a ban on their main
cannibalistic ritual will threaten the group's future, The Times of
India reported. "Now that we have been prohibited from practising our
ritual, I do not know what will happen to the community," group member
Arumugam Chettiar lamented. Can't see the public coming out in vast
numbers to help preserve this particular, er, tradition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caption below picture of a man carrying a huge sack
"The man pictured milli seconds before being absolutely flattened by a
huge Chongqing seagull poo"
GOT THE BIRD: Good to see that whoever writes the captions for China
Briefing, a rather serious newsletter produced by a consultancy called
The Dezan Shira China Group, has a sense of humour--or has perhaps
made a major avian discovery.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 11 April 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"They're taking transparency to a whole new level."
Enron spokeswoman Karen Denne on an invitation from Playboy to women
staff from the collapsed energy giant to pose for a proposed special
issue of the magazine, entitled Women of Enron.
"If a central banker is very much liked, maybe he's not functioning
well."
Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami, resisting calls to reflate
Japan's flagging economy, explains the central-bankers' credo. Last
year a legislator called Hayami "lower than a monkey."
"This case has attracted attention from the nation and globally,
therefore it is necessary to add two more judges."
Judge Amiruddin Zakaria, presiding over Tommy Suharto's murder trial
in Jakarta, explains the necessity of boosting the judicial power of
the bench.
"I will subject all those who sell or use illegal drugs to a firing
squad."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, quoted in a soon-to-be-published
account of his trip to Russia last year, by the Russian president's
special representative to the Russian Far East.
"Would the robot know what to do when someone yells 'incoming'?"
Harvard academic Robert Giles ponders the limitations of a
remote-controlled news-gathering robot for war zones invented by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology media researcher Chris
Csikszentmihalyi.
"They told me because it is Easter no one around there could come, so
they told me to wait until Tuesday."
A New Zealand woman who tried to call the bomb-disposal squad after
finding a World War II American hand grenade in her cellar.
"We can't have them biting the hands of those they are meant to
serve."
India's Deputy Police Commissioner Harman Preet Singh, after a
constable allegedly bit Calcutta motorist Mohammed Fakiruddin Khan,
who refused to pay a fine after being stopped for speeding.
"Being a bit of a first-class lunatic does help, and being a bit of a
show pony."
Organizer Brett Provost, on the kind of person who would take part in
Australia's first Air Guitar Championships, in which competitors mimic
the actions of guitar players to the sound of rock music
ISYS
Yap Yok Foo
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"The elephants deserve all the credit for weaning us off the drink."
Indian farmer Anadi Sahu, on the destruction of thousands of barrels
of moonshine by a herd of rampaging elephants. The animals were drawn
by the smell of the illicit distilleries, and proceeded to get tipsy
themselves on the bootleg booze.
"In the interest of generosity of spirit, I've forgotten them all. But
I do dance a pretty mean tango."
European Union Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten, during
a visit to Beijing, when asked about insults from Chinese officials
and media during his term as Hong Kong's last governor. Patten--who
tried to introduce more democracy to the territory before the 1997
handover--was called "guilty for a thousand years," a whore and a
tango dancer.
"He called me a brother, and I called him a brother, and I said: 'I
mean every word of it.'"
Pakistani leader Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, after embracing one of his
harshest critics, Afghanistan's interim Defence Minister Gen. Muhammad
Fahim.
"I looked at this and I just thought, 'Heavens, it's a pretty beat-up
sort of squid'."
Marine biologist Steve O'Shea, on the discovery of an enormous octopus
in his freezer. The giant-squid specialist estimates the octopus,
which was damaged when caught by researchers last October, would have
measured 4 metres in length and weighed 75 kilograms.
"It's not the Olympics. The energy expended is as much as when you
play golf."
Cardiologist Supachai Thanomsap, on a global study by drug-maker
Pfizer, which found that people as old as 80 still view sex as an
integral part of their lives.
"My jockey is very, very good. I am just the mechanic. He is the
driver--like Michael Schumacher."
Hong Kong horse-racing trainer Brian Kan, on his charge Red Pepper,
ridden by Gerald Mosse, which won the Chairman's Trophy at Shatin
racecourse.
"China is so far ahead. Where exactly are we going to race with them?"
Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, on concerns that a 17%
increase in defence spending by China could lead to an arms race with
India.
"I realized that I wasn't wearing a mask and I'd be easily
recognized."
A 21-year-old would-be armed robber in the Japanese town of Hitachi,
who gave himself up in the middle of a raid on a shop.
Yap Yok Foo
16 April 2002
Singapore, Malaysia war of words
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent
A FEW days after Malaysia sealed its biggest defence spending
contracts in a decade, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is talking war
with Singapore.
A statement on Sunday by Dr Mahathir was designed to talk down the
prospects of a series of disputes with Singapore escalating into
conflict, but his choice of words reflected a hardening of the
rhetoric between the two countries.
"We must be careful in handling a problem such as this because we
don't want to be at war with Singapore," Dr Mahathir said.
"If we act hastily, start a war between Singapore and us, the world
may perceive us to be belligerent," he added.
Dr Mahathir's latest comment is the most recent from Malaysia that
brings the word "war" into a series of diplomatic disputes between the
neighbours over two perennial issues: land and water.
Malaysia has recently taken exception to a 5000ha land reclamation
project by Singapore in the narrow Johore Strait between the two
countries. It accuses its neighbour of attempting to disrupt the
shipping lane that services the ports of Tanjung Pelepas and Pasir
Gudang.
Some in Malaysia believe the reclamation is a retaliation for the
recent success of the Tanjung Pelepas port, which has lured the
world's top two container shipping lines, Taiwan's Evergreen and
Denmark's Maersk Sealand International, from the Port of Singapore
Authority.
Officials are also at loggerheads over Malaysia's decision to
renegotiate the price of the water it supplies to Singapore, setting
Singaporean politicians into a frenzy of argument disputing Malaysia's
right to do so. Singapore is dependent on Malaysia for its fresh water
supply.
Dr Mahathir and Singapore senior minister Lee Kwan Yew met to resolve
the issue in a secret discussion in September.
But in a sign that subsequent negotiations were not going well,
earlier this month a senior member of Dr Mahathir's party, the United
Malays National Organisation, declared that water was an issue
Singapore was prepared to go to war on.
UMNO party vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin said in the early 1990s he
was at a meeting where Mr Lee threatened war against Malaysia if the
water supply was cut off.
The "no war" cries come in the wake of Malaysia's largest military
spending in a decade. At a defence expo in Kuala Lumpur last week,
Malaysia signed contracts for Russian and European missiles and naval
combat systems and is preparing to buy its first submarines.
Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak said the spending posed absolutely no
threat to Malaysia's neighbours.
Yap Yok Foo
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"Yoga has given me such a kick out of life. I want to use it to serve
mankind after I get out of here."
Suspected Al Qaeda terrorist group member Mohammed Afroz, about to be
released from an Indian jail because of lack of evidence against him,
says he would rather stay on until his yoga course is completed.
"I'm here! I'm here!"
Chinese President Jiang Zemin on his arrival in Abuja, Nigeria. As
officials and journalists crowded expectantly on one side of a car
carrying him from his aircraft, Jiang, waving vigorously, got out of
the other side of the vehicle.
"It's totally about wanting to give the men of Enron an equal chance."
Michele Zipp, editor-in-chief of Playgirl magazine, outlines plans for
a nude spread to rival Playboy's "Women of Enron" feature.
"I believe the American government is lying . . . No plane crashed
into the Pentagon."
French author Thierry Meyssan promotes his best-selling book, The
Frightening Fraud. The book claims that the United States government
duped the world, but offers no alternative theory for what damaged the
Pentagon on September 11.
"The Japanese bought many huge buildings in New York, but luckily they
didn't buy the World Trade Centre."
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji comments on the September 11 attacks in New
York during a session at the Boao Forum for Asia. His audience
included Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
"When being laid off, people who do not have psychological preparation
will tend to feel pain . . . guilt and helplessness."
Psychologist Timothy Leung, on counselling services he is leading for
Hong Kong's third-largest bank, Standard Chartered, which is preparing
its staff for "possible changes" in their career.
"I don't want it on the wall now. It sickens me."
Auckland art-lover Henry Van Dijk reacts after learning that a
painting he bought at a charity auction was not by New Zealand Prime
Minister Helen Clark, as she had claimed. She offered to reimburse the
NZ$1,000 ($440) cost of the work after admitting that she hadn't
painted it.
"That's the most effective way to stage a protest as millions of
people will be able to know what I want to say through the televised
broadcasts."
Taiwan protester Ke Shih-hai, who has been protesting in front of TV
cameras as they made live news broadcasts for the past year. Ke
carries placards complaining about Taiwan's judicial practices, which
he says are unfair. The 46-year-old millionaire, who has given up his
business, also carries placards on behalf of other protesters.
Yap Yok Foo
It is simply too good not to share :-)
NEWSFLASH...SINGAPORE DOES IT AGAIN!
Singapore Moving Away
Singapore is ready to act on Malaysia's concerns over land
reclamation work by relocating the island, government sources leaked.
Sensing that it is not well-liked by its neighbours, the Singapore
government has in the past decade hatched a plan to move the entire
country to a location that is more welcoming, preferably with a large
hinterland and plenty of fresh water to spare.
The decision to move was acclerated by the recent salvo of
speculative claims made by the Malaysian media that Singapore's
reclamation work would cause Malaysia environmental and economic harm,
followed by an insistence from the Malaysian government that Singapore
halts its land reclamation programme.
This was despite Malaysia's inability so far to support the claims
nor articulate its specific concerns. With the barrage of rhetoric,
Malaysia also took the opportunity to renew a series of oft-repeated
threats to do all sort of nasty things to 'the little pimple that
would not go away'.
'We shall prove to them that we can go away,' said Mr. Goh Ah Wei, a
spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.
"We have had enough of their complaints and threats. It is time we
leave these forest-burning, pirate-harbouring, copycat-ing,
nick-picking, petty miserable pathetic losers to flounder on their
own. We need to move on to seek our own fortune. Our forefathers were
migrants and we can be too.Much better for us to be a small fish in a
large prosperous pond than to be a big fly in a small cesspool."
The leakage of this news yesterday set off panic buying of bottled
water and plastic pails. Many retail outlets and convenience stores
have run out of stock. The government issued a statement last night
advising the population 'to avoid excessive purchase of imported heavy
items including bottled water from overseas over the next two months'.
It is believe a formal announcement of the relocation will follow
shortly.
Giant propellers installed at the Tuas and Changi naval bases will
provide the propulsion and directional control needed to steer
Singapore out of troubled waters. The main navigation and control room
has been incorporated into the design of the new jazz bar occupying
the spot on the top floor of the former Westin Stamford, where the
aptly named Compass Rose used to be.
None of the over 50 outlying islands will be left behind, as together
they make up some 10% of our total land area. Some are already
connected to the main island by causeways or bridges, the rest will be
attached with steel cables. Singapore will also keep its half of the
causeways and water pipes spanning the Straits of Johor to serve as
ready attachments to its new hinterland, as well as to hold in place a
giant bumper during transit in case of collision.
Insiders said there are now two differing opinions in the government.
The more senior ministers are advocating a permanent mooring
location, probably off China, while the younger ministers wanted
Singapore to be fully mobile, so it can move to areas of where
economic growth is strongest and where its expertise most needed, and
where it is not so hot and humid.
"Introducing weather seasons will make Singapore a more attractive
place to live in," several newly elected MPs were reported to have
argued, "it will encourage overseas Singapore students to return
home." Ministers are in one accord though that Singapore reserves the
right to return to its current location and forbids any other nation
from intruding into the space while it is away.
When interviewed, a prominent Malaysian politician who requested only
to be identified by his last name, Madhathir, commented, "If this is
true, it is yet another selfish act by Singapore. Not only are they
kiasu and still want to chope the space they are vacating, but by
moving Singapore away, a lot of water will rush in to fill up the
hole and this will lower the water level around Pasir Gudang,
furthering sabo-ing our port!"
uh-oh
> It is simply too good not to share :-)
>
> NEWSFLASH...SINGAPORE DOES IT AGAIN!
> Singapore Moving Away
> furthering sabo-ing our port!"
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
OK Phang
wrote:
>Uncle Yap received this thro the e-mail, author unknown
>It is simply too good not to share :-)
>NEWSFLASH...SINGAPORE DOES IT AGAIN!
>Singapore Moving Away
In one of the yesterday's post, it was suggested .....
From: city...@tm.net.my (Citybeez)
Newsgroups: jaring.general
Subject: Drag Singapore away from Malaysia.
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 09:51:44 GMT
Perhaps the Singh govt can
use large enough tug-boats to drag Singapore away from all the evil
people around her, perhaps into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Then
they can leave and live peacefully as a nation. Nobody will kacau.
clip
Yap Yok Foo <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:eqksbuo27j2tuacrf...@4ax.com...
> Uncle Yap received this thro the e-mail, author unknown
> It is simply too good not to share :-)
It's stale, not funny and not subtle. Anyone with half a brain can write
that piece of trash. Yah, that is the kind of trash u can find at
talkingcock: loud, unimaginative, boorish etc.
OK Phang
Okay - what fresh, hilarious, subtle, imaginative, clever, etc
articles that you written recently which you can share with us?
Please share!
ck_in_sf1
Naw ... the Atlantic is meteorologically too unstable ... lots of
hurricanes and tropical depression-related storms. Besides, the ocean
is polluted by oil spills from trans-Atlantic shipping traffic.
Better that they try the Indian Ocean ... and be a trading hub for the
future ... the Africa-Asia-Australia nexus.
CKSF
clip
ck_in_sf1 <ck_i...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:89ef427.02041...@posting.google.com...
> Better that they try the Indian Ocean ... and be a trading hub for the
> future ... the Africa-Asia-Australia nexus.
If Singapore was to sail away, how much of Johore would be torn off or would
peninsula malaysia roll up like a carpet?
Harry
mainland malaysia by reclamation !
"Yap Yok Foo" <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:eqksbuo27j2tuacrf...@4ax.com...
Ryan Lim
the north, then the south, add to the north and soon we'll be
in China.
"Harry" <ha...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:a9mkve$2ch$1...@violet.singnet.com.sg...
ck_in_sf1
LOL!!
Actually (and seriously), it would be interesting if SIN were to
dissapear tomorrow and leaving behind some 500,000 Malaysian
expatriates. All of whom are highly educated folks and out of a job!
Now if they were to return to Malaysia ... how would KL react to this
influx of mainly ethnic chinese crowd demanding high quality social
services and above all else high end service-industry jobs?
I have always believed that Malaysia is happy to see its highly
educated ethnic chinese work force "leave" for political reasons, and
Singapore is only too happy to exploit that - afterall it is getting a
highly educated person for without any social investment. Gotta love
that brain drain!!
CKSF
Jaybeez
wrote:
>
>---------------------------------
>Do You Yahoo!?
No
Yap Yok Foo
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"They reckon man can't walk on water. I can run on water."
An Australian fisherman, on his close encounter with a two-metre
crocodile in far northwestern Queensland while dragging for live bait
in a mangrove swamp. The man said he had puncture marks to the back of
one of his legs from the croc's chomp.
"To avoid pulling out the wrong gun, they were under strict
instructions not to return fire."
A Thai police spokesman explains the instructions to police officers
not to carry plastic water pistols during the annual water festival in
mid-April. Instead, they should "let themselves be victims of
one-sided water fights."
"Rough manners, dirty clothes, drunk . . . and from England."
Japanese soccer fan Yukiteru Funami defines the word "hooligan" after
his home prefecture of Saitama drew England for their opening fixture
in the World Cup finals, which kick off next month.
"We want local people to understand that drinking alcohol, painting
their faces, and singing songs is quite normal for English sports
enthusiasts."
A Saitama prefecture official, on an experiment he organized with the
help of expatriate Britons. He had them impersonate typical visiting
soccer fans to ease anxiety in the community that all foreigners are
hooligans.
"I love the bottle-throwing room. This is the first place I'll think
of coming if I ever get heartbroken."
Thai actress Chamaiporn Chaturaput, at the opening night of Bangkok
nightspot The Love Sick Pub, which has special rooms in which patrons
can vent their spleen after being jilted.
"Once we ran out of money, but the Lord ensured there was a peach tree
in front of our home, so we ate peaches for days."
American Christian missionary Anne Parker explains how she, her
husband and nine children overcome difficulties in the arid poverty of
western Mongolia, where they teach English.
"These words are not part of the school syllabus and many people
mispronounce them."
Socialite Eunice Lam explains the rationale behind her book and
compact disc, which offer guidance to Hong Kong's dedicated followers
of fashion on the correct pronunciation of designer labels like Chanel
and Hermes.
Yap Yok Foo
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"[They said] he needed A$5 million in public-liability insurance."
Heidi Drowley, after Wonthaggi council officials in Victoria state,
Australia, stopped her son Tyrone from selling flowers from his
doorstep to raise money to buy a skateboard.
"I think it sucks."
Schoolboy Tyrone Drowley, whose makeshift flower stall was shut down
by council officials because he lacked a permit and a A$5 million
($2.65 million) public-liability insurance policy.
"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch
television or read the newspapers."
Japanese tourist Yuji Makano, on how he and his girlfriend Mina
Takahashi wandered unwittingly into a stand-off between Israeli
soldiers and Palestinian gunmen who were holed up in the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem.
"I felt so cold and alone. The only good thing was a window through
which I could see my home."
Cantopop star Nicholas Tse describes his 36-hour detention by
anti-corruption investigators in Hong Kong looking into allegations
that the singer switched drivers after crashing a $250,000 Ferrari.
"It might be dangerous if the place fills up with Europeans, but at
least half are likely to be Japanese so we should be okay."
Yokohama bar manager Takeshi Fujimoto weighs up the benefits of
staying open to take advantage of the World Cup Finals to be held in
Japan and South Korea, against his fear of soccer hooligans.
"Citizens are now saying: Officials used to get things done only when
they were bribed. Now they don't take bribes, and nothing gets done."
Liaoning Mayor Chen Zhenggao, on the effects of an anti-graft
crackdown in the Chinese province.
"I know they don't like being in detention . . . if people do not seek
to come to Australia illegally, they would not be in detention."
Prime Minister John Howard, on asylum-seekers being held in Australia.
A videotape showed inmates beating their heads against the walls.
"She burps, farts and snores, everything my husband does, so I'm
pretty used to it."
Maggie Park, of Gisborne, north of Melbourne, Australia, on Lucy, a
full-grown hairy hog, one of three that share her and husband Neil's
bed.
"These graphic T-shirts were designed with the sole purpose of adding
humour and levity to our fashion line."
A spokesman for clothes maker Abercrombie & Fitch, on a line of shirts
that sparked controversy in the United States. Some shirts read: "Wong
Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White."
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 9 May 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
WATER RACKET: Residents of some villages in Pakistan have been hit
with stern last-chance demands for payment of water rates. The letters
demand at least 10,000 rupees ($170) from each household, and warn
that payment will be enforced by the army.
But the village houses don't have taps. Water connections don't reach
the buildings, so villagers couldn't possibly have used any water.
The 6,000 residents of the affected villages, Malikpur and Malikpur
Jaba in Lower Pakhal, allege that the authorities had intended to
supply them running water. But, because of corruption, only the homes
of wealthy people were actually linked to the water grid.
"The villagers also alleged that the contractor colluded with the
officials and stole about 10,000 feet of pipe, which was sold to a
private party," the Dawn newspaper reported. "They said that if there
had been no embezzlement, the sources of water in the villages would
had been sufficient for a population of 100,000."
Next: Cave-dwellers in the Hindu Kush are hit with spurious
Internet-connection bills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAGS OF TROUBLE: Fire alarm ringing in the hotel? Guests should tie
plastic bags over their heads. This warning was sent in by a reader
who found it at a hotel just outside Bangkok. Hmm. We're thinking it
might just be preferable to take your chances with the blaze.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOPS TIMES TWO: A 25-year-old motorist in New Zealand was driving to
Westport District Court to face a charge of driving while
disqualified, the local press reported. Unfortunately for him, he came
to a junction at which he crashed into a car coming from the direction
of Christchurch. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the other motorist
turned out to be the judge due to hear his case. I suppose they could
have had the trial right there, but they didn't. Sometimes, it just
isn't one's day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAD CHOICE: A bungling burglar who failed to case the joint,
accidentally broke into a police apartment block in Tokyo. Believing
it was an ordinary residential building, he thought it was just bad
luck when he encountered two police officers inside. The man, 50, was
challenged by an officer, and tried to run away. He was quickly caught
and pinned down. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that after he learned
the truth, he said: "I'd have never guessed police lived here."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIFE IS CHEAP: A man named Irshad was given a death sentence at a
murder hearing in Pakistan recently. The Dawn newspaper reported that
he was also hit with a fine of 100,000 rupees. The judge sternly
warned that if he failed to pay the fine, he would have six months in
jail added to his sentence. So should he pay up and die, or fail to
pay and be jailed for six months? Hmm, tough call.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOOD GOD: A Hindu deity came to the rescue of an Indian man who woke
up to find himself being strangled by a snake.
Biswajit Sawain woke up at his home in Bhubaneshwar to find a cobra
wrapped around his throat. The serpent had a tight grip and he
couldn't move it.
The 23-year-old called for help. His neighbours all came to have a
look, but were too scared to touch the cobra, the Samaya newspaper
reported. Snakes are often associated with deities.
After several hours had passed with no change in the situation, the
young man had a brainwave. He summoned a rickshaw to take him to a
nearby temple. There, he sought out an image of Lord Shiva, a deity
often pictured with serpents around his neck. He asked the god to
persuade the snake to release him and slide back to the forest--and
the snake obediently did as it was told.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BITING HUMOUR: We were interested to discover from reader Cliff Bale
that Filipinos, a type of cookie in Spain which we have reported on
before, now has bright new packaging. This product, widely distributed
in Europe, is not available in East Asia--not surprisingly. These days
it comes with a serving suggestion on each packet: "Try Filipinos
after one hour in the fridge." Don't try this at home.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 9 May 2002
INTELLIGENCE
Singapore Haunted By Unemployment
The worst recession in Singapore's history has re-ignited debate about
the dangers of long-term structural unemployment and the need for an
insurance system to help laid-off workers. The unemployment
rate--which hit a record high of 4.7% in December--may be below that
of the United States, Japan and most of Europe, but it is still a
growing cause for concern, reckons Singapore-based economist Dominique
Dwor-Frecaut. In a recent report, the director of Barclays Capital
argues that Singapore could make unemployment-insurance schemes more
palatable by making them self-financing, limiting the duration of
benefits, tying the payment of benefits to training and active job
searches. She also argues that the benefits could be structured in
such a way that would make finding a job more rewarding than
unemployment. "It would make a lot of sense given the structural
changes going on," she says. Singapore, a small open economy that is
reliant on foreign investment, has fewer options than many European
economies in slowing down the pace of structural adjustment. "It
cannot hide behind protectionist walls or, like France, pass a law to
increase the cost of lay-offs, without hurting its economy," she
notes. "In practice, its only viable policy option may be a pro-active
adjustment strategy." Moreover, Singapore does not "carry around the
heavy legacy of the entitlement societies" and as a result, can "pick
and choose for itself an unemployment-insurance scheme that would
support its transition to faster productivity growth."
Yap Yok Foo
BURMA - The Proof of The Pudding
The release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after some 20 months
of house arrest was welcomed around the world. But don't hold your
breath for substantial political change any time soon
By Bertil Lintner/CHIANG MAI
CELEBRATIONS OVER THE May 6 release of Burma's opposition and
pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, are premature. For starters,
the haphazard manner of her release suggests that no firm deal has
been struck with the country's military government on the freedom of
movement and political activities of both Suu Kyi and her National
League for Democracy (NLD). That could spell trouble in the future.
Furthermore, the regime's track record does not inspire confidence
about its commitment to reconciliation and democracy.
After inviting the world's press to Rangoon for the event, the ruling
junta realized that everyone wanted to know about the terms of Suu
Kyi's release--they hadn't even talked to her about the key issue.
"She was undoubtedly able to get much better conditions than would
have been otherwise possible," says a well-connected Western diplomat
in Rangoon. "We don't know the details yet, but her release is
'unconditional' and she will be allowed to move around freely."
But how that will apply in practice is far from clear. And Suu Kyi,
while welcoming her release as a "new dawn for the country," told a
press conference that it should not be seen as a major breakthrough
for democracy. "For all people in Burma, to enjoy basic freedom, that
would be a major breakthrough," she said. And that may not happen any
time soon.
Despite the release of more than 200 jailed NLD members over the past
year, Amnesty International estimates that at least another 1,500
political prisoners are languishing in jails and labour camps. And as
long as that situation remains unchanged and the overall political
stalemate in Burma continues, Western powers are unlikely to ease
their pressure on the Rangoon regime.
Furthermore, many Rangoon residents fear that the military has no
intention of giving up or sharing power. And Western diplomats suspect
Suu Kyi's release has more to do with a desire to see foreign aid
reinstated than a commitment to political change.
They note the regime's past record of failing to honour pledges for
change. For example, intelligence chief Lt-Gen. Khin Nyunt in January
last year urged the international community to resume aid "because of
positive developments" in Burma. The appeal came a few days after
United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, who has played a key
intermediary role (see accompanying story on page 12), announced that
Suu Kyi and the ruling officers had opened a dialogue. But the West
had since become increasingly frustrated with the apparent lack of
progress in the talks.
Thus Suu Kyi's release has been welcomed by all parties and, despite
scepticism about the junta's motives, there are signs for hope. Both
sides have compromised and appear to have shifted from their hardline
positions.
The NLD leader, whose party was robbed of its landslide win in the
1990 general election and almost destroyed by the military in the
following years, told reporters that the talks had advanced beyond the
confidence-building stage and would now start to tackle thorny issues
such as the constitution and the economy. But she admitted there were
no specific arrangement for future talks.
While Suu Kyi indicated she would exercise restraint in her nationwide
movements--her bid to travel outside Rangoon in September 2000 had
prompted the regime's last clampdown on her and the NLD--she rebutted
suggestions that she was going soft on the government. The daughter of
Burma's founding father, Aung San, said her goals remained the same
and she would continue calling for trade, aid and tourism boycotts
until there was real change.
Meanwhile, the Western world will keep the pressure on the regime
until it sees signs of real movement. On April 11, the European
parliament called for tougher European Union sanctions, including an
investment ban, if dialogue between the military and democracy
activists fails to make headway in the next six months.
In the United States, President George W. Bush welcomed Suu Kyi's
release but stressed that the U.S. wanted to see concrete steps
towards political reform and reconciliation, including prisoner
releases, before any review of U.S. sanctions.
Western powers are convinced that it is their tough policy that forced
the junta to make concessions, while Burma's Asian neighbours have
always argued that quiet diplomacy is more effective. But, as the
Western diplomat in Rangoon puts it, "The regime does not like any
kind of external interference."
And there's the rub. Analysts fear that the government is only making
cosmetic changes under duress and that, as in its peace talks over the
years with various ethnic-minority rebels groups, it will never
bargain or compromise on substantive political issues. And if there is
no give within a reasonable time, Suu Kyi will withdraw her pipe of
peace.
=+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THE MALAYSIAN MAN IN THE MIDDLE
By Barry Wain
Retired Malaysian envoy Razali Ismail has been widely credited with
playing a pivotal role in advancing Burma's reconciliation process
with his low-key, nonconfrontational approach over the past two years.
But, despite Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, it will be
some time before Razali's diplomacy can be judged--he defines success
as the holding of a free and fair general election.
Contrary to conventional wisdom that the country's future would be
decided by the world's major players, the United States and Europe,
Razali has gone some way to crafting an Asian solution to a most
intractable Asian problem. His close links with Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad have helped considerably.
"The fact that he is Asian, that he is Malaysian, and backed by a
regime the longevity of which the Burmese military respects--all these
things have worked out well," says David Steinberg, a specialist on
Burma at Georgetown University in the U.S. "The American style of
banging the table and screaming isn't appropriate in this case."
But Razali, as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special
envoy to Burma, represents the entire international community and not
just one section of it. And while decade-long coercion in the form of
boycotts and political isolation has demonstrably failed to induce
democratic change in Burma, cosying up to the ruling State Peace and
Development Council obviously isn't the only factor at work lately.
The U.S. and Europe have maintained the pressure, producing a
combination of sanctions and engagement that seems to offer the best
prospects of results.
Still, unlike his Peruvian predecessor and some of the other UN
officials assigned to work on Burma in the past, Razali has been able
to persuade seemingly implacable foes to meet regularly and develop
confidence and trust in each other. And they give much of the credit
to Razali. Even as he was named in an international press report over
the appearance of a possible conflict of interest in Burma between his
commercial and diplomatic ventures, he was being praised by the
Burmese rivals for transforming their struggle from confrontation to
cooperation.
"He has been very helpful in giving his thoughts and opinions on what
is going on in the world and what should happen," says Col. Hla Min, a
military spokesman. "He has done it in such a friendly way that both
sides could be receptive to his advice." One of Razali's main
contributions has been to convince "certain countries" to stop
interfering and allow the Burmese to sort out their own affairs, Hla
Min says, clearly referring to the U.S. and Europe. Adds Suu Kyi,
Razali is "a great friend to Burma."
Razali's appointment to the UN post in April 2000 was astute,
considering his distinguished career as a diplomat and that he hails
from the country that guided Burma into the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations in 1997. The country's military rulers and Suu Kyi had
been in contact before his arrival on the scene but their positions
were far apart and each seemed determined to annihilate the other.
Both sides are convinced Razali is sincere and bent on finding what to
each of them will be an acceptable outcome. "Never underestimate the
power of personality," says one person close to the talks. While
Razali is fond of saying he is a facilitator, not a negotiator, the
evidence suggests he has been able to persuade both parties of the
need to compromise. For instance, at Razali's urging Suu Kyi dropped
her initial demand that all political prisoners be released before she
would accept freedom herself and discuss other issues, diplomats say.
Although the discussions remain confidential, progress has been
reflected in the public record. As the military government began
releasing political prisoners from the beginning of last year and
allowing the National League for Democracy to reopen branches in
Rangoon and Mandalay, the party ceased challenging the government at
every opportunity and inciting activists outside the country.
All Razali's diplomatic skills will be needed as the talks now move
from the confidence-building phase to substantive policy issues, such
as power-sharing among Burma's various ethnic groups, a new
constitution and a possible election. Assuming he doesn't get
sidelined by the accusations over his business dealings, Razali plans
to create a regional component in an overall settlement, say people
familiar with the talks. The nine other Asean members could be asked
to guarantee a proposal to grant immunity from prosecution to
anyone--demonstrators or military--who was involved in a popular
pro-democracy uprising in 1988. With senior officers given freedom of
movement within Asean, they would be less likely to fear retribution
after handing over power to a civilian administration.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 16 May 2002
Call for Arms
The military's modernization programme is back on track. The new
weapons will give it an offensive capacity for the first time
By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR
THE MALAYSIAN MILITARY is on the roll after years of stalled
modernization. The latest evidence of this resurgence should come
during Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad's mid-May visit to the United
States, when Boeing is expected to announce the sale of F/A-18 Super
Hornet fighter/attack jets to Malaysia's air force.
Defence Minister Najib Razak, the driving force behind the renewed
race to upgrade Malaysia's military capability, said late last year
the government would spend between $3 billion and $4 billion on
hi-tech arms procurement between 2002 and 2005. He is also reviving
orders that were put on ice when the Asian financial crisis hit in
1997.
The new orders, which are being placed fast and furious around the
developed and the developing world, will give Malaysia an offensive
capability for the first time. And while officials insist the build-up
is not meant to threaten anyone, some analysts reckon the Malaysian
military wants to bridge the technology and firepower gap it has with
Singapore. But they add that of greater strategic concern is
instability in other neighbouring countries, particularly Indonesia.
Najib was the architect of the original modernization drive of the
early 1990s, but his vision of transforming the military from an
army-driven, counter-insurgency force to a more conventional structure
with equal emphasis on all three services ran aground when he was
moved to another portfolio in 1995--the plan sank after 1997. "Our
defence needs have always been driven by economics and not by threat
perceptions," says defence specialist Mak Joon Nam.
With Najib back as defence minister and the economy in much healthier
condition, the impetus has been restored. "It's not just the
military's needs. Someone whom Mahathir listens to has got to push for
it," says a Western diplomat.
Over the past two months, Najib's ministry has announced a rash of new
purchases. These include main battle tanks from Poland, Russian and
British surface-to-air missiles and mobile military bridges, Austrian
Steyr assault rifles and Pakistani anti-tank missiles. Kuala Lumpur is
also negotiating to buy the F/A-18s, three submarines from France and
an unspecified number of Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft.
The submarines are likely to be based at a naval base now under
construction in East Malaysia's Sabah state. The government is also
reviving deals struck in the early 1990s, including the purchase from
Britain of six Super Lynx helicopters and of six patrol vessels from
Germany.
The decision to spread its orders around reflects Malaysia's use of
arms purchases to further its foreign policy, even though the range of
equipment from so many different sources creates maintenance and
logistics problems. The expected order for an unspecified number of
F/A-18s, for example, is a sign of the remarkable turnaround in
relations between Malaysia and the U.S. since the September 11
terrorist attacks in the United States. "It appears the political
considerations behind defence procurements are great in Malaysia's
case," says the diplomat. "And here it's being used to forge better
relations."
However, analysts say neighbours may not be happy about the
procurements, especially the battle tanks, missiles,
multiple-rocket-launcher systems and submarines, which will give
Malaysia an attack platform for the first time.
NARROWING THE MILITARY GAP
Military analysts believe the modernization programme is certainly
aimed in part at narrowing the military gap with small but rich
Singapore, which has a much bigger annual defence budget. A Malaysian
arms specialist asserts that Singapore has around 10 times more main
battle tanks than Malaysia. "They already have four submarines and
their air force is the most sophisticated in the region. Let's not kid
ourselves," he adds.
But despite the often rocky ties between the neighbours, analysts
believe Malaysia does not see Singapore as a potential battlefield
foe. Strategic Forecasting, a U.S.-based global intelligence provider,
said in an April 17 report that the arms build-up was aimed at more
long-term threats, including piracy in the Malacca Strait and Muslim
insurgencies in the southern Philippines and southern Thailand.
The report said the Malaysians were worried above all at the prospect
of Indonesia's collapse, which could unleash ethnic and religious
unrest and trigger an avalanche of refugees. "Malaysia must be able to
act pre-emptively if Jakarta loses control," the report said. Malaysia
shares a land border with Indonesia on Borneo and has consistently had
problems with Indonesian illegal immigrants.
Ultimately, the arms purchases are a source of patronage. Foreign arms
manufacturers, with the possible exception of the U.S., generally
lobby for business through Malaysian agents with excellent political
contacts. It can be a lucrative business. "The commissions are
anything between 10% and 20%," says the Western diplomat.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 16 May 2002
INTELLIGENCE
Singapore's Battle of the Bulge
The Singapore Armed Forces wants to trim the fat from its citizens'
army. So it's sending obese national service recruits on a 16-week
fat-fighting course before they are allowed to begin basic military
training. The tubby recruits are assigned to "Company K"--or Kilo
Company--and put through their paces on Tekong island off the
northeastern tip of Singapore. The regimen starts with brisk walking
sessions, followed by jogging in the eighth week. They must also lift
weights and circuit train. "Obese people are generally less fit and
lack motor skills and agility," a pamphlet published by the Ministry
of Defence tells parents. "They are also more prone to injuries and
heat stroke." The number of overweight national service recruits has
soared in recent years. Singapore's rising affluence is seen as one
probable cause. "We can't keep pushing them into clerical positions,"
says a trim Singaporean who trained as a tank driver during his
military service several years ago and is a strong advocate of the
programme. "If there are too many obese people in the army, who is
going to be left to charge the hill and do all those types of things?"
Maybank Calls on Arroyo
On a whistle-stop visit to Kuala Lumpur, Philippines President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo found the time to meet with executives from Maybank
to discuss a planned investment in an Islamic bank on the troubled
island of Mindanao. Al Amanah bank is currently in receivership under
the authority of the Philippines central bank, but a group of
Malaysian investors is seeking financing from Maybank to buy up the
institution. A Philippines cabinet member says the deal is in its
final stages, adding that Arroyo met with officials of Malaysia's
biggest bank on May 7 to help the positive development along. Maybank
already has 58 branches in the Philippines, but the move on Al Amanah
may be connected to Malaysia's ambition to become a regional centre
for Islamic banking, which has cornered 8% of the domestic market in
Malaysia. Arroyo is keen to stimulate investment in Mindanao as part
of a strategy to reduce tension in the southern region, plagued by
ethnic and religious violence and now the focus of a United
States-aided crackdown on Islamic militants.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 16 May 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"Their thumbs have become bigger, more muscular."
Sadie Plant, whose Motorola-financed report, On the Mobile, looks at
cellphone habits in major cities, rates Japan's "thumb generation" the
world's most dexterous at typing text messages.
"I voted eight times in different polling stations without any
problem. It was really fun."
Pakistani voter Nawaz Bhutto brags how he abused the voting system
during the recent referendum to endorse Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf's bid
for five more years as president.
"There was a lot of colourful language. I said it was one of the
stupidest things I had seen in my life."
Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer's son James tells a liquidator's
hearing of a fight with former One.Tel chief Jodee Rich over A$7
million ($3.7 million) "overachievement" bonuses given to Rich and a
fellow executive, when the telecoms firm posted heavy losses.
"[Australia is] heading in the right direction."
Staunchly anti-immigration, far-right French politician Jean-Marie Le
Pen praises the Australian government for keeping asylum seekers in
isolated detention camps.
"Our ambiguity on Taiwan has become less ambiguous."
A senior United States official admits Washington is taking a closer
military and political approach to Taiwan after years of maintaining a
"strategic ambiguity."
"We plan to develop canned dog-meat tonic juice, which football fans
can enjoy in their stadium seats."
Choi Han-Gwon, head of an association of South Korean dog-meat
restaurants, on a promotion planned for the World Cup soccer
tournament. He believes it will help foreigners understand "the
innocence of consuming dog meat."
"I was a bit confused and upset while being questioned."
Jehezkiel Bere, a former East Timor deputy police chief, retracting a
statement made to the Attorney-General's Office against four soldiers
and a police officer accused of mass killings in the territory in
1999.
"If you can't see a woman in a bikini that's your problem. You can't
force them to cover up just because you can't control yourself."
Malaysian Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir blasts
Terengannu's state government, which is led by the Islamic party, Pas,
for its "Taliban-like" plan to ban tourists from wearing bikinis.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 16 May 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
LOANS FOR BRIBES: A cheeky banker demanded huge bribes from applicants
wanting jobs--and then offered his victims bank loans so that they
could pay him, police in India alleged. When the outrageous scheme was
discovered, the extortionist's wife appealed to invisible spirits to
help the banker.
It all came out into the open when a number of people in Amritsar
complained to police that a banker named Chhinna was demanding cash
under the table to arrange jobs at the financial institution that he
ran. One complainant, who gave his job description as "peon," said
Chhinna demanded 50,000 rupees ($1,020) for arranging a job. "When he
expressed his inability to pay such a huge sum, Chhinna allegedly
suggested that he take a loan from the bank," The Times of India said.
An investigation was launched. Chhinna was found to have multiple bank
accounts and savings far in excess of his earnings. He was arrested.
Then police summoned his wife Updeep Kaur to their offices for
questioning. She arrived with portions of rice and cinnabar (a
powdered metallic ore). While officers tried to question her, she
sprinkled the substances around and chanted prayers to friendly
spirits, asking them to chase away the evil spirits who, she said,
were responsible for her husband's predicament. "Do not be afraid,"
she reportedly told officers.
Police can't have been all that frightened. As soon as she had
finished, they arrested her as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TECH TALK: What language is the Hong Kong Internet sales talk in?
"Cantonese with English jargon," as the application form clearly
explains. (Spotter: Fred Fredricks.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATIONARY WAGON: Two car thieves broke into a sports utility vehicle
in Manila, I hear from reader Tess Francisco. But when they tried to
drive off in it, they were disconcerted to find that it had an
automatic transmission. They were still sitting there looking for
first gear when police arrived and hauled them off, she said. The
moral of this story: Steal cars you know how to drive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAST LEGS: A rock which looks like a three-legged cow standing in the
sea has been discovered near Sandakan, East Malaysia. The Batu Sapi
rock has become a "must-see" for visitors to the district, The Star
newspaper reported. The bad news is that the miraculous stone creature
may not last much longer. Its legs "are severely eroded," according to
government official Nahalan Damsal. Astonishingly, there are no
reports of people worshipping it, but give it time . . .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOY OH BOY: When the Indian town of Koovagam held a beauty pageant,
the title of "Miss Koovagam" was won by a man wearing make-up. But it
came as no surprise, since all the contestants were guys wearing
make-up, The Times of India reported. Koovagam, near Bangalore, is a
popular destination for eunuchs. About 30,000 of them, all in
beautiful silk saris, were present at a recent party there. The
eunuchs, who are unable to find marriage partners (for obvious
reasons), set fire to a male idol representing the mythical "lost
husband" for whom they were all waiting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COP KEEPING WATCH: Women who found a peeping Tom in the ladies'
toilets at a Japanese railway station rushed to find a local police
officer--and then discovered that the nearest force representative was
the guy they'd caught in the loo. Worse still, the incident happened
in the middle of a campaign to improve the image of the force.
Kumihiro Egawa, 31, a police official in the administrative division
at Fukushima, Japan, was arrested. "We feel sorry to residents that
something like this has happened in the midst of police reforms. It is
regrettable," a police official told the Mainichi Shimbun without
overstating the case.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NUN BETTER: Examples of poor translation work are a dong-a-dozen in
Asia, and it is considered politically incorrect to laugh at them
these days. But occasionally one comes across a piece of writing
composed with such a minimal grasp of the target language that the
result is surrealistic poetry. In an example sent in by reader Helmut
Schneider of Beijing, the Chinese packaging for the Ocean's Eleven DVD
translates George Clooney's name as "Red Buddhist Nun." The film is
set in La Siweijiasi (Las Vegas in a Beijing accent). The blurb on the
package explains the plot memorably: "La Siweijiasi does not sleep,
and the night is obviously more brilliant."
Yap Yok Foo
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
FOOD FIGHT: A South Korean man was killed by his seafood appetizer.
The 62-year-old Seoul resident, surnamed Ha, was in the habit of
eating live octopuses. But on this particular occasion, the feisty
hors d'oeuvre decided to fight back. The diner doused the mollusc in
vinegar and red pepper paste, but it continued to struggle. He put the
octopus into his mouth where it used its tentacles to launch a
rearguard action against his teeth. In a last-ditch bid to avoid
death, the octopus dived down the diner's throat and spread itself
out.
Ha, unable to inhale, began to choke. His wife leapt into action. "I
slapped him on the back, but it didn't work," she told The Korea
Herald. The emergency services arrived and managed to pull the octopus
out of the man's throat. It was still alive. But the diner was dead.
Moral of the story: Sometimes the little guys win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSISTENT CALLER: A released convict decided to get his own back by
phoning his jailers at the Tokyo Detention Centre 10,000 times. The
Nagano prefecture resident, who had been jailed for four months for
damaging a car, also made 20,000 phone calls to the police officers
who had arrested him. Police believe he was upset, the Mainichi Daily
News reported. Seems like a pretty safe deduction. This guy's got a
great future in telemarketing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BARE FACTS: Reader Mark Baker was intrigued by this opening paragraph
of a report about Malaysia in Singapore's Straits Times, normally a
cautious and over-polite newspaper. He notes that it appears in a
column called "Asia Debrief."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMALL WONDERS: Laos has got its first automatic teller machine, I hear
from reader Don Entz. But don't expect to withdraw enough cash for a
luxurious holiday--or even a luxurious meal. The cash dispenser has
been carefully tailored to meet the needs of the citizens of
Vientiane, where it is situated. Easy money is not what it's about.
First, you have to pay a fee to get a cash card, the Bangkok Post
reported. You have to agree to pay for each cash withdrawal. Once you
get your card, you may be disappointed to learn that the maximum
withdrawal is 25,000 kip, which is the equivalent of $2.50. If you
make four withdrawals in a 24-hour period, the machine automatically
decides that you are a dangerously big spender, and will refuse to
serve you again. Cancel the champagne, waiter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SNAKE SNACKS: A snake charmer was summoned to the home of a
Bangladeshi butcher who found two adult cobras asleep on the mud floor
of his home. He dug beneath the house--and uncovered a lair of more
than 3,500 other snakes. "This is the largest stockpile of snakes I've
ever found in my life," said Dudu Miah, 55. The residents and most of
the neighbours made a run for it, police and the local press reported.
Many of the thousands of snakes were babies, Dudu noted. But having
located the mother-lode of serpents, he told residents that he still
had a lot more work to do. "The two adult cobras are still missing,"
he said.
Dudu is not worried about the fact that the job will take a long time.
He keeps his energy up by snacking on the snakes he catches, and had
already eaten a dozen in the first hours of the operation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGE OF MIND: A Taiwanese man turned up at a hospital with a
6.5-centimetre nail inserted flush into his skull. Lu, aged 80,
explained that he had hammered the nail in with a brick, I heard from
reader James Yang. Doctors say the part of his brain containing the
nail does not directly affect bodily functions, but controls his
personality, which may now change. Lu explained that he put the nail
in because he was feeling suicidal after a companion cheated him of
his life savings. Indeed, his personality may have already been
altered, because he now wants to live, but fears removal of the nail
may kill him, the United Daily News reported. This gives a whole new
meaning to the cliché about "hitting the nail on the head."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Renovation work in progress
Sorry for any convenience caused"
UNNECESSARY APOLOGY: Reader Peter Barratt saw this sign at Underwater
World in Singapore's Sentosa Island.
"I know that some activities which seem harmless to me are not allowed
in Singapore, but surely convenience is not a problem?" he asked.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 23 May 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"People don't just wear any old pyjamas when they go out, they wear a
nicer pair."
Li Yan, editor of the magazine Weekend, explains the etiquette behind
a sartorial quirk of her fellow Shanghainese--wearing their nightwear
in public, a habit that became common in China when to own pyjamas
meant one had money.
"The board of directors didn't just fiddle while Enron burned, some of
them toasted marshmallows over the flames."
Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee,
accuses past and present Enron Corp. emperors of failing to stop the
American energy trader's collapse while enjoying lucrative benefits as
board members.
"The Taliban even banned kite-flying in Afghanistan. What were they
worried about? That someone would discover electricity?"
American stand-up comic Jerry Seinfeld, in a recent performance in New
York, jokes about one of the more absurd killjoy policies of the
fundamentalist former rulers of Afghanistan.
"Actors had to perform the scene again and again to make all cameramen
happy."
Director Kang Hyun Il, on the gruelling work of 825 nude amateur
actors in the filming of Mago, which draws on Korean myth to depict
man's fall from paradise.
"If you have a dog, why not take a stroll with the pooch? Just make
sure your date is not afraid of dogs."
An extract from a new handbook released by Singapore's Social
Development Unit meant to help young singles plan the perfect date.
"He eventually got eaten by the locals."
Master Corporal Calvin Schrader recounts the fate of Jimmy, a goat
that took a shine to Canadian soldiers on a mission in eastern
Afghanistan. Each time local villagers tried to catch Jimmy, he would
rush to the soldiers--but his luck ran out.
"Every time he gets to a big word, it's like watching a high-wire
act."
American comedian Drew Carey takes aim at U.S. President George W.
Bush at an annual dinner held for White House media correspondents.
Carey was the evening's paid entertainment.
"We have to get monks to quit smoking."
Cambodian monk Seng Somony highlights one of the main problems that he
and other Buddhist monks face in getting people to kick the habit. The
monks aim to become role models for anti-smoking efforts in Asia.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 23 May 2002
Malaysia Turns Around
In a remarkably short time, Malaysia has shrugged off its post-crisis
image of a state-managed economy with poor corporate governance.
Foreign investors are flocking back
By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR
"From 1998 till 2001, the phone barely rang here and, when it did, it
was usually a wrong number. But since January we have been inundated
with requests, telephone calls and visitors"
--Steve Haggar, Credit Suisse First Boston in Kuala Lumpur
"The political risk is sharply down while transparency is sharply up"
--Dominic Armstrong, ABN Amro in Singapore
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE, but they're actually talking about Malaysia.
Change is afoot as a new sense of pragmatism wafts through Putrajaya's
corridors of power. And presiding over this is Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, now in his 21st year in office. As finance minister as well,
he's setting a new economic agenda. It stems from a newly found
political confidence that has spilled over to a market-driven
decision-making process--largely, though not completely, within a
framework of transparency and good governance.
It has restoked foreign-investor interest in Malaysian credit and
equity markets and marks an amazing turnaround for a country until
quite recently deemed an international financial pariah. "It isn't the
same marketplace we fled three years ago," says Dominic Armstrong,
regional research head of ABN Amro in Singapore. "Apart from Korea,
Malaysia could be the best-regulated and most transparent market in
Asia right now."
Today, Malaysia's banks are among the best in the region. They have
been recapitalized, consolidated to 10 from 58 banks and financial
institutions previously and have had their bad debts pruned to
internationally acceptable levels. Danaharta, the asset-management
agency set up to resolve the bad-debt crisis in 1998, could become the
first such global agency to turn a profit when it ceases operations in
2005. It took out 48 billion ringgit ($12.6 billion) worth of bad
loans at 45 cents on the dollar in 1999-2000 and expects to recover
almost 60 cents on the dollar. The banks have received almost 9
billion ringgit from Danaharta. In fact, China and Turkey recently
sent teams to study the Malaysian debt-recovery model.
Meanwhile, the state has driven corporate-debt workouts by taking over
indebted private companies it considers strategic and replacing their
owners with professional management--spending over 11 billion ringgit
in the process. Another 28 billion ringgit in bad debt owed by 12
companies is expected to be amicably resolved by August through
bank-creditor meetings mediated by the Corporate Debt Restructuring
Committee.
The CDRC is a state-sponsored debt-workout agency with no real powers
except the government's moral backing. It was set up for the so-called
hard cases--companies employing large numbers and owing more than 100
million ringgit to at least five banks. And it typified the Malaysian
approach to restructuring as opposed to simply forcing them into
bankruptcy. "Rather than having one creditor foreclose, leaving other
creditors unhappy and scores of people jobless, it was felt that the
government could mediate so long as there were viable cash-generating
businesses still around," says an official familiar with the CDRC.
Even so, its job got easier after July last year when Mahathir granted
it more powers. A scheme is now considered viable after approval is
received from 75% of lenders by value or 50% by number: Previously the
decision had to be unanimous.
All these efforts have been well rewarded. Foreigners have ploughed $2
billion into the stock exchange, sending it 36% higher since May last
year. Growth could hit 6% this year, from 0.4% in 2001 while tax
revenues reached 24% of GDP in 2001, among the highest figures in
Asia. Meanwhile, Malaysia's sovereign ratings have been upgraded by
every international agency, making the country's debt hugely saleable.
Credit spreads on an upcoming jumbo bond by national oil corporation
Petronas, considered quasi-sovereign, are expected to trade at around
175 basis points above U.S. Treasury Bonds. In 1998, similar bonds
traded at almost junk levels.
So what explains this turnaround? Foreigners fled the Kuala Lumpur
market following the imposition of capital controls in September 1998
and Mahathir's sacking of Anwar Ibrahim, his popular deputy in party
and government. Nor did the premier's rants against globalization and
international currency speculators--and his various moves to prop the
local stock exchange--help matters. Subsequently, Anwar's trials
tarnished Malaysia's international image, as the cases were widely
considered unfair.
The capital controls, imposed against the advice of the International
Monetary Fund, have since been clearly vindicated but even when they
were all but removed for foreigners by 2001, few rushed back. The main
reason was the perception of poor corporate governance. As Malaysia's
markets had declined--after capital controls were imposed--relative to
others like those in China, India and Taiwan, its companies had to be
seen to clean up their act to attract portfolio flows.
By mid-2000, new rules made it compulsory for all listed companies to
submit quarterly results complete with balance sheets and
profit-and-loss statements--something that neither Singapore nor Hong
Kong requires. And complete disclosure, from directors' salaries to
board composition, had to be observed.
But political interference to protect influential businessman
continued to hamper Malaysia's cause internationally. This included
the "restructuring" of politically connected conglomerate Renong in
1999; the rescue of Malaysia Airlines' controlling shareholder in
February, 2001, at a huge cost to taxpayers; and the revelation that
state funds had to underwrite a failed initial public offering by Time
dotCom, a Renong unit, in March, 2001. Businessmen Halim Saad and
Tajudin Ramli, both proteges of then Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin,
controlled Renong and Malaysia Airlines respectively.
The subsequent public uproar and foreign disapproval of the
transactions ruptured Daim's ties with Mahathir, forcing him to quit
in June 2001. Since then Halim has been removed from Renong and
Tajudin is under a police investigation for alleged irregularities at
Malaysia Airlines. That sparked a renewal of foreign interest in
Malaysia as it was seen as a serious effort to curb cronyism. "You had
all these great rules but waivers kept being given," says ABN Amro's
Armstrong, "so the impression was Kuala Lumpur wasn't serious."
FREED FROM POLITICS
Fast-forward to September 11, which at one stroke allowed Mahathir to
consolidate his political base. It discredited the main opposition
Islamic Party, which had been giving him a hard time, and divided the
opposition. Mahathir was thus freed to concentrate on the economy. It
also allowed him to repair ties with the United States, Malaysia's
largest trading partner, which were strained by Anwar's ouster.
So has Malaysia turned the corner? Not quite. Companies linked with
Mahathir's ruling party, the United Malays National Organization, such
as Malaysian Resources, continue to be awarded government contracts
without competitive bidding, while Mahathir-associated businessmen
like Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary have seen their fortunes rising on the
back of state contracts. And questionable mega-projects like the Bakun
hydroelectric dam and an enormous 600 million-ringgit convention
centre south of Kuala Lumpur are back on track.
"It's naive to assume that political patronage will completely
disappear," says an ethnic Malay businessman close to government.
"Umno still has to be funded but the scale will no longer be there."
That's the hope that's been drawing a procession of international fund
managers to Kuala Lumpur since February. And it's the reason why
Credit Suisse First Boston, long bearish on Malaysia, released a
glowing mid-April report titled "Malaysia--Back on the Investment
Map."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
'We Are About in the Middle'
Malaysian central-bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz explains why she
prefers a cautious and measured approach to bank consolidation and
financial-sector reform
ZETI AKHTAR AZIZ SIGNED OFF on Malaysia's exchange controls after her
two bosses in the central bank resigned in protest. That was more than
three years ago and world opinion has since shifted to a grudging,
even admiring, respect for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's
controversial economic policies.
Zeti, 54, an economist by training, became central bank governor in
2000. Few economists would fault her leadership: The banking system is
cleaned up, monetary policy has been accommodative and Malaysia's
reserves are close to $33 billion. Engaging and articulate, Malaysia's
central bank governor sits down for a rare interview with REVIEW
Editor Michael Vatikiotis and correspondent S. Jayasankaran. Excerpts:
HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF MALAYSIA'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM?
We are different from Singapore or Hong Kong. We don't aspire to be an
international financial centre where it would be important to
liberalize and deregulate at a much faster pace. We would want a
system where at least 50% of market share is held by domestic
institutions. Having said that, we are increasingly more flexible. For
example, we have allowed banks greater freedom to mobilize talent.
Basically, we're not swinging from one end of the pendulum to another.
We adopt a balanced approach. We are about in the middle.
HOW HEALTHY IS THE LOCAL BANKING SYSTEM?
Nonperforming loans have now stabilized. On a net six-month
recognition basis, it is at 8.1% [of total loans by the banking
sector]. On a three-month basis, it's 11.5%. This is a positive trend
and we've addressed the situation satisfactorily. Danaharta, the
asset-management agency, has successfully managed problem loans it
acquired from the banks in 1998. In fact, the cash payout back to the
banks is between 7 billion and 8 billion ringgit ($1.8 billion-2.1
billion).
We set up Danaharta early because we knew the problem had to be
addressed. In May 1998 we proposed to set up Danaharta, at a time when
NPLs were only about 7%. We knew it would rise and become a problem.
Danaharta has done what it was supposed to do--by neither warehousing
assets nor by fire sales. And ultimately, we expect a recovery rate of
about 60%.
WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THE ASIAN CRISIS?
To institute better risk-management practices and, as supervisors, we
have become more forward-looking. We look at how institutions would be
in three, six or nine month's time. We use stress tests and
early-warning systems. We have a high degree of confidence that we
will spot emerging problems early and take the necessary remedial
action.
WHAT IS DRIVING BANK CONSOLIDATION?
It will be driven by the more competitive market conditions.
IS THE RINGGIT PEG SUSTAINABLE?
It's not an end in itself, it's just a mechanism. Right now, it's the
best mechanism to facilitate international trade and investment in
Malaysia.
WHY IS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT DECLINING?
Well, foreign inflows have been steady although they are not at
pre-crisis levels. But there has been a shift in the type of
investment coming in. It's becoming more diversified. Now it's mostly
in the IT and services sectors, which are higher value added to the
country. Last year, these investments were higher than manufacturing
FDI. Traditionally, data for FDI only includes manufacturing
applications and investments but data released by the central bank
include investment across all sectors.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF ISLAMIC BANKING IN THE REGION?
We have had 20 years of experience in Islamic banking and we have
developed a comprehensive system--a money market, Islamic insurance
and various banking instruments. It has developed in parallel with the
conventional banking system and is now growing rapidly. In 2000, it
comprised 6% of the financial system; now it's 8%. Now, together with
other Islamic countries and three multilateral agencies including the
International Monetary Fund, an Islamic Financial Services Board will
be set up here in Kuala Lumpur. It will set out prudential standards
for international Islamic banking and finance.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 23 May 2002
Hungry Pirates Will Pay
By Jeremy Wagstaff
In my crew-cut schooldays I pirated all my music via the sophisticated
method of stuffing a microphone in front of a radio and shushing
anyone with the audacity to stroll past. Nowadays, of course, it's
really easy. You can make a perfect copy of a CD, convert a CD to a
computer file in a heavily compressed format called MP3, and stuff
your hard disk so full of pirated MP3 tracks you'll be 60 by the time
you get around to listening to them all. No wonder the record
companies are having conniptions. But are things really so bad?
First, the lie of the land for those of you not paying attention. A
couple of years ago a little program called Napster changed everything
by allowing anyone to search for MP3 files on other people's computers
and then download them. Because only the directory of where these
files were, and not the files themselves, were stored on a
Napster-owned computer they held out legally for a while, but have
since capitulated.
In its place are clones such as KaZaA, Grokster and Morpheus, which
don't even store directories, instead just providing the software
which allows users to hunt for, hook up with and download from other
people's computers. Their argument is that they can't be responsible
for what users do with their software.
The music industry isn't impressed. The International Federation of
the Phonographic Industry last month said revenue fell last year by
5%, largely because "the commercial value of music is being widely
devalued by mass copying and piracy." And it's not just file sharing
that worries them. Later this month, the United States Copyright
Office will decide on whether to adopt a scheme to compensate record
companies for their songs played on Internet radio--Web sites that
stream music via the Net, rather than the airwaves--by imposing
royalty fees that Webcasters say will ruin them. The music industry
argues that since Webcasts are digital, it's easy for users to record
them to their hard drives and thus retain perfect copies of the songs.
A bit like me recording from the radio, only with fancier gear and
better haircuts.
But are they right in being so paranoid? I think not. It's actually
quite fiddly to record from a Webcast. And a survey released this
month by U.S.-based research company Jupiter Research reckons that the
music industry is exaggerating the losses from file sharing: In fact,
they say, the more someone shares music files, the more likely they
are to buy legit CDs.
CAN'T BEAT THEM, BETTER JOIN THEM
In fact, file sharing and Internet radio are part of a broader
revolution that the music industry has to work with, not against.
Grokster is a fine piece of software, and something they can learn
from. As I write there are 1.7 million Grokster users on-line, sharing
1.8 million gigabytes of stuff. That's a lot of users and a lot of
stuff. Users can easily search for music by title, album or artist.
There are no limits on how much you download--the program queues up
all the files you asked for. If a connection is cut, or your computer
freezes, the download resumes later. It's fire and forget: You won't
notice what's going on until you realise everything you requested is
residing on your computer, and that you're now a member of the
criminal fraternity.
The music industry has to work with the likes of Grokster because its
ease of use is feeding a huge growth in interest, pulling in users and
giving them a chance to broaden their taste. The Internet, far from
cheapening the value of music, is creating deep banks of wisdom that
record stores can't match.
To keep up, the music industry must embrace Web sites like Epitonic
(www.epitonic.com), where users can check out artists by downloading a
song or two before committing to buying an album. On-line radio
stations, too, should be encouraged as a way to push new music to
specialized audiences. And don't kill file sharing, build on its
strengths. Limit the number of songs each user can share--the vast
majority of most files on these networks are provided by less than a
quarter of the users--but then offer titbits of your own: a track or
two, say, off a forthcoming album. Chances are users will be willing
to pay for more, leaving everyone happier.
Now hush, I'm recording the Top 20.
Write to me at jeremy....@feer.com
Yap Yok Foo
Mahathir Sails Close to the Wind
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad' s often acerbic tongue
nearly got him into trouble with the United States ahead of his May
13-15 visit to Washington. According to Asian diplomats based in
Washington, some U.S. officials asked whether President George W. Bush
should cancel his meeting with the Malaysian premier after Mahathir's
recent comments in Kuala Lumpur about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon. At a May 8 conference on Palestine, Mahathir said "our main
enemy is Israel, especially Ariel Sharon, he is not human, he is an
animal." Mahathir went on to hold Washington culpable for not defusing
the crisis. "When the most powerful country in the world is against
taking any action against Israel, indirectly Israel has the power of
that country in its hands." U.S. officials say Mahathir's comments
prompted Washington to request a clarification of Malaysian policy
toward the Middle East. Kuala Lumpur replied that it supported a
peaceful resolution of the conflict and it affirmed the right of both
Palestine and Israel to exist and denounced violence against civilians
on both sides. This persuaded U.S. officials to go ahead with the
visit.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 30 May 2002
ECONOMIC MONITOR: SINGAPORE
On the Mend
By Trish Saywell
Is the recession finally beginning to loosen its grip on Singapore?
The export-driven island nation is certainly cheering April trade
data. After 13 straight months of decline, nonoil domestic exports
rose 6.4% year on year to S$8.72 billion ($4.8 billion). The numbers
wildly exceeded expectations--some analysts had projected a 6% fall,
following March's 17.3% drop. Stronger international appetite for
Singapore's nonelectronic products such as pharmaceuticals and
petrochemicals led the growth.
Exports in the key electronics sector in the first quarter were still
0.7% below the level a year ago. But that's still a big improvement
from the 18.3% drop recorded in March. And if the United States'
economy and the world semiconductor industry continue to improve,
demand for Singapore's electronics should pick up steam in the second
half of the year. That's important, as electronics make up about half
of Singapore's manufacturing output and 60% of its exports.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry's chief economist predicts the
economy will return to positive growth by the third quarter. On May
16, Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo forecast Singapore's
economic growth will fall in the upper half of the government's
official forecast range of 2%-4%. Those numbers were revised upward
earlier this month from 1%-3%.
For the three months ending March 31, GDP grew by 7.7%, up from 5.6%
in the fourth quarter of 2001. On a year-on-year basis, GDP is still
1.7% lower than it was a year ago, but that contraction is
significantly lower than the fourth quarter's 6.6% year-on-year
decline.
Other positive signs include slowing contraction rates in the
manufacturing sector. Manufacturing shrank 3.7% on the year in the
first quarter compared with an 18.6% contraction in the fourth quarter
of 2001. Manufacturing investment commitments, meanwhile, totalled
S$2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2002, predominantly in the
electronics and chemical industries.
Of course, Singapore isn't out of the woods yet. The unemployment rate
will continue to edge higher as employment generation typically lags
economic growth by several quarters. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and
Industry forecasts the year-end quarterly unemployment rate to rise to
between 5.2% and 5.7% from 4.5% in the first quarter.
While Singapore has enjoyed prosperity under its investment and
export-driven model since the 1970s, increasing competition from the
region and its increasing vulnerability to external shocks have
convinced its leaders that it's time to re-engineer the economy.
Evidence is in last year's numbers: GDP shrank 2%, after posting 10.3%
growth in 2000. Economists argue what is needed is a more balanced
growth strategy involving a more diversified export basket and greater
reliance on domestic sources of growth.
In November 2001, the Singapore government announced it was setting up
an Economic Review Committee to study the country's development
strategy and draw a blueprint to restructure the economy. The ERC has
already recommended slashing the top corporate and personal-income tax
rates to 20% from 24.5% and 26% respectively over three years to make
Singapore more competitive.
It is also studying wage and land reform, how to encourage the
entrepreneurial spirit and how to best liberalize the pension
system--possibly by allowing private pension plans. Currently, savings
in the pension system, known as the Central Provident Fund, are
generating low returns. Liberalizing the system could open up new
avenues for fund-management firms and insurance companies to tap this
money and generate new revenue streams. The ERC's final report will be
submitted in August.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 30 May 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"Normally the fish tastes good, but sometimes there's a taste of
petrol."
Angler Ng Man-lok, on the catch from Hong Kong's notoriously polluted
Victoria Harbour.
"Warning: Life is dangerous."
Councillor George Newhouse suggests a sign in place of lifeguards,
after Australia's Supreme Court ordered a city council to pay $2
million to a swimmer who was paralyzed in a diving accident in a
patrolled area of Bondi Beach, Sydney.
"I must stress that these arrests are not politically motivated at
all."
Hong Kong security chief Regina Ip defends the arrest of democracy
activists for demonstrating without a permit. Critics claim recent
actions by police and immigration officials indicate a tightening of
rules on freedom of assembly.
"When carbon dioxide reacts with seawater, it forms a weak acid, which
can be quite destructive of life."
New Zealand scientist Stephen White points out a drawback to a
Norwegian scheme designed to ease global warming by burying the gas
under the seabed.
"It is ironic that I'm now being accused of human-rights abuses."
Militia leader Eurico Guterres finds it strange to be appearing before
Indonesian prosecutors for allegedly terrorizing East Timor
independence supporters in 1999. Guterres claims he was defending
Indonesia and acting legally.
"I've broken my metatarsal and I'll be away for six to eight weeks."
One of a range of excuses being devised especially for English soccer
fans by the Web site, bunkoff.umbro.com, to present to their bosses so
they can skip work for a month to watch the World Cup soccer
tournament.
"Sometimes we have to go strange ways in order to cope with a strange
regime like North Korea."
German activist Norbert Vollertsen defends a plan to smuggle hundreds
of North Koreans out of China by boat to seek asylum in South Korea
while the World Cup soccer tournament is under way.
"The words 'China' and 'wireless,' when combined, cancel out the words
'rational' and 'analysis'."
A Nomura Bank analyst struggles to hide his scepticism over China
Mobile's soaring share price on news that British mobile-phone giant
Vodafone increased its stake in the Chinese mobile-phone firm.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 30 May 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
BAD CALL: New Zealander Paul Goldsmythe was watching television one
night when he got a phone call from the police. Your house is
surrounded by armed officers, a police negotiator warned. "Come out
with your hands in the air." The 33-year-old was told that he should
drop all weapons before leaving the premises, or else officers would
have no choice but to shoot him. Paul had no weapons to drop, but
otherwise did as he was told. Standing in his driveway with his hands
in the air, he felt rather silly--because there was no one outside.
It transpired that the police had dialled the wrong number. The real
shoot-out drama was taking place at a house a kilometre away, local
press reported. The police later apologized.
Never again will Goldsmythe complain that an uneventful evening in
front of the telly is boring.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMOKED OUT: Anti-smoking activists in Cambodia enlisted Buddhist monks
to help them--and discovered they were tobacco addicts. Campaigners
say they cannot be role models until they quit smoking. How do monks,
who theoretically have no possessions, afford cigarettes? They ask
worshippers to bring them as offerings to the temples, monks admitted.
Smoking is forbidden by their religion, which says that the physical
body must rid itself of cravings. Buddhist leaders are embarrassed
about the situation. Seng Somony, deputy director of the National
Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh, told Reuters: "We need them to
educate people not to smoke. But we have to get monks to quit
smoking."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STRUNG ALONG: A bedridden woman of 80 killed a robber who broke into
her home in the Urals, Russia. The aged patient, who had not managed
to stand up for several years, found hidden reserves of strength after
a drunken villain, 50, approached her bed and demanded money, the
Russian police reported. She grabbed a rope that hung over her bed to
help her sit up. Then she neatly wrapped the rope around the
intruder's neck, threw him to the ground and asphyxiated him. Killing
housebreakers is not exactly lawful, but who's going to condemn her?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHOCK TACTIC: A young man who claimed to be immune to electricity
decided to demonstrate his skill. Roderick de la Cruz, 22, of Caloocan
City, the Philippines, told his brother and friends to watch him touch
live wires from a ceiling fixture. His brother Rogelio told him not to
do anything stupid. But the warning only "fuelled his desire to be
proven right about his claims," The Philippine Star reported. He was
promptly electrocuted. Organizers of the Darwin Awards for natural
selection, please take note.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POOR TIMING: A bank robber stopped in the middle of his getaway and
asked a passer-by to summon the emergency services. Hiroshi Koito, 59,
felt breathless as he raced away from a bank in Funabashi, Japan, with
¥50 million ($390,630) in two paper bags. Fearful for his health, he
asked a housewife to phone for help. An ambulance eventually
arrived--just after pursuing police officer caught up with him. He was
promptly arrested, but at least was soon breathing easier than when he
was trying to flee, police told the Mainichi Shimbun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(...multimedia massage services.....)
TOUCHING REPORT: An Indonesian weekly magazine reports the latest
mobile-phone breakthrough: remote-controlled massage. It's astonishing
what technology can do. (Spotter: John Soe.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOLS OR FUELS: Three oil lamps have been burning for 20 years without
being topped up, religious people in India claim. Pilgrims have been
trekking to a shrine at Chigalli in Uttara Kannada district, near
Mangalore, to see what is widely described as a "miraculous
phenomenon." Scientists claim it is a fraud exploiting the religious
sentiments of people, but have not been allowed to examine the lamps.
"The deity has not given permission," the owners of the temple
explained. Would-be investigator Narendra Nayak told The Times of
India: "If the phenomenon is true, it would bring international
recognition for giving a miracle fuel. If not, we would be the
laughing stock for time and again exploiting the gullible public."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(picture of a package of detergent named BARF
which in English is vomit)
COMING UP: This is Uzbekistan's top-selling detergent, photographed in
the bazaar in Samarkand by reader Bob Bunker. "It's an ad-man's
nightmare," he said.
Yap Yok Foo
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN . . .
By Alkman Granitsas
Dell Akbar Khan still remembers the tackle that cost him his place at
the 1972 Olympic Games. During the second half of a local league
soccer game in Penang, an opponent made an attack on goal. Dell was
helping to defend his team's end when the other player crashed into
his knee. It never fully healed and troubled him for years afterwards.
That was in 1970. The following year, at a qualifying tournament in
Kuwait, Malaysia's national soccer team earned a place in the Olympics
for the first time ever. Dell, who had been in the national team for
three years, never made the trip.
"It is definitely disappointing when you are on a team that qualifies
for the Olympics but in the end other players go and you get left
behind," says Dell, who is now the deputy chief of police in Kuala
Lumpur and general secretary of the Football Association of Malaysia,
which governs soccer in the country.
For Malaysia, its place in the 1972 Olympics was a triumph for a young
nation's soccer ambitions. Eight years later it would repeat the
achievement by qualifying for the 1980 Olympics--the high-water mark
for its national team before it began a long period of decline.
Like Dell, Malaysia's national soccer teams have been on the injured
list ever since. For the past two decades the country's soccer
faithful have had to watch from the sidelines as other Asian teams
have made it to the Olympics, to the Asian Games, to the World Cup.
Past glories have faded in neighbouring Indonesia, too. In 1938,
Indonesia--then, still the Dutch East Indies--became the first Asian
nation to qualify for the World Cup finals. In 1956, Indonesia's
national soccer team also made it to the Olympics. In the years since,
nothing.
So where did it all go wrong? Why have two of Asia's early soccer-mad
nations been utterly eclipsed by the more recent successes of
countries like South Korea, Japan and China?
"Malaysia had one of the best teams in the 1970s and until 1980. And
what happened?" says one Asian soccer official. "Everyone asks this
question. For 20 years I have been asking myself this question."
Perhaps, says the official, it was just fate: "The players Indonesia
had and the players Malaysia had were just outstanding players that
were not the result of anything. Those successes in the past were not
the result of systematic development of the team," he says. "They just
happened."
Perhaps . . . But from a cynic's point of view, money was also a major
factor. In Malaysia's case, internal squabbles, and later corruption,
helped bring down the game. The 1984 national team, for example, was
so riven by internal fighting over money that it disgraced itself at
World Cup qualifying rounds in Kuwait. After the tournament, nearly a
third of the players were dismissed, there was a board of inquiry and
the entire event became known as the Kuwait Debacle in soccer circles.
Ten years later, another massive corruption case ensnared 121 players,
81 of whom were then suspended by the national association. In each
case, the process of building a national team had to begin again from
scratch.
In Indonesia, it's the absence of money that may have been a problem.
The relative poverty of local soccer has starved the country of a
systematic development programme for young players for years. Only in
the past few years has Indonesia restarted efforts to build a
professional soccer league.
All that, though, doesn't explain Indonesia's early successes, when
there was even less money around and development programmes had never
even been thought of.
In the end, Dell believes, the early success of Asia's
might-have-beens may lie in just one simple factor: pride.
"Back in the 1970s, we were a fully amateur league. And being amateur
you play for the love of the game, for the passion of the game. And
you play to represent your country," he says. "Nowadays, players are
just looking for the money. But in those days, we were out there
because we wanted to play, we were proud to don the national jersey."
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 6 June 2002
It's a Multi-Purpose Pick
Multi-Purpose Holdings' stock price is on the rise and some analysts
have put a buy on it due to the company's restructuring efforts
By S. Jayasankaran
With interests in gaming, banking, stockbroking, insurance, power,
property and shipping, you'd think Malaysian conglomerate
Multi-Purpose Holdings was a fairly safe bet. Actually, it's been a
dog.
But this old pooch could be learning some new tricks. For one thing,
shares in the company have quietly moved up 85% since the beginning of
the year to around 1.31 ringgit (34 cents) apiece on May 24.
Meanwhile, on May 22, Stephen Hagger, the head of Credit Suisse First
Boston in Kuala Lumpur, put a "buy" on the stock because of what he
called "an ambitious but real restructuring" and predicted the stock
could almost double in value to 2.50 ringgit in a year.
Politics has plagued Multi-Purpose since its inception in the late
1970s. Then it was the investment arm of the Malaysian Chinese
Association (MCA), the second-biggest component party of the ruling
National Front. The company got into trouble during the 1986 recession
and the MCA sold it to businessman Lim Thian Kiat, then hailed as a
"white knight" for Malaysia's ethnic Chinese.
The ascent of Anwar Ibrahim as finance minister in 1990 and deputy
prime minister in 1993 also witnessed a parallel resurgence for his
business allies. One of them was Lim Thian Kiat. Multi-Purpose
Holdings flourished both in share price and business contracts in the
mid-1990s. But Lim was ousted from Multi-Purpose in June, 1999--eight
months after Anwar was sacked from his government and party posts by
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for alleged "moral misconduct."
Between June 1999 and July, 2000, it seemed that businessman Akhbar
Khan, an ally of then Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, was running the
Multi-Purpose show. After that, it was Quantum Aspects, a private
company controlled by businessman Lau Kim Khoon, that seemed to be in
charge. It wasn't clear who really controlled Multi-Purpose until late
last year when Lau emerged as the company's undisputed authority.
Since then he has appointed new directors to the board and begun the
restructuring. Analysts say that was the turning point. "The company
has assets and can be restructured," says a banker in Kuala Lumpur.
"But no one seemed to be in charge so I suppose investors gave the
company a miss."
Now restructuring seems finally to be under way. But there is another
problem. Multi-Purpose is an indebted, and loss-making, investment
holding company with slightly over 2 billion ringgit in debt at the
end of 2001 and poor cash flows. The profitable assets it has are from
associate companies which, sans dividends, do little to help cash flow
at the top.
The new plan envisages selling everything--from property and the bank
to power and shipping. That would place it with net cash of over 600
million ringgit, which would leave it free to concentrate on its core
businesses. Right now, it has three core businesses--stockbroking and
insurance, both of which are subsidiaries, and its 30% stake in Magnum
Corporation, one of Malaysia's licensed lottery operators.
Credit Suisse says that Multi-Purpose could focus on its existing
insurance and stockbroking operations. Or it could focus on Magnum and
buy it out completely. Given the cash-cow position of gaming
companies, keeping Magnum and selling everything else is a likely
prospect. Whatever it decides, the restructuring route is far better
than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades. It's also the only reason why
its share price improved to begin with.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 6 June 2002
U.S. Pragmatic Toward Malaysia
Washington has adopted a less confrontational approach toward Malaysia
over human-rights concerns and imprisoned former Deputy Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim. "The concern about Anwar remains, but there's probably
a different appreciation about how that problem can be solved," says a
senior United States administration official following the May 13-15
visit to Washington by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
"It's best that this problem be resolved out of the limelight." The
official says Washington believes Mahathir has not used the Internal
Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention of up to two years
without trial, to muzzle his political opponents since the September
11 terrorist attacks. Those detained since then appear to have posed
genuine terrorist threats, the official says. "That does have an
impact on our thinking" about the ISA, he adds. A total of 62 people,
including eight members of the main opposition Islamic Party, or Pas,
have been detained in Malaysia under the act since September 11. Some
allies of Anwar were arrested under the ISA prior to the terror
attacks in the U.S. Mahathir's former heir apparent is serving a total
of 15 years imprisonment on corruption and sexual misconduct
convictions.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 6 June 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
A FAIR COP: A young Thai woman named Dutdaen Leevijit, 26, was stopped
and searched by a gang who claimed to be police officers and produced
methamphetamine pills they said they had found in her bag. The gang
leader told her she would be locked up unless she paid 50,000 baht
($1,163) in cash.
"Ms. Dutdaen said she called her boyfriend to ask for help, but he
told her he didn't have that kind of money," The Pattaya Mail
reported. She bargained hard and managed to knock 90% off the bribe
price, leaving it at just 5,000 baht. "She called her boyfriend back,
but he again said he didn't have enough," the newspaper reported.
The boyfriend may sound pretty useless, but he did do his bit. He
phoned the Pattaya police, who descended on the scene and arrested the
villains. Now this is the weird bit. It turned out that the
extortioners moonlighting as cops were actually cops moonlighting as
extortioners, the press reported. As one bunch of law enforcers led
the other bunch of law enforcers away, relations between neighbouring
police divisions were expected to nosedive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAVE CRIMES: Two cannibals were freed by a Cambodian court because
lawyers couldn't find a law against eating people. The men, who worked
at a crematorium in Banteay Meanchey province northwest of Phnom Penh,
would wait until grieving relatives had left, and then snack on corpse
meat, washing down their meal with wine. "I ordered the military
police to release them late Friday because there is no law to charge
them with," Nhou Thol, a public prosecutor, told Reuters. Local
residents are furious about the situation. If they decide to take
vigilante action, these guys are dead meat, if you'll pardon the
phrase.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FARMERS NOT COWED: Cowboys are fighting battles against rustlers. But
this isn't the Wild West--it's Pakistan. A rash of cow-thefts has been
taking place in the Faisalabad area, where the crime is known as
"cattle-lifting." In one incident, a group of daylight cattle-lifters
stole four buffaloes. The police didn't seem very keen on the case, so
villagers did their own detective work. "They traced the buffaloes at
the outhouse of Asadullah at Jahangir village, but the outlaws killed
them to avoid their arrests," the Dawn newspaper reported. (If a
buffalo is killed, it is classified as meat and laws against
cattle-lifting no longer apply.) The infuriated victims organized a
protest against the indifference of the police, and dumped the four
buffalo carcasses at the police station to provide officers with an
aide-memoire.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Deep-fried Prawns with Sliced Albinos)
FAIR FARE: Here's another example of a sign which is rather more
dramatic in English than in Chinese. The menu at the Hua Ting Hotel
and Towers in Shanghai refers, in Chinese, to plain old seafood.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RETURN JOURNEY: A well-bred car thief in Thailand returned a vehicle
undamaged to its owner. Arunee Leksakorn was terrified when a man with
a gun jumped into her BMW at a car park in Bangkok. But she noticed
that the robber, rather than being violent, appeared rather nervous.
He drove off in her car, but a few days later sent her a parcel
containing her mobile phone, driving licence and cash. After four
weeks, he telephoned to inform her that he was returning her car as
well, The Nation reported. He told her that she could pick it up at a
Bangkok market. Arunee told police that she thought the villain was
rather polite.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOT MONEY: A gang of thieves in Australia stole a cash machine--but
accidentally set it on fire. The villains used a truck to drag the
automatic teller machine out of a wall in Penrith. But as the steel
casing bumped along the road, sparks flew and the machine burst into
flames. The thieves watched aghast as their takings became a bonfire.
Then they ran for it. Police managed to get to the scene of the fire
easily. The crooks had left deep gouge marks in the road all the way
from the bank to the spot where they abandoned the truck and their
loot. "The joke is on the offenders, because the cash all went up in
flames," Inspector Bruce Ritchie told the Daily Telegraph.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(sign reading Choo Choo Tickets Reserve)
NOT CHATTANOOGA: Readers who can decipher Chinese characters know that
this sign, seen in a hotel business centre in a place called Zhengzhou
in China, refers to a train--but one cannot help but wonder whether
whoever provided the English translation had his tongue in his cheek.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 6 June 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news
"God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."
George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, defends the Australian Catholic
Church's stance in refusing Holy Communion to gay men and women.
"If I were Hun Sen I would keep playing golf."
Funcinpec party chief Prince Norodom Ranariddh suggests his political
opponent Prime Minister Hun Sen needn't worry about Cambodia's 2003
general elections. A party set up by Ranariddh's half-brother could
split the royalist vote.
"I have him in me now."
Singapore TV presenter Andrea De Cruz, after her boyfriend, the actor
Pierre Png, donated part of his liver to save her life.
"Whaling is a political cash cow that can be milked by pandering to
constituencies . . . which can use the issue to fill their own piggy
banks."
An editorial in English-language daily The Japan Times discusses the
nuances of animal rights.
"The only thing to be surprised about is that we're surprised when
we're surprised."
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responds to senators'
questions about warnings by top administration officials that another
major terrorist attack is almost certain.
"I'm not taking amphetamines."
Buddhist monk Pramaha Sayanjerasutho defends his motives after
storming the Thai parliament with an AK-47 assault rifle and taking 20
hostages.
"There were so many they looked like pineapples for sale on the side
of our national highways."
Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara describes his shock at the number of
prostitutes he saw while on an undercover investigation of the city's
red-light districts.
"I insist that shortening classes to allow students to watch the
atches is worthwhile."
Thai Education Minister Suvit Khunkitti proposes that schools finish
30 minutes early so students can watch live TV broadcasts of World Cup
soccer matches. He later clarified his position, saying classes
shouldn't be postponed.
"Our leader told us that a country with dirty toilets has no future."
Lim Swee Say, Singapore's environment minister, quotes the inspiring
words of a Beijing taxi driver as he announces a S$4 million ($2.2
million) clean-up campaign for washrooms in the city-state's numerous
coffee shops.
Yap Yok Foo
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news
"The ball is like the world: people kick it."
Nabin, a Buddhist preacher from Kathmandu, takes a philosophical view
of soccer while watching the broadcast of a friendly international
match between South Korea and England.
"Many surfers would say they believe in a creator. Some would call him
Huey."
From the Surfers Bible, published by the Bible Society in Australia to
make Christian scripture more "surfer-friendly." Surfers seek help
from the god of surf, called Huey, to find the perfect wave.
"There was no goodbye or thank you at the end of the journey, he just
rolled off in his wheelchair."
Cabbie Ken Marshall, after driving quadriplegic Joe Archer 2,000
kilometres home to Adelaide from Brisbane. Marshall landed the $3,000
fare after airline officials refused Archer a seat on a flight.
"It was easier when I was getting shot at."
Ed Gargan of New York's Newsday newspaper expresses his frustration on
returning to his base in China after a tour of duty in Afghanistan and
the Middle East. He was arrested twice in the same week in separate
Chinese provinces.
"My feelings towards the wealthy are deeply ambivalent . . . I'm not a
crass materialist."
Singer Madonna's first words in Australian playwright David
Williamson's play, Up For Grabs--in stark contrast to her famed
exclamation in one of her hit songs, ". . . I am a material girl."
"If they want to safeguard their country, the Japanese would not have
allowed any of the United States players in."
Former Argentine soccer superstar Maradona attacks Japanese
authorities for refusing him a visa to watch his country play in the
World Cup finals due to his history of drug abuse.
"We eat snails. The customs of all foreign countries are sometimes
strange."
Spain's national soccer team coach Jose Antonio Camacho is diplomatic
when asked about the Korean custom of eating dogs when they are five
months old. His team had just adopted a puppy saved from the cooking
pot as their mascot.
"We're making it very clear to both sides that there is no benefit in
war . . . We are deeply concerned about the rhetoric."
U.S. President George W. Bush, 10 months into his war against
terrorism, underlines the dangers facing India and Pakistan--both
nuclear powers--as they edge toward war.
"There is no conception among ordinary people about what a nuclear
bomb would do. They just think it will make a louder bang."
Prize-winning Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy fears the
public is ignorant of the horror that a nuclear war would unleash.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 13 June 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
THICK TRICKS: Wanna make your savings grow? Forget the stockmarket. A
swami in India announced he uses divine power to magically change the
thickness of a wad of banknotes in less than a week. And he did just
that.
Guru Muthumani of Tamil Nadu helped people put 100,000 rupees ($2,042)
into a water pot and told them to leave it alone for a few days. When
they retrieved the money, he explained, they would discover it had
grown to 200,000 rupees. If their faith was very great, the money
might even expand into 500,000 or a million rupees. "Many flocked to
him with dreams of getting rich overnight," The Times of India
reported.
Sadly, the clients all came back with the same story. Instead of
growing bigger, the wads of money had shrunk to one-quarter of their
original thickness. Muthumani was not apologetic, but quite the
opposite. "This shows what little faith you have," he scolded.
He told them the logical thing to do was to get another wad of money
and repeat the process. This made perfect sense to his customers, who
had another go with the rest of their savings, and saw them shrink
too.
After a five-year career of trickery, the swami was reported to police
after one of his clients became suspicious about his spectacular lack
of success.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part of menu reading
SOUP Seafood (calamary, shrimps, crap fish)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Our list of memorable menu items from around the
world continues to grow. Reader Tristan Peniston-Bird found this
seafood special at the Peace Abou Zeid Restaurant in Cairo, Egypt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NO FREEBIES PLEASE: The chief of the anti-corruption agency in the
Philippines can't afford a mobile phone. Dario Rama, chairman of the
Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer
he had no cellphone as his office had only a only "a small budget." He
also lacked a car. I thought under-financing of officials was one of
the root causes of corruption, but I may be wrong.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIM PICKINGS: An armed robber turned up his nose at the money he was
trying to steal, because there was so little of it. The man, his face
covered with a knitted ski mask, stormed into the Tokoroa Cosmopolitan
Club in Balmoral, New Zealand, with a loaded shotgun. He told staff to
open the till. But when he saw the small pile of notes inside, he
asked: "Is that it?" Staff showed him another till, but that contained
a similarly tiny sum. The outraged thief left the club in a huff
without taking anything, The Waikato Times reported. In these
recessionary times, everyone suffers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POSSESSIVE: Reader Jeff Heselwood writes that there is a waitress at
the Prince's Bar and Restaurant in Makati, Manila, with a name tag
which reads "Nick's." He said: "Obviously Nick, whoever he is, does
not want amorous other guys chatting her up."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAMILY TIES: Cloned people walked the streets of India thousands of
years ago, a doctor in New Delhi suggested. Surgeon B. G. Matapurkar
pointed out that the Mahabharata, a book of Hindu scriptures dealing
largely with events in 5000 B.C., records the tale of a group of 100
brothers called the Kaurvas. Clearly they were clones, he told The
Times of India. But scientist Lalaji Singh of Hyderabad pooh-poohed
the theory. "Even in the televised serial they had different actors
playing the brothers," he said, neatly clinching the argument.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN A LATHER: Japanese crows love soap--as a snack. The discovery was
made when it was noticed that bars of soap were continually stolen
from an outdoor wash basin at a nursery in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture.
In most places, staff would simply have moved the stuff indoors. But
this being Japan, hidden cameras were focused on the playground, and
scientists placed tiny but powerful transmitters inside the soap. They
discovered that crows were collecting the bars to store for later
snack-attacks, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Given Japan's human
population's obsession with cleanliness, this doesn't surprise me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sign reading
SLOW
BUMP
A
HEAD
HEAD CASE: Reader Don English took this photograph of a street sign in
Aden, North Carolina. "Whose head should I bump?" he asked.
(Obviously this should have read "slow, bump ahead"
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 13 June 2002
A Steel of a Deal
It helped build Singapore. Now a management buyout offer for
government-linked NatSteel is in the works--and this may be good news
for shareholders
By Trish Saywell
In the 1960s, Singapore set up National Iron and Steel Mills to roll
out the steel bars needed to build a new nation. The steel miller, now
known as NatSteel, still operates a plant in Singapore and has since
built a network of steel mills in China, Malaysia, the Philippines and
Vietnam.
While NatSteel has played a role in Singapore's industrialization
since independence in 1965, the company may have outlived its
usefulness. It lost S$129.6 million ($72.6 million) in 2001, after
earning a net profit of S$914.3 million a year earlier.
Over the past year, NatSteel has reduced steel output in Singapore by
about 30%, laid off workers and moved some assets from Singapore to
lower-cost mills that it owns in the region. "It's difficult to make a
commodity in Singapore and expect it to be priced competitively," says
Sebastian Heng, an analyst at BNP Paribas Peregrine.
But the company still has a few cards up its sleeve. In what is
believed to be one of the first management buyouts of a
government-linked company (GLC) in Singapore's history, NatSteel
president Ang Kong Hua and several of his senior management team have
proposed to buy the conglomerate's assets and businesses for S$294
million. Their offer follows a report by the Economic Review Committee
last week recommending that GLCs in nationally nonstrategic business
areas should be divested, through management buyouts or other means.
In announcing the buyout, management cited uncertain prospects
following NatSteel's recent sale of several noncore but profitable
assets, as well as the desire of major shareholders such as Temasek
Holdings and DBS Group Holdings to divest their stakes in noncore
investments. Temasek, the government's investment-holding company,
owns 20.9% of NatSteel.
Senior management said in a statement that the buyout would convert
the company's remaining assets into cash and return capital to
shareholders. Analysts expect NatSteel, with about S$669 million in
cash, or S$1.84 a share, to be de-listed and to return cash to
shareholders. At S$1.84 per share, that's a 13.6% premium over the
last traded price of S$1.62 before trading was suspended on June 3.
"It is good value for shareholders," notes Albert Goh, an analyst at
Kim Eng Ong Asia Securities in Singapore. "It's more than they would
otherwise get in the market. The steel businesses aren't making any
money," he says.
Shareholders may have heard big changes were in the air last month
when the group agreed to sell one of the crown jewels in its
electronics division. On May 21, NatSteel announced it would sell its
51.6% stake in contract manufacturer NatSteel Broadway to United
States giant Flextronics International for $364 million. It was the
second major divestment of a noncore asset in two years--NatSteel sold
NatSteel Electronics to Solectron Corp. in 2000. It has also said it
is trying to dispose of other noncore assets like its stake in
engineering service company Intraco. Last year it sold its stake in
the Laguna National Golf and Country club and terminated an
unprofitable bricks business.
Heng of BNP Paribas Peregrine believes NatSteel has been unlocking
substantial shareholder value. NatSteel enjoys a debt-free balance
sheet, is undervalued and is cash-rich, he says. In March, NatSteel
announced it would sell its stake in Brazilian Acominas Gerais at a
39% premium above its book value for a profit of around S$73.3
million. It has also sold NatSteel Electronics and Natsteel Broadway
at 553% and 267% above their investment costs. In the case of NatSteel
Electronics, they returned half the proceeds to shareholders. "They've
all gone off the blocks at premiums relative to their costs," says
Heng. The buyout offer excludes NatSteel Broadway and NatSteel Brasil.
WHAT THE MARKET THINKS
While Heng admits that the offer price is "undemanding for the
buyers," he also notes that "the market has demonstrated its disdain
for steel and building-material assets." When the stock resumes
trading, Heng anticipates it to move up to a price of S$1.84. "As the
offer price is slightly below our 12-month target price on the stock,"
he notes, "we think investors should give the offer serious
consideration."
As for what Ang has in store for NatSteel's remaining businesses, it's
anyone's guess. "There is a case that not all steel assets should be
trading at a discount to book," Heng says. "Perhaps the management
sees more value in the operations than what the market is willing to
pay."
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 13 June 2002
No Stake in Bakun Dam for Tenaga
Fund managers will be breathing a sigh of relief after news that the
state-owned power utility, Tenaga Nasional, will hold no stake in
Malaysia's controversial Bakun Dam project. Analysts say the fund
managers feared that Tenaga's value on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange
would be adversely affected if it held capital in the ambitious
hydroelectric power project because its massive cost makes any kind of
viable return to its shareholders unlikely. Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad said last year that Tenaga might become a part owner of the
$2.5 billion dam in eastern Malaysia's Sarawak state. But Tenaga chief
executive Pian Sukro tells the Review that his company, which manages
hydroelectric power plants in peninsular Malaysia, would be willing
"to lend its technical expertise and project-management services" to
the project. Malaysia's cabinet in late February gave the go-ahead for
the resurrection of a scaled-down version of the Bakun Dam project,
which was shelved after the Asian financial crisis. The dam, which
will likely supply 2,500 megawatts of electricity to users on Borneo
island, is opposed by environmentalists. Construction work is expected
to resume in earnest later this year.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 13 June 2002
Enough for Everyone
China hopes that its emergence as a major market for the region will
be enhanced by a raft of free-trade agreements. It's trying to
persuade neighbours that its growth is good for them, too.
By Susan V. Lawrence/BEIJING
CHINA'S SEEMINGLY relentless strides toward domination of global
markets are ringing alarm bells among neighbours in the region and
beyond. Acutely aware of the concern, Beijing is labouring to show
that its economic growth also has benefits for the rest of the region.
Impressive April trade statistics from South Korea, Singapore and
Taiwan helped fast-developing China make that point. They showed
exports to China contributing to a long-awaited rebound in each
economy's exports, highlighting China's growing role as a buyer as
well as a seller.
Picking up where those statistics leave off, an influential Chinese
economist is arguing that they are part of a bigger trend of China's
emergence as a significant market for the region. He and many Chinese
officials predict, moreover, that the trend will only become more
pronounced as China and its neighbours move forward with a raft of
free-trade arrangements, the most high-profile being that liberalizing
trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
China's pitch to Asean, in particular, has a lot to do with politics.
Given their history of territorial disputes, moves toward a free-trade
area, or FTA, are a form of "political confidence-building" for both,
says the economist, Zhang Yunling, who heads the Institute for
Asia-Pacific Studies at China's largest think-tank, the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences. It is also a way for China to respond to
"unilateral United States policy" and "find its own area for
counterbalance," Zhang suggests. And, he says, it offers a way for
China to begin to challenge Japan's role as the dominant economic
power in the region.
With the free-trade area initiative, senior Chinese trade official
Long Yongtu tells the Review in an interview, "we are trying to take
some special, concrete action to prove that China's economic growth
and China's opening to the outside will not only benefit developed
countries, like the United States and the European Union, but will
also be beneficial to our neighbouring developing countries." China
recognizes, he says, "that we have to strengthen our ties with our
neighbours, especially in Southeast Asia."
A senior Asean official sums up the situation as: "China wants to lock
in Southeast Asia and exclude Japan."
That doesn't sit well with many Asean elites. "The bilateral
relationship between the U.S. and Japan is of crucial importance, not
just for the U.S. but for us in Southeast Asia because if we want to
live peacefully there must be a balance," Singapore Senior Minister
Lee Kuan Yew said recently in Tokyo. "China by itself cannot be
balanced by the rest of Southeast Asia."
Both the U.S. and Japan are, in fact, seeking pacts with countries in
the region to counter China's overtures toward Southeast Asia, where
Washington's image as a champion of free trade has been hurt (see
stories on pages 16 and 19). Long-time rival New Delhi is also taking
steps to answer Beijing's growing influence in Southeast Asia, with an
annual India-Asean summit due to start in Cambodia in November.
The concern among its neighbours, to which China is responding with
the lure of an open market, is that with China's entry into the World
Trade Organization last December, Asia's products will face increased
competition from Chinese manufactured exports in world markets. The
United Nations' recently released annual Trade and Development Report
supports those concerns. "In labour-intensive manufacturing, including
assembly operations in electronics, it is middle-income producers,
such as the members of Asean and Mexico, that face the greatest
exposure" to competition from China, the report concluded.
Those reaching out to Southeast Asia, like Zhang, know China's exports
will put pressure on neighbouring economies' share of global markets.
"China's emergence is a fact. You can't reject it," Zhang says. But he
suggests that "for Asean, there is only one thing left: Figure out how
to use this opportunity."
The proposed China-Asean Free-Trade Area, a Chinese initiative
endorsed by both sides last November, is set to take shape within a
decade. From China's perspective, the idea is to give China's
Southeast Asian neighbours a leg up in exporting into the Chinese
market, by offering them even greater trade liberalization than China
agreed to as part of its WTO accession agreement.
Zhang, who heads a team working on details of the China-Asean
free-trade area, predicts "a long list of quick liberalizations,"
involving "much lower tariff rates than the general commitment to the
WTO, much quicker." He says China and Asean will be able to go further
than the WTO in liberalizing agricultural trade, for example, because
largely temperate China and tropical Asean see themselves as having
complementary agricultural sectors. Liberalization will extend to
services, too.
"We should do it phase by phase, stage by stage, step by step," says
Long, the senior Chinese trade official who led the negotiating for
China's WTO accession. "People cannot wait 10 years to really enjoy
some benefits from this negotiation of the free-trade area."
Among those set to benefit the most are the least-developed members of
Asean such as Burma, Cambodia, Laos and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam,
says Zhang, adding that China has promised to extend to them the same
most-favoured-nation trading status that it grants to WTO members.
For Long, the FTA serves other agendas, too. Long confesses that his
quest to bring China into the global trade regime left him with "mixed
feelings" about regional economic arrangements. He came around to the
FTA idea, he says, in part because he now sees that "regional
arrangements, if properly done, could accelerate global trade
negotiations."
Even before free-trade arrangements kick in, however, Zhang says his
research shows that China is already becoming an increasingly
significant market for Asia's exports, while Japan is becoming a less
important market. From 1990 to 2000, the share of East Asia's exports
going to China almost doubled, from 5.2% to 10.2%, he says, while the
share of East Asia's exports going to Japan fell from 14.5% to 12%.
For Taiwan, South Korea and Mongolia, China was a bigger export market
in 2000 than Japan, Zhang shows, using International Monetary Fund
statistics.
For Southeast Asian nations, Japan as an export market still dwarfed
China. But for the four largest Southeast Asian economies, Zhang says,
the share of their exports going to Japan plunged from 31.1% in 1985
to 15.8% by 2000, suggesting a powerful need for those economies to
increase their exports elsewhere.
Increasing exports to China to offset declining market share elsewhere
is all very well, but some in Asean worry about the composition of
their exports to China. The fear is that Asean countries will become
mainly low-end suppliers to China's market, providing agricultural
products and natural resources such as oil, minerals and timber.
Zhang doesn't deny China's appetite for those kinds of products. He
argues that many members of Asean are happy for agricultural products
to make up a large portion of their exports. But he also points to one
statistic that offers hope for Asean manufactured exports to China:
Exports of electronic goods to China, he says, leapt 30% in the past
three years.
The UN's Trade and Development Report 2002 suggests this is because
China is getting more involved in so-called "production
sharing"--importing parts for computers and office machines, then
exporting onward. The report says that "an expansion of China's
exports in this sector can be expected to result in a concomitant
increase in imports of their parts and components until China fully
exploits its own potential to produce them domestically."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
READY TO JOIN THE BANDWAGON, SORT OF
THE THOUGHT OF A CHINA-ASEAN FREE-TRADE AREA GALVANIZES JAPAN
By David Kruger
Evidence of China's economic rise permeates Japan. Consumers are
buying imported Chinese products; Japanese companies are investing
heavily in the mainland to take advantage of the plentiful and cheap
supply of labour; executives and commentators are debating whether
China is an economic partner or an economic threat.
Japan's China obsession is so acute that it is even putting a bit of
zip in the nation's traditionally torpid trade policy. Government
officials say Japan has been interested in discussing bilateral trade
agreements since the late 1990s when the government realized its
long-held preference for multilateral agreements was out of step with
the rest of the world and that it could eventually suffer if it failed
to join the bandwagon.
But it was a decision last November between China and the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations to study the idea of creating a China-Asean
free-trade area that brought the policy shift to life. China was
Japan's second-largest trading partner in the year to March 31, 2002,
with exports to the mainland rising 10.8% to ¥3.88 trillion ($31
billion) and imports from China up 13.8% to ¥7.15 trillion.
As an export market China is a distant second behind the United
States, where Japan sent ¥14.58 trillion-worth of goods. But as a
source of imports China was less than ¥300 billion behind the U.S.
Fiscal 2001 also saw imports from China top those from Asean for the
first time.
Some observers say the best deal Japan could make would be to sign a
free-trade agreement (FTA) with China. Joining Japan's hi-tech prowess
with China's massive and cheap workforce would be an economic union
made in heaven, they add.
But everyone agrees that for historical, political and economic
reasons, such a deal is a long way off. For now, Japan is content with
less controversial pacts. In January, it signed an Economic Agreement
for a New-Age Partnership with Singapore. Shortly after signing, Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he hoped the pact, which goes beyond
trade to include cooperation in science and technology,
human-resources development and other areas, would serve as a model
for similar future deals.
"I would like to propose an Initiative for Japan-Asean Comprehensive
Economic Partnership," Koizumi also said in Singapore in January. "We
must strengthen broad-ranged economic partnership by stretching
further than trade and investment."
Koizumi's vision of a vast trading band encompassing Japan, the 10
Asean members, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand has since
featured prominently in discussions with counterparts around the
region. The importance the administration places on the policy was
highlighted on May 13 when Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade
and industry, included the establishment of an "East Asia
free-business zone" in a list of six strategies his ministry will
pursue to help boost the flagging economy.
But as Hiranuma's choice of the word "business" suggests, Tokyo's
free-trade agenda has a twist--it has no intention of including the
protected and highly sensitive agriculture industry. Farmers are a
traditional support base for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a
powerful lobby group. They showed their strength last year when they
pushed Tokyo to impose temporary tariffs on leeks, shiitake mushrooms
and tatami straw, which were flooding into the country from China. The
tariffs were later removed but only after prompting costly retaliatory
action from China against Japanese vehicles, mobile phones and
air-conditioners.
Some nations see the issue as a fatal flaw in Koizumi's trade
initiative. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark told Koizumi in
early May that while her country wants a free-trade agreement with
Japan it cannot tolerate exceptions for agriculture. "Right now Japan
is not ready to discuss a free-trade agreement, which would have to
include agriculture because that's the bottom line we've applied," she
said after meeting Koizumi in Wellington.
Others are more flexible. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
told reporters in Tokyo in late May that each trade agreement can be
different, and since the Philippines does not export rice and already
dominates the Japanese banana market, it is flexible on agricultural
issues. Manila is interested in open trade as well as cooperation in
education, human-resources development and information technology, she
said.
Noboru Hatakeyama, chairman of the Japan External Trade Organization,
a government-affiliated body to promote international trade, says
Japan is interested in free-trade agreements and agricultural issues
will be on the table in all negotiations. He admits, though, that how
quickly and how far those negotiations go will depend on the strength
of a country's farms. Deals with strong farming nations like the
United States, China, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are unlikely
any time soon.
Where farming is not an issue, as in the case of Singapore, Japan is
more interested. But even there, Hatakeyama draws a line between
interest and initiative. "It would be fair at this stage to say that
we are ready to accept the initiative for FTA with other countries,
coming from the other countries," he says. "But we may not be too
enthusiastic to take the initiative for FTA."
Yap Yok Foo
7 June 2002
US visitors to be fingerprinted
By Roy Eccleston, Washington correspondent
AUSTRALIANS visiting the US to work, study or holiday might be
fingerprinted and photographed on arrival as part of a massive new
national security system aimed at blocking terrorists and allowing
authorities to track suspects.
The latest anti-terror move by the Bush administration has angered
civil libertarians and Arab and Islamic communities, who claim it will
be mainly aimed at Middle Eastern and Asian Muslims – the main
constituency of the al-Qa'ida terrorist network.
However, Attorney-General John Ashcroft said anyone from any country
would be subject to the new national security registration system, if
they were of concern to the US.
Given Australia's immigrant population, and that it produced at least
one al-Qa'ida suspect – David Hicks, now being held at Guantanamo Bay
in Cuba – it is likely some Australian visitors will trigger the "risk
profile" the US sets for potential terrorists.
"We will evaluate visitors for the risk of involvement in terrorist
activity and impose these requirements on visitors who fall into the
category of elevated national security concern," Mr Ashcroft said.
The immigration service and US diplomats would identify suspects, and
the criteria would be "continually upgraded to reflect our evolving
intelligence".
A trial run nabbed an average of 67 "hits" a week – wanted criminals
whose fingerprints matched the database. About 100,000 visitors each
year are expected to be tracked in the first year out of a total of 35
million visitors.
Some people will be required to register after 30 days with the
Government, and renew that registration annually or face deportation
or charges.
The move follows last week's controversial expansion of the FBI's
domestic spying powers, and ethnic communities are already claiming
the Government will target young men from Arab nations or other Muslim
countries.
Mr Ashcroft declined to say which countries were on the target list,
beyond those nations deemed by the US to sponsor terrorism – such as
Iraq, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, Syria and North Korea.
Outside those countries, there was no nation where every person would
be targeted, he said. Nor was there any country whose nationals were
immune from the new tracking system.
The 19 hijackers responsible for the September 11 attacks all entered
on valid visas. Several were known to be terrorists before they
arrived.
Mr Ashcroft likened the registration requirements to many European
countries and defended the fingerprinting as a vital line of defence
against "our enemies' platoons".
"The Bush administration is step by step isolating Muslim and Arab
communities both in the eyes of the Government and the American
public," the American Civil Liberties Union said.
The ACLU claimed the new measures would not work, because terrorists
would enter from countries not likely to trigger concern
Yap Yok Foo
June 17 issue
An Empty Feeling
Korea and Japan are fuming over the vacant seats at the World Cup. Are
European agents to blame? Acrimony in the shadows of Asia’s spectacle
By Brook Larmer
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
— It was a banner day for Asian football. Only hours after China’s
World Cup debut, Japan scored its first World Cup point ever by
battling Belgium to a 2-2 draw. Then South Korea, a team that had not
won a single Cup game in 48 years, capped the day with a stunning 2-0
upset over Poland. But even as the celebrations began, red cards were
flying—off the field. If the games were officially sold out, angry
fans wanted to know, why did the television cameras show large banks
of empty seats in the stadiums? In the Cup’s first week, more than
100,000 seats went vacant, and the embarrassed hosts quickly blamed
the Cup’s official ticketing agency. Even before Japan’s opening game,
fans lined up outside Saitama Stadium hoping to get in, fuming at the
knowledge that there were unsold tickets for empty seats inside. At
halftime, a huge blue banner was unfurled in front of the empty seats,
asking plaintively: where are the tickets?
BRINGING THE WORLD CUP to Asia was supposed to expand the reach
of the global game in a happy confluence of good will and good
business. The action on the pitch has certainly been dramatic, and
most fans are thrilled. But less than halfway through the month-long
tournament, the good will is already wearing thin—and business seems
relatively slow, with fewer visitors and Cup-related sales than
expected. Deeply embarrassed by the image of part-empty stadiums
besieged by angry ticket hunters, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi ordered an official investigation into the ticket fiasco.
Claiming losses of more than $800,000 per game, Korea’s soccer
federation even threatened to sue Byrom, the official ticket agency,
for failing to print and deliver tickets on time. The message: the
European powers who rule global soccer had shamed Asia at its
coming-out party, and they would be made to pay. “We’re categorically
saying it’s not our fault,” says Byrom’s marketing director, Gerard
Holmes, suggesting that his firm is the victim of local organizers
looking for a scapegoat. “These things would have been better
discussed in private—not rattled off in front of the press.”
Japan and Korea both hoped to score big points—at home and
abroad—with the World Cup. Perhaps it was the memories of the 1964
Tokyo Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, which were considered
turning points in their nations’ development. Mired in a decade-long
slump, Japan longs for anything that might shock its economy back to
life. Korea, meanwhile, hopes the Cup will steady its halting recovery
from the 1997 Asian financial crisis—and help brand it as Asia’s most
wired nation. Their plan: inject billions of dollars into new
facilities, welcome throngs of tourists and for one glorious month
showcase their countries to the biggest television audience in world
history.
Eager to dazzle the world, Japan and Korea spent furiously in
the run-up to the World Cup, pumping more than $8 billion into, among
other things, 16 new state-of-the-art stadiums. The top Korean and
Japanese companies trotted out their latest technology, including, in
Korea, mobile phones that access ATMs, operate vending machines and
offer World Cup updates. Worried that games might lack atmosphere,
Korea even spent $800,000 recruiting huge cheering brigades to root
for the 15 visiting teams. Critics of such extravagance were drowned
out by rosy predictions. The Dentsu Institute for Human Studies said
Japan would reap a $25 billion windfall. The Korean Development
Institute predicted the Cup would pump $4.7 billion into the local
economy (about 1 percent of GDP) and create 350,000 new jobs.
The first bad omen came on opening night in Seoul’s massive
new stadium. This was the moment Korea had been waiting for, rich in
symbolism, with a heartwarming handshake between old rivals
(personified by Koizumi and Korean President Kim Dae Jung) and an
African upset of the defending champ in Senegal’s dramatic 1-0 victory
over France. Just one sour image: thousands of empty seats in the
global TV backdrop. “We thought the game was sold out,” says Lin Byung
Taik, spokesman for the Korean Organizing Committee for the 2002 FIFA
World Cup (KOWOC). “I was shocked to see the empty seats.”
The real issue for Cup organizers may come down to pride and
politics. For Korean and Japanese leaders, half-empty stadiums are a
loss of face that gives fodder to those European critics who doubted
Japan and Korea had the commitment and fan support to pull off a World
Cup. Why else would Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, gather his
cabinet to order a formal inquiry into soccer tickets? Koizumi is not
the only one with a political future to protect. The head of Korea’s
World Cup committee, Hyundai scion and national lawmaker Chung Mong
Jun, is often touted as a presidential candidate. With so much riding
on the Cup, the political elite couldn’t bear the sight of empty
seats.
But the problems persisted. In early games even soccer powers
like England and Brazil couldn’t fill the stadiums. Korean and
Japanese officials blamed Byrom, saying the agency sent them nearly
300,000 unsold tickets only days before the Cup began. Those tickets
were only gradually made available to Asian fans, organizers say, and
neither FIFA nor its agent told them many more unsold tickets still
existed. Though tickets should have been available to anyone on
Byrom’s Web site, its servers were too weak to handle the crush of
buyers. The result, the host nations complain, was the spectacle of
desperate ticket-hunters getting turned away from partly filled
stadiums on match days. “This is ridiculous,” said Choi Joon Young,
23, who stood in line with more than 10,000 fans to buy tickets for
the Korea-Poland game. “We prepared six years to make the World Cup a
success, but Byrom and FIFA ruined everything.”
A tempest over tickets, of course, is not the worst thing that
could happen at the World Cup. Officials at FIFA, the Zurich-based
governing body of world soccer, were more worried about hooligan
violence and terrorist attacks. “Crisis? What crisis?” asked FIFA
spokesman Kenneth Cooper. “Nobody’s gotten hurt.” Still, local
organizers held emergency sessions with FIFA and Byrom last week to
ease the bottleneck. Byrom agreed to release all leftover tickets at
least two days before matches, creating a booming Asian market for
last-minute tickets. The two sides are discussing ways to avoid more
unrest (Korea sent riot police to control ticket-hunters in Pusan) in
the second round.
So was this a controversy born of European indifference to the
success of Asia’s first Cup? On average, the stadiums have been
emptier for the first-round games of World Cup 2002, so far, than for
Italy (1990), the United States (1994) or France (1998). But not by
all that much. Indeed, the “scandal” of empty seats has barely been
noticed outside Asia, suggesting that the shame of the Korean and
Japanese elites may be mostly in their own minds.
The irony here is that Byrom was brought in to correct the
ticketing snafus of the last Cup. In 1998, France had serious problems
with games that were overbooked because of black-market sales.
Afterward, FIFA decided to exert more control over ticket sales
through its favored travel agency, Byrom, reducing the role of local
organizers (which begins to explain the high dudgeon in Korea and
Japan). Founded 25 years ago by two Mexican brothers, Byrom had little
experience with ticket sales when it was assigned the task of creating
a global Internet system to move 1.5 million of the 3.2 million Cup
tickets. Not surprisingly, the system it came up with was glitchy and
ill-equipped to handle a massive return of unsold tickets.
As FIFA and Byrom see it, the problem is that World Cup 2002
has attracted many fewer visitors than anticipated. Japan and Korea
expected 800,000 tourists, but the final total now looks likely to
fall well short of that. Byrom officials cite the widespread fear of
travel since September 11, plus the time and expense of trips to Asia.
Some of Byrom’s tickets were reserved for national football
associations, many of which could not find takers: even football-mad
England could not sell out its small allotment of tickets. To Asian
ears, that sounds like more Western chauvinism, casting Japan and
Korea as remote Pacific backwaters, not worth the bother of travel.
Did anyone in the West say the same about the Sydney Olympics?
But the high prices deter Asian fans, too. Japan, despite its
decade-long recession, is one of the most expensive destinations in
the world. And unlike France, convenient from almost any place in
Europe, Japan and Korea are expensive treks for most Asians. Korea
expected 100,000 Chinese, and got a quarter of that number. Ticket
prices are double those in 1998. That’s a disadvantage for Koreans,
who have a per capita income of barely $10,000, or about one third
that of the Japanese. In a land where baseball is the most popular
sport, many Koreans may be unwilling to pay high prices to see
foreigners play soccer.
The World Cup, in fact, has left Korea with even fewer
tourists than normal this time of year. Japanese usually flock to
Korea for June vacations, but are staying home to watch the World Cup.
(Last June, Korea had 450,000 visitors; this year, it will have, if
lucky, perhaps 350,000.) The absence of high-spending Japanese is
hurting Korea everywhere from the duty-free shops (sales down 30
percent) to the sales of seaweed (down almost 40 percent). “Tourism is
much lower than we were led to believe,” says Park Won Chul, a
merchant who has stocked his store with traditional Korean dolls for
the foreign hordes. “Nobody is buying.”
Even the Buddhists were out of luck. The Chogye Order, the
largest denomination of Korean Buddhism, offered a one-night “temple
stay” during the Cup, including meals and meditation at a cost of $25
to $40 per head. More than 30 major temples spent $3 million to build
new bathrooms and other facilities for foreigners. But as of the first
week of the games, only 400 room nights were reserved, a mere 1
percent of capacity. “We are deeply disappointed,” says Hwang Chan Il,
a manager of the order. “We prepared really hard to show our cultural
heritage to foreigners.”
So what lasting impact will the Cup have on Japan and Korea?
The immediate payoffs look relatively small. Japan spent $4.6 billion
on its World Cup stadiums alone, but it expects to recoup only about
$450 million from ticket sales, TV rights and corporate sponsorships.
Korea spent $2.7 billion on its 10 new stadiums, far more than its
expected take of $300 million. Organizers now are banking heavily on
the hope that global exposure—and home-team victories—will create a
long-term ripple effect. Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister Jin Nyum
insists that the games are not so much about making money now, but
about “the brand-making of Korea.”
The mystical allure of the World Cup windfall is powerful. But
the only clear winners tend to be special interests: local soccer
associations win advertising money, the construction industry wins
contracts and politicians garner kudos—and, in some cases, kickbacks.
“As everyone in Japan knows, whenever a politician says something is
good for the economy it turns into a complete boondoggle,” says Jim
Allen, senior sportswriter at The Daily Yomiuri. “Venues have gone up
in the middle of nowhere. You have to ask: ‘Why are these stadiums
being built?’ It’s because everyone wants their share.”
Indeed, the most concrete legacy of the Cup may be the
stadiums left behind. They are elegant modern designs, each seating
more than 40,000 fans. Japan’s pro soccer league will be able to put
the stadiums to use. But what will Korea do? Seven of its 10 new
stadiums are soccer-only, and its fledgling pro league attracts about
3,000 fans a game. Most of the time, these stadiums will be empty
monuments to World Cup 2002. Korean organizers can only hope that the
Cup is successful enough—and the team goes far enough—to make the
country believe they were worth the cost.
The impact on the business of the “global game” is less clear.
But it’s hardly encouraging that the first Asian Cup is already
pitting Asia against Europe in commercial investigations and
threatened lawsuits. FIFA will earn a reported $1 billion from TV
revenue and will share $100 million each with Japan and Korea. That’s
where the big money is, and FIFA would be well advised to invest some
of it in a global ticketing system that works. It’s hardly sufficient
to brush off Asian complaints. No one should know better than FIFA
that Cup fans all over the world would die for a ticket—even in Asia.
To suggest otherwise can only be bad for business.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Hideko Takayama in Sapporo, B. J. Lee in Seoul, William Underhill
in London, and George Wehrfritz in Tokyo
Yap Yok Foo
Manulife Appeals To Singapore
After getting short shrift in the Indonesian legal system, Canadian
insurer Manulife has launched legal proceedings against its former
Indonesian business partner before the Singapore High Court--to
dramatic and far-reaching effect
By John McBeth/JAKARTA and Sara Webb/SINGAPORE
UNDER ASSAULT in Indonesia's corrupt legal system ever since the
company bought out its bankrupt partner's stake in a Jakarta-based
subsidiary, Canada's Manulife Financial insurance company has scored a
telling blow against its tormentors. In a decision that will send
jitters through some in the expatriate Indonesian business community,
the Singapore High Court has issued an injunction freezing some assets
of members of the once-powerful Gondokusumo family, owners of the
indebted Indonesian Dharmala group.
In a statement to the REVIEW, Manulife's chief legal counsel in Asia
Mitch New says the company started civil proceedings in Singapore on
May 17 by issuing a writ of summons in the Singapore High Court
against seven defendants. The next day, Manulife successfully obtained
two orders against some of the defendants.
Manulife applied for and was granted an injunction against senior
Dharmala executive Suyanto Gondokusumo, his wife and mother,
preventing them from disposing of any assets in Singapore, including
bank accounts and property, up to a maximum of $36 million. The three
also have to provide the court with a list of their assets in
Singapore. A separate court order requesting files and other
information was made against Portcullis, a corporate-services firm
which specializes in assisting Indonesian companies.
Manulife's counsel confirms the order against Portcullis has already
been executed, with the assistance of a court-appointed supervising
lawyer. People close to the Gondokusumo family claim the injunction
could not be personally served on the Gondokusumos at their
three-storey Singapore mansion. Other lawyers say Manulife's legal
team sought and were granted a substitute-service order which allowed
them to leave the writ on the family doorstep. Lawyers say they expect
the Gondokusumos to apply to have the injunction set aside.
Singaporean court officials won't make available the files at this
point because they say the case is "still open." That's in contrast to
other cases which have been brought against Indonesian-related
parties--such as Asia Pulp & Paper--in the Singapore courts. Manulife
has brought lawsuits in Indonesia and Hong Kong in relation to its
troublesome Indonesian operations. It's now taking legal action in
Singapore because that's where some of the defendants live and where
the transactions in question took place.
Some bankers warn that Indonesian money held in Singaporean bank
accounts might flee the city state if Singapore is seen as interfering
with their business practices. But Lloyd Ong, regional fixed-income
research analyst at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong says, as a general
observation, that freezing the assets of Indonesian businessmen or
companies would "send a very strong message that Singapore is not
going to harbour any criminals or people who use Singapore as a hiding
place." Singapore would not want its reputation as a leading financial
centre to be damaged.
Manulife counsel New says seven defendants, including Suyanto
Gondokusumo, 45, his mother Tinawati, his wife Jacqueline, his
sister-in-law Lanny Angkosubroto, British Virgin Islands-based Roman
Gold Assets and its director, Surabaya-businessman Haryono Winarta,
and Jakarta-based lawyer Lucas are being sued for damages for
conspiring to defraud Manulife.
According to insiders, the suit is based on "mountains of evidence"
accumulated by private investigators and forensic accountants in Hong
Kong, Western Samoa, Singapore and Indonesia, all looking into
determined efforts by the Indonesian owners of Dharmala Sakti
Sejahtera (DSS) to retain a 40% stake in Assuransi Jiwa Manulife
Indonesia. Manulife sought recourse in civil court after several
approaches to Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department, which
routinely refuses to discuss its investigations.
Manulife's suit is built largely around evidence stemming from
criminal proceedings last December in Hong Kong where Maggie Ho Yuk
Lin, director of another corporate-services company, pleaded guilty to
seven counts of using false instruments. She admitted fraudulently
backdating documents to show that the shares Manulife acquired at an
Indonesian government-run auction in October 2000 had in fact been
purchased two weeks before in Singapore by a little-known British
Virgin Islands-based company.
Ho, who is co-operating with Manulife to escape litigation, told the
court she was acting as an intermediary for Lucas, one of a battery of
Indonesian lawyers who have been representing Dharmala and related
complainants in a series of legal actions against the Canadian
insurer.
The Canadian government is known to have put considerable pressure
over the past 18 months on the Indonesian government in a case that
has done serious harm to the country's efforts to lure back foreign
investment. Ironically, Manulife is one of the few prominent foreign
companies to invest in Indonesia since the 1997 crash, while the
state-run Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or Ibra, is one of
Dharmala's largest single creditors.
Although the Indonesian attorney-general's office finally ordered
police to call off a prolonged fraud investigation into the company
earlier this year, the profitable Manulife is still fighting the last
of seven seemingly baseless bankruptcy suits brought against it and
nine other different legal actions. In one, Manulife, Prudential and
ING are accused by a hastily organized Indonesian consumer group of
illegally selling equity-based insurance policies, when they are, in
fact, legal under Indonesian law.
The long-running feud goes back to Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera's
bankruptcy in May 2000. Moving to safeguard its business, Manulife
successfully bid 170 billion rupiah (then $18 million) for DSS's stake
at a government auction in October. Within hours, however, the deal
was contested by Roman Gold Assets, which claimed to have bought the
shares for 354.4 billion rupiah in Singapore two weeks before from
Western Samoa-based Highmead, another obscure shell company.
Highmead, in turn, had reportedly acquired power of attorney over the
shares in March 1996 from Hong Kong's Harvest Hero International--an
assertion Manulife found difficult to swallow on three counts. First,
the original joint-venture agreement precluded any transfer of shares
without the prior approval of the two partners. Secondly, under
Indonesian law all powers of attorney would have lapsed with DSS's
bankruptcy. And lastly, investments in the insurance sector are
restricted to companies approved by the Finance Ministry--of which
Roman Gold is not one.
Ibra figures show the Gondokusumos owe 7 trillion rupiah--4.1 trillion
rupiah incurred by the family-owned Bank Putra Surya Perkasa (PSP) and
2.9 trillion rupiah by Dharmala, once one of Indonesia's top-10
business groups. That makes it the third-largest corporate debtor
behind Texmaco's Marimutu Sinivasan and Barito Pacific's Prajogo
Pangestu. Ibra contends that only 23.8% of Dharmala's loans and just
13.1% of PSP's debt have been restructured--two of the lowest among
the agency's 20 leading debtors.
Indonesia's Financial Sector Policy Committee's legal assistance team
recently recommended criminal charges be filed against PSP founder
Trijono Gondokusumo, 42, the youngest son of patriarch Soehargo
Gondokusumo, for the misuse of central bank liquidity funds and other
banking violations. It also proposed the takeover, seizure and forced
sale of all of his personal assets. Analysts say the bulk of
Dharmala's debt is property-related, much of it apparently borrowed
from the family bank. Thirteen other bankers face similar tough
action.
At least four major indebted Indonesian tycoons, including Suyanto
Gondokusumo, former timber baron Pangestu, tyre and property tycoon
Syamsul Nursalim and Asia Pulp & Paper owner Eka Tjipta Widjaja live
for the most part in Singapore. But scores more ethnic Chinese
businessmen and professionals spend large chunks of their time there,
mostly to be with their families who sought refuge in Singapore during
the May 1998 riots.
Indonesians make a significant, if little-publicized, contribution to
the Singapore economy, using its banks, schools and medical facilities
and investing in its property market. At the time of the Asian
financial crisis, when the rupiah plunged against the United States
dollar and dozens of Indonesian banks collapsed and were either closed
down or taken over by Ibra, some Indonesians rushed to Singapore to
put their savings into safe banks.
Singapore doesn't publish any official figures on how much money
Indonesians keep in the city-state. But local analysts say that apart
from owning about 30% of the upper end of the island republic's
condominium market, as well as choice parcels of freehold property,
Indonesians may have as much as $5 billion-10 billion stashed away in
local banks--what is left of the estimated $25 billion-30 billion that
flowed into Singapore at the time of the economic crash. "I think a
lot of that money has gone elsewhere, to the U.S., Hong Kong and
Australia," says one finance expert. "People don't want to put their
eggs in one small place so close to Indonesia."
A survey last year by Boston Consulting Group of the private banking
market in Asia found that in Indonesia, a significantly higher
proportion of those classified as wealthy--defined as people with net
assets of over $250,000--were in the $5 million-20 million bracket.
"Those are the kinds of people who use private banks in Switzerland
and Singapore," Says BCG's Roman Scott.
During the boom years of the mid-1990s Singapore property was a
popular investment for Indonesians. "Indonesians comprise the majority
of foreign buyers of apartments or condominium units in Singapore,"
says Cynthia Wong, head of research and consultancy at Jones Lang
LaSalle Property Consultants. Figures compiled by Jones Lang LaSalle
showed that in 1996, Indonesians accounted for 43% of all foreign
buyers.
By 2000, the number of foreign buyers had dropped, but Indonesians
accounted for 65% of all foreign buyers. "The contribution [of
Indonesians] to the Singapore economy can be seen in the S$3.31
billion ($1.85 billion) generated through residential purchases made
between 1996 and the first half of 2001," adds Wong. That represents
58% of the total of foreign residential- property purchases.
Many Indonesians say attaining permanent residency status in Singapore
has been made much easier for Indonesian Chinese in the past few
years, perhaps reflecting concerns in Singapore about the city-state's
racial mix. Apart from permanent residency, mostly for educated
professionals, Singapore offers residency status to businessmen who
invest S$1.5 million in an Economic Development Board-approved project
or use between 30% and 50% of the fund in an EDB-approved regional
project.
For Indonesians, Singapore offers a safe, politically stable base
that's only a short hop away from Jakarta. Many wealthy Indonesian
families send their children to school in Singapore, and prefer to use
the medical facilities there. "It's as simple as not having to worry
about being hassled or worried about personal safety the way they are
in Jakarta," says one former private banker.
In trying to attract foreign business, Singapore makes much of the
fact that it has a reliable court system and that it is one of the
most transparent and least corrupt countries in Asia. Given the
players involved in this particular case, it's very likely to attract
considerable interest from people in the financial community in Asia,
such as Templeton Fund Manager Mark Mobius, who for months has
publicly urged Singapore to take a more vigorous approach to
safeguarding its reputation.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 20 June 2002
MALAYSIA'S TURNAROUND
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad put his political career on the block
when he imposed economic unorthodoxy. [Malaysia Turns Around, May 23].
But the truth is, he solved Malaysia's problem by pegging the ringgit
and imposing capital controls. The financial community should stop
harping on the ringgit peg. The driving force in the Malaysian economy
is the practicality of the government, and how Malaysia dares to be
different.
CHRIS C.C. YONG
Subang Jaya, Selangor
When it comes to perceptions of Malaysia-U.S. ties, most media story
lines continue to amplify disagreements and portray a sense of
divergence between the two countries.
In fact, Mahathir's recent visit to Washington represented a
normalization of U.S.-Malaysia relations. In the process, many
American political and business leaders who met the prime minister
discovered that beyond the rhetoric, Malaysia-U.S. ties have been and
continue to be fundamentally strong. Malaysia and the U.S. are both
multi-ethnic societies trying to be responsive to the challenge of
representing the needs and wants of complex constituencies. They also
have significant trade and investment linkages, common commitments to
free and fair trade and mutual interests in promoting regional
stability. The press needs to recognize the increasing dialogue and
cooperation between both countries, or else risk missing the boat.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
STEALING
I agree that CD prices often are exorbitant, and I share the suspicion
that production companies are greedy. Moreover, some performers no
doubt are preposterously overpaid. However, a lot of others have put
in a lifetime of struggle, with their successes limited to a few
months or years. I am sure it is not news to anyone that it is a
record or a book sale from these short successful periods that often
keep a writer or performer going in lean times. A novel can be years
in the making. [Don't Bite the Hand that Pays, Loose Wire, Apr. 18.]
The word for buying pirated intellectual property is "stealing."
Buying a pirated CD is stealing--no matter how annoying Mariah Carey
may be. And indeed, it's not as though any U2 fan will suffer kidney
failure without cheap copies of the group's latest album.
JOHN WIDELOCK
Singapore
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 20 June 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news
"The training will make manual traffic signals more graceful and
appealing to drivers."
Uma Ganapathy Sastry, traffic police chief in the southern Indian city
of Chennai, formerly Madras, explains why fat, lethargic traffic
officers are being aught an ancient Hindu devotional dance.
"It's not like he's trying to scalp a ticket."
Canadian soccer fan Nathalie Mathews slams stadium officials who
barred her from a soccer World Cup match in the Japanese town of
Sapporo because her baby son had no ticket.
"Sometimes those things are not appropriate."
Germany's national soccer coach, Rudi Voeller, comments on a Japanese
newspaper's use of the word "blitzkrieg" to describe his team's 8-0
defeat of Saudi Arabia in their first-round World Cup match. The term,
literally "lightning war," is associated with Germany's military
offensives during World War II.
"I made the remark with hopes that young journalists would start
seriously thinking about the future."
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda owns up to making a
previously anonymous comment reported in the media that suggested
Tokyo may one day abandon its non-nuclear policy.
"He's bald. Of course he would not know the pain of having damaged
hair."
Chu Ieu, who sued a Hong Kong hair salon for $6,400 for leaving her
looking "like Osama bin Laden," complains about the Small Claims
Tribunal adjudicator who dismissed her case.
"I have set up a fund to support honest and just police, but we don't
have much money."
Police Chief Gen. Sant Sarutanond, agreeing with a survey that rated
Thailand's legal system as Asia's second worst, announces plans to
help deserving yet poorly educated and underpaid officers.
"I was never a fugitive."
Tommy Suharto, youngest son of former Indonesian President Suharto,
asserts that one of the charges he faces--fleeing after a graft
conviction--is a misunderstanding, explaining: "To escape, I would
have [had to have] fled from jail. I wasn't even in jail at the time."
"How could they arrest me by saying that the leaflets contained
seditious elements before they had even read one?"
Lim Kit Siang, chairman of Malaysia's opposition DAP party, after
being detained by police while distributing leaflets at a public
market.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 20 June 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
DOUBLE TROUBLE: If Salaiman had been born in the West, he would
probably be famous. But he lives in quiet, religious Surubaya,
Indonesia, and has spent most of his 52 years in obscurity. But that
may change. The father of one has just been inducted into the
Indonesian Museum of Records in Semerang for having two penises. (He
was born with four, but doctors decided to remove two of them when he
hit puberty at 13.)
Indonesian officials are clearly proud of this citizen and want to
trumpet his unusual physique--but how to do so in such a sexually
conservative society? Their answer has been to take a series of
photographs of Salaiman in an unclothed state, but to display the
negatives rather than the prints. With the colours reversed, the
images seem to appear less indecent than they might be. I heard about
this man from reader Dennis Villafuerte Valencia, who wondered whether
the normal single-tablet prescription of Viagra would apply to this
man.
Despite the conservatism of Indonesia, reporters for Tempo magazine
did not flinch from asking him the obvious question. And the answer
is: Yes, they both work. There is a general assumption that his
condition must make him more in need of relief than the rest of the
human male population, and he acknowledges that this is indeed the
case. "To be honest, my wife is also kept busy," he told the magazine.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE REAL THING: Reader Ronald Ng found the Bluff Clinic in Yokohama.
Ideal, one would imagine, for hypochondriacs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BULLY BEEF: Collectors of road tolls in Japan give a discount to
obnoxious drivers. Motorists who threaten staff are allowed through at
much lower fees than regular drivers, a spokesman admitted. The
biggest discounts go to gangs of right-wing extremists driving in
packs. The Japan Highway Public Corp. said that at a political rally
in August last year, only 13 out of 103 vehicles paid the full fee,
Reuters reported. The staff felt they had no choice. "I want to make
it clear that we are not offering discounts of our own free will," the
spokesman explained.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIG EVIDENCE: Pirates boarded an oil tanker in Thai waters, threw the
crew overboard and sailed away. The crew members were rescued by
Indonesian fishermen. The ship was later found--with a new paint job
and a new name--docked in the area with its cargo missing. But the
Thai police are being rather cautious about listing the incident as a
crime. Police Maj.-Gen. Sanae Kamthiang, chief of Chonburi police,
told the Pattaya Mail: "There is no solid evidence except the missing
two million litres of oil and the fact that the ship was repainted and
renamed by the pirates."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET THE DOG OUT: The BBC has bowed to political correctness, removing
a joke from its Web site about South Koreans eating dog meat.
Actually, dog meat is widely consumed in the country, but some
nationals object to their homeland being characterized by this habit.
The sentence on the London-based news service, part of the soccer
World Cup coverage, read: "Over here a dog is for Christmas. Over
there it could be for breakfast, lunch or dinner."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: A murderer is hiding in paradise. Norfolk Island, a
tiny island in the South Pacific, has a crime rate so low that
residents leave their homes unlocked and ignition keys in their cars.
So when an actual murder was committed--a 29-year-old woman was
stabbed to death on March 31--islanders were horrified. The police
force consists of just three officers, none of whom are murder experts
(to say the least), so officers have been brought in from Australia,
Reuters reported. The smallness of the island does offer investigators
some advantages. Police are collecting statements from the entire
2,600 population, a technique that would work less well in, say,
China.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIGGING OUT: Reader Michael Mudd sent me this fascinating sign from
Shanghai, which was photographed by his friends Ralph and Beth
Dinlocker. The picture appears to forbid the throwing of pigs into the
river, although the wording refers to dogs. I guess animals in general
shouldn't be heaved overboard, although there are no specific
prohibitions about chucking people over the side.
intruder
wrote:
>From The Far Eastern Economics Review
>Issue 20 June 2002
>
>TRAVELLERS' TALES
>By Nury Vittachi
>
>DOUBLE TROUBLE: If Salaiman had been born in the West, he would
>probably be famous. And the answer is: Yes, they both work.:
He would have made a fortune in any porn film. DP! XXX
Peewee
"Yap Yok Foo" <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:gtgfgu076h8kg0p1g...@4ax.com...
> From Newsweek
> June 17 issue
>
> An Empty Feeling
>
> Korea and Japan are fuming over the vacant seats at the World Cup. Are
> European agents to blame? Acrimony in the shadows of Asia's spectacle
>
> By Brook Larmer
> NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
>
> World Cup debut, Japan scored its first World Cup point ever by
> battling Belgium to a 2-2 draw. Then South Korea, a team that had not
> won a single Cup game in 48 years, capped the day with a stunning 2-0
> upset over Poland. But even as the celebrations began, red cards were
> fans wanted to know, why did the television cameras show large banks
> of empty seats in the stadiums? In the Cup's first week, more than
> 100,000 seats went vacant, and the embarrassed hosts quickly blamed
> the Cup's official ticketing agency. Even before Japan's opening game,
> fans lined up outside Saitama Stadium hoping to get in, fuming at the
> knowledge that there were unsold tickets for empty seats inside. At
> halftime, a huge blue banner was unfurled in front of the empty seats,
> asking plaintively: where are the tickets?
>
They also are suffering from the Malaysia Boleh syndrome, ah?
Yap Yok Foo
Bahasa Blues
Bahasa has long been the language of instruction,
but some think English should be brought back
By S. Jayasankaran/KUALA LUMPUR
AS A YOUNG FIREBRAND nationalist, Mahathir Mohamad was among those who
campaigned vigorously in the 1960s for the indigenous Bahasa language
to replace English as the medium of instruction for education in
Malaysia. By the early 1990s, when he had been prime minister for
several years, a more pragmatic Mahathir had clearly come to rue his
earlier enthusiasm and realised that it could cost the country dearly.
He is now trying--in the face of powerful opposition--to undo the
damage before it is too late.
The movement to introduce Bahasa, or Malay, as the language of
instruction had been led by influential sections of the politically
dominant United Malays National Organization (Umno). They wanted both
to eradicate vestiges of British colonial rule and to help the Malay
community--the most populous in the country, but also the poorest and
least successful. A law passed in 1969 established the principle, but
it took another 13 years to fully implement Bahasa from primary
through to higher education. Mahathir played a vital role in the
process as education minister from 1974-78.
But over the past three decades, English has firmly emerged as the
language of international trade and commerce in Asia. At the same
time, the standard of English in Malaysia has plunged, and that could
hurt its competitiveness given the country's investment and
export-dependent economy.
Ironically, the introduction of Bahasa may have disadvantaged the very
people it was supposed to help--the Malays, who form 60% of the
population. According to government statistics released in April, some
44,000 university graduates are currently unemployed, and of this
figure more than 90% are ethnic Malay. This is due, in large part, to
their poor English-language skills at a time when the civil service
has frozen recruitment because of the difficult economic climate and
the private sector wants people with good English.
Moreover, many opt for degrees such as Islamic or Malay studies, which
are not so marketable. This is partly because students are deterred by
the fact that while lectures in science and economics courses are
given in Bahasa, some 80% of their reference books are in English.
Highlighting the language problem, an English teacher at an elite
Malaysian boarding school where 90% of the students are Malays, says:
"The best are still reasonably good. But the majority are pretty bad
in English."
KICK-STARTING CHANGE
Mahathir, anxious that Malaysia should not lose its competitive edge,
has skilfully managed to kick-start change, starting with a directive
from the Umno Supreme Council on May 10 that from next year science
and maths should be taught at the primary level in English. They also
agreed that English literature should be taught at primary schools.
Once these teaching practices have been established at primary level,
they can presumably be introduced at secondary level.
The ball had started rolling a week earlier, when Umno's Kubang Pasu
division--which is headed by Mahathir--passed a resolution calling for
more subjects to be taught in English. The premier then upped the ante
by suggesting, "if the people want it," a reversion to the pre-1969
system. Newspaper polls among urban populations showed wide support
for this, even among ethnic Malays.
Ultimately the Umno Supreme Council compromised. But even diluted
change will upset powerful vested interests among the Malay
intelligentsia and political world as any attempt to push English will
be seen as a move to downgrade Bahasa. Indeed, the ailing opposition
Keadilan, or National Justice Party, has jumped on the nationalistic
bandwagon and attacked Mahathir's plans while the influential Malay
Writers Association on May 29 condemned the move as "a future
challenge to the national language."
Most teachers also probably oppose change that could affect their own
livelihoods. Furthermore, educationists say it may be difficult to
implement the plan as there simply are not enough teachers with
adequate language skills to teach science and maths in English.
"It could result in a drop in standards in maths and science without
raising the standards of English among students," warns Lim Kit Siang,
chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party.
But observers reckon Mahathir, now aged 77, is determined to push
through change in the belief that his successor would not be strong
enough to overcome Malay resistance. "I think he feels that if it
isn't done now, it will never be done," says a Malay businessman close
to government.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 27 June 2002
A Tale of Two Madrassas
The American-led war on terror is eroding Southeast Asia's image of
tolerant, moderate Islam. A visit to two very different centres of
Islamic education shows that tolerance remains, but isolation and poor
funding can leave young Muslims open to manipulation by radicals
By Michael Vatikiotis/JOGJAKARTA and NAKHON SI THAMMARAT
IT COULD BE a village anywhere in Central Java. Two small girls in
colourful dresses play noisily on a verandah. A mother nurses her
child. Scrawny chickens scratch the bare earth. Then a woman clad from
head to toe in black wanders by wearing gloves. A group of young boys,
all wearing white robes and caps, appears at a street corner on the
way back from prayers.
Nestled in the bosom of this bucolic Javanese community, the Ihya Us
Sunnah Islamic boarding school could easily be overlooked by a casual
passer-by. Yet this is no ordinary school. It was founded in 1994 by
Ja'far Umar Thalib, the leader of Laskar Jihad, a militant Muslim
group that sent hundreds of young men to battle Christians in
far-flung Maluku.
If this is the heart of Islamic darkness in Indonesia, it is hard to
fathom. Ihya Us Sunnah doesn't look like a Muslim fundamentalist
stronghold. It's a humble set of buildings, populated by a handful of
young boys, with no walls separating it from the nearby village. Given
its openness, its proximity to the city of Jogjakarta 13 kilometres
away and the easy coexistence with secular village life, it hardly
seems to be one of those corners of Indonesia some United States
officials believe international terrorists may be considering using as
a base.
In reality, traditions of tolerance still prevail in most Muslim
communities of Southeast Asia. But in places like Ihya Us Sunnah,
there's also a vulnerability. The hard scrabble for resources and a
lack of integration with secular society can leave Islamic schools and
their students open to manipulation. If it has sufficient funding, and
leadership that stresses integration, the Islamic education system
will likely uphold moderate traditions. Without those factors, there's
a danger it can become a fertile ground for militancy.
Teguh, a mild-mannered third-year information-technology student at
the nearby Islamic University, helps run the Ihya Us Sunnah school. He
gestures towards the mosque, where Koranic verse wafts out of open
windows. "The mosque belongs to the village," he says in a quiet
voice. "We rent some land. The lease is up in two years." Teguh isn't
concerned about his more secular neighbours. At the time of this
unannounced visit no security was evident. Indeed, Ja'far himself was
arrested in May, leaving his three wives and numerous children in a
gaily painted house at the back of the school.
But two years ago, Teguh spent a year in strife-torn Ambon with the
Laskar Jihad. As he casually puts it, he "went to war." He doesn't say
much about his experience except that he saw Muslim villages attacked
by Christians and was in dangerous situations. He denies carrying arms
and is oddly offhand about it all. "I went because I was on holiday
between school and university," he says. "I won't go back until I've
finished my studies."
If it's hard to determine what motivated Teguh to join the Laskar
Jihad, it's easy to see how difficult it would be to dissuade him. The
school is dependent on Ja'far for patronage and funding. There is no
secular balance to the conservative Salafi Islamic dogma taught at the
school.
More than 2,000 kilometres to the north of Jogjakarta, on the
outskirts of Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand, another Islamic
boarding school presents a different picture. Much as at Ihya Us
Sunnah, the 1,200 students at a school called Pondok Bantan spend
their mornings praying, reciting the Koran and studying Arabic and
Malay language.
But in the afternoon, they are taught the national Thai-language
school curriculum. The pupils, roughly the same age as those at Ihya
Us Sunnah, live in tidy bamboo huts scattered over a spacious compound
that has been the site of a religious school for 60 years. More than
half the pupils are girls. Tuition is free, though families support
their children by supplying food and clothing.
Here in Pondok Bantan there is no apparent stress on narrowly
interpreted dogma, no evidence of radical ideas or intolerance. "We
see dakhwa [missionary] people who try to stir things up from time to
time, but not very often," says Surin Pitsuwan, the former Thai
foreign minister and member of parliament. Surin, a leading advocate
of civil society, was born and raised in the school grounds, where his
mother, now in her 80s, still teaches the Koran.
Judging from a discussion with students from the school, it's clear
that these Muslim youngsters have strong views about the meaning and
value of civil society and democracy. "People must be able to decide
for themselves what kind of curriculum their children have, and
everyone must have the right to free education," says an articulate
12-year-old girl, her eyes flashing from underneath a coloured
headscarf.
Healthy funding is the key to this school's security. A new mosque was
built with a grant from a wealthy Indian doctor from Dubai. The same
doctor is paying for a new classroom block. More significantly, some
funding for the school comes from Western countries. The audio-visual
equipment, for example, was donated by the German embassy in Bangkok.
Surin believes it is important for Western countries to get involved
in the education of a future generation of Muslim adults. "If Muslim
fundamentalism, Muslim extremism and Muslim radicalism are to be
contained, a global awareness of the need for some kind of educational
reform in the Muslim world is necessary," he insists. "A global
cooperation is in order and a global funding of some sort is the only
way out."
In this respect, the contrast between southern Thailand and Jogjakarta
is striking. The Islamic boarding school, or pesantren, of Indonesia
traditionally evolved outside the formal structure of state education,
usually founded and run by individual religious teachers. There is a
strong tradition of isolationism and independence, as seen at Ihya Us
Sunnah.
Teguh, the school's helper, waves his hand at the tumbledown,
windowless wooden house where the students stay, and sniffs at
suggestions of foreign patronage. "People say we are funded by Osama
bin Laden, but go and take a look. It's not possible." Ja'far supports
the school, Teguh claims, with the help of local donations. (Teguh
says that money for the Laskar Jihad came from elsewhere and he knows
nothing about it.) With meagre local support and no connection with
the state schooling curriculum, Ihya Us Sunnah is isolated and
vulnerable to manipulation by extremists.
Yet things could be different. Central Java has a long tradition of
religious moderation, which makes the appearance of Laskar Jihad in
the region rather odd. Some observers regard the very tolerance of the
region as a magnet for extremists. But the sultan of Jogjakarta,
Hamengkubuwono X, who is also governor of Jogjakarta, offers another
explanation.
"For more than 30 years, former President Suharto suppressed all
Muslim organizations," the sultan says at a palace function. Islam,
the official religion of the sultanate, is relegated to a brief
mention during prayers. "Even though we have democracy, the older,
established organizations which were more moderate are still weak, so
this gives extremists a bigger voice."
This still doesn't explain how hardline Islamic militants spring from
a fundamentally pluralistic and tolerant society like that of
Jogjakarta, where most Muslims believe in the mystical power of
volcanoes and a goddess who lives off the southern coast of Java.
One view is that whatever militancy has arisen has not come from
mainstream Javanese Muslim society, but rather from manipulations
wreaked upon it. Sidney Jones, an experienced human-rights researcher
now with the International Crisis Group in Jakarta, says some
suspected extremists, such as Abu Bakar Sasyir and Fatur Ahman Al
Ghozi, had links in the 1970s to a shady group called Kommando Jihad,
set up by Indonesian intelligence, ostensibly to keep communism at
bay. In fact, Jones says, the group was set up to preach Islamic
statehood so that the PPP, a Muslim political party, would be
discredited.
The practice of minting extremist groups to pursue domestic political
goals persists. Laskar Jihad is widely believed to have been organized
by military factions angry over being sidelined from the political
scene after the fall of Suharto. Another violent group, the
Jakarta-based Front to Protect Islam, was recruited as a proxy
security force by the police to protect the parliament from student
demonstrators in 1999.
None of this suggests that mainstream Indonesian Muslim society is at
risk of becoming "Talibanized." "I'm not sure that the activities of
these few extremists are affecting the wider society of central Java,"
says Jones. But the danger of economic discontent spawning support for
militants does reinforce the need for politicians and educators to
safeguard the strong traditions of tolerance inherent in these
societies. Surin doesn't believe that Southeast Asian Muslims will
veer towards the kind of fundamentalism practised by the Taliban in
Afghanistan, but he warns of the "corrosion" that could occur if
radical movements, small as they may be, aren't reined in.
Back at the Ihya Us Sunnah boarding school, a young generation of
Muslim boys badly needs a better-funded and broader education so they
won't be brainwashed into believing that Muslims need defending in
Ambon
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 27 June 2002
Behind Daim's Fall
In many ways, Daim Zainuddin was the leading architect of Malaysia's
economic model. But his break with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has
cast a shadow over his legacy
By Leslie Lopez/KUALA LUMPUR
NEARLY A YEAR AGO, Daim Zainuddin, one of the region's most powerful
finance ministers, resigned from government after months of
speculation about souring ties with his boss, Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad.
This was one of the biggest turning points in Malaysia's political
history, marking the break of one of its most enduring partnerships.
"Daim leaving office stands as one of the three main political
fallings-out during the Mahathir era," says former Deputy Premier Musa
Hitam, ranking it with his own departure from government in 1985 and
the 1998 sacking of still-imprisoned Anwar Ibrahim.
For nearly two decades, Daim had been Mahathir's chief economic
trouble-shooter, fitting neatly into roles ranging from finance
minister to informal adviser to purse-keeper of the United Malays
National Organization, or Umno, the dominant partner in the ruling
National Front coalition. Along the way, he'd been the most
enthusiastic architect of the Malaysian economic model, a form of
command capitalism in which the government shovels economic
opportunities to selected ethnic Malay, or bumiputra, businessmen.
Some well-connected, non-Malay businessmen have also benefited, but
the primary policy goal has been the creation of a Malay
entrepreneurial class. Nearly everything in the political system
revolves around this network of patronage.
During all the years they worked together, there had been little
evidence of any serious rift between Mahathir and Daim. Indeed, it was
Daim whom Mahathir tapped to help pull Malaysia out of its worst-ever
recession during the Asian financial crisis, after his spectacular
break with former Deputy Premier Anwar. Most people in Malaysian
political circles were enthralled by the power of the diminutive,
153-centimetre man known by close associates as "Muscles," for his
political influence.
But today, Daim's legacy lies in tatters. As Mahathir slowly repairs
his tarnished political reputation and earns grudging respect as the
architect of Malaysia's most recent economic recovery, the elfin,
63-year-old lawyer-turned-tycoon is being privately castigated by
Kuala Lumpur's political and business elite for delaying Malaysia's
rebound from its 1998 recession.
Many now blame bailouts of Daim protégés over the past three years, as
well as Daim's alleged interference in the affairs of regulatory
agencies on matters involving his close associates, for foreign
investors' disenchantment with Malaysia during his time as finance
minister. Critics maintain that Daim blurred the lines between his
public duties and his private interests, and his efforts to foster a
bumiputra entrepreneurial class morphed into cronyism through the
award of government contracts to close associates. "Daim epitomized
what was wrong with Malaysia after the regional economic crisis," says
the research chief of a foreign bank in Singapore.
Of course, this isn't a black-and-white matter. Many private
economists and bankers say it's premature to conclude that the days of
close ties between politics and big business in Malaysia are over.
Mahathir continues to shower business opportunities, without any open
tender, to close associates such as reclusive tycoon Syed Mokhtar
Al-Bukhary, who in a matter of five years has built an empire with
interests in power generation, ports, construction and property. "The
political-economy model hasn't really changed," says Manu Bhaskaran,
head of economic research of U.S.-based Centennial Group in Singapore.
"If anything, it's just a more narrow cast of characters with
alliances."
But Bhaskaran concedes that Malaysia has learned some lessons from the
regional economic crisis, which struck in mid-1997. The country has
made huge strides in restructuring its corporate sector. "Clearly,
there is a new model of how assets and companies are managed, with
strong emphasis on returns," he says. "All this is good for the
economy because it improves economic efficiency."
Despite all the brickbats, no one is writing Daim off just yet. More
than 10 years younger than the premier, he's believed to be one of the
region's richest men, and is still seen as a powerful
behind-the-scenes player in Malaysian politics. He continues to have
close ties to senior Umno officials, businessmen and top civil
servants--connections that could easily pave the way for his return to
government once Mahathir leaves office. But as long as Mahathir is
around, the prospect of a Daim comeback is slim, say analysts and Umno
politicians.
The reasons behind Daim's departure have been kept out of public
debate. But close associates of the two politicians say that apart
from differences over economic policy, Mahathir and Daim clashed over
the management of Umno's coffers. Appointed Umno treasurer in 1984,
Daim has collected and managed the political funds that helped keep
the prime minister and his party in power. Senior party officials say
that Umno's business empire, managed largely through the use of
business nominees, remains a closely guarded secret to which only
Mahathir and Daim are privy.
"It clearly wasn't some kind of shadow play," says a senior government
official who worked closely with the two politicians over the past
three years. "The falling-out was very real because he was becoming a
political liability to the PM."
Several close associates of the two men say the first sign of cracks
in Malaysia's most powerful tag-team emerged from differences over the
country's plan to consolidate its banking sector. Daim had pushed for
the consolidation of Malaysia's 58 financial institutions into six
so-called anchor banks, several of which would have been controlled by
his business allies. But Mahathir backed the then-central bank
governor, Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman, who called for the creation of 10
anchor banks.
Daim never forgave Ali. According to senior government officials, Daim
played a key role in persuading Mahathir not to renew the central bank
governor's contract when it expired in April 2000. But Ali fought
back. Government officials say he wrote a seven-page letter to
Mahathir before he left office, detailing several instances where Daim
intervened personally in transactions involving banks controlled by
his close associates. Officials close to Mahathir say the letter
marked the turning point where policy differences between the premier
and Daim turned into a political clash.
Among the institutions the letter accused Daim of favouring were the
International Bank of Malaysia, or IBM, which Daim had previously
controlled, and the Multi-Purpose Bank. (A Daim-controlled company
acquired IBM in mid-1997, and Daim then disposed of his shareholding
in the company to a business protégé in late 1998, after he was
appointed finance minister for the second time.)
According to officials familiar with the letter, Ali cited Daim's push
for IBM to be given first right to acquire the merchant-banking arm of
state-owned Bank Bumiputra Malaysia in 1999, despite its low offer.
That institution, Bumiputra Merchant Bankers, was later merged into
Alliance Bank, one of the 10 anchor banks the government eventually
created.
The letter also detailed instances where Daim blocked corporate plans
presented by several prominent businessmen. In one instance, Ali Abul
Hassan recounted how state-owned Bank Simpanan Nasional proposed to
sell its merchant-banking arm to Hong Leong Bank, which was owned by
tycoon Quek Leng Chan of the Hong Leong Group. (Quek at one time
enjoyed close ties to Anwar.) According to people familiar with the
letter, Ali noted that Hong Leong Bank was offering 70 million ringgit
($18 million) for the state institution--four times more than the 17
million ringgit Perwira Affin Bank, a rival bidder, was prepared to
pay. But Daim dismissed the bid by Quek's bank, the letter said,
remarking to the central bank governor: "Don't be mad." Perwira Affin
ultimately won the bid.
The government's penchant for bailing out its troubled corporate sons,
especially those close to Daim, was also beginning to take its toll on
Mahathir's relationship with his long-time adviser. "The bailouts
would have been tolerable if the economy was doing well," says a
senior Umno official, who also has extensive business interests. He
says that the government's failure to revive the stockmarket resulted
in the breakdown in Umno's patronage machinery.
Soon grumbling within Umno grew louder, accusing Daim of favouring
close business associates in the award of government contracts. That
forced Mahathir to distance himself. One senior government official
close to the prime minister points to Daim's move to rescue Tajudin
Ramli, head of national carrier Malaysia Airlines and one of Daim's
most prominent allies. The official maintains that Mahathir was upset
that Daim hadn't fully briefed him over the move, in which the
government paid Tajudin 1.8 billion ringgit for his 29% stake in the
airline in December 2000--valuing the purchase at 8 ringgit a share, a
premium of more than two-and-a-half times the price on the Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange.
"The PM realized that he was being forced to take the flak for the
rescues, and that was hurting him politically," says a senior Umno
official close to Mahathir. That wasn't the only Daim-sponsored
bailout. When a Renong telecommunications unit received one of the
country's worst receptions for its initial public offer in March last
year, government officials say Daim ordered a civil-service pension
fund to take up a huge stake in the company. That transaction raised
hackles within the government and, at a top-level Umno meeting in
mid-April, Daim was pressed to explain the use of public funds to
support the offering.
"He gave a very short explanation, something to the effect that the
shares wouldn't be subscribed to, so the government had to help out,"
says a senior Umno official who was present at the meeting. "I don't
think the PM was pleased with the explanation and by then it was clear
that Daim was becoming a liability."
Daim associates tell a different story, arguing that Daim couldn't
have unilaterally undertaken the financial rescues. "Things were
clearly desperate politically for Umno and the government," says a
businessman close to Daim. "He was just a convenient scapegoat to help
arrest the anger."
Daim didn't respond to numerous requests to be interviewed for this
article. But one close business associate who sees the former finance
minister regularly says he's "peeved about the half-truths" that are
being told about him. "He's being blamed for everything," the
businessman says. "But he feels that he carried out orders, and big
decisions such as bailouts were done only after a consensus was
reached in the cabinet or with Mahathir."
Scapegoat or not, Daim's fall from grace represents an enormous
comedown for a man who has long enjoyed an enduring influence on
Mahathir, Malaysia's leader since 1981. Daim was central in shaping
Mahathir's economic policies: Under his stewardship as finance
minister, Malaysia's programme of privatizing state enterprises and
the award of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects to the
private sector were tailored to hand opportunity to select bumiputra
businessmen. Banks were directed to provide easy credit to favoured
bumiputra concerns, and principles such as competitive bidding were
replaced with negotiated tenders. Huge business empires, such as Halim
Saad's diversified Renong Group and Tajudin's airline group, were
built.
Today, the most prominent of Daim's once high-flying business
protégés, Halim and Tajudin, have lost control of their corporate
empires. Daim himself has maintained a low profile since leaving the
Finance Ministry in June last year, rarely attending public or Umno
functions. Close associates say he travels extensively and spends time
in Bali, where he owns a palatial home.
Foreign bankers and local businessman still seek meetings with him at
his spartan Kuala Lumpur office. There, perched on a tall stool, he
tracks the local stockmarket on a computer screen while speaking to
his guests. "He is very relaxed and is actively punting on the
market," says a senior businessman, who visited Daim at his office
recently. Like several other people who remain in contact with the
politician, this businessman says Daim remains "amazingly well
informed" about the political and business situation in the country.
His extensive business interests are still run in a secretive fashion.
Built on shrewd networking, they're shrouded, close associates say,
using a wide array of nominee associates or family companies to
acquire and run his investments. Among assets believed to be under
Daim's control is the International Commercial Bank, a financial
institution which operates eight banks in Europe and Africa. (See
story on page 42.)
Taciturn and intensely private, Daim continues to evoke strong
feelings among Malaysians. Admirers credit him with plucking Malaysia
from its mid-1980s recession. As finance minister during that time, he
slashed public debt and relaxed investment rules, which helped fuel a
decade-long boom. Politicians also credit him with building Umno's
huge financial resources and providing massive opportunities to ethnic
Malay businessmen.
Above all, he reinvented Malysian politics, says University of Malaya
economics professor Jomo Kwame Sundaram, referring to the strong
culture of money and patronage that today dominates the system. "He
was the most entrepreneurial and most innovative because he was always
conscious of balancing making money for the party or helping his
cronies and keeping business sentiment upbeat," Jomo says.
But his critics say Daim failed to adhere to these traits during his
second stint as finance minister. "There was too much self-interest,"
alleges a political analyst closely aligned to the government.
"Mahathir felt that Daim was trying to make sure that large sections
of the corporate sector would be beholden to him rather than to the
PM."
Many politicians believe the move against Daim's protégés is part of a
clean-up of Umno's business interests. "The Umno empire has always
been a mystery to all of us," says a former senior government minister
and Umno member. "With Daim out of the picture, only Mahathir knows
what the party is worth."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GLOBAL MANDATE
ONE DAIM-LINKED BANK HAS OPERATIONS IN SOME UNLIKELY LOCATIONS
By Leslie Lopez
They're not exactly traditional financial centres. But tucked away in
several cities in Eastern Europe and Africa is a Malaysian-controlled
banking network linked to Daim Zainuddin.
It's called the International Commercial Bank, and it has branches in
Prague, Budapest, Sarajevo, Tirana, Accra, Conakry, Dar es Salaam and
Maputo.
The ICB Group, as it's commonly known, doesn't reveal its shareholding
structure. But a company brochure from the end of 2000 shows ICB has
several directors who are Daim's business allies. It also has a
technical- and management-services pact with Alliance Bank, a
consolidated banking group that includes a Daim-linked institution
called International Bank of Malaysia.
Why Daim's associates have created a banking network linking these
locations is a mystery. ICB directors haven't responded to interview
requests. What's clear is that the company's overseas foray into
banking coincided with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's grand vision
of exporting Malaysian capital and corporate expertise overseas in the
early 1990s.
While Malaysian companies were pouring money into everything from
American entertainment studios to Albanian housing projects, ICB was
picking up banking licences in Eastern Europe. It began operations in
Prague in April 1994, and two months later opened in Budapest. Between
1996 and late 1997, the bank ventured into Africa, where Malaysian
companies were starting to invest, particularly in southern Africa.
Daim has always liked banks. Between 1984 and 1986, while he served as
finance minister, companies owned by his family members and associates
held a controlling interest in United Malayan Banking Corp., at the
time Malaysia's third-largest banking group. In the political uproar
after the details became public, Daim sold his stake to Perbadanan
Nasional Berhad, the state-owned institution from which it had been
bought.
Years later, while ICB was picking up licences overseas, Daim was also
laying the groundwork to return to the banking business at home. In
mid-1997, Langkah Bahagia, a company whose controlling shareholder
publicly acknowledged that he was holding shares for Daim, acquired a
controlling stake in Hock Hua Bank Sabah, a small commercial bank
headquartered in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state in East
Malaysia. The businessman, Nasir Ali, also acknowledged at a 1997
press conference that he was representing Daim's economic interests in
the bank, which was later renamed International Bank of Malaysia.
When Daim was re-appointed finance minister in 1998, the central bank
approved an application for him to dispose of his stake in Langkah
Bahagia to Nasir. But many suspect that he still indirectly controls
the company--which controls nearly 17% of Malaysian Plantations, the
listed entity that in turn controls Alliance Bank. Nasir hasn't
responded to several requests for comment, and Daim has declined
interview requests.
The links between Langkah Bahagia and ICB are numerous. In the ICB
brochure, Lutfiah Ismail, Langkah Bahagia's other main shareholder and
a close Daim business associate, is listed as a director at several of
ICB's widely flung banks. So is Josephine Premla Sivaretnam, another
Daim business ally. Khadijah Abdul Khalid, a sister of Daim's second
wife, is on ICB's boards in Mozambique and Tanzania. Nasir was a
member of several ICB boards at the end of 2000, though business
associates say he has since given up those positions. None of the
officials responded to requests for comment.
Much about the ICB financial group remains unclear. One official from
an ICB unit in Africa says the group is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur
at Alliance Bank's office. But Alliance Bank officials say they only
have the technical and services pact with ICB. They add that ICB is
managed from Malaysia by Kuala Lumpur-based ICB Global Management.
Filings at Malaysia's Registrar of Companies show ICB Global
Management is a private concern with Sivaretnam among the company's
shareholders.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 27 June 2002
IN OTHER WORDS
A weekly column of the notable and quotable from the people in the
news.
"We don't know what people were using the water for, but the period of
high demand was very short."
A Tokyo water authority official speculates on an unusual pattern in
water demand on the day Japan won a tense World Cup soccer match
against Russia. He suggested it was for the lavatory as fans rushed
out to relieve themselves at half-time.
"Half of the people of Botswana are Aids patients and it is outrageous
[Japan's] rating is lower than such a country."
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma causes
offence with his tactless remarks after United States credit-rating
agency Moody's Investors Service ranked Japanese government bonds
lower than Botswana's.
"Don't worry. We don't do no voodoo stuff."
Soccer star Benni McCarthy lays to rest rumours of South African World
Cup players injecting wild animals' blood into their legs for speed.
Witchcraft is practised in Africa and some teams sacrifice animals to
help them win.
"Indonesians do kiss."
Indonesian screenwriter and producer Mira Lesmana comments on the
screen kiss that helped her movie, What's With Love, earn more than
Hollywood blockbusters in Indonesia, despite fears the scene would be
criticized as indecorous.
"The club has been going fine without women . . . There are plenty of
other clubs she can join."
Allan McGillivray, of the Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise, Australia,
complains about Leslie O'Connor, a steel company director--and the
first female member of his division.
"They were also suspicious of the contents."
An editor at the Beijing Evening News, on readers' comments about an
article it unwittingly republished from satirical American tabloid The
Onion, outlining congressmen's demands to be given a new legislative
building with a retractable dome.
"I gave the best advice I had, but in hindsight, regret picking the
company I did."
American businessman Jesse Bogdonoff, official court jester to Tonga's
King Taufaahau Tupou IV, regrets promoting certain investments to the
South Pacific nation's government, which subsequently lost $24
million.
"Where's the Merc?"
An unidentified Australian federal minister on a trip overseas
expresses surprise at the new, cheaper Australian-made embassy car.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has ordered overseas missions to
economise on official cars.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 27 June 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
MATCHHEADS: Two prisoners broke out of a jail in Pattaya, Thailand,
while police officers were watching a World Cup soccer match on
television. The prisoners, named Surasak and Noi, took their chance
when they noticed that only one officer opened their cell to transfer
them to the interrogation room. They quickly overpowered the officer,
Capt. Supoj Umnard-Munkong, and made a run for it.
The officer, who had earlier been rebuffed when he asked his colleages
to help him move the prisoners, now raised the alarm. "Capt. Supoj's
calls for help fell on deaf ears, as the entire station was apparently
riveted to the television set, watching the exciting conclusion of the
opening match," the Pattaya Mail reported.
So the intrepid cop decided to pursue the escapees all by himself. He
managed to catch up with and overpower one of the prisoners, whom he
dragged back to his cell. But the other one had vanished.
When the officer told a senior colleague what had happened, the other
officers finally sprang into action. "By then the game must have
already ended," the newspaper surmised. More than 100 staff hit the
streets, and the second fugitive was recaptured late that night.
Was the officer who worked alone during the match praised for his
efforts? Not at all. A committee was set up to investigate Capt. Supoj
"for neglecting his duty and allowing the prisoners to escape."
The Pattaya Mail reported: "A similar escape, manhunt and capture
happened in Pattaya during the last World Cup in 1998."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMALL MERCIES: Paul Gardiner sent in this picture of a fire escape
sign from Japan. When a blaze breaks out, be sure to look after your
rodents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEASTLY TALE: The children had an important message for the teacher.
"Please, sir, there's a big black monster in the playground." Yeah,
right. It sounded far-fetched--but the youngsters were correct. A
black panther, which had escaped from a zoo in Johor Baru, Malaysia,
had strolled over to the playing fields of a school six kilometres
away. Park officials managed to trap the beast before it chose a
victim for its lunch, the Bernama news agency reported. Teachers are
taking far-fetched stories from the children very seriously these
days--with the possible exception of the classic "a dog ate my
homework."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLD COMFORT: A woman who moved house left behind a refrigerator for
the new tenants. Unfortunately it contained her husband.
The real estate dealers who took possession of the vacated house in
Hokkaido, Japan, may well have expected some pretty nasty stuff in the
abandoned fridge, as one would. But only when the first piece of meat
they took out turned out to be a human foot did they realize quite how
nasty it was.
The former tenant, a 40-year-old woman, may have killed her husband in
1997 because of anger at his drinking, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
She apparently then reported him missing--and stuffed him in the
fridge, where he stayed for the next four and a half years. To me,
this gruesome tale brings back all the horror of shared fridges in
student accommodation (except that the contents were sometimes even
more horrible).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOICES SILENCED: Sri Lanka recently installed a $600,000
state-of-the-art microphone system in its parliament building. But the
system went on the blink, and members were unable to communicate with
each other, Reuters reported. House Speaker Joseph Michael Perera
ruled that parliamentary sessions would be cancelled until the problem
was fixed. Yes, storms, coups and wars have been unable to halt the
spread of democracy in Asia, but technology can do it in a flash.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIBERE HUMANUM EST: A university professor attended a boozy lunch at a
research group meeting in Japan, and then headed back to work. Bad
idea. He drunkenly staggered into the lecture hall at Kyushi Sangyo
University and attempted to give a talk on marketing. After students
complained, university officials suspended the 52-year-old marketing
professor for two months, I heard from reader Aiden Foster-Carter.
Undergraduates said that the lecture was rambling and incoherent, and
the handwriting on the blackboard was illegible. So, no change there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR REAL MEN: Reader Pathiudian Yesuthasen spotted this sign in
India's technology-obsessed Bangalore. "Here, the local barber thinks
he has to call himself a hair and face mechanic," he said.
Yap Yok Foo
24 June 2002
Mahathir's swan song is soaked in crocodile tears
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent
THE Malaysian political landscape suffered two shocks in as many days
over the weekend, with a dramatic – later reversed – resignation by
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday, followed by the death of
the main opposition leader yesterday.
The death of Fadzil Noor, the president of Parti Islam se-Malaysia
(PAS) was not unexpected, as the 65-year-old had not regained
consciousness since a heart bypass operation two weeks ago.
Dr Mahathir's tearful resignation on Saturday night, on the other
hand, was all high theatre – tension, tears and timing.
Closing the annual assembly of his United Malays National
Organisation, he was more than an hour into his speech before he
announced he would resign from all party posts.
He did not indicate whether he would also step down as Prime Minister,
but party officials later said that was his intention.
Despite creating a deafening uproar – until his deputy, Abdullah
Badawi, calmed the crowd by returning 45 minutes later to say the
delegates' response had persuaded Dr Mahathir to stay – there are few
signs Asia's longest-serving elected leader was seriously planning to
go.
As he was led weeping from the rostrum on Saturday evening, he
declared: "No, no. I have decided. I have decided. Dah lama, dah (for
a long time).'
But if the decision had been planned in advance, analysts say, why
were his closest confidants – even his son – kept in the dark? Why did
he wait until the last moments of the three-day convention to inform
his followers? Why did he not hand over formally to a successor? And
why was his mind swayed to reverse the decision so quickly?
These questions are likely to go unanswered by the man himself. Dr
Mahathir left yesterday for a 10-day holiday in Europe, and it is
possible the 76-year-old was simply showing signs of stress. He has
kept up a gruelling schedule over the past nine months, with meetings
with US President George W. Bush and the Pope as part of an attempt to
carve himself a role as a moderate Muslim world leader.
But his biggest problems remain at home. Dr Mahathir, who has led the
party for 21 years, is showing every sign, not of winding down his
political career, but gearing up for his sixth general election,
expected to be called next year.
John Funston, a visiting fellow in the Faculty of Asian Studies at the
Australian National University, said yesterday there was not yet any
clear evidence Dr Mahathir had won back the Malay vote he lost to PAS
in the fallout of his 1998 sacking of his then deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Funston said there were also signs of fractures within his party –
particularly over his declared plans to reduce Malay entitlements to
positive discrimination in education. "It was an appeal for sympathy.
He was trying to convey the idea that he's not going to be around for
much longer as a way of asking for more time to do things he wants,"
Dr Funston said.
Dr Mahathir dispelled rumours of his impending resignation last year
by saying he needed another 10 years to finish his job – and despite
the events of the weekend, most political analysts have not changed
their prediction he will most likely die in office.
fairplay
Yap Yok Foo wrote:
> From The Australian
> 24 June 2002
>
> Mahathir's swan song is soaked in crocodile tears
> By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent
>
>
>
> He did not indicate whether he would also step down as Prime Minister,
> but party officials later said that was his intention.
>
> Despite creating a deafening uproar ? until his deputy, Abdullah
> Badawi, calmed the crowd by returning 45 minutes later to say the
> delegates' response had persuaded Dr Mahathir to stay ? there are few
> signs Asia's longest-serving elected leader was seriously planning to
> go.
>
> As he was led weeping from the rostrum on Saturday evening, he
> declared: "No, no. I have decided. I have decided. Dah lama, dah (for
> a long time).'
>
> But if the decision had been planned in advance, analysts say, why
> were his closest confidants ? even his son ? kept in the dark? Why did
> he wait until the last moments of the three-day convention to inform
> his followers? Why did he not hand over formally to a successor? And
> why was his mind swayed to reverse the decision so quickly?
He just then remembered what the Pope said...
Repent.. Resign.. release
If you fail, come back and see me..
So he flew back to Rome..
To be a born again christian ;)
>
>
>
> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
--
Remove the obvious to send mail....
Yap Yok Foo
25 June 2002
Party to steer Mahathir clear
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent
MALAYSIANS yesterday were forced to consider life without their
charismatic and controversial Prime Minister for the first time in his
two decades of power, as doubts surfaced about the sincerity of
Mahathir Mohamad's resignation volte-face.
The supreme council of Dr Mahathir's party, the United Malays National
Organisation, is today due to meet with coalition partners for talks
that some said would map out a succession plan to allow Dr Mahathir,
76, to leave office.
UMNO's information chief, Megat Junid Megat Ayub, was quoted in the
party-controlled Utusan Melayu newspaper as saying a "compromise"
would be unveiled after the meeting.
Mr Megat said Dr Mahathir told party leaders in a meeting on Sunday
morning – the day after his dramatic resignation and retraction at
UMNO's annual conference – that he remained determined to quit his
party and government posts because he felt he had been serving the
country long enough and wanted to spend more time with his family.
"We feel – it is not that we want to hold him back – we just do not
want him to leave us hanging," Mr Megat was quoted as saying.
"We were still uncertain about Saturday's retraction. We felt that the
retraction was only made to ease a tense situation."
UMNO vice-president Najib Razak also told the newspaper that Dr
Mahathir had agreed only to "consider" retracting his resignation.
"We respect his decision but after we have told him about the adverse
implications, he decided to consider our proposal that he stays on,"
said Mr Najib, who was believed to have strong leadership ambitions.
A close aide to Dr Mahathir told The Australian he believed the
resignation was sincere, despite the fact the Prime Minister had not
informed any of his colleagues or family prior to the shock
announcement.
The reports contradicted that of Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah
Aziz, who insisted yesterday that when Dr Mahathir returned from a
10-day holiday in Naples next week he would remain as leader.
"I can assure you that the Prime Minister will not resign. No way. He
is going to continue as prime minister," he said.
On the stock market, the Composite Index reflected concern at the
possibility that Dr Mahathir would leave office by dropping 2.3 per
cent, breaking the psychologically important 730 mark to close at
726.50.
Some seasoned political commentators stuck to their opinion that Dr
Mahathir's dramatic resignation, and its subsequent retraction 45
minutes later on Saturday night, was simply vintage Mahathir.
Political science professor P. Ramasamy, of the National Univer sity
of Malaysia, said yesterday that although it was the most dramatic, it
was not the first time Dr Mahathir had "played that stunt".
"I don't think he meant (the resignation). He wanted to see the
reaction and he knew that the reaction would be in his favour,"
Professor Ramasamy said.
At the heart of Dr Mahathir's dilemma, say analysts, is a conflict
between his passion for power and a strong desire to choose the moment
of his departure. The Malaysian economy's apparent recovery from the
Asian crisis, along with Dr Mahathir's improved image on the world
stage for his projection of Muslim moderation in the wake of September
11, would allow him to leave on a high note if he stood down this
year, analysts said.
It also would give his successor time to prepare for the next general
election, due in 2004 but expected next year, at a time when the
opposition was in disarray after the death on Sunday of its leader,
Fadzil Noor.
Diplomats and analysts said yesteray Dr Mahathir's successor was still
most likely to be his reliable if uncharismatic deputy, Abdullah
Badawi, although some predicted it would be for a "transition period"
only.
Yap Yok Foo
26 June 2002
Mahathir's tears and fears
Analysis By Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor
THERE is more than a little of the Bob Hawke in Malaysia's redoubtable
Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed.
The strong man who often finds himself in tears, the national leader
pushing his people into uncomfortable reform, the grassroots
campaigner refreshed by direct contact with the electors, above all
the master politician who runs his prime ministership as a public
psycho-drama, bringing the nation into his inner turmoil.
But, for veteran Mahathir watchers, few weeks have been as absorbing,
or rewarding, as this.
The ruling party announced last night that Mr Mahathir would step down
and be replaced by his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, late next year.
That timeframe means about a year and a half more in office, by which
time an election was likely to have been held and all bets about Mr
Mahathir's latest "resignation" would be off.
The Doc's sudden, tearful resignation on Saturday, and then his
withdrawal of that resignation an hour later, after impassioned pleas
for him to stay on by his cabinet colleagues and the UMNO (ruling
party) faithful – this was a scene of grand opera, a Tosca-like
performance, an aria of self-analysis and political melodrama.
It is not necessary to suggest that Mahathir's emotion was fake, to
recall it has happened more than once before that he has broken down
in tears at an UMNO conference. Now that competitive elections are not
held for some key UMNO positions, Mahathir's performances in front of
the mike are the main event that makes the party conference a
compelling, satisfying experience.
Unlike most communal leaders, that is, leaders of a specific ethnic
segment within a larger nation, Mahathir has always been willing to
read astringent lessons to his fellow Malays.
Why don't you work harder? Why are your educational results so poor?
Lift your game. Look how hard your Chi nese neighbours work.
It says something about the semi-feudal Malay style of leadership, the
willingness to be lectured by a learned man, a wise man in the
kampung, that Mahathir could preach these tough lessons to his own
people, lessons he has been preaching since the publication in 1969 of
his extraordinary first book, The Malay Dilemma.
At all times he has made himself the symbol of Malay defiance,
achievement, resentment and ambition, all while following effective
policies.
Once more he is the recipient of heartfelt pleas from his countrymen
to lead them once more, to stay longer. How could he be deaf to such
pleas?
suku
A one-man show that is coming to an end.
The problem is, none of the other actors and actresses know what is the
script after he is gone.
Yap Yok Foo <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:forchusq7epvecad0...@4ax.com...
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 27 June 2002
Mahathir's Long Goodbye
By tearfully quitting all his political posts live on national
television, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has effectively ended his
mandate. Now comes a slow transition, as the centre of gravity in
Malaysian politics shifts to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
By S. Jayasankaran and Michael Vatikiotis/KUALA LUMPUR
MAHATHIR MOHAMAD has always used his speeches to shock and stir
audiences--whether it was lambasting the Western world, carping at
market forces or rousing the party faithful out of apathy. But when,
without warning, he announced his resignation on June 22 in a speech
before his United Malays National Organization, it was more than a
rhetorical flourish: Malaysia turned a corner and entered a period of
political transition.
After 21 years at the helm, Asia's longest-serving leader is on his
way out. On June 25, the Umno secretary-general announced that
Mahathir would remain in office until October 2003. Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi, Mahathir's No. 2 in party and government, was named as his
successor and will officially assume the position of acting prime
minister whenever Mahathir is out of the country.
"Dr. Mahathir has explained that the date for his resignation had been
decided upon to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of power," Umno
Secretary-General Khalil Yaakob announced to a Malaysian public
uncertain what to expect after the weekend drama.
For all Mahathir's power, this has not been an easy manoeuvre. After
the June 22 announcement the party leadership immediately protested,
urging him to stay on. There were intense back-room efforts to have
him reverse the decision formally--which in fact he did not. Instead,
he pulled back from immediate resignation and reached a compromise the
following day, whereby he extended the transition period to nearly 16
months.
The focus now is on the lengthy transition period, and on Mahathir's
role beyond that time-frame. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew initiated a
similar orderly departure from the premiership over a longer period in
the late 1980s, managed to avoid losing effective power while in
office, and continues to exert considerable influence on government
policy as senior minister. Can Mahathir do the same? In 1995, when
asked by the REVIEW if he would contemplate a Singapore-style
handover, he dismissed the idea of a long transition period saying: "I
would become a lame duck."
By tearfully quitting all his political posts live on national
television and before a dumbfounded party assembly, Mahathir
effectively ended his mandate. Like Lee in Singapore, Mahathir is a
commanding political personality and is likely to remain so. But next
to Singapore, Malaysia has a more pluralistic political and corporate
culture, one where patronage continues to play a role. Captains of
industry and the political elite will gravitate towards Abdullah in
due course, which could put pressure on him to act independently of
Mahathir's influence.
The heir apparent dismissed the notion of upstaging Mahathir. "He is
still the prime minister," he told reporters on June 25. "I don't
intend to get ahead of him or project myself in any way."
UNDERESTIMATED DEPUTY?
Umno officials say that Mahathir will use his remaining time to
concentrate on international affairs and strengthening Umno ahead of
general elections due in 2004, which he will not contest. But the
elections will almost certainly be called earlier, given opposition
weakness, which raises questions about the precise length of the
transition period. "His departure could come a lot sooner," suggests
former Deputy Premier Musa Hitam.
Meanwhile, the premier, who will retain his finance portfolio, is
expected to continue his clean-up of the corporate sector. He may
appoint a second finance minister to strengthen the team and work with
Abdullah, says a political insider. There is no indication of what
kind of formal role he will play after he steps down. Close associates
doubt he will assume a formal title as Lee has done, but believe he
will stay engaged.
Filling Mahathir's shoes was never going to be easy, but perhaps
Abdullah has been underestimated. He long ago proved his political
perseverance: He was sacked from the cabinet in 1987 after opposing
Mahathir in party elections, but he won the post of Umno
vice-president, held onto the office, and was re-elected to the post
in 1990. In 1991 Mahathir brought him back into the cabinet. Abdullah
was later thrust into prominence after he replaced his long-time
political rival, Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked in 1998.
Abdullah is well liked by the Malaysian public, who regard him as
incorruptible. Soft-spoken and polite, in government he seeks to forge
consensus and listens to people's views. But his detractors say he is
bland and indecisive, particularly for a country that has grown
accustomed to a certain ruthlessness under Mahathir.
Not everyone agrees. "He is by no means the dupe that some people take
him for," says Abdullah Ahmad, the group editor-in-chief of the New
Straits Times daily.
As a politician, Abdullah Badawi is considered safe but effective on
the campaign trail. He is Mahathir's fourth deputy and has clearly
been mindful of the perils of upstaging the boss. In contrast to
Anwar, his supporters are low-key--Abdullah complains privately about
people trying to use his name to advance their business interests.
Though Abdullah is untested as a leader, the prospect of serious party
infighting after Mahathir's exit is considered remote. "Umno members
will rally around Abdullah Badawi," says Azim Zabedi, a senior member
of Umno's youth wing and the chairman of the National Savings Bank.
"Anything less will be seen as un-Malay."
Party polls in Umno are scheduled for next year and could even
coincide with Mahathir's departure. Abdullah technically could be
challenged, but is unlikely to be beaten. Significantly, he received a
boost from the supreme councils of both Umno and the ruling National
Front coalition when they unanimously endorsed him as the next premier
on June 25.
Abdullah is unlikely to change Mahathir's pro-business and investment
policies. He also shares Mahathir's concern about the need to combat
intolerance and ignorance among Muslim Malays, and a commitment to
pluralism that will be critical to winning confidence among non-Malays
and in the region.
Within the party, political analysts also think that Abdullah will
allow Umno to choose his deputy in both party and government. The
favourite is Defence Minister Najib Razak, one of three party
vice-presidents.
Nevertheless, the transition period will be coloured by lingering
uncertainty. Mahathir's announcement illustrated a stark downside to
his longevity: the notion that he is indispensable to the country.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, in welcoming Mahathir's
decision to stay in office, said: "At this stage, the region cannot
live with political uncertainty in another country. Not after
Indonesia, that would be very bad for the region."
The initial uncertainty spooked bond and equity markets and stoked
criticism of Mahathir's exit strategy. The local bourse fell 2.4% when
the markets opened on June 24 and was still falling a day after the
new plan was announced. "This is a totally irresponsible way to go,"
grumbled one Malay businessman who was dismayed by the premier's
emotional farewell. "There should have been more consultation, people
should be forewarned."
Other analysts have been more charitable. Mahathir was about one hour
into a routine winding-up address when he said he had an important
announcement to make, and dropped the bombshell. "It's clear he was
reading from a prepared script," says a former Umno minister. "That
means he'd thought it through and he may have made everything clear if
he was just allowed to."
Mahathir never finished his speech. He was overcome by emotion and
then mobbed by senior party officials. Some party insiders believe
that if he had continued, Mahathir would have announced his departure
by year's end and called on the party to support his successor,
Abdullah.
It's not the first time that an emotional Mahathir has threatened
resignation. Ahead of the 1995 general election, he grew frustrated
with a demonstration against him by his own Umno division in Kedah
state and threatened to quit. It took his wife and Deputy Premier
Anwar to talk him out of it, according to a senior party official who
was present. That episode was out of the public eye. Mahathir's
resignation this time was so public and emotional that most people saw
it as genuine and quickly ruled out political theatre.
Mahathir's associates say that he has always been conscious of his
place in history and had wanted to leave on a high note. "He has often
talked about leaders who fell in disgrace and I took it to mean that
you should always leave when you are on top," says former Deputy Prime
Minister Musa.
Mahathir has bounced back after the sacking and jailing of the popular
Anwar and the imposition of capital controls that damaged his image at
home and abroad. His low point was the 1999 general election, when
Umno returned its worst-ever showing. Today, disquiet over Anwar
lingers, but has lost political steam. Meanwhile, the economy is
recovering and Mahathir's international stature has never been higher.
For years the popular notion was that Mahathir intended to go on and
on. Indeed, given his present stature, he could have easily done so.
It's a view that alarmed many analysts. "It's better this way than if
he dropped dead in office," says Paul Schymyck, a regional economist.
"The latter would have been far worse in terms of uncertainty."
By allowing a smooth transition, Mahathir did Abdullah a big favour,
giving him time to consolidate his political support. Moreover,
Mahathir's exit will take away the opposition's main target.
Mahathir may have also saved himself from further attacks by the
opposition. "He has used up all his nine lives and he's not getting
any younger," says a businessman who knows the premier. "Now is the
time to go."
In this case, "now" might not come for 16 months. And after 21 years,
many Malaysians still find it hard to believe that Mahathir will
actually go.
"I've always maintained that Mahathir would die in office but he will
still be around for a while and a week is a long time in politics,"
says Abdullah Ahmad, the newspaper editor. "And, who knows, maybe
he'll change his mind."
Yap Yok Foo
DEATH HURTS THE ISLAMIC OPPOSITION
A CONSERVATIVE STEPS INTO THE SHOES OF A MODERATE
By S. Jayasankaran and Leslie Lopez
For the already battered opposition, the death on June 23 of Fadzil
Noor, Malaysia's opposition leader and the president of the Islamic
Party, or Pas, could mark a body blow to its hopes of denting the
ruling National Front coalition in the next general elections.
Fadzil, 65, came across as a moderate in a party filled with hardline
clerics, and often acted as a bridge between Pas, which espouses an
Islamic state in Malaysia, and its more secular allies in opposition.
His moderate face played a part in prompting many non-Malays to vote
for the Pas-dominated opposition alliance in the 1999 general
election.
In contrast, his putative successor, Abdul Hadi Awang, 54, who is
currently Pas's deputy president, is burly and bearded, a turbaned
cleric with piercing eyes who eschews Malay or Western dress for Arab
robes. Hadi led the party's push for hudud law, which prescribes death
by stoning for adultery and hand amputation for theft.
In short, Hadi makes a great many people uncomfortable. What's more,
his image as a conservative Islamic leader may have become a political
liability since the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.
"Our chances weren't getting any better," laments a senior member of
the opposition Keadilan party, which is still in a formal alliance
with Pas. "But if Hadi becomes the Pas chief, they'll vaporize by the
day." (The opposition alliance now comprises only three parties: Pas,
Keadilan and the small People's Party.)
Former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam thinks that Hadi, by scaring
away moderate Muslims, could actually help its arch-rival, the United
Malays National Organization, once Abdullah Ahmad Badawi becomes
premier. "Abdullah may portray himself as a Malay nationalist but he's
got Islamic credentials," says Musa. "It will attract a lot of Malays
back to Umno."
Moreover, Hadi, unlike the late Fadzil, is confrontational when it
comes to relations with Umno. In a now-famous sermon in the early
1980s he declared that Umno Malays were infidels because, among other
things, they worked with non-believers.
The memory of this sermon does not help when Pas, which rules two
states, needs to open doors with the Umno-dominated federal
government. In the mid-May opening of a petroleum complex in
Terengganu state, where Hadi is chief minister, guest-of-honour Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad pointedly snubbed him. That would not have
happened with Fadzil.
Even so, Hadi's regular Friday sermons in the Terengganu hamlet of
Rusila draw large crowds who venerate him as an Islamic scholar. But
the unspoken worry among some opposition supporters is whether his
brand of uncompromising Islam will radicalize the party, dooming it
for ever to Malaysia's fringes.
As if to pass on the message, the eulogies to Fadzil were laudatory.
Even Mahathir joined in the chorus. Fadzil would have appreciated the
irony. Two months before his death he recalled that Mahathir, who is
also from Kedah state, was his family doctor before the two men
entered politics. "Mahathir was a good doctor then," quipped Fadzil.
"And he should return to practice."
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 4 July 2002
TALES FROM THE MALAY PENINSULA
By Michael Vatikiotis
The Merlion and the Hibiscus: Contemporary Short Stories from
Singapore and Malaysia, edited by Dipika Mukherjee, Kirpal Singh, and
M.A. Quayum. Penguin Books, India. Rs 250. ($5.11)
Much successful modern writing comes in the form of exotica of one
type or another. Unfamiliar histories and colourful domestic dramas
set in the steamy Subcontinent fill the pages of award-winning
literature, adding spice to the cappuccino aroma that pervades modern
book-buying. Curiously absent from these lists, however, is one of the
truly exotic settings for modern writing in Southeast Asia.
The Malay Peninsula was once fertile ground for great authors like
Conrad and Greene. Today, its relative literary neglect is all the
more remarkable considering that Malaysia and Singapore are among the
few countries in Asia where English is an official medium of
expression-more or less. Happily Penguin has taken the plunge and
brought together this delightful collection of stories by writers from
both countries. It was a good bet on high-quality writing, though
readers less acquainted with local culture and history may miss some
of the nuances.
"Stories of complaint and lamentation" promise the collection's
editors. These are multiracial societies with post-colonial hang-ups,
so what comes across is a mix of masked prejudice and unfulfillment.
All the stories in one way or another build on the insecure nature of
these two societies. They charm with the absence of arrogance, but
frustrate with their equivocation.
There are stories that convey mixed feelings about the former English
colonial overlords-as in Gopal Baratham's "The Interview" and M.
Shanmughalingam's "Victoria and her Kimono." Both stories reflect on
the Japanese occupation, which left people of the peninsula feeling
ambivalent over which was preferable-British colonial rule or Japanese
overlordship. "I not only think English, I even see English," muses
the Tamil schoolteacher in "Victoria and her Kimono." Yet, he is saved
from execution at the hands of the Japanese army by his wife, speaking
Japanese and wearing a kimono. Her only perception of English was of a
language spoken badly by the villains in popular Tamil movies.
A more contemporary theme dwells on the complex family chemistry of
the Straits Chinese-one that leads writers like Shirley Geok Lim,
Simon Tay and Hwee Hwee Tan into labyrinths created by second
marriages and the wider Chinese diaspora. There's a striking
candidness about these writers and often more than a hint of sexual
impropriety, which takes readers behind the screen, corroding those
much-vaunted traditional family values.
Absent for the most part are the heavy political themes of freedom and
religious tolerance that often dominate coffee shop conversations. The
editors possibly wished to avoid controversy-and ensure that the book
escaped banning by prickly authorities. Yet traces of dissent appear,
as in the charming and poetic "AWOL" by Singapore writer Umej Bhatia,
whose story dwells on the boredom of adolescent existence in
Singapore's public housing estates, and Catherine Lim's delicious
send-up of Singapore's cultural minders.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 4 July 2002
Editorials
Mahathir and His Retirement Plans
Malaysians worry too much about politics without their long-time
premier
APART FROM THE SUDDENNESS of his announcement, Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's on-off-delayed retirement plans should be
neither a surprise nor a reason to fret. The same goes for his
eventual replacement by his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Speculation already was rife in the mid-1990s that Dr. Mahathir was
preparing to retire. Then came the Asian financial crisis. After he
had spent more than a decade nurturing a Third World natural-resources
producer into a manufacturing economy (with plans to go beyond that),
it became unlikely Dr. Mahathir would leave just yet. Five years on,
though, things have changed. The economy has perked up as export
demand revives; criticism about local companies is being addressed.
Moreover, the prime minister's party, the United Malays National
Organization, has seen its fortunes improve as dissatisfaction with
the party and Dr. Mahathir over Anwar Ibrahim's sacking wanes and the
party begins to pick up new, younger members. Now would appear to be a
good time for Dr. Mahathir to declare his innings closed.
Yet for some this has raised the issue of economic stability. Can Mr.
Abdullah complete the corporate clean-up and fix any lingering worries
about the economy? But policy continuity was as much the issue five
years ago when Mr. Anwar was seen as the heir apparent, for instance.
Later, Mr. Anwar's dismissal prompted the disappointment that policy
wouldn't change after all. Analysts can be a fickle lot.
That said, policy is fleshed out and executed by the bureaucracy. So
unless Mr. Abdullah has other thoughts about the economy, and the
indications are that he doesn't differ with Dr. Mahathir on this,
policy isn't about to change. (But no doubt, it won't be long before
analysts again begin to wonder whether any part of that policy
actually should change, such being the nature of punditry.)
Another issue for Umno is the politics of Islam as represented by Pas,
the Islamic party. Pas has been trying to paint Umno into a corner.
Terengganu, one of two states it controls, is now planning a bill that
will put Muslim alleged criminals under Islamic-court jurisdiction.
However, criminal law is a federal matter and states have no right to
legislate on acts already covered by federal law. To be sure,
Terengganu's leadership must know this and probably is waiting for the
Umno-led federal government to nix it--as it must by the
constitution--and then decry Umno as "insufficiently" Islamic.
Already, Dr. Mahathir has said, "We will study the powers vested in
the federal government and if it has the power, the government will
obstruct the implementation of the proposed bill which is unfair [and]
against the teachings of Islam." Yet the balance between conservative
and progressive Islam long has been an issue in Malaysia, certainly
before Dr. Mahathir became prime minister; it'll continue to be one
regardless of when he retires.
That notwithstanding, given Mr. Abdullah's credentials he may have an
easier job of wooing Muslim voters to the Islamic centre. The deputy
premier read Islamic studies in university before entering the civil
service, and more importantly comes from a family of noted Islamic
scholars.
Malaysians feistily defend themselves as a democracy. In democracies
what counts is institutional stability, not any one person's tenure as
leader. Dr. Mahathir's impending retirement should let Malaysia show
that the formal structure of its politics is robust. Though his
administration has been good to Malaysians, who have seen their
incomes rise since two decades ago, the institutions are in place for
them to get on without him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consumers
Saving less and spending more, Asians are changing their economies
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, the almost constant refrain is the "China threat"
to the region's economic growth. To be sure, at as little as 25 cents
an hour China's workers are cheap and are steadily pushing aside
others. Even Mexican maquiladora factories producing for the Nafta
market are finding better competitive advantages in China. Yet fears
are overblown.
More to the point, as we report in our quarterly Where to Put Your
Money section (see page 36), canny stockpickers have discovered
something about regional economies that hasn't yet become so apparent
to those fretting about China. The region's economy is coming of age.
The low-interest rate environment that replaced the initial IMF
knee-jerk reaction to the Asian Crisis has sparked a nascent consumer
boom. For starters, while buying a home has long been a priority with
families, an Asian home today is markedly different in feel from 30
years ago. Then, owning a house was more a matter of security; today's
homes however are furnished beyond basic necessities. As Asians snap
up durables like washing machines they also save less and are fuelling
growth in new areas of the economy.
Certainly, export manufacturing will continue to be important, though
in products less dependent on the cheapest labour input. But
importantly, a new consumer power is rounding out regional economies
in ways that will stand them in better stead as more mature.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 4 July 2002
JOB INSECURITY
By Trish Saywell
The resignation on June 23 of DBS Bank's chief executive, Philippe
Paillart, has sent Singapore's rumour mill into overdrive. Paillart,
50, joined Southeast Asia's biggest lender in July 2000 and became CEO
in January 2001. His resignation confirms rumours last year that he
was on the way out at DBS.
Paillart, a Frenchman, is the fourth foreigner to quit a Singapore
bank and the second at DBS. "It's kind of worrisome that this foreign
talent isn't able to stick," says an analyst. Adds a fund manager:
"You can't rule out that it had to do with the challenges of changing
local banks--their culture, management and operations."
Whatever the real reason, it is true that Paillart's first year on the
job was not problem-free. DBS Bank botched an attempt to take over
rival Overseas Union Bank last July, and shareholders complain that
the bank overpaid to buy Dao Heng Bank in Hong Kong.
All the same, many analysts say Paillart did pretty well. Some say the
motivating force for his departure was Ho Ching, the new executive
director of the government's holding company, Temasek. Ho is trying to
enhance value to shareholders at companies like DBS in which the
government has ownership. Was infighting between Paillart and Jackson
Tai, the bank's chief operating officer, partly responsible? Tai, an
American citizen, was passed over when Paillart was originally named
CEO. This time, he got the top job. He becomes the third foreigner to
lead DBS in four years. Sounds like an organization in search of
leadership.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 4 July 2002
TRAVELLERS' TALES
By Nury Vittachi
TWO'S COMPANY: There was an unwelcome guest at a wedding party in
Manila--the bridegroom's real wife. It was an awkward scene. The man
who had just got married, talent agent Esmeraldo Lantaje Jr., put his
arm around his blushing bride at the start of the reception at the
Coconut Palace restaurant. Suddenly his estranged wife, Querobin Ruiz
Lantaje, 35, strolled into the room--and accompanying her were a group
of police officers and an entire television crew.
Querobin introduced herself to the confused bride, brandished her
marriage certificate and explained that she and her husband were still
legally married.
But, as you know, people in the Philippines take romance seriously.
The assembled guests decided that since the couple had been separated
for five years, the fact that Querobin was legally married to
Esmeraldo Lantaje did not entitle her to spoil her husband's wedding
to another woman.
So when police moved to arrest the man for bigamy, guests refused to
let them. The Coconut Palace manager asked the officers to leave the
premises and stop spoiling the party. They meekly did as they were
told.
The law enforcers apparently didn't make much of an impression. One of
the officers, Alberto Sambilon, later told the Philippines Daily
Inquirer that the party started up again as if nothing had happened.
"I heard the newlyweds went off on honeymoon," he said. Love conquers
all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poster showing a bearded guru saying
"In 5 years time you could be 12 years younger"
OLD UNWISE: This advertisement in the Wentworth Courier, Sydney,
rather begs a question, I heard from reader Andrew Wortham. If the
guru's get-young technique really works, why doesn't he use it
himself?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BAD TO WORSE: A Vietnamese man who felt he had had more than his share
of bad luck suddenly realized where his good fortune had gone--his
grandfather had stolen it. Tran Van Khoa, 48, pleaded guilty to
strangling his 107-year-old grandfather, Reuters said. His last words
to his aged relative were: "You have lived too long and seized all the
luck which should have gone to your children." The beastly act didn't
improve the man's luck. He was sentenced to death.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIM CHANCE: A woman fell onto a railway track in Osaka--but her
skinniness saved. The 62-year-old woman suffered a dizzy spell and
fell into the path of a subway train at Imasato Station. "The driver
of the train noticed the woman had fallen and set off the emergency
brakes, but cringed in horror as he saw the train pass over the top of
her and continue for a further 20 metres," the Mainichi Shimbun
reported. But railway staff discovered that the woman had escaped
unscathed. The vertical gap of just 32 centimetres--about 12
inches--between the train and the rails was room enough for her to
remain unharmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOM TOWN: Youngsters in some parts of India are using landmines to
blackmail their parents. The pitch goes like this: "You buy me a
Gameboy/bicycle/Playstation II or I'm going for a walk in the Disputed
Area right now." Horrified parents, who live on the India-Pakistan
border, quickly give in to their demands rather than see their
offspring blown up.
One petulant teenager who was refused a motorbike stormed into a
heavily mined field to kill himself and had to be rescued by the army.
A pair of young lovers also headed for the minefields, threatening to
play landmine hopscotch if they were refused permission to get
married. "Children know they can extract anything from their parents
if they threaten to walk into the danger area," farmer Harnam Singh
told the Dainik Ujala newspaper.
Army officials resent the extra work they face with young people
deliberately blowing themselves up. "As if the problem of terrorists
crossing the border was not enough," one lamented. "We hope youngsters
will become more serious and give up the silly practice."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SWEET HEAVENS: Green rain fell on the village of Sangrampur, 60
kilometres north of Calcutta. Two days later, another emerald-hued
shower of rain fell on the hamlet. Residents feared some deadly
poisonous chemical was causing them great harm. D. Chakraborty, chief
scientist of the state's pollution control board, was sent to
investigate. He told Reuters that the droplets had been discharged
"from a large swarm of bees flying overhead." They were yellowy-green
because they contained pollen and honey. All of a sudden, biblical
tales of manna from heaven start to sound possible.
Next: Sangrampur residents are spotted standing outdoors brandishing
gently steaming buttered pancakes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIGH CHAIR: Reader Helen Kuchel told us about this new contraption on
sale in Shenzhen, China, for turning squat toilets into Western
thrones. "It's nicely collapsible, but would you carry it around with
you for that little emergency?" she asked.
Yap Yok Foo
at the Italy-Korea match has been shot 30 times
Is there any truth in this
I know that referee ought to be shot (for sending off Henry of
France/Arsenal) but this is too much
Stephen Lim
wrote:
The mafia has strike again!
---------
To email me : ker...@pd.nospam.jaring.my; You know how to get to me.
Bill
"Yap Yok Foo" <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:i99mhu8pdrndf0pv1...@4ax.com...
Jason Chong
>
> It is reported on Chinese Newspaper today at China Press.
>
This one ?
http://sports.online.sh.cn/sports/gb/content/2002-06/27/content_380934.htm
Bill
They said this is a romour.
"Jason Chong" <c...@pc.jaring.my> wrote in message
news:3D1C05...@pc.jaring.my...
Yap Yok Foo
Issue Jun 25th 2002
The doctor decides to go
After several days of confusion, it has been announced that Mahathir
Mohamad will step down next year as Malaysia’s prime minister. The
departure of one of the world’s longest-serving leaders follows the
transformation of his country into a modern Asian nation. Yet Dr
Mahathir’s successor faces some tough problems boiling up at home
IN THE end it was always going to be his own decision. Having defied
tradition for most of his two decades in power, Malaysia’s leader,
Mahathir Mohamad, will step down late next year, his party announced
on Tuesday June 25th. This followed a bizarre flip-flop over the
weekend, when a tearful Dr Mahathir dramatically quit at a party
conference, only to retract his resignation an hour later. But this
time, it seems, he really is going. Although Malaysia is a relatively
small country, with a population of just 23m, Dr Mahathir has been a
giant in Asian politics—he is the region’s longest-serving elected
leader. His departure marks a turning-point for South-East Asia.
Dr Mahathir, who is 76, has led Malaysia for 21 years. In that time he
has built his county into one of Asia’s most successful economies.
Along the way, he has wrenched power from the country’s traditional
rulers, the sultans, wrestled with its judiciary and civil service,
spoken out against globalisation during the 1997-1998 Asian financial
crisis and outmanoeuvred a series of potential successors, the most
recent being his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving 15 years
in prison on charges of corruption and sodomy. Mr Anwar claims that he
was framed for trying to challenge his leader.
Dr Mahathir’s new deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, will take over as
prime minister and leader of the party, the United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO). Dr Mahathir will step down after he hosts the
summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, which opens in
Malaysia on October 24th 2003. The exact date is not known, but UMNO
said Dr Mahathir will take two months leave ahead of his resignation
in order to hand over to Mr Badawi. This will ensure a smooth
transition of power, said Mr Badawi.
It is expected that Dr Mahathir, who has left Malaysia for a
Mediterranean holiday, will now leave much of the day-to-day running
of the country to Mr Badawi. He is a 62-year-old Islamic scholar and
is less well-known abroad. But Mr Badawi has wide experience. He has
been in parliament for 24 years and held a number of ministerial
posts, including education, defence and foreign affairs.
Dr Mahathir, a general practitioner by training, is leaving having
restored his reputation from the tarnishing it received over the
imposition of currency controls during the financial crisis and the
jailing of Mr Anwar. Having strongly backed the US-led war on
terrorism, Dr Mahathir is now widely admired at home and abroad as a
moderate and progressive Muslim leader. Critics accuse him of having
used the war to profit politically at the expense of the main Islamic
opposition party, some of whose members have been arrested as
suspected extremists.
The challenge from Islamic groups is one of two big problems that have
come to haunt UMNO, which leads a ruling coalition of parties. UMNO is
trying to reverse a rise in popularity of the main Islamic party, PAS.
At the last general election, in 1999, PAS made a number of gains and
captured control of its second of the 13 Malaysian states. The death
of the leader of PAS, Fadzil Noor, on June 23rd could mark a shift
towards more extreme politics. Mr Fadzil was viewed as a moderate,
compared with some of the hardline clerics in the party who want to
make Malaysia an Islamic state. Fresh elections could be held next
year.
The other issue confronting the government is the controversy being
caused by plans to try to boost Malaysian competitiveness. This
includes increasing the use of English in schools instead of Malay,
and unwinding some of the special privileges and affirmative-action
policies which were granted to Malays to help them progress in
business and public services. UMNO draws its support from Malays, who
make up nearly 60% of the country’s population. Ethnic-Chinese
Malaysians, who make up only about a quarter of the population, hold a
disproportionate share of the wealth.
Once Dr Mahathir retires, the plan is for him to withdraw to the role
of an elder statesman, said UNMO officials. This would not be a formal
cabinet post, like that held by Singapore’s senior minister and former
leader, Lee Kuan Yew. Dr Mahathir has long said that he has no
intention of following Mr Lee into such an official position. It may
be that the good doctor has finally tired of doling out the medicine
needed constantly to drive Malaysia on to bigger and better things.
But somehow, it seems hard to imagine that he will ever take a back
seat in the running of his country.
Yap Yok Foo
4 July 2002
Hello again, I'm quitting: Mahathir
By Kimina Lyall, South-East Asia correspondent
MAHATHIR Mohamad's party faithful greeted him with garlands of flowers
and cheers yesterday morning, but the warm welcome home failed to sway
the Malaysian Prime Minister from his retirement schedule.
Dr Mahathir, who left Malaysia the day after a dramatic resignation
speech at his party's meeting last month, returned home early
yesterday to banners proclaiming: "Welcome home, hero of our homeland"
and "Dr M we love you".
In the ceremonial welcome broadcast live on local television,
thousands of members of the United Malay National Organisation and
ordinary Malaysians turned out at the Subang air base, where Dr
Mahathir arrived back in a government jet from a 10-day sailing cruise
on the Mediterranean.
In a 10-minute speech to the enthusiastic crowd, he said his decision
was final. "I have decided the decision I made is the best for all of
us – for the country, the people, for the joint development in this
country."
Looking relaxed and refreshed – in stark contrast to his last public
appearance, where he broke down in tears – he insisted his departure
next October would be a complete exit from politics.
"I have already made it very clear that when I leave, I leave
completely," he said.
It was his first public comments since the dramatic events of last
month, when he unexpectedly and publicly offered a resignation that
was rejected by the party.
Dr Mahathir confirmed a compromise deal, announced during his absence
last week, in which he would hand over to his deputy, Abdullah Badawi,
after an Organisation of the Islamic Conference meeting in Kuala
Lumpur in October next year.
He told the media that in the pandemonium that followed his
resignation attempt, he had asked for a one-month transition period,
but eventually agreed to an extended handover. Many analysts had
predicted Dr Mahathir would stay in office until he died, but the
76-year-old said he had served for long enough.
"I think 21 years is quite a long time for a prime minister," Dr
Mahathir said.
"I believed I would have to go for some time, and that this was as
good time as any."
The Prime Minister said he had asked Mr Abdullah "some time back, if
he was ready to take over and he stated his readiness to take over".
But he gave no hint of whether general elections – due in 2004 but
expected by most analysts next year – would be held before or after
his departure.
Dr Mahathir revealed flashes of his old dynamism, responding to a
question about whether Australia would have a chance of entering the
Association of South-East Asian Nations after his departure from
office by laughing: "Once you become Asian, we will think about that."
Asked why he had been so emotional at the party conference, the
76-year-old leader said: "Parting is always a sad thing. Being
associated a whole three-quarters of my lifetime with the party, of
course I felt rather sad that I would have to take this decision.
Also, I am getting old, people will get emotional."
Observers said yesterday they believed Dr Mahathir's break had allowed
him to find peace with his decision, and that it appeared most
Malaysians had also come to accept it was time to face life without
their charismatic leader.
Dr Mahathir's jailed former deputy, Anwar Ibraham, told the
independent internet news site Malaysiakini that Mr Abdullah was the
"safest bet" for successor but predicted there would be much jostling
for the deputy's post.
Yap Yok Foo
THE NEW FRONTIER
BIOMEDICS COULD BE THE NEXT BIG THING
By Trish Saywell
New guidelines on stem-cell research are cementing Singapore's dream
of becoming an international centre for biomedical research. On June
21, a government-appointed ethics committee recommended that
scientists in Singapore could withdraw stem cells from adult human
tissues, aborted foetuses and surplus embryos from fertility treatment
as long as the embryos were less than 14 days old. The committee also
said that scientists should be allowed to obtain stem cells from
existing cell lines and by using cloning technology--or "therapeutic
cloning" to create human embryos for research on a case-by-case basis.
If the recommendations are accepted, Singapore will have some of the
most liberal stem-cell research guidelines in the world.
Singapore already is one of the few countries in the world with
stem-cell lines. The cells contain genetic instructions and can be
coaxed into becoming any of the 210 tissue types found in the human
body. They offer a way of repairing or replacing damaged tissue and
even organs.
In March, Alan Colman, one of the famous team of scientists that
cloned Dolly the sheep, left Scotland and moved to Singapore to gain
access to the government's deep pool of biotech funds and pursue his
research on stem-cell therapies for diabetes. He joined ES Cell
International, or ESI, a biotech company partly owned by the
government of Singapore. ESI is one of only about 10 groups listed by
the United States National Institutes of Health that have stem-cell
lines eligible for federal funding.
But it's not just stem-cell research that is turning heads. Singapore
has landed a number of other world-renowned experts in a number of
scientific and medical disciplines to pursue their research dreams
there. It has attracted Edison Liu from his post as director of
clinical sciences at the U.S. National Cancer Institute to head up
Singapore's new Genome Institute. And Professor Yoshiaki Ito, director
of the Institute for Virus Research at the University of Kyoto, has
recently joined Singapore's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.
The government's Economic Development Board, through its
venture-capital arm, is pumping money into the industry. It's
earmarked S$2 billion ($1.1 billion) to invest in biomedical companies
and to use as incentives to attract a handful of corporate research
centres to Singapore. It is also investing S$1.5 billion in biomedical
research at its National Science and Technology Board. Last year
biomedical-related products made up 5% of manufacturing output, or
S$6.6 million, and the EDB wants to double that figure by 2010.
Can Singapore achieve the same success in biotech as it has in other
government-directed industries such as electronics? Some argue it may
not be the best bet for the future. "It's a tough industry and much
more volatile than information technology," says Clifford Tan of
Salomon Smith Barney in Singapore. "I've heard the word biotech come
up in Taiwan, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam.
How many biotech centres can we have in Asia? I just wouldn't get my
hopes up way too high on results."
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 11 July 2002
Re-Imagining Singapore
After decades of heady growth, last year's economic contraction came
as a shock to the city state. It not only laid bare the risks of an
over-reliance on electronic exports but underscored the limits to a
state-directed model of growth
By Trish Saywell and David Plott/SINGAPORE
PITY THE GOVERNMENT of Singapore. It has spent nearly four decades
micro-managing its people to create one of Asia's most disciplined and
prosperous societies. Now it needs to undo some of the collateral
damage done by that state-directed, "nanny" capitalism.
Singaporean leaders now talk openly about the need to instil a spirit
of risk-taking and entrepreneurship if the island-state is to remain
competitive. Lifelong employment in government-linked companies or in
the civil service can no longer be taken for granted, they argue.
Instead of guaranteeing economic security and an atmosphere of
certainty in exchange for popular support, the government is now
telling its people they need to think and act for themselves.
"We need to be comfortable with greater untidiness in society," says
Raymond Lim, minister of state for trade and industry and foreign
affairs. "We need to celebrate diversity and appreciate that, as a
government, we should not be overly preoccupied with trying to reduce
uncertainty for our people."
But in a society where the influence of government is so pervasive,
and where it is commonplace for people to look to government to
engineer solutions to problems, this will require radical change. It
will require rewriting the social contract between government and
citizens.
"It's a change of mindset," says Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
in an interview with the Review. "You are in a new situation and you
must realize that. It's not going to be as comfortable and effortless
as before, but opportunities are still there and you have to cope with
the challenges as they come."
After clocking 10% economic growth in 2000, Singapore's economy shrank
last year by 2.2%, the largest decline in the country's
post-independence history. The world downturn, along with the
terrorist attacks of September 11, sent the economy into a tailspin.
Among other things, the downturn showed key structural flaws in an
economy where electronics make up 50% of total domestic exports.
Unemployment hit a 15-year high of 4.7% in December and could go as
high as 6% this year. Retraining is an option, but it will be
difficult. Of Singapore's 2 million-strong workforce, about 40% lack a
full secondary-school education.
"The problem is manufacturing activities they have sought to excel in
can be performed by competitors in neighbouring economies where costs
are lower," says Tim Condon, chief economist at ING Financial Markets
in Hong Kong. "If they don't confront this threat, manufacturing
activities will be bid away."
Government leaders also recognize that Southeast Asia is no longer the
engine of growth it was prior to the Asian financial crisis, when
Singapore provided financial and other services to Indonesia, Malaysia
and Thailand. Singapore's growth engines--which have yielded average
annual growth rates of around 9% since independence--are clearly
slowing. The question is how the government, which has played such a
dominant role in directing the successful development of key sectors
of the economy, is going to position the country to be less vulnerable
going forward. To remain competitive, Singapore acknowledges it must
create a pool of entrepreneurs, something its policies have
inadvertently discouraged in the past.
"In Singapore, if someone is a successful employee in a big company
and leaves to start on his own, his friends ask him, 'What went wrong?
Why are you leaving?'," says Lim. "In Taiwan, if someone is a
successful employee in a big company and stays there, his friends ask
him, 'What went wrong? Why are you still there?' Therein lies the
difference."
Michael Leong knows the feeling all too well. Trained as a doctor in
Britain, he gave up a very well paid job with stock options to set up
shareinvestor.com, an Internet-technology provider. "Everybody thought
I was crazy to give it all away to run a business--it was a totally
different mindset," he says. "We don't take risks very well as a
people." Singaporeans lack the "animal instinct" for survival that
comes with difficult times, he adds. "Things are too comfortable in
Singapore and too many things have been provided. They should let
people compete."
But how willing is the government to radically change the system? The
reflex to control is fundamental to Singapore's political culture,
where the government regulates everything from chewing gum to when a
single woman is allowed to buy an apartment and requires permits for
individuals to express their opinions at its Speaker's Corner.
While the government says it wants to promote a new class of
entrepreneurs, it seems reluctant to alter the foundations of the
system--its high savings rate, state dominance and direction of the
economy and an education system that has rewarded rote-learning and
examination results over creative thinking. The core problem may be
that the government itself is wary of abandoning a business model that
has worked so successfully in the past, despite the fact that
globalization and greater competition abroad threaten to undermine the
country's prosperity. In short, the government itself is facing the
need for a change in mindset.
Last November Singapore set up an Economic Review Committee headed by
Deputy Prime Minister Lee--who is the son of Senior Minister Lee Kuan
Yew, as well as the country's finance minister and chairman of its
central bank--to look at ways of remaking the economy. "We're always
running on a treadmill," says Ng Eng Hen, minister of state for
education and manpower and a member of the ERC. "We have to remain
extremely fit or find new ways of running faster."
Singapore's leaders are the first to admit they need to retool the
economy. But that is being held back, economists say, by the country's
excessive savings rate. They argue that a key to unleashing
entrepreneurial forces is to free up and redirect some of the enormous
pools of capital held by both the government and individuals.
Singapore has huge fiscal surpluses that even the International
Monetary Fund says are well in excess of what the government needs.
The country's gross national savings rate of 51.5%, including the
fiscal surplus and the national pension scheme, is the highest in the
world. "The government should be looking at how to make more domestic
savings available for investment within Singapore itself," says Graham
Parry, Asian economist at Lehman Brothers in Tokyo. "At the moment,
running current-account surpluses of more than 20% of GDP means
Singapore is in effect exporting 20% of its savings to other countries
which would be better off deployed domestically."
While the government has adopted recent ERC recommendations to cut
corporate and individual tax rates to 20% within the next three years,
economists argue that the moves aren't fast or bold enough and the
government should be much more aggressive in reducing its fiscal
surplus and providing incentives for new industries. "They have to be
moving quicker than that and they have the resources to do it," argues
Parry. "They haven't got over the idea that they have a need for
excessive savings."
Efforts by the government to redeploy some of the savings in the
national pension scheme, meanwhile, have been stymied by the innate
conservatism of Singaporeans themselves. In an effort to promote the
development of a domestic mutual-fund industry, the government in 1997
said Singaporeans could invest a portion of their contributions to the
Central Provident Fund (CPF) in approved private-sector investment
vehicles. But at the end of December 2001, Singaporeans had chosen to
invest only about 28% of eligible funds in the private sector. Much of
the rest of it sits in the CPF, where the compound annual real returns
between 1983 and 2000 averaged a meagre 1.8%, notes Mukul Asher, an
economist at the National University of Singapore.
If even a fraction of outstanding funds in the CPF accounts were to be
invested elsewhere, argue economists like Christopher Gee, country
strategist for ING Financial Markets in Singapore, new income streams
would be generated. Singapore's financial-services sector would be the
first to benefit through fees and commissions. Banks, insurance
companies and other financial-services providers could get a slice of
the CPF pie by selling financial products to CPF members.
Most economists predict the government won't change the national
pension system fundamentally, though it might graft some elements of a
private pension scheme onto the CPF system. "I don't think you want to
reduce the savings rate just for the sake of reducing it," says Lee.
"There's a reason why we have a high savings rate . . . 40%
contribution to the CPF looks high, but don't forget it includes the
housing and health-care elements. If you take that into account, it's
not really excessive."
Economists also argue that if the Singaporean government is serious
about creating a culture of risk-taking among its people, it needs to
rethink its own commanding influence over the economy. The very
existence of government-linked companies, or GLCs, discourages the
emergence of a vibrant private sector. "Entrepreneurship has been
stifled," says Arthur Woo, an economist at HSBC in Singapore. "What's
the incentive for a private businessman to go in if the government is
going to clean his clock. That's the problem with heavy state
ownership in the economy."
Rajeev Malik, senior economist for Asia-Pacific Economic and Policy
Research at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Singapore, moreover, says fear of
failure is steering Singaporeans to perceived safe careers. "Risk
aversion has to reverse. Most bright kids end up either working for
multinational corporations or for the Singapore government. [Fear of]
the risk of failing is way too high," he says.
Through its investment arm, Temasek Holdings, the government holds
significant stakes in almost every major business sector--from ports,
banks, airlines, telecoms, media, shipping and utilities. Its
blue-chip listed firms include Singapore Airlines, DBS Group Holdings
and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. Temasek also owns unlisted
firms, including port operator PSA Corp. Temasek has stakes in about
70 companies. Their listed assets alone represent S$60 billion ($33.52
billion) in market capitalization.
While the government claims the GLCs are well-run commercial
enterprises, some economists argue they have produced poor returns on
equity compared to other markets in the region over the past decade.
It's unlikely, however, that the government will prove willing to
significantly reduce its equity stake in the economy, analysts say.
One reason may be that the careers of many influential
Singaporeans--some of them former government officials or relatives of
government officials--are tied to these companies. "Having set up the
GLCs, there's obviously a very strong interest group within the
economy to delay the pace of pushing those assets into the private
sector," says Condon of ING Financial Markets in Hong Kong.
Moreover, the government is using GLCs to spearhead the expansion of
Singapore's economy through acquisitions overseas, says Gee of ING. He
points to Singapore Telecommunications' purchase of Optus in Australia
and DBS Bank's acquisition of Dao Heng in Hong Kong as the most recent
examples. "They're not going to execute quickly on GLC divestment
because they think they need to own them," he argues. "If you analyze
what Singapore's competitive strengths are, what it has most in
abundance is capital. What you will see more of are Singapore
companies buying overseas," he suggests.
NO LI KA-SHINGS HERE
While the government wants to create a new breed of risk-taking
businessmen and is offering millions of dollars in grants and start-up
funding to small and medium-sized enterprises, it seems reluctant
itself to take the risk of selling off its holdings in the crown
jewels of the economy. Lee, however, disagrees. "It's not a
reluctance," he says. "I think it's a realization of the difficulty of
the situation . . . Do we have [Hong Kong business magnate] Li
Ka-shing standing around ready to bid a billion dollars and buy a
company? There are no such people in Singapore. And can we give the
company away to somebody and make him a billionaire? You can't."
To critics who are calling on the government to sell or reduce its
stake in such major companies as Singapore Airlines, PSA Corp. or
SingTel, Lee responds: "Whom are you going to sell them to? Who will
look after them?" Lee says that if a foreign buyer comes along who is
interested in taking a strategic stake in these companies, Singapore
would consider the possibility, but only after weighing the risks.
There could be big risks, for example, in embracing a foreign buyer
for SingTel. "You might have found WorldCom," he laughs, referring to
the disgraced U.S. telecoms company that lied about $3.8 billion in
expenses. Lee's cautious response to the issue of GLCs is echoed by
Raymond Lim, who argues that government stakes provide companies with
a degree of stability in difficult times, more so than freewheeling
markets.
"In fact, having a long-term shareholder--be it a government or a
private pension fund--is a major plus when companies are restructuring
themselves in an age of discontinuity," he says. "The last thing a CEO
wants as he builds for the future in a time of great change is to have
shareholders that are only concerned with the immediate and whose
support fluctuates with the firm's share price."
So how does the government plan to change the mindset of GLCs, if it's
unwilling to get out of business? By insisting they behave more like
private-sector companies. In May, Temasek appointed Ho Ching, the
no-nonsense wife of the deputy prime minister, as its executive
director. Ho previously served as chief executive officer of
state-managed Singapore Technologies Engineering. She declined to be
interviewed for this article.
Since her appointment, though, changes have already begun to emerge.
In the last two weeks alone, three chief executive officers at
Singapore's GLCs have resigned and been replaced by their chief
financial officers. Temasek insists the resignations are not linked to
Ho's appointment and that they were independent decisions taken
between the CEOs and their respective board members. Nonetheless they
have fuelled speculation that Ho's hard-as-nails approach is being
felt. She's shaking the trees. And who knows, maybe a few
entrepreneurs will fall out.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Critics claim Singapore's education system, known for its emphasis on
mathematics and the sciences, is partly to blame for a culture that
discourages free thinking and instils a fear of failure. The heavy
syllabus and exam schedule, they say, is responsible for a lack of
creative, critical thinking. The government is now considering setting
up entrepreneurship clubs in all schools and devoting some classes to
business instruction.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 11 July 2002
INTERVIEW: LEE HSIEN LOONG
Building a Whole New Mindset
Singapore needs to revitalize its economy. But to do so means changing
the way everyone thinks, from people in high places to the person on
the street
THE SINGAPORE government says the country must remake its economy if
it is to continue to be competitive. Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong sat down with REVIEW Editor Michael Vatikiotis, Deputy Editor
David Plott and Correspondent Trish Saywell to explain the "change of
mindset" he believes Singaporeans need:
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT NEEDED TO REMAKE SINGAPORE?
Well, first of all we must get used to the idea that we are not going
to have another 10 years of 9% growth, which is what we did up to
1997. If we can get 4%-5% over the next 10 years on average I think we
are doing very well. Secondly, it's not going to be upwards all the
way. There will be up years, down years, volatility, unpredictability.
Workers can't expect just to get into one job and carry on with it
until they retire. You must be prepared to change and accept that, and
your families have to be prepared to accept that. And it means
government policies will change. Wherever it's possible, we will
buffer that and help people to cope. But we are not flying straight
and level any more, so the passengers have to hold on tight.
HOW MUCH CHANGE DO YOU EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO INITIATE FROM A GOVERNMENT
PLANNING PERSPECTIVE AND HOW MUCH OF IT DO YOU EXPECT SINGAPOREANS TO
DO ON THEIR OWN?
The policy part the government has to change. If you're talking about
tax or Central Provident Fund, the government sets the rules and we
have to get the rules right. But to get the rules right you have to
get your ideas across, sold and accepted because if people say, "No,
you're wrong and I refuse to accept this," then you'll have a revolt
and the policy will not go through. The parts which depend very much
on the private sector will be where we are trying to grow new
enterprises or go into new economic opportunities. For example, we
talk about promoting entrepreneurship, and getting people to have that
mindset that you don't just want to be an employee but you should
start out, do something, take risks and grow a business, not just in
Singapore but in the region and internationally. That's a mindset
issue. It's also a talent issue.
ISN'T ONE WAY TO PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP GETTING THE GOVERNMENT TO
BECOME LESS INVOLVED IN THE ECONOMY?
That's part of it. Especially parts of the economy which are mature
and there's a private sector well established, there's no reason for
us to be in them. But on the other hand, the Government-Linked
Companies in fact have a lot of entrepreneurship in them, and to say
that a company should not do business just because of some government
ownership, I think, is wrong.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN SINGAPORE FOR SINGAPOREANS TO RELY LESS ON
GOVERNMENT AND PLANNING?
We want to change things in the education system and get students at
least to become familiar with ideas of entrepreneurship so they grow
up thinking in terms of costs, scarcity and opportunities and not just
in terms of administration and edicts. But it's not something which
you can easily change or do in a cold-turkey approach. And I don't
think even if we do shift, that over 15 years we will end up in a
dog-eat-dog situation, where every man is out for himself, it's a
purely laissez-faire economy and if you're down you're down and if
you're up, well, that's good. Because in the end we are still a
country, we still have to work together as a nation, and we still have
a national service army to defend the nation together. So there have
to be certain shared bonds and expectations and we can't run away from
that.
HOW WILL SOME OF THE BROAD ECONOMIC TRENDS PLAY OUT IN THE
MANUFACTURING SECTOR OVER THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO?
The reality for us is that we will not be a low-cost production base.
We must be a high-efficiency production base. So even if you have to
pay your workers more, they are worth that money. So whether you are
in biotech or in semiconductors or pharmaceuticals, you have to be
adding value. We take what we can get. What is likely to grow? I think
some parts of the electronics industry are likely to gradually phase
out, because other producers are coming along who are able to do it
now. We will still attract electronics projects at the top end, but
there will be competitors there too. We hope biotech will grow, but
that depends on our getting projects to come into Singapore. It's not
something which we can do by saying "Look, here's $1 billion, start a
company." What do you do? What do you manufacture? So I think you have
to follow the way the wind blows.
IN TERMS OF THE KINDS OF CHANGES NEEDED IN THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
HERE, DO YOU SEE, IN 10 OR 20 YEARS, ANY SIMILAR NEED FOR CHANGE IN
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM?
It will change. I can't tell how, but it will change and it will not
wait 10 or 20 years. Every generation is different in their
experience, their outlook and their expectations and the system has to
suit their needs, otherwise it will break down. Whether we will end up
with a multi-party system, or a two-party system, or whether there
will still be some kind of a dominant party, the Peoples' Action Party
in some form, that depends on how we play it. And also it depends on
our external circumstances--how wide are our options? I think that we
should try to preserve a certain social and political cohesion, so
that there is a dominant mainstream view of the way the country should
go. It's a broad view encompassing a range of attitudes and political
preferences and also able to accept people who are outside that
mainstream and may have opposing opinions. But basically a consensus
in which most Singaporeans recognise that these are our problems and
these are the approaches to solving them.
ISN'T CHANGING MINDSETS AND PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOUR LINKED
TO A CHANGE IN THE POLITICAL CULTURE?
It may well lead to a change in political culture. We will have to see
how it develops. But the United States is not the only model of an
entrepreneurial society. It happens to be the most successful one
right now, but that's not for all time. The European model is
different, and the Japanese model was successful for a long time; it's
broken now and has to be fixed but they don't see the issue quite in
the same terms as you do.
HOW DO YOU SEPARATE THAT OUT? WE STILL WANT TO HAVE A FAIRLY UNIFIED
SOCIETY DRIVEN BY A SINGLE VISION, YET WE WANT COMPANIES TO BE
AGGRESSIVE AND DO THINGS ON THEIR OWN?
If you ask Singaporeans, it's not that they have been brainwashed that
they think similarly, but when confronted with a shared situation and
reality they have accepted that, well, in fact, the government is not
doing such foolish things. Now, if the government stops being able to
persuade half the population that it's doing sensible things, or if
some segment of the population becomes alienated and says, no, this
government is not looking after its interests, that's a different
situation.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE IN CHANGING PEOPLE?
It's a real human problem. You're talking about many people--2 million
in the workforce. You're talking about people with family
responsibilities, people who have not all been prepared for this new
situation. They may be in their 40s, still not old, but not very well
educated. Now you tell them they must learn a new job, go to school
again. And after they've gone to school you can't promise them jobs,
although their chances are definitely improved. So you must convince
them to accept this flexibility, take this wage cut and maybe after
that still risk a retrenchment, because that's part of the process of
restructuring. That's a very difficult human problem.
DOES THE SAME FEAR OF LOSING YOUR JOB, THIS INSECURITY, DOES IT EXIST
IN GOVERNMENT JOBS?
It should.
IS THERE A SENSE THAT THIS LECTURE ON THE NEED FOR CHANGE IS COMING
FROM PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT WITH SECURE JOBS?
The politicians don't have secure jobs. Every election, you're at
risk. You're only secure as long as you are delivering, otherwise you
are out.
Yap Yok Foo
Issue 11 July 2002
Thinking the Unthinkable
Economic integration between Malaysia and Singapore may seem
far-fetched today but could one day become a mutually beneficial
reality
By Trish Saywell/SINGAPORE
AS SINGAPOREANS CONTEMPLATE the country's long-term economic
viability, the idea of a re-merger with Malaysia has become a talking
point on Web-site chat-rooms and even among a handful of economists.
The idea may seem hypothetical, far-fetched and even undesirable to
many. But when governments are scrambling to remain competitive,
thinking out of the box commands a premium.
"They may have to begin to take this option quite seriously," says V.
Anantha-Nageswaran, director and regional head of investment
consulting at Credit Suisse Private Banking in Singapore, speaking in
his personal capacity. "They might not talk about it now, but if there
is a sustained period of lacklustre growth and growing inequality
within Singapore itself, they might begin to consider this idea more
seriously than they would now."
It may take several decades before officials discuss the idea
seriously, but if China continues to threaten to marginalize Southeast
Asia's economies, manufacturing moves out of Singapore to lower-cost
areas and income gaps in the country continue to grow, economic union
of some kind may become an option, economists like Anantha-Nageswaran
argue.
"An economic union along the lines of the European Monetary Union is
the only viable long-term solution for Singapore," Anantha-Nageswaran
says. "The option will be aired publicly more and more when they hit
barriers to growth . . . You will hear more about the idea of an
economic union between the two countries in the coming years."
The idea certainly isn't new. After all, Singapore was once briefly a
part of Malaysia, so it is not unthinkable that a reunion might occur.
And the possibility that Singapore might reunite one day with Malaysia
was suggested by none other than Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who
headed the Lion City when it was booted out of the Malaysian
federation in 1965.
As successful as Singapore has become, Lee's inference that there
could still be a better alternative to its remaining on its own was a
landmark statement. But Lee also said reunification would only be
possible if Malaysia developed its economy, the two countries closed
the economic gap and if Kuala Lumpur adopted "meritocracy"--a
reference to Malaysia's preferential treatment of Malays over ethnic
Chinese and Indians. Speaking to foreign and local journalists in June
1996, Lee said: "It will be difficult to achieve for a very long time,
but I hope it will happen." In what was deemed a fairly cordial
response to Lee's comments, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad did not
categorically rule out the possibility, saying instead that "the
likelihood of that happening is remote."
Long-term, however, Lee might prove to be right. A growing convergence
of economic policies and growth rates may prod the two countries to
move beyond the current generation's mud-slinging rhetoric and
frequent spats on everything from the price of water Malaysia supplies
Singapore to the latter's land-reclamation activities in the Malacca
Strait. And while the prospect of economic merger is likely to invite
more questions about viability than excitement about the combined
economic potential, some economists suggest that exploiting the
synergies and complementary aspects of an economic union makes sense
now more than ever.
Most economists agree that such a union between Malaysia and Singapore
would first take the form of the free and unimpeded movement of
labour, goods and services between the two nations. In such a union,
Singaporeans would be able to invest, work and live anywhere in
Malaysia and vice versa. If there was political support, it might
eventually even include a common currency, interest rates and fiscal
policy.
Says Deputy Prime Minster Lee Hsieng Loong, "It's conceivable. That's
what we hoped to achieve when we went into Malaysia. It's not at the
top of our agenda, nor is it at the top of their agenda. We are just
different--profoundly different. I don't think the differences are
going to diminish and that preconditions the economic relationship
between our two countries. Europe is one European Union because there
is a certain degree of political similarity and convergence." Says
Dominique Dwor-Frecaut, a senior economist at Barclays Capital in
Singapore, "You could keep independent governments but open the doors
to freer movement of capital and labour."
There's no doubt that Singapore and Malaysia--the best-performing
economies with the highest living standards in the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations--should be working more closely
together rather than at cross purposes. And while Asean may be
committed to greater regional economic integration in its decade-old
plan to create a Southeast-Asian free-trade zone, bilateral economic
union would go far beyond the reduction of import tariffs.
SYNERGIES APLENTY
The synergies between the economies are obvious. Singapore's private
sector is undeveloped, while Malaysia has comparatively stronger small
and medium-sized industries. Malaysia lacks the powerful state-linked
companies that Singapore has in abundance. Singapore lacks cheap
labour, while Malaysia has a surfeit. Singapore, which began as a
small city-state with no natural resources, has hardly any territory
left to develop. Malaysia, where labour costs are almost a third those
of Singapore, is better endowed with land and natural resources.
Malaysians and Singaporeans share a common history, from colonial and
even pre-colonial times, and there are ethnic Chinese and Malay
families with relatives living on both sides of the border. Indeed,
Singapore, together with south Johor, was once part of the Riau
sultanate centred on northern Sumatra.
"Malaysia and Singapore are Siamese twins that have been separated and
there is so much synergy between the two that both would be worse off
if they were to disengage themselves with each other," says Mohamad
Ariff Abdul Kareem, executive director of the Malaysian Institute of
Economic Research.
There is already a fair degree of integration between the two
economies. An estimated 200,000-300,000 Malaysians line up to cross
the border every day from Malaysia's southern state of Johor to work
in Singapore. Singaporeans cross the border into Johor to stock up on
cheap clothes, music and petrol.
However, greater economic integration is unlikely until after the
current, older generation of Singaporean and Malaysian politicians
fade from the scene. The trauma of separation in 1965 still rankles in
their minds. "It won't happen until after Singapore's Senior Minister
Lee, 78, and Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir, 76, are gone," says
an economist who requested anonymity. "But I think it will happen
quickly after they're gone."