Jim Rogers - 2013 Will Be a Disaster

Ribena Berry: The 1Malaysia Virus

Foreign interest in RM48b project

SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CITY: GuocoLand talking to East Asians, to start work in 18 months


GUOCOLAND (M) Bhd, the property arm of the Hong Leong group,
hopes to start in 18 months work on the estimated RM48 billion Sepang International City, which is among the 21 new Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) projects sannounced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday.

It is now in the midst of getting the approvals from both the Selangor and Federal governments and talking to international investors.

Managing director Yeow Wai Siaw said investors from East Asia, especially Japan, China and Singapore, are keen on investing in
property development here, including Sepang International City.

Najib announced the project along with 20 new projects under the ETP here yesterday.

“Every developed nation needs a vibrant capital, and GuocoLand is one of the new project owners that will be part of ensuring this,” he said.

Najib added that GuocoLand has committed an investment of RM12.5 billion in the development of the Sepang International City,
which is projected to generate RM1.34 billion in gross national income (GNI) and create more than 4,000 jobs.

Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Yeow said the Sepang International City will be a world-class and seafront development stretching across 1,600ha.

The development of the integrated and sustainable eco-city with a gross development value of RM48 billion will include commercial, business, residential and leisure development.

Another project announced yesterday was the RM1.57 billion committed investment by Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd to develop sustainable competitiveness in shipbuilding and ship repair.

"We will start from 2014 and hope to train at least 100 technicians annually until 2020 to meet not just our own requirements but the industry, too," said managing director Tan Sri Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor.

He said the project will involve a plan to move up the value chain of the shipbuilding and ship repair industry by developing local design and systems engineering capability and skilled shipyard human capital.

The project contribution to GNI will be about RM537.24 million by 2020 and will create 1,043 jobs by then.

Scomi posts RM23m pre-tax profit in Q1

KUALA LUMPUR: Scomi Group Bhd has achieved a profit turnaround for the first quarter ended March 31 2012, thanks to gross margin improving to 24.2 per cent, as compared with 13.7 per cent in the last quarter of 2011.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of RM23 million for the quarter, compared with a loss of RM151.1 million in the last quarter of 2011. Revenue increased by 19 per cent to RM365.2 million.

Scomi attributed better earnings to its marine and oilfield services divisions.

Despite recording lower revenues of RM90.8 million, the marine services division's pre-tax profit increased by nearly threefold to RM18.3 million, from RM7.5 million in the first quarter of 2011.

The significant rise in profit was due to costs savings achieved via increased operational productivity, following better port mix and vessel stand downs, Scomi said in a statement issued yesterday.

The pre-tax profit for the oilfield services division climbed 30 per cent to RM22.2 million, from RM17 million in the same period last year.

The division, which posted revenues of RM292.1 million, 29 per cent more than the the first quarter of 2011, had better earnings from its operations here, in the UK and Nigeria.

Canton Fair 2011, (Guangzhou) China Import and Export Fair 109

Malaysian Dilemma – Brain Drain…

In April 2011, World Bank Report, brain drain is:-

“the migration of talent across borders touches the core of Malaysia’s aspiration to become a high – income nation. Human capital is the bedrock of the high – income economy. Sustained and skill – intensive growth will require talent going forward. For Malaysia to stand success in its journey to high income, it will need to develop, attract and retain talent. Brain drain does not appear to square with this objective: Malaysia needs talent, but talent seems to be leaving.” 

But right after the published of the report, our Prime Minister came out and claim:-

“I don’t think that is quite correct, but in terms of the brain drain, of course we have identified it as one of the problems that must be resolved… That is why we have set up the ‘Talent Corp’, and the first step was my announcement on the matter at Invest Malaysia recently, the provision of the income tax incentive at the rate of 15 per cent for a period of five years if they (Malaysian professionals) return to Malaysia… This is one of the main initiatives, and there are other initiatives which had been agreed upon and we will take subsequent measures,”

While our Prime Minister denied, our legendary entrepreneur, Koon Yew Yin has long highlighted 2 years before, yes, 2 years before:-

Written by Koon Yew Yin

Friday, 10 July 2009 11:37

There is a boy I know who scored 10 A1s. His mother is a primary school teacher and Andrew has two younger brothers. His father, a civil servant, had already passed on by the time the son sat SPM in 2006.

Armed with his excellent result, Andrew applied for a scholarship to study mechanical engineering. The government rejected his application. Petronas rejected his application too. Can you imagine how disappointed and frustrated he was?

As soon as I learned of Andrew’s difficulty, I offered him financial assistance to do accountancy in Utar. He has been scoring top marks in every exam to earn a scholarship from the university. Although Andrew is now exempted from paying fees, I still bank him RM400 a month to cover cost of living.

I have given assistance and allowances to more than 40 poor students to study in Utar in Kampar, Perak. Andrew is typical of their calibre; he prefers to get what is his due on merit, and his university has deservingly waived his fees.

On my part, I expect nothing from those that I’ve supported except for them in future to help young people in similar circumstances, and to hope that they will all stay back in Malaysia so that they can lend their talents to building up our nation.

Asean (mainly M’sian!) Scholarships: Our brains, their gain

There are others that have deeper pockets who have extended a helping hand to our youngsters. One of them offers the cost of school and exam fees, hostel accommodation, RM5,800 a year for expenses, RM1,200 settling-in allowance, and transport/air ticket. Furthermore, the recipient is not bonded. Or in other words, the giver asks for nothing back.

I’m talking about the pre-university Asean scholarship extended to Malaysians by ‘the little red dot’ Singapore.

Of course, Singapore is not doing it for purely altruistic reasons. The country is giving these much coveted Asean scholarships to build up her national bank of talent. Some Malaysians accuse them of ‘poaching’ the creme de la creme of our youngsters. I don’t look at it as poaching. Their far-sighted government is doing it in their national interest.

And why not? Singapore can afford it. It has three times our GDP per capita. On another comparative note, the GDP per capita of Taiwan and South Korea are 2.5 times and double ours respectively. Before the NEP’s introduction in 1970, the four countries were at parity.

The big question is why are we surrendering our assets which Malaysian parents have nurtured but the state neglected?

Tens of thousands of young Malaysians have left our shores on the Asean scholarship. I am not sure if Singapore is willing to give out the figure. But I am pretty sure the Malaysian authorities do not give two hoots about this, whatever number they may have arrive at. If they do, there seems to be no policy change to stem the outflow.

Malaysia is optimistically indifferent to the continuous brain drain, little caring that it is detrimental to our aspiration of becoming a developed country (I hate to say this) like Singapore.

Behaving like a failed state

Consider this startling statistic: There are more Sierra Leonean doctors working in hospitals in the city of Chicago than in their own homeland. More Malawian nurses in Manchester than in Malawi. Africa’s most significant export to Europe and the United States is trained professionals, not petroleum, gold and diamond.

The educated African migration is definitely retarding the progress of every country in Africa. Today, one in three African university graduates, and 50,000 doctoral holders now live and work outside Africa. Sixty-four percent of Nigerians in the USA has one or more university degrees.

If we carry out a study, we are likely to find a very large number of non-Malay graduates emigrating to Singapore, Australia and other countries that is proportionately similar to the African exodus. However the compulsion is different, seeing as how some African countries are war-torn and famished which is certainly not the case with Malaysia.

The push factors for our own brain drain lie in NEP policy and this needs to be addressed with urgency.

State Ideology: Be grateful you’re Malaysian

Try putting yourself in the shoes of an 18-year-old. This young Malaysian born in 1991 is told that Umno was very generous in granting citizenship to his non-Malay forefathers in 1957. Thus as a descendant of an immigrant community – one should be forever grateful and respect the ‘social contract’.

Gratitude is demanded by the state while little is reciprocated. Under the NEP – and some say this policy represents the de factosocial contract – every single Vice Chancellor of every single Malaysian public university is Malay.

Promotion prospects for non-Malay lecturers to full professorship or head of department are very dim, hence we have the dichotomy of non-Malays predominant in private colleges while correspondingly, the academic staff of public institutions proliferate with Malays.

The civil service is staffed predominantly by Malays too, and overwhelmingly in the top echelons. The government-linked corporations have been turned into a single race monopoly. Hence is it any surprise that almost all the scholarships offered by government and GLCs seem to be reserved for Malays?

Youngsters from the minority communities see that Malays are the chosen ones regardless of their scholastic achievement and financial position. Some are offered to do a Master even though they did not even apply (but the quota is there to be filled, so these disinterested Malays are approached).

Our lesson today is …

How the government apparatus conducts itself and the consequences of its policy implementation will upset an individual’s innate sense of justice.

The government pays about RM1.8 billion in annual salaries to teachers. A child is taught moral studies in class but he learns in life that adults condone and conspire to immorality by perpetuating the unfairness and injustice which impacts on Malaysia’s young.

On the other hand, the favoured group is given more than their just desserts without either merit or need. When one is bred to think that privilege is only his rightful entitlement, we would not expect this young person to pay back to society in return.

Our Malaysian education system has been flip-flopped, pushed and pulled this way and that until standards dropped to alarming levels. The passing mark for subjects in public exams have fallen notoriously low while the increasing number of distinctions have risen fatuously high with SPM students notching 14As, 17As and 21As.

With top scorers aplenty, there will not be enough scholarships to go around now that the Education Ministry has decided to put a cap on the SPM, limiting takers to 10 subjects.

The human factor

It’s unrealistic that the education system can be effectively overhauled. Even tweaking one aspect of it, such as the language switch for Math and English, created havoc.

It’s not that our educational framework is so bad as after all, a lot of study and planning did go into it. It’s only when the politicians dictate from on high and overrule the better judgment of the educationists – Dr Mahathir Mohamad being case in point – that we slide deeper into the doldrums.

The politicization of education and the hijacking of the country’s educational agenda has clearly cost us heavily in terms of policy flip flops and plummeting standards, and the loss of a good part of our young and talented human resources.

Matters become worse when Little Napoleons too take it upon themselves to interfere with teachers. For instance, the serial number assigned candidates when they sit public exams. Why is a student’s race encoded in the number? What does his ethnicity have to do with his answer script?

There is further suspicion that the stacks of SPM papers are not distributed to examiners entirely at random (meaning ideally examiners should be blind to which exam centres the scripts they’re marking have originated from).

A longstanding complaint from lecturers is that they are pressured to pass undergrads who are not up to the mark, and having to put up with mediocre ones who believe they are ‘A’ material after being spoilt in mono-racial schools.

Letting teachers do their job properly and allowing them to grade their students honestly would arrest the steep erosion of standards. And unless we are willing to be honest brokers in seeking a compromise and adjustment, the renewed demonizing of vernacular schools is merely mischievous. Either accept their existence or integrate the various types of schools.

But are UiTM and its many branch campuses throughout the length and breadth of the country, Mara Junior Science Colleges and the residential schools willing to open their doors to all on the basis of meritocracy if Chinese, Tamil, and not forgetting religious schools, were abolished? Not open to a token few non-Bumiputera but genuinely open up and with the admission numbers posted in a transparent manner.

Finally, there are teachers genuinely passionate about their profession. There are promising teachers fresh out of training college who are creative and capable of inspiring their students. It’s not only Form 5 students who have been demoralized. Teachers are human capital that we seem to have overlooked in the present controversy.

Conclusion: Ensuring fairness for the future well-being of our young

A segment of Johoreans cross the Causeway daily to attend school in Singapore. Many continue their tertiary education in Singapore which has among the top universities in the world. Eventually, they work in Singapore and benefit Singapore.

Ask around among your friends and see who hasn’t got a child or a sibling who is now living abroad as a permanent resident.

I can’t really blame them for packing up and packing it in, can you? It’s simply critical at this juncture that we don’t let our kids lose hope and throw in the towel. The system might be slower to reform but mindsets at least can be changed easier.

It starts with the teachers, the educationists and the people running the education departments and implementing the policies. Please help Malaysian youngsters realise their full potential. Just try a little fairness first. 

Personal Note:

Readers may be interested to know that I have four children all of whom are accomplished in their respective fields. Three of them are part of the brain drain and have elected to settle down abroad; only one is back in Malaysia.

My son who has double degrees in civil engineering and chartered accountancy is an investor in Canada. He could be here to create hundreds of jobs to enrich Malaysia but he has been so disgusted with our policies and their implementation that he has chosen not to return.

I am sure that there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of similar young Malaysians that our country has lost, no thanks to our short-sighted education and NEP policies. And yet the Government is so keen to attract foreign investors. Where is the logic and rationality?

BFM Uncensored -- "A corrupt free government is an idealism" says Selang...

BFM Uncensored - "Change for a better govt! We can't stand this corrupti...

Mr Mr. Koon Yew Yin is very sharp and energetic guy.. Have a high respect for him,,,Spot on his view... 

Gross Says QE3 Getting Closer as Goldman Sees Easing

By Wes Goodman - May 8, 2012 6:21 PM PT

Bill Gross at Pacific Investment Management Co. and Jan Hatzius at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) say investors should prepare for additional bond purchases from the Federal Reserveto combat a slowing U.S. economy.

A decision to buy more debt is “getting closer,” Gross, who runs the world’s largest mutual fund, wrote on Twitter yesterday. Hatzius, the chief economist at New York-based Goldman Sachs, predicted in a report the same day that the Fed will announce additional monetary easing when it meets in June.

 

Enlarge image

The U.S. Federal Reserve building stands in Washington, D.C. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg

Prospects for more Fed purchases increased after a Labor Department report May 4 showed U.S. employers added 115,000 jobs in April, the smallest gain in six months. Europe’s debt crisis is also threatening to slow global growth. Ten-year Treasury yields fell to 1.81 percent yesterday, approaching the record low of 1.67 percent set Sept. 23.

“Risk markets need more ammo if they are to stay up,” Gross, who is based in Newport Beach, California, wrote on Twitter.

The Fed bought $2.3 trillion of bonds in two rounds of so- called quantitative easing, known as QE1 and QE2, to support the economy. Policy makers have also pledged to keep the target for overnight bank lending at almost zero until at least late 2014.

In a report titled “Still Dreary,” Hatzius said the U.S. economy is “sluggish but basically stable,” and the Fed may act in June to sustain the recovery.

“Taking out a bit more insurance still looks like the sensible choice for U.S. monetary policy makers,” he wrote.

Hands-On with the Galaxy S III: UI, Gestures, Web Browser, and USB Host

Don’t lose sleep over weight, scientists say

 

Something to share with you all...take care about your health...

May 12, 2012

A study found that people who sleep less end up eating more. — shutterstock.com pic

PARIS, May 12 — A lack of sleep could make you fat, scientists said on Thursday. This, in turn, could increase the sensation of hunger by 25 per cent.
"If this translates to a proportional increase in calories, then a person with reduced sleep could eat 350 to 500 calories more per day," said a statement on the research led by Karine Spiegel from the University of Lyon.
A cheeseburger has about 500 calories.
The study compared data from other research projects on obesity and sleep duration. The findings are more pronounced for children and young adults.
"While it might be natural to think that sleeping less (or being awake more) means you use more calories and should therefore lose weight, studies have shown the opposite to be the case," said the statement.
"Interventions as simple as extending the nightly sleep duration in these younger, habitual short sleepers should be explored to prevent obesity."
Six hours are considered a short sleep period in adults and seven to eight hours a healthier one. — AFP-Relaxnews

PKR reveals brawl images, blames Najib

" Perkasa Tidak Bertamadun " 10 MAY 2012.mp4

10052012 PKR : Tubuh Tribunal Siasat Pengerusi SPR Langgar Perlembagaan ...

Jim Rogers - Markets rely on Fundamentals not short term News

What are Google's core values?

Google Core Values

1) We want to work with great people

• We hire great people and expect a lot from them
• We create an environment where people can flourish and grow
• We treat people with fairness and respect
• We challenge each other's ideas openly
• We value diversity in people and ideas
• We are a quantitative company that uses data to make decisions

2) Technology innovation is our lifeblood

• Build the world's best technology and products
• We apply technology and creativity to solve important problems

3) Working at Google is fun

• We expect our people to know and enjoy each other
• We have a challenging/energetic work environment
• We celebrate our successes and each other's accomplishments - both professional and personal

4) Be actively involved; you are Google

• Honor commitments
• We openly communicate and trust you with a great deal of information and we expect you to honor our confidentiality
• Understand when you are representing Google and act appropriately

5) Don't take success for granted

• Think and act like an underdog
• Be humble with success; don't be arrogant
• Be scrappy and resourceful

6) Do the right thing; don't be evil

• Honesty and integrity in all we do
• Our business practices are beyond reproach
• We make money by doing good things

7) Earn customer and user loyalty and respect every day

• Create, enhance and maintain great products and services

Sustainable long-term growth and profitability are key to our success

• Think scale and efficiency
• Every dollar is yours
• Do things that matter

9) Google cares about and supports the communities where we work and live

• We encourage and enable our people to support local community involvement and expect them to participate

10) We aspire to improve and change the world

• Aim high; think BIG, take risks
• A healthy disregard for the impossible

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Google's_core_values#ixzz1tdlzhlKO

Al Jazeera crew's camera 'busted by Malaysian police' at rally

Penang most liveable city in Malaysia

Penang has, for the first time, beaten Kuala Lumpur for two consecutive years as the country’s most liveable city, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

Quoting the annual ECA International Location Ratings research, Lim said Penang had maintained its position as Asia’s eighth most liveable city, while Kuala Lumpur had dropped from ninth to the 10th spot.

“We should feel proud — for the first time in history, we are number one in Malaysia for two years running.

“It’s not a fluke, it’s a fact,” Lim told a press conference in Komtar.

He said listed criteria for the ranking included quality of living, climate, health services, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure and political tensions.

According to the survey, Singapore maintained its grip on the top spot and also retained its global ranking as the number one most liveable city in the world.

Kobe, Japan stayed at the second spot of Asia’s most liveable cities, followed by Hong Kong, Tokyo and Yokohama (tied at fourth), Taipei and Macau.

Seoul, that was ranked as Asia’s 10th most liveable city in 2011, edged Kuala Lumpur to tie with George Town in this year’s ranking.

ECA International, which carries out the location rating annually, is an international consulting firm that specialises in providing and developing solutions for the management and assignment of employees around the world.

Lim said Penang’s ranking as the nation’s most liveable city showed that protests against the state government that had taken place since the last general election were done by only a “small group of troublemakers.” - By The Star