"Bye, BUY" & "Lie, SHY"

The New Straits Times frontpage today is succint, burying the myth giving a lie that Mr Elegant Silence is a softie as has been proclaimed by many parties, including my Blogger friends/foes.



But there are no takers for Dr Mahathir's ceasefire offer.
His bridge demand is seen as a threat, even blackmail.
The anwer is an emphatic ...

NO!
IT"S NOT ON!


'The decision to cancel the scenic bridge stays.
He can say what he wants. I am the Prime Minister.
I decide what's good for the people.'
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

DESI: Dear ER, in line with the Education Ministry's efforts to promote the English language, please use RM1.20 usefully to go BUY a copy of the NST (tighten your belt a little, forego ONE tehtarik (also in line with earlier DPM's call: Change Lifestyle...), then
turn to >> P6/7 for fuill report...

Bye for now, while I go BUY a copy of TheSun -- arrived at the nearest Mamak shop where I usually get a freebie, BUT I was kedekutedly beaten... so there goes another gelas of air iced kosong for 30sen.




Ctd @10.40AM:

I LIE when I bid thee Bye, Bye just now.
I did NOT go to BUY theSun, it was UP more than five hours ago.
I bought time to Google "Daim Zainuddin, Buy, Bye News Stock Market" ... to be seen to act like a journalist, check and double check what I gonna write.

Be forewarned, what I'm recalling next for YOUR BENEFIT is based only on memory recall.
Google refuserd to hjelp.
Neither could I "reach" the players involved, so don't shoot Desi for any "inaccuracy".


~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was in the stock market heydays of 1980s; I was then NOT in MSM but at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng and was enscounced within a writHing prison.

Then Fiance Minister Daim Zainuddin was interviewed by the press amid "volatile" times at the KLSE. (If you have to divert my attention by asking what KLSE means...get outa of herelll!)At the tailend, someone sought the YB's comment on the stockmarket, and he waved: "Bye, BYE!" Of course, it rhymed with "Buy, BUY!"

When the reports mentioned "BUY", the punters followed like cows, or is it cattle? Or Lembu? Oh, it's Bulls! (Stockspeak refers to Bull run for a market jump, and a bear run for a market plunge...SEE, free trading lessons!)

But within 48, I think, a Singaporean leader cautioned about speculation and trading on rumours on the stock markets. The KLSE plunged soon after... and punters were left quite perplexed, with this question elegantly eloquent on their faces ~~ What the hell is happening?

Someone even blamed IT on the messenger -- an editor who wrote about the issue/s.
You know what -- yes, he even threatened to "shoot him"! Literally sent him a "bullet" in the mail!

Back to the "Dime" man -- this is a moniker many commoners bequeathed him for his humble lifestyle, as he was once quoted as saying: "I don't dabble in the KLSE in a big way; only small, loose change-lah", or words to similar effect.
So the FM was cornered by the press some time later, to talk again about the stock market's big fall. They cionfronted him with a reminder: "You advised to 'BUY'!"

"NO, I din't. I only said Bye, bye! as in Good-Bye, see you again!"was the FM's reply, words to similar effect-lah.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, GO to frontpage of theSUN, and see WHO ELSE IS LYING. Also lying low as in SHY!
Stay shy of the Bursa Malaysia if you don't have a friendly adviser like Desi, okay!
After much consultation with my Economist buddy, my caution: The chances for a retail player/invester/punter at winning on the stockmarket is less than 10.00%. In fact, he said 0.001 percent, but heis going stricly by Statistics while Desi tempers it with some laymen (trading room kaki-lah!) terming and timing...

Your chances at Genting are about 40% (give +10% to the House/Banker; otherwise, how to pay the humongous staff and gigantic salaries, share dividends and bonus?)


Back from Digression, the Sun's headline:

Facts don't lie

by theSun Exco

TEN DAYS ago, attempts were made by
various authorities to deny the existence of
any privatisation agreements areklated to the
monopoly of outdoor advertising in Selangor.

Today, we debunk all the claims and denials by
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Toyo and
Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Ahmad Termizi Puteh
and we have the documents to substantiate them.
:
:
:


DESIDERATA: The above was two para from the Print edition, following is the Web edition, which of course saved my time/dime with C&P! I don't get paid for Blogging, okay! Maybe I'll considfe putting up PAYPAL--cheaply/chiefly inspired by a few Malaysian Bloggers! -- soon.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

MB's 'no monopoly' claim debunked

PETALING JAYA: Ten days ago, Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Khir Toyo denied theSun's front page report that one company will be given the exclusive rights to manage billboards in the state. His contention - the state did not want a monopoly.

theSun can now reveal that the state government had not practised what it is preaching - 20 months earlier, it had entered into a monopolistic agreement with Bernam Kiara Sdn Bhd.

The documents in our possession reveal the following:

>> the State Executive Council (Exco) approved the deal at its weekly meeting on Jan 27, 2004.

So for the mentri besar to claim "No, there is nothing (on the privatisation of billboards)", we can prove him wrong and debunk what he said: I think this is theSun exco which has made a decision, not the Selangor Exco. I think theSun has its own exco to decide on the state of Selangor.

>> Initially the monopoly was restricted to the privatisation of maintenance and sponsorship of pedestrian bridges, gantries and signages.

The offer letter signed by Azizan Mohd Sidin of the privatisation section of the State Economic Planning Unit set out the specific terms and a concession of 15 years with an option to renew for another five years.

However, the state entered into an agreement where the company was given wider powers in relation to outdoor advertising.

>> On Jan 12 last year, the state signed a contract with Bernam Kiara for the "privatisation of maintenance, build and operate pedestrian walks, pedestrian bridges, gantries, road directional signs, overhead bridges and outdoor advertising in the whole state".

Therefore for Mohd Khir to claim that the state did not want a monopoly was erroneous because it had already entered into such a contract 20 months earlier.

The contract was signed by the then State secretary Datuk Ramlan Othman and his then deputy director for development Datuk Dr Abdul Munit Kasmin.

Bernam Kiara's signatories were its directors Abdul Rahman Shamsi and Aiman Firdaus Tan Abdullah.

The mentri besar may have not been aware if he had not attended that Exco meeting. Even copies of the offer letter were extended to only one Exco member - Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan.

Perhaps the mentri besar's colleague can shed light on the matter and offer some explanation as to why Mohd Khir was kept in the dark - if he ever was in the first place.

>> Annual returns of RM30,000 per billboard and a licence fee of RM3,000. The licence fees is payable to the local authority, but to whom does the RM30,000 go to? The state government, the local authority or the sports clubs of local authorities?

Mohd Khir said that billboard companies can contribute to the local authorities voluntarily to various causes like sports development and the building of places of worship.

So, how much revenue had been derived from this contract which has been in existence since January last year?


Updated: 10:30AM Tue, 15 Aug 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DESIDERATA: My challenge to Toyo and Termizi --
theSun has in effect called you LIARS; you have been caught with your pants down.

Don't be SHY. Rebut the Sun Exco by showing up with your Developed State exco, dressed in the full regalia so resplendent and regal. The childerren of Selangor are very SHY ones, they won't shout: Liars, Liars!

The smart ones among them will shyly remark: I don't see the Emperor wearing any clothes.
But this Exco might not even have heard of Hans Christian Andersen, right?
And that's a rhetorical question.
And if Toyo or Termizi should ask what a rhetorical question is, I'd refer them to The People's Paper(who runs a counter Exco to theSun's, obviously) who also runs a Mind Your Language column, yes!