Mondae faces blues

The benefits of having the CPU down for a coupld of weeks now, Desi XXXXexplores the Internet cafes downtown. The four Xs is an example set by ipohLANG Helen mui-mui.

"Meiyeh hai neh?" pierced the adjoining air.
"Arrgh, chee bek!"

Yes, you heard me right!


"Meiyeh hai neh?" -- came from a gal with red T-shirt and a blue short shorts. AGE: about 18-20.

"Arrgh, chee bek!" -- was the ready response from a male companion, white shirt and blue shorts. AGE: also 18 - 20. Years-lah, cannot be months, IZZIT?

So my typing this blog is constantly (like now, interfaced with Dieu here, Dieu dare" as femail and mail voices duet for the Prize of going further ... -- Mayhaps they have a defence:Like could this pair be from Vietnam, ah? But they are speaking in Kantonis, wor! Iwas evesdropping, not voyeuring, as we were seated "back row to back".
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Teaser ChallengiA Q: Is this 3G Gen so macho that the F*** word must come in every other five sentences. Back in my teens (eon years ago, the village bums had the F*** words, in higher desibelles as Rasah Sin Cun was dominated by this verile species! -- were delivered in Hakka, coming in once every two sentences. The saving GRace was that the voices were all Masculine. Five over two is an 2-1/2 times less frequency, hence an improvement. (Dr Koh, did Desi get his sum right? Joepsc, please put me on the right path, like THAT one to hell is paved with what? .... Four-letter words like xxxx!)

Then I spied in page 2 of the SUN, and I almost let outta four-letter word. Good!
Finally an independent report has come up with some statistics that Desi has been intimAting to my dear ER -- hey, I'm NOT suggesting to anyone to get intimAte with Desi, K! English is a mighty strange language, and you'd better be discerning about being caught naked, and caught with the pants down. Someone allegedly caught Desi neked on the Goodgling, according to rumours.
Today theSun, or rather ASLI, how original! humours Desi by catching Da Government with its "pants down"; I'd use 'panties up' were the PM a fe-mail like AM, but there is a smAll, or BIG, difference between Aye and Pee, NO?

Report queries targeting of NEP

by Pauline Puah



PETALING JAYA: The continued promotion of the New Economic Policy (NEP) would only serve to raise antagonisms among the bumiputras that some are more favoured than others, a problem that is now quite evident, a report by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute's (Asli) Centre for Public Policy Studies said.

The "Corporate Equity Distribution: Past Trends and Future Policy" report said it would appear that the government's wealth distribution measures are targeted at middle and upper class bumiputras.

"This type of targeting, even if it was not the intention of the government, has meant that the government has failed to use this delivery mechanism to address and alleviate the plight of the most disadvantaged bumiputras, a factor that has now also contributed to serious intrabumiputra wealth disparities," the report said.

It noted that incentives and privileges have been provided to bumiputras, regardless of their level of income or volume of assets owned.

"This flaw in the system has historically been prone to abuse, with the educated and informed middle and upper class bumiputra being the primary recipients of IPOs (initial public offerings)," it said.

The report argued that racebased economic policies do not provide incentives to disadvantaged groups, such as middle to lower classes of nonbumiputras and bumiputras, to take part in the economy.

"Equitable wealth distribution can only be achieved if the recipients are subjected to income and assets tests, regardless of race, a mechanism employed in countries that have adopted affirmative action," it said.

The report said the government would get a more objective picture of wealth distribution among ethnic groups by looking at volume of assets owned or income, rather than the distribution of publiclytraded share capital.

The study, undertaken by a multi-racial group of scholars as part of work in connection with the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), was submitted to the government and distributed to other bodies early this year.

Its findings have recently been publicly debated because it argues that the prominent role of government-linked companies (GLCs) in the corporate sector proves that the NEP's objective of 30% bumiputra equity ownership has been achieved (see chart).

Citing the Bursa Malaysia Corporate Equity's 2005 statistics, the report said the estimated volume of bumiputra equity ownership was 45% of the RM715.4 billion of total stocks on the stock exchange, or RM325.08 billion.

However, the government's estimate in the 9MP of bumiputra equity ownership is only 18.9%.

The "Corporate Equity Distribution" report said a policy like the NEP undermined genuine entrepreneurship among bumiputras.

It pointed out that selective patronage through the NEP and privatisation to promote the rise of big bumiputra business has not been successful.

"The decline of a number of large enterprises suggests that selective intervention to promote bumiputra capital has failed, though not because these firms did not get enough support from the government," it said.

The report said these companies' growth strategies are questionable, "particularly extensive diversification through acquisitions, because of relatively easy access to bank loans" instead of "long-term growth plans based on product development and market penetration".

It said the government's focus should be on initiatives to promote Malaysia's domestic entrepreneurial capacity, including through the promotion of merit-based policies.

It also questioned the need for the NEP when there was growing evidence of inter-ethnic business ties among listed companies without government intervention.

DESIDERATA: To be consistent, I'll spend the rest of Mundane Mondae trying to retrieve what I had writ of this "masked" NEP fiures the Government, especially the UMNO Youth wing leaders, championed by also Education Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, had been bandying (Or isit bandi-ting?) about, 18-19% in 1985 and also 18-20% in 2005 about Bumi equity interests. Maybe that's why some parties are trying to re-write the saw: "The pen is mightier than the keris"?


UPDATE@5.45PM:


From August 31, 2005 Merdeka Essay Series

THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA (6) - FINAL PART


THE RELEVANT EXTRACT TO CHEW at Mondae afternnon tea!


CHALLENGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY GLOBALISATION

Is our Government properly educated and informed of this threat posed by Globalisation? I hardly think so. We are losing our young talents, in big numbers, every year. Do our leaders care? We then pay exorbitant salaries to Expatriate workers instead, also for second generation technology transfer when other countries have moved on to another higher plane. Are we suckers for international CON-men?

Like one well publicised, recent example. The UMNO YOUTH calling for the revival of the New Economic Policy (NEP), based mainly on the ground that the 30-percent share equity to be owned by Bumiputears, stated in 1970 had not been achieved. By their own leaders’ figures, the share had been raised from an initial 5 per cent to abot 18 percent in 1985. BUT 20 years later, in 2005, the figure had stayed stagnant at 18-19 percent. (The sources, Hishamuddin and Shaberry Cheek, had been quoted in DESIDERATA’s earlier posts.)

So two conclusions:

(1) The UMNO politicians have been telling us half-truths, basing their latest figures on wrong criteria and not reliable statistics. Some academic sources argue that the current Bumi share equity of 19percent DID NOT INCLUDE those stakes held in Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) which are highly capitalised, as well as those held in trust or by proxy in certain State or Federal agencies/companies whose accounts are not made public.

(2) Even if the claims stated by these UMNO Youth leaders, are true ( which Desiderata strongly believes ARE NOT TRUE), then there is no reason why a policy that had failed miserably like the NEP should be revived. I should NOT say more because those so-called Barisan Nasional brothers to UMNO Youth like MCA, MIC and Gerakan are keeping deafeningly silent. They are elected for what? Well, sharing the loot?

Otherwise, why do 21st century so-called leaders want to revive the NEP,an instrument of the 1979s-1990s that had proven to be not effective? Don't we learn from history and current developments? The big bad world of GLOBALISATION has descended on us like a Tsunami. We still want to walk with crutches. The competition now comes from China, not the local Chinese badly represented by the MCA; from the Indians from the near continet, not from the local Indians doubly badly represented by the MIC.

As Thomas Friedman in "THE LEXUS & THE OLIVE TREE" rightfully pointed out, the world is now a Global Village. Investments and big dollars go where there is the best ROI (returns on investment)-- the bottomline decides where the investors will go, and Malaysian racist politics doesn't help. It's a boderless world, and the YoungOnes know it. That's why they want to seek the best education available within their means, to arm themselves properly to face a borderless world. Manpower is now very mobile. The richest man in the world, BILL GATES, has outsourced many of MICROSOFT's operations to INDIA. (Digressing a wee bit -- can? Microsoft's total corporate net worth and share values surpass all the combined capitalisations of Malaysia's 1,000-odd listed companies -- just Food for Thought...)

Today, it's the Internet and Information Age where communications between world communities is almost instantaneous, and knowledge powers a nation's progress. We may boast the best infra-structure of the First World standard, yes, Petronas Twin Towers is still the tallest in such category, but what about our human resources. Our mindset, is it First World? Are we grooming our own young talents, or are we driving them away. Our leaders have to answer these questions with a conscience.

But some of our leaders are still living in an Age of the Fixed Telephone Line. Fixed mindset, seeing the dollar signs everywhere they venture. Indulging in rent-collection; collecting commissions, like renting out the APs for a quick and easy buck. The future they see is now -- with instant gratification. Even a village idiot can do that, collecting rents, and instantly gratifying themselves.