Corporate Social Responsibility

or CSR has been a much touted business goal among companies that "have arrived".
But believe me, many listed companies only sing their chorus of COMMITMENT to good CSR as a rah-rah-rah ANNUAL DINNER where the press is present, and the CEO gets his 15minutes worth of media fame under the glare of TV spotlights handing a few cheques to chairity buddies. Any Malaysian successor to Singapore Kidney Foundation, anywan for gold bathtaps? -- Desi

We have the potentially-costing-the-public RM12.5billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal still making news headlines, and here cometh a s potential clone...? I think I will try to get my church pastor friend appl for a donation from the forever-riding-high NAZA group.

PS:I don't do it from a hi-sense of altruism! Oh no, methinking of that 30% as Desiderata2000 still has not got any 20million offer at eBoy! Sdr Moo_t, where art thou and my 70%?

Via the
The Malaysian Insider:)
Wednesday November 25 2009


A public policy re-think in KL on the cards?

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — A growing controversy over a RM628 million project awarded to the Naza Group without open tender could put pressure on the government to rethink public policy, given previous failed developments such as the Port Klang Free Zone.

Naza clinched the deal last week to build a RM628 million convention centre for the Malaysian External Development Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of International Trade, in exchange for 2.8 million square feet of prime land owned by the government in Kuala Lumpur.

Analysts have estimated the gross development value of the land at RM15 billion. The award has raised disquiet with at least one business paper asking searching questions in an editorial over the weekend and with the Opposition up in arms.

On Monday, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua asked for the minutes of the privatisation to be tabled in Parliament. He said that the whole exercise should be re-tendered.

“Failing which, we demand that all ministerial papers relating to the project be declassified and tabled in Parliament to prove that all necessary due diligence has been conducted with no inflated cost to the government and no inflated profits to the concessionaire,” he told reporters.

Such scrutiny — especially from the local media — would have been unthinkable during, say, the tenure of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But the results of the general election last year have seen a resurgent Opposition.

In addition, the revelation of the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, where a development budgeted for RM2.5 billion escalated to over RM10 billion, has left the public angry over the sheer waste of the project.

More to the point, some analysts actually question the viability of the convention centre project, pointing out that the site does not have the critical mass — hotels, restaurants, etc — to sustain such a development.

The convention centre in Putrajaya, for example, has proved to be a colossal failure. Oppositionists have estimated that the project, built for close to RM700 million, would take 300 years, assuming zero maintenance cost, for the project to break even.

The most successful convention centre is the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre which was built by Petronas near the site of the twin towers. It is booked solid for the next nine years but, even so, it took Petronas 10 years to go ahead because it felt that it would be difficult to get back its investment. — Business Times Singapore smaller c

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Here's CAPitalism at its showingOFFbestA, and DEsi was NOT invited all because he's an avowed "socialist" -- I should have missBELT it as sociaLITE!:(


Obamas welcome guests with curry at state dinner
AP



By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The first state dinner of the Obama White House had it all: Oscar-winning entertainers, Hollywood moguls, a knockout guest chef and even a wardrobe malfunction.

Traditional evening gowns vied with saris of vibrant colors Tuesday night at the high-glitz dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There were turbans and bindis as well as diamonds and brocades.

"Everyone looks great; we're feeling great," White House social secretary Desiree Rogers told a phalanx of cameras as she arrived, betraying no hint of nerves at the biggest social event of the Obama presidency.

First lady Michelle Obama had been a little more forthcoming earlier in the day when she described the trick to pulling off the event as sort of like being a swan: calm and serene above the water but "paddling like mad, going crazy underneath."

The 338-person guest list was a mix of wonky Washington, Hollywood A-listers, prominent figures from the Indian community in the U.S., and Obama friends, family and campaign donors.

Attorney General Eric Holder patted his pocket as he arrived and said his kids had prepped him with all sorts of questions for tablemate Steven Spielberg. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, asked who she was most looking forward to chatting with, ventured, "I'd have to name four." Then didn't.

Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania had to scramble when his ensemble went rogue at just the wrong moment: His cummerbund dropped to the floor just as he and his wife stopped to pose before a scrum of about 40 reporters and photographers.

Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood provided the celebrity quotient, but neither could come up with a connection to India. Underwood said he was there because of Woodard. She said she was there because she's on the president's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Dinner guests were treated to an eye-catching scheme of green and purple, from the green curry surrounding the prawns to the purple floral arrangements paying homage to the peacock, India's national bird.

Pumpkin was on the menu, too, with Tuesday's dinner coming just two days before Thanksgiving.

Hours before guests arrived and in keeping with tradition, Mrs. Obama previewed the glamorous table settings in the State Dining Room. That's often the venue for such dinners, but not this time.

Instead, in an effort to show Singh how much the U.S. values relations with his country, the Obamas decided to serve dinner in a huge white tent on the South Lawn, with views of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial through clear panels.

It wasn't your everyday tent: This one had chandeliers suspended from the ceiling and beige carpet on the floor.

President Barack Obama, in his dinner toast, said the setting conjured images of India, where special events are "often celebrated under the cover of a beautiful tent." Singh, in turn, told the president he was overwhelmed by the Obamas' hospitality and said the president's election last year had been an inspiration to millions of Indians.

Magnolia branches native to both India and the U.S. adorned the tent's inside walls, along with ivy and nandina foliage.

Guests were seated 10 apiece at round tables draped in green apple-colored cloths and napkins, offset by the sparkle of gold-colored flatware and china, including service and dinner plates from the Eisenhower, Clinton and George W. Bush settings.

Floral arrangements of hydrangeas, roses and sweet peas in plum, purple and fuschia evoked India's state bird.

Mrs. Obama brought in award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, a Scandinavian restaurant in New York City, to help White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and her staff prepare the largely vegetarian meal. Singh is a vegetarian.

Samuelsson said being chosen to help whip up dinner was both "overwhelming and humbling."

The culinary offerings included potato and eggplant salad, arugula from the White House garden, red lentil soup and roasted potato dumplings or green curry prawns. Pumpkin pie tart and pear tatin were for dessert; the pears were poached in honey from the White House beehive.

The entertainment lineup was stellar.

Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson and jazz vocalist and composer Kurt Elling, both Grammy Award winners from the Obamas' hometown of Chicago, were performing. Hudson also won an Academy Award for her role in "Dreamgirls." Indian musician and singer A.R. Rahman, who won two Academy Awards for the music in "Slumdog Millionaire," also was in the lineup.

Among the other guests: Hollywood moguls David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Guests with ties to India included spiritual adviser Deepak Chopra, director M. Night Shyamalan and PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. Katie Couric of CBS News, Brian Williams of NBC News, Robin Roberts of ABC News and CNN Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta were among the media representatives invited. Oprah Winfrey was not on the list, but her best friend, Gayle King, was among the guests. Also there Obama friends Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt, along with Obama's half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad; and Marian Robinson, the first lady's mother.

Every aspect of Tuesday's events was fraught with meaning and symbolism, from the flower colors to Mrs. Obama's clothing designers.

For the dinner, Mrs. Obama wore a sleeveless, gold and cream colored sheath dress with an overlay of silver and matching shawl by Indian-born designer Naeem Khan. At the State Dining Room event earlier in the day, the first lady wore a skirt by Rachel Roy, who is Indian.

The dinner also was a debut of sorts for florist Laura Dowling, who's been on the job less than a month.