Friday, May 30, 2008

Where To Next?

Above is a chart showing the KLSE movements for the past year.
The stock exchange has been on a down trend since 4 months ago. Volume is seen as steadily decreasing.
However, the index seems to have stabilized at the 1270 point mark, and is currently experiencing consolidation.
The big question is, is it preparing for a bull run? A sloth run? Or a catastrophic sky dive?

Here are a 2 short term scenarios.

1.Oil prices
If oil prices continue to surge, Economic heavy weights such as US and japan may actually fall into recession or experience 0 growth. Consequently, this creates a domino effect whereby all smaller economies dependent on exports for growth slow down.
Prediction- The KLSE will stay near the 1220 point region. Plantation stocks such as palm oil will see even further gains.

2.Political Developments
If BN is overthrown, expect rioting or a re-election.
Prediction- Political stability will cause the index to fall around 50-150 points. Stocks controlled by UMNO, GLC's- Government linked companies (UEM builders, Telekom etc etc..) can expect HUGE declines.

Assuming that both scenarios do not happen, a bull run is still not expected at this point of time. However, a sloth run is possible.
Therefore, Investing in stocks now is not a very good idea. This is because we stand to loose much and gain little.



Sloths move at a jaw dropping speed of 0.08km per hour even if threatened by a predator!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Malaysia's looming Economic Melt Down

Despite Malaysia's pretty economic growth over this past few months, something just doesn't seem to be right. It is almost as if the Gdp growth figures were manipulated or spiced up.
Well , it wasn't.
Contrary to popular believe, the government does not really jack up economic figures. It just found clever ways of spice up growth.
That's all.
Lets use last year as an example.
Mr Abdullah found out that economic figures were not good , and it couldn't be at a worse time. Elections were just around the corner and he didn't want the economy to appear weak. So he did something very clever, increase the wages of civil servants. This of course leads to higher spending. And as we know, spending helps boost the economy.
I am not saying that civil servants do not deserve a pay rise. But the reasons on why it was done couldn't be any worse.
Yes, Malaysia is actually a failing economy. China and India are fast replacing Malaysia as the manufacturing power houses. 50% of Malaysia's Gdp comes from the manufacturing sector.
If oil & palm oil prices did not increase last year by a mile, Malaysia would have registered economic growth of somewhere near 3.5%. This is a measly figure for a developing country.
By 2014, Malaysia will no longer be a net exporter of oil. In turn, this translates to losses for every cent oil prices go up.
To achieve developed status by 2020, Malaysia should have registered at least 8% economic growth annually since 1995. (a developed country should have Purchasing Power Parity of at least $25,000, and GDP per capita should be close to PPP figures.)
Right now, Malaysia has PPP of $14,700 and a GDP per capita of $6500.
We have only done an average of 5% increase in gdp growth from 1995- 2007. So vision 2020 will not be achieved, despite what the government might claim.

Furthermore, for Malaysia to move up the value chain, (I define this as a country that is able to innovate and produce high quality products-eg. companies such as Samsung, Lg from Korea) large amounts of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are needed. To show you how low our FDI's are, Malaysia has a pathetic $7Billion of FDI's annually, while Singapore, a country 100 times smaller then Malaysia, Has FDI's of $55Billion annually.

Last year, nearly 50% of our FDI's went into Iskandar development region. This in my opinion, is a project bound to be a major failure. When Singaporeans were invited to invest, they did. But when they started to invest, our smart politicians say that they will chase the Malays out to the jungles.

To summarize everything up,
1. Malaysia's economic growth is now based on Oil and palm oil prices.
(Malaysia will soon be a net importer of oil, and palm oil prices have reached its peak, meaning it will be down hill from here on)
2. Malaysia's manufacturing sector is shrinking, thus unemployment rates will go up.
3. Immigrants imported from Indonesia, Philippines are causing wages to remain stagnant.
4. Malaysia is suffering from a brain drain. No qualified professionals want to work in Malaysia anymore.
5. All the peoples tax money are being used in stupid subsidies and unnecessary 'Mega projects'.

Monday, May 26, 2008

BN or Pakatan??

So the winds of change did not just come, it brought along a hurricane along with it.
Many Malaysians have celebrated since then, and i will not deny that I was one of them.

After 4 months, the political orgasm is certainly dying down. And something not very pleasant just cropped up into my mind.
What is the future of Malaysia should the Pakatan come into power??

As we know Pakatan is a combination of Pro secularism DAP, Pro islamist PAS, and PKR which falls somewhere in between.
Just looking at the combination alone is disturbing. Lets just use the school uniform issue as an example.
While DAP was busy slamming those who said that the uniform were sexy, PAS not only agreed with that view but demanded action to be taken.
Shouldn't a Political Party share the same views and principles?? Well that just doesn't seem to be the case here, does it?
Its becoming very clear to me that DAP will always be DAP, and PAS will always be PAS.
This is indeed, a classic example of the 'Inconvenient Truth'.

I can't say much about the UMNO-MCA-MIC coalition either. Although UMNO is basically a Islamic party, it does have much more modern Malays. MCA and MIC just seem to be overshadowed and pooh poohed by their big boss all the time, although thats a statement that they most certainly refute.
And from all this, the underlying problems which in my opinion, destroyed Malaysian politics clearly speaks for itself. 1.The politicization of Islam. 2.Corruption and arrogance.(I wont touch on this since we already know what i mean, don't we?)

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with Islam. In fact, it is a beautiful religion.
The problem starts when people use religion as a base to gain political millage.
As beautiful as it may be, religion if allowed to, starts becoming a subject of manipulation to win votes. The manipulation of religion was the ultimate cause for the near downfall of Christianity during the dark ages. And i certainly hope that does not happen to Islam.

And why do i say all this?? Well thats because UMNO and PAS have been playing the Tug a War game, over who is more Islamic.(Thou Art Holier then Me) In the process, bringing everybody down with it. ( i could write 10 pages about this if i had the time)

Lets again use the school uniform issue as an example. I dare say, that if religion was not involved in this, the Non Muslims would have agreed that it is too thin. But when you start putting religion into the equation, and make stupid statements that the uniform causes rape, (which clearly is the stupidest thing i've heard on earth) it does raise eyebrows.

For starters, the non Muslims would think that agreeing to this issue would associate them with Islam.
Secondly, all educated people on earth know that rapists will rape a 50 year old woman if they want to. The real issue here is really protecting the girls modesty. And because of some fanatics saying that this uniform may cause rape, will in turn cause most people to shoot down their views, and disagree with whatever they say.

So do you see what I see?? The extent to which Islam has been politicized is unbelievable. Many would rather die then being associated with Islam- Thanks to a handful of idiots, that is.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Why can't we use the word 'Allah'?

My oh my.... Everyone except those living in caves should know by now that UMNO has imposed a ban on the use of the word 'Allah' by non Muslims.

This has of course triggered an uproar, more noticeably, throughout the Christian churches. Anyway, lets not go any deeper into this issue. Lets leave it to the more experienced and qualified professionals to argue out their case.

However, there is one thing that i just can't seem to understand. Why are the Malays (I'm sorry ..the UMNOnians) so afraid of the non Muslims using the word Allah?

What does Allah mean?
Does Allah mean the God of Arabians? Because obviously 'Allah' is an Arabian word.
Does Allah mean the God of Muslims? If that were the case, are those UMNOnians suggesting that each religion has a different god? I thought they were thought that only one true God exists? By saying that Allah is the god of Muslims, they are also saying that there are other Gods for other religions.
I read one argument that said 'Allah' is a sacred word in Islam and should only be used by a certain group of people. I certainly do agree that 'Allah' is a sacred word, and should not be used casually, the same goes for words such as 'God', 'Pencipta Alam', 'Tuhan'.

So why should 'Allah' be confined to Muslims?
Doesn't 'Allah' mean Tuhan?? If Tuhan doesn't mean Allah, then i say that all Muslims have committed great sins for worshiping more then one God. This is because the Rukun Negara itself has a phrase called 'Kepercayaan Kepada TUHAN', which is professed UNDER OATH by all Malaysians. So by saying Tuhan does not mean Allah suggests that Muslims are worshiping two Gods. One called 'Allah', another called 'Tuhan'.

What say you??
( i hope i don't get charged under sedition act for saying this..honestly.)

Monday, May 19, 2008

Yup..he does it again!!

What a coincidence, my last article just so happened to talk about this person we call Mahatir.
SO what did he do this time??
Well... he left UMNO.
You might ask:' so what?? isn't that old men sotta irrelevant??'
Well you're probably right. It was not really the fact that he left UMNO which has garnered my attention. Its the reason why he left!

And i quote :
'Oleh kerana Dato Seri Abdullah buta mata dan pekak telinga dan tidak faham mesej ahli BN, oleh kerana ahli UMNO pun turut bersama, oleh kerana proses demokrasi tidak berjalan, oleh kerana UMNO yang ada sekarang bukan lagi UMNO yang ditubuhkan 62 tahun dahulu, saya berpendapat penyertaan saya sebagai ahli UMNO tidak bermakna dan tidak berguna lagi.

Justeru itu saya ingin umumkan bahawa saya sudah keluar daripada UMNO.'(Mahatir)

Erm Mr Tun sir... weren't you the one that created all this policies that encouraged undemocratic practices? Weren't you the one that allowed dictatorship to flourish?? What you are experiencing now is the taste of your own medicine sir. If you want me to list out what you have done one by one, i am much obliged to do it.

1.Muzzling the media by creating this printing permit nonsense
-so that only the views of the top men and his cronies are accepted and published
result- your views are not published now because you are no longer the top men ^^

2.Creating a quota system in UMNO elections
-
to allow a selected few to contest for UMNO top posts only
result- nobody dares to openly challenge the leader for fear of dismissal, which explains why nobody openly voices their support for you. ^^

3.Encouraging nepotism
-Allowing your son to benefit from your position as the PM of malaysia (don't forget Sir your son has his fair share of scandals too)
result- Khairy thought he could do the same too.^^

So Mahatir, the person(Abdullah Badawi) you describe as pekak and dumb is actually very much like you, just that he now does what he wants..not what you want.^^

Moral lesson: Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to you.




Saturday, May 17, 2008

Dr. Mahatir reveals true colours

Finally, it took some time but it eventually happened. During his reign as PM of malaysia, Dr M saw to it that his malay ultra image was shaded. This was of course to gain more political support from his non muslim counterparts.

Well times have certainly changed since then. The slightest possibility that his greatest enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, would eventually come into power has led Dr M to become a desperado. This is of course for fear that his former colleague would seek revenge once in power.

To be frank, Mahatir may hate Abdullah Badawi, but he certainly despises anwar ibrahim. This situation can best be described by this equation. Assuming mahatir is X.
( Abdullah badawi> X(hates) > Anwar)

So desperate times lead to desperate measures. Since the support of non malays now rests within pakatan rakyat, there is indeed no reason to sweet talk them. Dr M did the unthinkable, that is after 30 years; he has finally played the racial card. Surely, you cant blame the man. The only way to prevent Anwar from coming into power now is to turn the Malays against him. So he comes up with all this doom's day scenarios for the malays should Pakatan rakyat come into power.

Nevertheless, these are certainly interesting times, whereby politicians are increasingly showing their true colours. I'm sure Dr M has effectively erased all respect from the non malays towards him. It now lies within the malays to decided wether his statements that malays will be pushed to the jungles should opposition come into power are in fact true.

What Mahatir doesn't realize is that he has put himself in a very awkward position. You see, by criticizing the Badawi administration, he has indeed lost huge support from UMNO. By slamming Anwar, he risks full scale revenge from him should he be the next PM. By invoking racial sentiments, no doubt that some malays will feel threatened. But those sentiments are generally being played up by most UMNO politicians. At the end of the day, this move will not see much support siding with Mahatir. And of course, the consequence of his actions will turn the non malays, that have generally taken a neutral attitude towards him, to hate him.

This is interesting isn't it. I mean, think of it, what has Mahatir gained by doing what he has done?? What a pity, he could have just retired with honor. Now, he stands to loose all of that and die disgracefully.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Malaysia's Achievements

After 50 years of independence, its time to reflect on our amazing achievements.

Lets cut the poo poo and begin.

1.Sending an angkasawan to space...(pause)...(and a very big pause)...
Courtesy of Russia after Malaysia spent a few billions on buying their fighter jets.
2.Building petronas twin towers.
Courtesy of a few billions of tax payers money and 2 American companies for building it.
3.Building putrajaya
Courtesy of petronas money, (11.8billion) to build a city which supports a 50,000 population only. This works out to RM236k spent on a person-(civil servant)!!
-This money could have been used to wipe out poverty in malaysia.
4.Creating the longest and biggest popiah, kuih-kuih in the world.

Yes, this are our great achievements after half a century of development.
Other achievements such as having prestigious universities, a respectable judiciary have long been destroyed. (UM used to be top 50 in the world, now its not even in the top 300 list.)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Aftermath of election.

So you might think... after BN got slaughtered in the last election, they will start doing a good job. Err...hold on a minute!! that was too optimistic..well at least a slight improvement would be within expectations??

Surprisingly unsurprising, they managed to go even lower.. Its somewhat like me getting 8% for math in sem 1 and 5% for sem 2...Boy thats quite an achievement ain't it?? Lets start with the parliamentary sessions. To those who cant be bothered much about politics or national affairs, parliament can be bast described as the nucleus of the country. Basically, the nucleus serves as the control center of the country, and no country, be it democratic or not can function properly without it.

So it would be fair to say that parliamentary sessions are a big deal... Well... lets just look at what issues our Mp's are bringing up in parliament at the moment.

1. Khairy.J: "Modern pig farming in Selangor is an insult to muslims."
(if it was such an insult why did BN approve it before elections?)
2. Home ministry: "Women (adult or not) should get letter of consent from family members before leaving the country."
(need i comment?)
3.UMNO: "Karpal should be charged with sedition for saying sultan of perak acted against the constitution."
(If thats the case pak lah and many other high profile politicians should be arrested too for saying the sultan of Terengganu acted against the constitution for appointing a different MB)
4.RPK ( famous blogger) should be arrested because he betrayed the malay race by siding with the opposition.
(If thats the case then Malaysia should just disband all elections since no opposition voices are tolerated)

So thats what our beloved and most honorable Mp's are doing now. ^__^
MALAYSIA BOLEH!! MALAYSIA GEMILANG!! MALAYSIA MAJU!!>>(in 10 centuries that is...)