MALAYSIA BODOH

Something i just need to get off my chest.



Malaysians Bodoh! Investors say bye-bye.

Cina Bodoh!
India Bodoh!
Melayu Bodoh !
Umno Bodoh!
MCA Bodoh!
MIC Bodoh!
Gerakan Bodoh!
Barisan Nasional Bodoh!

Khairy Bodoh!
Hishammuddin Bodoh!
Najib Bodoh!
Ong Ka Ting Bodoh!
SammyVellu Bodoh!
Abdullah Badawi Bodoh!


http://www.michaelbackman.com/LatestAgeColumn2.html

TheAge.

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While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry
By Michael Backman
The Age
November 15, 2006

MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.

It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.

Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.

As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point. It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't.

Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies. They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will
consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather". But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.

So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).








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Malaysia's red tape gives investors the blues
By Liau Y-Sing
Email us your feedback at fd@bizedge.com


Foreign investors have little enthusiasm for Malaysia -- but it has little to do with traditional business factors such as production costs.

Rather, their lack of interest has more to do with a litany of more esoteric issues such as mountains of red tape, opaque decision-making, affirmative-action policies, a lack of skilled workers and hints of religious tension.

"There is really an increasingly widespread perception that conditions of doing business here in Malaysia are not that attractive anymore," said Thierry Rommel, ambassador of the EU Commission to Malaysia.

From US electronics makers to Indian IT firms, foreigners looking to expand in Southeast Asia are increasingly overlooking Malaysia in favour of Vietnam's cheap labour, Indonesia's big emerging market or Singapore's sophisticated workforce.

Long dwarfed by Asian giants China and India, Malaysia is now also spurned in favour of some smaller economies, cutting foreign investment into the country and casting doubt over the future of one of Southeast Asia's fastest growing economies.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia fell 14% to US$3.97 billion (RM14.4 billion) last year, and the country dropped four places to rank sixth out of 10 Southeast Asian countries in attracting foreigners, United Nations data showed.

The decline came amid a 45% jump in FDI into Southeast Asia last year and it marked the first time that Malaysia fell behind less-developed neighbour Indonesia.

FDI inflows into Malaysia have been almost stagnant since 1990, according to the UN data. From 1990 to 2000, the country drew an average US$4.7 billion in foreign investment each year, roughly the same as the figure in 2004.

China, in contrast, sucked in US$72.4 billion in foreign investment last year, more than double the average yearly amount it absorbed between 1990 and 2000.

CLSA deputy chief economist Eric Fishwick said the problem speaks volumes about the whole economy.

"The relatively small amount of FDI reflects the broader growth environment which is still overprotectionist, uncompetitive," Fishwick said.

"Going forward, Malaysia is going to underperform its potential. It needs to allow competition in its economy and part of competition is that non-viable businesses be allowed to go out of business."

Malaysia was one of the first Asian nations to set up an offshore manufacturing hub for Western firms, having launched an aggressive pitch for foreign investment in 1972 with a free-trade zone in the northern state of Penang.

Tech firms such as Intel Corp, the world's largest maker of computer chips, and telecoms firm Motorola have been operating from Penang for decades.

Malaysia has also recently wooed German graphite-electrode maker SGL Carbon and chipmaker Infineon to set up operations. But nowadays, it is much more difficult to capture major investments like these.

An example of the red tape: foreigners say it can take half a year to get a work permit, compared with less than a week in neighbouring Singapore. There are also a plethora of different government bodies to deal with.

Malaysia has been passed over in recent years by electronics firm Solectron Corp, Dutch energy company SHV Holdings and semiconductor firm Advanced Interconnect Technologies.

Malaysia still depends heavily on foreign money to drive its manufacturing industry and, increasingly, its services sector. So falling foreign investment, and complaints about red tape and delays, have jolted the government into action.

In September, it set up a cabinet team led by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to speed up approval for foreign investment projects involving large and technology-intensive industries.

Last month, Najib said the new team had approved high-tech projects worth US$11 billion over five years involving two local firms and a foreign one. He did not reveal any project details.

But there are also gripes about a lack of transparency.

"The Malaysian government can do a better job in making regulations less imposing to businesses," said Vince Leusner, president of the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce.

"Often it seems like the proper consultation with the business community hasn't been made," he added. - Reuters