Monday, June 09, 2008
Not sure where to park your money? Follow Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki is the name synonym with personal-finance and has attracted millions of followers. His flagship product was definitely “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book that has taken the world by storm. His other books titled “Rich Dad's CASHFLOW Quadrant” and “Rich Dad's Guide to Investing” was equally good and hits the top 10 best-sellers. The fourth generation Japanese American also made his fortune from “Cashflow” boardgames and series of audio cassettes. His most famous trademark was probably the “Cashflow Quadrant”, a conceptual diagram entails four groupings of people earning their money - “E”mployee, “S”elf-employed, “B”usiness owner and “I”nvestor.
There’s one thing that Robert highlighted regarding saving money which you should take note. With the dollar basically flushing down the toilet, it’s no longer accurate to tell your kids to “save money” because that would be telling the children to “save currency” which is equivalent to keeping depreciating dollar. Instead of buying certain currency, Robert Kiyosaki hedges against dollar by buying basket of Asian currencies through ETFs such as iShares MSCI Singapore Index Fund (NYSE: EWS) or iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (NYSE: EWM).
So, if you’ve tons of money and do not know where to invest, you might just want to follow your favorite books’ author. However there’re rumors and grumblings thatRobert created the fictitious character of “Rich Dad”. Kiyosaki had stated in his books that Rich Dad had died in 1994 but some have claimed that Rich Dad was a person named Richard Kimi, the deceased founder of Sand and Seaside Hawaiian Hotels.
Stumble it!
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Still steamy hot with fuel hike? Why not kick Badawi’s arse?
Don’t you hate Monday? It’s not end of the month so there’s no reason to celebrate. If you didn’t manage to squeeze some drops into your tank last week, chances are you already felt the pain of pouring extra 40 percent for the fuel by now. But seriously do you think this time around people will take to the street in a big wave or at least the same crowd as previous Bersih rally? I doubt so.
The oppositions have captured five states and there’re enough foods on the plates for them. In other words, they would be pretty “occupied” with their busy schedule to think of a demonstration. It’s not like before the 12th general election whereby they’ve nothing to loose and everything to gain, not to mention the time they have in co-ordinating and organizing such event. Anwar claimed the defections plan will proceed as planned (Malaysiakini reported) and if you still believe his trumpet, it doesn’t worth the risk of a demonstration that would lead to nowhere but could turn the table in favor of PM Badawi to declare an emergency with absolute rule?
This recent fuel hike could be Badawi’s bait to create havoc. It could a bait to lure the traitors out of the cave to speed-up the cross-over of BN’s MP to oppositions. It could be a bait to see who’re against him within UMNO itself. It could be just another attempt to test the water before going for higher fuel hike. Heck it could be thousands of possibilities but it sure was an ingenius plan as Badawi would not lose anything. So what if you call him Bodowi, Sleepy-head, Father of Destruction, Stupidwi etc as long as he can accumulate billions of dollars with a sudden announcement that caught even Shahrir Samad offguard for his next mission / plan? If you didn't know, Shahrir had just announced that the fuel price of RM2.70 will remains until next year 2009, that's if you're lucky that global oil prices will not go beyond $200 a barrel and his boss Badawi doesn't flip-flop again.
As for the poor people on the street, they have no choice but to bite the bullet and change their lifestyle (again?). Of course you heard that they might need to change to cycling to work instead of driving but it was really a joke. It was just an expression of frustration. Being pampered and with no sight of improvement in public transportation, they just have to eat less and buy less. And for these people to change their travelling mode from car to motorcycle or from motorcycle to bicycle would be extreamely hard. To think of the possibility of becoming snatch-thief’s next victim would force many women drivers to maintain status quo.
Of course Malaysians being Malaysians are never out of creativity. They cursed and whined a while of the fuel hike and then discussed with great length on how to “cheat” the RM625 rebate such as to buy a damn a cheap car, leave it to rot but keep claiming for the annual money. Well, first of all the rebate is a one-off thing and the flip-flop government will most likely change the rules of the game sooner than you can blink your eyes. So it would not be wise to rush out there to buy an old car fit only to be used as chicken-den and start claiming. Anyway, in case you’ve not fully release your steam, here’s how you can kick Abdullah Badawi’s arse. Hope this will lighten up your Monday blues. Tell the whole world how you enjoyed kicking (your score) Badawi’s arse at the comment section.
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Saturday, June 07, 2008
Windfall Tax - why Discriminate and Petronas not in?
Windfall Tax is not something new but neither was it started from the Jurassic Age. It so happened that certain industry suddenly experienced extraordinary profits and the mouth-watering government came with an ingenious idea to levy such companies under the name of windfall tax. The classic example was Exxon Mobil which reported unusual profits of US$36 billion in 2005 due to high oil prices although historically it went as back as 1970s. Such windfall tax would benefits a nation (and the people) if the government is transparent and knows how to channel the money back to area where it needed the most. However certain quarters would argue that such tactic would reduce the companies’ drives and initiatives to seek more profits – a typical scenario of a communist country whereby nothing belongs to you, so why work hard?
With the current oil prices above $130, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both pushed the idea of “Windfall Profit Tax” on oil companies. Heck, almost all U.S. Presidents somehow fancy such idea. First it was Richard Nixon in 1973, then Jimmy Carter in 1977 and now Obama, Clinton and McCain. In Malaysia, PM Abdullah Badawi had announced windfall tax on plantation stocks and IPP although today the steel millers plan to ask the government not to impose a windfall tax on them despite their good profits (Good Luck!).
Wait a minute, what about the oil companies especially Petronas? Most of the cases in United States involved oil companies for obvious reason but with the oil prices touching $140 it’s strange Petronas is yet to be slapped with the so-called windfall tax. Maybe the opposition PKR-DAP-PAS should push this idea in the Parliament. It doesn’t make sense to let Petronas off the hook – the company should contribute back to the society. And since Petronas does not report to anyone (including Parliament) except to only one person and that’s the Prime Minister himself, let’s bombard and demand the PM to impose Windfall tax on Petronas. If U.S. had mooted such a noble idea before, perhaps the same should be done here in Malaysia.
That’s right - light, sweet crude for July delivery officially finished the day at $138.54, up $10.75 on the Nymex Friday but after the settlement, the contract jumped as high as $139.12 and the Dow plunged 400 points (let's see if KLCI could take that on Monday). Israeli Cabinet minister said his country will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program and instantly the oil prices made their biggest single-day leap – a whopping $11 for the day. If the black gold remains at current status, get ready for at least RM4.00 a liter come this August. Gosh! It happens so fast that I bet nobody has the time to prepare for the so-called demonstration involving 100,000 protesters. I meant what should you write on the boycott cards – “People suffers with RM2.70” or “People suffers with RM4.00”?
Meanwhile, it was reported that miraculously some IPPs (independent power producers) may be able to pass on the cost of a windfall tax to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (KLSE: TENAGA, stock-code 5347) if their agreement with TNB has such clause. Now, whose stupid idea was it to include such bias clause in favor of IPP in the first place? And to think of the possibility that TNB will pass on the cost back to the consumers (again) is simply horrifying. And what about those banks and telecommunication companies – shouldn’t they be subject to Windfall Tax as well? Yeah, impose such tax on all of them and the money derived from it should be able to help towards the so-called fuel subsidy until a better method that would not burden the poor people is ready. Hey, we gotta be fair, right?
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Friday, June 06, 2008
Al Capone of Broadcom, he did it in the wrong country
There was a saying that two Malaysian could not outsmart one Singaporean; four Singaporean could not outsmart one Hongkies (Hong Kong) and four Hongkies could not outsmart one Chinese (China). I’m not sure about Chinese against American or Jewish though and please, there’s no racial element in the statement. Take it as a joke if you can’t think in straight line. Of course the above “comparison” referred to corporate-business although I’m pretty sure when comes to politics, the reverse makes more sense.
When you’re into business expansion, please remember to borrow as much as possible. It would be an achievement if you could borrow RM1 billion for your RM2 ringgit shell company. The fact is the more you borrow and the deeper your company is in debt the better. When you owed banks billions of dollars in loan you’re a celebrity, so much so that the banks were so scared of your security they might even provide you bodyguards foc. And if you can further convinced the banks to lend you more money to turnaround your company, you’re basically a genius.
Chances are you would be sentenced to longer jail terms for stealing underwears or shampoo than for owing billions of dollars in debts. There’s very high possibility that you could just walk away a freeman instead if you’d committed such action in Malaysia. Anyway I’ve not read of any local top businessmen did anything similar to Broadcom Corporation’s (Nasdaq: BRCM, stock)co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III, a provider of semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.
Short of committing murder, the successful entrepreneur was indicted on federal narcotics charges that include allegations he slipped ecstasy into the drinks of business associates, maintained a drug warehouse and concealed his illegal conduct with bribes and death threats. Whoa! Al Capone reincarnation! The billionaire also is accused of committing conspiracy, securities fraud and other violations - Broadcom was eventually forced to write down its profits by $2.2 billion in January 2007, believed to be the largest-ever restatement related to improperly accounting for backdated options.
Dr. Nicholas used much of his fortune to fund drug parties in airplanes and luxury homes and to build a secret tunnel and room beneath his mansion in Laguna Hills. The court documents also claim Nicholas hired prostitutes and escorts for himself, his employees and customers and conspired to get illegal prescriptions for drugs such as Valium. In fact, he smoked so much marijuana during a flight on a private jet between Orange County and Las Vegas that the pilot had to put on an oxygen mask.
The drug charges against Nicholas carry a maximum combined sentence of 20 years in prison. He could face up to 340 years in prison on the stock backdating charges. What? Only 20 years for drug offence but 340 years for backdated stock options? You gotta be kidding! Maybe that’s what the PM is trying to do after all. Dig as much as possible because in Malaysia it’s not an offence for politicians to be super rich (remember “Sultan” Zakaria and his palace story) and if you wish to save your arse, you got to put yourself at the same level as Marcos or Suharto. Dr. Nicholas did it at the right time but at the wrong place. Before I sign-off, I managed to make some pocket money scalped Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU,stock) yesterday. Can’t let go of such opportunity when the Dow was so bullish, can I?
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Thursday, June 05, 2008
Could the country pushed to the brink of Recession?
As expected when I and my buddies step into the kopitiam for our routine of breakfast this morning, everyone was talking (or rather yelling) about the fuel hike tsunami. I believe this was the second time within this year that the crowds were so energetic debating the 40.62 percent or 78 sen per liter hike? The first time was when the ruling government lost five states to the opposition in Mar and three months later, it was this ridiculous fuel hike. This brings back the happy memory of 1993 KLSE Super Bull Run.
15 years ago, restaurants were basically packed during lunch hour. Customers ranged from remisiers, dealers, IT guys, fishmongers, low-ranking settlement officers and even students. You can see happy faces basically everywhere and the dishes such as shark-fin soups, abalones and other expensive foods are quite common. The cheapest one would settle for hotel’s buffet. It was an era of no-brainer – as long as you belong to the homo-sapiens species, you were making money.
It wasn’t so hard to make money because as long as you follow the trends on the top-20 active stocks, you basically hit the jackpot. And if you have a little bit more brain-cells, you go and buy the lower part of top-40. You can’t miss the boat and with the settlement period of T+7, the whole stock market was like a paradise. One punter who later I found out to be a 16-year-old student claimed he made almost RM100,000 from playing contra. Not sure if he survived thereafter though.
Anyway, I suppose that even though the 10-year Bull-Run cycle was quite accurate to a certain stage, I doubt the glory days of 1993 could be repeated. The local stock market plunged almost 38 points today, the second worse since the 3-digit points plunge after the Mar 10 general election. Almost all the sectors were whacked upside down with plantation, financial and independent power provider (IPP) stocks leading the way, thanks to the government’s subsidies revamp exercise.
Plantation stocks were affected by the government’s decision to impose a windfall tax (aren’t these people creative in getting easy money?) on oil palm companies effective from July 1 but the rest of the stocks were affected either directly or indirectly by the huge quantum of fuel hike and could be heading to the Niagara Falls. The worst has yet to come. It’s all about chain-reactions and I’m flabbergasted why the government didn’t learn their lesson. Let me get one thing clear. I agreed that it’s about time to take away the fuel subsidy but it should be on gradual basis and not with a big-bang approach. No doubt over the long run, we cannot live under the subsidy honeymoon but we got to be realistic.
Those who still scream that even after the 78 sen hike the country’s petrol is still one of the cheapest should be shot, period. Why compared with Singapore when their GDP per-capita is US$49,714 while Malaysia is merely US$14,400? That’s almost 3.5 times difference mind you. Why not compared with another crude oil producer, Venezuela, a country whereby you only pay $0.17 per liter?Now, cost of doing business especially the SME will escalate, cost of living will goes up while the standard of living will plunge, crimes rate will skyrocket, many small traders will have to close shop, unemployement will increases because companies have no place to go but to retrench and many more horrible consequences are about to explode.
Former premier Mahathir today wrote that roughly Malaysia produces 650,000 barrels of crude per day. We consume 400,000 barrels leaving 250,000 barrels to be exported. Three years ago the selling price of crude was about USD30 per barrel. Today it is USD130 – an increase of USD100. There is hardly any increase in the production cost so that the extra USD100 can be considered as pure profit.Our 250,000 barrels of export should earn us 250,000 x 100 x 365 x 3 = RM27,375,000,000 (twenty seven billion Ringgit). But Petronas made a profit of well over RM70 billion, all of which belong to the Government. By all accounts the Government is flushed with money.
Maybe the government has forgotten to calculate the sudden increased in taxes from the plantation companies, oil companies and banks. I hope Scomi pay their taxes accordingly. Bottom line is the country’s economy is still generating profit and going by the simple arithmetic, the government can subsidize (if you still want to use the word) and gradually increase the fuel price but not before an effective mechanism is put in place to check for leakages (or rather corruptions). And please improve the public transports first which is still in the sucky situation.
I believe the people are still waiting for the 2006’s promise of improve-transportation system after the 30 sen a liter hike. People had tightened their belts since the deputy PM advised us to change our style of living since then. But to repeat the same old excuses and advices without doing a single thing on the government part is simply outrages. Just where all those billions of ringgit saved have went to? I’m pretty sure not a single cent has goes into my pocket.
And please think twice about those advices from the brokerages that today’s plunge is a good opportunity to buy. One thing leads to another and the last thing I want to write is this latest move could be the tipping point in pushing the country into a recession – not the one that says decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters but the one that says one after another of your friends are out of job. A recession is when your friend losses his job but when it’s you who lose the job, then it is depression.
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Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Fuel and Electricity Hike, Money needed for final battle
Why did Abdullah Badawi press the “Self Destruct” button by raising the fuel price by a whopping 40.62 percent or 78 sen per liter? Not satisfied that the self-destruct button might work, he put in the second-layer security with another explosive - raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users. You just got to respect this sleepy head for the guts. Really, I doubt Mahathir has even half the guts to do what Badawi has done.
Just out of curiousity I went to join in the party, the queue, to feel the excitement of filling up the petrol before the midnight bell strikes. It was havoc with motorists squeezed two lanes out of the already two-lane road, so basically it became a three-lane road. I skipped the first and second lane and proceeded to create a “new third lane” (yes! I’m a violent person) thus divided the supposely two-lane to four-lane road *grin*. The fact was I won’t be able to get a drop of petrol if I remained at the original 2-lane queue. And guess what! after I created the third queue everything seems to move more smoothly. It’s because the petrol pump operators realized the serious bottleneck and began to get his ass out from the air-cond counters to help divert the customers plus helping with the payments.
The situation got worse when the station has to dedicate one pump to motorcyclists alone of which the flow appeared to be never-ending. And when I took some photos, the motorists raised his voice at me “Hey! Are you a reporter? Go and tell Badawi that he sucks big time! And if he still can remains in office after next (13th) general election, I’ll cut my d**k”. So you see Badawi does not have any intention to stay and try his luck again in another 4-5 years. In fact he knew he is history and the chances of him to be able to sleep on the comfort of Seri Perdana’s bed come next election is almost zero. So what would you do if you’re in his situation?
It’s time to rip off as much as you can. Damn the popularity because it doesn’t works in Malaysia. Even if you can get only 49% of the votes, you’ve basically secured the throne. Who says the government is subsidizing you, your family members and your dog’s petrol expenses? Malaysia is a net exporter of crude oil. This means the country is selling more oils than buying it for domestic consumption. In this transation it makes money (via Petronas) so it’s not true that the government is subsidizing the people, mind you. It just that the difference (sell minus buy) is not sufficient for the government to do whatever that it wanted to do. You might argue that I’m twisting the fact but the arithmetic is correct.
Thus in the name of subsidy the government is basically telling you now that the profit made by the government from the RM1.92 a liter is not sufficientand it needs to increase it to RM2.70 a liter and you have less than 6-hours to rush your ass to the nearest petrol station if you wish to save some money. Of course a small group of people will be given the sweeteners in the form of RM625 annual cash rebate if you’re driving a 2,000cc vehicle which translates to about RM52 a month. That means you’re basically given an end-of-the-year voucher to claim about 67 liters of petrol a month.
The newly launched Proton Saga drinks 40 liter for a full tank. Assuming each full tank can last you 1-week, you’re paying RM307.20 per month based on the old rate of RM1.92 a liter but a whopping RM432 a month based on new rate of RM2.70 a liter. That’s a difference of RM124.80 a month dude. Unless you can further cut down on the usage, the RM625 annual cash rebate is barely enough and definitely a lose-lose proposition for you. But why would the government cares? The best part is the government will review the fuel price on monthly basis, so there could be more surprises in the closet.
Another reason for adopting such an unpopular decision was to accumulate as much as possible for the final battle – against the cash-rich Team-B consists of Najib Tun Razak (President); Muhyiddin Yassin (Deputy President); Ali Rustam, Shafiee Afdal and Rahim Thambi Chik (the three Vice-Presidents); and Mukhriz Mahathir (Youth Leader). It could be that the government is ready for a snap election as well so it needs lots of money. Don’t you feel disgusted when Badawi was happily announcing the fuel hike as if it was not a big deal after all? He even has the cheek to say he hopes that the people of Malaysia will not take to the streets to vent their anger over the fuel price hike because it is still the lowest in Asia despite the latest raise.
The reality is Abdullah Badawi can do a lot with the RM13.7 billion saved from the latest fuel hike and that’s what matter to him most, not the peoples’ suffering. Back in Jan 2007, I wrote that the country could be bleeding and the coffer was out of money. I hate to think so but it appeared the nation’s total treasure is in dire situation. Why I’ve a bad feeling that the Central Bank is going to raise the interest rate in the name of fighting inflation? And it seems my prediction of RM2.82 a liter back in Oct 2007 almost hit the jackpot. Not sure if I should bet on 270 and 192 for the 3D or 192270 and 270192 for the 6D.
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Fuel hike from RM1.92 to RM2.70, Char-Kuey-Teow RM7.50?
Breaking News: In-line with the government previous practices in announcing fuel-price hike last minute, it appears Abdullah Badawi government has did it again. Effective midnight tonight, 4th June 2008, the price of petrol would be increased by a whopping 78 sen and diesel by RM1.00. This means you’ve to pay 40.62% more for petrol from the previous RM1.92 a liter to RM2.70 a liter. The price of diesel meanwhile goes up from RM1.58 to RM2.58.
I’ve received the sms on the new rate earlier this morning but I thought it could be another hoax. It’s true after all. So there you go, trapped with the talks that any fuel hike would be enforced only after August. Didn’t Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad say earlier that the idea to hike fuel prices would only be revealed after a comprehensive subsidy system is re-structured – in August? Old tricks always work huh?
Expect the petrol stations to be filled with cars queuing up to fill up their tanks from now till the midnight folks. However Malaysiakini reported that there would beRM625 rebate for cars below 2000cc and RM125 for motorcyclist. Just wondering how the mechanism works (if it’s true) and how can I get hold of the RM625 rebate. I would prefer the government pay my “Cash” (don’t you?) to handle my car’s consumption. But then when would such rebate system starts? I bet it won’t be so soon and smooth and chances are you might need to drain that pocket of yours starting after midnight today till the announcement (if there’s any).
It would be super interesting to see how the government is going to tackle the inflation this time. If a plate of char-kuey-teow could skyrocketed from RM3.00 to RM4.50 during the last 30 sen a liter hike, I suppose the same plate of noodle will costs RM7.50 soon – that is if you’re lucky. Why the government has this funny hobby of watching people rushing to the petrol stations to fill up their tanks, late into the night? Simply puzzling! And to those voters who voted the BN (National Front) – Congratulations!!!
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Things are getting uglier; I wish ringgit goes back to 3.80
Not many moons ago, I’ve wrote why I don’t really fancy the local Ringgit to appreciate further against U.S. dollar. In fact I would love the local currency to float at RM3.80 to US1.00 or even weaker. Why am I so cruel and unpatriotic? The reason is pretty simple (hey I’m not a complicated person in the first place) – I don’t see how stronger ringgit would benefits the people, period. Do you see foods especially the imported types are getting any cheaper? Heck, can you see any happy faces at the market buying those “local” products? You hardly can smell the buying-power with the ringgit nowadays, RM3.80 or RM3.20 to a dollar does not make any difference.
When the dollar was strong suppliers were screaming that imported raw materials were expensive hence the pricey stuffs from chicken to building raw materials. But now the dollar has weaken not only the stuffs such as foods are not getting any cheaper but instead it is getting more expensive. Sure, blame it on global short-supplies and speculators etc but how about local manipulators? And nowBernanke signaled that further interest rate cuts are unlikely because of concerns about inflation. So the dollar will make a U-turn and strengthen against major currencies including ringgit and the same old song will be on the air again.
I found it amusing when Bank Negara (Central Bank) Malaysia’s Governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the ringgit will not be a tool of monetary policy to curb inflation. She said the strength of the ringgit has been and would continue to be determined by the market. Yeah, try to say that to the face of Mahathir during the 1997-1998 Asia Crisis and see if the old man would not spank her. The fact is the country was taking the free ride on the weakening dollar when Bernanke began the adventure of rate-cutting due to sub-prime crisis. Bank Negara did nothing but to sit and watch the show. And it is puzzling why there wasn’t any impact to the imported goods despite the appreciation of more than 15 percent in local currency.
Ringgit might not be the only tool to curb inflation but it’s a major weapon to do so. That was the reason why Bernanke signaled the halt in interest-rate cut, no? Can someone from the government comes out and honestly tell the people why the inflation has been going north since Abdullah Badawi took over (since the 30 cents a liter of fuel hike to be precise) and damn those inflation figures of 2-3 percent released. I’m no PhD in economic theory but the fact is nothing seems to be working in fighting the inflation. And you can be sure of another fuel hike soon and depending on the mechanism deployed, you might need to fork out RM4.00 a liter for petrol. How’s that for inflation?
Of course the silly PM Badawi has came out with the brilliant idea of scrapping the global future markets on the black-gold, the same way silly Mahathir screamed till his throat sore to eliminate currency (trading) speculation 10 years ago. In a way Goldman Sachs & Co. was right in certain way when it cut the nation’s equities to "underweight" from "market weight" although the main reason was political uncertainties. It was all about fear of contagion effect from Vietnam’s surging inflation, not that Malaysia’s own inflation is in any good condition. Cash is king my fellow readers. And I believe many people whose income is in U.S. dollar would love to see ringgit weaken to RM3.80 and beyond.
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Monday, June 02, 2008
Beyond $600 again? GOOG stock might needs Android
Developers were particularly happy with Google’s Android program though they hope Apple could grant them the same priviledges on iPhone. If there would be one day the Google’s phone could overtake iPhone as the most popular smart phone, the credits would definitely go to the developers, thanks to the Android SDK (software developer’s kit). Just take a look at Facebook that encourages applications developed by developers.
You either love iPhone or hate it but whatever reasons people who despise iPhone would somehow find some comfort with Android. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL, stock) looks almost certain to release the 3G version of its popular iPhone. But Google’s Gphone or Android would not be able to make it this year (hopefully in 2009) despite huge number of people are hard at work to give reasons to celebrate at least this Christmas. Android is based on the Linux open operating system is a project jointly developed by Google and Open Handset Alliance which consists of 34-member group.
At Google “developers conference” in San Francisco, the giant search engine showcased the enhanced version of its Android since the previous news late last year. The so-called smart Android phone has some cool applications operated with touch screens. You cannot help but to boo Android as small applications such as calendar and address list bring back the image of iPhone almost instantly. iPhone die-hard fans would laugh at the primitivity of the Android for obvious reason.
One similiarity with iPhone and Apple’s Safari browser is that Android’s browser uses the same open source engine from WebKit. Apple iPhone is still the coolest smart phone though but if Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, stock) could throw in really cheap Androids, it could create the buzz that might move the stock price beyond $600 since the plunge late 2007.
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Get guidance of hosting from Web Hosting Bluebook
Blogging has entered a new horizon when politicians including former premier Mahathir could not resist the temptation to start his own blog. Mahathir blog registered 1 million hits within a month, an achievement most of bloggers would dream of. Since the recent 12th general election, mysteriously bloggers were recognized as the new force that could turn the table on the government. In fact blogging is a marathon and only time will tell if a blog could survive over a period of time. The cheapest way is definitely to use the free blogging platform such as blogspot or wordpress although the best practice is to have your own domain.
To cut cost you can have your own domain (which you paid less than 10 bucks per year) but leverage on free hosting under blogspot platform. But still you’re at the mercy of Google and should the internet giant decided that it doesn’t like you, it could just shut you off leaving all your articles with them unless you’ve a backup copy. So the best way is still to have your own domain plus hosting it elsewhere which would lead to another headache - which hosting company? I found out that no matter how much research you do, there’re tons of complaints about that particular company.
Web Hosting Bluebook which has bought a review from StockTube is a site that provides guidance to people who are serious about hosting their blogs or websites on hosting companies out there. The site list the top 10 best host as reviewed by customers and webmasters. Although I was surprised that DreamHost was not in the list, I noticed that HostMonster occupied the top spot (score of 9.8) – coincidence with some of the comments googled from the internet. Somehow I was considering hosting my blog with BlueHost but with this new discovery I guess I’ll do more research.
It’s a never-ending process and what is good for someone might not be the best solution for others. However I can see that while GoDaddy is the preferred place to go to purchase domain name, it’s definitely not a wise move to host your blog or websites with them.
Smart people become Jokers after joining BN, how come?
Ithought I could get a good rest today after a tiring house-warming party yesterday but somehow amazing stories kept coming. People familiar with the local political scene once said (after the recent 12th general election) although UMNO (main component party of National Front) was made of mostly brainless retarded leaders since the departure of Mahathir (yes he was a dictator but he has the brain-cells), it had since improved its image relatively with the appointment of certain intellectuals such as Zaid Ibrahim (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department), Shahrir Samad (new Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister) and Amirsham Aziz (former Maybank CEO).
Don’t get me wrong though as these so-called incapable leaders are miraculously very capable in other area such as acquired foreign bank at mind-boggling 4.6 times book value, erased victim’s immigration records, lost sovereignty on Pedra Branca (Pulau Pulau Batu Puteh) yet could scream it was a win-win situation and many other great success stories. However if you care to notice, any good people (if you think they were in the first place) would somehow become dim-witted and losses the sparks as if they were under some sort of spells after joining the BN government.
Take Amirsham for example. Not sure whether you want to knock on his head of his stupidity or laugh at his inexperience but to get caught reading the answer to a supplementary question in Parliament? Gosh! I was curious if it was him who managed Maybank back then. I bet he scored all A’s in his SRP or LCE exams. Then you have Shahrir Samad who was suppose to be one of the smartest guy around, so much so that Mahathir put him on cold storage because of his intelligence. Suddenly he threw the spanner and announced foreigners are banned from buying petrol within 50km of the country’s borders effective May 30.
Being a Johorean, I thought Shahrir understood the fact that the state especially Johore Bharu needs Singaporean more than Singaporean needs JB’s fuel, no? You expect the Singaporean to 
come into JB in droves with the risks of getting stranded in the twilight zone if their fuel tanks ran out of petrol? Why can’t prepare extra pumps with fuel price at unsubsidized or market rate for foreigners? Aren’t you puzzled a smart guy like Shahrir didn’t thought of such alternative? Maybe he was both excited (of getting a ministryship) and too eager to show off his skills amongst his colleagues but such decision was foolish nevertheless. The latest decision as of today – the decision to enforce the petrol subsidy ban to foreign cars will only be finalised on Tuesday, according to deputy PM.
Zaid, the de facto law minister, was heckled and booed during his speech and Q&A session at the National Press Club today. He said in order to replace laws like the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Official Secrets Act, there has to be an alternative mechanism in place. Otherwise there would be anarchy, he claimed. Just what the heck was he talking about? It’s like saying if you don’t fancy Hitler’s way of put you inside gas-chambers or Emperor Hirohito’s way of chop off your head using samurai, then suggest another way or method to (die) torture human beings. Just repeal the above laws as it weren’t there in the first place, thanks again to old dictator Mahathir.
But the biggest joke was still on Rais Yatim. Realizing his mistake for saying it was a win-win situation after losing Pedra Branca, the senior chap now said Malaysia is not giving up hope on the island yet. The government is now scrambling to find the ancient letter written by British Governor William T. Butterworth to the Temenggong and Sultan of Johor seeking permission to build the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Batu Puteh. Why go all the way to ICJ knowing such important evidence was not in your hand in the first place? Only fools will proceed to a battle with guns but without bullets.
Rais further said “If we can gain sight of that letter, the gate can be opened again. There is a maximum 10-year period but preferably it should be done within six years … The letter could be in London, the British being too good at archiving. We have searched with them but it has not been conclusively proven that they don’t have it … Probably it is in Singapore”
If you really believe there’s a slightest hope of getting back the island based on his statement above, then you’re a fool yourself. What Rais was trying to do is to push the ball back to England and Singapore. He dare not say the ancient letter is in London nor in Singapore and he was giving a false hope – a 10-year-old hopesto be precise. It was reported that back in 1994 Malaysia requested Singapore to furnish a copy of the governor’s letter if it was in its possession but the republic did not respond.
Of course Singapore would not entertain such a request you idiot. It’s like going to the residence of Najib and asked if he still has a copy of the authorization memo or letter to take out some hamburger-like C4 explosive from the military storage. What do you think, was Singapore that stupid? It is better if Rais shut his mouth, admit the country just lost and island but won back some tiny rocks and let the people forget the whole shameful defeat over time. Probably he should just tai-chi the whole thing to his predecessor. Hmm, I wonder where the Attorney General is since the ICJ’s verdict.
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Sunday, June 01, 2008
Apple 3G iPhone – Broadcom the winner?
Apple’s two bucks jump in the stock price Friday was primarily due to Dell Inc.’s strong earnings result that pushed up technology shares and the expectation that Apple Inc. is preparing for the much talked-about 3G iPhone launch. This time it’s for real considering that it was Apple itself that was spreading the news of its own retail vacation blackout days. Taking the lead was AT&T who is blacking out vacation days for its retail staffers from June 15th to July 12th – reported AppleInsider.
On the other hand Apple Inc. is making the preparation for the back-to-school carnival - targeting third week of July and running through the second week of August. In order to push sales, Apple was planning for crazier incentives than last year (buy one free one? *grin*) and the details could be out as early as Monday after the company brief its partners.
The excitement was the filming outside the Apple Store Fifth Avenue in Manhattan which was said to be related to the soon-to-be iPhone 3G announcement. Assuming it’s true that Steve Jobs is going to announce the 3G iPhone to complete the jigsaw, who else (suppliers) could benefits from this new product? According to GigaOM the winner could be Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq:BRCM, stock), a provider of semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.
So, while I’m still yelling “Apple, Go! Go! Go!” I was kicking myself for missing out on Broadcom Corp. How could I miss this guy, a low-entry stock that could ride on the 3G iPhone wave, not that I’ve not play the stock before? Oh well, maybe there’re still chances to catch the tail.
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Friday, May 30, 2008
MPs grill Maybank CEO – let the worms come wriggling
Even if Maybank or some other hidden hands in this matter would eventually pull it through, the real reasons for paying exorbitant price for Indonesian PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (JAK: BNII) should be revealed to the public especially the stock investors. At least investors who are thinking of going into the river of Maybank be warned of the potential risks of getting their body parts snapped off by crocodile or piranhas. I’ve since put up a sign-board at the river bank that says “Beware of BN”, in case the attractive stock price got me seduced.
I can’t recall when was the last time Members of Parliament were so enthusiastic in grilling chief executive of a corporate organization. Perhaps it didn’t ever happen considering the government had never (since 1969) lost their precious two-third majority and hence strong voice before. Malayan Banking Berhad’s (KLSE:MAYBANK, stock-code 1155) new CEO, Wahid Omar, just joined the company and sympathizers might argue that he knows nut about the whole transaction but this argument is not strong enough to sweep the RM3 billion over-paid money under the carpet.
Assuming RPK was crazy to suggest the US$2.7 billion acquisition consists of RM3 billion hanky-panky elements, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to point his finger at the extraordinary 4.6 times book value as another proof of how retarded the country was in making good business decision, let alone fighting for an islandat the international arena. Sure, the country recorded about $124 billion in foreign exchange reserve as at the end of Apr 2008 and Maybank has roughly $11 billion (RM36 billion) but that was due primarily to high savings practiced by the people themselves.
During the grilling process, Wahid was reported to admit that the acquisition price was at the top end. He also denied that the advisor in the transaction was EMC Libra. There was also doubt as to whether Maybank would breach the SPP as CIMB Group already had a presence in Indonesia. But the cream of the whole transaction is – did Maybank bid alone all this while? Some MPs threatened to show documents that allegedly showed the bid was by Maybank alone and if it’s true then the Maybank shareholders were being taken for a ride again.
Wahid could not explain why the other two banks, Bank of China and HSBC, withdrew from bidding despite the difference of only 5 (five) rupiah between Maybank and Bank of China – 510 rupiah and 505 rupiah. Get the former CEO Amirsham, acting CEO Aminuddin and the whole boards involved in the decision-making on the grilling board. Peoples’ interest particularly the minority shareholders are at stake so open up the cans regardless of how many worms are inside. Last thing we want is another financial scandal big enough to collapse the biggest lender of Malaysia.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Facebook Redesign? Who cares, I just want the Stock
Whenever the discussion about Google vs Facebook pops there’s always a group of people who would scream “Huh? Google and Facebook are of different business dude!” Of course I know that silly. Every Tom, Dick and his dog knew Google is in online search business while Facebook is in one of Web 2.x businesses - that’s social utility that connects people. Yeah, I know that Nokia had used the “Connecting People” slogan. There’re more than “same business sector” that qualify this fight between Google and Facebook.
For a start when top brains were scrambling to join Google’s payroll, Google employees on the other hand were jumping out from Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG,stock) into Facebook. What on earth were these ex-employees thinking by joining a social-networking company? Forget about making money based on online advertising as social networking is second worst to chat rooms - CPM was ridiculously low as can be witnessed by the MySpace advertising trial. But if you were to travel 10-years back to 1999, Google’s business model was even worst. In fact Larry Page said there won’t be any content at all for Google – Huh?
Moving forward if Facebook is not a threat to Google why Google was so spooked by Facebook and would love to squash it? Of course when you compare the war-chest, Facebook is nowhere near Google’s hundreds of billions of dollars in market value and would probably remain so unless it has plans to go public. Losing talent to Facebook and missing out the party (social-networking) were enough to make the giant running mad, let alone to have Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT,stock) and Hong Kong richest man putting millions of dollars betting on Facebook.
And now Facebook is working on a redesign that will allow popular applications to become more accessible to users - Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday. Zuckerberg did not say what the redesign might look like, but indicated that Facebook might eventually have functions similar to “search”.It makes perfect business sense to go out of your square box once you’ve outgrown your own creation and who says Facebook cannot venture into search business? The fact is Facebook still hosts the lion's share of Web applications created by developers and have no intention to switch side to Google’s OpenSocial platform. For example Facebook users have installed Watercooler's applications about 17 million times.
Facebook is not in a hurry to recognize OpenSocial obviously. The conclusion,everyone is waiting for Facebook to go public. Heck, this could be the second chance in the lifetime to buy stocks with Google’s potential. Wondering what could be the stock-code for Facebook – FB, FBK, FCBK?
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Greed & Corruption turn the country into Gangster-State?
When I was young my mum always reminded me to get far away from any fight-scene and never be busy-body trying to find out what was the excitement about. Can’t blame her though as she is a living testimony of the May 13 incident. I guess that was exactly what happened to the innocent Chang Jiun Haur, 21, for allegedly running over FRU personnel (reported MalaysiaKini). The curiosity–seeker was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was stopped and surrounded and then beaten till he was “soaked in his own blood” – by some 20 policemen (or thugs?). What the heck, you simply can’t differentiate gangsters from the policemen nowadays, can you? Luckily the policemen didn’t drag and gang-rape his sister who was inside the car at that time.
Police’s brutality continues
A high-ranking police officer at the scene claimed that Chang had run over a FRU personnel with his car.
“He asked for it. He ran over a policeman and he got what he deserved,” the officer told Malaysiakini a few minutes after the
incident.Asked to identify the person who was hit by the car, the officer had initial difficulty in persuading the individual to come forward.
When he did so, the man - who appeared unscathed - claimed: “He tried to run me over … look at my baton, it is broken. What more evidence do you want?”
What happened as reported?
According to theStar, a fracas ensued at about 7.15pm when a group of unidentified men armed with sticks and helmets attacked the residents. Several residents were taken to hospital. Also injured was a photographer from Utusan Malaysia, Roy Azis Abdul Aziz, who was beaten up when he tried to snap some photographs.
The group of men sat on the blocks, not allowing the residents to remove them and threatened to attack those who tried to go near the barricade. However, the group disappeared when the police arrived later. Cool, you have a group of readily-armed thugs threaten to beat up residents and the police couldn’t catch even one of them until this hour. And what did the Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Shakaruddin Che Mood said when asked why police didn’t help? His men were busy diverting traffic because it was more important than to guard the lifes of innocent people. Shouldn’t this guy be rewarded with a medal?
Of course the Grand Saga spokeman responsed in lighting speed that the company has nothing to do with those thugs or gangsters. Sure, and we’re suppose to believe those thugs have nothing better to do than to guard the concreate slabs not belonging to them? How come I smell something fishy with this Grand Saga’s executive director who happened to be the former Dang Wangi Police Chief?Why the residents are so crazy to get rid of the barricades?
The whole crisis is quite simple. The toll concessionaire Grand Saga is simply too greedy to suck the money out of motorists and the residents of Bandar Mahkota Cheras are furious that they are being forced to travel another 6.7 km (one way) just to pay the RM0.90 toll to go to Kuala Lumpur. Despite an access road connecting Mahkota Cheras town-ship to the Cheras-Kajang highway built by Lion Diversified Holdings Berhad, Grand Saga decided that the only way to collect more money from tolls was to block the road, forcing the residents to make a huge merry go-round.
There are two tolls on the 11.5km Cheras-Kajang highway, RM1.00 at the 9th-mile toll plaza and RM0.90 at the 11th-mile toll plaza. The short-cut (shorter 1.5km route) have great impact on Grand Plaza's toll collection at the 11th mile but not on the first toll located at the 9th mile of the highway hence the crisis. Can you see the tyranny at works here?Grand Saga and Taliworks, a cash-rich company
Isn’t it strange that a toll concessionaire such as Grand Saga could be so powerful? What’s the relationship between Grand Saga and Taliworks and who’re the bosses? Taliworks Corporation Berhad (KLSE: TALIWRK, stock-code 8524), the water specialist, currently operates and maintains the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Works Phase 1 in Ijok, Selangor, and a water concession in Langkawi. The company manages six water treatment plants with a combined design capacity of 1,039 million liters per day that serve approximately two million people in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Langkawi, Kedah. The ambitious company is looking to expand overseas when its Chief Executive Officer Abdul Rahman Siraj said the company was seriously looking at four more water and waste management projects worth RM400 million in China.
Taliworks has also expanded its operations to include toll highway operations via the acquisition of a 55% (for RM55.5 million) interest in Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd (CSSB) from Bunga Abadi. Interestingly both Taliworks and Bunga Abadi have a mutual substantial shareholder - the family of the late Datuk Lim Ah Bak (The son, Lim Chee Meng, is Taliworks executive Director) who was the business partner of Abdul Hamid Pawanteh, the former Perlis Menteri Besar (Chief Minister).The company is cash-rich after it has successfully raised RM225 million of convertible bonds for business expansion purposes. Locally the company is banging on thePahang-Selangor inter-state raw water transfer project, which it hopes to secure. So, Mr Chief Minister of Selangor, you have your trump cards to play here.There’s another big-gun who’s the majority shareholder in Grand Saga, National Front’s (Barisan Nasional) Syed Sobri Syed Hashim, the State Assemblyman for Kuala Nerang. Hey, isn't that a conflict of interest?
Selangor government plays dumb?
Analysts think Taliworks stands a good chance of grabbing some jobs since Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KPS), a subsidiary of the Selangor government's investment unit, Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd owns about 20 percent in Taliworks. Gosh! Doesn’t this means the Selangor government is equally tainted in this Grand-Saga Bandar Mahkota Cheras clashes? Is Khalid Ibrahim, the Chief Minister of Selangor from PKR, plays dumb or simply that stupid to not realize this fact? What a way to go to milk motorists for another 20 years.
For the financial year (FY) ended Dec 31, 2007, Taliworks registered an increase of 33.6% in revenue to RM191 million from RM142.9 million in the previous year. Net profit, however, fell to RM33.1 million from RM35.6 million the year before. Could this justifiable enough to suck 60,000 residents of their money, never mind risking the lifes of innocent people? However, don’t expect the federal government to do anything because it was their intention to play-up the tension – the dirtier the crisis blows, the better.Grand Saga Big Bosses
Management Team:
- Ahmad Ishak Haron - Managing Director
- Chee Lean Thong - Executive Director, Operation & Administration
- Zainal Abidin Ali (former Dang Wangi Police Chief) - Executive Director, Business Development & Corporate Affairs
- Datin Lee Li-May - Director, Tender & Purchasing
- A. Rajasolan - General Manager
- Patrick Wong - Assistant General Manager, Business Development & Corporate Affairs
- Paramjeet Singh Nahar Singh - Finance Manager
- Nurashid Noordin - Human Resource & Administration Manager
Board of Director:
- Ahmad Ishak Haron
- Chee Lean Thong
- Zainal Abidin Ali
- Datin Lee Li-May
- Dato' Wan Puteh Wan Mohd Saman
- Minhat Mion
- Lim Yew Boon
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
AAPL breached $184 with second hurdle at $192
One of the strategies to tell the speculators that they’re screwed with their greediness in making money by jacking up the oil prices is to boycott them. How? Use less fuel or stay at home. That’s precisely what happened during the Memorial Day when analysts predicted that people were going out less and with the summer driving season just started, the consumption of gasoline is closely watched. Oil prices plunged more than $3 to below $129 a barrel.
Almost instantly, investors were betting that the sharp drop in oil prices will help shore up consumer spending – sending shares higher including technology stocks such as Apple Inc, (Nasdaq: AAPL, stock), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, stock) and Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU, stock). On the Nasdaq, Apple shares climbed to $186.43 while Google shares rose to $560.90. Baidu on the other hand closed at $336.50 well below the resistance of $350.
AAPL appeared to have breached the resistance of $184 (now becomes the support) but below the $192 level. It was most fun to see how AAPL hovering around the $184 level yesterday and only after 2:45pm did the stock managed to gather strength to push up above $184. The RSI is gaining momentum and the MACD is about to cross (hopefully). I’m sure lots of investors and traders would love to see Apple cross the $200 a share again. However if you’re holding any Call Options, it’s wise to unload in stages if the stock reaches $192 resistance. The whole damn stock market is still as volatile as before.
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Monday, May 26, 2008
From stockbroker to selling ePetrol, goldmine for Rashid?
Ask yourself if you’ve voted the opposition namely DAP, PKR or PAS during the 12th general election three months ago and if the answer is “yes” then give a round of applause to yourself. I was pretty sure there were hidden hands at work in manipulating the price of rice ever since the Padiberas Nasional Berhad (KLSE: BERNAS, stock-code 6866) was given the exclusive right as the sole importer and distributor of rice in the country but strangely controlled by politician. Compared to fuel price, the impact of escalating rice prices could be seen as minimal.
Supposing the government won the general election with more than 90% seats again, can you imagine what will be the fuel prices today? So, thanks to your support (in voting opposition) the government simply can’t increase the fuel price as and when it likes. If the government couldn’t care less by increasing the petrol price by a whopping RM0.30 a liter when the oil prices were at $60 a barrel, I would be over-generous to estimate that the government would have increased it by RM1.00 a liter to RM2.92 a liter based on current global oil prices of above $130 a barrel. But knowing the arrogance and corruptness of the government, even RM3.92 a liter could be an understatement. Thank God you voted the opposition to at least show the power of Makkal Sakti.
Now, at least the government is being forced to use their brains to formulate a better way to tackle the fuel price issue. The latest proposal was the use of MyKad to determine if you’re qualified for fuel or petrol subsidy via ePetrol solution. It was reported that ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd's fuel subsidy management module has the capability and flexibility to accept any set of rules to effectively monitor, manage and control fuel subsidies down to the individual consumer level. You can basically pay with debit, credit or prepaid payment services.
All you need to do is to insert your MyKad into the petrol pump reader, pumps the amount of fuel needed (or available from the information shown) and you’re set to go. Somehow it works like a credit or mobile prepaid system – you’re allowed to enjoy the subsidy based on a total amount pre-determined. This leads to the question of how much of fuel subsidy would be allocated and what are the basis for applying such formula on an individual. It would be difficult, not to mention silly to say Tom is entitled RM400 of subsidized petrol per month but Dick gets to enjoy $700 a month. A salesman would scores more mileage than a normal administration officer.
The government is highly likely to replace the existing research octane number (RON) 92 and 97 with RON 95 and 99. Whether it is worthwhile to abuse the use of ePetrol solution depends very much on the price difference for both RON 95 and 99. Users of RON 99 will likely to be punished with high price to compensate for the RON 95’s subsidy because majority is expected to have no choice but to settle for the lower quality. However there’s a group of people who might abuse such system. Millions of illegal immigrants especially those that have outnumbered even the local people of Sabah but was granted MyKad under project Dr M could see this as an opportunity to buy and sell (or renting their MyKad) petrol for quick profits. In option trading we call this the “spread” and market makers make good money from such difference.
And don’t forget that freaking rich bosses might be stingy enough to ask their drivers to use their MyKad to fill-up their Benz or BMW tanks with subsidized fuel. On the other hand I can ask my neighbor’s son or daughter to fill up my tanks as well. Can the government guarantee that credits stolen using clone MyKad chips will be compensated? I know if someone cloned my CitiBank credit card to pump in petrol, I just need to make a report or deny such transaction and their “system” is intelligent enough to verify my claims and offset the transaction automatically.
Who owns ePetrol Holdings Sdn Bhd? Surprisingly one of the owners is Tan Sri Rashid Hussain (founder of RHB, Rashid Hussain Berhad) while the other owner is Dialog Group Bhd chairman and group MD Ngau Boon Keat. Just what the heck is a former stockbroker doing selling petrol? How much would the investment for such system for all the petrol kiosks? Somebody is set to make huge profit out of ePetrol solution.
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Tiger at Home but Useless and Hopeless against Outsiders
Actually the article I wrote yesterday was rather long, too long that I need to split it into two or three articles. Although both, of which the second part will be revealed in this article, seemed to be of different topics it was in actual fact related - it’s about Jaguh Kampung or Village Champions. You might argue that Malaysia does not have any more top brains to fight for the nation’s own sovereignty (as in the case of Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh) because the government was so successfully with their “brain-drain” program to shoo away intellectuals. But why didn’t the country engage lawyer VK Lingam *grin*? This guy might be corrupt and arrogant to the highest level but at least he could deliver the result and by the time Singapore discovered that all the judges from the ICJ (International Court of Justice) were “fixed” from day one, it would be 20 years late so what the heck right *grin again*?
Anyway, about 10 years ago I often drove to this place to buy pirated-VCD. Yes, I know I shouldn’t promote piracy but it was the buzz and almost a sin to not own any pirated VCD during those days. This place by the name of Desa Setapak was probably the VCD-heaven within the whole Klang Valley. You could almost swear that there were hundreds of stalls selling VCD, naturally converted the parking lot into what seemed to be a bazaar. And when I asked how they could evade the law enforcer, DBKL, almost everytime, the young chap (seller) just smile and saideverything had been “settled”. Sometimes you could see even the DBKL themselves were busy choosing the latest VCD on sales, during the pirated-VCD glory days. Of course those happy days were history and the memory of the stalls normally flashed in together with the infamous pink-colored mini-buses.
Desa Setapak also exist for another reason – cheap foods from hawker stalls at the infamous four-corner surrounding the roundabout. Many poor students whose applications to local universities were rejected despite good result ended up in TAR-College. And this place was sentimental to almost all TARC graduates because somehow the cheap foods in Desa Setapak fed them. But it appeared all these 20-year-old hawker centers are gone, vanished into the air because DBKL somehow decided it was time to show their power (brutality). DBKL bull-dozed the decades-old hawker center for obvious reason – the previous MP Yew Teong Look lost the seat to opposition Wee Choo Keong and its payback time.
The sudden vengeance action shown by DBKL could be due to two reasons. The first reason could be because the new MP Wee asked DBKL to investigate whether developer Platinum Victory Sdn Bhd had all the required approvals for its housing projects. Platinum Victory was a newcomer and it was puzzling how the company gained vast amount of lands (near the lake at Danau Kota) during the previous administration. If the Grand Saga could mobilize police troops to spray tear-gas at innocent Bandar Mahkota Cheras residents, I guess the action by DBKL to pull down Desa Setapak’s hawker centers was justifiable.
The second reason could be the loser (previous MP) was at work to punish the voters. One has to remember that this curly-hair ex-MP was the same person whostarted the chair-throwing at MCA assembly (can you guess under whose instruction?) during the MCA internal fight between Team-A and Team-B. So he’s someone you don’t want to mess around unless you fancy your head gets beaten.His career skyrocketed and was made Territories Ministry parliamentary secretary. It’s hard to imagine this guy will just keep quiet and play PS3 at home after the defeat. Strangely from the hearsay I gotten, most of the hawkers whom their stalls were demolished were MCA diehard fans.
As blogged by Wee Choo Keong in his blog one Azlan bin Abdullah from Jabatan Perancang (Planning Agency) was the person who ignored directives from Ketua Pengarah DBKL and sent the demolition team. Despite the stay of action for 14 days given by Ketua Pengarah DBKL, it was mind-boggling to read the excuse given by Azlan’s immediate superior, Mahadi - he did not read SMS sent 5 (five) days ago by his boss Datuk Hj Salleh, Ketua Pengarah DBKL. Whether Mahadi and Azlan are working alone under different payrolls to suppress the innocent citizen or the whole gang including the Ketua Pengarah DBKL, the developer and loser-MP were equally involved, this is a classic example of Bully cum Jaguh Kampung (Village Champions) oppressing innocent citizens.
Don't you wish the authorities were as efficient as this bunch of DBKL demolition-men in taking down the structures built by Singapore to show the country’s sovereignty on Pulau Batu Puteh years ago. Can you imagine how havoc could it be if the Anwar-led Pakatan rakyat (People's Pact) managed to topple the current government this year? Why only knows how to bully your own people but was helpless and hopeless against outsiders (Singapore)? If this is not Jaguh Kampung or Village Champions, I do not know what is.
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
An island for Singapore, rocks for Malaysia – Amazing!
Ialmost fell off my chair, not because I was extremely sad that Malaysia lost her island but from the extreme laugh, probably one of funniest episodes - the verdict of 28-year territorial dispute on a small island. The International Court of Justice’s 12-4 decision in favor of Singapore on Pulau Batu Puteh (known as Pedra Branca to Singapore) was actually a slap on Malaysia’s face, considering that the small island is merely 7.7 nautical miles from Malaysia but is a whopping 25.5 nautical miles from Singapore. The fact is Malaysia has just lost her sovereignty on Pedra Branca.
What made the whole thing amusing was that Malaysia Foreign Minister Rais Yatim actually has the cheek to declare it was a win-win situation. You meant you prefer some rocks over an island, never mind the dispute area consists of only 8,560 square meters? Whether you like it or not Pedra Branca is an island, thus the name “Pulau” Batu Puteh. No wonder Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was pleased with the verdict because Singapore won an island whileMalaysia won some rocks. That’s right! Malaysia won Middle Rocks which loosely translated to rocks – that’s how the name Middle Rocks comes into the picture in the first place, no?
And why did Malaysia lost the island? There’re three reasons but the main and most important reason was a reply from a Johor state official saying that the state did not have sovereignty over the island. International Court of Justice case acting President Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, when delivering the court's decision in The Hague yesterday, said Johor initially had sovereignty over the island but subsequently lost its ownership to Singapore because of above reasons. I’m speechless but I only can conclude that Malaysia deserve it because of laziness and stupidity. Too lazy to respond to Singapore’s conduct on the island and too stupid in sending a reply denying sovereignty which costs the island.
Malaysia did not only lose the island but also all natural resources and mineralsin the territorial waters of Pedra Branca. But could the result be any difference if Malaysia engaged better lawyers. Singapore engaged two top international lawyers - Professor Alain Pellet of the University of Paris X-Naterre and Queen's Counsel Ian Brownlie. On the other hand, the team from Malaysia comprising Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and his son Federal Counsel Faezul Adzra Gani Patail had to resort to using a blog’sunverified photo of Pedra Branca (Right) to present their case to the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The blog was said to be newly created and the jokes were that Malaysia was so complacent (arrogant?) and ill-prepared that they have to resort to present false evidence.
Maybe Malaysia government thought it could win the case easily since the top brain AG Abdul Gani Patail was leading the team. Furthermore how many lawyers in the world could make a public announcement that only three people and no others are involved in the murder case (Altantuya), even before the trial started? If this was not a show-case of top-brains I do not know what is *grin*. Perhaps Malaysia Attorney General should be confined to domestic case only such as to suppress oppositions or anyone who dare to question the government’s policy and nothing else. That was the AG’s specialization area so do what he was good at.What a bunch of arrogant “Jaguh Kampung” or Village Champions – simply unbelievable!Friday, May 23, 2008
BIDU stock trend reversing? Cool! A New Asian Tiger
Netease.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES, stock), a leading Chinese Internet and online game service provider, reported its first-quarter profits fell 10% due to higher tax charges from a new income tax law despite a jump in revenue. Shares of NTES sold off sharply by 6% to $22.60. The weakness in shares of NetEase.com spilled over into China's search engine giant Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU, stock) – what did they say about when it rains it pours? Traders pushed shares of BIDU down by 5.6% to $335.
So, when you saw such opportunity you simply just can’t ignore it, can you? Scalped the BIDU Jun 340 Put Option, entered my limit price to sell (close) and once it got triggered, there’s another happy person for the day. If the latest reverse in trend is true, then you should start filling up your bullets as well because thenext support is $300, that’s $35 bucks down and a great vacuum for you to make money. If you still do not know what I’m talking about, the support of $350 had been breached yesterday after BIDU found the $380 too tough a target to push, silly.
Having said that, Baidu.com could be teasing you and it was a temporary setback after the disappointment from Netease’s earnings. Just keep you eyes wide and open on this stock and scalp it whenever the opportunity presents itself. It was not many months ago when everyone scream about China’s stocks. Suddenly everyone is quiet. One of the smartest investment firms, Goldman Sachs, appeared to have found a new sparking diamond and it’s neither China nor India. This new country was said to have the potential of GDP growth at 8% per annum from 2007 to 2020. It’s not Malaysia, silly you.
This country, dubbed the "The Next Asian Tiger in the Making" and the "Next Economic Miracle" is none other than Vietnam. Yeah right, everyone knew that but how to take advantage of it even if the research by Goldman Sachs is true? You can’t because it’s hard to find a Vietnam-related stock listed in U.S. stock exchange, let alone a pure-play stock. But you can see lots of American companies such as Intel and General Electric, not to mention many more Japanese companies have setup their business playground there. Can someone please wakes Malaysia up from its’ fantasy dream?
The Richest Malaysians, Robert Kuok scored the perfect 10
The Malaysians who made it to the richest list is out as compiled by Forbes Asia. Leading the list is the undisputed sugar king Robert Kuok who made the score of US$10 billion, up by $2.4 billion. If only he could put someone else other than the idiot politician who was the former president of MCA (you know who) to take care of Transmile, his fortune is definitely higher than $10 billion. As for Ananda, well, what else can I say? Interestingly, Robert Kuok and Lee Shin Cheng’s fortune jumped tremendously thanks to palm oil from Wilmer International and IOI respectively.
It appeared the iron chef Vincent Tan (his fortune tripled) managed to cook up his shares to qualify for the billionaire clubmembership. I’m rather surprise that the brother of deputy Prime Minister, Nazir Razak managed to squeeze in for the last place as the 40th richest person in Malaysia as I always thought his fortune is more than $100 million. Not sure if his elder brother would be laughing at him and say “What is this? Told you to join me in politics, $100 million is peanuts to me”.
I’m sure there’re many names that are stranger to you. Can’t blame you because people will only know the top-3, at most the top-10 but top-40 *scratching head*? Also made it to the top-40 is a royalty who is the daughter to a Sultan. See if you could spot her:
- Robert Kuok - $10 billion (Kuok Empire, Shangri La, Wilmer International etc)
- Ananda Krishnan - $7.2 billion (Maxis, Astro)
- Lee Shin Cheng - $5.5 billion (IOI Group)
- Teh Hong Piow - $3.5 billion (Public Bank)
- Lee Kim Hua & family - $3.4 billion (Genting Berhad, widow of late Lim Goh Tong)
- Quek Leng Chan - $2.4 billion (Hong Leong Group, Guoco Group)
- Yeoh Tiong Lay & family - $2.1 billion (YTL Corp)
- Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary - $1.8 billion (MMC, Johor Port, Malakoff)
- Vincent Tan - $1.3 billion (Berjaya Group)
- Tiong Hiew King - $1.1 billion (Rimbunan Hijau)
- Azman Hashim - $700 million (AmCorp Group, formerly Arab-Malaysia)
- William H. J. Cheng - $660 million (Lion Group, Parkson)
- Lee Swee Eng - $495 million (KNM Group)
- Ong Beng Seng - $470 million (Hotel Properties Ltd, Natsteel)
- Lim Kok Thay - $345 million (son of late Lim Goh Tong, Genting Berhad)
- Vinod Sekhar - $320 million (Petra Group, known for its Green Rubber Global)
- Lee Oi Hian - $300 million (Kuala Lumpur Kepong or KLK)
- Yaw Teck Seng - $295 million (Samling Group)
- Anthony Fernandes - $290 million (AirAsia, Tune Hotels)
- Mokhzani Mahathir - $285 million (Kencana, authorized Porsche importer son of former permier Mahathir)
- Kamarudin Meranun - $280 million (AirAsia, Tune Hotels, Tony Fernandes’s lover *grin*)
- Jeffrey Cheah - $275 million (Sunway Group)
- Lee Hau Hian - $250 million (Batu Kawan, KLK, brother of Lee Oi Hian)
- Chong Chook Yew - $245 million (Selangor Properties, widow – son is MD now)
- Yaw Chee Ming - $240 million (Samling Group, son of Yaw Teck Seng)
- G. Gnanalingam - $230 million (Westports Malaysia)
- Lim Wee Chai - $200 million (Top Glove, world’s largest rubber gloves manafacturer)
- Kua Sian Kooi - $195 million (Kurnia Asia, insurance)
- Lau Cho Kun - $185 million (Malaysian Mosaic)
- Abdul Hamed Sepawi - $180 million (Ta Ann, timber conglomerate)
- David Law Tien Seng - $165 million (Australian iron ore MidWest, T.S. Law Holdings)
- Tiah Thee Kian - $163 million (TA Enterprise)
- Liew Kee Sin - $160 million (SP Setia)
- Ahmayuddin bin Ahmad - $155 million (Westports Malaysia)
- Eleena Azlan Shah - $150 million (Gamuda – largest individual shareholder)
- Lin Yun Ling - $145 million (Gamuda – founder and MD)
- Ong Leong Huat - $130 million (OSk Group)
- Lim Thian Kiat - $115 million (former head of Multi-Purpose)
- Khoo Kay Peng - $110 million (MUI, U.K. retailer Laura Ashley)
- Nazir Razak - $100 million (Bumiputra Commerce Holdings, brother of deputy PM)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
It’s above $135, House to sue OPEC over high oil prices
Another day another 200 points plunge as jaw-dropping investors watched the oil prices hit the roof of $135 ($135.04 in after-hours electronic trading) a barrel for the first time Wednesday thanks largely to the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration which said crude inventories fell by more than 5 million barrels last week. Adding salt to the injury was the minutes from last month's Fed meeting revealed that while policymakers expected sharply lower economic growth and higher unemployment later this year, inflationary risks are likely to keep the central bank from cutting rates again.
This is cool. The oil prices have breached my prediction of $130 a barrel. I dare not say anything more as I could be spanked if I were to say it will goes up to $150, easily. Anyway, U.S. senators are making the hoo-haa out of it talking aboutcorporate conscience while the oil companies said it was all about supply and demand. Who could blame these corporations when their profits suddenly ballooned to unbelievable figures? Since when do oil companies care about the public, not that it could do anything in the first place? It’s all about money, money and more money.
Nevertheless, it appeared the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC membersfor limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices. This is getting hilarious although White House is expected to veto against it but the 324-84 vote is huge enough to override a presidential veto. While it’s true that Americans are now at the mercy of OPEC (hey Mahathir, you should rejoice now) it does not make any sense to subject OPEC oil producers including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow. But I guess to pay $3.79 a gallon gasoline could easily make anyone goes mad, including senators.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Soros, Buffett and Trichet said It Ain’t Over Yet
Oil prices going for $130 a barrel – StockTube screamed back in early Mar 2008, slightly more than two months ago when the black gold was traded at $102 a barrel. While there’re only a handful of readers who thought it was possible, many readers wrote personally to say it was nonsense to think for a minute that oil could reach such level. My justification was quite simple and in fact it was over-generous. The June contract shot to a record intraday high of $129.60 before settling at $129.07 a barrel yesterday. Guess what, the oil futures are now selling for about twice what they were just a year ago *Holy Cow!*.
Dow plunged 200 points and it was all about oil prices, nothing else. Gold gained and the dollar fell. Allow me some minutes to talk about gold. One of the readers asked if it’s wise to invest in gold instead of stock or shares. Of course it is a good idea especially at current trying time. In fact if you noticed how investors ran helter-skelter seeking shelter under gold when dollar plunged, you know gold was traditionally a preferred “save haven” over other commodities such as palm-oil, silver, cocoa, grains, beef and so on. It’s easier to keep gold under your pillow than to put grains or beef, silly. Of course you can buy non-dollar currencies but I’ll leave that for another day. If you wish to trade currency, you can try it for free here.
Although there’re some financial institutions that allow you to purchase gold, my investment in gold was quite primitive. I had 
been buying gold in the form of jewellery since 2003. Besides wearing it, these “assets” were good in the sense that its value will appreciate during bad times, so I thought back then. Of course I can buy gold-bar but it would be weird to wear them, not to mention my head would be swinging from one end to the other by doing so. When I was a kid, I was made to sit there for hours to hear how my grandma and grandpa suffered during Japanese occupation and how the “banana-dollar” became instant de-facto currency. The most precious currency was gold. But it’s sure super-dangerous to wear gold jewellery nowadays unless you fancy getting your hand or head chopped off by those illegal immigrants.
And so, my collection of gold has appreciated in values but I’ll keep it for the rainy days. Anyway if you think the bull is about to charge again in the local stock market in the middle-term, say within six-month, then you might be disappointed. Even if U.S. sub-prime problems were to vanish overnight, the local political situation would be the biggest obstacle. European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet and Warren Buffett on Monday warned that the credit crunch problem still persists.
"These are demanding times, challenging times... It is an ongoing, very significant market correction," Trichet told BBC radio in Britain. "I'll talk about the United States. I don't think the effects of the credit crunch are far from over at all. I think there will be rippling secondary, tertiary effects." – said Warren. Meanwhile billionaire George Soros said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 “Financial institutions have been severely damaged and we are currently in a situation that will probably, I think almost inevitably, result in a recession certainly in the United States and most likely in England also.''
According to data from NPD Group, consumers in the U.S. bought 31 million mobile phones in Q1, spending $2.7 billion but the problem is the figure represents22% year-over-year decline in unit shipments and a 7% decline in revenue from Q1 2007. This means many consumers may be holding back on new handset purchases, especially those tied to new pre-paid plans.
On the other hand, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week the healing process from the credit crisis would take some time – said Reuters. While the above three individuals do not own any crystal balls, their opinions carry weight and could be the closest we have in predicting the near future. So, what can you do? Allocate a healthy cash reserve proportionate to your stocks, unit trust, property and others because “cash is king” during bad period.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook’s Threesome vs Google
Have you ever had a threesome before? The saying goes that you should never have a threesome with someone that you wish to keep. If you think Microsoft Corp would leave Yahoo Inc. alone and let Google Inc. continues to dominate the lucrative online advertising, think again. It appears Microsoft might launch a threesome act – buy Yahoo’s search business before buy Facebook and enjoy the excitement of threesome.
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT, stock) has proposed to buy Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO, stock) search business and take a minority stake in the company, stopping short of a full-blown merger at this moment. In this deal, Yahoo would sell its Asian assets namely Yahoo Japan and China’s Alibaba Group. Financier Carl Icahn has launched a proxy fight last week to force Yahoo to reopen talks with Microsoft. It’s not sure if Yahoo would prefer to sleep with Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG, stock) or Microsoft.
Facebook on the other hand is said to be the next internet giant, the equivalent if not bigger than Google. There’re people who believe that the actual fight is between Google and Facebook. However if Microsoft indeed is planning to buy Yahoo search business and Facebook, then the battle would takes a new twist with Microsoft vs Google after all. It makes sense for Microsoft to acquire a “third company” because even with Yahoo under its belt, the company is still a distance from the giant Google.
There’s another reason why Facebook was targeted. In spite of the not-so-distance fact that Google will owns almost everything from your soul to your DNA, well literally, the search engine’s spiders somehow “can not penetrate” Facebook simply because Facebook is not open to public. Nevertheless there’s an alternative for Google and its called FriendFeed. Compared to Facebook, FriendFeed is open to public (hence Google’s spiders) and the good news to Google is – it has almost all of Facebook’s killer features.
So, the battle continues between the "close-society" (Microsoft) and the "open-society" (Google) and the winner will definitely be their partners – Yahoo, Facebook and FriendFeed. Facebook Mark Zuckerberg meanwhile is punching his calculator and might only consider selling his company for nothing less than $20 billion.
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Monday, May 19, 2008
Mahathir quits UMNO, so what? It’s Lingam-Gate diversion
Almost all the local news media be it government-controlled electronic or print media and bloggers screamed “Mahathir quits UMNO”. Should this former prime minister and dictator’s decision be given such a coverage? Perhaps his decision to quit was the hottest news so far hence the front-page privilege. Seriously I would only be surprise if he quit Malaysian citizenship to take-up the Zimbabwe’s citizen so that he could spend his remaining years with his close buddy, Robert Mugabe. Heck, if he hates Abdullah Badawi so much don’t you think he should goes to the extreme to prove his disappoval of his own hand-picked successor? Only then I believe UMNO members might (hopefully) desert the party in droves *grin*.
But no, this hypocrite 82-year-old chose to play the same dirty and obsolete child-game of throwing tantrums just because Badawi decided to punish this stubborn child of UMNO after the Royal Commission of Inquiry found there was evidence that the former premier Mahathir, lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former chief justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate the appointment of judges.
A master of racial card player, Mahathir has recently said that the Malays' grip on political power had been loosened to a point where non-Malays no longer respected them and their institutions. Only a sicko and senile old dictator such as Mahathir would resort to such cheap and obsolete tactic. The fact is the Malay has increased their grip as can be seen by the increased number of seats won by Malay candidates – both government and opposition combined. Of course this old fox who has selective memory thought otherwise. His final goal before he goes to the grave-yard is to get rid of Abdullah Badawi, comes rain or shine. Any Tom, Dick and his dog knows it’s all about personal grudges after Badawi went againts the old man by dismantling his legacy one after another resulting in Mahathir’s cronies being put on cold storage as far as government contracts are concerned. That’s the whole root of the tussle between the current and former prime minister.
If Raja Petra’s master piece landed him on sedition charges, I don’t see why Mahathir couldn’t be charged the same way. He’s now calling all the UMNO members to quit which is tantamount to inciting hatred against the existing government. If Badawi couldn’t see through this, then either he’s stupid enough and deserved to be kicked out from this throne now or he dares not pick up the gauntlet. Badawi could easily throw Mahathir into ISA if not for the latter’s old age. I guess that was the reason why Mahathir dares to publicly challenge the government to charge him and put him into jail on the Lingam-gate scandal.Mahathir is now diverting the issue of the judge-fixing scandal.
Get real! Almost all UMNO politicians are there for a simple reason – to enrich themselves. They would stay as long as Badawi is in power. Furthermore it’s not easy to unseat Badawi thanks to the quota system introduced by Mahathir himself. Has the old Mahathir forgotten that almost all of UMNO leaders today were produced from his own assembly line during his 22-year in power? He should be proud to see his architected system was built with such high robustness, so much so that it would be equally difficult to unseat the prime minister even if he’s a school dropout.
But do we really need to kick out Badawi now? He might be weak but at this moment, I believe Anwar would perfer the weak and indecisive Badawi to warm the chair before all the missing pieces are glued together for him to take over as the new prime minister. Dictatorship under Mahathir was a nightmare that nobody would wants to taste anymore, let alone having this senile old man controls the administration from behind the curtain. And to have another candidate who strangely fancy tossing around military-grade C4 explosives as if those are hamburgers would makes Abdullah Badawi a darling, don’t you think so? The joke on the street is Mahathir quit UMNO because he admires PKR so much that he’s joining the party and in the process ask UMNO members to follow him *grin*.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
The Reflection of your Values, do you do Charity?
This weekend will be quite a happy one for most of the employees because Monday is a holiday – Wesak Day. There’s a saying which roughly translates to “On Monday staffs work like a worm but on Friday the staffs work like a dragon” – meaning your staffs are most unproductive on Monday and vice-versa on Friday. In the world of stocks investing and option trading, Friday holds a special place in the hearts of investors simply because it is the last trading day of the week. For the simple reason that risks increases along the time, people normally reluctant to hold their shares during weekend hence the extra volatility. Of course long-term investors such as Warren Buffett would disagree.
Anyway, I closed one of my profitable positions yesterday – AAPL May 155 Call Option which I opened on 17th Apr 2008. Remember that day, the day which saw Google Inc. jumped after the great earnings announcement, thanks to international revenue that contributed 51% for the first time? Immediately thereafter most of the technology stocks followed Google’s tail and one of them was Apple Inc (Nasdaq:AAPL, stock). In short, the profit was 240 percent within about one-month thus I can’t complain much, can I? The last five trading days saw the stock traded between the resistance of $192 and the support of $184. Above $192 and you know the stock is trying to reach the $200 again but if it dives below $184, get ready with lots of Put Option.
Having said that I’m still holding a small amount of AAPL JUL 165 Call Optionscontracts courtesy of the recent earnings. As you can see below, my May 120 Put expired with zero values which I used to hedge against my AAPL Jul 165 Call. How I wish this stock could breach the $200 level and show its muscle again. Now, let’s talk about two natural disasters that hit Myanmar and China recently. Everyone knows how disturbing it was to have such cruel punishments from Mother Nature. Parents lost their beloved children and kids lost their parents. Life was not the same anymore to these unfortunate victims.
Believe it or not, eight out of 10 of my friends did not realize the importance of “charity”. We can debate until the cows come home but the fact is, not many people are aware of the concept to give freely in terms of charity. Just ask any of your friends and chances are most of them are not “willing” to part away with their little treasure (money) unless they’re rewarded first. It’s puzzling to hear people asking why they should donate when they’ve been working so damn hard for it. Gosh! Can you believe how selfish our societies have become? Charitable donations are a direct reflection of your values and it goes a long way to help those unfortunate ones. Don’t just do it for the sake of your religion alone but expand your horizon to other people as well.
I’ve to admit I didn’t donate much in terms of hard-cash during the 2004 tsunami that saw hundreds of thousands of people died in Indonesia alone. On the other hand, I managed to convince scores of my friends to donate in other way – foods. There’re reasons for doing so. First I do not trust the money will leave the hands of Malaysian authorities to the victims. Second I do not trust the money will leave the hands of Indonesian authorities to the unfortunate victims. Call me whatever you like but past donations had proven how creative certain corrupt officials were in doing magic to the monies donated. It’s not that these creatures cannot do the same with instant-noodles, rice, sugar, mineral water, salt etc but at least these consumable products are less liquidable compared to hard-cash.
If you watch the charitable show “live” from Hong Kong today, your jaw would probably drop to the floor on how generous Hongkies are when come to charity. Organizations were donating HK$10 million, HK$5 million and so on and I believe the figures could breach HK$100 million easily. Whether you believe in karma or simply because you believe you need to give something back to the societies, it’s never too late to start doing charity. Don’t think of the returns but give willingly and you shall see the rewards. If you’re still not convinced and to start the ball-rolling, what if I were to tell you that you can claim tax-deduction from your charitable payment? Now you’re smiling.
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Friday, May 16, 2008
StemLife and TMC Life - Vincent Tan to strike a deal?
Two stocks seemed to be courting each other. Before that these two stocks seemed to emulate kids’ story – Rabbit and Turtle. There’s a small twist though. While the arrogant rabbit decided to take a nap the turtle slowly crawled past the rabbit to the finish line. The rabbit tried to catch up but it was too late. But in this story directed and written by Steven Spielberg, there was an old fox watching both rabbit and turtle with saliva dripping all over the place. The fox knew the saying "slow and steady win the race" and hence he sat there waiting.
So, who is this rabbit, turtle and the fox? The rabbit is StemLife Berhad (KLSE:STEMLFE, stock-code 0137), the turtle is TMC Life Sciences Bhd (KLSE:TMCLIFE, stock-code 0101) and the fox is, you guess it, Berjaya Group tycoon Vincent Tan. I’ve wrote in my previous articles that there’re many options and reasons for this tycoon who was also involved in the infamous Lingam-Gate scandal. What he plans to do with TMC Life is not important. What is important is he is hooked with TMC Life and we shall follow his foot steps, if you haven’t done so. Read on.
TMC Life issued shares amounted to 185,163,000 as of today. Based on the filing (Form 29B) dated 8th May 2008, Vincent Tan via his subsidiary Juara Sejati Sdn Bhd has acquired 39,655,000 shares representing 21.42 percent. Vincent Tan bought a 10.26% stake in TMC Life at an average price of RM1.29 a share back in Jan 2008. Thus, this should serve as a small warning to some of you who plan to jump in blindly because between Jan 2008 and now (May 2008) Vincent Tan has already made good profit and there’s no guarantee that he is not jacking up the stock price before dumping it – the old fox’s trick. This is however only one of the possibilities.
Interestingly Dr Colin Lee, TMC’s founder and managing director, has alsoup his stake, although on a much smaller scale to 24.02 percent or 44,485,209 shares. Both Dr Colin Lee and his deputy Dr Wong Pak Seng (Executive Director) are conservative persons who despise speculating or frying their own shares; at least that was my impression when I happened to chat with them not many moons ago. They would go crazy when you tease them that their stock sucks compared to StemLife which skyrocketed during that period of time. Of course if I were to joke about it again this time, most probably they will grin from ear to ear and throw it back at me.
Anyway, if you’ve either StemLife of TMC Life shares in your portfolio you should be able to see how the once neglected TMC Life is slowly overtaking StemLife’s share price. In fact TMC stock reaches its highest level since it was listed in Oct 2005. Psychologically, the RM2.00 level should be the immediate resistancelevel for TMC Life so it’s wise to take some profits or money off the table.
On another note, Vincent Tan has reduced slightly his stake in StemLife from 13.6 percent to 13.5 percent as of Feb 2008 and has been quiet since then. The million-dollar question is what he plans to do with both companies – StemLife the Rabbit and TMC Life the Turtle. While it’s true that StemLife’s business is pretty straight forward and depends on marketing for stem-cell storage, the same cannot be said about TMC. Colin’s company depends heavily on fertility treatment which contributes about 80 percent to the revenue. It’s indeed hard work; Colin hoped TMC could derive 50 percent of revenue from non-fertility services for the financial year 2008 and stem-cell storage was identified as the main service for this purpose.
Does it make sense to merge both StemLife and TMC Life into one entity? Absolutely! There’s a good synergy to consolidate both company. Over the years, TMC Life managed to attract its own loyal customers to whom it could leverage on for the stem-cell business. But most of these existing loyal customers already stored their babies’ stem-cells elsewhere including competitor StemLife. Maybe TMC could grab the deal from subsequent babies. Therefore, it’s as good as starting stem-cell service from zero. However if StemLife and TMC Life could be merged it would provide cost-saving in running the show, not to mentionStemLife's expertise in marketing their products. Both entities could cross-sell and a merged StemLife-TMC Life could become the one-stop supermarket in the healthcare industry.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Apple ceased production of 8GB & 16GB, 3G coming soon
This can only happens during sales time at hypermarket such as Carrefour or Giant -limiting customers’ purchases. It appeared Apple Inc (Nasdaq:AAPL, stock) has ceased the production of the popular 8GB and 16GB iPhone models ahead of the earlier speculated new version that supports3G networks. Therefore customers are allowed to purchase only one of the handsets until further notice. AppleInsider got hold of the memo issued by AT&T Inc. dated May 14th 2008 which mentioned the new policy to its internal department.
AT&T further said all requests to purchase more than one of the touch-screen handsets must be approved by a director or general manager, adding that cash and checks will no longer be 
accepted. Thus customers may only use credit or debit cards to purchase their iPhone. To make things worse, both of Apple's online stores in the US and UK stopped accepting new iPhone orders.
On Wednesday, AT&T said it plans to boost the speed of its 3G wireless network to 20 megabits per second in 2009, paving the way for over-the-air downloads that are more than five times faster than what customers can achieve today. The company said engineers already have a version of AT&T's HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) 3G network up and running in the labs at speeds of 7.2 megabits per second. This iPhone gadget is getting more powerful and could be easily the top must-have gadget for consumers.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Does Anwar has all the missing pieces to create history?
Ever since the arrogant National Front lost its precious two-third majority in the Parliament, life was never the same again. Life is now full of entertainment. If you’re one of the Formula-1 fans, you should understand what I’m talking about. It was so freaking boring when even a schoolboy could predict with utmost accuracy that Michael Schumacher would emerge champion again - not so long ago. He was Ferrari’s trump-card and champion from 2000-2004 *yawn*. People started to question the wisdom to buy thousands of dollars of ticket just to see the same old face over and over again.
Not anymore. The main party within National Front namely UMNO which was dubbed the “Taikor” (big brother) is now super quiet, so much so that even the incompetent former president of Gerakan, a component of National Front, who is also known as “Saliva Minister” dared to declare that other members within the National Front were merely“beggars”. I can’t imagine what would happen to this silly old hypocrite guy if he were to speak the same before the election. Just like the tsunami that hit this region in 2004, it wasn’t the first wave that killed but the second and subsequent waves.
The talks inside any coffee-shops nowadays is definitely the second wave of tsunami – the possibility of Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance) comprises PKR-DAP-PAS but led by Anwar to form the new government. On the surface it’s possible. How hard could it be to fish for another 30 seats to create history? The de-facto leader Anwar already hinted a new episode would be crafted come latest by this September. The multi-billion dollar question is, was he serious about the announcement and even if he was damn serious, could he pull it through successfully without major disruptions?
Losing the throne to become opposition for the first time since independence is definitely not an option for the National Front. It would be too embarrassing to continue living in this country, let alone picking up the pieces and build the coalition again for the next battle. Most likely the National Front would just rot for decades to come if somehow it losses the throne. But if that were to happens, the first thing you should do is to stock up foods, lots and lots of them. Throw away your sofas and furniture to make room for foods. Am I too obsessed and exaggerated? Hell no! You can watch how the Federal government is sabotaging the states under opposition government now.
You can see how the Federal government is using Sedition Act to clamp down on anyone they 
think could spill more of their “bad beans”. You can read how the Federal government isdesperately playing more racial cards nowadays. Your jaw dropped 88 floors down onto Petronas Twin-Towers ground floor by the brutality of police in protecting highway concessionaire Grand Saga at Bandar Mahkota Cheras (BMC). Need I mention how the police were given permit to whack Member of Parliament just because he was from opposition? And what makes you think the Federal government will just walk away with their tails between their legs once Anwar managed to form the new government?
Yeah, you have Sabah top guns such as Anifah Aman, Ghapur Salleh and the latest Yong Teck Lee who gave the deadline to Prime Minister to buck-up or else. But these people are opportunist who can’t be trusted. And talk about Pairin Kitingan – once a traitor forever a traitor. If these so-called leaders are people-champion, why hide their tails until now? Oh yeah, forgive me as I have forgotten these people have their "files" kept in Putrajaya. But I guess compared to Federal’s top-guns these Sabahan are angels. So I suppose nobody will blame Anwar if these people were to cross-over.
Really, what is keeping Anwar from a speedy takeover of the Federal government? UMNO is letting its partners to bark now as its own house is in a mess. If and only if UMNO managed to crawl back, you can bet your last dollar that a comprehensive and systematic “pay-back” will be in order. Anwar hinted that he’s holding backbecause the Federal is in “panicky” mode and as a veteran, he knows better than to chase and corner a dog to a dead corner. Desperate people do desperate things thus Anwar do not wish to win the battle but lose the war. Anwar might inherit an empty shell with tons of problems. Investors might pack and leave overmight leaving the stock market crumbles while the "old guards" from previous administration holidaying elsewhere.
Contrary to people’s perception, the king-makers are actually the police and other uniform units. Even after all the corrupted politicians fled, there’re still many die-hard fans whose interest couldn’t be transferred overnight and might just give Anwar the headache for a smooth transition. This country still have bunches of blind, not to mention stupid followers. So do you still think Anwar could wrest the throne if he try to check-mate now? He still needs the uniform units to be on his side but the question is could he get it? Anwar might already has the 30 grasshoppers but could he launch the assault now or even by September? This is getting super-interesting.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
HP to pay $13 billion for EDS?
Carly Fiorina, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, served at HP from 1999 and 2005. She could easily be the most hated boss during the period; at least within Malaysia territory. HP Malaysia was never the same again with most of its top brains “migrated” to the competitors such as Sun Microsystem and IBM. The quality of engineers suddenly dropped like a rock and customers were complaining like mad. Many had switched from HP-UX to Sun-Solaris platform.
Since Mark Hurd took over from the lady, he instantly recognized and pushed the services as the main revenue driver for the company. In 
Malaysia HP has taken over the IT services from conglomerate such as Maxis and it’s a matter of time (some speculated this year, 2008) before the DHL-APIS located at Cyberjaya would be outsourced to HP as well. Since HP bought Compaq Computer Corp. for $19 billion in 2002, it appears HP is toying with the idea to acquire Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS). And this is EDS based in Cyberjaya with HQ in U.S., not the local EDS located at Damansara Jaya or other companies bearing similar name. There were some really funny stories how the local EDS took advantage of such confusion but I’ll leave that for another day.
Texas-based EDS pioneered the concept of running data centers - information technology and business process outsourcing services. The Wall Street Journal reported that HP is willing to pay $12 billion to $13 billion - a price that translates to $24 to $26 per EDS share. HP has about $10 billion cash in its war-chest and its market value is about $115 billion, strong enough to finance the purchase. However culture clashes between HP and EDS could be the main stumbling block to the operation. HP hoped it could rival IBM with EDS’s acquisition.
HP earned $7.3 billion on $104 billion in revenue last year while EDS made $716 million on $22.1 billion in revenue. Combined, EDS and HP's technology services division had about $39 billion in revenue for the year 2007 as compared to $54 billion in revenue enjoyed by IBM for the same period. It would be interesting to see how EDS and HP continue to offer its outsourcing solution to the markets and it would be doubly fun to watch how HP would manage DHL-APIS and EDS data centers located not many blocks apart in Cyberjaya.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Do you really need to buy YAHOO stock now?
Since Microsoft walked away from Yahoo, either deliberately or otherwise, many investors were arguing whether they should buy the stock in anticipation of another round of acquisition talk – by the same acquirer Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT, stock). The argument was pretty simple and easy – the bald-headed Balmer was playing hide and seek with Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO, stock) and it’s a matter of time before Microsoft launches another similar acquisition proposal, perhaps with a lower offer price.
The fact that Yahoo stock price didn’t tumble to the pre-acquisition price of $20 bucks a share shows that investors (and punters) are betting that there’re easy money to be made by holding to Yahoo stock. At least that’s the perception in keeping the Yahoo share price afloat. And the perceptions are Microsoft did not walk away for good and Yahoo successfully bought some time to prove that the company’s value is higher than $20, $25 and even $30 a share. Jerry Yang admitted he is still open to a deal with Microsoft.
Even if Microsoft was actually serious about quitting the plan to ever acquire Yahoo, the sleepy and boring Yahoo could not afford to go back to slumberland. The pressure is building up and speculations are circulating that Yahoo has to choose its sleeping partner(s) sooner rather than later. It could sleep with Google Inc. or News Corp. or other partners not identified as yet. Yahoo can sleep well knowing it has at least $33 a share to fall back (Microsoft’s offer) should there be no other buyers or partners. And to demand a higher price, Jerry Yang has no other choice but to build his points that the company worth more than $33 a share offered.
Jerry’s immediate bullet is the partnership with Google and such partnership could boost 2009 EBITDA by 32% and revenue increment of between $1.5 and $2.3 billion. Jerry was adamant about $38 a share before he was willing to let go of the company he co-founded. But do you really need to rush in to buy Yahoo stock now? The pot is still sizzling hot now. Just let it cool and chances are you might be able to scoop the stock at a lower price than now. It’s not that Microsoft will come back tomorrow, next week or another month with a fresh offer. So you’ve all the time to wait for a lower stock price.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Chain-Reaction of Government’s Vengeance Policy
Depending on your style of trading and stocks investing as well as your risks management, rumors could be your best friends. You can’t ignore rumors totally because it moves the stocks. Of course you need the flexibility (your local stock exchange) to make money out of such volatility. The best is if you can long and short stocks with ease without which you might be putting your foot onto a landmine and need to wait for the next bull-cycle (average 10-year-cycle) to break-even – simply because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time and .you’re stubborn enough not to cut-loss.
Whether you like it or not, the local stock market has entered a new dimension thanks to the unbelievable result from the recent 12th general election which saw the government lost its precious two-third majority and five states. The symbiosis relationship between politics and stocks has gotten even closer than before, so much so that the overnight Dow Jones performance is taking back seat. For example, when the Works Ministry announced it would study the country’s highway concession agreements last week almost immediately investors dumped their stocks related to toll concessions.
PLUS Expressway Berhad (KLSE: PLUS, stock-code 5052) was one of the obvious victims. Heck I shouldn’t call this stock a victim of investors’ nervousness since you (the concessionaire) can milk this cash-cow for another 30 years till 2038. But do you really think for a second that these rich highway tycoons would be punished? Come on! If the previous Works Minister was willing to let his own peoples’ temple burnt to ground than to even initiate a meeting to revise the already bias agreements towards the toll concessionaires, do you think these companies will lose a single cent now? The most likely scenario will be the government quietly paid the compensations for not allowing these toll collectors to raise the rates. And whose money would be use to pay if not the tax-payers? Who’re the suckers taken for granted here?
It’s puzzling why the government, maybe through EPF, could not just acquire all these toll assets. Wouldn’t it be a good political strategy to be extra nice to the voters while at the same time make money from the “new toll rates” acceptable to all? The privatization concept has breached its boundaries to the extent that only certain cronies benefited from the suffering of the people. And these cronies or concessionaires are very powerful indeed if you take the recent Grand Saga-Bandar Mahkota Cheras (BMC) issue into perspective. They’re so powerful that the police force is easily mistaken as part of the toll concessionaires’ employees under their payroll. Since when does the Royal Police Force venture into construction and toll-collection business, you might wonder?
Yes, police brutality has also entered a new phase inline with the recent general election outcome which saw the Federal government is all out for vengeance particularly with the five opposition states governments. And what better way than to sabotage, frustrate and punish the voters who voted against the Federal government? Already people are seeing and hearing more stories of hard-working DBKL doubling trips shutting down hawker stalls and business premises especially restaurants. But the brutality in beating up and hurting innocent civilians are really mind-boggling, never mind the beaten one is the Member of Parliament. It appeared the job scope of police force has change dramatically from protecting civilians to intimidating and if given chance, beating and harassing civilians. Has the country slowly entering the police state, just inches from Myanmar’s military junta model? One thing is for sure though – the crime rate skyrockets as we speak. Don’t believe me? Go and ask your aunts or uncles staying in the rural areas.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Nightmare awards to the scariest Frontier(s)
If you think it was scary how celebrity blogger RPK who was forced to chickened out from the prison because the Mongolian killers threaten to do something funny on him, wait until you watch this movie. People thought those things that participants ate in the “fear-factor” were horrible, disgusting and unacceptable. Some thought the movie “300” was too violent because of the heads flying around with lots of blood slow-motioned. You do not know the meaning of scary until you encounter Frontier(s).
This unrated and uncut movie is so controversy that you can only watch it at selected theaters. Just take a look at the very short trailer available on select theater listings. Nobody can blame you if you decide to take pillow with you into the theater but I doubt other countries will allow the screening without cuts all over the place. Without the original uncut version, it would be less fun nevertheless.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Why celebrity blogger RPK chickened out from prison?
The hottest news circulating the blogosphere is definitely the U-turn decision by Malaysia-Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) to post bail after refused to do so earlier despite over RM44,000 collected via online campaign. He has chosen to sleep on cool and hard concrete floor inside the jail instead of walk out a free-man, well, at least temporarily. Immediately people were comparing him with Mahatma Gandhi. RPK was reported to be on hunger strikesince day one in prison but he denied it after released on bail.
Let’s get real, if the government does not gives a hoot even after a foreigner from the land of the once mighty Genghis Khan who ruled the land between Caspian Sea and Beijing blown up with C4 explosive, do you think it would cares a bit if RPK rot of hunger inside the jail? So why the sudden change in his decision to seek shelter elsewhere instead of the safest place on earth – jail? Heck aren’t jail supposed to be the safest place since you’re basically provided with “free body guards” (police officers) 24 hours a day 7 days a week *grin*? Heck no, RPK was assigned additional two UTK (Special Action Force) full time to look after his safety. But wait, aren’t those UTK were the same people who blown off Altantuya in the first place *Scary*.
By now netizens thought there could two main reasons why RPK decided to walk out from that smelly Sungai Buloh prison. RPK might be stubborn but facing his wife, he would just melt away faster than those M&M chocolates inside your mouth. Thus, the theory of those four words “I want you home” from his wife did the trick. Furthermore RPK refused to meet anyone including his wife earlier most probably because he was afraid seeing his wife would spoil his plan for the hunger strike. This little prison cell is nothing compared to his previous detention under ISA so I’m sure RPK could take it but his age is catching up hence his wife’s anxiety in getting this bald-headed fellow back home.
Speaking to reporters after he was released, Raja Petra said he had declined to meet anyone as there was not much to be done except await his trial, which is scheduled for October – reported theStar. But there’s something interesting – he claimed that prison authorities urged him to seek release due to concerns over his “personal safety in prison”. What could be scarier than ISA, lousy food and lack of tobaccos? Was there any plan to smuggle in some “professionals” to blow-up RPK the same way Altantuya was with C4? Maybe food-poisoning is sufficed to shut RPK’s mouth once and for all. Food-poisoning is perhaps the common way to close any sudden death cases as can be witnessed in the so-called “National Service” program.
The late Agong (King) and Sultan of Selangor might be RPK’s uncle but in a nation full of twilight zones so much so that the Bermuda Triangle would need to step aside, it would be wise for RPK to stay at home rather than the prison. In a land where bloggers are deemed more dangerous than robbers, kidnappers, rapists and killers the prison officer believed the smartest way was to shoo RPK away else he would surely get the blames if something funny happened to the celebrity blogger. For all you know this might be RPK’s plan all along with the climax being the hunger strike for maximum international coverage *grin*. Whatever it is one thing is for sure – the link-baiting is working and his website, Malaysia-Today, will probably double the hits as everyone will be glued for his next posting.Other Articles That May Interest You …
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Pricey RHB Bank? ADBC is an Angel compared to Maybank
Do you think RHB Capital (KLSE: RHBCAP, stock-code 1066) which owns Malaysia’s fourth largest bank, RHB Bank, worth RM7.20 a share? Of course if you’re one of the season stock players who punted and screamed with joy before the 1997-1998 Asia Economic Crisis, you might think RM7.20 is chicken-feed compared to over RM20.00 a share back then. Its’ founder, Rashid Hussain, was rumored to be the invincible hand in stirring up the stock price back then.
But those glory days were over and until the last day the flagship RHB (now defunct Rashid Hussain Berhad) was to be de-listed for good, I still heard complaints from shareholders and internal staffs cursing the stock and the founder. Who can blame them especially the internal staffs who thought they have gotten the golden eggs in terms of ESOS but found out the horror part of it days later? Yes, some of these staffs entitled to the ESOS priced above tens of (RM) ringgit a share suddenly saw their hard-earned money wiped out within days and towards the end of their journey, they were forced to sell at a pathetic RM1.80 a share to EPF – better than none I guess.
Now, back to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) that finally bought a 25 percent stake in RHB Capital for $1.23 billion (RM3.87 billion) or at RM7.20 a share – about 37 percent premium to the bank’s today closing price of RM5.25 a share. With the current 25 percent ADBC is instantly the largest foreign shareholder, just behind EPF’s 57 percent (from 82 percent). StockTube wrote about the possibility of ADBC becoming the new shareholder back in Dec 2007, but the price speculated was RM7.50 a share.
The final price of 7.20 ringgit a share represents 2.2 times RHB's book value, compared with Malaysia's two other biggest banks - Maybank and Bumiputra-Commerce at 1.6 times and 2.1 times respectively. Since the exit of RHB’s founder Rashid Hussain, RHB Bank was like a floating ship in the Pacific Ocean without a clear direction. Although the price paid is relatively high, ADBC Chairman Saeed Al-Hajeri defended the bank's decision justifying that the story of RHB is attractive. Huh? Just in which way and how the bank has nice story to tell besides the fact that it has huge branches thanks to multiple banks merged ranging from Kwong Yik Bank, DCB Bank, Sime Bank etc?
It was indeed a bold statement to make that RHB Bank profits could double in three years but one cannot discount that possibility considering ADBC has deep pocket and support. Besides 64 percent-owned by the Abu Dhabi government via Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the United Arab Emirates’s third-largest bank has an asset of about $27 billion. ADIA alone is worth about $900 billion *Whoa!* and it owns five per cent of America’s largest bank and a piece of the Toll Brothers, which is one of America’s biggest homebuilders.
However if you care to compare this acquisition to Malayan Banking Berhad’s (KLSE: MAYBANK, stock-code 1155) recent acquisition of Indonesian PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (JAK: BNII) and Pakistan’s MCB Bank (KAR: MCB) which were 4.6 and 5.12 book value respectively, you simply can’t resist the temptation to congratulate ADBC on the deal well done. So, yes it (RHB Capital) was an expensive buy but compared to Maybank’s deals, you can’t complain much and should just keep the mouth shut.
The winner is definitely EPF (Employess Provident Fund) which paid only RM4.80 share for RHB Capital from Utama Banking Group (KLSE: UBG, stock-code 6831) – a cool 50 percent profit or $600 million (RM1.88 billion). While there’s no guarantee that EPF’s profit will translates into better dividend to its members the same cannot be said about Maybank’s shareholders after Maybank’s committed of over RM11 billion (US$3.5 billion) to acquisitions in three different countries – Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. On another note, I’m puzzled that RHB’s new logo unveiled today surprisingly retains the legacy of Rashid Hussain. Maybe the branding of RHB has taken its root but still it doesn’t reflects “today’s” status quo, what a waste of money!!!
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Oil prices continue to defy gravity, somebody said US$200?
Whoa! Oil prices soared nearing the $123 a barrel, just 7 bucks away from my prediction that the black-gold should find little obstacles to reach the $130 a barrel. For punters who wish to see the oil prices go up, they can surely rely on Nigeria – Africa’s largest oil producer and a major U.S. supplier. Every now and then you can hear reports of militant group creating havoc by disrupting the supply which bring me to wonder if there’re invincible hands that somehow control these bunch of people, hoping to profit from the rise of oil prices.
Don’t tell me there’s no way to terminate these groups of military gangster once and for all, unless they’re useful to perform some guerilla-warfare-type of disruption for obvious reason. But wait, there’re even crazier people – Goldman Sachs & Co. predicted that oil prices could rise to US$150 to US$200 within two years,beating my prediction of $130 a barrel *Damn*. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's report on fuel inventories Wednesday would either push the oil prices to another new record or send it down temporarily.
So, the state-controlled Petronas is celebrating because their profit and thus fortune has just increased. How they wish they don’t have to subsidize the local usage. But then it would give them every reason to send the profit into the black-hole.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
The Guilty one has taken Raja Petra’s bait? Game Started!
Not many politicians let alone normal citizens who are willing to go to jail because they believe in the principle of truth and justice. One of the politicians, Lim Guan Eng, who is now the Chief Minister of Penang definitely earned the respect from many people when he was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in 1998 following his criticism of the rape of a 15-year-old Malay schoolgirl by former Chief Minister of the State of Malacca, Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik. He has been found guilty of sedition - "prompting disaffection with the administration of justice" and "maliciously printing false information".
The poor girl was taken into "protective custody" for questioning by the police and allegedly denied access to members of her family. She was later transferred by the courts to a rehabilitation centre for "wayward girls" for three years despite continued efforts by her grandmother to secure her release. Although Tamby Chik was forced to resign over the scandal, interestingly no charges have been brought against him for the rape while the corruption charges have been dropped by the Attorney General due to, you guess it, insufficient evidence.
Today, the country has yet another individual who might be sent to jail for the same reason – defending a Mongolian lady by the name of Altantuya Shaaribuu, whose remains were destroyed with C4 explosives. Everything started when the outspoken Raja Petra Kamarudin, the editor of MalaysiaToday, wrote an“Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell” which implicated Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah, in the murder of the 28-year-old Mongolian interpreter. He was charged under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act for publishing the allegedly seditious article.
Hearing has been fixed from 6 to 10 Oct and Raja Petra was granted a bail of RM5,000 but surprisingly he refused bail, deciding instead to remain in custody until the hearing date. If found guilty, Raja Petra could be jailed for a maximum of three years and/or face a fine of up to RM5,000. Although an immediate campaign to raise RM5,000 to bail him out has amazingly exceeded the amount required to a whopping RM24,500 (local bank account) and US$3,282.61 (paypal), the stubborn bald-head Raja Petra chose to go to jail. Raja Petra said that he was a victim of political persecution and said "I knew this was coming … They are going to find ways and excuses to charge me but these are stupid excuses … Once they charge me, we will show that there is no evidence against me."
“He further told Associated Press “I am not posting bail. See you guys in October … I will be out for Christmas. Don't worry …I am happy. We bloggers have declared war on the government. We are not scared of the government. The government should be scared of us … Is it seditious to influence people against corrupt leaders? There is nothing seditious … Do you think I do not have evidence?”
Photo: MalaysiaKini
It was reported that Raja Petra is being defended by 7 lawyers led by Karpal Singh. Interestingly this is not the first time but the fourth since the authorities tried to use the Seditious Act on Raja Petra – the first was in 2001, second in 2004, third in 2007 and the fourth today. Talking about the article posted, I think the "Guilty" one should just laugh at it instead of abusing the Seditious Act to intimidate the blogger, unless of course there’re some truths to it. By taking Raja Petra’s bait now (charging him) it is tantamount to announce to the whole world that “Look! This guy is cute enough to say I blew off a Mongolian using C4, how ridiculous could that be. Please don’t believe him”.
In the blogosphere world, this link-baiting is simply the greatest way to attract traffic or eyeballs, silly. Nevertheless I’m sure Raja Petra fans will definitely go crazy waiting till Oct, provided he could get out in one piece, for his famous “The Corridors of Power” and “No Holds Barred” section. But I guess what Raja Petra has to spill especially the so-called“evidence” he claimed to have regarding the article would probably blow many heads off when the trial starts, again provided there would be one. Life would be super boring without the “entertainment.”Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Walk With RPK : One Ringgit One Person
- My reply to Datuk Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad
- Towering Malays and the ‘hush’ on Peace Hill
- Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell
- Raja Petra’s Wife tight-lipped – What’s Next?
- The War between Bloggers and Government Peaks
- Major Crackdown on Malaysia Political Bloggers Started?
Tony is cold sweating over Copy-Cat MAS’s free seats
When the pretty newsreader told me to wait for the special announcement from Malaysia Airline System (KLSE: MAS, stock-code 3786) MD/CEO Idris Jala, I was curious what the heck was that all about. Maybe he wished to tell us he was resigning but it would be too exaggerated to do so using such channel. Maybe he wished to announced that he has beaten Tony Fernandes and was acquiring AirAsia Berhad’s (KLSE: AIRASIA, stock-code 5099). That sounds more like it since Tony has given MAS a run for their money so it would be a sweet revenge to have Tony reports to him *grin* now.
It was a new marketing campaign - Malaysia Airline’s Zero Fare campaign that offered 1 million free one-way seats on domestic routes with certain conditions. What! Another “copy-cat” marketing plan which was stolen from low-cost carrier AirAsia? But I guess if you (MAS) can’t beat them, then join them (AirAsia) even though the plan was a copy-cat version. What took MAS so long to come out with such a plan in the first place? Anyway complement should be extended to Idris Jala as business sense comes first and there’s nothing wrong being a copy-cat. At least Tony Fernandes is cold sweating now. Nevertheless Tony is screaming this is the 10th time that MAS has copied AirAsia.
It makes perfect sense to fill up the unsold 30 percent domestic seats. How can MAS make revenue out of these free seats? Through incremental revenue fromadministrative fee, airport tax and fuel surcharge of course. This latest MAS promotion is only applicable if you purchase the ticket online viahttp://www.malaysiaairlines.com/. Tickets purchased were not refundable and the travel dates could not be changed – the tickets are valid for travel between 10th June and 14th Dec 2008 only, mind you.
What would be the fate of MAS own version of low-cost carrier Firefly if the campaign becomes so successful that MAS decided to continue the plan permanently? Anyway, Tony Fernandes has countered with two new initiatives today:
- AirAsia will pay the difference to any of his passengers if they can find any MAS airfare that is lower than the cheapest offered by AirAsia - just print out the confirmed booking from MAS and Tony Fernandes will pay the difference. Sounds like hypermarket Carrefour don’t you think so?
- A sub-Zero Fare campaign which will be launched in the next few days – a plan that Tony claimed will be cheaper than zero. Wow! Anything less than zero is “negative” so does that means passengers will be paid for flying AirAsia?
So, who says “competition” is no good for business? Can you imagine what would happen if AirAsia does not exist? And to think the previous MAS management was happily drifting into the sea of losses despite monopoly and exorbitant charges.Competition is healthy and it definitely will benefit the consumers and spawns creativity and innovative business ideas that would push business to the next level. I think Tony has to do better than justifying that AirAsia has newer aircraft and better crew. Hey, MAS has sexier crews (depends on your luck) and free food although sometimes the food could be boring. What about ISP (internet service provider) such as TM’s Streamyx who is providing pathetic services with low bandwidth that do not correspond to the fees charged?
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Monday, May 05, 2008
Why you should avoid Maybank stock – Money Sucked Out
First you witnessed the National Front (Barisan Nasional) coalition’s monopoly broken to pieces after the people who got sick and tired of the arrogant and incompetent administration sent in their protest votes. Still in confusion and disarray after the defeat, it appears the government which is on the brink of collapse anytime now is busy channeling all their energies into the dollars and cents out of the existing account instead of re-engineering the coalition’s strategy to ensure its relevancy.
Provided what former Deputy Prime Minister and architect who led the opposition parties of PKR-DAP-PAS to their sweetest victory since 1957’s independence said about forming the new government within 2008 is real, the top guns within the National Front are scrambling to do the necessary about their wealth. Besides looting and transferring trucks of confidential files to secretive locations minutes after realizing they have lost five states to the opposition including three of the wealthiest, the wives of the once thought to be invincible were equally anxious in transferring funds out from the associations.
Corporate level-wise everyone was puzzled that the country’s largest lender, Malayan Banking 
Berhad (KLSE:MAYBANK, stock-code 1155), suddenly awaken and went on shopping spree. Analysts’ jaw dropped to the floor when Maybank paid the hefty $2.7 billion for Indonesian PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (JAK: BNII) – 4.6 times book value when the Indonesian banks only commands the average book value of 3.8. It didn’t take the investors long before dumping the stocks. By now, every Tom, Dick and your dog know Maybank might have actually overpaid RM3 billion and some brokers could be still laughing in their sleeps till now. But I guess Maybank shareholders won’t care because they thought the largest banking institution will not goes bust.
Less than two months after the BII purchase, Maybank decided to pour another $686 million for a 15 percent stake in Pakistan’s largest lender MCB Bank (KAR:MCB) betting on a bright economic future despite its recent political turbulence. Government-controlled Maybank is forking 44.29 billion rupees, or 470 rupees per share - 11 percent premium to the stock's last traded price. However based on the offer price which translates into book value of 5.13 times, this is definitely another pricey acquisition. Get ready for the stock to be bashed when the counter reopens after suspended since last Friday.
Maybank Chief Executive Abdul Wahid Omar said the bank was seeking to raise capital to help restore its capital ratios following the shopping spree. Right, just propose rights issue and get all the shareholders to pump in more money. After all the shareholders are just as blur, so it would be a smooth sailing. Maybe it can issue some debt papers such as sukuk Islamid securities to raise billions of dollars. While Maybank should expand regionally to off-set the domestic slow growth, it shouldn’t just buy for the sake of buying.
Has the top management negotiated for the best deal with the objective to maximize shareholders’ interest? Is this the right timing to buy so crazily, the third after Indonesian BII and Vietnam’s An Binh Bank? Don’t tell me there’s nothing to puzzle with three major acquisitions within a span of only two-months. Yeah, right, suddenly all the regional banks are so attractive and worth buying. Can you smell something fishy with all these acquisitions?
Other Articles That May Interest You …
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Microsoft chickened out, Berkshire shareholders partying
BBill Gates chickened out! Steve Balmer chickened out! Microsoft Corp does not have the balls to proceed with the takeover. Yahoo won the war and Google is rejoicing. If Microsoft is the real giant that is hungry and passionate enough to fight Google Inc. heads on and obsessed with owning Yahoo in the first place, then just pay the damn $37 a share for Yahoo and start a new chapter by giving Google Inc. a run for their money. But I guess Steve Balmer and Bill Gates is no match for Jerry Yang and David Filo, let alone Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Sack this bald head Ballmer, you hear me Bill Gates!!!
Yes, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT, stock) withdrew its $42.3 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc. after a personal meeting between Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David with Steve Balmer. It appears Microsoft was willing to pay $47.5 billion or $33 per share, up from the bid's current value of $29.40 per share and not a penny more. Yahoo’s board was demanding $37 a share while Jerry Yang wanted $38 a share. The fun was over after Steve Balmer chickened out from a proxy battle he was screaming at Yahoo’s face not long ago. What a letdown!
Therefore, it is expected Yahoo Inc.’s (Nasdaq: YHOO, stock) stock price to plunge while Microsoft Corp’s to rise when the stock market opens on Monday. But the billion dollar question remains if Jerry Yang has the magic bullet to revitalize the company and rest assured the shareholders will be sniffing over his shoulder more often from now onwards. Microsoft can always launch another round of acquisition later in the future, I guess. Maybe it was a strategy to pull down Yahoo stock price before the actual hostile goes live. Hmmm ...
Meanwhile, Buffett and Munger were having fun answering questions at Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A, stock) annual meeting on Saturday. To solve global warming problem, Munger recommended eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard a day and for health-care, the 84-year-old genius told the shareholders to eat more See’s candy. What about U.S. current economic crisis? Charlie Munger said the only solution is to put Buffett in charge of the Federal Reserve. Hey, that’s a great idea, if only this is for real and not Berkshire’s annual cartoon.
As expected, Buffett refused to publicly identify the candidates to take over after he’s gone – only to say the company's board has three internal candidates for CEO and four external candidates who could take over managing the company's $75 billion stock portfolio and $35.6 billion cash. The complete video of the annual meeting is not available yet but the above is what you can see at the moment.
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Advertising Network Company that verifies your phone
Based on the latest earnings announcement from Google Inc. that showed overseas revenue surpassed U.S.’s own revenue for the very first time, online advertising is here to stay and probably will never dies. Even if it would you can be sure of seeing the sign from Google’s earnings. With the explosion of blogs, the conventional online advertising driven by eyeballs to another new level. Everyone blogs nowadays – even the over 80-year-old former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir, has started to blog though I doubt he will ever needs to monetize his blog.
One of the companies in the interactive marketing industry ishttp://www.clickbooth.com/, formed in Sept 2002 and a division of IntegraClick, Inc., based in Sarasota, Florida. The first impression when you visit Clickbooth Advertising Network is this – another player leveraging on publishers and advertisers market while making the commission out of both parties. Only during the sign-up process did I realize that this company is not the typical self-serveadvertising networking.
The process of signing up is pretty simple as it only consists of three steps – getting your 
information, verification and registers your website information. However you might be surprise that you’re required to enter your phone number at step-two as part of the fraud prevention and to capture genuine publishers only. No matter where you are as long as you reside within the countries listed, you can expect a call which will provides you the PIN for verification. So, no more email verification. Upon all the information submitted, you need to wait for 72 hours for manual approval.
I hope Clickbooth could enhance their offering by accepting payment to “PayPal”. Hey, what is making money online without the mention of PayPal, right? Another limitation that I believe could be rectified promptly is the limited number of categories your website could be tagged. For example I can’t find the option for stocks investing, option trading or other investment instruments, save for credit, debt and mortgage. Surprisingly gambling, dating and even ringtones are recognized *cracking my head*.
Clickbooth claims to have over 20,000 active affiliates and 10,000 publishers, not to mention it makes very little from its slim margins. Its data center is equivalent to world-class which also serves the U.S. Department of Defence so I suppose the security and uptime or availability should be excellent. Having said that I hope Clickbooth could improves on its limitations.
Friday, May 02, 2008
King of AP Kings Nasimuddin dies, Proton to beg VW?
NAZA Group’s big boss, Tan Sri S.M. Nasimuddin S.M. Amin, passed away of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California today at the age of 54. The founder, chairman and CEO of NAZA Group which was formed in 1974 has 14 business divisions covering industries such as cigarette distribution, credit and leasing, engineering, hotels, insurance, machine tools and parts, manufacturing, motorcycles, property, transport services, plantations and water craft – reported theStar. If you do not know, his empire, NAZA, was derived from the name of “Na”simuddin and his wife’s “Za”leha – hence NaZa.
However Nasimuddin was famous for his monopoly in the lucrative Approved Permits (AP) 
business, so much so that he invited controversy in 2005 when he was called the “AP King”. Besides holding the import permit for Mercedes-Benz and Mazda vehicles, Naza Group is also the franchise holder for Ferrari, South Korea’s Kia, Peugeot, Brabus, Hamann and Ducati bikes in Malaysia. And when you talk about “AP King” chances are you cannot run away from mentioning the name of former Minister for International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Aziz.
Nasimuddin is also known as the GodFather or “King of AP Kings” besides other AP Kings such as Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim and Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz. It was reported that this three AP Kings collectively issued 33,218 APs (about 50.1% of total of 66,277 APs) for 2004 and 28,283 APs (or 41% of total of 68,330 APs) for 2005 alone. Street estimation value of RM30,000 per AP easily translates the above “paper” into mind-boggling RM996 million pure profit for 2004 and RM848 million for 2005.
It was puzzling how the three individuals were reaping over 
RM1.8 billion for the mentioned two years alone*Wow!*. But the figures were just the tip of an iceberg as the APs were issued since 1988. Rafidah’s own niece, Annie Tajul Arus, was reportedly given AP to import 850 Kleeman cars in 2004 and 199 in 2005. At one time Nasimuddin was rumored to be son-in-law of “AP Queen” Rafidah Aziz. It’s ironic that Nasimuddin passed away right after Rafidah was dropped from the Cabinet, must have something to do with feng-shui but then it could be purely coincident. Maybe he should quit smoking after amassing such a huge fortune. Somehow, “Malay-sian” automobile tycoons do not have the luxury to live to a ripe old age. The late founder of the DRB-Hicom group, Tan Sri Yahya Ahmad, died in a helicopter crash in 1997.
With Nasimuddin out of the picture, will this make things easier for new Minister for International Trade and Industry, Muhyiddin Yassin, to create another new AP King? You don’t think such a lucrative business will stop, do you? And who would be the saddest person with the passing away of Nasimuddin if not Rafidah? NAZA was also rumored to have been given the preferential option to become the strategic partner of the ailing Proton Holdings Bhd (KLSE: PROTON, stock-code 5304) after Malaysian government officially closed the door for Volkswagen (FRA: VOW) to do so. Will Proton and the government reverse the gear and beg Volkswagen again, assuming the earlier decision to show the Germany’s carmaker the exit was due to the reason above?
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Six down one to go - all eyes are on Federal Reserve
Six down one more to go – that’s the expectation from the Federal Reserve when Ben Bernanke and his boys get ready for a two-day meeting Wednesday. The general feeling on the street is that the discussion will end with an announcement that the Fed will cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point.A quarter-point cut would move the funds rate to 2 percent - a full 3 percentage points below where it was on Sept. 18 when the Fed started cutting rates aggressively.
After this round of meeting, the Fed is expected to take a break and let the markets take its course. Economists and analysts however believe the Fed will leave the door open for more rate cuts, just in case the troubles persist and require intervention. Wall Street saw investors traded cautiously with most of them stay sideline ahead of the Wednesday meeting.
Meanwhile MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA, stock) spiked $31.48, or 13 percent, to $273.98 after reporting that profit more than doubled in the first quarter, and rival Visa Inc. (NYSE: V, stock) rebounded from an early decline to rise $5.25, or 6.9 percent, to $80.88 after reporting late Monday its first-quarter profit increased 28 percent – reported AP. Seems like still got more room for Visa stock to goes up.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
JTI Revisit – still an attractive Dividend Stock
During difficult time it’s hard, though not impossible, to place your bet on stocks. It’s even harder to trade short time, let alone day-trade or scalp, if the stocks are not volatile enough. Obviously it’s easier to make money (and lose money) in Wall Street from stocks such as Apple Inc. or Baidu.com, Inc. due to intraday volatility than from Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The fact that you are not allowed the flexibility to short the stocks compare to long it makes theKLSE a boring place to spend your time. Isn’t it amusing that authorities are trying to find reasons for the low transaction volume when the writing was already on the wall? And talk about Bursa Malaysia Berhad’s (KLSE: BURSA, stock-code 1818) market capitalization being halved in five-months from its peak of RM16 to RM8 a share.
Depending on your strategy and approach, you might find some comforts from dividend-paying stocks. One of my favorites is JT International (KLSE: JTINTER, stock-code 2615). Since my last article in Aug 2007, the stock did not manage to climbs above the resistance of RM3.96 a share. This is a typical good dividend stock of which the “gross dividend” yield is more than 10 percent, easily beats the conventional single-digit fixed-deposit interest rate. But the good time of getting nice dividend-check at your doorstep will not goes without any challenges as acknowledged by JT International (JTI) management.
Malaysian government is expected to start with its normal routine in putting up barricades to the tobacco industry especially after the general election. The government raised tax on cigarette sold in Malaysia by 25% per stick in July 2007, the highest since 2004, but didn’t punish the players during the budget presentation for obvious reason. Already the tobacco industry is fighting an uphill and losing battle against illegal cigarettes smuggled into the country. With an estimated 25 percent of the cigarettes sold are illegal products, not to mention cheap, it’s no-brainer why JTl’s earnings were on the downtrend since 2006 and the trend is expected to continue.
With tougher anti-tobacco laws to be introduced by the government from now onwards, JTI which derived about 90% of its sales from the domestic market needs to increase exports to stay alive - most likely post AFTA (Asean Free Trade Agreement). The authorities will not be able to tackle illegal cigarettes smuggling problem regardless whether they’re actually clueless or simply overwhelmingly outnumbered by corruption.
Investors might see JTI as an unattractive stock due to gloomy earnings but should the dividend yield continue with the downtrend, the stock price is expected to goes down in tandem with it as well. Therefore the stock is still attractive but I’m interested to see if the stock could be whacked to the RM3.60 again.
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Warren to face tribes protest at Berkshire annual meeting
Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A, stock) annual meeting is here again and the greatest investor of all time, Warren Buffett, together with his general Charlie Munger are two individuals expected to be bombarded with questions from shareholders. It was reported that about 30,000 people are expected to fill the Qwest Center Omaha in their efforts to ask or hear what the two masters got to say in the five hours question-and-answer session.
The top question is definitely about the current credit crunch crisis and the second question would be the succession plan after the 77-year-old Warren Buffett is gone. Berkshire’s 2007 performance was great when it generate $13.2 billion net income and staggering $118.2 billion revenue. However the group from the Pacific Northwest plans to protest outside the meeting and ask tough questions inside about PacifiCorp's dams, which are up for federal re-licensing. There’re four American Indian tribes fighting for removal of four dams on the Klamath River owned by one of Berkshire's utilities so salmon can spawn again.
Berkshire had mooted the plan to split Warren’s job into three parts with each going to the shoulder of Chief Investment Officer, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Warren Buffett’s son, Howard Buffett, will take over as chairman when the senior dies to ensure Berkshire’s culture is preserved. As for the position as CEO, Buffett said the company's board now has three internal candidates.
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Sunday, April 27, 2008
Do you really trust Keris-Man or Desperate Housewife?
Today is an interesting day if you read the local pro-government newspaper theStar. I can’t remember when was the last time I paid for the hardcopy, not that I can’t afford it but because it’s not worth paying for the bulks of advertisements. I read the electronic copy which is free and I think it’s sufficient if what you need is to browse through major news. There’re two major news that attracted me, not so much of the contents because I’ve read it from other sources that had reported it earlier and theStar was merely repeated what was published, but the way how both news were prioritized. “He said: “If it affected anyone, I cannot run away from the reality of it. I apologize to the non-Malays and the Malays … To the non-Malays because of the fear to a symbol which was not my intention. And to the Malays for not being able to uphold their symbol of heritage”
Another English newspaper, theSun, reported on Friday how Zaharah Kechik, the wife of former 
Selangor Chief Minister Khir Toyo, plotting to dissolve a welfare body and remove almost RM10 million from its bank accounts after her husband lost power to rule the most developed state. I was wondering if theSun didn’t expose the news on Friday, would theStar dare to publish the news the following day, Saturday. Now, the new Selangor government is seeking legal advice on the issue.
The Bar Council is of the opinion that the action (of Zaharah) could be tantamount to criminal breach of trust but the lady said she had the legal right because her husband Khir Toyo was still the caretaker Selangor Mentri Besar at that time. So I suppose should the National Front were to lose the recent general election to the opposition (DAP, PKR and PAS) at the Federal government,“caretaker Prime Minister” could transfer all the money from the country’s reserve of about $120 billion, no?
Seriously I don’t think this news worth front-paged but instead the apology from UMNO Youth 
chief Hishammuddin Tun Hussein should be given priority. Of course by the time theStar published the news of this guy who has been brandishing his “keris” (Malay dagger) since 2005, most of netizens has already read it from MalaysiaKini. And to think this Hishammuddin was entrusted with the Education Ministryship portfolio is enough to send your blood boiling. If you think that this guy who is famous for his “crook-smile” has actually repented his past action, you better think twice before rejoicing.
Hishammuddin is under tremendous pressure as his silly keris-waving act was one of the main causes of the National Front’s humiliate defeat. His cousin, Deputy Prime Minister, needs him badly to make the number should the battle for the premiership starts. As much as he dislikes it, he has to apologize for his own political survival. However he’s too arrogant to tender a “sincere apology”. Can you read between the lines (below) that he was still trying to defend his act by claiming he could no longer uphold the so-called “symbol” on behalf of the Malays? Furthermore he “did not want to say” if the tradition of kissing the keris would be stopped at future Umno Youth assemblies.
Thus, in trying time like now he would has no choice but to bend his back a bit but will definitely returns to his antic act once the situation permits him to. I doubt the Malays outside of UMNO would be offended should Hishammuddin quit playing with his keris during the UMNO general assembly. And to have this apology news hidden at the bottom of theStar newspaper goes to show how this embarrassing episode should be played down as much as possible.
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Friday, April 25, 2008
Has AEON Credit reached its bottom? Time to scoop?
AEON Credit Services (M) Berhad was listed on 12th Dec 2007. No, it’s not a loan shark one-stop financial shop for you to borrow money without any collateral because the conventional bank won’t lend you any. It’s also not a financial institution comparable to banks. But AEON Credit is in the business of offering personal finances and with over 89,000 credit card customers, who can blame you for mistaken this company as another bank. This company is perhapsthe only non-banking company that gotten license to operate in such a manner.
AEON Credit (KLSE: AEONCR, stock code 5139), a subsidiary of AEON Credit Japan, specializes in niche SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) market serving the non-popular segment otherwise ignored by banks. Product financing for consumers in the RM1,000 to RM5,000 bracket and less than RM50,000 for SMEs are their focus. This includes electrical items, gold, jewellery, office furniture and so on. Currently, it has 26 branches, 13 of which are customer-service outlets known as AEON-Spots that are set up mainly in shopping centers.
AEON Credit's Fundamental
For financial year 2008 ended Feb, the company posted a 69.5 percent jump in net profit to RM33.4 million – about 9.5% higher that its forecasted earnings of RM30.5 million stated in its listing prospectus. Revenue jumped 30.8% to RM151.8 million and EPS (earnings per share) increased by 7.63 sen to 32.65 sen. The three main revenue product segments are easy payment schemes, personal financing schemes and credit cards which contributed 30%, 43% and 29% annual growth respectively.
In tandem with the good result, the company proposed a final dividend of 7.44 sen per share, less 26% tax for FY08 – a 34 percent payout ratio. Earlier, the company planned to pay at least 30 per cent of net profit as dividend in fiscal year 2008, estimated at 7.63 sen gross per share. Thus translates into a gross dividend yield of 3.05 percent based on IPO price of RM2.50 or 2.27 percent based on today’s closing stock price of RM3.36 a share.
With average net earnings annual growth of 67 percent since 2001, the fundamental of AEON Credit deserves some shouting, don’t you think?
What does AEON’s technical chart says?
Since it’s listing, the stock has seen consistent profit-taking inline with the local stock market weakness that saw the Composite Index plunged from the high of 1,524 (middle of Jan 2008) to 1,296 on 7th Mar 2008 before a huge gap-down due to 12th general election result. Fortunately AEON Credit was well supported at RM3.00 a share and didn’t follows KLCI during the 8th Mar 2008’s crash.
Since then the stock has been slowly climbing to the current RM3.30+ level, just inches away from the resistance of RM3.40 a share. Above RM3.40 the stock is expected to rock & roll. If you wish to buy at below RM3.00, then you got to have tons of patience although I’m not sure if it will happens again in the near future considering the daily transaction is exceptionally low.
So, has AEON Credit reached its bottom and is actually on its way up? I wish I’ve the crystal ball but I would think the downside is pretty much limited. You can’t buy at the lowest silly, if that’s what you’re wondering.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
AAPL stock mildly spanked after lower Q3 guidance
Stocks face a weak open on Thursday after Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL,stock) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN, stock) earnings appeared to disappoint investors while Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX, stock) said a weak economy would cut into future profits. The excitement would be on Apple’s stock after the share went up but came down thereafter during the after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Apple earned $1.16 a share in its second quarter, up 33%, easily beats the $1.07 a share consensus by Thomson Reuters. Revenue was even better at $7.6 billion – up almost 43% from 2007 when Wall Street was expecting $6.96 billion. Apple sold 856,000 Mac desktops and 1.4 million laptops, up 37% and 61% respectively from a year ago. However sales of Apple's iPod players were up less than 1% to 10.6 million units while the iPhones registered 1.7 million unit sales, down from Q1’s 2.3 million units.
The company renewed its’ promise that it will sell 10 million iPhones this year but it doesn’t take a genius to guess how it could do so without new iPhone offerings. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer were seen dodging the questions about it. Late 2007, Chief Executive of AT&T Randall Stephenson promised that a 3G iPhone was on the way.
At the moment, investors are guessing Steve Jobs’ next move after Apple Inc. confirmed it had acquired microprocessor designer P.A. Semi for $278 million in cash. Many speculate that Apple is trying to design its own processors but it could be more than that. In July 2007, Apple filed an 80-page patent application describing an elaborate touch- and gesture-based interface reminiscent of the science fiction movie Minority Report. Yeah, keep the whole thing as secret as possible because stock market loves such secrecy and it would create more speculations and rumors which is good for traders.
The stock was spanked (mildly) after the company gave a lower Q3 guidance of $1 buck a share, lower than the $1.11 expected on the street. As usual Apple offers lower guidance but investors might not like it. Hours before the Thursday opening bell, investors would see the stock-trend for the day.
On the other hand Amazon set a negative tone when it said its profit margins would narrow this year despite the company beating earning estimate by 2 cents and 36% better revenue of $4.1 billion from a year ago.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Bullet Train halted at drawing board, Cost is Silly High
To save time, the plan for the high-speed bullet train linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was a good one. If not for the huge cost, the proposal should serve both nations well especially in transporting tourists to and fro. Just imagine the potential huge money earned from currency exchange from the tourism industry. Traveling from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur will be like traveling from Britain and France, minus the underwater tunnel. Job-seekers would be delighted at the prospect of earning Singapore dollar but spending Malaysia ringgit as traveling between both cities will merely takes 90 minutes.
Also If not for the humiliate defeat by Abdullah Badawi’s National Front in the recent 12th general election, this mega-project should have no problem getting the green-light. The tainted former Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy could have seen it coming thus his refusal to get 
nominated. The project could easily scream for “bail-out” since the proposed cost of RM8 billion (US$2.5 billion) would surely escalate looking at how certain individuals would like to get a “lick” from the lollipop, judging from previous projects.
Otherwise it would be a wonderful project, not to mention it would give other players such as AirAsia Berhad (KLSE: AIRASIA, stock-code 5099) a run for their money. The statement from Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general that the plan was dropped because the government would have to bear a significant cost based on the financial model that was submitted by YTL Corporation Berhad’s (KLSE: YTL, stock-code 4677) goes to show that the project (agreement) would be lopsided once again. Taxpayers money would be used to bail out the mega project should the business did not take off as planned.
YTL tycoon Francis Yeoh must have thought that the government could be fooled again by applying the same concept as his Independent Power Producer (IPP) which forces all the output into the Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s (KLSE: TENAGA, stock-code 5347) throat – used or excess. But who can blame Francis Yeoh since the foolish TENAGA has been taken for a wild ride for so many years. The political landscape is different now. When even during Mahathir’s dictator period the project could not proceed, what makes Francis Yeoh thinks this time could be any different, save for the fact that Abdullah Badawi is economically illiterate?
Now, let’s get real. The RM8 billion figures do not includes land acquisition costs. If I’m not mistaken, land cost normally accounts for about 60 – 70 percent of the overall rail projects. Since RM8 billion estimation are for technology, materials and other costs, the land cost could easily balloon the ambitious project to above RM20 billion. I’m not sure I want to spend the time calculating the gigantic number of passengers required to use the bullet train to recover the cost. In short if the study done shows a very feasible result, YTL could finance the whole project by itself and not ask guarantee from government.
The nation has seen classic example of how the people were taken as suckers, example toll roads. You do not need a genius to tell you that such bullet train project would be affordable only to certain class of users as low fares are not possible. Simply put the old Subang Airport back to the air serving Kuala Lumpur – Singapore route might just do the trick, minus the huge expenditure. The bullet train’s cost is simply too high, silly.
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AAPL’s high expectation need to be weaken, like GOOG
Wall Street pulled back by more than 100 points as a result of poor earnings from AT&T Inc., DuPont and McDonald's Corp. Analysts said the latest earnings report somehow confirmed the economy status is having its’ toll on the companies. To add fuel to the fire the light, sweet crude for May delivery rose as high as $119.90 a barrel before settle at $119.37. No wonder most of the stocks are in red, with the exception of Google Inc., of course.
Thanks to American Technology Research analyst, Shaw Wu, I managed to squeeze some pocket money out of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL, stock). Shaw cut his rating on the stock from “Buy” to “Neutral”, justifying that expectations for Apple's fiscal second quarter are too high and the likelihood of stress on its product supply in the June quarter due to the timing of new product releases. Hey, he was right about the “expectation” thingy and he shared his concern about investors being forgiving with conservative guidance, something that is synonym with Apple Inc.
On the other hand I hope investors could continue to bash the stock on Wednesday before the earnings announcement so that the high expectation could be reduced. I’m still bullish though and there’s nothing wrong to buy “some” Put Options which are way out-of-money as a method to hedge. If the stock was to be punished rest assure that it would drop like a rock, the same way Google rockets to the moon.
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