Kami Melayu Tak Kow Tow,Kau Tau ?

Kami tak kow tow, kau tau?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Art Harun

To all Singapore Malays, I am writing this to tell you how lucky we all are in Malaysia. You think you all are so great, you sure have not seen how greater we, Malaysian Malays, are.

What you think? You think Johor Bharu is a place full of thieves, kidnappers and gangsters don’t you? Well, I wouldn’t blame you. Because that is what your ex-Prime Minister cum your Senior Minister cum your Minister Mental said. He did not like Malaysia because he was jealous of our success, peace and tranquility. And so he said that in an affidavit in a court proceeding. As Singapore Malays, you of course have to kow tow to your Supreme Leader and so you agreed with him, in’it? In’it?

I am sure you don’t really agree with him but you cannot say so, in’it? Because you can’t really say anything in Singapore, especially when what you wanted to say would go against what your Supremely Total leader said, in’it? Can you?

Well you know something? We Malaysian Malays can say anything we like. Of course we cannot insult Islam lah…kalau insult Islam we kena lah. But a bit only lah, not like you all in Singapore. We would only be detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. Then most probably we would have to leave Malaysia and live elsewhere. But you see, we don’t have to kow tow like you all. That’s the point, get it?

Hmm…do you know that Kia has launched a new car? Yes. It’s called Kia Soo. LOL!!!

Allow me now to continue to write in proper Queen’s English. Because my Singlish attempt in the foregoing paragraphs is really pathetic, as you could see. That is because we Malaysian Malays are taught Maths and Science in proper English. Because of that, we Malaysian Malays are so proficient in English although we are not as good as you are in Maths and Science.

The purpose of my writing this letter to you is to tell you that we, the Malaysian Malays, do not have to kow tow to anybody. We are the best Malays in the whole world. The luckiest Malays in the whole world. And the most successful Malays in the whole wide world, including the cyber world. Any other Malays, from any other country, or part of the world (including the cyber world), are just not as good or successful as us, the Malaysian Malays. They are simply at the tenth place out of ten. We, the Malaysian Malays, for your information, occupy the first nine places. That is how good we are.

I tell you what. We have a Malay astronaut. Here he is known as AngkasaOne. We even have a reserve astronaut. He is also Malay. He is known as AngkasaTwo. Don’t ask me why we mix a Malay word for “space” with an English word for the first two numbers to call them two astronauts. Perhaps that is because we want to impress that we are taught Maths in English. Yes, that must be it. Now, you all in Singapore do not have any AngkasaOne do you? See? We are better than you. And we do not have to kow tow to anybody.

We also swam across the English Channel, fully protected from jelly fish in a cage. And we have a Datukship for that. You all Singapore Malays got like that one ah? Mana ada? Of course later they was a Chinese boy who swam without the protective cage and even much faster than us the Malaysian Malays, but he did not get Datukship, you see. So we are better. And we did that without having to kow tow to anybody. You all. You kow tow also cannot do like that one, for sure (my Singlish is getting better, eh?)

Than we also have many big Malay businessmen in Malaysia. Our national carrier, MAS (not Malay Airline System, it’s Malaysia Airline System, mind you), was owned by a Malay. He made MAS the best. And one of the biggest. So much so that when he left, MAS was in such a solvent state that it could spend RM1.55 million to buy some paints in various colours splashed over some white canvas and put them in the Chairman office. And we did it without having to kow tow to anybody, kau tau?

We also have Malay businessmen who built highways from the north way up to the South. Now, had your government agreed, we would have extended that highway to your small ciku state via a second causeway. But true to your kiasu attitude, being jealous of our success and achievements (especially because we have several excellent national cars and the fact that we now have not one, but two, submarines – which mind you, can now dive in tropical waters – and also the fact that we run the “hottest race on Earth” – which is to be renamed “the monsoon-est race on Earth” – once a year), your government don’t agree to that proposal. But we always have a way. We will build a crooked and very scenic bridge on OUR side. Padan muka you all! We cannot build a straight bridge, we would build a crooked one.

More on the hottest race on Earth. We know you all are envious of our F1 Circuit, which is the best in the world (in 1999 that is). You all are so envious with this circuit. That we know. You all don’t have enough land and therefore you can’t build one. You also cannot have a F1 circuit race unless you want the F1 race to be held underwater.

So you have a street F1 race. Street race! Hah! In Malaysia, we Malaysian Malays do that every night. We call ourselves Rempits. Congratulations! You have turned the F1 drivers into Rempits! And to be different, and to kow tow to Europeans fans, you have to hold the race at night. In Malaysia, we do not kow tow, okay. Unlike you. Racing at night and on the street. Cheh!

Back to the highways. Yes. That was done by us, the Malaysian Malays. Look at how successful the highways, as a business, are. I know. In other countries, like yours, highways are built for logistical purposes but here, let me remind you, highways are primarily for business and investment purposes. As you can see, we, the Malaysian Malays are inventors of new businesses. And to top it all, even when the highways are raking it in, in terms of toll collections, our government would compensate the highway company in the hundreds of millions. And we do that, my little Singapore friends, without kow tow-ing to anybody. Nope. No kow tow, kau tau?

We, the Malaysian Malays are the masters. We excel in every fields of business. In constructions industry, we obtained contracts recently for the construction of the new palace. Not only that, we even managed to negotiate with the government, whose allocation was initially RM400 million, to increase the cost to about RM800 million. Now tell me. Can you, Singaporean Malays, do that? No way towkey.

And at international level, we managed to be an agent who put up the deal to for the Malaysian government to buy submarines. And we earned, I am told, about RM500 million for that. You think it is easy to buy submarines? No it is not I am telling you. There must be an agent to put up the deal. The government cannot just take up the phone and tell the submarine manufacturer that it wanted 2 or 3 submarines. Or ask 4 or 5 manufacturers to come for presentations and choose one of them to supply the darn submarines. No. The government needed us, the Malaysian Malays to be the agent. And of course, we do that without kow-tow. We do not have to kow tow, get it?

You all Singapore Malays, you can do like that ah? Sure kenot. You all are losers. I am sure you all supported England the other night, didn’t you? 4-1. Bumbling kow-tow-ing idiots! Golden generation konon. If that was golden, than I wonder how brass looks like!

You all have Perkasa or Gertak or not? Ha…got or not? You see, we Malaysian Malays are so lucky. We have Perkasa and Gertak to look after our rights and entitlements. That is why we do not have to kow tow to anybody like you all. We know our rights man. Our Constutilation. Yes. Our rights and entitlements are all mentioned in the Federal Constitulations. Our supremely brave and intellectually inclined leaders or Perkasa and Gertak have read them. And we believe what they say too. That is why, we do not have to kow tow to anybody. Kau tau? Continue reading..

Is Your Company Bankrupt ?

Hantu Laut

Let's us get back to the story of Felda's bankruptcy.

Is Felda already unofficially bankrupt or is in the process of becoming bankrupt (some people like to use the term 'technically insolvent') which is a misnomer.You are either insolvent or you are not.There is no in between.If you suffer a temporary cash flow problem that doesn't yet construe an act of bankruptcy until such time you can't pay your creditors and legal action is instituted against you by your creditors to recover the debts.

The question here is. Has Felda committed an act of bankruptcy which simply means it was unable to pay its creditors?

One can easily detect whether a company is liquid or not and the simplest way is to look at the current assets over current liabilities.This ratio is concerned with the assessment of an organisation's ability to meet its short-term obligations.Even this does not reflect true liquidity.The truest test is the acid test of the 'liquid asset ratio', which is current assets less stock/inventories over current liabilities.The minimum ratio should be 1:1 liquid assets over current liabilities.Anything less means the company is in trouble and will have problem paying its creditors and a probable cash flow problem that can effect its overall operation.

Can one detect a company heading for bankruptcy a year or two before it happens?

In 1968 Edward I Altman, assistant professor of finance at New York University came up with a formula that can predict a company heading for bankruptcy as far back as two years before it happens.The formula is a bit too complicated for me to explain here. It uses balance sheet values to measure the financial health of a company using different formula for different type of company.His formulas have achieved over 75 percent accuracy and gained wide acceptance by auditors and management accountants.

Felda is a GLC and as such its financial statements should be an open book.In fact, all public and private limited companies' accounts are opened for public scrutiny and it should be more so with GLCs.These are companies considered own by the people which make it imperative that those managing them show transparency and accountability.

Why is Felda silent and secretive about where the missing portion of the cash reserve gone to?

Felda should be more forthcoming and should publish its latest audited accounts to satisfy public's abhorrence.Simply saying our assets has grown by so much is not good enough.

Dato Mohd Maslan in a press conference didn't show an air of confidence or knowledgeable in finance when he simply put forth the increment in total assets as a satisfactory answer.Total assets meant nothing to liquidity.A company can have huge asset backing yet still go bust.Reason? It doesn't have enough liquid assets to pay short term debts.

The question? Is Felda having liquidity problem that forced them to use the cash hoard to finance their day-to-day operation or the money was spent on other investments.If there were investments what are they? These are simple questions that someone in the higher management should answer not people like Mohd Maslan who is an UMNO politician.

Below is financial highlights of Felda operations.
Performance 2004-2008 (year ended December 31)




Felda has yet to produce its audited accounts for 2009.

The last few years Felda has embarked on diversification of it business.In 2007 it bough out Robert Kuok's interest in Perlis Plantation Bhd (PPB) at a total cost of RM1.5 billion which bought them PPB group's entire sugar asset in the country.

Felda Global was created to diversify both locally and overseas.It formed a JV in Indonesia to open palm oil plantation, hotel and restaurant in Mecca, oleochemical in US and foodstuffs in UAE.

There was no announcement whether it uses internal funding or bank borrowings to fund the venture overseas.

If they have nothing to hide, it's about time someone in Felda wake up and give plausible answers to those relevant questions and send its detractors to hell.

Also read:

Unfazed by threat, ex-minister takes another swipe at Felda

(Unperturbed by the threat of an expensive law suit, issued by Felda yesterday, Tan raised another poser over the group’s alleged RM500million investment in Massachusetts-based Twin Rivers Technology.

“Felda is in the oil palm business. Why is it investing in an American business in the first place?

“And what benefits does Twin Rivers Technologies bring to Felda?” he asked.)

Profoundly stupid question.Probably, never heard of diversity,diversification and diversified resources.

Palm oil will not be the golden crop forever.A time will come when it will end up like the others, tin and rubber.

Felda was right in diversifying into other type of businesses.A one product company is vulnerable when market goes a yoyo.

It is not what other business the company undertakes should be the question.It is whether there were frauds and abuses of fiduciary duties that should be of concern.

Wonder, how they made this guy a deputy minister?

Not sure whether this makes any sense but read it anyway.

Is Felda A Bankrupt Company ?

Hantu Laut

The next time, before you accuse a corporation or an individual of being a bankrupt just make sure you read their balance sheets first.

The question here is how many of our politicians, journalists, bloggers, lawyers, judges and economists can interpret financial statements? Obviously, some just don't care to find out the truth before opening their big mouth.

These are the people who are often confronted with the intricacies of financial figures and its imputations that could be as simple as ABC for some and as puzzling as the jigsaw puzzle for others.

Politicians, are the worse offenders when it comes to not doing their homework.Than you have the other type, political leaders surrounded by advisers and sycophantic political vultures who dish out wretchedly wrong advices to advantage their own position without caring for the dire consequence.

Felda, in response to some of the malicious rumours that the company is bankrupt has decided to sue for defamation a number of people including Anwar Ibrahim, Zaid Ibrahim, PAS MP Abdul Wahid Endut, a former deputy minister and at least three reporters.The Malaysian Insider story here.

The source of the rumours is Felda's dwindling case reserve of RM4 billion which apparently had diminished over the past few years and blaming Najib's involvement in its ruinous financial management.

Did people like Anwar Ibrahim and top dog lawyer Zaid Ibrahim actually check Felda's financial statements before going public with their assertions.

Felda confirmed that it is true its cash reserve has declined but on the other hand its current and fixed assets had risen as much as RM6.2 from RM9.17 billion in 2004 to RM15.37 billion in 2009.Maybe, Felda should also be more forthcoming where the money has gone to. New investments or drawn down to meet its financial obligations?

What construes bankruptcy? It is an inability of an individual or organisation to pay its debts as and when it becomes due.In more simple term you have more liabilities than assets and you can't pay your creditors.You are not a bankrupt unless legally declared so by a court of law.

In Malaysia the Bankruptcy Law is still archaic.The last time the government wanted to revise it to be current with what is practised in other developed economies it was bullied and pressured by the banking community not to amend the Act.

Getting court protection for scheme of arrangement with creditors is almost unheard of in Malaysia.Once, you are bankrupt, you are almost bankrupt for life and applying for discharge is dicey if you have many creditors.

Personal bankruptcy is painful for those genuinely in trouble.The Najib's government should make attempts to change and update the Act to be in line with developed nations and to make the banking community more prudent in their lending and not become too dependent on getting the life and soul of the guarantor when loan goes bad.

In many Western countries discharge is automatic after a few years, provided you are on good behaviour, did not commit fraud or broke any of the conditions applicable to a bankrupt.

Has Felda failed to meet any of its financial obligations or asked for restructuring of any of its short and long term debts that might indicate acute liquidity problems? If it has not than it is not anywhere near insolvency and even if it has applied for restructuring it is still not deemed bankrupt unless declared so by the court.

Even if Felda were to have lost all the cash reserve in a bad investment, technically, it is still not bankrupt as long as it can meet its financial obligations in the day-to-day running of the company.

Anwar Ibrahim was a former Finance Minister and Zaid Ibrahim used to run the biggest law firm in this country.It's absurd that they don't know the procedures.It goes to show that they don't care what it takes, they are prepared to throw caution to the wind to implicate Najib to gain political mileage.

Though, I think they are not very good at it, lying has become a set pattern and the forte of Pakatan leaders.



If Felda can prove that they are not any where near bankruptcy, the two Ibrahims better be prepared to consider bankruptcy themselves.This can be not only the most costly legal suit in Malaysia's history, it can also bankrupt the defendants unless of course Anwar can take over Puterajaya and do what he accused the BN government of doing, interfere with the judiciary.

So, next time before you call a company bankrupt, please learn to read and interpret the "balance sheet". That's where the company's financial health is hidden.

Was Kevin Rudd Rat-Fucked ?

Hantu Laut

Just two weeks ago, while in Australia, I wrote about whether Kevin Rudd is in the rut.Would he loses his job?

Just two days ago Rudd fell victim, not to the electoral process, but rat fucked by his own deputy.As they say "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" or in this case a deputy scorned.

His deputy, Julia Gilard engineered a midnight coup against him in a leadership tussle of the party.Rudd initially says he would defend his position but later changed his mind.The general consensus is that in view of his declining popularity, his government falling short of expectations and contentious issues with his government he would lose the contests as party members would rebel against him to save the party.

Her source of anger was Kevin Rudd's seemingly contemptuous act of sending out feelers to test her loyalty.Whether she if fair dinkum?

Rudd is well known for his short on the fuse, distrust of those near him and a ruddy human relation problems with colleagues and subordinates.

One of Rudd's big problems is his loggerhead with mining bosses on the super tax for the mining industry which has also exposed his other administrative weaknesses.His poor human relations with colleagues and subordinates has finally pulled the rug from under his feet.

Rudd was not a victim of diminishing popularity with the masses.He is a victim of the rich and powerful mining lobby.The mining companies $100 million advertising war chest has done serious damage to his reputation.

The companies took up television,internet and full-page newspaper ads attacking Rudd' government.One ads punctuates that the super tax “Weaken mining, you weaken the country. But that’s exactly what the government’s new super tax is doing,”

Julia Gilard says she is throwing open the government's doors to the mining industry.That could mean compromise or total withdrawal of the tax.

Was Kevin Rudd "rat-fucked" by his deputy?

What an ebb of tide, a man popular six months ago suddenly died of political back-stabbing.