Where Ignorance Is Bliss, 'tis Folly To Be Wise: Bumiputra Follies

Hantu Laut

Today, Suria Capital Holdings Bhd proudly announced its JV with SBC Corporation Bhd to develop  Jesselton Quay to the tune of RM1.8 billion in net sale value. Both are public listed companies on the KLSE, one bumiputra dominated and the other Chinese dominated. Suria's asset base is bigger than that of SBC.The story here.

It's the same old story with most GLCs, they can't do their own things, forever will never learn the trade, or run a proper business of their own. They will always run to the Chinaman to do the business for them.

It is time that all bumiputra individuals, enterprises and GLCs grow up, learn to take risk and do their own things.

The biggest culprits are GLCs run by bumiputras who do fuck all, give everything to the Chinaman to do under JV scheme, where greater part of the profit will go to the Chinaman and the government agency landed with teeny-weeny portion of the profit.

All over the country the same stories are being repeated year after year and the bumiputras never got to learn the trade and they are happy not to, doing so mean having to do extra work.

I have seen over the years that I have been doing business here and in Peninsula Malaysia almost every GLCs over there and in Sabah with prime land in the middle of the city do JV with Chinese businessmen to develop the land that they got for nothing from the government .

For the happy Chinaman the land cost is zero and the risk is almost zero, all they have to do is provide the building plans, raise the financing, appoint the contractor and market the properties and all the costs are paid for by the project, while the so-called high calibre bumiputra management team sit on their arses and enjoy the big fat salaries and perks for doing nothing.

Is it that difficult to be a developer like the Chinaman?

All Chinese businesses had humble beginning, start from the bottom and build their way up, they don't go to college to learn to be a contractor or developer. It's a learning process that takes years through experience and exposures. Some will succeed and some will fall by the wayside, but that the risk you have to take doing business.

It is a great shame that with such prime land and a bankable proposal the bumiputras still can't undertake the project on their own.

Name it, SEDCO, SUDC, Warisan Harta Sabah and many others, there is always the indispensable Chinaman in the midst.

Maybe, the government should employ only Chinaman to head every GLCs, so all the profits can stay with the company.

It's obvious without the Chinese the economy of this country is fucked.

GST: Najib, Do It Now ! Ask Malaysians What They Can Do For The Country

Hantu Laut

We are left far behind because of decades of government pampering a lazy and subsidy-minded population. 

Many Malaysians believe government subsidies as of entitlement rather than of charity. Unless we do it now, implement the GST, Malaysia will forever be caught in the middle income trap.

In order to maintain its competitiveness, in order to sustain long-term growth and increasing employment and getting the country to higher income level, the government must change its tax structure and its reliance from direct taxes to indirect taxes. 

Direct taxes and some indirect taxes are deemed uncompetitive as such taxes are being subjected to abuses. Cheating and evasion of income, sale and excise taxes are common among businesses in the country, resulting in massive loss of revenues. GST is the most efficient and effective way to collect taxes. Other than GST the government must also reduce all subsidies, gradually to zero level. 

The right thing to do is to increase income, not reduce the cost of goods through subsidies to please an already unproductive population. 

Malaysians compared to countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and China have poorer per unit output in productivity. Higher productivity signifies a healthy and expanding economy, which have helped those countries progressed economically by leaps and bounds, leaving Malaysia behind in a stagnated middle income pool.

A slow Malaysia was fault of the government, who have been trying to please a population into keeping them in office in perpetuity. The BN government should know by now all those years of cradle coddling has backfired on them and they are likely to lose the next GE if nothing bewitching is done to appease a disconcerted and angry population.

Some critics consider GST to be a regressive tax, as the poor pay more, as percentage of their income, than the rich. It has its pros and cons, but in the longer term it will benefit the population as a whole. 

I have travelled to many much poorer countries, which have introduced GST or VAT long before Malaysia mooted the idea, which shows how out of sync we are with the rest of the world. 

To date 146 countries, including poor countries like Cambodia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Laos, India and many more, have added GST to their tax structure.

Are we worse off than these poor countries, some with per capita income of less than US$1,000.

The opposition's campaign against GST being unsuitable here on the premise that there are still plenty poor people in the country doesn't hold water. It boils down to war of nerves to demonise and further weaken a limping ship that may not make it to port.

There is no abject poverty in Malaysia compared to the many countries I have visited over the years where many families could not afford three decent meals a day and many are hapless victims of circumstances and not of their choosing. 

Malaysians have wide ranging choices and Malaysia was ready for GST a decade ago but a myopic government have failed to see its silver lining, preferring to giving subsidies instead of increasing income and standard of living of the people through higher productivity.

Najib should not heed the oppositions berating him against implementing the GST, he should introduce it in the 2014 Budget. The tax should be broad-based and should not be too high or too low. I think a starting rate between 4 to 7% will not burden the people. There will be some exemptions like export of goods, international services and other items deemed essentials and should be zero-rated, but it must still be broad-based, otherwise, it will defeat the whole purpose and objective of the GST.

As John F .Kennedy said in his inaugural speech when elected as President of the United States "My fellow Americans:ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"


Malaysians suck!

(The people's opposition to the GST is mainly the government fault as nothing has been done to explain to the common people the mechanic and the long term benefits of the GST. The government machinery is still fast asleep)

Bung Mokhtar's (Sandiwara) Overdramatic Performance

Hantu Laut

Some politicians are good in theatrics and our guile and guts Bung Mokhtar is at it again.

A master of overdramatic performance, he wants to make himself feel important and indispensible. Kampong politics par excellence.

In the first place why bother to contest the party election if you intent to resign ?

Why the need to meet PM Najib if you are determined to leave, just submit your letter and be done with it.

Read here Bung Mokhtar's sandiwara.

I bet he won't resign.

Mahathir's Anthology Of Sarcasm, Cynicism And Skepticism

Hantu Laut

You can find the Bahasa Malaysia version on his Facebook.

Translated into plain English by Hantu Laut.

By Tun Mahathir Mohammad 

1 . Now I know why Bumiputra contractors are not given contract by the Malaysian private sector . According to Senior Fellow of the Institute of Socio-Economics and the Environment ( SERI ) Dr. Michael Lim Mah Hui,  Bumiputra contractors lack quality.

2 . RAM Holdings chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said the private sector is not merely denying opportunities to Bumiputra contractors, but had to prioritise meritocracy.

3 . We know the bumiputra-controlled  Government is of poor administrative quality and employed almost 100 % Bumiputra to become officers and employees. As a result, the country is not well governed resulting in poor development and left far behind other countries that gained independence about the same time as Malaysia. .

4 . This Bumiputra controlled government failed to address the economic and financial downturn in 1997/98 . Scores of businessmen and industrialists , especially those with merit went bankrupt during the currency crisis due to poor handling by the bumiputra-controlled government. To date, the economic and financial affairs of the country had not recovered due to deficient quality of the Bumiputra government.

5 . Indeed, if we were to save the country from falling behind further,  Bumiputeras who do not meet the grade or standard should not be given the opportunity to go to university because they are not likely to pass and get a degree . Action by the private sector in giving priority to merit is a step in the right direction. This is not because we don't want to give opportunities to Bumiputera, but to prioritise merit.

6 . Meritocracy is good for Malaysia . Do not do anything that is not based on merit . People who have no merit and are not qualified have no place in Malaysia . Let them stay with their bad quality and employ only those with merit. Our independence from British rule was intended to give opportunities to those with merit, not the mediocre and the sluggard.

7 .I agree with the opinion of the experts from SERI and RAM Holdings . People who do not have the quality should have no place in independent Malaysia . They should know the fruits of independence are not for them . It should favor only people with merit and intelligence, though, they never fought to liberate the country from colonial rule.

Najib better watch out. This may be the beginning of salvo of grevious nitpickings against his pyrrhic victory in the UMNO elections, seen by many as the result of the power of money politics and his transformation policy perceived as an exaggerated sideshow.