Malaysia: Painting a Rosy Economic Picture

A Blooberg report encapsulates the positivism of the political masters of Malaysia on growth potential for 2010.

The International trade minister said in an interview today (27 February 2010) that Malaysian export data for January, due out on March 5, could exceed expectations after the country emerged from its first recession in a decade.

“The preliminary figures are quite bullish as far as I am concerned,” he said,adding that,  “the January numbers, are beyond his personal expectations.”

Malaysia emerged from recession in Q4,2009 with gross domestic product rising 4.5 per cent from a year earlier. Asian economies are paving the way for a recovery from the worst global recession since the Great Depression, prompting central banks around the region to start removing some of the emergency steps they took to counter the slowdown.

Full-year exports will probably outperform the official government forecast of 3 per cent growth, said the  minister.  He also said a rosy growth of 5 per cent to 8 per cent is potentially achievable in 2010.

“From my interaction with the business community in electronics in the last quarter, there has been a very sharp revival,” he said. “Going forward, it appears 3 per cent is well within reach. Of course, we are talking about a low base.” [At least he knows this!]

Manufacturing Swells

Malaysia’s manufacturing industry grew 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier and exports of goods and services gained 7.3 per cent, according to a central bank report on Feb. 24. Private consumption increased 1.7 per cent, it said.

Economic growth is likely to be “higher” than the government’s official forecast of between 2 per cent and 3 per cent this year, the trade minister , without giving a target.

Thailand also emerged from recession last quarter, while Singapore has raised its growth estimate for this year as the global recovery strengthens.

Looks like all is going to go 'great guns' this year, don't you notice the tone?

Graduate Unemployment: The Five Reasons

 

Why are local graduates unable to find jobs? This is a Bernama Report on the issue.

According to a study conducted by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM),the lack of industrial training and poor English are among these five factors.

The other three factors are low problem-solving skills, job-hopping and lack of self-confidence. This was the reasoning of  Higher Education Ministry student development and affairs director Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Ramlan.

He said as graduates were bogged down with poor communication skills in English, they should improve their command of the language.

“They have themselves to blame if they fail to convince employers on their potential,” he said when closing a two-day graduate etiquette programme at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu here today.

He said graduates should also avoid being choosy about jobs and shrug off bad attitude of preferring to work in ones’ hometown.

The last reason of preferring to work in their own town is a laugh.......

Flipping Fantastic: Tristan's Backtrack

Tristan  has been having two minds about going to Chesterlea Grange. He felt less safe and secure after leaving Peter Hill Primary. He also has doubts about his new school and how he can cope with it as most of his friends from Peter Hill Primary are going to Highfields along with James.

So, he became uncertain of his decision to go to Chesterlea Grange. He felt sad that he had to leave Peter Hill Primary and bad because he will also be leaving James.So during the summer holidays, he put on his thinking cap to re-evaluate the decision. He considered the position of James whom he felt will continue to be dependent on him because James lacks  confidence and is shy. He feels that James will encounter problems in Highfields without him to help him along.

When James spoke to him, he realises that his brother would love him to be at Highfields. There were many reasons for doing so and most of them had to do with their co-dependence on each other.To Tristan, it would be a carry-over from Peter Hill Primary.

In influencing him to join him at Highfields, James also spoke about the benefits of Chesterlea Grange. Through his discussion with James, Tristan finally realizes and understands why his mother has chosen the school for him; and  after weighing the pros and cons, Tristan is finally convinced that he will go to Chesterlea Grange after all.

Tristan is thankful to James for helping him see the issues more clearly which helped him to make up his mind to go to Chesterlea Grange.

Tristan's backtrack may not initially be welcomed by James but it was the best decision for all.

Flipping Fantastic: Relief and Reckoning

James somehow managed to convince Tristan to change his mind and joined him at Highfields. In a way, it was a coup for him. Let us look at the following passage.

James:

I am so relieved. Tristan has just told Mum that he doesn't want to go to Chesterlea after all. That means he will be coming to Highfields with me. Thank goodness for that!I don't know how I would have managed without him. I was already thinking up a million excuses not to go to school on the first day.I've thought of every illness from bubonic plague to yellow fever. Somehow I don't think that Mum would have believed any of them!

I know that Highfields probably won't be half as bad as I think but I'm still very glad that Tristan will be there with me. He can look after me and I can look after him. I can help him with his wheel-chair up all the ramps in the corridors and I can hold back the automatic doors when they start to close too soon. I can make sure that he can get to the toilet when he needs to, and I can tell the teacher what he can and can't do in PE.

Hang on a minute! That's not right! Mum said that the best thing about Chesterlea was that Tristan wouldn't have anybody to do all those things for him. " I know you're clever and confident," she said to Tristan when we first talked about him going away to school, " but you still rely on other people to do too much for you and it's time you stood on your own two feet!"

Stand on your own two feet! Tristan thought that was hilarious. The next  best thing about Chesterlea Grange is all those  great games and computer equipment that they have. Tristan was really excited about those. So what's happened? Why has he changed his mind? I 've been so busy thinking about all the problems that I might have at Highfields that I haven't taken much notice of Tristan, even though he's been a terrible grump lately. Perhaps its time I talk to him. If he wont' tell me what's wrong,then he won't tell anyone.

From this passage, we can clearly see what goes in the mind of James. Undoubtedly, he was glad of the new development when Tristan told Mum he doesn't want to go to Chesterlea Grange. All at once, he started visualizing all the help he could help Tristan in the new school. Before long, he realised what Mum said about Tristan's need to be independent and Chesterlea Grange is the place for him to start becoming independent. On top of that, he remembered how excited Tristan was over the great games and computer equipment at that special school.

James then decided to find out from Tristan who was very grumpy lately, what was troubling him. According to James, Tristan will confide in him. He knew Tristan so well as to say," If he won't tell me what's wrong,then he wont' tell anyone."

This passage shows the immediate satisfaction and relief  to the concerns of James if Tristan is to come to school with him to Highfields. At the same time, he realises that Tristan needs to become more independent and only Chesterlea Grange can help him to do so.

With that in mind, he sought out  Tristan to find out what is troubling Tristan.

US Securities: Top Buyer is China

They could have been selling US Treasury bonds but in spite of that, China remains  the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury debt.

The Treasury Department announced that under annual benchmark revisions released on 26 February 2010, China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities stood at US$894.8 billion at the end of December, keeping it in first place ahead of Japan.

On Feb. 16, the government reported data that showed China had been surpassed by Japan.

However, the government said in the new report that those figures did not account for purchases by Chinese investors in such places as Britain.

When those purchases are taken into account, the government said that China's holdings in December grew by $139.4 billion above what was reported on Feb. 16.

That increase put China back into first place as the top foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities at $894.8 billion followed by Japan, now back in second place, at $768.8 billion.

The revised figures represent the annual revisions Treasury makes based on a more detailed report of the actual foreign holdings of the Treasury debt.

That survey revised the figures through June 2009, and those more accurate figures were used to update the monthly reports through December 2009.

The revised figures did show that China reduced its holdings in December compared with November, a drop of $34.2 billion.

However, with the more accurate assessment of the actual ownership of the securities, the levels of China's holdings were much higher than expressed in the report two weeks ago.

The replacement of China by Japan as the largest foreign holder of Treasury securities when it was reported two weeks ago had raised worries that China was carrying through on comments it made about diversifying its holdings based on rising concerns about America's soaring federal budget deficits.

Some economists had seen the change in China's position as a warning signal that the biggest holders of U.S. debt were starting to dump those holdings.

Such a development could dramatically increase the interest bill the federal government must pay to finance its deficits and also drive up the cost of borrowing for U.S. businesses and consumers.

On Feb. 1, President Barack Obama released a budget plan that projects the deficit for this year will total a record $1.56 trillion. That would surpass last year's record of $1.4 trillion deficit, reflecting a severe recession that has cut into government revenues and increased spending to stabilize the banking system and jump-start the economy.

Flipping Fantastic: Other Minor Characters

Apart from the twin's Mum, let us at least get to know who the other minor characters  of 'Flipping Fantastic' are.There are four of them.

Kiara Jones:

Tristan's friend whom he met at an Under 11s tournament. She pushed Tristan's wheelchair to the refreshment bar during that summer tournament.

James is also interested in making friends with her. She plays football for the County Girls' Under 11s team. James knows that Kiara is going to Highfields as well and hope to make friends with her during football practice.

James believes that Tristan will be jelaous if he only knew that James was also attracted to her.

To ensure that James will look forward to attend Highfields, Tristan has phoned Kiara  to help her brother James adapt to the new school. This lead to James making many new friends.

Mr Sewell:

He is Tristan and James's English teacher at Peter Hill Primary. Tristan felt that Mr. Sewell is a great teacher who taught him the lines of the play," The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

Mr. Sewell carries Tristan on stage for him to act  in  the play.

Mr Sewell assuaged James that no one heard his stutter when he read his seven word line of the play.

Jessica Parker:

This girl laughed at James for stuttering with his line i n the play making James quite unhappy. James is thankful that this girl is not going to Highfields for her secondary school education.

Tristan informs James that Jessica laughs at him only to attract his attention. James does not like Jessica one bit and hopes there will be girls at the new school who will be attracted to him.

Mrs. Roberts:

She was Tristan's Maths teacher. He likes her and considered her as a nice teacher. She is also Tristan's  favourite teacher.

Flipping Fantastic: Mum,the Minor Character

So what do we know of the minor characters of 'Flipping Fantastic'?

There are few of them but the twin's mother is a prominent minor character as she provide integral inputs into the conflicts of her two sons as they grew up, went to Peter Hill Primary and now on the threshold of secondary school education.

Let us look at the character of the mother, her role in this short story and her perspective on the unfolding events.

The first thing we gathered about this lady is she is proud of her sons. She has only positive things to say about them. She is always in an encouraging mood to spur them on.She likes to look at the 'big picture' of things.

Let us analyse the language that she used of her son's performance in the play on the last day of term at Peter Hill Primary. She says in no uncertain terms of the pride she has of her two boys as they are 'stars' of the show. Actually, it is not so, Tristan is the star as Tom Sawyer  but not James who had only a one liner which he fumbled as well. For a mother blinded by love, any thing that James does is seen in a positive light. For example, she said that the very fact that James had to stand in front of the audience and said his line, even though, with a little stutter, was superb! She supported her views further as James lack confidence and is shy and that he had acted in the play was sufficient to bring joy to her heart.


Mum is observant and discerning. As her relationship with the boys is fast, she can sense their moods easily. The fact that both the boys, especially Tristan was very quiet during the summer holidays worried her.She wonders whether her decision to send them to separate secondary schools was a mistake.

In fact, the boys are both struggling with this issue. They reflected the joys they had at Peter Hill Primary; how the have helped each other all along at school and at home, their co-dependence and potential concerns at their new schools if both went to separate schools.

Mum is a very strong lady. She wanted Tristan to be independent physically and James to grow up in confidence by not depending on his brother, Tristan.

As a concerned parent, she asked Tristan whether he was still happy to go to Chesterlea Grange and found that he was not too happy. Against her better judgment, she could have enrolled Tristan to Highfields as well in order to ensure both boys are happy but she did not. However, she let the boys discuss the issue openly.

As the story unfolds, Tristan thought through the pros and cons and despite being cajoled by James to go with him to Highfields, 'stuck to his gun' and went to Chesterlea Grange. He made a matured decision. Meanwhile, he arranged with his friend, Kiara Jones to help James get used to Highfileds for the first few days. How considerate of Tristan. He really knows how to allay his brother's initial fears.

Mum was anything but sad. If fact, she was elated to find the two boys loved their new schools.

Mum has foresight. She had used wisdom in selecting the schools for  her boys,ensuring they will become independent  and  best of all has allowed Tristan the flexibility of decision making after discussing with his brother James.

Its' a classic, "All Well That Ends Well" for this proud Mum.

Flipping Fantastic: The Tristan Crisis

Let us look at another passage in the short story called,"Flipping Fantastic" by Jane Langford.

Tristan:

Mum just asked me if I really want to go to Chesterlea Grange! Is she joking? Of course, I don't want to! I want to go back to Peter Hill. It's safe there,and friendly and everybody knows me.The thing is, when I went to Chesterlea Grange on the Open Day,it seemed so much fun. I liked the horse-riding,swimming and wheel-chair games best.Every summer, they hold an event like the Paralympics.They have archery contests,wheelie marathons and basketball tournaments. I've never had the chance to take part in sports like that.


James has always been the one in our family who's good at sports.I'd really like it if it was  me for a change.


Now, I 'm confused! I don't know what to think. I told Mum that I didn't want to go to Chesterlea Grange anymore. What have I done? I bet that right now she is fixing for me to go to Highfileds with James! (Pg31)

This passage is very important in this story.

It tells us the conflict that Tristan is going through after telling his Mum that he does not want to go to Chesterlea Grange. He reflected on the comfort of Peter Hill Primary that he is used to and the people who knew him. Peter Hill was safe and friendly. He felt nostalgia here.

He then reflected to the Open Day at Chesterlea Grange and all the physical sports and events he would be able to  participate. How he longed to be a sportsmen of sorts like his brother James.

He is very confused of what he wants. In a way he regretted telling his Mum about his decision not to proceed to Chesterlea for his secondary education.Was he too hasty in doing so. He is now afraid, his mother will be enrolling him at Highfields. Has he prompted this move?

We all know that Tristan finally knew what he wanted for himself. He prioritized his needs and became matured and realistic. He knew why his mother wanted him to go to the special school. He recalled her determination to push him to do what he is capable of doing. Chesterlea Grange could be the platform for his independence from home, James and his disabilities. Chesterlea Grange has his first love drama and will actually help him to actualise in amny other ways.

Once Tristan confirmed his decision to go to Chesterlea Grange, then things started to fell into place and it was a happy ending for him,James and their mother.

Flipping Fantastic: How Good is your Recall?

Compare to the short stories in the last series such as,"The Pencil," Dalat', and " Of Bunga Telor and Bally Shoes", certainly 'Flipping Fantastic' lacks excitement. The story is very common-place and the contending issue, almost singular in nature, is analogous to  Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be,that is the question.". Here, the issue is, " To go to Chesterlea Grange or not?"

'The Pencil' has good character development of Zahid and Encik Jamal while in ' Dalat' the character of Umat towers over Galau who is the smarter one. " Of Bunga Telor and Bally Shoes" tells us of the foolhardy nature of Jamal and his unusual ways to raise a budget to get married. In ' 'Flipping Fantastic', we have none of these excitement and twists and turns. Yes, 'Flipping Fantastic' is very low-key, 'run of the mill ' and hardly contain exciting premises to provoke  us to read the story again and again, unlike 'Dalat".

The following are 10 Q&A. Let us see how we can answer them.

1. Who is the writer of the short story,"Flipping Fantastic"?
2.Who are the main characters here?
3. What do you think is the approximate age of the two main characters?
4. What is physically wrong with Tristan?
5.What does Tristan enjoys that James dislikes?
6. What games does James like to play?
7.Which secondary schools would the boys be going to after the summer holidays?
8. What is the main difference in the characters of the twins?
9. How does James describe his new school?
10, How does Tristan describes his new school?

So, off the cuff, these should be your answers as well.

1. Jane Langford wrote this short story.
2. The main characters are the twins, Tristan and James.
3. They should be about 12 years old going on to 13.
4. He is physically challenged.
5. Tristan enjoys play-acting while James abhors it.
6. He loves to play football.
7.Tristan will go to  a special residential school called Chesterlea Grange while James will go to a day school called Highfields
8. Tristan is an extrovert while James is an introvert.
9.He describes it as "brilliant!"
10. Tristan describes it excitingly as 'Flipping Fantastic!"

UK: Not Out of the Woods Yet

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warns that failure to act now on sweeping banking reform could pave the way for an “even bigger” financial crisis in the future.

Giving his views on the future of banking, King stressed that his opposition to having firms that are deemed “too big to fail” is because of the potential cost to the taxpayer if they need to be bailed out.

“W can set out possible alternative models for the structure of banking, but not very much will happen,” King said. “It won’t actually prevent the next crisis – the next crisis will be even bigger.”

Policymakers around the world are trying to redesign the financial system to repair the damage done after the credit crisis and to reduce pockets of risk so that banks and the authorities are better equipped to deal with future shocks.

But concerns have surfaced that appetites for change could dwindle now that the worst of the crash appears to be over and economies are returning to growth.

King said devising plans for banks in trouble and imposing tougher liquidity and capital rules on the financial sector were needed but said structural reforms such as “firebreaks and firewalls” in the system were also necessary.

“The proposals for narrow banking seem to be irrefutable,” he said.

He said he is not in favour of splitting banks but wants to impose internationally-agreed restraints to make sure financial institutions hold more capital and don’t incentivise risky behaviour.

The Conservatives, tipped to win an election due by June, are in favour of some kind of separation within banks and also plan to put the central bank in charge of macro-prudential financial regulation.

TOO BIG TO FAIL

“One of the consequences now with the implicit subsidy of too important to fail is there is an advantage to being not so much large in terms of size but large in terms of scope,” King said.

“So you really want to have a big link to the payments system of retail deposits and a lot of other things because you know the government cannot afford to let you go under. We need to get rid of it.”

King said splitting retail banking to safely deal with consumer deposits and hiving off some of the riskier activities of investment banks would help build a stronger financial sector and mean that taxpayers were not underwriting everything.

 “Some of the more radical reform that has been proposed have an immense attraction because many of these judgements would be left to the market,” he said.

King would like to see banks that handle vital payments and retail deposits backed by cast-iron guarantees separated from the riskier parts of the industry which should operate without implicit state support in case of failure.

He said Britain could not sustain itself as a large centre for finance if that implicit subsidy remained.

Flipping Fantastic: Reading Comprehension

Let us look at this passage before we put in the questions with multiple choice answer posers.

Tristan is a bewildering boy.He's always been such a life-wire but for the past two weeks,he's been strangely quiet.James has been quiet too but that is not unusual for him. They both seem to have been depressed since te last day of term.I'm not quite sure why.It is the summer holidays after all.Perhaps it was a mistake to choose different secondary schools for them. They're very different children but they're still twins.It's hard for the rest of us to understand quite how they feel. I must ask them again if this is what they really want. I can't let them spend the rest of the summer holidays looking as if they've won a lottery,then lost the ticket down a drain! (Pg 29)

1. What does the expression,'live-wire' means with regards to Tristan?

A: Noisy and serious
B: Nervous and calm
C: Quiet and Depressed
D: Friendly and talkative

2.Tristan and James are depressed because they

A: had quarreled
B: could not be in the same play
C: they could not go to a summer camp
D: had to go to a different secondary school

3.Why do the twins have to go to different schools?

A: They are competitive
B: They have different needs
C: They asked to go to different schools
D: They do not like to be in the same school

4. The word,'lottery' probably refers to them being lucky to have found

A: places i n their own school
B: two different day schools
C: suitable secondary schools
D: inappropriate secondary schools

If you have read the book closely,all the answers are obvious.

======================================================================

The answers are:

1(D)
2(D)
3(B)
4(C)

So,did you got them all right?

Lucky you!

Flipping Fantastic: Tone, Mood,Language and Style

So how did you feel after reading,"Flipping Fantastic"? Happy? Devoid of any strong feelings?

On hind-sight,  it an average  light-hearted short story where the issues discuss are mainly about school life.
So we can say that  the tone is not too sombre nor too exciting for a start. That is the mood the author wants us to start with and to continue with  throughout the story. It became a little more when concerns rose about the twins going to different secondary schools.Conflict starts rearing its head when Tristan has half a mind of not going to Chesterlea Grange and to join James at Highfields instead. The way the characters express their feelings on the situation is interesting as all of them are enveloped in their own worlds with heavy-laden concerns,not communicating yet with one another, their inner thoughts.

As for the mood,we live alongside the boys and their mother, living from one anxious moment to another until the resolution of the issues.We sense the issues going on in their heads and our mood follows the ups and downs according to the development in the story.

As for the atmosphere, the setting is friendly as the family is tightly knitted and they support one another positively throughout the story.

Now, let us look at the language and style.

The whole story uses simple English structures which makes easy reading. As the story is being built up from the diary pages of three persons, the reader will need to tie up the story,the behaviour traits of the main players  as well as the concerns of each character as the story moves along.

The literary devices  used in this story includes mainly figurative language, imagery,irony and alliteration.

The figurative language includes

Similes- " Like a tyre that has burst,totally deflated"
Metaphors- "James is such a pest".
Personification-"Time could have stopped still".

As for imagery, we found it used in the following manner-" We're very much stuck together".

An example of alliteration:-"Flipping Fantastic!"

The use of irony is exhibited in such sentence as- ".... looking as if they have won the lottery,then lost the lottery down the drain".

Genting, Asia’s largest listed casino operator, reported October-December net profit of RM245.4 million against a loss of RM120.8 million a year earlier.

According to the company, the regional tourism market will continue to grow with new attractions, affordable air travel and rising affluence.

However,its UK casino operations will continue to be adversely affected by the weak economic conditions there, said Genting, whose unit Genting Malaysia is the world’s most profitable casino.

It made a net profit of RM1.04 billion for the full year, nearly meeting the average estimate of RM1.1 billion of 21 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine’s SmartEstimate, a consensus estimate that gives more weight to recent forecasts by top-rated analysts.

Genting’s US$4.5 billion resort on Singapore’s Sentosa island is part of the republic’s plan to attract 17 million visitors and triple annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion by 2015.

Genting, valued at US$7 billion, also has substantial interests in oil palm plantations, power generation and property development which it deems as non-core businesses for sale at the right price.

Eighteen out of 22 analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters  have either a “buy” or “strong buy” rating on Genting, with three calling it a “hold” and one rating it an “underperform”.

Shares of Genting are down about 14 per cent so far this year, lagging the 0.3 per cent gain in the broader market index.

I think the worst times for Genting could be over  as Genting Singapore starts ploughing back its capital expenditure and could pay handsome dividends from next year onwards.

Malaysia: Health Tourism from Singapore's Medisave

Gleneagles, a private hospital in KL  is planning to capitalise on the Singapore health tourism market by partnering with tour operators and low-cost flier,Firefly.

This has been made possible as the  Singapore government has authorised Singaporeans to use their Medisave savings to pay for medical treatment in 12 hospitals in Malaysia beginning March 2010.

 CEO Amir Firdaus Abdullah of Gleneagles said that the hospital has seen an increase of enquiries from Singapore and has received over 40 calls since the announcement was made earlier this month.

The hospital typically sees between 20 to 30 Singaporean patients each month. Amir added that Singaporeans will be able to save on their medical bills by coming to Malaysia.

“A heart by-pass costs USD9,000 (RM30,600) here but USD18,000 in Singapore,” he told  a media briefing at the partnership signing here today.

Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur is working with Firefly and Holiday Tours and Travel to offer seamless travel and medical services to Singaporeans seeking treatment here.

Firefly managing director Datuk Eddy Leong who was at the briefing said that it could even be arranged for the ambulance to drive up to the Firefly aircraft.

Amir assured that Singaporeans, who pay the same rates as Malaysians under the hospital’s single-tier pricing policy, would not drive up prices at the hospital.

“We do not see costs escalating other than the normal price increases that happen globally,” he said. “The Singaporean market will not be a contributing factor.”

He added that about 15 per cent of Gleneagles’ patient volume are foreigners, including Americans, Indonesians and Singaporeans, but declined to discuss targets for Medisave patients.

Gleaneagles, one of Kuala Lumpur’s premier private hospitals, was opened in 1996, and has 330 beds.
Medisave is the Singapore government mandated medical savings scheme. Every Singaporean is required by law to contribute to Medisave.

The Medisave fund now stands at SGD42.4 billion and the average Singaporean has SGD14,900 in their account.

So, it looks like Health Tourism is starting off on a healthy start in Malaysia.

So do buy some Hospital Group shares on the Bursa, won't you?

Malaysia: Homeless in KL

This article written by Mugunan Vanar and Joshua Foong on the Online STAR is most distrubing.

It is shocking to discover that some 400 homeless Sabah youths are loitering around Jalan Masjid India, the Dayabumi Complex, Klang bus station and Bukit Nanas in Kuala Lumpur every night, sleeping along roadsides, parks or buildings and have to forage for leftover food just like animals.

Most of them come from the interiors of Sabah.

One of the youths interviewed , Apai John from Tenom, said he had been without a job for four years.

Their plight has been highlighted by the Catholic church and NGOs like the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society (KSK) and Street Fellowship. Strangely, the government departments in charge of social welfare or human resources do not report this.

The NGOs claimed that the Sabahans roamed the streets and relied on free meals after they lost their jobs or were cheated by bogus employment agents.

“Most of them are young – 16 to 25 years old – and are hoping to seek employment in the Klang Valley,” said KSK treasurer Julia Tan who leads her group of volunteers to distribute food to the homeless every Saturday and Sunday.

“Those who are still unemployed mingle with the homeless in the city,” she added.

“When I ask them why they choose to stay on, they said there are more opportunities here for them to earn a living than returning to Sabah,” she added.

Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah recently said the Sabah government should assist homeless Sabahans to return home if the cases were genuine.

The Sabah Government has since recognised this problem.Apart from bringing them home, they should look for stable jobs for them.

I do hope a land of plenty such as Malaysia should have programmes or jobs in place in their NKRA for these able-bodied youths. Letting them to loiter the nights on streets is a sheer waste of manpower!

Thailand: Foreign Funds Return

There are signs that foreign funds are returning to the bourse of Thailand.These are coming here because of stronger corporate profits despite concern over political unrest. The continuous foreign buying over the past few days is apparent that they have discounted the fate of Thaksin's illegally acquired properties in the Thail courts.

Foreigners accounted for about 30 per cent of daily trade in 2009.

A noteworty stock, Land & Houses, Thailand’s largest housing developer, is forecast to report a 14 per cent gain in 2009 net profit after the market closes, due to higher sales of detached houses and condominiums.

So, when will foreign interests come back to Bursar KL which the Second Finance Minister described as wholly "un-sexy" to attract any foreign interest. This is not only a laugh on his language expression but also on the kinds of rules we are operating under.

Will Bursar ever play by global rules?

Malaysia: More Backpeddling?

Malaysia's Barisan Nasional Government (BN) has now become an expert in back-peddling,so it seems.

It started with the much touted policy to get rid of more than 15-years old car off the road. This was to increase the sales of Proton and Perodua cars. However, they came head-on with 'old-timers' who are in love with antique cars such as the 'uncles' from FELDA plantations and ex-teachers who loved their well- maintained Volkswagens. So, they scrapped the policy for the RM5,000 trade-in for really old cars. The move was a success and it certainly propped the number of cars sold for Proton. As far as Perodua is concerned,  it just accelerated its sales of  Myvi.

Then they back-pedaled on the 5% real property gains tax. The all-encompassing policy of taxing property that is sold, regardless of how old the property was, came under heavy volley of fire. Apart from the property developers who complained it may negatively affect the industry, first time sellers intending to upgrade felt this as wholly unfair.

And so after some thumb twiddling, it was amended that only properties sold 5 years  before the Sales and Purchase Agreement will attract this tax.

Next, came the policy decision to limit the subjects to be taken at the SPM. The brand-new Minister of Education, to ensure he leaves his mark,capped the maximum subjects at 10. As usual he raised a commotion when he left vernacular education subjects out of this maximum 10. So, a component Barisan Nasional party through NGOs, clamoured that the pupil's mother tongue be included.

The Minister grudgingly relented and allowed 12 subjects but he put in a caveat. Only the 10 subjects originally sanctioned and not the additional two subject papers will be considered for government scholarships. That threw a spanner into the works until this day.[The worse policy decision by far is the reversal to Bahasa Malaysia in teaching Math and Science!]

Yesterday, they just pedaled the much discussed subsidy scheme procedures for petrol in May 2010. We do not know why they have decided on the need of a better system. Thne they also deferred on the new tariff for Tenaga?

What do all this portend?

Very likely it is because of the impending state elections in Sarawak where the fear is very real this time that some native areas may succumbed to the opposition because of unresolved native issues. Apaprently, urban seats are also under siege.

Or is it because the General elections is going to be held with 12 months using the Sarawak elections outcome as the bench-marker? This is possible in order to resolve many issues, most particularly, the Perak political situation,outside the court system, for once and for all.

Malaysia:The Financial Sector's Resilience

The country’s financial sector remained resilient in the fourth quarter of 2009 with strong capitalisation, improving non-performing loan (NPL) ratio and ample liquidity.Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said this in a statement today.

The banking, insurance and takaful sectors recorded improved profitability in the quarter.

This enabled the financial sector to continue supporting financing activity and providing the necessary financial services to the economy, the central bank added.

As at end-December 2009, the risk-weighted capital ratio of the banking system was 14.7 pct while core capital ratio stood at 13.1 pct.

Capital in excess of the minimum regulatory requirement was maintained at more than RM50 billion.

Loan quality remained favourable with the continued downtrend in NPLs, reported BNM.

The net NPL ratio improved to 1.8 pct as at the end of the quarter, with a loan-loss coverage of 95.2 pct.

The banking system recorded a pre-tax profit that totalled RM5.2 billion during the quarter, supported by an increase in fee-based income and higher investment gains, it added.

BNM assured the capital adequacy ratio of the insurance industry remained strong at 230.3 pct (third quarter 2009: 214.7 pct).

Overall profitability of the insurance and takaful sector increased to RM3.7 billion (fourth quarter 2008: RM1.7 billion), driven mainly by improvements in the performance of the equity market and in business conditions.

Malaysia: A Resilient Financial Sector

The country’s financial sector remained resilient in the fourth quarter of 2009 with strong capitalisation, improving non-performing loan (NPL) ratio and ample liquidity.Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said this in a statement today.


The banking, insurance and takaful sectors recorded improved profitability in the quarter.


This enabled the financial sector to continue supporting financing activity and providing the necessary financial services to the economy, the central bank added.


As at end-December 2009, the risk-weighted capital ratio of the banking system was 14.7 pct while core capital ratio stood at 13.1 pct.

Capital in excess of the minimum regulatory requirement was maintained at more than RM50 billion.


Loan quality remained favourable with the continued downtrend in NPLs, reported BNM.


The net NPL ratio improved to 1.8 pct as at the end of the quarter, with a loan-loss coverage of 95.2 pct.


The banking system recorded a pre-tax profit that totalled RM5.2 billion during the quarter, supported by an increase in fee-based income and higher investment gains, it added.


BNM assured the capital adequacy ratio of the insurance industry remained strong at 230.3 pct (third quarter 2009: 214.7 pct).

Overall profitability of the insurance and takaful sector increased to RM3.7 billion (fourth quarter 2008: RM1.7 billion), driven mainly by improvements in the performance of the equity market and in business conditions.

Malaysia: Better GDP Growth in 4th Quarter 2009

 

The Malaysian economy grew by 4.5 pct for the fourth quarter of 2009, although GDP for the year still shrank slightly by 1.7 pct. This was lower than the projected -3 pct.

The positive growth in Q4 was helped largely by the government’s push to pump some RM1 billion a month into the economy. This had resulted in the country’s economic performance faring better than expected.

The government has set a target for growing the economy this year by five per cent which should be achievable barring unforeseen circumstances.

Increased public sector consumption also helped push growth into positive territory.

Public sector consumption expenditure expanded further by 1.3 per cent while public sector capital spending increased substantially as the implementation of projects under the quarter kicked in.

During the fourth quarter, the development expenditure of the federal government amounted to RM17.6 billion.

This was an increase of 9.5 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2008.
PM Najib believes that the implementation of the two government stimulus packages were key to the economic recovery.

“Over 113,000 projects under the two stimulus packages have and are being implemented, involving a total value of RM17 billion. Out of that, the government has made a payment of RM13.9 billion. Therefore on average, the government has pumped approximately RM1 billion per month into the market from January 2009.
Najib said he expected the private sector capital spending to increase this year.

“There are emerging signs of stabilization in the private sector capital spending as business sentiments continue to improve. This together with the higher public sector capital spending contributed to the turnaround in total gross fixed capital formation which registered a positive growth of 8.2 per cent during the quarter.

“On the supply side, all economic sectors recorded improved performance during the quarter. Growth in the services sector was broad based, with almost all sub-sectors recording higher growth rates. The manufacturing sector recovered to register a positive growth of 5.3 per cent, reflecting the improvement in both external and domestic demand.

“Activities in the construction sector expanded strongly by 9.2 per cent, benefiting primarily the accelerated implementation of projects under the fiscal stimulus packages and the ninth Malaysia plan,” he said.
The country’s export also recorded a positive growth of 5.1 per cent compared to -22.4 per cent in the third quarter.

Foreign direct investment also increased in 2009 to RM7.2 billion compared from RM6.7 billion with investments mainly in the manufacturing and services sector.
Najib said he was confident that the country would maintain its economic growth.
“For Malaysia the economy, yes (we can expect that the worse is over). Provided nothing seriously unexpected happens with respect to the global economy. For example any major sovereign collapse.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances of that nature, we could safely say that we have recovered from the crisis and we should be looking forward to a strong growth for 2010,” he said.

Najib said he expected the economy to grow by five per cent this year.

“As you know earlier forecast was four per cent but for this year, I am hoping that I can achieve one or two per cent more than that so we are going all out to make sure that we are able to generate the confidence and speedy implementation of projects.”

Zhang Zilin: World at Her Feet

 

China has produced a first Miss World. She is Ms. Zhang Zilin,the first Miss World from the People’s Republic from China.  She was crowned  Miss World 2010.

A professional model from Shandong Province, she is a university graduate. She stands at 5 foot 11 inches tall and besides Miss World title, she also bagged the Miss International Beauty contest honour.

AS1M-Dismal /Subscription Performance

The Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS 1 Malaysia) has attracted 244,117 investors who have subscribed 3.40 billion units in the equity income fund.

He said three billion units, of RM1 each, reserved for the Chinese saw a take-up rate of 89 per cent.

The RM10 billion fund, launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on July 31, 2009, is open to Malaysians aged 18 and above on a quota basis whereby 50 per cent of the shares are allocated for Bumiputeras, 30 per cent Chinese, 15 per cent Indians and the remaining 5 per cent to other groups.

Axiata's Comeback

Axiata posted better-than-expected net profit for 2009. It reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 558.28 million ringgit ($164 million), compared to a net loss of 515.25 million ringgit in the year-ago period.Full-year net profit more than tripled to 1.65 billion ringgit, exceeding the average forecast of 1.365 billion ringgit by 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Its Malaysian unit Celcom is the No.2 mobile phone brand and the biggest wireless broadband services provider in the country.Axiata also owns the “Hello” brand in Cambodia, the “Aktel” brand in Bangladesh and the “Dialog” brand in Sri Lanka.In Indonesia, it operates the “XL” brand via 86 percent-owned XL Axiata, Indonesia’s third-largest mobile phone operator.

Among its local rivals, DiGi operates only in Malaysia and Maxis Berhad houses just Maxis Communications’ Malaysian operations, making Axiata the only listed telecommunication company in the country that offers investors regional exposure.

Shares of Axiata have outperformed rivals so far this year with a 13 per cent gain. DiGi, controlled by Norwegian telecom firm Telenor, has gained 3 per cent and Maxis was up 2 per cent.

Controlled by Khazanah Nasional, the investment arm of the Ministry of Finance, Axiata has 120 million mobile subscribers across Asia.

“Key risks continued to be faced by our operating companies include increasing competition and regulatory challenges,” said Axiata.

Zhang ZiLin:Chinese Beauty

 

ZahgZi Lin

MRCB: Hitting the Billion Mark!

Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) is confident of registering RM1 billion in revenue for the first time this year (2010) with significant improvement in profitability.

This will be achieved in view of its ongoing active progress works in Kuala Lumpur Sentral and its order book, said its Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Razeek Hussain, in a statement today.

The group will continue to intensify its efforts to achieve economies of scale and innovative value engineering to improve performance in the coming years, he said.

MRCB posted a pre-tax profit of RM46.492 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 against a pre-tax loss of RM42.155 million in the previous financial year.

The positive performance was attributed to the overall improved operational results mainly from its engineering and construction division.

Revenue for the year rose to RM921.616 million from RM788.552 million previously.

MRCB has recommended a first and final dividend of 1.0 per cent or 1.0 sen per ordinary share less 25 per cent tax, amounting to approximately RM10.3 million.

So, MRCB has started paying dividends again. I do hope they will keep it that way from now on!

Flipping Fantastic: Themes, Valuesand Viewpoints

What are the messages that you got after reading this short story,"Flipping Fantastic"?

If you should look closely,these are the themes that comes to light.

• Learning to be self reliant-independence.
• The importance of  being self-assured-self confidence
• Sense of responsibility - to take care of another that may need assistance
• Telling the truth-do not hide feelings-learn to be open,to share and to be supportive

So what about the values that we can discern from the story?

• One must plan one path in life and be brave to walk it
• One must be truthful to oneself and to loved ones
• One cannot be selfish at the expense of others' happiness
• One should learn to respect the wishes of others
• One must take note that different people have different interests

Interestingly the story is told from the first person viewpoint through the pages of three persons's diaries.

Flipping Fantastic: The Mother

Those who read Jane Langford's ,"Flipping Fantastic" will certainly be enamoured by Tristan's positivism and concerned about James' introvert nature.

Let us look at the character of their mother and how she influences both of her sons.

She is not a major character in the story but she is instrumental in providing relevant information so that we can understand the twins better.

Tristan tells us that his mother is strong and determined. His statement,"...that's mum for you,very determined" attest to this fact.

She is positive minded and very optimistic. She would not want Tristan to think lowly of his disability. She wants Tristan to be brave and have a positive outlook in life despite his physical shortcomings. This can be gathered from the words," I 'm only interested in what you can do."

She is a loving and caring parent and loves both her sons very much. She knows that James was shy,nervous and lack confidence but she does not say anything about it. She uses positive words to encourage him. When James did fumble his only line , she chooses to see James' bravery on stage and eggs him on by saying that he did wonderfully on stage. Even if she senses his stuttering, she will be the last person to comment on it negatively.

She is observant and understanding. During the summer holidays, she could observe the unhappiness of both of her boys. James is normally quiet by nature but not Tristan. That both were, worries her. She felt that she could have made a wrong decision by sending them to different schools.

When things turns out alright in he end, she knew she had made the right decision. From her action and decision,Tristan s to be independent and so did James.

In conclusion we can say that the twin's mother is practical and realistic and she knew the moment of truth for the two boys had arrived when they moved on to secondary school education. It was a hard milestone decision but her wisdom ruled the day!

Genting Berhad: Still a Good Buy

Maybank IB has put out their recommendation for Genting Berhad. That is: Maintain a buy at RM6.36 targetting a price of RM8.85. Maybank also expect a re-rating to be doen to Genting Berhad as they hold Genting Signapore at the entry price of S$0.33 cents,far below that of the current S$0.95 cents.

There was a good opening buzz at Genting’s integrated resort. Sentosa Island saw a 20% year-on-year (y-o-y) surge in visitors in the first two days of Chinese New Year. Some 142,000 people visited the island. The casino, where 270 tables, about half the total, were opened, attracted 35,000 people, reported Channel News Asia. Universal Studios, open for “sneak peeks” at a nominal SG$10/head (RM24) charge, was also reportedly very busy.

RWS achieved S$40 million in gaming gross in its first 36 hours of operation, according to a report by Inside Asian Gaming. Annualised, this works out to S$9.7 billion, well above the S$2.9 billion consensus forecast. Note that this number cannot be confirmed as management is “unable to disclose any numbers”.

RWS appears set to be fully operational by May. Universal Studios will fully open in mid-March, all 500 plus casino tables in four to six weeks and all 1,300 hotel rooms by April.

Genting Singapore reported its 2009 result last Friday. For the year, it generated S$491 million of revenue, down 22%, and reported a S$278 million net loss (2008: S$124 million net loss). However, that result is going to be treated as academic history as Genting Singapore will be far different this year following the opening of RWS. Maybank IB maintains their Genting Berhad forecasts pending release of its result on Thursday.

However, they do provide some caveats.

There is upside risk to their forecasts. FY10 earnings forecast used includes S$2.6 billion revenue and S$298 million net profit at GS. Annualised, the reported S$40 million casino revenue in the first 36 hours is a massive S$9.6 billion. Of course, the first day spike is unlikely to be sustainable.

Flipping Fantastic-A Test of Chronology

Here is a test for those students who are studying ''Flipping Fantastic" as their literature component for Form One English.Put the 10 sentences in chronological order as the events unfold in the story.

 Here goes:

1. The play was 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". (    )
2. Trista and James have completed primary schooling at Perter Hill Primary.   (    )
3. James persuades Tristan to rethink of going to Chesterlea Grange. (    )
4. James goes to Highfields and he finds it brilliant.  (    )
5. Mother attended the play and felt very proud of the boys. (    )
6. Tristan changes his mind again and ends up in Chesterlea Grange by claiming it was 'Flipping Fantastic'. (    )
7. Tristan tells mother that he does not want to go to Chesterlea Grange. (    )
8. James is very happy about that because it means that Tristan will be going to Highfields with him. (    )
9. On the last day of term, Peter Hill Primary held an end-of-year play. (    )
10. After the summer holidays,the two boys will be attending different secondary schools. (    )

So did you get it all in  correct order?

The Elements of a Short Story

There are 8 elements of a short story that we need to be aware of.

Let us go through all these 8 elements. These are:

• Setting
• Plot
• Moral Values
• Character
• Point of View
• Theme
• Tone,mood and atmosphere
• Language and Style

What is the setting?

I have discussed this in the short story, "Flipping Fantastic' which is an earlier post. Setting involves informing readers of where and when that particular story takes place. In other words, it provides the background to the story.

Who are the character or characters?

They are the people in the story. There are main actors as well as minor characters. Characters provides body to the short story.

What is a Plot?

It refers to the sequence or chain of connected events in the story. A plot must be exciting to maintain the readers' interests.

What is the Theme?

These refers to the important ideas or moral ideas about life that will emerge from the story. It is not stated directly all the time. You may have to draw it out of the story. a story can have more than one theme.

What are the Moral Values?

This refers to the good values of humankind. It may also incorporate lessons to be learnt in everyday life.

What is Point of View?

What is point of view. It refers to the one telling the story. If the one that is telling the story is a character in it, we called that a first person account. If the story is told by someone outside the character list, we call it the third person view point or omniscient point of view. The word, "Omniscient" is taken from the concept of 'God being everywhere.', and as such he can tell us the story even to the extent of the thoughts of the characters.

What are Tone,Mood and Atmosphere?

What does tone mean in a short story? Tone refers to the attitude of the writer toward the subject of his story and to his readers. It can be serious,light hearted or aimed at arousing some emotional feeling such as sympathy.

Mood refers to the general feel of the story. The mood can be pleasant, amusing, frightening, cruel, despairing or whatever depending on what type of story it is and what emotions the author is trying to arouse in you.

Atmosphere is the general sense of the story. It is the creation of a situation using sounds and sights to create a foreboding of things to come.

What are Language and Style?

These are the language tools used by the writer. They are also known as literary devices. They are used to convey the message of the story.These can range from sights and sounds employing imagery,idioms, metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole,alliteration and others. All writers have their own style of writing.