Crazy Development in KL Sentral

Oh yes, go to the vicinity of KL Sentral and it's as if you have stepped into another world akin to Dubai's in her hey-day development in 2007.

I was there this morning. It was almost a mini township of offices.

Looking at the development going on,you wouldn't believe there is a recession in Malaysia.

There are foreign workers everywhere putting the finishing touch to the facades of buildings. Sub-contractors are seen busy trying to finish their packages in time for some official opening soon. The roads are all well tarred and walkways are well decorated with fine shrubbery and lush greens.

I passed AXIATA's new premises. The company has moved in. They were refurbishing the lift lobby section.

Then there is the huge Mercu UEM complex, in its monolithic splendour-all ready to start operations. They must really be proud to have their own building at long last.

I guess with all these premises occupied in due time, the KL Sentral transport hub will see more activities befitting the investment that went into it.

A Hi-5 from the World Bank to Malaysia!

So the government must be doing something right to convince the World Bank that growth in within sight in 2010.

In its latest report, "Global Development Finance 2009: Charting a Global Recovery", which charts the global economic situation, the World Bank has projected that Malaysia's real gross domestic product (GDP) will possibly fell by 4.4 per cent this year before recovering to 2.2 per cent in 2010 and 5.3 per cent in 2011.

The bank said thanks to China, the growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific would be the fastest among the world’s regions and was projected at five per cent. China is expected to grow faster than most other countries this year at an estimated 9.3 per cent but was likely to drop to 8.3 per cent next year.

It said excluding China, the GDP in the region was expected to decline by 0.2 per cent in 2009, the slowest since the crisis of the late 1990s.

According to the report, amid global economic recession and financial market fragility, net private capital inflows to developing countries fell to US$707 billion (RM2.47 trillion) in 2008, a sharp drop from a peak of US$1.2 trillion in 2007.

International capital flows are projected to fall further in 2009, to US$363 billion, it said.

The report warned that the world was entering an era of slower growth that would require tighter and more effective oversight of the financial system, saying that global growth was also expected to be negative, with an expected 2.9 per cent contraction in 2009, before rebounding to two per cent in 2010 and 3.2 per cent by 2011.

"The need to restructure the banking system, combined with emerging limits to expansionary policies in high-income countries, will prevent a global rebound from gaining traction," said the World Bank.

The World Bank hopes that developing countries could become a key driving force in the recovery, assuming their domestic investments rebound with international support, including a resumption in the flow of international credit.

I hope the World Bank is right!

Charming Facades and Masquerades

To attract attention,subscribers on TAGGED use photos of beautiful models, singers and actresses to draw the attention of fellow subscribers to their websites. The masquerades work especially if you are playing a game to trade and sell pets.

On TAGGED, everyone can be made a pet and the buying and selling of these pets can bring up their value to incredible billions and millions of play money.

I attached some of the beautiful photos being used on TAGGED.









Enjoy!

Pen Sophary from Cambodia

I think she is the real thing. Not like most of the others you find on TAGGED.
At 21, this Cambodian lass seems to have gone places. I am second guessing she has a foreign education and is from a well-to-do-class in the capital, Phnom Penh. This is seen from shots at Seoul University in South Korea, the No Man's Land demarcation zone in North Korea, and the Lexus that she is using to go for a temple function.
She claims to be a straight home-body and shuns the social scene.


With her looks, she sure sounds misplaced, don't you agree?


Through these attached pictures, please sample for yourself true Cambodian charm in Pen Sophary.

Prayer Strategy

1. The Thumb is nearest you, so begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you..
As C. S. Lewis once said, praying for loved ones is a “sweet duty.”

2. The pointing finger in next. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction.

3. The middle finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators.

4. The ring finger is next. This is our weakest finger. Let it remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain.

5. Finally, our little finger, the smallest finger of all. The Bible says, “The least shall be the greatest among you.” Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

So practise tonight!

MEASAT-A Potential Buy?

This just came in today (June 21)

Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd (MEASAT)is targeting to reap higher revenues of US$100 million (RM354 million) annually in the next three to four years, up from US$60 million last year from new businesses arising from the launch of its two latest MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a satellites.

Paul J Brown-Kenyon its chief operating officer said the company also has in hand revenue of US$600 million, which would be raked in from contracts ranging from three, five and 15 years.

The company, which has spent RM1.6 billion in the last four to five years, is looking to launch joint venture satellites with partners who could bring in capital and in the process, spread risks.

MEASAT-3 launched in 2006 and MEASAT-3a, which will be launched Monday morning on June 22 at 5.30 Malaysian time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, is expected to expand the business,” he told journalists here yesterday.

This means that MEASAT’s sister company, Astro would be able to provide more channels to its customers while expanded services would be available for clients such as Telekom Malaysia, Maxis and Celcom.

“They will have the ability to provide more communication services to more customers, he said.

Brown-Kenyon said the US$165 million MEASAT-3a would be operational by end-July or possibly even earlier, and then would start serving customers.

“Two satellites give us an enormous amount of peace of mind as we would be able to expand our capacity and deal with redundancy issues associated with old satellites,” he said.

He said MEASAT-3 was close to full capacity in terms of take while Astro had already booked half of the transponders on MEASAT-3a, which means new services, new channels, and increased content.

Asked when MEASAT could recoup its expenses for the new satellite, he said that investments and costs in the satellite business would dilute earnings in the next 12 to 18 months, “but after that, revenue goes up.”(That means good things will come only after December 2010)

In terms of payback, he said that it would take about six to seven years to repay the US$165 million MEASAT-3a.

Satellites have a 15-year life mission.

“In our industry, we can’t be a small player because of the huge capital investments, which is why we need to be a big player but the good thing is that MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a have a very strong customer base.

“Beyond MEASAT, we are looking always to grow the business. We are looking at Africa as a region and we are at the moment discussing with a number of partners about doing joint venture satellites in that part of the region.”

He said MEASAT was mulling joint venture satellites as the strong customer base means the capacity in the two MEASAT satellites would be used up quickly.

“We have access to 17 orbital slots throughout the world and each allows a satellite to be launched into a new region”, said Brown-Kenyon.

“We are in a growth phase and we have very successfully built up a strong Malaysian base and growing regionally in India, Indonesia, with good broadcast customers such as British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), National Geographic and History Channel,” Brown-Kenyon added.

So watch this counter closely and buy on weakness.

Netting Tourists off the Net

So, even the Tourism Office is jumping on the bandwagon to tap Internet resources to woo in-bound tourists.

Tourism Malaysia intends to go big on this platform. It will promote tourism by engaging Facebook, Friendster, Twitter and other global social networks to attract visitors to the country, said its acting director-general. He said that the agency had just entered into internet marketing and was planning on several programmes to capture the huge and untapped market via such social networks.

“We want to go through community-based websites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. People spend a lot of time surfing (the) Internet and its influence is huge...social networks are becoming the favourite place to keep in touch and share experiences,” he said on the sideline of the Sixth Asean Leadership Forum here.

According to him, Tourism Malaysia had already embarked on Web TV, banner advertisements in Yahoo, MSN and Google. Facebook has 175 million members worldwide while Friendster has over 90 million. According to Compete.com which analyses web traffic, Facebook had 104 million visitors in April in the United States.

He said greater promotion through the internet was one of the plans adopted by Tourism Malaysia, in the wake of the global economic slowdown and its effect on the travel and tourism industries.

Malaysia, apparently was not badly affected by the crisis as the number of arrivals in the first four months showed positive growth as compared to last year, although neighbouring countries recorded reduced numbers. Many visitors avoided troubled Thailand and sought Malaysia which was a safe place to visit.

However, despite positive tourist arrivals, Malaysia had reduced its target of attracting 24 million tourists to 20 million in 2009, due to slower demand brought about by the economic crisis as well as the reduced travelling over the current Influenza A (H1N1) virus scare.

According to Toursim Malaysia, this need to change strategy is imperative. They said Malaysia works best under pressure. After having learnt from the 1997 financial crisis when tourist arrivals dropped to 5.5 million, it introduced the ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ campaign, rapidly increasing tourist arrivals to 22 million in 2008.

Tourism revenue also jumped from US$4 billion to US$14 billion in the same period.

Well, we hope tourist arrivals are not too badly affected by the pandemic H1N1 scare.