Humanity and the Law

I think we must practice humanity in whatever we do. As such laws, particularly statutory law should reflect such values as it shows truly a society that is civilized, matured and developed.

The Bar Council' request for  witnesses  to be accorded the same rights as the accused is worthy of mention and the MACC's directive that investigations be carried only during office hours is i nth right direction.

Let us read the following news item.

"The Bar Council has called on the Government to give witnesses the same rights as accused persons.
Its chairman Ragunath Kesavan said witnesses who help enforcement agencies in investigations should be given the same protection and rights as the accused.

“Those accused have the right to be allowed adequate rest which is guaranteed by Rule 20 of the Lockup Rules 1953,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Ragunath was commenting on the recent Federal Court decision in the Tan Boon Wah case where it was held that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) could continue to interrogate witnesses beyond office hours.

Ragunath said the decision bore testament that the courts had failed in playing their role as the arbiter of disputes between individuals and the state while serving as a checks-and-balance mechanism.

He added that the decision permitted the MACC to compel witnesses to be questioned, including for long periods of time, with no option for them to decline.

He urged the Government to take immediate steps to protect the rights of witnesses and promote transparent and accountable investigations.

Meanwhile, he welcomed MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed’s statement that MACC officers had been directed to conduct their investigations during office hours."

A big salute to the Bar Council and MACC.

It was also stated that the officers would have to provide justification for “taking evidence after office hours”.

Spain Goes under IMF's Scrutiny

Well it looks like the focus is on Spain next.

According to the IMF,Spain must make far-reaching, comprehensive reforms, including labour market reforms, and its economic recovery remains fragile.

“The challenges are severe: a dysfunctional labor market, the deflating property bubble, a large fiscal deficit, heavy private sector and external indebtedness, anemic productivity growth, weak competitiveness, and a banking sector with pockets of weakness,” the IMF said in a report following a regular review of Spain’s economy.

“This needs to be complemented with growth-enhancing structural reforms, building on the progress made on product markets and the housing sector, especially overhauling the labour market,” it said.

After a weak and fragile recovery the economy would grow by 1.5-2.0 per cent in the medium term, it said.
“Our central scenario is one of continued adjustment of the various imbalances with growth rising gradually to 1.5-2 per cent in the medium term,” the report said.

The report was released as Spain struggles to cut a large budget deficit and convince investors it will face no Greek-style debt crisis.

The IMF said in April it sees Spain’s economy contracting 0.4 per cent in 2010 from a year earlier and growing 0.9 per cent in 2011, more pessimistic than the government’s own forecasts of a 0.3 per cent contraction in 2010 and 1.8 per cent growth in 2011.

Stronger export growth would help offset a slow recovery in domestic demand. It said private demand was weighed down by uncertainty and the need to reduce indebtedness, the IMF said.

Other factors weighing on potential growth and underlining the importance of growth-enhancing structural reforms included slowing population growth, high unemployment and weak investment.

KrissAssets: On a Mall Acquisition Trail

KrissAssets Holdings Bhd, operator of The MidValley Megamall, will set aside up to RM2 billion to acquire foreign retail malls in the UK and the US.

Its group managing director, Robert Tan Chung Meng, said this was necessary as the mall has reached its maximum capacity and the contracts of some anchor tenants would be ending within two years.

"Even though the mall is doing positively year by year, we need to improve our revenue. We cannot increase the size of the mall as it will affect other tenants, that's why we have to resort to acquisitions," he told a media briefing after the company's annual group meeting here today.

Tan said the main attractions would be in New York, Chicago, California or even Florida," he said.
Its pre-tax for financial year ending Dec 31, 2009 rose 56.5 per cent to RM180.5 million from RM115.3 million in the same period last year.

Revenue rose to RM227.9 million from RM216.6 million previously.

Things are definitely looking good for KrissAssets as it goes global.

Subsidising Malaysians

The Government is going back to the people on its plan to cut subsidies, which ballooned to a staggering RM74bil last year.

Malaysians will have a chance to have their say in an open day organised by the Government this Thursday to gather feedback on the inevitable reduction in subsidies on items including sugar and petrol.

The open day on subsidy rationalisation will be held at Hall 4 and 5 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 9am to 2pm.

Subsidies - the total of which averages RM12,900 per household every year - will have to be gradually cut beginning this year, which is then expected to affect the prices of petrol, natural gas, food, medication, toll and healthcare.

The huge sum in subsidies has resulted in Malaysia having cheaper cooking oil, flour and sugar than Singa-pore, Indonesia and Thailand.

The open day is similar to the ones held last year for the Government Transformation Plan.

“Cutting subsidies is a foregone conclusion. The question is not about the amount of reduction, but the technique of reducing,” said a high-ranking official.

Recommendations from the Perfor-mance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) subsidy rationalisation lab will be publicly displayed during the open day.

The lab will then re-examine the findings based on the feedback before making a final recommendation to the Prime Minister.

An analysis from the lab, made available to The Star, stated that it was important to act immediately if the country were to reduce the subsidies gradually.

Otherwise, it said, the Government might end up having to remove subsidies in bigger increments as Treasury reserves ran lower. It also argued that the current mechanism of subsidising was no longer sustainable as government debt was at RM362bil last year or 54% of the GDP.

That is much higher than Indonesia's 28%, and is approaching The Philippines' at 62%.

“In five years, we may reach 100% if no changes are implemented,” said a source familiar with the issue.
There is no need to panic, however, as the Government will continue to provide assistance in critical fields such as education, agriculture and fisheries, healthcare and welfare.

The main aim is to reduce wastage or abuse, mainly due to the subsidies being passed on to the wrong beneficiaries or over-consumption.

“Why should the people in Sabah and Sarawak subsidise for toll that is mainly used by people in the Klang Valley? Also, foreigners are enjoying the RM1 consultation fee at government clinics. That has to be addressed,” said the same source.

It is understood that one of the lab's proposals is to raise medical consultation from RM1 to RM3, thus keeping the fee affordable to all.

YTL Power operations in Singapore to Expand

 Singapore's second largest utility firm PowerSeraya Ltd, together with Malaysian parent YTL Power, is seeking to expand its operations, which could include selling utilities, fuel trading, and oil storage, in the region.
”We're looking for expansion opportunities in the utility arena, which could include power, electricity, water, tank management, fuel trading,” chief executive officer John Ng told the Reuters Energy Summit.

”If there are opportunities, we will certainly work together with our parent, YTL Power, within this region, and even outside this region,” he said, adding there were no immediate plans or targets on the company's horizon at this time.

Malaysia's construction to power conglomerate YTL Corp, bought PowerSeraya from Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings in December 2008 for S$3.8bil.

YTL Power International Bhd's businesses include power generation in Malaysia and Indonesia, power transmission in Australia and provision of water and sewage services in the UK.

PowerSeraya, which owns a 10,000 cubicmetre Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant and a 3,100megawatt power plant, is in the last stages of commissioning a new S$800mil 800 MW CoGeneration Combined Cycle Plant. The unit, which will come on line by end June, will generate both electricity and steam.

It also operates a 20 tank oil storage farm with a total capacity of about 1 million tonnes, including two new blending tanks that were completed at the end of 2009 for S$20mil.

”The new tanks complement our fuel oil supply and trading business,” Ng said.

PetroSeraya, the company's physical trading arm, employs a handful of fuel oil traders. It more than doubled its net profit to S$12.2mil for the year ended March 31, 2009, despite volatile oil prices. Total traded volumes were 900,000 tonnes, with sales of S$673.6mil.

When asked if the company planned to build more tanks, Ng said: “What we have right now is sufficient for our needs for the next couple of years. We're constantly looking at markets around Singapore, to see whether there's a need for us to invest further.”

PowerSeraya, a market leader in the Singapore electricity generation market with a 28% share, uses piped natural gas to generate power, besides fuel oil and diesel.

It has committed to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from BG Group once the S$1.5bil Singapore LNG Terminal is completed in 2013.

”From two feedstock options, we're moving into three,” Ng said.

Asked if PowerSeraya would venture into gas trading, Ng said it was too premature to draw conclusions.
”Asia has no gas trading hub. Will Singapore develop into a gas trading hub? It's early days yet. If there is a market for gas trading, we will not rule out exploring this opportunity,” he added.

”We are constantly exploring what we can do with the underlying commodity that we use.”

For the financial year ended March 31, 2009, PowerSeraya reported a net profit of S$171.9mil, on revenues of S$3.58bil. It had cash and cash equivalents of S$248.4mil at the end of the period. The company is moving to a new financial year that ends on June 30, 2010. - Reuters

So YTL looks like it is doing fine in Singapore.

Be a Contrarian: Buy When It's Down

Gerald Ambrose ... 'Markets are now operating on a trampoline. The safety net doesn't work anymore.'

Thomas Yong ... 'Risk aversion will remain for now and everyone will be cutting positions.'

They say never waste a crisis. Fund managers are cautious but see an opportunity in the midst of global markets tumbling on the back of Europe's tumultous debt problems.


Emerging markets are always known to be more volatile. As its ups and downs are always more extreme, would it be wiser to rejig one's portfolio or brace through the storm?

Fortress Capital Asset Management Sdn Bhd chief executive officer CEO Thomas Yong, who started trimming his position three weeks ago, is no longer selling, but waiting to see how things pan out.

“We are in a position to buy (in Malaysia), but it would be premature to act now. Risk aversion will remain for now, and everyone will be cutting positions,” he said.

He opined that Europe might not be as quick as the United States in implementing measures, hence uncertainty would continue to dominate sentiments for the time being.

Aberdeen Asset Management managing director Gerald Ambrose is a buyer of the market, and is in fact buying some of the stocks he could not previously buy because it had moved too fast. “For instance, the rubber gloves have done very well and have gone up a lot. With this correction, they also fall faster. Here's an opportunity,” he said.

He added that volatility was irrelevant, and Aberdeen's investment was not based on market volatility.
“Markets are now operating on a trampoline. The safety net, which had been the interest rates and financial stimulus used by central banks, have been used so much that it doesn't work anymore. Now that the safety net has been removed, there is a possibility that things could go really wrong,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose likes gold, and said it was the only insurance against the follies of the authorities of the world.

Meanwhile, HwangDBS Investment Management Bhd chief investment officer David Ng said that in view of what's happening in the euro zone, they had reduced the risk in their portfolios by cashing in on the less liquid stocks.

“Moving forward, we are still cautiously optimistic about the market as we expect the economic recovery to continue even if it might be reduced by the events in Europe. However, the market will need to further re-price this slower growth outlook before we opt to increase our invested levels,” he added.

On Thursday, BNP Paribas' Cliver McDonnell said that the euro zone crisis signalled that markets were about 40% through the crisis.

“We believe we are in the fear phase, don't buy stocks until capitulation is reached,” he said.
He added that for Asian equities, the two biggest worries were negative earnings translation due to euro weakness and the impact of a slowdown on euro-zone demand.

McDonnell listed his 10 steps to capitulation, four of them which he said had already occurred. These included worst recession, loss of investment-grade status, drying up of liquidity, and further de-rating of the euro-zone banks.

He said the next likely step was the nationalisation of a bank in southern Europe, as he thought it was improbable that not a single bank had racked up significant losses related to non-performing loans and trading losses as a result of the recent economic downturn and wild swings in markets.

Text, Don't Talk

This came from AFP/Relaxnews.

"Do you often have the urge to chat with a friend while stuck on a train, subway or waiting on a never-ending line? In a new study,Cornell University researchers are saying you should resist the urge to dial as it irritates and distracts all the people around you — yes, even if you whisper.

For those stuck by a chatty Kathy feeling frustrated and annoyed with the distraction, well that is completely normal according to Michael Goldstein, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University and Lauren Emberson, PhD candidate in psychology at Cornell University in their research to be published in the June edition of the journal Psychological Science.

Eavesdropping cannot be avoided and someone else’s very important minutia or hot gossip becomes an irritant not because the person is loud but rather because only half the conversation or “halfalogue”, can be heard and understood. This rattles the brain coupled with the inability to ignore the chatter.

Apparently even your meditation mantra won’t do the trick. Emberson explained, “Hearing half a conversation is distracting because we are unable to predict the succession of speech. We believe this finding helps reveal how we understand language in conversation: We actively predict what the person is going to say next and this reduces the difficulty of language comprehension.”

“People are often more irritated by nearby cell phone conversations rather than conversations between two people who are physically present. Since halfalogues really are more distracting and you can’t tune them out, this could explain why people are irritated.”

So be kind, text don’t call, or read, take photos, play a game, surf the web, catch-up on emails — there are so many ways to keep you distracted with your smartphone’s applications that you do not need to distract everyone in your vicinity.

Also the results of the Interphone study, a multi-centre international control case study, published their findings in the advance online edition of International Journal of Epidemiology on May 17.

The researchers concluded that there is not enough conclusive research to support that cell phone use causes or doesn’t cause brain cancer — why not err on the side of caution since the participants of the study were not classified as long-term heavy-use mobile phone users"


so be kind to your neighbours on a journey, text don't talk.