Iskandar Economic Zone could be a very compelling story for Sinkie
companies to relocate with abundant cheaper land and labour cost. Both
factors were right up in the list of potential investors. Sinkies also
could buy up big landed properties that they cannot afford in Sin City.
Many have made the move and are happy with their decisions.
When these comparative advantages are gone, or even close to the Sin
level, there is no reason to risk life and investment in Johore.
Just as the attractive story of Iskandar is capturing the imagination of
Sinkies, all the signs of greed and impatience are rising to undermine
this great potential. New rules and regulations, higher taxes and cost,
higher land prices etc etc are oozing out from all the orifices. The
risk of these getting out of hand and becoming incompetitive when the
funds are sunk in is so high that many new and potential investors and
Sinkie home buyers are getting cold feet.
What assurance that things will not go against these investors when the
comparative advantages are wiped away in due time and the investments
become sunk negative assets that can only be gotten rid of at huge
losses like what happened a few years back?
Would the Johore govt think long term and make Johore a desirable
alternative to the outrageously expensive Sin City? Or would greed and
impatience and a short sighted policy kill the golden goose? Would
history repeat itself and prove that Sinkies are just willing suckers
that never learnt?
A property seminar was conducted last Saturday byMyPaper with three
Malaysiann property experts giving tips on buying properties in
Malaysia. Malaysia by all counts is a very attractive place to buy
properties for own use or for investments. The only thing missing in the
formula is political risk. This is getting more treacherous by the day.
In Today paper on 17 Feb there is an article on Utusan Malaysia warning
the non Malays about crossing their limits for ‘insulting Islam, Muslims
and Malay rulers…. It is because we are…too afraid to take action
against those who have insulted Malays and Islam…it appears as if non
Malays are the landlords and Malays are the tenants, immigrants and the
minority in our own country….It is just a matter of time before the
hornets who are attempting to defend their nerst against intruders will
retaliate…Malays will not be so tolerant anymore.’
Though there were contrarian views by other Malay leaders about this
paranoid and the fact that Malays are the absolute majority, controlling
all the powers in govt and the military, such paranoid views are very
emotional and can be hysterical and mobilized to turn the country upside
down, with threats of bloodshed like in May 13.
Property hunters must not ignore this political risk if buying
properties or investing in Malaysia. This political risk and threat are
very real and imminent.
2/18/2014
More records being claimed in Sin City
Yesterday’s media reported two more records, one is bankruptcy has
reached an all time high. The second record is that the issuing of taxi
driving licence has also reached a new high of 100,000. Just wondering
if this is a good thing.
From the comments made, it is. Singaporeans enjoyed the flexi hours of this occupation. And they can be their own boss too. What were not spoken is that many could not find a suitable job as their jobs were taken over by foreigners. Many of them were highly qualified ex professionals that could be gainfully employed and earning much more as a corporate employee. And many would love to go back to the corporate world, to be respectable PMEs and not be drivers of foreign workers and maids and to carry their luggages and hoping for a good tip from them is they are nice to their passengers. And if they are unlucky, could be beaten up by the foreigners or scolded by the maids.
Driving taxi is now being seen as another good occupation like crane drivers, hawkers and carpenters. The best part, there is no need to waste so much money and time acquiring a tertiary education to be a taxi driver.
Parents would now have another attractive option for their children, as taxi drivers and be their own boss when they cannot find employment with their degrees and diplomas. Next time when on boards a taxi, it is good to address the taxi driver as boss, just like calling a bus driver as captain. It will make their day.
Kopi level - Green
From the comments made, it is. Singaporeans enjoyed the flexi hours of this occupation. And they can be their own boss too. What were not spoken is that many could not find a suitable job as their jobs were taken over by foreigners. Many of them were highly qualified ex professionals that could be gainfully employed and earning much more as a corporate employee. And many would love to go back to the corporate world, to be respectable PMEs and not be drivers of foreign workers and maids and to carry their luggages and hoping for a good tip from them is they are nice to their passengers. And if they are unlucky, could be beaten up by the foreigners or scolded by the maids.
Driving taxi is now being seen as another good occupation like crane drivers, hawkers and carpenters. The best part, there is no need to waste so much money and time acquiring a tertiary education to be a taxi driver.
Parents would now have another attractive option for their children, as taxi drivers and be their own boss when they cannot find employment with their degrees and diplomas. Next time when on boards a taxi, it is good to address the taxi driver as boss, just like calling a bus driver as captain. It will make their day.
Kopi level - Green
2/17/2014
6.35% dividend for EPF!
Can you believe it? The Malaysian govt has announced a payout of 6.35%
dividend for their national savings scheme. And this is flat rate for
all. How could the Malaysian govt pay such a high dividend? There must
be a mistake. Or they must be announcing high dividends but they come
out with new regulations so that their EPF members can feel rich but
money no touch, cannot witdraw. Or they may benefit for high oil and
commodity prices so can afford to pay high dividends. This cannot be
true right?
No, the Malaysians simply did very well in their investments, earning RM35 billion in the process. And their investments in equities brought in RM19.5 billion. Holy cow, how could they do it? They must have been employing world class fund managers to make such money to pay out such high dividends.
I can’t believe our world class fund managers paid world class salaries could not do better. Maybe we just need to wait a while longer for them to make the announcements. Our fund managers must be many times better than the Malaysians. If they cannot do better, maybe we should go over and employ the whole Malaysian team to replace what we have. And they are definitely cheaper and more productive.
I am very envious of their ability to make so much money and hoping and hoping that our world class fund managers with world class pay could do better. I have high hopes, very fat hopes.
No, the Malaysians simply did very well in their investments, earning RM35 billion in the process. And their investments in equities brought in RM19.5 billion. Holy cow, how could they do it? They must have been employing world class fund managers to make such money to pay out such high dividends.
I can’t believe our world class fund managers paid world class salaries could not do better. Maybe we just need to wait a while longer for them to make the announcements. Our fund managers must be many times better than the Malaysians. If they cannot do better, maybe we should go over and employ the whole Malaysian team to replace what we have. And they are definitely cheaper and more productive.
I am very envious of their ability to make so much money and hoping and hoping that our world class fund managers with world class pay could do better. I have high hopes, very fat hopes.
SGX - There is no elephant in the room
Since the announcement of the consultation paper and some proposals by
MAS and SGX, there were a few familiar quips by the stakeholders. We do
not want the SGX to be turned into a casino. Now who is talking? Is
there an elephant in the classroom? They could not see it, didn’t
recognise that the big mass is an elephant and pretending that not to
see the elephant?
How fake or how stupid can things be when no one seems to notice the elephant in the classroom? And an article in the ST on Saturday had this title, ‘Few quibbles over collateral proposal for contra trades’. The introduction of collateral for contra trades is perhaps the biggest thing in the consultation paper and is going to be done for the purpose of reducing exposure and risks of broking houses and remisiers and to strengthen the trading system.
One thing for sure is to hasten the demise of a dying stock market when this measure is implemented. The 5% collateral for all outstanding positions would be a callous sledgehammer smashing down on any tiny nail heads protruding. There would be many procedural problems that would make this recommendation impractical. But top most is that it is not dealing with the real problem but creating new problems. Some refinement is needed and remisier Alvin Yong came up with a logical and practical proposal, to apply the collateral only to trades above the value of $50k. It is the big contra positions that would hurt the remisiers and the brokerages, not the small positions of the small traders. And given the limited size of active traders, such an across the board ruling will simply keep the small traders from trading when their participation is badly needed in a stockmarket with no players except computers.
If MAS and SGX want to bring the stock market to a pre mature and early demise, this is the way to go. Impose the collateral indiscriminately and the last few remaining small traders will say goodbye to punting in the market. Yes they are gambling, but in a small way and with manageable and tolerable risk. It is the big churnings of computer tradings and big time speculators that are raising the risk level in the industry. They should be the targeted group for this 5% collateral. They pose huge credit risk, not the small investors and punters. They are the really gamblers, with the help of a system that is designed for them to gamble.
Is there an elephant in the room? Anyone wants to look at the elephant or choosing to look the other way and spray their little water pistols wildly at shadows? It does not need much intelligence to notice the elephant in the room.
PS. Goh Eng Yeow also wrote a piece in today’s ST explaining why forcing small traders to put up collaterals is skirting the real problem caused by big positions. Come on, who are MAS and SGX kidding, to want small traders to put up collaterals even for trades of $1000 or $10,000 exposure? Would it solve the gigantic loss problem or would it kill the market when small retail traders just stay away, like the removal of teletext on TV?
How fake or how stupid can things be when no one seems to notice the elephant in the classroom? And an article in the ST on Saturday had this title, ‘Few quibbles over collateral proposal for contra trades’. The introduction of collateral for contra trades is perhaps the biggest thing in the consultation paper and is going to be done for the purpose of reducing exposure and risks of broking houses and remisiers and to strengthen the trading system.
One thing for sure is to hasten the demise of a dying stock market when this measure is implemented. The 5% collateral for all outstanding positions would be a callous sledgehammer smashing down on any tiny nail heads protruding. There would be many procedural problems that would make this recommendation impractical. But top most is that it is not dealing with the real problem but creating new problems. Some refinement is needed and remisier Alvin Yong came up with a logical and practical proposal, to apply the collateral only to trades above the value of $50k. It is the big contra positions that would hurt the remisiers and the brokerages, not the small positions of the small traders. And given the limited size of active traders, such an across the board ruling will simply keep the small traders from trading when their participation is badly needed in a stockmarket with no players except computers.
If MAS and SGX want to bring the stock market to a pre mature and early demise, this is the way to go. Impose the collateral indiscriminately and the last few remaining small traders will say goodbye to punting in the market. Yes they are gambling, but in a small way and with manageable and tolerable risk. It is the big churnings of computer tradings and big time speculators that are raising the risk level in the industry. They should be the targeted group for this 5% collateral. They pose huge credit risk, not the small investors and punters. They are the really gamblers, with the help of a system that is designed for them to gamble.
Is there an elephant in the room? Anyone wants to look at the elephant or choosing to look the other way and spray their little water pistols wildly at shadows? It does not need much intelligence to notice the elephant in the room.
PS. Goh Eng Yeow also wrote a piece in today’s ST explaining why forcing small traders to put up collaterals is skirting the real problem caused by big positions. Come on, who are MAS and SGX kidding, to want small traders to put up collaterals even for trades of $1000 or $10,000 exposure? Would it solve the gigantic loss problem or would it kill the market when small retail traders just stay away, like the removal of teletext on TV?
Chuan Jin’s credibility in question
The weekend walkabout and community dialogue by Chuan Jin at Pasir Ris
was very badly received if the media reports and comments in social
media are real. The issue of foreigners working here was the main point
raised by the public and Chuan Jin’s reply fell flat in his face. If he
is going to continue in this manner his credibility as a minister, and
the govt he represents will not go far.
Chuan Jin’s points could be seen in three areas. He was harping on the need to limit the number of foreign workers and this infuriated the people. Everyone is calling him deaf or refusing to listen and understand the people. No one is complaining that much about foreign workers as the jobs they were doing were not wanted by the citizens. Going after the foreign workers is a seen as an intended diversion by the MOM, skirting away from the real issues of foreign PMEs.
The comments were furious, that PMEs were not even mentioned in the conversation when it was the major bugbear of the people, fake talents and non talents stealing our high paying jobs from our PMEs. The MOM or the govt can try not talk about this problem but the people are not daft and would not want to be daft anymore. They are dragging Chuan Jin by ear to look at the problem they are angry about. Don’t run away from the real problem in question.
And the uttering of the word ‘local’ kept coming out only to confirm that the govt is still steering the same course and nothing has changed. As long as PRs or locals are employed, the citizen’s plight is not something they want to talk about or to know. The govt only thinks locals, and the citizens would not take that as an answer.
We are citizens, not locals. The local/PRs are not citizens. Is this simple enough to understand? Of course the govt does know what locals and citizens meant. Of course Chuan Jin knew what he was talking but it was a case of not wanting to engage the people in the real issue. The MOM or the govt will continue talking about locals, about jobs affecting foreign workers. The citizens will be talking about citizens and about PME jobs.
How far and how long can this divide be maintained without affecting the credibility and trust of the govt in the eyes of the people? The people would not take this diversion and not wanting to engage them lying down.
My advice to Chuan Jin is to face the problem squarely and stop running away from it. It will not work anymore today. The govt must take the people seriously. Ignoring the people and their problems will cost dearly in votes. It will be reflected in the next GE and can be very costly for sure.
Chuan Jin’s points could be seen in three areas. He was harping on the need to limit the number of foreign workers and this infuriated the people. Everyone is calling him deaf or refusing to listen and understand the people. No one is complaining that much about foreign workers as the jobs they were doing were not wanted by the citizens. Going after the foreign workers is a seen as an intended diversion by the MOM, skirting away from the real issues of foreign PMEs.
The comments were furious, that PMEs were not even mentioned in the conversation when it was the major bugbear of the people, fake talents and non talents stealing our high paying jobs from our PMEs. The MOM or the govt can try not talk about this problem but the people are not daft and would not want to be daft anymore. They are dragging Chuan Jin by ear to look at the problem they are angry about. Don’t run away from the real problem in question.
And the uttering of the word ‘local’ kept coming out only to confirm that the govt is still steering the same course and nothing has changed. As long as PRs or locals are employed, the citizen’s plight is not something they want to talk about or to know. The govt only thinks locals, and the citizens would not take that as an answer.
We are citizens, not locals. The local/PRs are not citizens. Is this simple enough to understand? Of course the govt does know what locals and citizens meant. Of course Chuan Jin knew what he was talking but it was a case of not wanting to engage the people in the real issue. The MOM or the govt will continue talking about locals, about jobs affecting foreign workers. The citizens will be talking about citizens and about PME jobs.
How far and how long can this divide be maintained without affecting the credibility and trust of the govt in the eyes of the people? The people would not take this diversion and not wanting to engage them lying down.
My advice to Chuan Jin is to face the problem squarely and stop running away from it. It will not work anymore today. The govt must take the people seriously. Ignoring the people and their problems will cost dearly in votes. It will be reflected in the next GE and can be very costly for sure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)