Budget 2013 – What the Govt Doesn’t Want You to Know

There are good reasons why the opposition does not and should not reveal its shadow cabinet. It would be a suicidal mission to do so in a country like Malaysia whereby racial politics and race-based policies are part and parcel of present government which has been ruling since independence.

The moment the shadow cabinet is revealed, the government-owned media will spin till kingdom come to scare the heck out of rural voters. Hence, as expected, when the opposition presents their superior Shadow Budget, it wasn’t mentioned and compared in a fair manner by the media.

Whatever good idea proposed by the opposition will be rubbished as another way that could bankrupt the country – a lazy way by Najib regime’s propaganda machines in answering opposition propositions. By the same token, the prime minister should not whine when the alternate internet media criticises his recent budget which consists of nothing but Election Budget designed to buy votes out of taxpayers’ own money.

Considering BN government has successfully increased the nation’s federal total debt from less than RM200 billion in 2003 to an estimated RM502 billion in 2012, this is perhaps one of Mahathir’s greatest achievements – producing incompetent leaders who excel only in worshipping the dictator.



Naturally, when Abdullah Badawi took over from Mahathir, the country was in auto-pilot mode while his administration spent as if they’re printing $US dollar notes. By the time Badawi booted from the office, the federal debt skyrocket to slightly more than RM300 billion in 2008. Well, if you think a sleepy prime minister was bad, wait till you hear what a transformation prime minister did in a short 4-year.

Najib Razak, whose favourite movie is none other than Michael Bay’s Transformers has leapfrog the nation to a new level – increases the debt to RM502 billion this year, the highest in history and reaching 54% of GDP. In short Najib doubled the debt in 4-year what Badawi managed to do in 8-year, an impressive milestone indeed (*grin*).

That’s just 1% (percentage) point before hitting the legislated debt ceiling of 55%. If this is not moving the country towards bankruptcy, I do not know what else is. While we’re waiting to see if the PM Najib will pooh-pooh the national debt as just paper debt, made famous by Mahathir while he was in office about paper loss due to forex gambling, let’s look at all the goodies and sweeteners before the coming general election:

Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M 2.0)

As expected PM Najib Razak put on Santa Claus costume again, dishing RM500 assistance money for a household earning less than RM3,000 – the second cash given since its first last year. The qualification criteria remains the same per previous time, so if you managed to pocket it last year you don’t have to queue or camp overnight as your particulars are already in the system. But if you’re new then you may register starting Nov 2012 (some say this month). The RM250 will be paid effective Jan 2013.


In addition, BR1M is extended for single unmarried individuals aged 21 and above with monthly income not more than RM2,000 but will only get RM250. It is estimated about RM3 billion is needed for this second round (first round already costs the taxpayers RM2.2 billion) of populist move, benefiting 4.3 million households and 2.7 million unmarried individuals.

RM200 Rebate for 3G Smartphone Purchase

Good news for young chaps – if you’re aged 21 to 30 years with monthly income of RM3,000 or below, you’re entitled to RM200 one-off rebate for purchase of one unit 3G smartphone (iPhone, Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia or HTC) from authorised dealers. The government is expected to spend about RM300 million on this incentive, a very small price to pay in its attempt to fish for ignorant young voters. However, the government has to precisely define the so-called “authorized dealers” otherwise every Tom, Dick and Rosmah can claim they’re the selected agents.


And how does the government ensure these youngsters can control their monthly spending on phone bills, now that they can connect to internet 24 hours per day? Obviously telecommunication companies such as Maxis, Celcom, DIGI and U-Mobile are grinning from ear to ear.

Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT)

RPGT will be increased to 15% (from current 10%) for disposal of property within 2 years, 10% (from current 5%) for disposal within 2 to 5 years. After 5 years, it is not subject to RPGT. This is perhaps one of the propositions that attract the biggest yawn in this budget, so much so that you may be wondering if the person who proposed this was sleeping on the job.

Obviously speculators are still laughing their arse off at the budget since they’re already waiting for 2 to 3 years for their properties to be completed so that they can sell it. So how can this curb property speculation?

Personal Tax and Tax Relief

Individual income tax rate was proposed to be reduced by 1% (percentage) point for the first RM50,000 of chargeable income. This means if you earn RM50,000 or more annually, you would get to enjoy maximum tax saving of RM475. With this proposal, it also means 170,000 taxpayers do not have to pay income tax, with only about 1.7 million people pay tax from an estimated workforce of 12 million.


Child tax relief to be increased from RM4,000 to RM6,000 per child for children aged 18 and above and receiving full-time tertiary education, effective from year of assessment 2013. Tax relief of RM3,000 for savings in the National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN) will be increased to RM6,000.

1.5 Month Bonus for Public Servants

Since this is an Election Budget, PM Najib was expected to lick 1.4 million public servants’ boots. Already known as the most generous Santa Claus prime minister ever, never mind that national debts is reaching a critical stage, bonus of one and a half month for public servants for year 2012 was proposed. Already, half month of bonus was paid during 2012 Hari Raya, hence the remaining one month will be paid in end Dec 2012 (50%) and in Jan 2013 (50%). This strengthened the speculation that PM Najib will only call for the next general election next year.

PTPTN Loan Discount

PTPTN has been a very sensitive and tricky issue ever since the opposition proposed free education. And since Najib administration is struggling to make ends meet, the prime minister is using the same tactic in traffic summon payments collection from traffic offenders. Thus those who are willing to pay full loan from 1st October 2012 until 30th September 2013, a discount of 20% will be given on their loan.



For obedient borrowers whose repayment of PTPTN loan is in accordance to their repayment schedule, a 10% discount per annum on their repayment will be given effective from 1st Oct 2012.

My First Home Scheme and 50% Stamp Duty Exemption

My First Home Scheme income limit for individual loans to be raised from RM3,000 to RM5,000 per month, or in the case of joint loans of husband and wife of up to RM10,000 per month. 50% stamp duty exemption on sale and purchase agreements and loan agreements for purchase of the first residential property of up to RM400,000 (increased from RM350,000), be extended to 31 Dec 2014.

Other goodies

- Book voucher of RM250 for students.

- No increase in taxes for alcohol and tobacco.

- Malaysians with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below and who travel by KTM Komuter, will get 50% fare discount. Currently, only the disabled, retirees and students enjoy a 50% fare discount. This is really cool but I supposed people will start flashing their salary-slip every time they purchase their tickets at the station (*grin*).

- RM1,000 one-off payments for army veteran, RM200 per month for serving personnel and allowance increment for reserves corp. and Territorial Army to RM7.80 / hour. Actually PM Najib doesn’t really have to spend so much on this sector since the army are constantly brainwashed and forced to vote for the current regime, even if you announce a pay-cut. That’s how obedient they are.

- Passport fees for senior citizens and children aged 12 and below be reduced by 50% from RM300 to RM150 (5 years passport) and RM100 to RM80 (2 years passport), effectively from January 2013.



- Reduce sugar subsidy by 20 sen per kg from 29 Sept 2012. This means the cost of sugar is now RM2.50 and RM2.60 per kilogram for Peninsula and East Malaysia respectively. Consider this goodies if you’re a potential diabetes patient otherwise it’s another excuse to enhance fortunes of the new Sugar King, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, a crony of former PM Mahathir.

You may not realize this but the indirect impact is equally serious, considering sugar is ingredient required in other food items such as bread, ice-cream, cereal, biscuits or cookies, juice, home-cook dishes and whatnot. Expect dearer Starbucks coffee and carbonated drinks.

The above goodies are indeed attractive and if this is not an Election Budget to buy votes, then PM Najib Razak is still a virgin. Since this is the last budget before the next general election, the prime minister put all his chips on the poker table hoping to win another term. Considering most Malaysians would kill each other just to get hold of a free Tupperware, the above short-term candies should return two-third majority to the current BN (Barisan Nasional) regime hands down. Thereafter, the government would go for the killing and the people would pay many times what they’re getting now.


But if there’s press freedom in this country, a published comparison between present government’s budget and opposition’s budget 2013 would put Najib administration in great danger. As a starting point, Najib’s 2013 budget continues to register another year of deficit, the 16th in a row since 1998. Now do you understand why we mentioned that this country’s economy has never return to its former glory after the 1997-1998 Asia Economic Crisis? While Najib presented a 4% deficit budget, opposition proposed a superior 3.5% deficit budget. You should take Najib’s 4% deficit figure with a pinch of salt though.



Based on past records the current regime was notorious for its overspending habit. Last year alone, it overspent a whopping RM19.6 billion so you can sell your mother, wife and children and bet that the same government will do the same stunt again. The fact that the overall subsidy was set to drop 11.3% to RM37.6 billion in 2013 compares to RM42.3 billion in 2012 and yet the best beauty pageant they can put on stage is a 4% deficit, Najib’s team has been working really hard in trimming temporary fats every corner just to impress its audience, at least before the next general election early next year. Heck, Najib even cut its education budget by a whopping RM12 billion as compared to last year.

 

How the opposition can easily delivers 3.5% deficit with one eye closed whereas PM Najib struggles with only 4% deficit? Easy – the opposition took away figures from corruption, cartels’ cronyism, monopolies and whatnot from the budget figures. The present government is also tasting its own deficiency as a result of absorbing unemployable graduates into the public service – a mind-boggling RM202 billion for Operating Expenditure against RM49.7 billion only for  Development Expenditure, an unhealthy 4 to 1 ratio.

This means federal government’s estimated revenue in 2013 amounting to RM208.6 billion is just nice to pay for the RM202 billion operating cost only, not bad for a country with an estimated debt of RM502 billion by next year.

In the education sector, opposition proposes abolishment to the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN). While you can argue till the cows come home about the feasibility in wiping out PTPTN debts, the opposition has justified that it can be done although it’s not popular with ex-students who obediently paid their loans. Another interesting area that raises many eyebrows was the allocation of a whopping RM1.2 billion for pre-school education. The joke on the street – Najib’s biggest crony is none other than his “beautiful and intelligent” wife (*tongue-in-cheek*).



Permata Negara programme which is synonym with pre-school programme, a pet project of PM Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, was allocated RM100 million and RM111 million in 2010 and 2011 Budget respectively. Now that officially pre-school education is allocated RM1.2 billion, the past speculations that Permata had sucked up taxpayers money to the tune of RM2 billion prior actually carries weight.

The worst part was the fact that nobody knows how the money was being used. Does PM Najib’s wife project require such huge taxpayers’ money considering most of the pre-schools are fees-based and privately-owned?

While escalating housing prices remains one of the biggest issue of which neither Najib administration nor opposition can solve with their budgets, the opposition’s proposition to build 100,000 affordable homes with price range between RM130,000 to RM300,000 to be built by newly formed National Housing Board raises eyebrows.

Using Singapore’s Housing and Development Board successful model in solving its housing shortages, obviously opposition’s proposal should deserve some attention. Najib administration has been screaming about building thousands of affordable houses on every budget but the problem still persists. Perhaps the prime minister was not ready to take over the burden and prefers to let the private developers and speculators do as they wish.



The main battle - personal income – or how to put more money into peoples’ pocket has taken a new twist when BN cut income tax rates for taxable income up to RM50,000. Whether this is an acknowledgement of the present government about escalating cost of living or simply a first step towards introducing GST after general election next year is yet to be seen. Seriously, there’s not much Najib can do to increase peoples take home money except with one-off couple-of-hundreds thrown in to the cage. Obviously, opposition trumpeted again their proposed cheaper cars via excise duty reductions, toll abolishment, waiver of PTPTN, lower fuel and whatnot – all contributes to thousands of savings in the long run.

Overall, Najib’s proposition was slightly better than previous year’s budget but can’t compete with opposition’s budget. Of course, the prime minister made fun of opposition’s budget as populist but not worth what it was printed on. Really? If the prime minister was so dead serious about his superiority, he should gleefully accept opposition Anwar Ibrahim’s invitation for a “Budget Debate” to be live telecasted so that the rural and urban voters can see for themselves the opposition’s ridiculous and stupid budget. For all you know, the people may be so impressed and touched with Najib that they may decide to donate all the cash received to Najib’s administration, out of gratification.



PM Najib was so obssessed with being popular that he even copied what former US President Ronald Reagan said during Presidential debate in Oct. 28, 1980. On that day Reagan said “Ask yourself – Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was?”

Abolish Car Excise Taxes – First Step Towards Dismantling Mahathirlogy

Basically consumers (yes, that’s you, dude) have been taken for a long ride since the introduction of former premier Mahathir’s pet project, Proton, not that it was a complete fault on the part of the dictator but rather on the stupidity of the consumers.

Right, it was your parents’ stupidity for voting the monster and his UMNO regime for the last 50-years so you shouldn’t get the blame. But if the same regime is returned to power again in the next general election, then you’re equally idiot, if you choose to cross the “X” next to the “dacing” symbol representing Barisan Nasional.

One of the reasons given in my article for holding on any new car purchases was the political reason. Today, opposition Pakatan Rakyat launches a new initiative in its bid to lure the young voters – abolishing excise duties on cars. It seems they do read blogs for new ideas (*including FinanceTwitter, tongue-in-cheek*) on how to swing fence-sitters.

This latest carrot will definitely send Najib administration into defensive mode and you can bet some money that the publicity-crazy prime minister will counter-offer in order to make himself looks good. To those who read our article and halted their intended purchase - congrats. To those who did not, we reserve this for another day - “We Told You Already What !!” (*grin*).



The whole local automotive policy was a genius mechanism to suck people’s hard-earned money. Whether you’re buying a poor man’s Proton or a luxury BMW, you’re contributing to the government’s (read: UMNO) coffer to the tune of an estimated RM6 billion every year, thanks to the generous excise taxes. If there’s one project you should write for your PhD thesis, this is one of it – “Instilling National Pride while Milking Peoples’ Grapes to Dry”.

You may not know this but besides the mind-boggling excise taxes, the local automobile industry was also brilliantly designed so that the cronies are laid on top of the pyramid-like supply chain of spare parts. If you’ve been into MLM before, you’ll understand what I mean.

Now, there’re many ways to skin a cat. While Mahathirism has been very successful in skinning ignorant peoples’ wallet through privatization (to the cronies), it seems the grand plan has reaches its tipping point. Don’t make a mistake about it. The present government has not stopped skinning your hard-earned money.

On the contrary, the fear of losing the federal government only hastens their greediness. Putting the controversial Selangor water issue aside, the automotive industry saw prices of new model such as Toyota Camry and Honda Civic skyrocket without good justification. Heck, greediness knows no boundary – even an existing model was affected when Volkswagen Malaysia suddenly raised the price of both the 3-door and 5-door Polo GTI 1.4-TSI by a whopping RM34,000 a piece this month.



It was so bad that Volkswagen has to clarify on its Facebook that the price hike (or rather rip-off) was due to “authorities”. If the opposition is smart enough, it should re-strategize and propose more offerings on the table instead of screaming till foam at mouth about corruption. If you were to document every UMNO’s corruption, you can stack the files so high that it can make rounds of trips to the moon and back to planet earth. This latest sexy offering of slashing excise duties may not be as juicy as our proposal of giving away an AP (approved permit) to every citizen but it is good enough to raise millions of young voters eyebrows (and hopefully votes). This is one of the many ways to skin UMNO’s arrogance.

Sure, opposition via PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli may be testing water and toying with youngsters’ appetite with these latest goodies. They may not be serious after all about slashing the excise taxes in totality but even if they can reduce the present tax bracket of between 85% – 135% by half, that is good enough to cheers.

After all, what could you possibly lose with such proposition? This is hilarious but just when PM Najib thought he could buy your votes again with another round of BRIM RM500 cash in the pipeline before the coming general election, the opposition is dishing tens of thousands in saving for an affordable car.



If the Church of Scientology makes money primarily by auditing which could run to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Doctrine of Mahathirlogy makes money by selling (obsolete) national car which run to tens of thousands of ringgit. And this is only Proton pet project, mind you.

The former prime minister may think his Mahathirlogy still works with his laughable threats of communists, terrorists, 13-May racial riots, police brutality and whatnot but if the opposition can pull more similar rabbit from its hat to help ease the burden of the people, the old dictator may decide to take the earliest flight out of the country before the next general election results is announced.

Actually there’re many other proposals which are dear to the average-Joes that can be used to send Najib administration to its kennel with tail between his legs but we’ll reserve that for another article. It’s time consumers dictate the prices of the basic necessity – an affordable safe car without costing an arm and a leg.

The fact that a Malaysian has to pay 5-year salary compares to their Facebook American friends’ 1-year salary to own the same car is simply outrages and insulting. And you can start doing that by not buying any car at all. That’s right, it’s all about basic supply and demand economy. When the cronies can’t make money in the automobile industry, they’ll panic and have no other choice but to lower their prices.



If a simple boycott of Mahathir crony’s Gardenia bread could send them screaming in pain, imagine the impact if everyone stop buying new car and make use of whatever left from their existing car.

Moving forward, you should know how to vote if you wish to be able to purchase Prevé 1.6 Premium CVT at RM44,000, Honda Civic at RM67,000 or F30 BMW 3-Series 320d at RM149,000. The choice is no brainer.

FGVH IPO – What You Should Know Before Investing

Unlike the era of the 1990s, thanks largely to 1993′s Super Bull Run, you can’t expect to make easy money at IPOs tables nowadays. During the good old days, making 100% profits via IPO was a normal story. Heck, you would probably get laughed at for trumpeting 100% profits.

Even if you were very “Sui” (unlucky) for failure in getting even 1-lot (it was 1,000 shares then) in your IPO application, you still can make very handsome profits during the listing day. The fact that you just needed to call your remisier to (blindly) buy at whatever ask-price displayed on the screen and yet makes money shows how bullish the market was back then.

Today, you should make offering of “appreciation” to God, with fire-crackers and lion dance thrown in, if you can make even 10% profits on the listing day. OK, I was exaggerating but the fact that 3 out of 5 companies listed this year have lost between 4% and 20% of their market capitalisation value as at end-May, speaks volume about the risks of putting your hard-earned money in the local stock market during current challenging time. When everyone thought they could make a killing with Facebook Inc.’s (Nasdaq: FB, stock) IPO, the stock lost a whopping 29% from its IPO price of $38 a share as of yesterday’s closing.



Come June 28, Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) will be listed on the Bursa Malaysia (Malaysia Stock Exchange) with a market capitalization of RM16.599 billion based on IPO indicator price of RM4.55 a share. There would be a mind-boggling 3,648 million shares floating in the market.

Actually FGVH is another animal and should perform differently compares to Facebook considering it is the third largest (by landbank) listed palm oil operator globally, if not for the fact that the company is tainted with truckloads of political elements attached to it.

For a start, the whole exercise of FGVH listing was rushed in as if a plague would be wiping out human civilization post-June listing date. When Isa Abdul, a person who was found guilty of money politic (a flowerish word for corruption) by its own party, UMNO, was made Felda Chairman, even though he wasn’t a KPF (Koperasi Permodalan Felda) member hence his membership was found to be “illegal” by the Malaysian Cooperative Societies Commission (MCCC), you can smell troubles miles away. It was simply an exercise to cash out from Felda by milking the ignorant 112,000 settlers’ tits to dry, before the coming general election.



Based on 1,208.9 million shares from shareholders and 980 million new shares offered to the public, the IPO will raise a combination of RM10 billion (based on retail offer price of RM4.55 a share). That’s a lot of money and anyone would not think twice about cashing out, not to mention such amount of money can buy hundreds of thousands of votes.

However there’s something fishy about the IPO exercise when KPF, which owns 51% of Felda Holdings Berhad currently had been left out in the exercise. It was a valid argument from opposition as to the reason of setting up a “mysterious trust fund” to channel 20% of dividend from the IPO. The fact that the trust fund wasn’t mentioned in the IPO prospectus could spook investors further.

Maybe that was the reason why some state governments was made to provide irrevokable undertakings to subscribe to FGVH’s IPO shares, should there be no takers. It’s both strange and weird that a 51% shareholder (KPF) which represent the 112,000 settlers are not represented in FGVH post-listing. Heck, technically, KPF does not even own anything in crown jewel Felda Holdings Berhad as the biggest shareholder would then be FGVH with its 40% stake. It seems the IPO was designed to sell off KPF’s 51% stake and park the RM10 billion under FGVH which includes the mysterious trust fund.



State governments involved in irrevokable undertakings:

• Pahang State Government – 5% (182,407,575 shares)
• Sabah State Government – 5% (182,407,575 shares)
• Terengganu State Government – 0.28% (10,000,000 shares)
• Negeri Sembilan State Government – 0.16% (5,837,070 shares)
• Perak State Government – 0.40% (14,957,421 shares)

Post-listing, Felda settlers would only own 2.5% of the enlarged share capital, and without KPF representative, it is as good as a toothless tiger, provided the settlers could raise money to subscribe to the pink (or whatever colour) forms in the first place. Judging from how Felda settlers jumping in joy after received RM15,000 each in so-called windfall as if the country has just crowned the FIFA World Cup Champion, most probably they thought they need not pay a single sen to gain shares via pink form.

The settlers may not realize it but the moment FGVH is listed, they have practically no say whatsoever as their lands are leased to FGVH for 99 years (lease begin from 1 Jan 2012).
Sure, based on the terms of the lease, FGVH must pay Felda RM248.5 million (or RM698.24 / hectare) annually together with a fixed percentage of FGVH’s plantations operating profit.

But when you compare this to Boustead REIT lease of RM3,500 / hectare, the settlers were made suckers for such a cheap leasing rate. Now you understand why Isa Samad was chosen as the person to rip off Felda Holdings. When you can underpay the idiots by a whopping 400% and yet they applause what you did, it simply means you’re as smart as Albert Einstein, if not better (*grin*). Based on 91,203,787.5 or 2.5% shares to be shared equally amongst 112,000 settlers, each of them will be getting 814 shares – great deal.




On paper, Felda Holdings via FGVH is a cash-cow waiting to be milked, with cool revenue and profits. However as a potential investor, you should realize that about 53% of its plantations is old (over 21 years) and needs to be replanted, which means high cost in expenditure. Using Greenfield development cost as benchmark whereby a hectare requires about RM15,000 to replant, 53% of 355,864 hectares will translates into RM2.8 billion on replanting cost alone, spread over 5-years.

And do we have to tell you that crude palm oil prices have crashed 18% since it hit a 13 month high in April this year due to declining demand from China and India? Yes, it seems China and India’s economies are slowing down and that spells trouble for palm oil players who depends heavily on these two giants. The Eurozone debt crisis doesn’t help the situation either. Already the crude palm oil prices is expected to tumble to RM2,700 per ton in 2012, if we’re lucky.

There’s also competitor next door – Indonesia – who just adjusted their palm oil export tax structure which gave Indonesia refiners bargaining power when procuring crude palm oil as well as lower export tax (yeah, they play dirty so what!).



Plantation companies in Malaysia also rely heavily on foreign workers, primarily from Indonesia. With this controversial FGVH IPO, you also learn the reason why foreigners are the kingmakers in this country so much so that the present government was caught rushing in granting them citizenship – not only these foreigners can be used to deliver crucial votes in the coming general election but also as cheap labour working at plantation sector. Can you imagine what will happen to the stock price if 84% of FGVH’s current foreign estate workers totalling 25,000 were to take to the street asking for better pay and benefits?

Now, should you try your luck on this IPO? Well, if you look at the players interested in the stock especially people like Chua Ma Yu, you may want to jump in as it is no-brainer. However you have no idea how fast this legendary investor can unload his chunk of shares on the listing day.

FGVH will have huge floating shares so you should get ready for huge selling, just like what happened to Facebook, but in FGVH case it’s primarily due to political concern. If you’re not comfortable with the way FGVH is being listed, don’t bother because chances are you could get the stock cheaper post-listing, the same way Facebook stock price is suffering now.



Investors also do not fancy hanky-panky, what more with this hidden 20% trust fund. If the government chose to play God by bulldozing majority shareholder KPF (51%) to extinction, what warranty do new investors have that they would not be short changed considering they’re just minor shareholders?

Many fund managers are bullish with Buy (silly, how can they recommend Sell instead?) and suggested target price of RM5.65, a price earning of 16 times Financial Year 2012′s EPS of 35.3 sen. Hence, just like Facebook, you can still make some pocket money, provided you can dispose it fast enough on the day of listing.

Don’t fall in love with the company. Sell it to realize the profit and wait for the major sell-off. There’s no harm waiting for the price to fluctuate and buy again at below IPO price, even though you’re a long term investor. If Najib administration needs more money for the general election, chances are the selling pressure will intensify further. And if this is the last rip-off from the present government to leave coffer dry, you’ve even more reason to follow the market maker and sell like crazy.

The Hidden Messages That You May Not Know

It’s been two weeks since the stunning 250,000 people brave the burning sun demanding for clean elections during Bersih 3.0 rally. Interestingly the topic is still selling like hot potatoes. Actually the rally is still hot news simply because both government and opposition wouldn’t want it to die a natural death. Understandably both sides are fighting tooth and nail as it would deliver the precious votes come the next general election. The aftermath of Bersih 3.0 is perhaps the last and biggest propaganda tool before election so whoever can manipulate it to the best will benefits the most.

Sometimes you got to wait for the dust to settle before the actual plot emerges. So if you care to see, read, listen and think over the last two weeks, you should be able to put all the puzzle pieces together. It’s become clearer why this version of Bersih was not as peaceful as previous version 1.0 and 2.0.

I’ve wrote before the Bersih 3.0 rally how some UMNO insiders were (plotting and) hoping for a chaos rally (read here). So far it didn’t disappoint and the story goes according to the script. Yes, you don’t have to go extra miles by consulting fortune tellers or look to the stars to get answers as to who were the script writer and producer of this classic peaceful turned violence film.



There was this theory that PM Najib was scared shit that Bersih 3.0 would be the springboard for a “Malaysia Spring”, ala Arab Spring. But Malaysia is not Arab so that’s a truckload of bullshit. Malaysians simply cannot stomach a prolonged rally. Don’t believe me? Go and read this private conversation with PM Najib and President Obama (*grin*).

If Najib indeed was imagining himself as if he was on ecstasy and couldn’t think straight, and in the process ordered the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, then he’s just months or weeks away from being the shortest serving prime minister of Malaysia. He deserves it.

Now, let’s see who spoke like a “Commander in Chief” right after the rally. Former PM Mahathir said the rally was an attempt to topple the government. Almost immediately, PM Najib was seen parroting Mahathir, claiming the rally participants had intended to take over Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) and make it like the Egypt’s infamous Tahrir Square. Those statements from dictator Mahathir and PM Najib were so silly that it makes even a bulldog laughing and giggling like a hyena. That’s a huge insult to the country’s Military Intelligence. Do you know that Malaysia’s Police and Military Intelligence are amongst the best in the world?



You meant to say the intelligence report only discovered the attempt to overthrow the government at the eleventh hour of the rally, just before Anwar-Azmin tag-team was seen showing that infamous hand signs? Given the fact that Najib’s administration actually allowed the Bersih 3.0 rally to proceed initially but flip-flop and claim it was an attempt to overthrow the government post-rally only goes to show that Najib was so stupid that his predecessor Abdullah Badawi looks like Albert Einstein. Didn’t his cousin, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced Bersih 3.0 was not a security threat hence the permission to walk the streets?

Actually it doesn’t matter if opposition de-facto leader Anwar and his lieutenant Azmin hand gesture exchange was indeed a signal to breach the barricades. Even if both of them were strapped in baby strollers and made to suck on pacifiers, the violence would still happen. You don’t think those police violence started by planted agents were mere coincidence, do you? The most disturbing statement came later from Mahathir who told voters to vote PM Najib-led government so that it would be able to revive the draconian ISA (Internal Security Act). But the humour part came from none other than former IGP Hanif Omar.



Just when you thought the former IGP for 20 years was enjoying his fruits by virtue of directorship in gambling heaven Genting Berhad, banking AMMB Holdings Berhad, AmBank (M) Berhad, AmIslamic Bank Berhad, AMFB Holdings Berhad and AmInvestment Bank Berhad, the low-profile Hanif Omar suddenly jumped and claimed pro-communist individuals involved in the 1970s demonstrations were seen in Bersih 3.0 rally. If Hanif Omar, who was the longest serving “budak suruhan” (boy-servant) famous for taking Mahathir’s order in cracking opposition during Operasi Lalang 1987, speaks in support of Mahathir, you can smell troubles miles away.

Interestingly, not one but three former IGP who served or used to serve Mahathir’s interest, came out in support about the laughable communist element in modern rally. You can bet every penny that the old man is damn serious about defending his own UMNO legacy by hook or by crook. If you’re still couldn’t figure out the plot, it’s all about denying opposition’s right to take over the federal government, in case the planted hundreds of thousands of foreigners designed to deliver votes in favour of present government couldn’t stop opposition from winning the next federal government. It was never about Malaysia Spring but rather a sore loser who couldn’t afford to handover a 52-year-old tainted administration peacefully to a new government.




So don’t think for a second that the opposition PKR-DAP-PAS can form the next federal government even if they could somehow get the numbers to do so. The coming election results may be blacked out, telecommunication services will be jammed the same way it was done during the Bersih 3.0 rally, ballot counting rooms may lose power suddenly leading to chaos, losers from Barisan Nasional will be declared winners by the election commission despite objections, DDOS attacks intensifies, opposition candidates go MIA and whatnot.

Even if the above fails, the palace may be guarded by thousands of police (and army?) to prevent opposition from delivering their winning tickets to the King to form the next government.
Najib administration will emerge from the palace as the new government even if they don’t have the numbers. To hell with democracy and foreign criticisms – there’s no way Najib administration will handover the government simply because the stake is too high. And if the attempt to form government fails, the sore loser may declare emergency. 

Yes, going by how the exercise of creating havoc goes during Bersih 3.0 rally, it seems Mahathir is ready to take over control of the situation, if the election results are not in Barisan Nasional’s favour. He has done the crackdown before during” Operasi Lalang” 25 years ago and for the sake of his family dynasty, he would certainly do it again.



The only difference is – 25 years ago there was no internet and certainly no Facebook and Twitter. Hence, it’s hard to say if the old man’s plan will work the way it was planned in this new technology age. In fact, Mahathir can’t tell for sure if Najib administration can win the young voters’ heart after billions in free flow money was given away.

In a conventional warfare without social networking and internet, Mahathir can tell at the fingertips the number of seats he can win (via cheating). But a full-blown internet warfare is something he has not done before. And he’s not taking any risk hence the need for a rehearsal for a mini violent rally as seen during Bersih 3.0.

There’s also one variable which Mahathir needs to consider very carefully. Unlike the racial riots in 1969, any provocation for similar incident now involves multi-racial composition. It’s safe to say it will be PKR-DAP-PAS versus UMNO alone. Furthermore unlike 1969 where UMNO politicians were largely poor, most of UMNO politicians nowadays are super rich. Therefore the landscape is rather different should the old man decide to use brutal force to stay in power since the chain reactions are unimaginable and could backfire badly. Are UMNO warlords willing to put their wealth on the gambling table with regards to the expired old man’s method?



Judging by how Hanif Omar was appointed by Najib administration as chairman of the six-member Independent Advisory Panel set up to probe the Bersih 3.0 rally in spite of the fact that the former IGP already prejudged the rally as having communist element, you can be sure that another crackdown is in the horizon. It was like asking Adolf Hitler to probe Gestapo’s brutal interrogation method. There’s another hidden objective behind police’s brutality on that burning hot Saturday’s rally that PM Najib didn’t know. If somehow the 250,000 genuine peaceful protesters turned violent, the old man’s plan works even better.

History repeats itself and national emergency could be declared with suspension of Parliament. A National Operations Council (NOC) could then be established and PM Najib could be asked to resign with deputy Muhyiddin tasked to head the NOC. With almost unlimited power, the NOC can basically do anything it wishes to. Sounds familiar? It was a brilliant plan which could be used to kill two birds with a stone – eliminate oppositions as well as enemy within UMNO itself. Hey, Mahathir is no ordinary politician and for him to survive 22-year rule fighting internal power struggles within UMNO, it speaks volume about his capability. He can squeeze Najib’s grapes anytime he wants and yet the prime minister can only smiles and says harder.



One more thing – why did the old former prime minister suddenly made his move? On paper, it seems there’s no chance for opposition to win the federal government. Did the old man receive troubling reports that allies within UMNO are ready to jump ships after the coming general election? While the arrogant UMNO was trumpeting about supports from the public, could Anwar quietly seal some deals with unexpected enemies such as with Sarawak’s Chief Minister himself? Hmm, that would be another interesting story for another day (*grin*). As for now, I hope the oppositions are ready for any eventualities, and that includes denial to form government even if they have the numbers.

Tinjauan: Pengundi mahu Najib-Anwar berdebat

Kebanyakan pengundi ingin melihat perdebatan di antara Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak dengan Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menjadi kenyataan.

Menurut tinjauan Merdeka Centre yang dibuat dari 10 hingga 23 Februari lalu, sebanyak 54 peratus responden menyokong agar kedua-dua pemimpin itu berdebat.

Sokongan tertinggi datang daripada pengundi muda apabila kira-kira dua pertiga daripada mereka bersetuju agar Najib dan Anwar berdebat bagi mempamerkan idea dan dasar yang akan diperkenalkan kepada negara.

Sebanyak 76 peratus pengundi muda Melayu berumur 21 hingga 30 tahun menyokong debat itu. Bagi pengundi berumur 31 hingga 40 tahun pula, 56 peratus menyokongnya.

Sokongan terendah datang daripada responden berusia 60 tahun ke atas, iaitu sebanyak 39 peratus.

Pecahan mengikut kaum pula mendapati satu pertiga daripada pengundi Cina menyokong idea itu (66 peratus) berbanding pengundi Melayu (54 peratus) dan India 34 peratus.
Antara topik-topik yang menjadi pilihan pengundi untuk dibahaskan adalah isu-isu ekonomi (17 peratus); isu semasa negara (sembilan peratus); kebajikan rakyat dan pembangunan negara (masing-masing tujuh peratus). Ini diikuti oleh isu memerangi rasuah pada kadar lima peratus.

Selain itu, responden turut mencadangkan isu semasa negara seperti skandal projek ternakan lembu Perbadanan Fidlot Kebangsaan (NFC), hutang negara yang semakin bertambah dan  isu-isu pentadbiran lain juga dibahaskan.

DAP Lim GE vs MCA Chua SL Debate – Secrets Revealed

The debate between MCA president Chua Soi Lek and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was a disappointment for those who’re looking for a debate entitled “Chinese at a Crossroads – Is a Two-Party System Becoming a Two-Race System?” simply because both debaters had failed to delve into the topic. DAP Lim was said to be stupid to walk into a trap by accepting the challenge for the debate because the place of event, organisers and moderators are all bias towards MCA.

After the debate, obviously it was a trap all right but the reason why DAP Lim accepted the challenge was not because he was idiot enough to walk into a trap but because of the opportunity to reach the Chinese audience nationwide through government-controlled media namely Astro’s AEC and radio 988 channels, free of charge. From the moment the bell rings, it was all havoc when MCA Chua started with what seemed to be a political speech than a debate by smashing and attacking DAP by playing the old trick – scare tactic of an Islamic state with DAP being the latter’s slave.


Actually, Chua Soi Lek has got nothing to lose as he has no government position and can scream and bonk anyone he wishes to especially with the little Chinese supporters left post Mar 2008 general election, not to mention his sex DVD scandal where he was caught with his pants down bonking his “friend” in a hotel room.

His job in the debate was to do as much damage as possible to Lim Guan Eng and hopefully the government-controlled racist-media Utusan could use any mistakes from Guan Eng to spin stories. He was an excellent sneaky orator all right but in his attempt to trap Guan Eng, did Soi Lek get his fingers burned instead?

As a start, Guan Eng drove the message that the present government led by Najib Razak is a racist government whereby UMNO takes care of the Malay, MCA the Chinese, MIC the Indians and promotes two-race division through dive-and-rule – the “Malays” and “non-Malays”. Obviously Lim Guan Eng scored a point when he talked about Pakatan Rakyat taking care of only “Malaysians” instead. Sure, it was not really a big secret that Najib’s BN is a racist government but it was a sweet and free publicity for Pakatan Rakat via DAP in sending the message to rural voters, who may be listening to the debate.



Nevertheless, Guan Eng was caught almost off-guard when his query about RM12 billion PKFZ scandal to Soi Lek – why only MCA leaders had been brought to trial while the Umno had been left free – was brilliantly twisted by Soi Lek as a racial statement. From that moment onwards, Guan Eng realized that the whole debate was about to get ugly because it was DAP-Lim Guan Eng bashing session and not a debate after all. So it’s another (open) secret that the trap was about dividing the DAP and PAS along the racial line.

Chua Soi Lek also tried his luck by saying that it is highly unlikely for a 3 year old child (referring to Pakatan’s tenure of rule) to make mistake as opposed to a 63 years adult (referring to MCA’s existence). If the 3 year old child is given another 60 years, the mistakes made is beyond imaginable – Soi Lek further said. Indirectly, the MCA president admitted his party (and Najib government as a whole) mades tons of mistake and this can easily understandable to include corruption. So, it’s another secret that the 63-year-old MCA was working hand in glove with UMNO (or alone) in tons of the corruptions exposed.



At one time, Lim Guan Eng quoted former MCA president Ong Tee Kiat as admitted that UMNO was such a bully that MCA was reduced from a party that took “leftovers” (from UMNO) to one which subsisted only on “crumbs”. Chua Soi Lek smartly responded that for the same reason, Ong Tee Kiat was rejected (of his presidency) from the party. But was that a smart answer considering it also revealed the secret that MCA has indeed been a lap dog of UMNO after all, leftovers or crumbs?

Chua apparently made a mistake without realising it when he tried to relate a story about Kedah Pakatan Rakyat’s ADUN demanded 30% rebate. According to Chua, he was shocked to find such discovery as he thought such practive only happen in BN government (*oops*). This is perhaps the biggest secret and admission that the present Najib administration is corrupt, well, at least you have to get ready a 30% coffee-money, if not more.



The most hilarious part was of course the attempt by the MCA and organiser to suppress DAP supporters when obviously MCA supporters were given the privilege of front rows seating, denying Pakatan Rakyat supporters of chances in raising questions as it would require them to take Air-Asia flight to grab the microphone (*grin*). The climax was reached when Selayang parliamentary coordinator cum Beliawanis Wanita MCA Selangor chief, Jessie Ooi, bitching stupid questions demanded to know why (her?) cars in

Penang were being towed after 10:30pm, instantly earned her Ms Tow Truck from netizens.
Needless to say, Jessie Ooi’s facebook attracted thousands of criticisms over her low mentality in raising questions. Either she was pure foolish or she was trying her very best to polish and suck up to her boss Chua Soi Lek hoping to be fielded as candidate in the coming general election. Anyway, this goes to show MCA is out of capital in winning Chinese hearts and this debate revealed such secret to the otherwise uninformed rural voters, not to mention the secret that MCA will always cheat to win. You don’t need to be a scientist to see such cheater when 99% MCA members get to grab the microphone planted to make noises and create hatred towards Lim Guan Eng, not to mention 99% camera was focused on MCA supporters as if they were Tom Cruise and Lady Gaga.


Adding spices to the debate, the moderator, Tan Ah Chai (CEO of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall), successfully made a fool out of himself when not only he failed to allocate fairly the questionaires from the audience, he also revealed the secret that he’s bias and a lap dog of MCA, not to mention how he was shivering being cowed by the MCA supporters seated in the front rows. I bet Auntie Bersih can be a better moderator than Tan Ah Chai miles ahead.

Nevertheless, Lim Guan Eng was smart enough not to play to the scripts written by MCA and ignored mostly irrelevant questions. He was brilliant in making good use of the once in a lifetime opportunity and remaining precious time to drive home the message of Pakatan Rakyat’s political message through the government-controlled free television and radio channel. MCA and UMNO can “syok sendiri” (self-indulgent) for all they want but the fact remains that petty cheating via seat arrangement and uncivilised planted MCA supporters will not earn them any extra Chinese votes.

Now, can the citizens expect a real debate between heavyweight PM Najib Razak and de-facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim?

Anwar’s Acquittal – What Are The Hidden Messages?

By now everybody in Planet Earth knows de-facto opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has been acquitted on a charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008. The acquittal surprises many people – from opposition parties, Najib administration, former premier Mahathir and even Anwar himself. But was Anwar really surprised with the verdict? For a person who was about 90% to be sent behind bars for the second time for the same sodomy charge, Anwar doesn’t seems to be the happiest person in comparison to his wife, daughters, the thousands cheering crowds and his buddies from the opposition parties.



For a start, five days before the verdict, the once fierce and deadly keris-waver Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (cousin of PM Najib Razak) surprised many cats with his super soft approach by allowing 9-Jan rally with a lame condition that the “901-Free Anwar Campaign” organizer must guarantee a peaceful rally. Despite hundreds of reports lodged nationwide against the rally, the Home Minister must either be drunk or had switched his brains with Princess Diana for allowing such “illegal rally”.

Then, the IGP (Inspector-General of Police) was super proactive by instructing the city police chief to meet the organisers over the rally. The second sweet-cherry surprise came when the police granted permit to the “901 Free Anwar” rally when the same police force preferred a confrontation against any rally in the past, the latest being barely six months ago during Bersih 2.0 rally. Of course there was negligible hiccup such as the silly 10-condition string attached after the permit was granted, of which the rally participants didn’t give a hoot to, and the police didn’t enforce it seriously at the court house nonetheless.



Compared to Bersih 2.0′s “Walk for Democracy” rally where more than a dozen FRU trucks and about 300 FRU and other police personnel were stationed near Masjid Jamek alone, one must be wondering if all these heavyweight terminators are on vacation this time, judging from the lack of FRU presence during the “901 Free Anwar” rally. This was a surprise indeed as the rally was allegedly supposed to garner a bigger crowd of 100,000 participants.

The judge in delivering his short two minute acquittal verdict gave a simple explanation that the DNA sample could have been contaminated and hence he could not rely on the controversial DNA evidence submitted by the prosecution, before disappearing into his chamber as if he was constipated.

This despite the fact that Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled back in May 2011 that Mohd Saiful was a “credible and truthful witness”. The furious Anwar and his legal team applied to replace the judge as he prejudged before the trial concluded. So, it was surprise that only now the same judge realized there was no case after all.



And how did those home-made explosives which triggered three small explosions and injured five persons planted in three police cones, considering the police was monitoring the area intensively? Unless Anwar supporters fancy blowing up themselves out of fun, these home-made explosives could be planted to create chaos should the judge delivers a conviction verdict. It would then be used as justification to deny any future rally because it would be proven that the peaceful rally can become deadly. Nah, the Perkasa group was too chicken to do such thing, no? But the judge was ready to acquit Anwar so what give?



The answer: the acquittal verdict could be a last-minute decision. To get together the jigsaw puzzle, let’s revisit the past articles. This article “Resign Or Snap Election For Najib, Here’re The Reasons“, talks about the power struggle within UMNO between PM Najib and the 3M-Team led by his mentor Mahathir. Of course Najib didn’t resign nor call for a snap election because he found a temporary workaround – balancing the power by inviting a third force into the equation hence the article “Romance Of Three Kingdoms – Najib, Mahathir & Anwar“.

Auntie Rosy seems to have taken some notes in “All Is Not Lost, If Auntie Rosy Dare To Turn The Table” article, and managed to whacked hubby Najib out of his slumberland with her precious Birkin bag. Najib in turns have done some damage controls. Former Selangor state Chief Minister Khir Toyo has been sacrificed, not that he was an innocent angel in the first place. Najib also has stopped parroting Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali’s racial remarks, not to mention being super nice to the Chinese community and spend more time talking economy instead of checking Anwar’s daily sex life.

 

MACC was instructed to spend time on Shahrizat, an UMNO warlord aligned with deputy PM Muhyiddin over the RM250 million CowGate Scandal. Instead of an apology over Bersih 2.0 mishandling, Hishammuddin (reluctantly) showed his soft-spot in the latest “901 Free Anwar” rally. That would leave a “Cabinet Reshuffle” the only pending task before the actual snap election. Nevertheless Cabinet reshuffle is not an easy task considering it would potentially remove the warlords’ cheese. For the same reason, Mahathir wasn’t really fancy the idea of fielding “winnable candidates” drummed by Najib. Nevertheless, it was a great job by Auntie Rosy.

Of course, Najib was having orgasm when he thought he had given Mahathir a run for his money by flexing his muscles in making Shahrizat furious and mumbling as if she was infected by mad-cow disease in “Best Democracy In The World – Najib Impressed Obama” article. Mahathir wasn’t amused with Najib’s antic at all but he was equally disgusted with Shahrizat’s arrogance and denial syndrome in the scandal which went to the extent of naughty jokes about the women’s RM26,000 bra. Mahathir recognizes the need to neutralize any scandal which could potentially invite Middle East style uprising, not to mention the coming election, hence his worry in the article “Mahathir And His 3M Team Are Worried And Here’s Why“.



Sensing Najib was dragging his feat in Anwar’s sodomy trial, Mahathir tried to stage a comeback by putting his hands in everything from political to economic issues. This put Anwar in high alert as in “Anwar And Opposition Are Worried – Mahathir Is Back” article. But it wasn’t only Anwar who was worried about Mahathir’s sudden active manoeuvres. Najib was equally worried that the old master tactician started gathering supporters openly especially from UMNO warlords. It seems there was silent power struggle as well as alliance talks among three persons right to the moment before the judge announces the verdict – Najib, Anwar and Mahathir.

Maybe that explains the flip-flop about the police’s rally permit which demanded the sudden 10 conditions after granted it, not to mention the unexpected explosions plus the rush by the (reluctant) judge in delivering the verdict. Maybe someone very powerful inside UMNO tried to create havoc hoping to use it as weapon to gain absolute power and force PM Najib to resign. One has to remember Najib is still surrounded by many warlords who may be dropped as candidates in the next general election. With a last-minute secret alliance brokered between Anwar and Najib, Mahathir’s power is clipped and this provides a balance of power amongst them.

 

So no, the judiciary pillar is not an inch any better than before the acquittal as what many perceived. It was a bonus from Najib’s manoeuvre to tilt the power in his favour from Mahathir. By temporary sending Mahathir to the drawing board once again, Najib can claim judiciary independence under his administration and score some points. Who said Najib is stupid?

Moving forward, Najib should reshuffle his cabinet before calling for the polls if he insists on fielding winnable candidates. Going by the calendar, he should be calling the polls in Mar-2012 if he thinks a cabinet reshuffle is too risky. Otherwise, he would do the reshuffle in Mar-2012 and call the polls in June-2012. One more thing – Shahrizat may be put in cold storage as her cows are inviting unfavourable feedback from the rural folks.  

Spectacular Fireworks Welcoming New Year 2012

The New Year 2012 has been welcomed with spectacular fireworks across the globe and as with previous year, Australia showed the rest of the world how to have a good time and another round of magnificent fireworks. With hundreds of thousands thronging the harbour, Sydney welcomed 2012 in style – a whopping $6 million of fireworks.  Lady Gaga performed in Times Square, New York while the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, was illuminated in Dubai.



The celebration also knocked down social network Twitter as it was overloaded with New Year messages. The record 16,197 tweets per second crashed the popular Twitter servers and users were greeted with error message “Twitter is over capacity” instead. While the social network struggled to get online, more than 250,000 people poured into Central London expecting one of the greatest fireworks as the country will be hosting the 2012 Olympics. A whopping 3,000 police officers were on duty in London as the extraordinary large crowds preparing themselves for the 11-minute’s 12,000 fireworks explosion.
From Times Square to Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers, everyone was having great time welcoming the new year. Happy New Year 2012 from FinanceTwitter and here’re some of the spectacular photos (click to enlarge) which might blow your mind off.

Sydney, Australia

 

London, United Kingdom

New York’s Time Square, USA

Las Vegas, USA

Zurich, Switzerland

Portugal

Berlin, Germany

Lithuania

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Beijing, China

Helsinki, Finland

St Petersburg, Russia

Moscow, Russia

Vienna

Taipei, Taiwan

Manila, Philippines

Marina Bay, Singapore

 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia